Short of escorting me from the store…

So today I went to CVS to get a few things. I can’t say what just in case someone reads this.

The key point here is that the customer service I got today at CVS was the worst I’ve gotten anywhere in a while.

I have only been into CVS a handful of times. There are a variety of reasons:
» They just aren’t convenient. Until recently, they haven’t been super close. They had inconvenient hours to even go check them out and what not. Now, they’re on the other side of the road, so unless I catch it on the way back home…
» They run out of the popular sales items before Wednesday rolls around and the sale runs until Saturday.
» I think that their prices are higher on most things. Relatively speaking, comparing prices on the shelves.
» I don’t totally get how the Extra Care Bucks are supposed to work to get all the stuff that so many people get for free…

All of that aside, I have not enjoyed my experiences with CVS thus far. They haven’t been bad, mind you…

Until today, I couldn’t say that CVS was an awful place to shop. Most my complaints have been about (1) the price “usually” being higher compared to other places and (2) being out of the advertised items when I’ve gotten there on Monday or Tuesday and the sale is supposed to run until Saturday night. That’s just crappy.

Yes, I’ve had complaints, but who doesn’t want to complain when you’re out of Diet Coke and it is ON SALE at CVS and with the Extra Care Bucks back on it, you can get other items you also needed, and well…They have no Diet Coke and it is only Tuesday evening. Come on people! The only reason I stopped at CVS that particular night was to get the Diet Coke! I didn’t want to go to another CVS to get them because there wasn’t another one “nearby” like there are Kroger stores…or Walgreen’s…I just needed Diet Coke, that was all.

Today took the icing clean off the cake and dropped the cake on the floor so even it wasn’t edible. You’d think that I was clueless or something. The last time I checked in the mirror, however, I was not labeled “stupid” or anything of that nature. Nope, no red stamp on my forehead.

I do my research. I knew that if I went in for these particular things that I was going in for (which shall remain nameless) and I got them in a particular order/combination with the advertised Extra Care Bucks back, I could spend a lot less on all of them than I would anywhere else even with the coupons that I had.

I was going in for 8 items.
I have 8 coupons.
The coupons read “Limit 1 per purchase.”
The coupons are for the purchase of 1 item represented on the said coupon.

I set my first items on the counter – 2 of the same items. Remember I had 8 items with 8 coupons. I have my ECB I acquired during the summer (I do like their coupon machine that spits out things) and my 2 coupons that say “for the purchase of any 1 item”. The cashier says that she can’t take both coupons. What?!?!? I read the coupon again. Yep, “per purchase” not “per transaction.” I hear this “we can’t take them both at the same time.” I am livid.

Come on people! The grocery store across the street will as well and I used a LOT of identical coupons just last night. So will the Wal-mart not even 2 miles down the street. And Target around the corner from them. I am sure Walgreen’s would love to separate me from more of my money than they already do.

I mean, this is not something that I haven’t done lots of times before. So long as I have exactly what the coupon says I need (1 item in this case) and I have as many items as I have coupons, I can use as many as I want. I hear this whole spill about “how the manufacturer only wants you to buy 1 so that everyone can enjoy their products. That is the policy given by the manufacturer.” What?!?!? Do I have “clueless” written on my forehead at this point?

The manufacturer wants me to use as many coupons as I want to spend money on items…the more coupons I have the more likely I am to buy an item if the price is right. Oh wait, I have forgotten that we are dealing with a society that has some sort of stigma about coupons and how they don’t really save you that much money and that isn’t really the point anyway as they are just to get you to “try” something.

Oh yeah, I am raising a stink at this point. She does push it through complaining about how “if she got in trouble she’d just deal with it.” I guess she didn’t realize that I still had 6 items in my cart and she’d be dealing with it again in a second. This was for Palmolive dish soap. I can say that as the nameless person won’t care that I bought dish soap.

Now the other items I am about to purchase are not from the same manufacturer. First thing is that the signs are clearly marked, all the products I grabbed are $5.99 each. I double checked because a lot of the items were marked $12.99 and I didn’t want any surprises at the counter as I was trying to stay as close to the required $15 as possible. I didn’t want to get to the counter with $25 worth of stuff.

