The CVS at 2655 Telegraph is possibly the worst CVS in an already shitty chain of drugstores with rude pharmacists and staff. My grandfather was an independent pharmacist and had his own pharmacy for over 45 years. So I know what a good pharmacist should do. They should not yell, be rude, dismissive, or hang up on you, ever. But the pharmacists at this location certainly do along with their techs. The pharmacy is consistently understaffed which is CVS's fault, not the staff's. There's no air purifiers in the store, the air is unfiltered, there's no air circulation, and they don't require masks. The store itself is disgusting. At one point they had a great manager who really cleaned the store up and hired quick thinking polite staff. But now? There's some dirtbag who doesn't wear a mask, all the call buttons at the store are broken and will not be fixed, The store is dirty, unkempt, and the pharmacists are often literally late to open this particular pharmacy as I experienced two days ago. As a medically vulnerable person I try to be there right when the pharmacy opens so I can interact with his few people as possible. This jerk of a pharmacist was 15 minutes late to open and then when I explained that he had put me at risk since I'm immuno compromised even wearing PPE, he copped an attitude with me and said "welcome to the real world, ma'am." And then he refused to give me one of my prescriptions and so I'm filing a complaint for pharmacist refusal and those are magic words that anyone reading this review should know so that if you get any crap from any pharmacist at any CVS, you utter those words and they will take you seriously. read more

Bro what. It literally says they close at midnight and I go in at 11 but it was closed. Y'all made me waste gas and patience

The pharmacist who helped me was great. Processed my prescription order and told me it'd be 15 minutes. Just 5 minutes later I received a text that my order was ready. They're open 7 days a week except major national holidays. I came in on a Sunday and service was fast and easy. read more

CVS HQ please do something about this branch. I will always be grateful to the older, male manager who managed the customers at the beginning of the pandemic. But, today I stood for 15 minutes, pushing the customer service button to pick up a bottle of lotion now under lock and key. Two employees--neither helping customers, looked at me and knew I needed assistance. They did not provide it. After I made my purchases (having given up on the customer assistance and buying the lotion), I asked to speak with the manager. It turns out it was one of the two employees speaking amongst themselves. This manager stations himself in the cosmetic section. read more

CVS has a large parking lot and lots of space to roam around inside. meds pricey. no big bottles micros, just 6 packs. buys: dry creek sangria (750ml) 1.97, save 1.32 -white zinfindel would be too sweet, so sangria it is -saving it for my stash, inventory. (yep, an empty chubbard) drips: -short line, fast checkout note: don't come here drunk and try to buy liquor notice homeless guy refused service cuz "alcohol could be smelled on him". read more

The customer service at the pharmacy is horrible and demeaning. their system is a mess, the send sms notification that refills are ready and when you arrive they cannot find you in the system, when you try to sort out the confusion the pharmacy staff act annoyed with a "I don't give a sh**" attitude, after two visits and 3 phone calls I am now home without my prescription filled. this is why this pharmacy has the worst yelp rating in Berkeley. its the attitude and complete lack of empathy for the customers trying to navigate the labyrinth of the Shattuck CVS incompetence. read more

The doors were locked when I came by at 10:15pm. Store hours posted on front door is 8am-Midnight. Store hours here on Yelp are 8am-Midnight. Update your hours if they're not accurate read more

my sim card for lycamobile cell phone service was damaged so i went to this store and purchased a new lycamobile sim kit... they charged $34.00 plus tax... upon trying to activate the service lycamobile notified me that the sim card was an old one and was an expired number... CVS is selling old expired stock... i attempted to return it to the store but was informed that they were accepting zero returns during the pandemic crisis... it was unopened and they were wiping down the area around the registers with disinfectant but couldn't wipe the unopened package... i'll never shop at CVS again... read more

Wow, I just had the worst interaction with sylvernel (don't know if that's the correct spelling) at the pharmacy. She was so incredibly rude and standoffish I had to leave. She threw my Id back at me when she was finished with it. I cannot believe how she treated me, it was like she had a resentment before I even talked with her. I don't recommend coming to this cvs, unless you want to be insulted and yelled at. read more

Amazing staff! Super helpful, even all throughout the mess that is COVID. Staff is friendly and goes above and beyond to help!

