1. Skip to navigation
  2. Skip to content
  3. Skip to sidebar

Consumer Affairs


Is this your Business?

Caremark RX Inc


Consumer Complaints & Reviews

It is my opinion that the customer service personnel are rude and discourteous, and possibly under-trained in the field of customer satisfaction. There have been multiple incidents of them intentionally disconnecting my phone calls, as I try to establish a prescription refill. Sometimes, they would disconnect me several times in the course of one day (05-22-12 incident: Rose, ID# **). After the several disconnects, I grew impatient and sought to speak with a management official and not a representative. I spoke with Kimberly, ID # ** and she assured me she was in the management and proceeded to complete my transaction and she promised me to report the aforementioned service rep.

I requested that my order be shipped via US mail. Upon receiving them on the 18th of May, I noticed that there was a hole in the safety envelope/mailing package. After I raised this issue to customer service, they reissued my prescription, but this time shorting it by 90 pills. My doctor's orders are clear in that I am to take two pills daily for 90 days. This is not the first incident of this nature. These combined frustrations are a difficult and unnecessary chore. There's no reason why I should have to re-instruct supposedly qualified individuals as to what my medical orders are and when mistakes are made. I would hopefully expect (and at this point, demand no less than) a responsible and courteous resolution.

You are undoubtedly aware of how important a knowledgeable and courteous customer service staff is. They are your representatives. They are your company's face and voice. Their behavior and attitude reflects your own to the public and to your customers. From what I have seen in my past dealings with so-called customer service agents, evidently you care very little. You and your company provide a lifeline to millions of individuals. Think for a moment and consider how you would feel if you were your own customer, and you thought even for a second that your normally scheduled prescriptions that would use to arrive so readily were suddenly arriving in the wrong dosages or amounts; or if they were arriving with what appears to be evident tampering.

This lapse in quality is not only ludicrous, but it is also dangerous. I don't wish to change medicine suppliers. I have better things to do with my time than forwarding my multitude of prescriptions to a different company, and establishing a payment schedule with them, and then awaiting them to establish a delivery routine. You can see then sir, I am upset. Intensely so. I have been a repeat customer of Caremark for several years now, and there have been marked lapses in quality of customer service. I hope this letter reaches you, and you are able to address my issues and whatever issues other customers may have brought to your attention. I am looking forward to hearing from you, Mr. Merlo. I would hope for a timely response before I begin to seek the advice of legal counsel and the advice of consumer protection agencies. I would ask that your response arrive no later than June 15th of this year.

I am a nurse in a doctor's office and I spoke with Michelle on 5-23 at 3:15 to adjust an RX. She was very nasty and short. She told me I wasn't listening to her and used an inappropriate tone. I know they track the phone calls so it shouldn't be hard to find her. I did not appreciate her tone and smart comments. This is why doctors' offices do not contact the mail order companies. They are rude. She hung up on me and I called back to verify the RX. She placed me on hold and directed me to a supervisor.

My wife sent in a prescription, and, not having received the medicine after almost three weeks, called Caremark. The Caremark representative first said that the order was a refill and required doctor authorization to refill. However, this was the first prescription. He then said that an authorization was required by the doctor anyway, and a special phone number had to be called to provide the approval. My wife inquired as to why such an authorization would be required in addition to the prescription, but did not receive a satisfactory answer. So, almost three weeks after sending in the prescription, she still waits. We wonder why Caremark just let the prescription sit in their office without an attempt to contact us, and why they would need special authorization for a fairly common product.

I have had a credit card on file for many years to pay for my mail order maintenance meds. During a marketing call to my home, I was told I had a balance of $60. I had never received a statement. They billed my card as always in 01, 02, 04, and 05 but deny billing in 03. My physician will no longer fax my prescriptions to Caremark due to the fact they always say they haven't received the fax, although the physician's office shows the fax received. I spoke with a customer satisfaction specialist, Darren, and he told me that he couldn't help me. I spent 2 and 1/2 hours on the phone on my day off. I am not pleased.

Caremark will not reimburse me for immunosuppressives. This has been going on for over a year. I am on transplant meds for 8 years and Medicare is my secondary insurance. Caremark has failed to properly submit forms to Medicare. Medicare says on all my denials that Caremark has not sent the right info for COB. Caremark insists they have. I cannot get anywhere with Caremark. I have over $1,000 on my credit card that needs to be reimbursed to me.

What good is complaining to Consumer Affairs if so many people are still having problems with Caremark? Please someone look into this company. They are not following the law. I lost over $500 already back in Feb 2011 because despite many calls to get money reimbursed for a Feb 2011 claim, it was never done properly. Now, I am past the "one year time period" for Medicare to reconsider the claim.

From CVS Caremark's taking over Medco for IBM, we have had nothing but trouble. At present, I am so frustrated; it's hardly worth the energy to go over every call. Early on, they claimed that they did not get prescription transfers from Medco; and in the cases that they did get them, they told us there were no refills remaining, etc. More recently, I have received three refills of Synthroid since January (It is now April). It's the same with the generic of Lipitor.

After receiving the second shipment of Synthroid, I contacted Caremark and told the lady, who "helped" me, to once again take us off the ready-refill program (We had attempted to do this online). I also explained to her that we would call when we needed a certain prescription and also that I would be going for my annual physical and that my doctor would electronically send authorization for the year's drugs. I told her not to ship anything else, unless we called and ordered it.

Today, I received an electronic notice that approximately 4 of these were already shipped and others were in the process. I told Caremark and spoke with a supervisor and told him to cancel our credit card number and not to ship anything else. I am supposed to receive an authorization to return these drugs already shipped. I won't even get into the prices being charged IBM for these drugs, other than to say a bottle of nasal spray was $68.00.

My only hope is that IBM did not sign a long-term contract with Caremark. We have removed our credit card from the account, and if they continue shipping medicine to us, it will be at no cost to us, and we will share with our family and friends. Caremark needs to hire competent people, and IBM needs to find another online pharmacy to manage employee drug plans.

I dropped off four prescriptions at seven p.m. and was told to come back in 45 minutes. I came back in an hour and they were still not ready. I advised them I had food in my car and they said it would be 20 minutes and I would be moved to the front of the process. I left the store an hour later at 9. The patient I dropped off the prescriptions for was home from the hospital after back surgery and had no pain medicine since 2 p.m. This info was given to the attendant as well as having refrigerated food in the car as well. So much for being put to the top of the line. I will never use this pharmacy.

Last month, it only took two days to get the 30 pills of Lipitor for the promised $4 co-pay. But last night, two pharmacists and I wasted over an hour and a half trying to figure out why the first charge came out $50.26, and then after several attempts, $50 even. I then read that Caremark/CVS doesn't like that the drug companies want to help people stay on the prescribed prescriptions - so they've doubled the cost and made it impossible to get the $4 co-pay card to work. The sad thing was that I was at a CVS pharmacy because I get other 90-day prescriptions there. I finally had to take the generic. I hope it works. The generic for Synthroid didn't work - all the tiredness that I experienced when I first had thyroid issues came back on the generic. The state of California renewed their contract with Caremark even though they had screwed things up before - but for some reason, they decided to go back to them. Medco did a much better job.

Unfortunately, my husband's company uses Caremark for prescription coverage. Recently, Caremark began fighting us in regards to prescriptions people in my family have been using for years, including my husband's depression medicine and my daughter's asthma medicine. The amount of coverage they provide varies from month to month and it seems I have to pay more and more out of pocket each time. One of my husband's meds cost $4.00 last month and is now up to $16.99 this month. The lack of consistency makes it hard for my family to budget for their daily medicine needs. I don't want to use mail order and I feel like it is unfair that they try to push this option on you by raising the prices you pay at the pharmacy. The fact that they fight me over medicines that my daughter and husband need to survive is unfair and unethical, especially when we use all prescriptions as directed.

It is just a hassle every single month refilling the exact same prescription with the exact same doctor. It takes 4 phone calls and a month of delay every time. You never speak to the same person. You get conflicting information from them and the communication they say they have with your doctor. If my company didn't require me to use them, I would never deal with this again.

My son is on medication for asthma. Caremark refuses to fill my son's prescription on a 30-day basis. The medical doctor refuses to write a prescription for 30 days saying that it is unethical and what if he needs to change prescriptions mid-month, what happens to the pills unused? Caremark says in order to get 30 days, I must have the medications mailed to me from CVS.

I have been using Lipitor. In January, Caremark sent the generic instead and charged me $50 more! Caremark said they have to give me the generic, even though it is more money. I then asked my doctor to send in a prescription for Lipitor only. They called her and asked her to allow the generic, even though they knew it would cost more. She obviously thought she was saving me money, so she agreed and I again got the more expensive generic. Yet, Caremark boasts about how they save the consumer money. They really mean what is cheaper for them. I already transferred another prescription when I found that Caremark was charging me seven times as much as my local pharmacy would for the same dosage and brand. What a racket.

Not only am I having a problem, but my husband is too. I have been on a medication for GERD for seven years. Caremark does not want to fill it and wants me to switch because their "doctors" say I need to. They have never seen me, yet they denied me my medication. I am barfing in the toilet, because I do not have my medication due to the acid in my stomach.

My husband falls asleep for no known reason - when he is working, when we are talking, when he is driving. He had a daytime and nighttime sleep and study. He does not have narcolepsy or sleep apnea, but Nuvigil worked well for him when the doctor gave him samples. The doctor prescribed him Nuvigil, since it worked very, very well. However, the Caremark doctors said he does not need it because he does not have narcolepsy, sleep apnea, or shift disorder.

I have been with my husband when he fell asleep driving - during the day after a good night's sleep. He is going to get in an accident and kill his self and other people without this medication. Yet, the Caremark doctors denied his medication even after his doctor filled out appeal forms. This company sucks! Personally, I feel a class action lawsuit is needed.

OMG, where do I start? I filed 3 paper claims for a prescription that would have reimbursed me a measly $35.00. I have been speaking to reps, supervisors and incompetent people who can't seem to communicate with the paper claim people and the processing people, and their best answer is "I don't know", when you ask the status of the claim.

I have sent it all to a rep in San Antonio, apparently a bigwig supervisor who has yet to call me or email me like I have requested. I have left phone messages to supervisor Diana **. Is there such a person? That is what her voice mail calls her. Then I called and talked to Eugenia who actually emailed me, and now her emails are getting bounced back as a failure 2 days later. I won't give up until I am deemed the biggest pain in the butt, or until I have my claims paid, as it should be. I have a right to file my claim and get it paid for.

This company must be a great example of the biggest scam out there. Stay far away from CVS Caremark. They are the worst at customer service and dragging their feet when you have to file a claim. It has taken 4 months since I have filed this, and it is still not resolved. You also won't ever find me in their drugstore either, ever again. Word of mouth is a powerful tool, and they should not underestimate the power of social media and the internet. I hope the company sinks like a ship to the bottom, which is where they deserve to be.

Every end of year, the computer loses my refill information. In January or February, when I tried to renew my order, I was notified that I cannot refill my order. I called and was told that they have a problem with their computer. It takes weeks for them to fix it and I am good for the rest of the year. Then, when that year ends, the troubles start again. They promise that they had already fixed it, but they lied! I will transfer my order to Walmart rather than deal with these people again. They are crazy--beware of them!

I am very disappointed that my CVS/Caremark prescription insurance won't cover my maintenance medication at my local community pharmacy. I have been told that I have to go to a local CVS, the closest of which is 3 hours away, or use CVS mail order. Yet, the VP of Professional Pharmacy Services of CVS is making statements like, "A pharmacist in a face-to-face setting is the most effective healthcare professional at encouraging patients to take medications as prescribed." Apparently, that face to face contact is only beneficial if you live within driving distance of a CVS. What a joke. I have written letters to all of my state representatives about your hypocrisy.

I have been dealing with CVS/Caremark since December regarding a paper claim that they put in as the wrong drug/script number and they will not pay me. I have made 6 calls, spoke to 2 supervisors and they said their paper claims department stated it was input/paid properly. **. I have proof of claims paid before and since, I have not had a problem. Really folks, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the problem.

Unable to correct Rx issues by phone. Extremely long hold or transfers. Disconnected. Caremark refused to call another pharmacy to get a new prescription. This whole system is very confusing for senior citizens. We have the same problems as many our customers. No need to connect as we are using another mail order service. The biggest maybe but far from the best!

