CVS Chat Thread

Quote from bliss30 : does anyone have any spare cvs $/$$ coupon that they wont be using this week? not sure, if i can post it here...thanks and appreciated

go to fleebay they have some

Quote from tn_native : I thought your cashier's name appears on the receipt?

Not the name, but I would guess it's coded into the numbers somewhere.

Quote from rydergal : Not the name, but I would guess it's coded into the numbers somewhere.

I guess I'm thinking Publix and Kroger.

Quote from rydergal : 1800 SHOP CVS Or you can use the "Contact Us" link at CVS.com. That was totally uncalled for! Good luck!

Quote from tn_native : I thought your cashier's name appears on the receipt?

Yes, her nunber is on the receipt, I also had to ask for her name as she wore no badge. I would have bought nothing and left all my deals but found one lonely stayfree 16 pack for $.97 and did not want to lose out.. Luckily it did give me a receipt for proof. Thx

Quote from Kalanchoe : Man. So much chatter in the CVS threads lately about SCOs. Are they actually becoming reasonably common now? I've never seen an SCO at a CVS before in my life, and I've CVSed in NC, FL, and Norcal (East Bay). The Norcal ones did blow my mind, since they actually had such things as produce racks with fresh fruits/vegetables, "ethnic foods" aisles with all these different Asian and Hispanic foods, Mexican Pepsi in glass bottles (I had to use a free beverage coupon on that...), and conveyor belts at checkout...but alas, still no SCOs! DBF and I took a trip to Washington D.C. a few months ago, and on our way back to our car from the White House, I spotted this CVS that looked huge. I totally wanted to go in and see if they had SCOs, but DBF wasn't too pleased with that idea, so I never did find out if they did. My usual stomping grounds are in NC, where we didn't even have big red machines for months, maybe years, after most of the rest of the country had already gotten them. For the longest time, out of 4 stores I frequented in my town, only one had a price checker at all (and it was blue, not red!). Funny thing is, even though all my stores do actually have big red machines now, that store with the blue price checker got rid of the blue machine itself, but even now, they still have a big sign hanging from the ceiling saying, "Check price here"...with nothing under it. Anyway, just wondering if the SCOs are actually expanding. Though I guess even if they are, unless CVS decides to roll them out at 100% of their stores, I'll probably never see one in NC anyway.

Quote from couponfairy : No SCO here in Dallas. We do have a CVS pretty much on every corner, but no SCO... I remember in NC it was difficult to find CVS. Had to run all over Raleigh...

No SCOs in Raleigh. I've lived here for 3 years and keep hoping we'll get them. Before moving here I CVS'd in Orlando for 8 years and didn't have them there either. We did have Publix though!

i wonder if it is legal for convenience store owners to purchase their items for resell at cvs (and other stores i presume).

on my first day at the register, i had someone purchase $400 worth of milk and cigarettes all paid in cash.

i was told they always come in to make those purchases. cvs doesn't care because it's sales. but still.

then, on the fourth day, someone else bought about the entire end cap of arizona ice teas that were 2/$1. i did a bunch of transactions, but i didn't really have to. the sale price still came up after i rang the limit of 6.

this can't be right?

Quote from nicalai : i wonder if it is legal for convenience store owners to purchase their items for resell at cvs (and other stores i presume). on my first day at the register, i had someone purchase $400 worth of milk and cigarettes all paid in cash. i was told they always come in to make those purchases. cvs doesn't care because it's sales. but still. then, on the fourth day, someone else bought about the entire end cap of arizona ice teas that were 2/$1. i did a bunch of transactions, but i didn't really have to. the sale price still came up after i rang the limit of 6. this can't be right?

The arizona iced teas --- I am pretty sure absolutely legal.

Milk & Cigarettes are legally restricted/regulated products in most if not all states. I suspect the reseller could be reported to the approp. authority.

Unless you are selling single Cigs -- which again, is illegal in most places --- exactly how do you make a profit reselling cigarettes bought from a legit seller like CVS?

Quote from Rose247 : The arizona iced teas --- I am pretty sure absolutely legal. Milk & Cigarettes are legally restricted/regulated products in most if not all states. I suspect the reseller could be reported to the approp. authority. Unless you are selling single Cigs -- which again, is illegal in most places --- exactly how do you make a profit reselling cigarettes bought from a legit seller like CVS?

exactly. he bought 4 cartons at $76 each. i have heard from my friends at wags, that people used to do that there. but they imposed limits since and don't do it anymore. at cvs, they really didn't care.