This pharmacy and variety store is located in a good corner of Berkeley. It is easy to reach on foot or by car. There is ample parking at least by Berkeley standards. I've always found good service, both at the pharmacy and in the variety store area. The shelves are labeled clearly, and it is easy to find the products that are needed. At the pharmacy itself, there is a good effort to fill prescriptions quickly. There is always someone to consult at the pharmacy in the case of receiving prescriptions for new medications. The service personnel are professional, and friendly. There are many elderly clients, and from time to time I have seen personnel bring in a chair for older clients waiting in line at the pharmacy. I've been impressed by this sense of consideration. read more

This CVS location isn't open until midnight (as per the CVS website and Yelp). Their signs say it closes at midnight but it's 10:50 and it's closed. read more

Absolutely horrid. We got kicked out and accused of theft just because we were putting our items from outside into our backpack. They even took our drink and the workers were very rude. Absolutely a disgusting experience that I never want to go through again. I wish I could give 0 stars but they're just lucky enough to get one. read more

This is the most awful pharmacy, and unfortunately the closest to home. This morning I have made 3 trips and still don't have the medication I need. They didn't have something and didn't even tell me so I could get a substitute. There is no one in line but it still takes a long time. The staff doesn't seem to make any kind of effort. And don't seem to know what they are doing. Go somewhere else. read more

Customer service isn't their thing. I really hate when they close for pharmacy for lunch. I guess they don't understand that a lot of customers use lunch hours for pick-ups. read more

Very unhelpful. My 70 yo mother went for me to get Paxlovid - Covid medicine to CVS Pharmacy at 1451 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA as I had a positive test in the morning and was becoming increasingly worse during the day. I could not reach my doctor and a nurse in his office gave just ordinary information accessible anywhere online. My mom had quite a hard time providing all the information that older male pharmacist asked her. She's got my insurance card but there was no RX Bin number he supposedly needed to file a prescription for Paxlovid. I use only this insurance card while going to the doctor or filing all prescriptions I need. My mother was willing to pay for the medication without a doctor which was for $60 for the pharmacists' work and he just refused to do it. His behavior after nearly the whole hour of her waiting and trying to get a medicine for me was very disrespectful and distressing. He supposedly was unable to help us, even after filing the questionnaire online and answering all relevant questions. This was obviously a tragic incopetence and unhelpfulness at the place where one is trying to find help. Avoid this place, they will do everything to not to be of service. read more

This is for the pharmacy... the store employees are great. Oh my god is the pharmacy horrible. I dread getting my monthly prescription because there is ALWAYS some issue that I need to call and get straightened out. I'm always on hold for 20+ minutes before I even speak with someone. I have been trying to get one of my prescriptions for 4 weeks now. Luckily I won't die if I don't take it, but I'm sure there are lots of people that NEED to take their prescription everyday. I would change pharmacies if my insurance let me. This pharmacy is the absolute bane of my existence. read more

5 stars and shout out to the assistant manager who helped us and opened the store for us after they were closed (came became google had the wrong closing time). My husband had really bad pain and we were far from home. Thank you for helping us get the pain medicine by opening your closed store to us. read more

Abysmal customer service. I want to be kind and give grace to the staff who are managing in a challenging environment and corporate structure, navigating the insurance system and probably paid poorly, but honestly, nearly every experience getting a prescription filled at this store has been stressful and fraught. The staff are not at all helpful and make you feel like they are doing you a favor filling your prescription. The latest was trying to navigate getting a refill days in advance of the approved refill date since I was going on an extended trip out of the country. The last time jt was delivery of an prescription for my sick kid after the delivery person flaked out and they kept insisting jt was delivered, when jt had never left their store. It's not to say that they are the root of all the challenges but they are just not helpful in trying to navigate a solution. I would go someplace else but honestly there are not a lot of options these days. read more

