CVS — Local services in Belmont

I am a 62 yr old woman with yrs of experience having scripts filled at retail Pharmacies. I have never seen such a lack of regard for customer care as I recently witnessed at the Belmont CVS, Trapelo Rd. I accompanied my 42 yr old disabled son to CVS Pharmacy. He expressed dread at returning to the pharmacy because of the rudeness he'd experienced from the pharmacy staff earlier that day. There was a mix-up w/ the dose of his new Rx. The Rx he brought to the pharmacy was written for 300mg, it could not be filled at that time w/out prior approval. This CVS pharmacy states: WE don't do that here. 2-wks later my son received approval, a CVS robocall informed him his Rx(s) were ready. At the CVS "pickup" window he learned his new Rx was not filled, he had to go to the "drop-off" window if he wanted that Rx filled. After waiting 20 mins he returned to the "pickup" window. The window was occupied, he waited behind a red line in the carpet for his turn. No one else was waiting in the pharmacy area. As the pickup window became free another man of the same race as the Pharmacy tech walked up to a different red line, parallel to the red line my son was waiting at. The tech called for next in line...my son stepped forward, No!, Not you...You. The tech said as she gestured to the other man to step forward. The man acknowledges that my son was first...The tech said, "It doesn't matter, he wasn't in the right line, so now he has to wait. My son did not argue with such nonsense. He received his medication and left. That evening my son noticed the medicine he received was for 75mg not 300mg. I accompanied him back to CVS w/ his copy of the Rx to sort this out. Mariam, the pharmacist was rude & hostile. She ripped the Rx out of the pharmacy tech's hand as he was reviewing it, she took a quick glance at the top-of the page, looking at the date; it was missing. She declared his Rx invalid. My son was not notified of the missing date when he brought that Rx into be filled 2-wks ago. It was Mariam who told him he needed prior-approval. Mariam was aware the date was missing, she looked to see if the Rx date had been filled-in, falsified. It was not. I asked Mariam if she could call his doctor's office in the morning to sort this out. She said, "NO, it's not a valid Rx." I asked for a copy of the 75mg faxed Rx that came through w/approval. She gave my son a copy of the faxed Rx w/VOID written on the face of the page. We asked to speak w/ the pharmacy manager. We were dumbfounded when Mariam declared she was the pharmacy manager. A we were leaving Mariam demanded we return the faxed copy of the script. Why? It's been filled, it's invalid, it's VOID! Mariam threatened to remove my son's Rxs from their system, [12 Rxs,] if he didn't return the VOIDed faxed Rx to her. The next day my son went to his Neurologist's office to sort this mess out, his doctor was so outraged by what occurred he called CVS himself to say this should never have occurred, CVS should have called his office. He resubmitted a Rx for 300mg. My son was told he was all set. We returned to CVS that afternoon to pickup the Rx. My son was ready to more forward but Mariam would not have it, she told him he could not have his scripts filled at that pharmacy. After my son left his doctor's office, Mariam, the person who would not call to get approval for a new Rx and would not call to get clarification on the discrepancy of the dose, called to inform his doctor's office [after learning a call was made on his behalf and the pharm tech had filled his Rx,] to say they would not be filling anymore of his Rxs at that Pharmacy. The CVS store manager was useless, she told my son he not welcomed there, to please leave. On behalf of my son I reported this incident to Larry Merlo, CEO of CVS, and to the MA Board...

I wonder if anyone reading these reviews has ever had a similar experience at this particular CVS. Store #1848 Located at 264 Trapelo Road in Belmont. On Thursday November 2nd I had received a text message from the Pharmacy to notify me that my prescriptions were ready to be picked up. I arrive at the Pharmacy and 3 out of 4 prescriptions are ready.. The girl at the counter tells me it will take 15 minutes to fill the remaining prescription. An HOUR later I politely ask what the hold up is at which point the head Pharmacist says to me quite loudly and frankly very rudely across the crowded Pharmacy waiting area "You have been taking this PAIN MEDICATION for a very long time, I want to speak with your doctor before I let you have the prescription. At this point I replied to her by saying " I have been coming here for YEARS to get this medication there has never been an issue in the past & if I'm not mistaken you just broke 3 HIPAA regulations now that the entire store knows my name & what medications I am taking" To which she replied (hand to god this is NOT an exaggeration or a fabrication) "Look Mr X@X@X@X@, I have had a long day, We are very busy My brain is fried and I am not filling this prescription until I get verification from your Doctor" I pointed out that the prescription being there combined with the fact that I have receiving this medication from this Pharmacy with a pain management contract should be sufficient enough. I also had to remind her that she is a Pharmacist & NOT a Physician.. Still she refused to fill the prescription and said "I tried to call the Doctors office and got no answer so I don't know what to tell you, Maybe try again tomorrow" At this point even the other customers in line behind me started to raise their eyebrows and make comments. I called my Doctor directly while I was in line and once he was on the line I leaned over the Pharmacy counter and handed her my personal cell phone & said "I have the doctor on the line, He would like to have a word with you" They had a very brief exchange of words at which point she begrudgingly filled the prescription and slammed it down on the counter with quite an attitude. It is now Saturday November 4th (2 days later) I will be going into the store today to request that management review the video / audio from my visit so that they can see first hand that this account of what happened is not exaggerated or fabricated to fit "My narrative" before I contact my lawyer for her breech of HIPAA regulations. Three doors down from this location is a lovely little Pharmacy called Belmont Pharmacy where I will be taking my business from this point on. I am also encouraging ALL of my friends, family, neighbors and ANYONE who has ever had an even remotely similar experience at this Pharmacy to do. Also, if you've ever tried to call this Pharmacy to ask a simple question then I am sure you have experienced the 45 to 60 minute MINIMUM wait time on hold to speak to a Pharmacist... If Google offered a ZERO star review I would not have been so kind to give this CVS location the MORE THAN GENEROUS 1 star that I had to give them. Happy...

This was the worst vaccination facility I've ever seen. I booked a kids COVID vaccine for my child here. We checked in online like the text message said but thankfully we also got in the vaccination check-in line because at this store, you have to do that even after the online check in.

The staff told me to wait off to the side for a pharmacist to call our name. But everyone waiting for a vaccine was in a line where the pharmacist was giving out shots without calling any names, just first come first served. I stood in that line for an hour and I've never seen someone move so slowly than that pharmacist; I seriously questioned whether he was on drugs. It took him about 8 minutes per person.

Finally, a different pharmacist relieved him and she decided to call people in the order they were registered. And a bunch of people who registered online realized that they weren't actually registered even though they'd been sitting in line with us for the last hour because they hadn't also checked in in person

When we finally got in front of the pharmacist to get our shot, she explained that they didn't have any child vaccine doses onsite. Even though we booked this appointment online, got confirmation messages, checked in online and checked in in person with a staff member, they still managed to screw up and waste our time.

My kid and I did not enjoy waiting in a crowded noisy store for over an hour....