I have a complaint regarding UHCs mishandling of funds in my Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) (provided by my employer) when it comes to claims submitted by CVS Caremark for prescriptions. There have been multiple instances of mismanagement for which I have contacted the UHC, CVS Caremark, and the pharmacy itself.

I was prescribed Naftin by my doctor, co-payment for which is $35 per refill as per UHCs terms. I received a coupon from my doctor allowing for $0 co-payment and No out-of-pocket cost for many eligible patients. I checked with Merz Pharmaceuticals for verification of my eligibility and they confirmed. The Pharmacy in question is CVS Pharmacy, 13033 Coit Rd, Dallas, TX 75240 Phone# (972) 392-9634. The first date of service to fill up the prescription was 12/12/2011. Subsequent refill was filled on 02/22/2012. Both these times I presented the $0 co-pay card from the manufacturer to the pharmacist.

Upon checking my HRA claims on www.myuhc.com, I see that a claim was submitted by CVS Caremark to UHC for $35 co-pay, which the UHC paid to CVS Caremark. Same thing was done for the refill on the 22nd of February, 2011. I called and spoke with UHC as I had disabled automatic payments from my account to medical providers and pharmacies. UHC representative on the phone informed that the Automatic Payment Settings only apply to medical providers and any claims that come from CVS Caremark are automatically honored for reimbursement to them. Hence, I would need to call the CVS Caremark toll free number to look into the situation.

I called CVS Caremark and the representative on the line told me that they just take claims from the pharmacy and forward those to UHC. I will need to contact the pharmacy for the refund. I went back to the pharmacy for a refill on 02/22/2012 and informed them about the whole situation. They mentioned that their claim to CVS Caremark for the first fill up did not include a co-pay request and will not for the refill as I have the $0 co-pay card. Both the times they submitted the bill to CVS Caremark using the Bin, the RxPCN, Group ID, and ID# listed on the $0 co-pay card along with my insurance information. Hence, I should not have been required to make any co-payments. The pharmacy informed me that they cannot make any refunds as it has been beyond 14 days since the date of service. The claim itself does not show up on www.myuhc.coms HRA claims section for at least 14 days and I feel I am helpless in correcting this.

I and my coworkers have experienced similar issues with UHC and CVS Caremark in the past and most of the times since the amounts were no more than $10, we would just let it go and not waste our precious time investigating it. CVS Caremark owes my HRA fund $70 at this point. This type of fraudulent activity needs to be checked and stopped. This is one of the reasons that lead to notoriously high healthcare costs for our nation.

I can make available any copies of claims, $0 co-pay card and its terms and conditions, statement of service from the pharmacy, or any other documentation for verification.

The prescription was to be filled after 90 days, as usual. They kept rejecting, saying it was too soon. The date clearly was beyond 90 days. They ignored my doctor's repeated requests. They ignored my repeated requests. They kept filling 2 prescriptions that weren't needed. I spent 1 hour on the phone with customer service (what a joke), of which I was placed on hold for over 50 minutes. I think they were hoping I would just end the call.

They claim that they can't control the volume of calls they receive. I think they can, if they just fix their system! The CS people were rude and argumentative. They did not acknowledge they have problems. They tried to switch the blame to me and my doctor. They are in control of people's health, and they just don't care. This has to be illegal on some level.

I am required to send my prescriptions in. I tried another pharmacy and my insurance won't cover it, so I mailed it in. They hold it for 10 days then mailed it back saying that it is backordered. So I called them. They say to have it written for the same drug, half the dose - twice as many pills. They checked. No, that one isn't backordered so it should be fine. So I waited to get my old prescription back, drove back to my doctor's office to exchange the old prescription for the new one and mailed it in. They held it for 10 days and then mailed this one back too. Now it's backordered. Every prescription I have sent to them for the last year has been some kind of problem. You can call, but they will just refer you to someone else.

The new prescriptions have a mandatory 10-day waiting period, so they jerk you around with the "standard company policy". My mother died insulin-dependent. I am only glad that the prescriptions I have are nothing like that - that I would have to have within a certain window of time - or I could die. Because if it was all left in Caremark's hands, we would be dead where we stood. They know that they are our only option, so why bother to care how poorly they treat people? I am almost to the point that I am ready to just give up, this ** is just not worth it.

My husband's insurance switched his mail order pharmacy to CVS Caremark in January. I wasn't informed of this until I ordered from the old pharmacy and got a letter informing us of the change. I reordered the medication from CVS. Weeks went by, no meds. My husband is on quite a few meds and it was running low (with the old pharmacy Meds arrived within a week of ordering). I called CVS and was told they are waiting on the doctor to call the insurance company for verification. Any pharmacy I have ever dealt with has called the insurance company, not the doctor. We are now entering the 2nd week of March and the medication still has not arrived. We are opting out of mail order and going back to retail. I will pick up his meds each month rather than have to deal with this pitiful excuse for a pharmacy.

My husband's employer decided to go with CVS. Prior to that, we used our regular insurance and were able to use our local Safeway or Wal-Mart (there is not a CVS pharmacy within at least 150 miles of us). The first RX my husband was mandated to get at CVS, they mailed to our old address from 2007 and we still don't know how they got that address as he wasn't employed by the same company back then. Then, we couldn't get new medication because we had to fill out and mail back a form that stated we didn't get it. We did and they said they didn't receive it and took an automatic $80 out of our account.

An $11 RX from Wal-Mart recently cost me $45 because I didn't use Caremark. I was having an Asthma attack and needed my inhaler immediately. I just got a new medication from a new doctor and since it had been prescribed once before for 3 days post op, when I had it filled at Wal-Mart, it cost me almost $60.

I feel we are being held hostage by Caremark. We get charged penalty fees if we need meds in a hurry, when I could have gotten them through BC/BS at Wal-Mart under the old $4 plan. Someone needs to start a class action law suit against Caremark, they are not doctors and they just gave chemo drugs to kids instead of fluoride tablets.

A prescription (anti-depressant) was mailed to CVS-Caremark on January 18, 2012, by my medical provider. A week had gone by, and still there are no prescriptions. I phoned my provider. The provider called CVS-Caremark to find out about the delay. The delay was a prior authorization was required. The provider gave such authorization. I assumed the prescription was in the mail at this point. I waited two weeks this time, and still no prescription.

I phoned CVS-Caremark, and was advised that they had "no record" of my provider's call. I phoned the provider, and the provider phoned CVS-Caremark the second time to authorize. Another week passes by, and still there was no prescription. It is March 1, 2012, and I started this process on January 18, 2012. This is a blatant disregard for people's health. Does CVS-Caremark think it is a good idea to make somebody wait for an anti-depressant? I hope there are no suicidal patients, who use CVS-Caremark.

My company recently changed from Medco to CVS Caremark. My husband is ill, recently had heart surgery, insulin dependent diabetic and s/p kidney transplant. He needs his immunosuppressant medications to live. These meds are covered under Medicare B. The doctor sent the order to CVS Caremark on 1/22/12. They were informed that his supply was running low, yet they let the prescription sit until I called on 2/1/12 to check the status. I was told they were awaiting diagnosis from the MD. Later, I came to find out this was not the issue. They then told me they couldn't send the meds until they had Medicare's approval. After talking with two more people at CVS, I was told they could send them but I would have to pay for them and then when Medicare pays the company, they would send me a check.

After talking with Medicare, I discovered that this is an illegal practice. They insisted I pay upfront for the other ten meds I ordered for my husband and wanted a credit card number. I told them I don't like having my credit card kept on file and they assured me it would not be once I authorized payment for the ten meds. I told them I would not authorize payment for the immunosuppressant meds since Medicare covers them, I stressed this point. Today, I found out that they did charge my MC for the two Medicare covered meds in a separate transaction from the one I authorized and that they still had my MC number on file. I have filed complaints with the State Attorney General and with Health and Human Services Fraud Division and may have to seek legal council.

I believe everyone who has a legitimate complaint about this company should contact their State Attorney General. I simply cannot understand how this company can continue to rake in billions of dollars a year on the backs of the middle class. Something has to be done.

Unhelpful, Unprofessional: We were imposed on this pharmacy service as part of the new requirement that Medicare patients be part of an HMO in NJ. They decided not to cover a drug that my mother has been taking for 3 years after 3 years of trying different medications that did not work. CVS Caremark has made it impossible for the physician trying to get pre-authorization and for me as my mom's health power of attorney to get this drug approved. They state that they will send paperwork to the physician and never do. Finally, when I got the paper, they denied it based on a stupid technicality. They make it purposely difficult and unpleasant and their costumer service is the worst.

It should be illegal for a company such as CVS Caremark to have the monopoly on Medicare part D patients without having a choice of other decent company.

I've been a customer of Caremark/CVS for years through our employer. I've always paid for my Rx's via an invoice mailed to me, then I paid them with a check. Recently, they refused to take checks and require all Rx's and refills to be paid in advance and in full with a credit card. This month, I sent them a new prescription for which I wasn't sure of the cost. So I didn't include my credit card info on the mail-in form, because I wanted an invoice with the amount. When I received my prescription, there was a receipt for $95 that they somehow obtained with an "e-check" from my bank. I never authorized this payment, and I never provided them with my bank account information. I have no idea how they obtained this payment, but it appears to me that it is theft. Further, to not accept checks and force people to charge their medications to credit is, indeed unethical and should be illegal.

I'm pregnant and am extremely nauseous. My doctor gave me an anti-nausea prescription that I filled at Walgreens because I get one refill at a local pharmacy and all subsequent refills have to done through Caremark/CVS mail order. So the same day I requested the medication through Caremark/CVS. After an email and phone call to the doctor's office in the past 3 weeks, I'm still no closer to getting my medication. Caremark said that they need an "authorization code" on top of the faxed prescription. Well, Walgreens didn't have any trouble with authorization codes. So they told me I needed to call my doctor and have them call a 1-800 number to give the code and then they could fill it. So 2 days ago, my doctor's office called me to tell me they gave the code, but yet my prescription is still "pending". This is no way to treat patients and it is insane how they put people's health and lives at risk. I wish we were not forced to use prescription plan. I am thoroughly disgusted.

For years we have had prescription benefits that had us using Medco. They were very easy to deal with. My doctor would electronically transmit my prescription to Medco and the drug would arrive on my door step within 3-4 days. Our employer has switched to Caremark. What a fiasco. I placed an order to refill 3 of my prescriptions that had transferred. Caremark had record of the prescriptions and the number of refills. No problem. Not!

That was on Feb. 12th. I have been in touch with Caremark every other day for the past 10 days only to be told at least 3 versions of why my order has not shipped. Everything from there was a payment problem with my credit card (I checked, it was charged) to the pharmacy was out of all three drugs. That was incorrect as well. The latest as of 6:45 pm this evening is that no one is really sure why my order has not shipped. They have "expedited" it, but unfortunately the fulfillment facility is closed for the evening! I have been assured that someone would follow the order tomorrow and contact me to keep me informed. I want my Medco back!

I have experienced problems getting my prescriptions refilled on a regular basis. I currently take approximately 5 drugs that are refilled by Caremark. Whenever a particular drug runs out of "refills", then the frustration begins. I don't think that a refill that needs a new script has ever been handled without considerable problems. No one seems to know why or what the problem is. My problem is normally taken care of only after multiple calls to Caremark. If this wasn't the only option for prescriptions within my insurance plan, I would never ever do business with these people again. The experience is absolutely terrible. I wouldn't wish this sort of service on my worst enemy. I am doomed to face this painful experience every time my refill status goes to zero.

As I type this, I have been "talking" to customer service with Caremark (have been on the phone for over 45 minutes and am currently on hold again) and have yet to reach anyone that can offer any help. In this day and age of current technologies available, I just can't believe that this level of service is possible!

I am having the hardest time getting my prescriptions refilled. It just disgusts me. I want Medco back.

Every 3 months, I order my mail-order refills on 5 medications, all of which, I have been taking for years. All of my medications are name brand instead of the generic, because the generics do not work. However, the order looks like it goes through, then it gets canceled. When I try to fix it over the phone, I am told they will not fill the prescriptions without verification from my physician, who filled out the prescription in the first place.

Every 3 months, I tell them they are illegally withholding much needed medications from me, just to hear the doctor say over the phone what she already said in writing, when she wrote the prescription. They tell me that they will fix my account, so that the name brand drugs can be filled without this problem in the future, but the cycle continues.