I've been shopping here since this store opened; 20? 25 years? In the last few years the customer service and staff quality have gone down. Today is the last time I will go there. First, I was looking for body powder. Crusted the whole store twice, couldn't see any. Asked an employer who sent me to the wrong place. Then, realizing I needed to use the restroom, I went and knocked on the restroom doors. No reply so I went to the pharmacy fir the key. No joy. They asked if I had knocked and explained to me like I was s 3 year old that I had to knock. Duuuh! But the keys are up front. Up front, first the checkers point to each other and say she/he has the key. Then they explain the knocking protocol. Then I left. Honest to gosh. The whole visit was a mess. And no, I didn't get the things I needed. Done. Sorry. I have to add. In a conversation I just finished, the manager of the day explained to me that the bathrooms are locked because of the problem with homeless people. Sigh. I have lived here for 40 years. I know the challenge with homelessness. Does that explain why the Star isn't helpful, doesn't know their inventory and no one can find the key? Idiots. read more

Completely out of stock on kids otc medicine...when I asked the cashier when they might get restocked, he just shrugged his shoulders.

While some folks have expressed experiencing challenges, I have found the store and pharmacy to be reliable and dependable.

I needed my passport photos and it costs like 12.00 here, better than a photo studio. They just use a cell phone camera and then print it.... Actually, you could do it yourself, and then cut it to size, and the cost would be negligible, like so many cents. Make sure you have a white backdrop (a sheet should do--see the guidelines at the passport center website). That is what i will do next time! I told the girl in photos that i needed the picture. She told me where to stand and took my picture. I didn't like it. I asked her to do it over so she did, but i still didn't like it (bad look). She said they could only do 2 passport photos and that i had to choose one. Oh no i don't!!! I don't "have to" do ANYTHING at that store! I don;t have to ever go back there either! What LOUSY customer service! They apparently don't even know what that means! I informed her that customer is Queen, and that is the basic rule of thumb for any business if they want to stay in business. She said "I'm actually not on the clock right now, i'm off for today. So i can't keep taking your picture." I said, "Then please get me someone else, or go back and punch in! YOu shouldn't be working for free!" She said something about that not being possible, or wHatever, and "I have to get somewhere in 20 minutes." I said, "That is not my problem. I need this done right, OK? I am going to have to look at this picture for like the next 8 years, and i don't want some ugly picture that's gonna bother me every time i have to look at it!" She took it once more, but alas, the lighting was not good and she was too close to me. I said "No, not good either." She said "Sorry, that's the absolute last one." So that was it. I said, "Fine. You keep your lousy business. I'm going to Walgreen's about 4 blocks down from here." And so i did. Walgreen's does not have this "2 picture" rule. The Walgreens guy did it over again until he took one that i liked. It's the same price, about $12.00 for 2 passport pictures. Walgreen's ain't gonna get no 5 star rating from me (no corporate chain store is), but at least they have half way decent customer service in the photo department, which is a lot more than i can say for Rotten, lousy, stinking, Sucky old CVS Drugs!!!" read more

I called the store and the automated service told me the store is open until midnight. I drove there and found the store closed at 10:30 PM. The hours posted on the stores window said that it's open until midnight every day. The least they can do is keep the store hours info updated and they failed even that! read more

This CVS is convenient​ and has parking which is​ its two saving graces. Usually, if you want something you have to go on a scavenger​ hunt and your lucky if there is one of every product on the shelf. The fridge section has been broken for three months now. Whenever you do find whatever you need to ​be prepared to spend another ten minutes​ in line. There usually is one person checking the entire store out. The manager, ​Christopher​ is really nice and seems to be doing the best he can although the store routinely​ falls short of what it should. But again there is nearly always parking which is a gift. If you do want something you Safeway across the way seems like too​ much of a commitment you can't beat this CVS. read more