Quote from nicalai : i wonder if it is legal for convenience store owners to purchase their items for resell at cvs (and other stores i presume). on my first day at the register, i had someone purchase $400 worth of milk and cigarettes all paid in cash. i was told they always come in to make those purchases. cvs doesn't care because it's sales. but still. then, on the fourth day, someone else bought about the entire end cap of arizona ice teas that were 2/$1. i did a bunch of transactions, but i didn't really have to. the sale price still came up after i rang the limit of 6. this can't be right?

It is amazing, but it happens pretty often. Today I overheard a woman asking to get last week's price on a huge amount of stuff because she 'went out of town on Friday and didn't make it back on Saturday to buy all they wanted. Oh, and she has coupons...the ones they are supposed to put out on the product they are selling.

Quote from Silverball : I'd be very careful about using that recording. It is unlawful in many states to record conversations without the consent of both parties.

It actually is not as unlawful as you might think.

Quote from LuvFreebies : It is unlawful in many states and it depends on the reasoning behind it. Say if it was a recording made in a house between 2 people, you would expect it to remain private, or say an altercation in parking lot, or a store as CVS, where the conversation was not so private and can be heard by other customers and staff. A friend went through a similar episode at a store , where she received racial /bigoted comments by a cashier ..she recorded it, and it was used as evidence..and it was settled out of court. However, same does not apply to each and every scenario.. End of OT..

I would not hesitate to record any conversation that takes place in any state, in any location, if I thought it was needed to protect me. You can always delete a conversation if you find out the law is not on your side in that particular situation.

Quote from bailey327 : Except dirick is in Texas. Not unlawful here. Ran into that from work with legal transcriptions - like a custody dispute where the man had a recorder in his pocket to catch the spouse.

Yep, in Texas it is perfectly legal, even if you call me at my office and start mouthing off to me. I don't have to have a warning on my phone line that your call might be recorded, although many companies in the state still do that.

Quote from dirick : I'm not afraid, and at one point the manager actually asked me if I am an attorney..LOL Nope, but I do have an uncle in Houston who is an FBI officer. I was almost hoping that the little sh!t would have called the police. My point is that I was right, he was wrong, and he couldn't have been more unprofessional about it. Actually, if he'd said something like "i'm not sure about this and i would feel better if we had a chance to ask the store manager about it first" then nothing like this would have ever happened. He was obnoxious, confrontational and arrogant. He started it and then lost in the game of bit@h...

So, does he still have a job? I have a friend who had a similar experience and the guy was fired immediately, on the spot.

Quote from squidgy23 : Actually I would say that you are lucky and would not recommend dealing with staff once they threaten to call the police. While the store is open to the public, it is still private property and tresspassing laws would apply. A store can refuse service to customers if they feel that you have caused a disturbance to their store. Just beware and if there is an issue I recommend not dealing with staff like this and to call and discuss with the store manager at a later time if they are not there at the time.

That's where the beauty of a recording comes into play. If I am totally professional in how I talk to someone, and they are the a-hole, I would politely exit the property with the police officer who was called and share the recording with them. CVS stores have recordings, I would expect the store to also pull those and prove I was causing a disturbance.