This time, my physician is no longer in practice so they cannot reach her, thus, they refuse to fill the prescriptions at all. Any other company operating this way, besides a health care company, would be out of business by now. But since it is the only pharmacy benefit I have at work, my only other choice would be to pay fully out of pocket, which I am seriously considering.

Caremark is insisting that I request via email a refill on December 31, 2011. I have proof that a 90-day supply was sent to me on December 8, 2011, October 26, 2011, and October 6, 2011 resulting in having too much medication on hand, as each of these orders were for a 90-day supply. They charged my visa card $568.00. I have my records that show no correspondence from me requesting this refill via email. They will not stop the shipment nor take the charge off my card.

I cancelled 2 medications two weeks before they were scheduled to be refilled because I went off of them. They sent me the meds anyway. I called and they said they had refilled them early but I could send them back for a refund. I did exactly what they said and they credited my Visa. A few weeks ago, I received a bill from them for the amount of my medication ($170). I called again and said that I cancelled them and I was not paying that bill and I sent the meds back. I thought it was resolved but today, my provider's office called me and said they (CVS Caremark) called them twice to get refills authorized since the prescriptions had expired. I had to make another phone call to straighten this out. I cannot believe they would call the provider without even talking to me, especially since I cancelled them and the prescription had expired. Needless to say, I was angry and will not use them ever again for my medications.

I have once again contacted Caremark on February 10, 2012 as regards to my son's medications that was supposed to be shipped on February 9, 2012. Caremark once again said that there was a problem with the order and the medications did not ship after I was guaranteed that all problems had been resolved and would ship the previous day.

I had contacted Kelsy at Caremark and she could identify and see the problem and put an immediate manual fill on the medication and had given me a task ID# to reference. She said that the medication would be shipped overnight as my son would be running out of medication by Monday 02/13/12, which will cause him to go into seizures. She also told me to contact Caremark the next day to verify that the medication had been shipped.

Today I contacted them only to find out that the medication was not shipped. I talked to one of the supervisors only to find out that Caremark had placed my account on hold. Now my son will not receive his medications and he will start going into seizures by Monday night unless I can find a replacement medication refill. Caremark said that they can give us a temporary supply at one of the CVS stores, but I would have to contact my doctor to have him fill out a new prescription for the temporary replacement.

Today is Saturday and the offices are closed. This is the sixth time I have contacted Caremark in regards to my son's order over a two-week period and still do not have medications for my son. To anyone out there who is listening, do not use Caremark as a prescription supplier, they do not care about anything regarding the condition of your family or your health.

I ordered medicine on January 12. I have called every few days since and been told numerous incorrect things. It is now one month later and the tracking number says I may get my medicine February 16. Who has ever heard of something being mailed on the 8th of February and it taking 8 days? This is totally incompetent. So, I have been without medicine for 5 weeks.

They switched my prescription even after I filled out their form saying not to give me any generic medicines. My wife and I spoke to 4 different representatives, including one supervisor. Two people said one thing and the other 2 said everything would be taken care of to my satisfaction. ** , this company doesn't care about it's customers. 15 years with United Health Care and not one complaint. One month with these morons and nothing is correct.

For years I have had to go through Caremark as my employer switched to "save" employee's money. It has, but now,beginning in 2012, I see there is a high risk involved with Caremark's new money "saving" procedures. Caremark believes that they are doctors and can force you to take generic medicine (even if the chemical is different) with horrible side effects, as it is only beneficial to them. Your health and mental well being are not considered.

As others have mentioned in these complaints, Pristiq is now on their list of supposed step therapy drugs where one must have a history of trying other generics first in order to qualify for brand name medicine. I could see the argument of a new patient and a new prescription to start something as a generic however, I have been on Pristiq for 3 years, it is not new and when I need a refill, it should be filled. Nope, not this time; pre-auth was needed and a forcing to use a generic. Okay, fair enough, until one looks and there isn't a generic for Pristiq! What is Caremak's solution? I must try generic Effexor, Venlafaxine! I cannot begin to explain how irresponsible this is and how medically unsound it is. Caremark must not have any ethics, nor believe in the well-being of their customers. Anyone who has taken SNRIs know that there is a delicate balance of chemicals being regulated and it usually takes time to find a pill that works for you. Pristiq was it for me, after trying 3 different medicines in 5 years. To disrupt this balance is insane and can lead to disastrous effects. Furthermore, Venlafaxine isn't even the same chemical as the active ingredient in Pristiq, it is Desvenlafaxine. The names are similar because Pristiq is the more effective, less side effects, modern version of Venlafaxine, and to be specific, Pristiq is the effective isomer; Venlafaxine is a combination of ineffective and effective isomers. Venlafaxine needs larger doses and doesn't last all day to produce a similar effect and has been know to have horrible side effects, a search on the internet says it all.

Now, being forced to try this other medicine like a guinea pig in a Caremark lab, after 5 days, I am experiencing nasty side effects and had to take the day off of work. Enough was enough and I spent 2 hours on the phone today with Caremark, who finally told me that my doctor must fill out a form and send it to them. A prescription should be the only form Caremark needs to worry about.

All in all, I cannot see how any of this can be legal and on what authority can Caremark have to modify and force a person to use a chemical that is not the same as before. In the world of SNRIs/SSRIs, it is extremely important to stay consistent with therapy; however, because of bureaucrats who want fatter pockets my well-being was compromised for days. It must be wonderful to work at Caremark, where you can be a doctor with out needing a medical license. You disgust me Caremark! Shame on you! I only hope to see a class action brought against them as more and more people this year are experiencing this horrible, unethical, hopefully illegal treatment.

For the past five years I have been dealing with this company and have had constant problems with ordering medications for my son. Every time that a new order is placed there is always a problem, wrong meds, sent to wrong address, delayed orders and really bad customer service. My son has epilepsy and requires daily medication, Kepra and Vimpat, which are both taken twice daily. The medications are ordered by 90-day supply. Each time an order is placed it is a nightmare. Actually receiving the medication after the product has been ordered. In most cases after an order is placed, I will have to call CVS after a week or so to find out status of the order and it is then that they tell me there is a problem with the order which is why it is never shipped. I never received a call to let me know there is ever a problem and have learned to contact CVS after several days.

My son has instructions that have also been sent to CVS never to use generic brand medication as they may present a deeper problem with his condition. Generic brands have been sent to my home a few times causing me to panic and scramble to get the brand name medications and costing upwards of $700.00 to get a supply from an alternate drug store until the correct medication arrives from CVS. On my last order, the customer service agent said that the two drugs have a warning in the description that they should not be taken together and could not be shipped. My son has been taking both of these drugs per his doctor's instructions for the past 7 years. After an hour of holding on the phone and making corrections they finally said that they would be shipped.

CVS has lost information on our addresses and bank card information and insurance information, which also has had to be addressed several times over the past five years. Constant disruptions to my son's medicine have caused a great deal of panic and stress. CVS has never once bothered to contact me regarding any problems with my insurance or any other information that they found to be a problem and it has become worse over the past two years.

We used Caremark for a few years, and had no problems. In Feb. 2011, my doctor took me off of my medication, to see how I would do. I asked Caremark to "hold" my prescription and not fill it on the auto-refill. In June of 2011, I received the medication in the mail. I called Caremark, and they told me that after 3 months, it automatically starts sending again, and that I should have said 'stop' not 'hold'.

After telling them that was not right, they agreed to send me a mail tag and they would allow me to return it. In the 1st week in July, I returned it in the mailbox as they instructed. Towards October, I was going through what I thought to be junk mail and found a collection notice from Caremark for this medication. I contacted them again, and was told that because they had not received the medication back, they would not clear the account. I told them I returned it with their mailing label, as instructed, using USPS, not FedEx or UPS.

They continued to say a supervisor would contact me, and that they would request the account to be cleared. Finally, at the beginning of January 2012, I called again, and was told the account had zero balance. I have come to find out that my husband had purchased a new script, and since they now had a card on file, they just charged it without my approval. I called them again 3 more times, until the final call. I was told because they never received the medication back, they would not refund my card. All this was their error to start with! Fortunately this year, my husband's company decided to go with another mail order company. I will not recommend them to anyone that can help it, or at least be careful of your wording with them.

I have been trying to order a prescription since Jan. 12. It is now Feb. 4 and I am unlikely to have it for a few more days at the earliest. I was told 2 days ago I would get it via 'overnight', but now they say overnight takes 3 to 5 days at least. Every time I order medicine from this company, I have problems. I have been without medicine for 1 month. If I can find insurance that covers this, I will certainly change. My co-pay is extremely high anyway. I'm totally dissatisfied.

The store #3163, I use almost exclusively. The second time, they did not have a prescription I needed. It's not any "special" drug. They called after I asked them to other CVS stores and told me to go to Oak Ave. and Roosevelt. They did not fax over the prescription until a long time later after I asked them. I was in store waiting for another script to be filled. The floating pharmacist did nothing. A pharmacist makes $40 to 80 per hour. If you go to U of Il (Circle) and sign papers to work at CVS, Walgreens has the same program and they pay your tuition also. Anyway, my doctor contacted some big shot from CVS and by messenger I received meds at 8pm last night at no charge to me! The staff, techs, and most pharmacists are great (Carmen) at this location, but they need to get on the ball. Three strikes and you're out per CVS board chairman.

I don't know how to describe the nightmare in few paragraphs. For the past 17 years I've used about five different Rx mail order services; I never spend more than a few minutes of phone call to put an Rx order through and I never received my Rx in more than eight days. But things changed from heaven to hell starting 1/2/12 when my Rx service provider was changed to CVS Caremark! Its name is a joke, since that's exactly what they don't do--care!

To make my long story short, I have to highly summarize this "one-month long refill" experience in a few bullet points:

My employer insurance plan changed the Rx management company from Medco to CVS Caremark this year so my existing prescriptions with Medco had to be transferred. Yet, CVS Caremark could not finish my prescription transfer on time; I could not place my refill order until 1/10/12. From 1/3 to 1/10 I have made multiple phone calls trying to get my refill faster but I couldn't. One week time was wasted by 1/10 due to CVS Caremark's slow and/or lack of action;

On 1/11/12, CVS Caremark's online screen was showing that my order was shipped. I thought everything was OK, but this was only the beginning of the nightmare. Two weeks passed by, I still did not receive my refill. I was worried because my med would run out on 1/26. So I called on 1/, and again on 1/24, but I got the same answer (including from a supervisor named Janie **): "Sorry Ma'am, it's not 15 days yet, you have to wait till 1/26 for us to FedEx your replacement order". CVS Caremark agents did nothing and were not willing to help me prevent my Rx from running out;

On 1/26/12, my med officially ran out. When I called early in the morning (9:30 am) that day, they were still not willing to send out the replacement order. An agent told me to wait for the mail man for the 26th delivery. Then when I called back two hours later and told them the mail man came and gone and still no refill, an agent assured me that the replacement will be put on "next day urgent" mail ASAP, but no guarantee. A few hours later I was worried and checked the order status with the CVS Caremark recording. I've been told the order would be send out on 1/30/12. I freaked out and was furious. What in the world will it take for CVS Caremark to treat this as an emergency? They've made me run out of medicine and yet they still don't think this an emergency situation! Ironically, one agent actually said to me impatiently: "Ma'am, these things take time, it does not happen in a snap of fingers!" May I remind him: I have waited 17 days!

But things are about to get worse. When I called again (1/26 afternoon) and questioned the 1/30 ship date, now an agent (named Adrian) said that they could not send me the replacement order because I have no more Rx refill left (note: I have two meds in my lost refill order; one of them was used up in the last Rx refill); therefore they would have to contact my doctor for more Rx refills and wait for my doctor's response. In another word, if my doctor does not respond today, then the delay is caused by my doctor, not CVS Caremark! When I told Adrian that this same medicine actually has two more refills left under another Rx number so he can do my replacement refill under that Rx number and no need to wait for my doctor's response, he refused to even take a look at the screen. He simply said: "No, it has to be the the same Rx number".

CVS Caremark wants me to handle my own emergency situation since no one on their side can override the system even though the system is wrong. The agents told me to ask my doctor for one more Rx refill and get it filled at local CVS drug store, and of course, pay retail price out of my pocket for this temporary supply. By then, I became emotional since I felt hopeless. To calm me down, the agent and his supervisor (Iris) promised me that they've done "override" on their system so I could get my Rx filled locally (at mail order price) once I get the new prescription from my doctor. I had no other choice but to beg my doctor for an emergency refill Rx. Yet, by 8:30 pm on 1/26, when my husband went to pick up the refill for me at the local CVS drug store, he was told: "Sorry, we can only treat this as a normal walk-in order because there's no price override showing on the system".

