CVS Incident
January 8, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under customer service, shopping
Tuesday I went to CVS to pick up some things that we needed. We live out in the boonies and there really aren’t a whole lot of choices for stores. I like CVS for sale items, but when you’re looking for specific things it certainly isn’t the thriftiest choice. I also decided on CVS because sometimes they have some bargains that are too good to pass up.
I selected the things I needed and then decided to purchase some vitamins because they were buy 1 get 1 free. Wouldn’t you know it that there was only 1 package of the vitamins I wanted. I looked around at the different selections and decided I needed the odd ball package.
I took the vitamins up to the front of the store and the store manager was standing there so I asked him what they could do. Do you know what he told me? He said that they would ring up two packages of vitamins and they would give me a raincheck for the free one, since I wasn’t paying for it anyway and it was free. Then he said something about me not buying the second one and not paying for it, once again mentioning it was free. He wanted me to buy the one and pay full price for it, give me a ticket stating that I was entitled to a free one, and come back later to pick it up. Maybe I’m too much of a tightwad, but I have an issue with this.
1) Don’t tell me I’m not paying for the item. If the item is advertised as buy 1 get 1 free, then I am paying for it. It’s part of THEIR sale. I didn’t make up the sale price, THEY did.
2) Don’t act like you’re doing me a favor by letting me have the second package for free. Yes, once again, they’re the ones that set up the price.
3) Is it really that much trouble to give it to me for 1/2 price? Any other store would have made the extra effort and allowed their customer to leave happy.
4) They gave me a ticket for a raincheck stating that the item was buy 1 get 1 free and then they wrote “free” at the top. Who’s to say that I didn’t write free at the top of the ticket? Am I going to have problem redeeming my free bottle?
Errrr. Sorry. This just rubbed me the wrong way. Am I overreacting or would you have been annoyed too?
I think you are overreacting just a bit. Sorry. Just take the rain check and enjoy going the next time and getting your free vitamins. I am sure, having been shopping and eating out with you before, the manager will remember you.
Love you, girl!
Actually, I didn’t give the manager a hard time the first time. I simply told him that there was only one package and asked what to do.
Now today’s incident is another story . . .
On Tuesday the cashier told me they were getting in a truck and to check back later in the week. I drove out there today and got some of ECB bargains and there were no vitamins!!!! And yes, they already got a truck in. I wasn’t going to say anything but then as I was going up to the register I saw the manager. I said, “I came to get my vitamins.” He said, “Oh good. Did you get them?” I said, “No. You don’t have any.” He said, “Well, I’ll go back there and make sure I order them this time so that we’ll have them.” Then this time I said, “It would have made more sense to give them to me at half price rather than having me drive out here so much.” He didn’t say anything. Not once did he apologize for the inconvenience or anything. I’m sorry, but when I worked with the public, I took responsibility for my company’s mistakes and other employees’ mistakes. Apologizing to the customer for their inconvenience and trying to correct things is the right thing to do.
I have to weigh in here, karen. I can understand your annoyance, but I have gotten rainchecks for advertised items that were out of stock. I love CVS rainchecks. You get the sale price (one of mine, like yours, was free), you get to keep your eyes open for a coupon to use on top of the raincheck, and they NEVER expire!
So, no, I would not have been annoyed to be given a raincheck. I would have been annoyed the second trip, though.
Karen, I’m WITH YOU.
You know what — if we don’t make issues of things like this, then it’s easier for people to take advantage of those who are afraid to speak up.
Sometimes even though you feel like you’re making a big deal out of nothing, it’s good to point it out, regardless. What if the customer was a new immigrant to this country who couldn’t speak much English? What if the customer was a poor single mom who didn’t have a lot of self-confidence and was easily cowed by condescension?
It’s for these reasons (people) that sometimes I will make a deal out of something.
Call a spade a spade.
This manager didn’t do it right.
And the customer is always right.
And YOU are RIGHT.
I don’t think I’ve made myself clear on this, so I’ll explain a little further.
I’ve already paid for the second item. When I go back in to pick it up, I show my ticket saying that I’ve already paid for it and they’ll give it to me. Hopefully I won’t lose my ticket, hopefully the lady won’t give me a hard time about having the ticket, and hopefully some day they’ll have it in stock.
Wow Heidi. Let me remember to call you if I need back up.
BTW, I’ve already made the second trip out there and still don’t have the vitamins. How many more trips am I going to make before I actually receive them? If the manager was customer service oriented, then he would order the vitamins, write down my name and number, and call me when they come in.
AMEN.
I said it before and will say it again …
You are soooo in the right on this.
Write a letter to the CVS CEO, seriously.
Ugh, yes, I hate it when store employees don’t have any common sense. It’s not “free” – it’s exactly the same as paying 50% of the price. And yet, like me, no doubt you’ll be heading back to CVS – because they really do have amazing deals …
Karen,
I agree with you 100%. At the CVS I worked for, we always gave the item for half price if we didn’t have 2. The manager there is very rude. I would ask for the corporate office phone number and complain. My corporate office gave $25 dollar gift cards as apologies, that nay make up for somew of the gas you spent going back and forth. Worth a shot atleast. Good Luck!