Quote from dirick : This is a little OT, but still deal related and I thought sharing this might help someone out there in CVS land, so here goes! Do any of you happen to shop at the CVS in Houston, the one on the corner of Beechnut and Gessner? Well, I was in there about 2am last Saturday morning trying to run the H&S deal and it was a disaster. I has several H&S and the cashier immediately asked if I was going to use a coupon. I replied "yes" and then he said "give it to me", not the least bit polite or nice at all. So I give him the coupon, he scours it looking for a reason to refuse it, then gives it back and starts ringing up my stuff. Once everything has been rung up, the Night Supervisor, Mike, comes over and jerks the coupons out of my hand... Mike: you can't use these Me: why? Mike: because I said so Me: this is perfectly allowable according to your coupon policy Mike: I don't care. Leave now or I will call the police Me: Be my guest, would you like me to dial the number for you? About this time I turned on the voice recorder on my phone and recording him hanging himself from a very tall tree. He admitted that he didn't know the coupon policy, didn't have a copy of it, didn't care what it said, and didn't care what his store manager or corporate would have to say. He also threatened to call the police again and told me that he makes the rules and I'd better leave the store or go to jail. I asked him a few basic questions, just so I would be sure to have them recorded: Me: Are you aware that you have a coupon policy Mike: No Me: Do you have a copy of the coupon policy Mike: No Me: Would you like to see a copy? I can pull it up on my phone for you to read Mike: No, I don't care about a policy. Leave or you will go to jail Me: You do realize that the manufacturer will reimburse CVS for the value of these coupons, correct? Mike: No, coupons are stealing and I send people like you to jail. So after I fed him enough rope to hang himself, I left the store and came back the next morning to speak to the store manager. Store manager went white after he listened to the recording. Then I asked him what corporate would have to say about it, and stated that as the main manager he was responsible for his employees and their actions. End result was that I left the store with 150 bottles of H&S, three large boxes of diapers, and he threw in 100.00 in gas cards for free. Moral of the story, turn on your voice recorder!!!! Disclaimer: I would never have tried to purchase 150 bottles of H&S at one time, but this guy was begging me to take the stuff because he wanted to make sure I didn't turn that voice recording over to the corporate office.

Quote from shaps926 : honestly, if someone EVER treated me like that, I would want to call corporate no matter how much free stuff they gave me. Totally inappropriate and you KNOW that you are totally in the RIGHT!

Quote from dirick : I was very tempted, but the Manger was very nice (even before I handed him his a$$). I still have that recording and if I ever encounter the slightest problem at that store EVER again the recording will be going to corporate. I made this very clear to the manager, and I'm fairly certain he knows I am serious. I actually kinda felt bad for chewing on the manager as much as I did, but I got my point across and I really don't think I will ever have another problem at that store again, coupon or otherwise. My boyfriend was with me both times I went in that store and I think I scared the poor man. He said he's never seen that side of me before and hopes to never see it again. I told him to behave himself and he wouldn't have anything to worry about

Quote from LuvFreebies : It is unlawful in many states and it depends on the reasoning behind it. Say if it was a recording made in a house between 2 people, you would expect it to remain private, or say an altercation in parking lot, or a store as CVS, where the conversation was not so private and can be heard by other customers and staff. A friend went through a similar episode at a store , where she received racial /bigoted comments by a cashier ..she recorded it, and it was used as evidence..and it was settled out of court. However, same does not apply to each and every scenario.. End of OT..

Quote from lunarrainbow : Its really serious to threaten someone with jail. Sounds like you need and attorney. As mentioned, Texas is a two-party state so recordings are legal. Also, CVS stores are open to the public so even in other states a recording might still be legal.

Quote from dirick : I'm not afraid, and at one point the manager actually asked me if I am an attorney..LOL Nope, but I do have an uncle in Houston who is an FBI officer. I was almost hoping that the little sh!t would have called the police. My point is that I was right, he was wrong, and he couldn't have been more unprofessional about it. Actually, if he'd said something like "i'm not sure about this and i would feel better if we had a chance to ask the store manager about it first" then nothing like this would have ever happened. He was obnoxious, confrontational and arrogant. He started it and then lost in the game of bit@h...

Quote from tracysbeans : I would just love to be a fly on the wall when that manager goes to confront that supervisor. If I was a CVS manager and my supervisor said those things to a customer he/she would be out the door on their ass. I could only imagine what the reaction would be if a bunch of big shots at corporate all sat down to listen to that recording. I'm glad you were smart enough to tape the conversation. I would do it regardless if I got in trouble for it in the end. What are they going to do lock me up and throw away the key.

THANK U Dirick for posting this. So, I'm not so crazy after all! I'm (still) going through a very similiar situation though the ending hasn't been as nice as yours so far! I'm 1 step away from suing...I've been debating posting here, since it's a public forum and don't know if they read it.