Just like that, I spent the whole day on the phone with CVS Caremark agents. Every time I was promised for something that never actually came true.

On 1/27/12, I spent another day on the phone with CVS Caremark agents. Every time I called, there's somebody new to "help" me (and a new supervisor). I was not able to talk to the agent who helped me earlier nor his/her supervisor. I've been told "there are so many agents and supervisors here, we don't even know each other". So when every time I spent more than a hour on the phone to work out a solution with an agent and his/her supervisor, I've been promised a solution. Yet, when the "solution" did not pan out, I called back again, the new agent who picked up the phone simply told me the same issue: "Sorry Ma'am, you don't have refill left. You need to call your doctor". Back to square one!

The "refill order nightmare" continued until finally I talked to an agent named "Teresa" (she's a God-send). She truly listened and felt for me. She's soft, caring and helpful. She worked hard with her higher level account manager (Terry) and my local drug store pharmacist. With her help, I got my temporary supply of one med (the one that ran out) on the 27th. She also helped me transfer the second Rx refills to my local drug store, so I was able to fill it on the 29th--just in time before this one runs out as well. I so wish that CVS Caremark could have a few more agents like Teresa--that could have saved customers a lot of pain!

The CVS Caremark's "system" is so rigid and poorly designed, it's extremely customer-unfriendly. Other than Teresa, there are couple of other agents (Sonia, for one) and a senior solution specialist "Hal" actually tried to help me but they couldn't--the "system" is too complicated. Very few people can do the override even when the system is wrong. Not to mention the system's "voice recognition" capability is not working at all! In the end, the system won though: I got my Rx replacement order on 1/31/12 (the system sent it "urgent next day" on 1/30/12) just like the "system" promised on 1/26/12.

Through the whole "mail order refill" process at CVS Caremark, I have been a victim of an ill-designed unfriendly system, non-caring or ignorant CVS Caremark agents. One month plus a whole lot of pain just to get a regular maintenance Rx refill. Needless to say, I will try everything to avoid using CVS Caremark mail order service again!

I have continued to pay my daughter's prescription bills as they come in. She has a critical illness that requires daily medication or death becomes highly probable. CVS "specialty" pharmacy has repeatedly advised that medication known to exist is "unavailable". CVS answers to shortage? "Er...we don't have the script," or "we need to have the doctor resend". Doctor resends the script. CVS then states they don't have it. This is an interesting cycle that can go on for days. I've had doctor send scripts over and over. Maybe they spend all the cash they make on poor customer service, on fax machines, paper and shredders?

Additionally, they hold billing payments for unrealistic amounts of time without adjusting the account. I know this because I watch carefully as the checks go through online services for "specialty" billing is not available. It can take as much as 50 days to get a check payment applied. If you are duped into an online payment (which again, is not available for specialty billing), the money drops into a hole and can take months to resurface for application to "specialty" accounts. As a result, every time I call for a refill (monthly), I get to talk to billing. We go the rounds about when payments were made. They want more money - money that is sitting somewhere in the building on hold (double pay) because it's "specialty". As a result, we run out of meds every month. They know when you should run out of meds, this they track like a hawk. Maybe if they staple the payment to this document.

Anyway, we get to wait until the billing department decides to cash the check and apply the payment to the account. Then they refill the script, of course, you pray on bended knee the stars align and a script is on file and the drug is on hand, otherwise see paragraph one. Will CVS tell you they have finally adjusted your account? Inconceivable, no, you get to keep calling daily to check on the status of payment. What a hassle! Overpay and they send it back. Can't get ahead and child's health is at risk. It's awesome how when you talk to a rep, CVS is never at fault for their own poor business processes!

My employer has switched insurance companies several times. I can only assume they are looking for the least-cost provider - mission accomplished! CVS must truly hold the record for worst customer service provider on the planet. I would rather get meds from a cave in the Middle East than deal with the people and processes of CVS Specialty Pharmacy. If you're an investor reading this, things look good. They take money and offer little in return - just hope you never need to engage their deplorable services. If you are with the insurance companies and are considering this company as a replacement for your current supplier, reconsider. The monetary savings are not worth the inhuman treatment and conditions they create.

I have been trying for a week to get a prescription processed for a patient with Caremark Specialty Pharmacy. Every time I called, I got a different story. Each person you talk to transferred you to someone else and gave you a different response. The patient is in severe pain and needs this injectable medication. I deal with insurance companies, and this is the worst I have ever in my life had to deal with.

I demanded to speak to a supervisor yesterday, after calling for 3 days and being told 20 different stories about where the prescription is in the process. I was then transferred to a "pharmacist" who told me the Rx was never "assigned" (whatever that means). So the 20 phone calls I made over 3 days, no one was able to see this?

Now they tell me it will take another 3 days. This is not acceptable service when a patient is required to use these services for their medication. Prior to my self getting involved, this patient had been trying to get the medication himself for a week. At this point, the patient will probably be back in the hospital before he gets the medication because of the pain.

This is why our healthcare dollars are so out of control. Poor service! No one takes any responsibility and just pushes you on to the next person. This is absolutely ridiculous that a company like CVS Caremark, that is a monopoly, can do business this way, leaving patients to suffer as they do nothing! Caremark Specialty Pharmacy needs to take a look at their service before they have a lawsuit on their hands.

I have been trying to get a patient's medication since early December with no help at all. I have called probably 50 times. No answers. The patient has been on the medication for 7 years and was told he was too old to receive this medicine. Last time I checked Xopenex did not have an age limit on it!

Deal with CVS Caremark at your peril. I'm on Medicare and switched to Healthnet Orange which uses CVS Caremark as their mail order prescription arm. I placed my first medication prescription with them. It is an expensive prescription (several hundred dollar copay). The doctor's office made a mistake and prescribed half the dosage for 90 days. When it arrived I discovered the error and called CVS. They informed me that the doctor's office would have to call in and correct it and there would not be second copay. What followed next involved about 5 hours of my time, a discussion with a dozen people and no satisfaction. The events:

1. Doctor's office called in about their error, talked with 5 people and was told there was nothing they could do. Any correction would have to be treated as a new prescription (new copay). The doctor's nurse, greatly frustrated, gave them a prescription for the right dosage. She then called me and said they wouldn't correct it.

2. I called CVS Caremark customer service and was told there was nothing they could do. Not only would I have to pay twice, they would not fill the new prescription for 90 days as the first shipment, with the wrong dosage, was still active. They said the only way I could get it corrected was to Healthnet Orange.

3. I went to Healthnet Orange customer service. They said there was nothing they could do as the CVS Caremark pharmacy controlled the copays, etc.

4. I escalated my problem two management levels in Healthnet. Initially management still said there was nothing they could go, it was CVS that had to make the correction. I pointed out that there has to be a mechanism to correct a problem as humans do make mistakes. When I pushed real hard, the manager escalated me to a higher department. That person got CVS on the line, provided an override to allow the prescription correction to be shipped and said CVS would handle the double charging problem and call me back that day.

5. Surprise, CVS never called. I called CVS Caremark pharmacy and went through the whole explanation scenario again. Response: there was nothing they could do as the doctor's office made the initial mistake. Once again, I pointed out that there has to be a mechanism to correct a mistake. I asked to talk to a manager.

6. Waited online for 40 minutes. Went through the whole explanation again with the manager. She told me to go to Healthnet. I informed her I had been through that loop several times. She went to a higher management and then came back to me and said they couldn't do anything since the doctor's office made the initial mistake. It didn't matter that they called in to correct the mistake. I would have to pay twice. She asked if there was anything else she could do for me and informed me it was a pleasure talking with me.

It appears CVS Caremark has a company policy to screw the customer whenever an opportunity presents itself.

We have had Caremark for the past 3 years through my husband's employer. When I had to get a refill on my prescription on 1/3/2012, I was told that due to the prescription, I had to get a PA - pre-approval from my doctor. My refill was Pristiq. Does that answer your question as to why I am livid! This was on a Friday and they would not explain to me why they had been filling my prescription for the past 2 years and now all of the sudden without warning, require a PA. I ended up having to pay for the prescription out of my pocket and when asked if I would be reimbursed, they advised that they would not because it was prior to the PA, if they received a PA. I still do not know if my prescription is approved. There is no generic brand. How can they just decide not to refill a prescription that they had been authorizing and paying for, for the past 2 years? Without a notice?

I even asked if the plan had changed since I did not see any changes in my benefits book. They kept telling me our plan required a PA and that was it. I have 8 more months of refills. They did the same thing to my husband, but his was denied. He had been on his medication for 2 months and they had honored & paid for it. The doctor had to call in something different for him. And it is my understanding that you cannot just be taken off Pristiq. It has to be gradual. Believe, that is so true! So who is the doctor? Caremark or your licensed physician?

I was forced onto Caremark by our insurance company on 1/1/12. We previously had Medco and I did not have one problem with them during the time they had the contract.

I am a transplant patient, so some of my drugs come from their "Specialty Pharmacy". What a joke! I called on 1/2/12 and said I had a 2 week supply left of my maintenance drugs. The person I talked to wanted to ship my order the day before I ran out of my Rx! I told her no, so she moved it up 4 days! Then, long story short, due to the worst customer service I have ever received, numerous phone calls, and who knows how much wasted time, they were actually going to let me run out. I called to find out where my Rx was and they told me shipment would be delayed, for no apparent reason, and because it was Friday and there was no Sat. delivery, and Monday was MLK so there would be no Rx until Tuesday. I was going to run out of Rx over the long weekend. Finally, they were able to schedule Sat. delivery via UPS.

I had called on 1/2/12, 1/5/12, 1/12/12, and 1/13/12. I even had my doctor send a new prescription, in order to hopefully expedite my order. That, too, was a waste of time.

Money should not be the only factor when these companies are chosen to provide something as vital as medicine. They were low bidder for a reason--their service is the absolute worst. Insurance companies should be held accountable for forcing us to use such substandard companies in the interest of saving a buck.

As of 01/01/2012, our Rx insurance changed from Medco, which had outstanding service and customer relations, to CVS/Caremark. My first experience with Caremark at the local CVS yesterday was very upsetting. I Had a Rx for 7days, then they charged me as much as for a 90 day supply. When I questioned it, they had no explanation and basically refused to find out why, while saying that all insurance are different.

When I asked if they could please help me, they said it wasn't their job. They also had overfilled the Rx. A 90 day supply only allows 18 pills and they gave me 7 pills for 7days. She just gave me a blank look as though I should just go away. The whole incident took place in front of many other people waiting behind me, which was very embarrassing as I was being treated very rudely. The other Pharmacy staff of 5 kept looking at us but no one offered to help or question what was taking so long for half an hour.

I ended up leaving without my needed Rx and vowing never to return as things like this have happened in the past. I used to go to Walgreens across the street as they are always courteous and helpful. Now we are stuck with CVS. I hope mail service is better.

I telephoned in my Lipitor prescription in December 2011 to CVS Caremark. When the medication arrived in the mail, CVS Caremark had substituted a generic brand for Lipitor without contacting me and charged my credit card. I authorized payment only for Lipitor when I refilled my order not any other drug. I had enough refills on the prescription so they did not have to call my physician to renew my prescription nor did they call him regarding the change. They have refused to take back the generic drug and credit my credit card for the charge. I don't understand how a pharmacy can switch medications without contacting the consumer first and make an unauthorized charge to their credit card.

My insurance company switched us to Caremark mail order Rx on Jan 1. I have been trying to obtain the application to have my non-formulary prescription for Dilantin waived. I am not able to take the generic, as verified by my doctor. I cannot reach anyone by phone at their "customer service" number. That's three tries and holding for over 20 minutes. The line goes dead. I have emailed and explained the problem and was told to phone customer service. They said in their email reply they made a "courtesy call", which may be true. My cell showed a missed call, but there was no message and no further attempt to contact me. I think they do not want to provide me with the necessary paperwork to get the waiver. This is not a game to me. I have a seizure disorder and need the meds to prevent grand mal seizures. I don't think Caremark cares.

My health program was transferred from MEDCO to CVS Caremark at first of the year. I got new id by 1-10-12. I called and informed they would have to mail and would not give it over the phone but they would call the pharmacy for the new prescription. While waiting, their phone system hung up on me. After getting them back waited while they called (I gave the pharmacy # it was for a CVS, one of their own). When I got to the pharmacy no one knew anything about a call and most had been there all day. Then I had to wait while they called (the crew there did not seem to think much of the Caremark bunch either).

