CVS Stores: ECB's and ridiculous policies - BEWARE
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CVS has really implemented some ridiculous policies since the first of the year which are big turn offs and very consumer unfriendly.
Let me explain:
Example One:
Let’s say you buy a $15 make up item with ECB’s expiring in 2 days. You get home, and the wife tells you ‘wrong color, wrong item…whatever’. You go back a few days later to exchange it for the right thing and well…you can’t. They scan the receipt and the item, tell you it has no value. can’t even exchange it for the right item.
Example Two:
You’re at the store buying an ECB item…you grab the wrong item by mistake, buy it with $/$$ Q and ECB, no ECB prints out. You realize oops, item isn’t the right one. Ask to return/rebuy, they want to give you back hardly anything because of how the Q’s have hit the receipt.
Example Three:
Have a CVS e-mail coupon that the bar code doesn’t print out well on…they go to scan it. won’t scan. Even though Q is valid. Before the cashiers had a way to manually input for a CVS coupon to reduce the total. No more. Legit CVS Q won’t scan? TOUGH.
General stuff: Some stores will tell you to do a no-receipt return, then they want your Drivers License. Not wise to get dinged for a $5 return using your DL since CVS tracks this crap (and likely other merchants)
They do have a ‘print coupon’ key where they can print you out extra bucks manually, so if you haven’t gotten ECB’s when you should have OR it was their error (say ECB sign in front of item that specific size/color, etc didn’t qualify for and they don’t print) insist they print it out for you since you can’t return/rebuy it without getting screwed.
FINALLY! CVS often e-mails out a survey after your store visit. I HAVE STARTED GIVING ZEROS (how likely are you to recommend?) and reaming them on the survey about these absurd policies. If I have a receipt with items I purchased that I need to exchange or return for whatever reason, I expect to get the value back, at the very least as store credit to use on another item.
Don’t ding the store (I give a neutral score on the store and write in 'store is fine, it’s corporate policy that is making store visits unpleasant).
Cashiers have told me that they are getting tons of flak from customers, people taking it out on them, which is the typical thing that happens. Make some poor minimum wage cashier the whipping post for your nonsense ripping customers off IMO.
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I don’t shop there often anymore. I don’t like the new receipts that reduce the cost of the item after ecb’s, etc. Now those receipts are useless for rebates if you want the full price back. My Rite Aid is gone, so now the drugstore pickings are slim. At least Kroger is still in the game here with free and cheap stuff, for now.
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Agree. That is why I rarely shop at CVS anymore. That is probably their way of trying to get rid of the coupon shoppers that they probably lose money on. Rite Aid has much better consumer friendly policies all around. A much better shopping alternative if you have one in the area. Shame on you, CVS.
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@MrVietnam any CVS coupons that won’t scan my cashiers simply use the print ECB button and issue a new ECB for the amount. In all the years I have shopped at CVS I think I have done 4 return/rebuys.
2“Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”
― Mark Twain
1 Reply
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@mrvietnam said in CVS Stores: ECB's and ridiculous policies - BEWARE:
Agree. That is why I rarely shop at CVS anymore. That is probably their way of trying to get rid of the coupon shoppers that they probably lose money on. Rite Aid has much better consumer friendly policies all around. A much better shopping alternative if you have one in the area. Shame on you, CVS.
Yes, but to my mind, it’s more than just a coupon issue. they are basically ‘scamming’ people in that they don’t even follow their own return/exchange policy.
Remember, most ECB’s you earn are funded by the manufacturer, therefore when you redeem them, they get paid back from the manufacturer. (says clearly on the ECB “for buying Crest” or “schick razors” or whatever). so CVS is getting their money but suddenly your ECB is worthless if you need to return the item, or even worse, can’t even do an even exchange if you got the wrong size, colors, variety, whatever?
People on SD giving me grief, and I’m like, no. Don’t tell me if I’m doing an even exchange IN THE SAME SALES WEEK, that I now owe you $7 to get a different type of shampoo because I paid with ecb/manu coupons, etc. It is total BS. CVS is getting paid on all those items, so now you have to fork over more money when you’ve already PAID for it in full?
They are RIPPING CONSUMERS OFF, plain and simple IMO. I hope it winds up being a class action suit against them.
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@couponclippen said in CVS Stores: ECB's and ridiculous policies - BEWARE:
@MrVietnam any CVS coupons that won’t scan my cashiers simply use the print ECB button and issue a new ECB for the amount. In all the years I have shopped at CVS I think I have done 4 return/rebuys.
However, remember a few things… (that still is not as good)
you wind up paying the sales tax in states where sales tax is reduced by coupon use. You are now saddled with yet another ECB you have to use by expiration. While it’s better than losing the coupon value obviously, it still makes more sense to let the cashiers have the ability to manually put a CVS coupon on to the order.
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@mistercheap pre-coupon tax State. CVS ECB deal shopper for 15 years and never had one I didn’t/couldn’t use.
2“Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”
― Mark Twain
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@couponclippen said in CVS Stores: ECB's and ridiculous policies - BEWARE:
@mistercheap pre-coupon tax State. CVS ECB deal shopper for 15 years and never had one I didn’t/couldn’t use.
Pretty much the same BUT, overall, my strategy at CVS is to keep my OOP to a minimum using ECB’s. not paying OOP just to get reimbursed an ECB. I guess that’s where the issue is for me when in the past, they could easily input manually a $3 CVS coupon towards the spend.
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CVS has become a disgusting, customer-ripping company, period! They use their coupons or extra bucks to entice the clueless customers in and then rob them blindly. I really wish there will be a class action against them!
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@niniss said in CVS Stores: ECB's and ridiculous policies - BEWARE:
CVS has become a disgusting, customer-ripping company, period! They use their coupons or extra bucks to entice the clueless customers in and then rob them blindly. I really wish there will be a class action against them!
you should read the horror stories people are posting in the SD thread.
an example:
Customer bought 2 shampoos, cashier scanned one bottle twice (charged for 3), paid with coupons/ecb’s etc.
So after receipt prints, sale over, realizes charged for item not even on order. they gave them back less than the item rang up because of the receipt calculation nonsense. I mean that is just crazy.
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@mistercheap perfect reason to go elsewhere. I stopped shopping there since I would lose the little slips of eb. I shop mainly at ShopRite and Walmart. Their prices are cheaper even with the CVS extra bucks. And CVS is constantly OOS.
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@barrytuneup said in CVS Stores: ECB's and ridiculous policies - BEWARE:
@mistercheap perfect reason to go elsewhere. I stopped shopping there since I would lose the little slips of eb. I shop mainly at ShopRite and Walmart. Their prices are cheaper even with the CVS extra bucks. And CVS is constantly OOS.
Losing the ECB to my mind was never an issue, BUT being cheated out of the their value when you try to exchange or return items for very legit reasons irks me to end. they send me $6 off $30 Q’s pretty often, if there’s a mm deal involved, I go for it, otherwise, I don’t shop there to pay their otherwise high prices.
