Tuesday, January 15, 2013

You Really Don't Make Me Feel Very Special

Dear CVS Specialty Pharmacy,

I hate you.

After you very nearly ruined my Christmas, somehow it is already time to call you again and request another refill of Enbrel. So here's how that went:

After pressing "4" for "Rheumatoid Arthritis," my call started out with 9 minutes (not an exaggeration) of crappy jazz music, interspersed with the occasional "your call is very important to us, please stay on the line" nonsense. 

Then the phone probably rang 20 times. I was about to hang up and try calling back when a very unenthusiastic employee finally picked up.

I said hello and told her that I would like to order a refill of my Enbrel. She asked for my last name, which I gave her and spelled. She asked for my first name, which I gave her and spelled. She asked for my birthday, which I gave her. She asked me to verify my mailing address, which I did. She told me to hold on.

It was at this point that OZL woke up from his nap and started screaming. I tried to finish my phone call before going to get him - we had to be almost finished, right?

Wrong. When she came back, she asked when I would like the shipment delivered. I said I would prefer tomorrow or Thursday. She asked if I had any medication left. I told her I did not. She asked when my next dose was supposed to occur. On the advice of one of my readers, I lied and said Friday (it's really Monday but I didn't feel like cutting it as close as last time.) 

Then she asked me to verify my mailing address. And I said, wait...didn't I just do that a minute ago? And she quite rudely said I hadn't. So, instead of arguing with her, I gave her my address again. And she went away again. 

When she finally came back she said I would receive it tomorrow. Then she hung up.

The whole interaction took almost 20 minutes. And I have to say that I'm not feeling very confident that my Enbrel will actually arrive tomorrow. 

Here's to hoping it actually comes this time. And here's to hoping I can find time this month to call my insurance and ask if I can switch back to Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy instead - because they sent me my Enbrel automatically every month with none of this nonsense.

4 comments:

Melissa said...

I feel so fortunate that my pharmacy is so awesome. All of the pharmacists know me and they are all super nice.

I can't imagine having to deal with that on top of everything else!

SLOCoaster said...

I'm guessing CVS has a FB page. Post your experience. Worth a try.
:(

Anonymous said...

So sorry about your experience. When I used Enbrel and Humira, I had excellent and timely service from Walgreen's specialty pharmacy.
Andrew

Anonymous said...

I have had similar issues with CVS Caremark. I have complained and gotten no where. My local CVS pharmacy had told me that they issue it since my insurance covers them and I already pick up my 3 month prescriptions there but I have not tried this option. I am thinking about it, however. -Lana