Caremark screwed up a prescription that was written for a year and never filled the last three months because they mistakenly used one month's refill as two, therefore running out of prescription before the year ran out. I called and spent two hours speaking with a representative and was advised my prescription was being processed and I would have it in 7 days. This was after they tell me that I needed to call my doctor to have her call in a new prescription. The doctor's office was closed and I explained that it was their error. They should call the local pharmacy so that I can at least get 1 month of the 3 right away and they can fill the other 2. However, they were not willing to do that, but said they would process the prescription and I would have it in 7 days.

A few days later, I get a notice in the mail stating I had cancelled my prescription. Another call and absolutely refused to get off the phone, 5 people later, I finally get in touch with a pharmacist. The pharmacist explained that they made the error, he would reinstate the prescription and overnight it to me at their expense. Finally someone that had some sense! Unfortunately, I take this prescription for other medical reasons and will be two weeks late starting it.

I was required to have a credit card on file with Caremark in order to fill my scripts. My doctor wrote for a medication as its brand name even though I had only ever had the generic filled. Caremark put through the order for the brand name at a cost of $240 as opposed to $13 without calling or informing me at all. I was told by 2 different people that they would send a mailer and I should return the brand name medication for a refund. After about 30 messages/emails/phone calls, I am still without my money! It has been almost 2 months and I am completely fed up.

I sent Caremark a prescription for 180 pills, which is a 90-day supply. As per Caremark, my plan restrictions require a PA in order to receive more than 90 pills. My doctor completed the form required and sent it to Caremark. I received confirmation that the PA was received and approved. A week later when I still had not received my Rx, I called Caremark and was told that they were waiting for my doctor to provide a PA. I called my doctor was also confused since they had called Caremark and faxed the PA 3 times. The PA was good for one year, but they did it again. I finally received my prescription after having gone 4 days with no medication due to the hold up. The entire process took over 4 weeks.

Two and a half months later, I called Caremark for a refill. I received 90 pills which is a 45-day supply and I was charged for 180 pills. When I called, I was told my script was reduced because a PA was needed and my doctor had not sent it in yet. My doctor sent in another PA even though the first PA should have still been active. I was told I would receive the remaining pills, which I did not. After 8 or 9 calls to Caremark and 8 or 9 different stories, I was told that I was being sent the remaining script (90 pills, 45-day supply) and would have to pay the coinsurance again. So at this point, I have paid double what I should have. The irony is that I'm in the insurance business and spent 13 years as a PBM Administrator. Caremark is a poor excuse for a PBM! Express Scripts is the best.

I received a letter in the mail dated, December 7, 2011. The RDH at CVS/Caremark has decided that as of January 1, 2012, they will no longer cover one of my medications. This med is not offered in generic form, only "alternative" form. It took over a year to find a med that would work with my system and now they are giving me less than 30 days notice that they are no longer covering it. After a call to their 800 number, I was told the same thing. I have to "suck it up" and try the alternative or pay 364 per month out of pocket for this med. I promptly mailed all of my medications back to CVS/Caremark.

I received a letter today, December 13, 2011, that was dated December 7, 2011. You have stated that as of January 1, 2012, you will no longer cover my Pristiq that I have been taking for quite some time now. I have several issues with this letter. 1. I was not even given a 30 day notice that you were changing what would be covered under my plan. 2. There is no generic to my medication so you have taken it upon yourself to decide what is in my best health interest not. You are choosing what makes your pocketbook thicker. 3. It took over a year to find a medication that would work well with my system. To change now would be quite devastating.

Because having more money in your pockets is more important than my health and well-being, I am returning all of the medications that I have purchased using the CVS/Caremark prescription plan. Although you have no medical license, you have obviously taken it upon yourselves to decide what is in my best health interest. Obviously, you have just saved my medical insurance carrier money as well. Because I will no longer be taking any medications, I will no longer have to see my primary care physician.

My thyroid, heart medication and anxiety meds were all mailed back. I've been without them for 5 days not and feel horrible. I cannot believe that companies can legally get away with this.

I have been using Caremark for almost five years now, and it is an ongoing saga of horrible customer service, inaccurate information, and struggles to get my medications. I am diabetic, and use insulin, and when I began to use Caremark, because it is the only pharmacy my job uses, since I have had problems. It began with them sending me a partial 3 months supply, because someone there couldn't do simple math, and know how much to send me.

I was charged the $50 fee, and when I finally got someone to realize what happened, they shipped me the remaining amount of insulin, but charged me $50 again. They have overdrawn my bank account, because I made a one time payment with my debit card, and they added it to my account, even though I told them not to do this, because I have a flex spending account that I use. The most recent episode happened within the last 24 hours. Yesterday, I authorized them to take $100 from my debit card, to bring my balance down (I have a balance still because of the overdrawn bank account issue), and what do I find out? They have put it in for $150, and because I have a past due amount, will not release my meds.

After an hour and a half on the phone I finally get to speak to a supervisor who says if I authorize the $150, that will allow them to release my medicine. I agreed to this. Between that time and this morning, I received four calls from them saying I need to call them asap so my shipment will not be delayed. I call and they cannot find any notes about what I went over with the supervisor, and they cannot find my payment, even though I gave them my confirmation number.

They finally find out that I have four accounts with them! This could be a big reason why they keep screwing up my shipments, and charging me multiple times. I have been without my insulin for over a week now, and with blood sugar levels reaching upper 300s, this is not safe! They told me that one of my meds was shipped out on 12/3, but when I look online at their website, it says that the med is still processing.

I have been without my medicine for over a week now, because of accounting and billing errors on Caremark's end. My blood sugar levels are out of control now, and I still have not received a resolution to the multiple billing episodes, or the overdrawing of my bank account, due to them adding my debit card on my account without my permission, and then charging it without my permission. I have gone through this for almost 5 years now.

CVS Caremark Specialty Pharmacy was extremely difficult to work with, as we were trying to get the drug Synagis, which is needed by our newborn baby daughter, who has a congenital heart defect. The drug is used to prevent something called RSV, a viral infection which results in significant stress on an already-compromised cardiopulmonary system. RSV lower respiratory tract infections in children with CHD, has been associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Among infants with CHD hospitalized with RSV disease, 33.4% were admitted to the ICU, with 18.8% requiring mechanical ventilation. 83.4% required supplemental oxygen. All of these infants required trips to the hospital.

CVS Caremark would deny the authorization of the medication, to not spend the money up front, taking a chance that they would have to pay more, should my daughter get sick. It should be known that after an appeal by our physicians, and several calls to the specialty pharmacy, expressing the urgency, they did in fact approve. This was a drawn out process, as it took us almost 3 weeks to finally get the approval. We have not yet been informed of when we will actually receive the drug.

I went to CVS/pharmacy in Middleboro, Ma to pick up my prescription for my Ventolin inhaler. I was told by the clerk that there was a freeze on my prescription and they were waiting for my doctor to call them back to change my prescription from 30 to 90 days. I explained to her that I had two more refills on my prescription and I needed the inhaler and that it was the weekend and nothing could be done till Monday. They said, it was an insurance problem and I could pay cash for my inhaler. I told them I didn't have the money and that's why I pay for Tufts Health Plan to cover medication and etc. The clerk said, I'm sorry there is nothing I can do.

I contacted Tufts Health Plan Monday morning and I was told by customer service that CVS Caremark put a freeze on my prescription and not Tufts Health Plan. Tufts customer service said, this was an on going problem with CVS Caremark. I called CVS Caremark at 888-424-6618 and told them what had happen and how dangerous it is to put a freeze on people's medication because you want them to switch from a 30 to 90 day plan. Caremark told me I could opt out of this program and continue to have 30 day prescription refills. I told her I never volunteered for this program, never wanted it, and even if I did why put a freeze on medication that I need. I can't understand how CVS Caremark can be so callous and irresponsible to do this to people. I have had numerous problems in the pass with CVS pharmacy filling prescriptions, rudeness, and not caring about their customers. I will never go back to CVS.

AIDS drugs are off their radar. Co-pays went from $60/month to $380/month.

I have a 1 year refill for Proventle and symbacort. I went to refill the 3rd month and was told it was denied, that I now am forced to use CVS pharmacies for all "maintenance" prescriptions. There is no CVS pharmacy in the state of Washington. I was then told I am required to order 90days supply online. I called and get set up. I was required to have my credit card on file even though I know this will be trouble later. I was told my prescription would be on the way in the mail. The order was placed 6 days ago, today I called and was told it was still processing and that it takes 5-7 days to process. I was told that this only includes business days so Add 2 days for the weekend. Also because of the holiday (thanksgiving ) it can take another 2 days as well, which puts it into another weekend (another 2 days) This comes to 13 days.

I may have to go without my rescue inhaler because of this horrendous system I have been forced into. Additionally, I was told that because the doctor forgot to include the quantity on the symbacort prescription (even though it clearly states the dosage and number of refills, somehow they say it is missing the "amount") and that it cannot be processed. They need the doctor to resubmit the prescription in order to fill it, the doctor is on vacation till the 1st. unless I schedule an appointment with the earliest time being a week or two out no doubt, I will have to wait for him to return. Once he does submit I am back into 1 to 2 weeks processing time and another 7 to 10 days to ship. It very well could be past a month from the time I tried to fill my needed prescription to the time I may receive it. This is dangerous.

I very well could end up in the hospital with a full blown asthma attack. The Caremark person told me I always have the option to buy it out of pocket. I told him that is not possible; he rudely told me that he was sure paying for it out of pocket if I really needed it wouldn't hurt me. Symbacort is around $270 out of pocket. Additionally because the prescription has been transferred I'm sure the local rite-aid would deny filling it. So I am totally in limbo waiting weeks if not over a month for an inhaler I needed last week. This has to be Criminal. I am blown away at how callous and rude the rep was and how dangerous it is to mess with people's medication like this. People could die because of this.

My prescription plan requires that I use CVS/Caremark for mail order. I use insulin which must be kept at or below 46 degrees. Unless they ship in winter, it always arrives too warm. I call, tell them I need replacement. They usually argue. I point out that the manufacturer will not guarantee potency for less than 28 days. They relent and overnight replacement. This has been going on ever since they cheapen their packaging.

I was in the CVS Pharmacy on Sunday, 11/6/11, and I was appalled at the rudeness of the clerk who was waiting on customers. She was using profanity at the customer who I thought was the manager, but when she told the manager to "handle this **", I was so very upset that I left. I will never go back to this store again. I think situations like this are deplorable. It was about 4:30 in the afternoon. I didn't know what it was all about, but the customer kept saying that it was "Y'alls". If this is how I will be treated in your store, I will never go back.

A recent change in my prescription plan required that I begin ordering recurring medications with a prescription for a 90-day supply through either Caremark mail order or at a CVS pharmacy. We do not have CVS pharmacy in our small town, so I opted to have our doctor fax the affected medication refills to Caremark. Prior to the refill request, I spoke with a representative at Caremark and I specifically requested that they hold all of these prescriptions until I ordered them online as I did not want to be hit with all the charges at one time due to the large number of medications, and also because we did not immediately need refills on all of the meds. I also requested that they remove my credit card info from my account and that I would mail them a check for all of our meds. They failed to comply with both of my requests. They sent every prescription all at once and then they charged my bank debit card for the cost. This was done 3 days prior to my paycheck going into the bank when sufficient funds were not available to cover the cost.

As a result of this, we were hit with $124 in unnecessary prescription refill costs and an additional $150 in overdraft fees from my bank. I called and spoke with a "supervisor", who told me that they would "pull the taped calls" to verify my claims and that they would call me within one week. I have yet to hear from them and it has now been 10 days. I would prefer to fill my prescriptions at my locally owned pharmacy, where the pharmacist knows us and provides excellent customer service. It seems a conflict of interest to me that Caremark (now owned by CVS) can force us to buy our recurring meds only at CVS.

I had my checking account information & my Visa check card on file with Caremark. In September, I began using my Visa Flex card. I called twice and told them to put all future charges on my Visa Flex. We went over the card information. I was assured both times I called that they would use the Flex card.