One of them didn’t ring up at $5.99 like marked. It rang up at $2.99. GREAT! Even more savings! The problem? I wasn’t paying close enough attention to see the screen as she was doing it so quickly. I didn’t catch it soon enough… Again, same problem with the coupons. Again, I can’t imagine that they only want me to buy 1 of their item. I have my $2 ECB from the previous purchase and $3 off in coupons she wasn’t going to push through for me this time. I am making a bigger stink at this point (and before I’ve realized that the product rang up less than I needed).

The manager comes over. GREAT! We might actually get somewhere. Again, same type of argument telling me how coupons work about how they can’t accept more than 1 coupon even if I am buying 3 items and I have 3 coupons. Yadda yadda yadda. The manager does finally force the $3 in coupons to go through. I give $2 in ECB to them. I pay my $10 and change. No ECB print out.

I was even madder now as this was primarily why I came into the store in the first place. I hear this “I can’t charge you more than what the computer says.” GREAT, don’t charge me more, but please MAKE SURE YOUR SIGNS ARE CORRECT!

Then she wants to argue about how she can’t charge me more and is giving me this crap (disbelieving look) about how I much I must be out of my freaking mind because I want to pay $3 more for an item than it rang up. No, I don’t want to pay more, I simply want your signs to match the computer so that when I grab 3 items at $5.99 to add up to greater than a $15 purchase, that I have $15 when I get to the register! At the very least have the decency to say that one rang up differently and would I like to add something else to it. They are the same line of products and type of products in that line, you’d think they’d be clued in enough to figure out that I was trying to get that $15 deal and I was short all the sudden…the computer did not match the signs. Yeah, I’ve got steam coming out of my ears at this point. I was glad the price was less on that item, but had I “known” it was less I would have grabbed another one and saved us all the confrontation on that all together.

So we’re down to the last 3 items. I grabbed 2 more of these items simply because of the ECB I was supposed to be getting from the previous purchase, I had more coupons, and I was smart enough to figure out that I needed to have no less than the value of the ECB to redeem them. The 2 extra items combined with my coupons would be about $1 over that. Yay, go me! I’m not clueless after all.

I knew someone (who will remain nameless) would be so happy come Christmas time. I am happy as I was spending only a tiny chunk of the cash I have been stashing after grocery trips (the remaining balance on my weekly budget) and I was whittling away at a great Christmas present for someone.

Again, the whole coupon thing comes up. I have 3 items (not even identical) and I have 3 coupons that require me to buy 1 item (each) to use them. Fortunately, the manager went ahead and granted me my $5 I was shorted on the ECB and even pushed the remaining 3 coupons through, reiterating how “it is not their policy to take multiple coupons of the same item at the same time and they couldn’t do it again.” Gee, I think she was trying to shut me up as there is now a line and I am still clearly upset…she obviously wants me out of the store, if she gives me what I want, I’d leave.

I even have the manager telling me that it is not their intention that I have a bad experience when I come into their store and I left with her business card and a request that I call her with any questions or complaints so that she can make my experience better next time. What? You want there to be a next time?! Why, so you can disappoint me yet again? I still have $2 ECB to spend. I might go in for something that is $2 plus tax and that will be all. I am not sure that I would favor “running in real quick” at CVS over “running in real quick” at Walgreen’s. I don’t have to be inconvenienced getting to Walgreen’s.

See they say if you have good customer service you will tell 3 people, but if you receive bad customer service you will tell at least 10 people.

Let’s see:
» I was up to 6 before I posted that I had a bad experience on my status on Facebook where I have 110 friends.
» I was up to 7 before I posted about my bad experience on a “private” parenting internet forum with about 65 registered users.
» I was up to 8 before I typed up this long post about my bad customer experience at CVS and posted it here on my blog (it does have a few readers).

That’s all before a full 24 hours have passed since I have experienced that bad trip into the store. So you tell me…is that “saying” true?