I think you’re overreacting. It’s an item you didn’t make the trip for in the first place. It would make sense to give it to you half price but the raincheck is perfectly fine. Instead of wasting gas to go see if it’s there yet, you could just call and have them set aside the 2nd bottle? Maybe “free” is just the guys personal verbage for those sales, it’s nothing to get upset about. A bottle of vitamins is just not that deep.
And with that said, this is my first comment but I enjoy reading your blog
Easy to say one is overreacting when it’s not your time or money involved.
Wow, this whole discussion is so fascinating to me. What is most fascinating is how everyone is divided over whether Karen “over-reacted.” (For my part, I do NOT think she over-reacted.)
I agree with Marie. It’s easy to judge when you are not wearing the shoes at the time of the incident.
Sometimes I let things go like this, and if I do it usually has to do with the attitude of the other person — whether he/she was courteous, kind, apologetic, sincere.
Sometimes despite their disposition, I still have to make a case, just on principle.
We don’t know how Karen felt when this manager was making this “arrangement.” Maybe she picked up non-verbal cues from him that rubbed the wrong way. Or maybe for her it is simply the principle.
Either way, let’s not judge.
Different things upset different people. What matters is that when you’re upset, how do you react? How do you carry yourself? And what do you decide to do about it?
Just because you express yourself or maybe even protest the action does not necessarily mean you’re “over-reacting.” It just means that this is what you have to do to resolve it, in your way.
Karen, I think you handled it great.
And everyone else, please get off Karen’s back. If you encounter something like this in the future and handle it with the finesse of Jacki O, bravo and let’s hear about it. Otherwise, please let Karen fight the battle the way she wants.
Just had to say it.
Heidi Rafferty
Harrodsburg, Kentucky
In their defense, I did ask what they thought.
I am basing my aggravation on
1) The guy acted like he was doing me a favor and said twice that I was not paying for the item, that I was getting it for free.
2) He hasn’t apologized for the inconvenience and I’ve been to the store twice.
3) He hasn’t offered to write down my name or save the item when it comes in.
4) He just didn’t seem very customer oriented.
There have been plenty of times where I’ve been in a store that is having buy 1 get 1 free items and when they only had 1, the store would give it to me for half price. Or they would give me a raincheck to come back and get it later at my convenience. I didn’t have to purchase the item first and then come back to pick it up later.
Karen,
You know there’s always going to be someone that has something to say about something.
You know in your heart how you truly feel about what happened and what should happen to rectify the situation.
That’s al that matters.
One thing that BOILS MY EGG is when I’m feeling some type of way about something and people tell me to ‘calm down’ or ’stop over-reacting’
areyoukiddingmerightnow? Telling me how to feel about something? Really?
Ok, I’m done.
I FINALLY got my other box of vitamins last night. And it was the last box!
Oh. My. Gosh.
You are kidding, right? How many weeks has it been?
I hope you’ve written a letter to corporate about this and pointed out that you’ve also BLOGGED about it.
Oh and bravo to Tanyetta — you said it all so well!
This whole blog entry and experience of yours and the reactions you’ve received have been so interesting to me.
Will you ever shop at this place again? That’s the question I have.
But I wouldn’t judge you negatively if the deals were too good to still pass up, ha ha. After all, as my dad used to tell me, “Take the money to the bank and run, regardless of the injustice.”
Heidi: After a few tries, I decided not to go back in there looking for it until I was ready to shop. I decided I wasn’t going to continue wasting my time and gas until I needed to. I knew it was only going to make me angry!
I finally went back in there this week because they had Colgate buy 1 get 1 free and I had some $1 coupons. I got the Colgate for 50 cents each! It is hard to turn down a bargain.
Had it been a higher ethical issue, I probably wouldn’t have returned. I can’t punish all of CVS for one person’s stupidity. If that were the case, I would never step in another Wal-Mart or Target.
About contacting CVS – I haven’t contacted them yet. If they didn’t have it in stock again this time I would have. If they’re smart about their PR, they’re probably reading the blogs.
BTW Heidi, have you thought about putting some ads on your site? It would help generate some income. I gave Tanyetta a little nudge with that issue too.
)
Hi Karen!
Thanks for the idea about ads on my blog site. I did think about it but was conflicted … only because my blog topic is about giving away our money and religious issues. I felt a little squeamish about ads tied to that. But maybe I could find ads that would be for groups that could benefit from them and then donate any proceeds accordingly. That might actually be a good idea, especially if my readers know about it.
Hmm, you’ve got me thinking now … hmm ….
Heidi: You could try Amazon affiliates. That allows you to put up images of books that YOU like and recommend into posts or your sidebars. I think that route would totally work for you.
I had no idea! Thank you. I will definitely check into it.
Wow, okay so you should’ve got a Buy one get one FREE right? So they should’ve only rang you up as one, ie the price it was being advertised for. Yes a FREE coupon I would’ve expected for the raincheck. Sounds like you got it though so happy to hear it. I haven’t had much experience with mine yet. Wish me luck, I plan on going this weekend.