I happened to look at my checking account several days later & I saw I had all of these fees on my account. Caremark had charged my Visa check card. I called and told them what had occurred. I told them that it should have been applied on my Flex card. I spoke to a team leader or someone in charge and they wanted to know when I called and other information that I supplied. I was told they would transfer the charges to my Flex account but it had to go to some other department and it would take a few days. I also told them I had accrued all of these overdrawn charges because of their error. He said he would have to check on that and get back to me.

Needless to say, I am still waiting for that person to get back to me. I have since had Caremark to remove the Visa card number and my checking account number. I am thinking about removing my Flex number and just send them a money order.

CVS Caremark denied my prescription for Lunesta. This prescription has been in effect for five years and is a simple renewal from my primary physician! CVS Caremark is consistently obstructive and opaque for information regarding my account and prescription status! CVS Caremark's website is impossible to use, even for someone with 40 years experience in computer usage! CVS Caremark is criminal!

My husband has MS and has to order his prescriptions through Caremark. He has been without medication for over three months, which means he is fatigued, becomes ill easily, and not to mention the attacks from MS. When he calls, he is told they have asked his doctor to submit his prescription. When he calls his doctor he is told they have submitted his prescription. He has still not received medication. This is the 3rd time we have had to deal with the dishonesty of Caremark.

I agree with other negative comments here and at the other Caremark category on this service. First, I ran a little short on the pills but they would not fill until 5 days later. And that date was the 17th, which was a Saturday, so they would not fill until the 19th.

When I asked them for the 2-day delivery, they agreed and I even called back a day later to confirm this, which they did. But still they sent it out by mail, so I am slated to get it by the 22nd, which is a real health problem. A real problem, but they would give me a local supply if I could get my doctor to RX, which today is Friday, so I can't.

I asked my physician's office to send two of three prescriptions to Caremark Mail Order Pharmacy on 08/24/2011. I had already purchased one of the three prescriptions for $7 at Walgreens. My physician e-prescribed (electronic prescription sent instantaneously to the pharmacy) all three prescriptions as generic prescriptions to Caremark Mail Order Pharmacy. I discovered a $100 charge dated 08/29/2011 for one of the medications (the one I bought for $7 at Walgreens). I checked the Caremark website and saw that the prescription was listed on www.caremark.com as a brand name medication with no generic.

I called Caremark Customer Service today (08/31/2011) and spoke with Leslie, supervisor for the representative with whom I had initially spoken. Although I have not yet received the medication in the mail, I was told I could not return the package "unopened" to Caremark for refund once it had been received. The Caremark supervisor claimed that my physician acted as my legal representative when he e-prescribed the prescription (against my wishes and express instructions) and that they could not resell the medication sent to me due to the risk of tampering once it left their facility. I did not authorize my doctor or Caremark to send me this medication and charge my debit card, and Caremark did not fill the prescription for the generic version that was prescribed.

The supervisor stated that having my debit card number on file constituted my authorization to charge that debit card for each and every prescription sent to them. I was also told that the prescription was so expensive as it was for a 30-day supply, rather than the less expensive 90-day supply. However, they did not contact my physician to request a change to a 90-day supply as the pharmacy had done with one of the other three prescriptions submitted on 08/24/2011. I asked that Caremark Mail Order place a notice on my account from this date forward that no prescriptions be mailed to me from Caremark without my express telephone consent. I believe I am not the only person that this has happened to and I believe this will happen more frequently to patients as e-prescribing becomes more common.

I sent prescription through Caremark/CVS mail prescription department and they denied it. They received it on the 29th of July but did not process it until the 30th of July, and decided they weren't going to fill it because my coverage ended on the 29th even though it was received on the 29th. Useless! What's the point of having an insurance if they don't want to cover it. It just stinks.

First of all, Caremark employees refuse to give their last names, therefore I only have the first initial. This individual named here is the 4th person I have talked to at Caremark in the past 3 weeks, and still no satisfaction and nothing but promises....what happened...

It all started on 7-13-11 when Alprazolam (generic Xanax) was mailed to me by Caremark after receiving the prescription from my doctor. This is a necessary drug for me and I have been taking it for many years for panic disorder/PTSD, controlled by the drug. When I received the Alprazolam, it was made by a new drug manufacturer then the previous 90 day prescription. Being that I have had adverse reactions with generic Xanax from manufacturers other then Greenstone, I immediately called Caremark without evening opening this drug and told the representative I must receive this drug through Greenstone only and explained in detail why. I further said that I was immediately returning it unopened to the prescribing doctor for a new prescription, which I did. The doctor saw me immediately and gave me a new prescription written as the Caremark rep. advised .... "Greenstone manufacturer only" (I have copies of both scripts). The Caremark rep. said she was making detailed notes and not to worry, and I would receive the drug 7-10 days of receipt of the new prescription. Caremark did not want the drug returned to them. However I was told I would still have to pay my co-pay for it. The rep. said when she received the new prescription it would be filled promptly.

About a week later, I get an "automated" phone call from Caremark stating it was too soon to refill this drug and I would have to wait over a month before it could be filled. I immediately called Caremark back a second time and explained the automated call and was told the drug was put on a "hold status" because it was too soon for me to receive the drug. I insisted on speaking to a supervisor and did, but she would not give her name. (This was yesterday 8-3-11). I told her I was very concerned because I was almost out of the drug and I would go into severe and dangerous withdrawal without it. I explained exhaustively what I was told by the initial rep. and about the automated phone call. She checked the notes and agreed that what I said was in fact in the notes, but what happens she told me is that when prescriptions come in to Caremark to be filled that the notes are NEVER referred to. It is the COMPUTER that red flags newly arriving prescriptions when it is too soon to receive a drugs like Xanax. And the only way to be sure I receive the drug is to manually tell the pharmacy to "override" the computer and fill the prescription. She said she was sorry, but would be sure it would be filled and send an "override" note by email and phone call to the pharmacy at Caremark. So once again, I hoped I would receive it. Before we hung up, she insisted I pay the $20 I owed for the initial script that I received from Caremark that I gave to my doctor. I was told I have to pay it even though I never took it and gave it up. I asked why, since for the past 5 years I have been billed up to $300, and have excellent credibility with Caremark, with billing approved up to a maximum of $300. She said the policy has changed, without giving me any more reason, so I paid it.

I felt singled out especially since I was given no reason. So again, with her assurance, I hoped I would receive the drug as promised. She promised it overnight delivery and I would receive it today (8-4-11). Well, I didn't receive it today and just received yet another automated call with the same message... that it is too soon to receive the Alprazolam and I would have to wait. I was so very upset and I called and insisted on speaking to a supervisor. Maurine S. is a resolution specialiast and I explained everything in detail, including the other phone calls and everything that happened since this whole situation started. She also looked at the notes and agreed that everything is exactly how I explained it, and clearly sees that the drug was supposed to be mailed out yesterday. All the notes are there, but she also said that it is their computer that red flags certain drugs like Xanax so that it will not be filled too soon, and unless someone personally tells the pharmacist to fill it as an "override", nothing will happened. I said the last supervisor I spoke to just yesterday ensured me it would be overnighted and I would have it today! No apologies from Maurine S., just telling me she will email the pharmacy today telling them to override the hold and send it out to me overnight and I will have it tomorrow (8-5-11).

In the meantime, I am literally just about out of the drug and in sharing all of this with Maurine, she was not compassionate whatsoever. She said if I ran out of Xanax there is nothing she can do, I will have to deal with that in my own way. She even said there is no way she can follow up with pharmacy to be sure the drug is mailed out, that it is not their job to do so. Then she hung up with me barely getting out a goodbye....cold and callous are the only words I feel for her attitude, and for everyone I have spoken to there.

In July of 2010, I sent Caremark 2 prescriptions that should have been filled at the same time. They sent me one of the scrips and the other they tried to get my doctor to change. They wanted it changed because they did not want to stock this item. My doctor would not change the script and it took Caremark more than a month to get it to me.

The problem is, I can not use one without the other. Both of these scripts were sent together and should have been filled together. These prescriptions are for my insulin pump. I have type 1 diabetes and will die without insulin. I have had to use and re-use my Quick-Sets. This could cause a horrible infection.

Caremark has, in my opinion, tried to murder me. I called in 2010 to let them know of this problem but instead of fixing it, these two scripts kept being sent farther and farther apart. This can be seen in my order history fill dates: Quick-Set filled on: 8/27/2010, 12/02/2010, 2/23/2011, 5/17/2011; reservoir filled on: 8/02/2010, 10/24/2010, 1/15/2011, 4/18/2011, 6/22/2011.

See how these dates do not line up? Now it looks like they should be sent about two months apart, right? Why was the Quick-Set not filled on 7/17/2011? This is another attempt at killing me since I can not use the reservoir without the Quick-Set. Caremark knows this. Caremark also knew that these scripts would expire on 7/18/2011. Of course, that was the day after the Quick-Sets should have been filled.

I can not get a new script right away as my doctor had a death in the family. Caremark wanted to have the Quick-Set script changed from 32in to the 42in they had in stock. The script will not change. If I end up in the hospital or dead because my body is not getting insulin, this will be Caremark's responsibility to take care of all bills incurred due to their failure to fill the needed scripts in a timely manner.

I have insurance through COBRA, the coverage is united healthcare with the pharmacy handled by Caremark/CVS. My plan is an HRA with a deductible of 750 before it pays anything. Somehow Caremark/CVS got the wrong information and put me down for 1500 deductible with 20% on meds with no co-pay. The pharmacy now wants 1700 for my prescriptions which I desperately need. I made all the appropriate calls, talked to several people at COBRA (payflex systems) Staples (my prior employer) and united healthcare. Everyone stated that I was correct and had the HRA plan with 750 deductible, payflex systems sent elegibility updates to caremark but they have not changed anything and keep giving me responses like," talk to your benefits department" when I've already stated I have, or "our records show your deductible is 1500 with prescriptions costing 20%" which is absolutely the wrong information, as I told them repeatedly.

I am so disappointed that I now have to deal with Caremark for my prescriptions.

My employer changed our company over to Caremark starting this July 1, 2011. Since that time, I have needed an antibiotic and Caremark absolutely denied that claim and so I had to pay out of pocket. I have since been told I can file a paper claim, but with Caremark's attitude towards customer service, I can only imagine how difficult that process would be.

I also have had prescriptions for pain meds, Pyridium and Fluconozole. These were paid after a 45-minute phone call in which I was passed around from operator to operator and also hung up on once.

Well now it's time to refill my Ambien and Caremark has denied to do so. They said my doctor needed to call in a prior authorization form. OK, just give me a ** fax number and my doctor will send it. I was told no, he needs to call, then I was told I would only be allowed 15 of my 30 pill prescription because I was attempting to fill it early. I asked the Caremark representative what she was talking about because I always get my refills on the 26th of the month. She said that if my prescription was approved, I would get 15 pills now and 15 more on August 10.

I mean how in the world does that make any difference? That would mean I can get the other 15 pills in 14 days? What? I felt insulted and annoyed! I take my Ambien exactly as prescribed, one pill nightly at bedtime. I always get my prescription filled at the same CVS--so how in the heck could I get it filled early?

The operator then condescendingly informed me that if and when my doctor's pre-authorization form was approved, I would be able to get my meds in 48 hours.

I hate Caremark. I never had this problem when Cigna handled my prescriptions. Three weeks into Caremark and I am so over them. I wish I had a choice! I would ditch this company as fast as possible. They stink!

I have been using Ranitidine, the generic form of Zantac. My doctor orders Zantac but it has been changed in the past by Caremark with her permission to use Ranitidine (as documented in a notice to me from Caremark dated May 13, 2011). I sent in a new order recently, but received Zantac. I talked with a Caremark pharmacy tech and a pharmacist about their sending me this med that costs me $86 more than the Ranitidine I have been taking. He and my doctor's nurse have conflicting accounts on why I did not receive the generic meds. The nurse read me the email she received from Caremark: it was lengthy and confusing and I could not detect any reference to generic meds. I asked the pharmacist if I could return the unopened meds, but he would not tell me if I could. A Caremark representative told me on 6/24/11 that I would be sent a repeal form but as of today, 7/15/11, I have not received the form.

Today, a Caremark rep told me that not everyone can file a repeal form and that it must be done by their doctor. He said I fell in that group. I am concerned that Caremark will not hear a complaint from me, but I am forced to use them! Prior to this, I sent in a prescription with two meds listed on it, but since I realized I already had one of them ongoing and did not need it yet, I marked through one and asked that it not be filled. When I received the medication, it was for the one I had marked through. I didn't mention it at the time but when I called about the problem with the generic meds, the pharmacist conceded the first error. I am not satisfied with what is happening at Caremark!