Short version: 3 weeks ago I was (falsely) accused PUBLICLY of using an 'invalid' coupon on a previous purchase (Gillette BOGO and a non scanning Venus? ) by the Shift Mgr. I turned on my phone recorder right away - legal in my state (I had been told prior by an Employee the reason my region is not scared by calls to Corp is because they will say the Customer was caught trying to steal, cursed at them, threatened violence or some other 'justifiable' behaviour, so always kept that in mind). I went in next day (with folder of receipts, additional coupons etc) to speak to Mgr. He was hostile and aggressive - as if I was a bother and had nerve to question him. He REFUSED to show me the allegedly "invalid" coupons or even really acknowledge what had been said to me the night before. When he realized I was recording him, he demanded to see my phone. I refused stating "It is my personal property and I do not have to show you anything. Please continue". He got really mad and told me to leave the store! I calmly complied (and called CS from outside of store)... Next, I received a call from District Mgr. I was/am appalled! Talking to him was pretty much the same type of conversation Dirick had with "Mike" from above! Beyond being hostile off the bat (he's p1ssed that I recorded the incidents), he wasn't familiar with q policy at all, told me if a mq doesnt scan they don't get reimbursed by mfg and made up a bunch of other inaccurate stuff contrary to CVS policy. I literally said to him "Now, I can understand the issues I had at the store". Anyways, he said he would 'investigate'. Couple days later DM called and told me when he asked the store Mgr to see the (alleged) 'invalid' coupons. The store Mgr said they were fake/copies and he had already sent it into the clearinghouse (hmm, why would they knowingly send supposed fake coupons to clearinghouse???). I asked DM which exactly coupons (remember that since the accusation was been made, I have not gotten a straight answer. I can only assume it's the ones mentioned above, as that's all I used beyond CVS q's)? Mfg or CVS? - he didn't know. Did Mgr say coupons were fake or if they were copies, since there is a difference? - he didn't know. He basically didn't have an answer to any of my questions and with frustration admitted "I don't know! I have no idea what happened. I wasn't there!!". I informed him that this (answers) and all incidents were completely unacceptable and that I would not let the matter of being publicly defamed and slandered rest until it is resolved to my satisfaction. I told CS the same when I reported the dismal results of my convo... Clearly, they're trying to do a game of "cover my butt" and keep digging a bigger hole.

I waited past the 48hrs for the Reg Mgr to contact me and he didn't (possibly on vacation), so personally contacted the Area VP. We have a call scheduled for this week. We'll see how it goes... I'd like to 'think' someone at CVS actually cares about this appalling behaviour. If not, I'm ready to remedy the situation legally to shine the spotlight. I'm making sure that I've given them enough (3) chances to deal with it in-house first, before starting legal proceedings.

QUICK UPDATE: Call with Area VP went really, really well! With update fully once all issues are resolved.

Rydergal, I don't know how you did it while on vacation.... Just bought a 100 year old house, and the last owner did everything possible to remove every bit of character... they painted all the walnut trim white (and did not do a good job), covered all the oak floors (on all 3 floors) with hideous shag carpet, changed all the hardware to brass, etc, etc. So we have been working from 6am-9pm every day to prep everything before we move in and I haven't been to CVS in 5 days... the withdrawl is killing me!

Just to provide some clarification... The following is a list of "2 Party Consent" states (when both parties on the phone/conversation must consent to the recording for it to be legal). If you inform someone they're being recorded and they say they do not authorize it etc, but continue the convo, consent is considered granted. Note, there are exceptions to "2 Party" state law. There is nothing to bar you from recording a convo that you're involved in if you were not aware of the law (wink. See Linda Tripp/Lewinsky) and were using it to protect yourself or do not plan to use for legal purposes. Said convo just may not be admissible in court and is up to a Judge's discretion (usually waived in drug or murder trials). Also, if recording calls is normal routine for a business (even if callers are not informed), you can record calls without liability if you're able to prove it's routine for your business. ... There are minor exceptions for each State.

Two-party consent states:
California
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Massachusetts
Maryland
Michigan
Montana
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Washington

It is illegal in ALL States to record calls or non public discussions (expectation of privacy) in which you are not a party (known as wiretapping)... BUT, regardless of state consent law, face-to-face conversations are not considered private if someone can overhear them without a recording device and/or they are taking place where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy, ie: At the register, a Store employee telling you they will send you to jail or that you used an invalid coupon would be considered 'public' and there is no reasonable expectation of privacy, so regardless of your States recording consent law, you can legally record the conversation (even if you are not a party to it).

If you do not live in the above States, you're pretty much free to record any conversation you are a party to (private or not), regardless of what State the other party is in.

My only question is, what will a legal remedy get you? What do you want?
I totally agree, you should not be accused and defamed. But what is the remedy?