Sadly, it seems that all the major pharmacies have been going downhill for the past few years, including CVS. While it is still better than Walgreens in some aspects, such as in many close locations, the prices keep increasing & service keeps degrading.
Due to the bidding process, Walgreens & Optimum Rx is the preferred pharmacy for my insurance, even though it is a 1/2 to 45 minute drive to get to one. For monthly or one time fills, we can still go to CVS or Rite Aid.
As with the other pharmacies, most other store brand products have gone way up in price to match the price escalations of brand names. This seems especially true for Dry Eye drops, where even the CVS brand costs about $8 for just 1/2 oz.. OTC products & other products have all gone up a lot, but so has Costco.
While the Pharmacists are still generally helpful & friendly, the CVS "system" & front desk system has degraded. Recently, it took two trips & several phone calls to have them finally "figure" out that a certain prescription was no longer produced. There was a series of mistakes made by the front desk, where they kept giving us the wrong answer. First they said that it would be ready in a day. Then the story changed to that they had to call the MD's office. Then, after I cancelled the order, they called again to see if another Rx could be substituted...and so on. Ironically, initially I did at first try their automated on-line refill system. It appeared that quite often, the front desk clerks seemed either not read nor understand the data that was already present on the computer.
In general, it really seems evident that to get a more coherent answer is to ask to speak to the pharmacist either over the phone or in store.
While they used to have a decent system for reminding you of refills via calls or texts, even that has limitations. Sadly, Walgreens is even worse.
Ironically, as almost all Rx has gone way up in price, it seems that pharmacies get less of the profits, so they decrease the number of workers in response. It seems that the middle-men & insurance companies are really ripping all of us off, even for cheap low quality Rx from China or India.
Recently, they have now found a fourth Carcinogen in common BP Rx from these third world countries [the -sartan group of meds.]. Our FDA seems to be almost useless in policing foreign sources, yet they still have the nerve to say that they are FDA approved. What a sad joke!
While it is not specifically CVS's nor other pharmacy's "fault" that our FDA & system is so horrid, they still could make the public aware of this. Since they also put profits before care, we rarely see any warnings from Pharmacies about the dangers of contamination for both brand name or generics. The only indication of these many repeat incidents are sporadic recalls that appear in the news. After awhile, one sees repeats & after checking the FDA website & some Goggle-work, you can see the huge scope of these chronic problems.
It is also horrifying to note that one is not even safe with name brand Rx, since the chemical itself may have been produced on the cheap in another country that has few or no regulations. One would incorrectly assume that the Big Pharma companies would manufacture their brand name compounds in either the US or in Europe.
The situation is even worse for OTC ointments & such, since only the company is on the label, not the source of the compounds. One has to somehow foolishly "trust" these untrustworthy poorly regulated multinational corporations that seem all about profit.
The FDA has always been problematic & has a history of being very cozy with Big Pharma. The current administration has taken pride in cutting tons of regulations, which removes even more safety measures meant to guard us from dangerous chemicals or drugs. They have done very little to curb the wild increase in costs to consumers, while doing nothing to insure that we get what we think we paid for.
I surely do not pay top dollar to get drugs contaminated by Cancer causing chemicals or other chemicals. The FDA has almost zero enforcement or oversight over the 3,000+ drug producers all over the world. Rarely, even if the FDA knows about horridly poor factories, they only send a warning letter or two...or may do a limited recall. After the recall, those very same factories do not seem to improve & the FDA does serial recalls without addressing the real problem. In fact, the FDA is toothless and it is unclear if they have significant real enforcement over any company.
While CVS is not responsible for much of this, they also do not seem to do much to educate the public, nor lobby the FDA or Feds, to regulate. I did not see one notice of any recall in the store.
To be fair, even though CVS has it it's limitations, I still go here. I do find that most of the Pharmacists are friendly & helpful. Thank you! read more