In late may I visited my doctor and received a refill prescription from my doctor. I left the office and realized I didn't have the scrip so I called and asked them to call in the scrip to my local CVS retail store. They did that and I picked up the prescription from the retail store.

Before memorial day I had a call from CVS saying they received my request for a refill. I stated it was a mistake I already picked up the prescription. They asked who else was on my account and I said my husband and son, but they don't have any current prescriptions. They said ok, I'll take care of it and hung up.

On June 8th I received an email from Caremark notifying me my refill had shipped. I called right away and they won't allow me to return the medication or credit my account.

I do not want to use the medicine that was sent because it is a generic I have not used. I also do not want medicine sent through the mail as I am not home to receive them and the box sitting outside in the heat would not be good for the medicine.

I am forced to use CVS caremark by my insurance company. I have problems and end up in tears every time I have my prescriptions filled by CVS. Let me explain, I am on anti-depressants and when I don't take my medicine I get what is called rebound depression. It's like depression except worse. I'm not talking about a few sniffles I'm talking about hospitalization at a cost of 10,000$ at least. Not to mention the increased suicide risk. CVS does not understand this concept. They NEVER and I mean NEVER have my prescription filled and delivered on time. It is completely unacceptable. I am thinking about getting a lawyer to see what my options are in this situation. It can't keep happening. I took my last pills about 6 or 7 days ago. It's not even in the mail yet.

Caremark's drug cost quote for Lipitor and Zetia was listed as $174.17 each for 90 pills. A decision was made to switch from Vytorin to Lipitor and Zetia because of issues with Vytorin. The ship price was $312.80 for Lipitor and $273.60 for Zetia. When I questioned the Caremark representative, all she would say was that Caremark had a disclaimer that the quoted price may not be the ship price. I asked if I could return the medications since they were already shipped, she answered that the medications cannot be returned. In addition, Caremark's mail order does not accept Lipitor's discounted copay cards. The representative stated that only CVS retail will accept these cards. I'm stuck with $586.40 of medicine that I will not use because of price. I will need to find a better priced medication for future use.

Caremark started to automatically filling prescriptions and deducting money from my bank account, without my authorization or preapproval. Caremark has a record that my doctor gave me a month's supply to try. Yes, I would need one of the medications, but not for another month or so. They drained my bank account down to $6.00, and they told me that I didn't have any choice!

Caremark Online Pharmacy will not honor an FDA Recall on my Lipitor product. Pfizer Corp verified my recalled product's lot number and told me to call Caremark again.

When I called Caremark again, they said that my lot wasn't under recall. I told them that Pfizer, and a simple Google search, said it was. Then the pharmacist put me on hold for a bit and later on said that it was indeed under recall. He then said it is under recall for odor and to simply place the 90 pills from the bottle on a paper cloth and let them air out in the room.

Pfizer said they have to replace the pills under this Recall but, Caremark will not honor a justified product Recall. Moreover, Pfizer will not call them to make sure they do! Can you believe this **? In the mean time I need these pills!

I tried to renew a prescription for Nifedipine online. Two weeks later, the website said they would refill the prescription on Jan. 9, although it should have been available in early December. I called the help line and was told that my doctor had not responded to their request for a new prescription. I called my doctor's office. They said they had no request for this medication. I complained by email and received a really absurd reply that only told me what is already posted on their website about how to get a new RX.

The same day, I received a letter in the mail accusing me of not taking my Nifedipine. The tone of this letter was condescending and insulting. I would gladly take the medication if they would do their job and get my prescription renewed. I know my doctor's office sent them a new prescription this morning, but there is still no acknowledgement of this on the website. I have seven pills left. I had 21 left when I started this process. This has happened several times this year.

My wife recently opened a new bottle of Zyprexa delivered from Caremark. While taking out a pill, she noticed one pill in the bottle that was different from the rest. Upon searching the internet, I identified the tablet as Benazepril 10mg manufactured by Teva Pharmacueticals, USA. Zyprexa is taken to treat bipolar disorders. Benazapril is an ACE Inhibitor used to treat high blood pressure. Fortunately, no damage resulted. I am just trying to report the error to the FDA or whoever takes these complaints at a government level.

Below is a letter I sent to CVS Corporate Office regarding the CVS Distribution Center at 500 Lansdowne Rd. Fredericksburg, VA. I have since received a call back from Laurie ** H.R Regional Director on 9/8/10 (865-231-9940) to inform me that they were "looking into it". I've been in touch with CVS workers, and as of today the harassment is still present. Workers are stressed because they might be escorted off of the premises at any time/day (an awful way to live, not knowing if you'll be able to support your family because you could lose your job any given moment).

People are being fired every week, so that CVS will be able to attain their goal; hiring cheaper workers. This harassment must end. I have gathered previous workers who are willing to speak on behalf of this complaint. Lastly, this facility is unsanitary and not handicapped accessible-there is disabled workers who have not been able to use the elevator for years (because it's broken). This proves that CVS cares very little about their workers.

It perturbs me to send a letter of this form to a corporation historically marked by such reputable standards (for both employees and consumers). Although I am not a CVS employee, I have great concern for your workers, in addition to their well-being. Initially apprehensive in contacting your office, I waited with an optimistic mindset-hoping to hear of improvements; unfortunately that is not the case, so I've resulted in the submission of this letter. There have been continuous complaints by CVS employees regarding the changes that have taken place within the above-referenced distribution center over the past few months. Understandably, efforts for greater productivity, and increased company revenue is the reasoning behind the implementation of newly installed equipment; however, greater problems lie within this facility.

Below, I have listed a few of your workers complaints, please be mindful that there are more: 1) Managers/supervisors are disrespectful to each other and staff (profanity is constant-professionalism is void). 2) Totes are unsanitary. Urine/feces are in the totes where CVS products are temporarily held for shipping 3) Rodents, snakes and small animals dwell within the warehouse because of unsanitary conditions. 4) The work environment is that of a prison (highly dreaded). 5) The union is doing nothing to help.

These are not mere complaints from one or a few people, but a very large majority. This facility is also now threatening staff to produce at enormously high rates (95%), which is unreasonable and physically debilitating. Long time CVS employees are being harassed because they are unable to perform as mandated; some are spontaneously and permanently escorted off the premises, and the pressures from those with slave mentality are directed towards to those remaining. Many feel that this is strictly a tactic to push them out, and employ others at lower pay. I can't attest to this, but the idea is not unprecedented. Furthermore if this is true, the approach undermines everything mentioned in the CVS Code of Conduct-Vision, Mission & Values. In conclusion, I ask that you deeply consider all that's specified in this letter. It is obvious that this locality has issues, and could benefit from a thorough examination. The negative responses are bound to affect the morale of staff, supervisors and managers alike. Moreover, providing a less stressful environment could only prove to be beneficial overall.

Over the past year, Caremark has in my mind committed several crimes. In March 2010, they refused to fill my prescriptions on the grounds that I had a past due balance. Actually, I didn't pay a charge made to my account because I didn't order medication nor did I receive any medication. They admitted that I did not submit an Rx for any medication but that I did receive medication. They claimed that my physician faxed them the Rx, therefore, they filled the Rx and sent the Rx. Note that my doctor has never faxed in an Rx on behalf of my family. The assertion made by Caremark is not only a complete fabrication, it's stupid as Caremark. Just two weeks prior, they filled a three-month Rx for the same medication.

When I submitted subsequent Rxs, Caremark initially refused to fill them unless I paid this false past due balance but then promised to drop the charges; however, when they debited my bank account, they did so without authorization for the false past balance in addition to the current charges anyway. When I threatened to contact my bank and report this unauthorized withdrawal, Caremark decided to immediately refund the unauthorized charges. Of course, these charges remained on my account only to show up the very next time I submitted prescriptions.

In July 2010, Caremark sent a letter stating that they were increasing the price of my medication in Sept 2010; however when I submitted Rxs in August, they charged me the increased cost, plus the previous false past due balance that they had promised to drop. At this same time, Caremark would only fill four of the six Rxs that I submitted (despite the fact that I paid for six Rxs by check) and applied funds designated for the remaining the two Rxs to a balance which has now increased to $300. Caremark is refusing to fill the two remaining prescriptions unless I pay an additional $170 when I should owe nothing.

Caremark feels fully justified in stealing these funds for two reasons that they claim I have a past due balance and it is their policy that all customers provide credit or debit card information that they can keep on file and that consumers authorize Caremark to make charges to these accounts as they see fit. In the past, I have refused to consent to their demands instead I pay by check (I had always paid by check in the past and my credit history with them is perfect). In response to my denying them access to my credit card information, Caremark initially withheld my Rxs but ultimately made false promises and sent them to me. When I most recently submitted six Rxs for my family members, Caremark would only fill two. Caremark then took the funds allocated for the two remaining Rxs, created within their own system an open bank account for me, as they require of all consumers, withdrew the funds which technically is an unauthorized withdrawal and applied them to a false past due balance.

Caremark insists on sending generic medicines despite my doctor's directive to issue name brand medication. Caremark gives unlicensed employees (not pharmacists) the authority to make statements about the chemical compounds in the medication. Note that several of the calls I made to Caremark were witnessed via conference calls.

Due to multiple complaints about Caremark's illegal activities, Exelon's employee service associate requested that I include him in these conversations. Most recently, Brandon of Exelon's Employee Service Center as a participant in these conversations witnessed the Caremark representative, Theresa, agree to charge me the current cost for medication (not the increased costs) and to drop the previous false past due balance.

Due to delay in sending medication, both my son and I began experiencing withdrawal symptoms. In my son's case, he began to suffer the onset of serious depressive symptoms which the medication they withheld quite effectively had eliminated. In my case, their refusal caused similar results due to medication withdrawal. Both my son and I missed several days of work and I have also lost work hours as making repeated contact with Caremark is very time-consuming and stressful. Clearly, Caremark's objective is to exasperate illness rather than support healing. It is their aim to compel people to submit to their demands which they accomplished with ease given that they have the power to destabilize an individual, the power to cause emotional and physical impairment as they have done with my family.

My daughter's doctor requested an override for her medication because she was going on exchange student to Russia and would run out of medication. I called Caremark three times to obtain the medication and she called once. Every time we were told the medications were on there way. Time spent on phone calls was about 45 minutes each including talking with supervisors.

Later, I found out the override went through but they could not obtain the authority to override. After my daughter commented on this situation on line Caremark called and stated they would send the medications overnight mail which they did. Unfortunately, my daughter has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I feel because these medications were psychiatric medications she was discriminated against.

I am a nurse practitioner also diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I am sick and tired of persons with mental illness being discriminated against. I spend time and weeks of worrying to resolve this situation. There is no economic or physical damage that has resulted in this pathetic situation because fortunately I am on the same medication and I would have given her my medications to take with her. I am concerned that when a doctor writes a prescription for a medication override and Caremark thinks they can do as they please. I would like to pursue this situation in regards to discrimination and the right Caremark thinks they have to refuse medication prescribed by a doctor with legal guidance.

I am a twenty-year old SUNY Plattsburgh student who has bipolar disorder, so I am on my parent's insurance plan. I am studying abroad in Russia this upcoming semester and my flight is due to leave on September 8th. I am dependent on three medications, two of which are essential to control my disorder. The problem was that I needed my medications refilled early so that I would have enough medicine to last me the entire semester. I needed to get approval from Caremark for early refills.

After multiple calls, I was eventually refused an override for enough medication refills to last me the entire semester, which is three and a half months long. The first call I made was about an hour long, where I talked to several people about my situation. The manager promised me that she would send through the override. The second phone call was about forty five minutes long where, again, I was forced to talk to many employees. I was promised once more that my medication would be authorized for early refill and would be sent to me before my departure. It is now a week before I am due to leave. I called tonight at around 9PM because my medication still has not come in the mail. I was put on the phone for another half an hour and talked to two employees, one of whom was named Isabella. They informed me that the override was sent through but it was not authorized.