Long lines as usual. Went to look for compostable plastic bags. Nothing found in the entire store. Disgusting, in an age in which we are all breathing plastic and 41% of us will get cancer in large part due to the plastic overload, not to mention the death of animals due to plastics. read more

This CVS had a very odd collection of items and they surprisingly had a CPAP section which was great! Our cashier was Shirley and she was super nice. read more

Oh, Messrs Longs, I do miss you!!!! I love our North Shattuck area, with its wide sidewalks,Cheese and Produce shops, Resaurants of renown, green medial strip, smell of baking pizza, plentitude of banks, Boutique clothing stores. Even if I cannot afford to shop at the Elite Places, I MUST go to a pharmacy. I respected, and was never let down by Long's Pharmacy Department, and always pleased by the prices and the quality of their own brands oftoiletries, pain killers,etc. And CVS didn't seem too bad at first. The pharmacy is good, they are efficient and helpful BBBBBUUUUUTTT,oh, they have made the rest of the store full of aisles and miles of cheap junk. I have tried two CVS toiletry products, and they are so cheap and scented, you feel sure thet must contain some bacteria. ( Or have I been seeing too much TV) Last and almost worst of all, one is subject to positively the most ghastly, junky ersatz music One has ever heard in a public place!!! CVS, you MUST respect that you are in Berkely. Have a bit of marketing sensibility, oh you chain stores. like a read more

I had to go to the North Berkeley CVS last month to get a prescription filled when I was quite ill (it was the only place in the neighborhood open late). There was a particularly airheaded trainee working the prescription intake window that evening. She took more than half an hour just trying to correctly enter my prescription information into their system. Neither she nor the person who should have been training her (but who pretty much just let her drown at my expense) so much as made eye contact with me during the wait, let alone apologized for what turned out to be a significant inconvenience. I was discouraged, but it's not like I expect enthusiastic service from places like CVS (do you?). I kind of doubt that employees there are treated in a way that makes them genuinely peppy and helpful. Anyway, the blase incompetence I experienced that night was nothing compared to the jerk pharmacist I had to deal with on the phone tonight when I called to inquire about an expensive prescription I had filled earlier today that turns out to have three generic equivalents, none of which was mentioned by the pharmacy. I asked him politely about the prescription, and he said, in an extremely condescending tone, "Absolutely not, there are no generics for that." I was puzzled by his tone, but I just said, "Huh. Really? Because I am looking at my health insurance company's formulary right now--" And he cut me off, again in a nasty tone. "That's not our problem. That's your problem. Your doctor didn't order those drugs. You would have to tell your doctor to prescribe a different drug." I haven't talked to my doctor yet, but since my doctor typically calls in scrips advising that generic equivalents can be substituted, I would be shocked if she had insisted on the brand name - especially without telling me. So I asked whether I could return the unopened prescription to CVS and exchange it for a new one, and that's when he launched into a lecture about how I "should have thought of that before" and that the pharmacy "can't go taking back prescriptions - they only have them on the shelves for two weeks at a time [sic?]." I told him that I understood him, and that in my defense, I was dealing with a new insurance company. For some reason this set him off AGAIN with how I should have known and that wasn't his responsibility, etc., etc. He just went off. in a totally unprofessional and creepy way. And now I am going to move all of my prescriptions to a new pharmacy. And never step foot in a CVS again. And neither should you. read more

CVS, it's a new year and time to inter the individual answering the pharmacy phone. I'd called recently to inquire about a prescription that had been in "not ready" state for a few days. I was told that my doctor had not yet responded with approval for the re-refill. My doctor and his support staff are ever cheerfully efficient, but I called to check anyways. I was told that no request for approval had been received from CVS. And since I'd called, the approval would be sent to CVS shortly. I called CVS and for better or for worse, was connected to the same individual, who informed me that she'd just resent the request for approval. And whom would you trust? read more

Fix your store hours online and on display at the front of the store. Showed up 40 minutes before closing and was not let in despite the sign in front of my face saying they closed at midnight every day. read more

I usually Yelp places that I would like to go to, but I RARELY am compelled to write a review about a place. I'm a very nice guy and it takes quite a lot to anger/annoy me. That being said, I would not hesitate a nanosecond to give this place negative stars if I could. Stores, besides price, are all about customer service, and this CVS sorely lacks it. In fact, if ever there were a need to demonstrate how absolutely not to run a business, this CVS would be the perfect example. Avoid this despicable place at all costs. NO joke. read more

Posted on the CVS website and on their door that they are open till midnight. I got there at 11: 235 PM and they are not open. Waste of time. Can't get even the most basic information correct on the website or their door. read more

How is it that seemingly overnight, this once terrific Longs Pharmacy spiraled into the morass that it is, when it re-opened as a CVS? The same staff seems to be under the spell of CVS incompetence and malaise. And the aisles are filled with so much crap, it makes me want to scratch my eyes out. Don't ever go there when you are in a rush. Even if you are sooooo sick you can barely function and need a prescription filled, I guarantee you that they won't have your meds ready or even have a clue where your prescription is. Long's, I really really miss you. read more

Even though I've been at Cal for 3 1/2 years now, I never really found the need to step into CVS until last week. We were in need of some good cheap alcohol, and saw the CVS paper in the email with all of their great deals. As we walked in, I noticed it's a pretty typical CVS. It's all basically the same, with a good aisle or two dedicated to cheap crap. In this case, it was useless Christmas decorations. Anyway, we stocked up on a bottle of Carlo Rossi Sangria for $8.99 and some chips. Now here was the most impressive part. As we were checking out, the cashier was one of the nicest and most sincere generic store workers I've ever met. If I remember correctly, her name was Bernice. For someone who works at such a bland store, she was definitely quite a joy and cracked some of the best jokes I heard that night. Thumbs up for the awesome service at this store! read more

I have never had prescription filled here. So, this review won't help you on that. I have picked up few nothings - snicker bars and other grub and drinks from this store. Service is quick and staff are friendly. I walk by this store every day and they have a really huge parking lot which is almost never full. That is a big plus which anyone in Berkeley would agree. Actually, I have known people who shop here, pick a few things to use the parking and then hop off to Cheeseboard. Recently used it to get a greetings card printed and was amazed at the print job. Just for the print job, I would give them 5 stars. Ordered almost in the morning, more than three hours after midnight, received a message saying pick-up would be ready by 11 in the morning, but then got a notification before 9 saying I could pick-up now. Quick, smooth service and reasonably good print. But yes, don't compare the print here with one of those photo labs. For the price it is good and how many photo-labs would give a 6 hour rush service - and yes, on July 4th ! read more

I wanted to update this review because it's been about a year and the problems I had have mostly disappeared. My partner still uses the Safeway pharmacy (and loves it), but I've stuck it out at CVS. Their service has improved and overall I feel that this branch is now an easy and pleasant place to pick up your prescriptions. Thanks to the CVS staff for seeming to iron out whatever was going on. Score remains the same because this CVS is basically 'a-ok.' read more

Horrible. First they have no record of a prescription. Then they find it, but they're not sure they should fill it. But do they call me? No. They can't be bothered. I was in yesterday and the line to check it had 7 people in it. Ugh. Avoid. Had to return because they take our insurance. Equally horrible. Yuck. read more

I live up the street and don't know why it's rated poorly. They are super fast at the pharmacy and friendly employees. Sometime the lines are a little long around 4-5 but I keep going about once a week for my drug store needs. read more

CVS Pharmacy - Convenience Stores Near Me - BERKELEY, California

For the most part, this is a typical CVS. Sterile, safe, boring, especially in Berkeley. Oh, how I miss Elephant Pharmacy. At least there's ample parking, and the staff is very friendly. I do take issue with the fact that they seem to either (1) not carry items I've seen at other stores (or advertised items) and (2) run out of items very frequently. I understand that it's a small store in a small neighborhood, but when this keeps happening over a long period of time, it gets old. I do like that they're open late. But still. ElePharm. *sigh* read more