Therefore, as of right now, I will not be able to acquire enough medicine to last through this school semester abroad. This is completely an unacceptable behavior in behalf of Caremark and its employees. I feel as though I have been treated unfairly because of my mental illness and that I was denied medicine on no legal grounds. Unless I receive my medications, my bipolar disorder will go untreated overseas. This is because the right steps were not taken by Caremark employees to ensure that the authorizations for early refills were completed. As any doctor would know, suddenly stopping a medicine regimen will probably result in harmful reactions and behaviors, such as headaches, severe mood swings, depression and suicidal thoughts. I will hold Caremark solely responsible if any of the above should happen to me because of a refusal to send me medication. I will be filing a lawsuit against Caremark for discrimination against mental health patients because of the lack of care and help from its employees.

Last year I was forced by Carmark to get all my so-called 'maintanence medications' through their online prescription filling system. The come-on was to save me money. It does not, as I meet the prescription deductible each and every year! Yes, I pay the total every year and that hasn't yet changed. So it saves me nothing and has been nothing but trouble! I have read several posts here about Caremark and especially the online service and must echo all I have read.

The most egregious of their 'sins' is in misreading scripts and then making the claim that my MD is in error, despite the fact that I have viewed his fax and can easily see that he made no error in the dosing. It is claimed by a Caremark pharmacist that one of my scripts is written for 1/2 a pill twice a day: when it had been filled at Wal-Mart a month earlier for 1 pill 2x/Day! What's more. I have been taking 1 pill 2x/Day for several years. And the shape of the pill makes it impossible to split. There is no line and attempting to cut it results is a smashed pill! My MD has reviewed his communications with Caremark and verifies that the script is for 1 whole pill two times a day! Caremark refuses to admit the error, of course. The result is my MD had to write a new script and fax that in.

On another occasion with a different script it took multiple calls to my MD while I was on vacation ( long distance calls are expensive! ) And he had to fax the script in 3 ( yes, three ) times until the Caremark idiots got it right. First time they claimed it never came through. Second time, they claimed it was for an erroneous dosage and finally the third time got it right. Guess what? The three faxes were all the exact same sheet of paper from my MD's office! This is unacceptable waste of my time and worse, the time of my MD. No wonder healthcare in the us is such a mess! The only one who saves any money due to this forced usage of their mail-order system is Caremark! The push the cost down to the consumer and their MD.

Due to all these problems, there is an unacceptable waste of my time and worse, the time of my MD. No wonder healthcare in the us is such a mess! The only one who saves any money due to this forced usage of their mail-order system is Caremark! The push the cost down to the consumer and their MD. I have had to go for as much as 3 days without a critical pain med that resulted in indescribable pain for me and could have resulted in seizures and death. Caremark ought to be called care-less mark. Economic impact of the waste of my and my MD's time is difficult. The physical and psychological damage is inestimable as well. But the effects are there none-the-less. I could and even more to the list of problems above, but I think the two mentioned makes it clear that Caremark makes it a practice of screwing up, lying about it and never ever admitting they could make an error.

My insurance uses Caremark as the claims processor for prescriptions. Caremark is a wholly owned subsidiary of CVS, if my research proves correct. I am an insulin dependent diabetic and I must take several other medications to keep a tight control over my various conditions. Up until January of 2010, I was spending about $200 a month on medicine co-pays. In January, when I went to get my insulin, the prescription was denied, even though there were refills left, and the prescription did not expire until May. The pharmacist tried to inquire but they were told that I had no coverage.

After consulting with my doctor, the pharmacist granted me an emergency refill of the insulin, for which I paid full price. Upon investigation, I discovered that Caremark had crafted an arrangement on our coverage to limit all long-term medications to 90-day supplies, and that these supplies can only be purchased from CVS, or from the CVS mail-order system. The person on the phone claimed that it would be financially beneficial to me, as the cost of the 90-day supply was only supposed to be the same as two 30-day refills. Since I had no other choice, I had to contact all my doctors and have my prescriptions re-written as 90-day refills. I calculated that my first filling of the set of medicines would be about $400 so I sold some stock and got the cash ready.

When the bill at the CVS pharmacy exceeded $850 I had to have them quit. I did not have that much money. I used my $400 to purchase 30-day supplies of the critical medicines. Because I had the audacity to purchase 30-day supplies, I was told that if I attempted that again, I would lose my coverage. So now, I cannot afford my medicines any more. Their reasoning? I am not taking generic medicine. Well, here is a news flash. Insulin does not come in a generic form. Neither do many of the other medicines I am supposed to be taking. At this time, I am going without many of my medications. I am paying for my insulin, full price, at my former pharmacy, in 30-day increments. I won't be able to continue this much longer. Thus, I won't be able to live much longer. If there was a way I could send my funeral bills to CVS, I would. "Health care" my foot!

Doctor wrote a prescription for a medication using a trade name but signed it "substitution permitted". I checked price on Caremark website and it listed the generic and brand drugs. Generic was $10, brand was $50. I mailed in the Rx and CVS mail order, filled it using a brand name drug. My bill showed $73. What happened to the $10 or even the $50 price shown on the web site? I called customer service and spoke with several customer service people, a manager, a pharmacy technician and the pharmacist. I was told that the drug did not have a certain rating, so they could not send a generic. Even though their website showed a generic when I did the price check. I asked them how I should know about this rating. Their reply was that I should call with any questions.

But there was no reason to question the order when I checked the price. I asked to return the drug. The first person said it was too late, it had already been shipped. If I refused to pay, she said that they would no longer fill any prescriptions for me. I asked for a manager and got Barbra. She was all but useless. She constantly had problems with the computer, gave answers that didn't even resemble my question, and talked like she was over-medicated.

I called again, and after wading through the same chain of command, was connected with senior team member Ilene. After, hearing the same story, I explained what I, the consumer, saw on the web site. Finally, after explaining it 3 times, she agreed to do a one-time only return authorization. Over the past month, I have received nothing but dismal customer service from Caremark/CVS. It would seem that Caremark/CVS is only interested in the customer's money. Don't be fooled by their advertisements for excellent service. Wasted a whole lot of my time. There was at least 5 minutes of hold time between each person I was transferred to. During a typical call, I talked to 6 different people.

I tried filling my prescription at my local friendly pharmacy. But this insurance company was forcing me to fill my prescription through their mail-order service. They are just trying give me a hard time, because it's a very expensive medication.

I was trying to get my Simcor prescription refilled. I have a secondary insurance card from Simcor/Restat for a $5/month copay for my Simcor. I called Restat and they said that I would only be charged $5/month or $15 for my Simcor through CVS.

I had my doctor do another prescription to CVS Caremark for the Simcor and I at the same time, emailed Caremark, asking for verification that the medicines would indeed only cost me $15. I got an email back apologizing for the inconvenience and said that they did not take secondary insurance and I would have to file separately. I then sent an email back expressing my extreme distaste inconvenience apology and that they needed to do something because I could not afford $75 for this medicine (I do not know the exact wording because that email no longer exists in their system conveniently). They then proceeded to fill my prescription and charge my card for $75. I did not want that to happen. I could not let that happen. Now, they are telling me that they cannot take the medicine back because it has already been filled, therefore they cannot credit my card.

This is the second time CVS Caremark has tried to screw me. The first time, I just enrolled in the new mail order prescription program through my work. I call my doctor and ask them to send the prescription to said mail order prescription program. My prescription does not have a generic counterpart to the prescription at this time. "That's all right", says the Customer Service agent at the mail order prescription program, "that is what we use as our generic." She then proceeds to tell me exactly what the doctor needs to put on the prescription, so I will get this specific medicine and not be charged as a name brand but as a generic. The price doubles for the name brand. Well, the doctor put down what the prescription needed to say and more. So the prescription I was charged for was the name brand, not the generic.

Why am I telling you this? Here is an analogy for you. When you go to a bar and ask for a whiskey and coke, the friendly bartender pours you a "generic" whiskey with coke. If you ask for a Jim Beam and Coke, they will pour you a Jim beam and Coke and charge more because you asked for a brand name. It's to be expected. If that bar uses Jim Beam for their "generic" whiskey (which does happen), they don't or shouldn't charge you for the brand name.

Okay, it's just business. But that is what is wrong with this country. Businesses rule over people. We all see it everyday. What the hell is wrong with this country? And how do we rally to fix it?

So back to my prescription. You know the mail order prescription program is making money off this drug, generic or not. But when a doctor says on a prescription "Dispense as written" (which I understand that doctors have to do), that gives the mail order prescription program to charge me the brand name price, double of the generic. But it's the exact same drug. I pitched a fit with said mail order prescription program, giving them the whiskey and Coke analogy and I won. I got a credit from the Caremark office. "How many times does this happen everyday in this country?"

I'm on Cobra, so my insurance company requires that I purchase a 3-month supply of medicine, which is fine. I am currently trying to receive my HIV medicine called Atripla that I have paid for and that my doctor has approved.

The first week of June, I paid for my 3-month supply but only received one month, though I was charged for three months. I thought I had the problem resolved when my doctor approved the additional 60 days, but CVS Caremark tried to charge me for those 60 days. My doctor has approved everything that has been sent to them, and the prescriptions that have been approved have refills on them. But CVS Caremark has yet to send me my medicine that I have already paid for. Every time I talk to someone (on a weekly basis), I get the runaround; and they tell me they understand. But I am running out of medicine and yet to have the 60 days sent to me that I have paid for.

I've been unable to fill a prescription. The latest excuse I've gotten from them is that they need a phone call or fax from my doctor on why I am taking this prescription. The thing is, CVS and Caremark are in essence the same company and for some reason when I walk into CVS retail store, I can fill a prescription without having to tell them what I'm taking it for but Caremark has to know in order to fill it.

So now I can't fill the prescription because my doctor won't call them and Caremark won't take a letter from my doctor - my doctor has to call in order for them to fill the prescription. I'm not sure why they need to know - I would think this is a violation of my privacy - how is it their business and how does it pertain to the prescription itself?

My economic loss is great. To fill it monthly at CVS costs $45, to fill it via mail order, I can get 90 days at a time (this is a pill I take every day) for $90 - so basically I am paying almost half and wasting gas going to CVS every month instead of just having it come to my door every 90 days as I can't get a 90 day prescription via CVS retail.

I have been prescribed a narcotic pain medication for chronic back pain. CVS did not have enough pills to fill my prescription. They gave me a partial prescription and Caremark refused to pay for the remainder of the prescription. They told me they only pay for one Oxycodone refill per month even if the refill amount is less than prescribed. I have three problems with this: (1) CVS/Caremark should make it absolutely clear to the customer that if a partial refill is given due to a shortage of pills, no more of that prescription will be paid by Caremark until the following month. Oxycodone is a very expensive medicine. (2) Doctors prescribe the dosage that they want their patient to take per month. CVS/Caremark is denying coverage for the medication as prescribed by the physician. (3) Missing a dose of Oxycodone is dangerous. It can lead to withdrawal or even death. CVS/Caremark is putting their customers' lives in danger by not paying for complete refills.

We recently moved to California from New York State, our daughter has been on Duo-Cal, a nutritional supplement for almost 2 years which has been the only thing that has allowed her to gain weight. CVS Caremark has denied coverage of this nutritional supplement, stating that our child can eat baby food, which she does therapeutically but she has a severe gag reflex and failure to thrive so her largest calorie intake is the Duo-Cal.

This they consider an OTC even though the only way you can purchase it is by having a pharmacy specially order it with a script, or by purchasing it directly through the manufacturer under a doctor's supervision. A month after CVS denied this medication, our daughter had lost 2 pounds in a short period of time and began declining in development, so we did research and ordered it ourselves out of pocket.

I received Remicade, an intravenous medication used in the treatment of certain autoimmune diseases, for over one year. The medication was administered in the Infusion Center at Deaconess Billings Hospital in Billings, Montana. At that time, my insurance company, Principal Financial, insisted that the medication be provided by Caremark Pharmacy instead of Deaconess Billings Hospital.

I was told, prior to my first dose of intravenous Remicade being administered, that it was the policy of Caremark Pharmacy that every single dose of Remicade had to be paid for in advance, before the medication would be shipped to Billings, Montana. Prior to every single dose of Remicade that I received, I received a phone call from Caremark Pharmacy (the caller i.d. on my phone read Caremark Pharmacy, and the person on the other end of the line identified themselves as being from Caremark Pharmacy) and the person on the other end of the phone said the same thing every time, "Hello.

This is Caremark Pharmacy. It is time to ship your next dose of Remicade. Remicade must be paid for before it can be shipped. How would you like to pay for it? " Then I would ask, "What is the copay for this dose?" (The amount I paid to Caremark Pharmacy for Remicade varied from month to month due to my meeting my deductible). The Caremark person on the phone would then tell me the amount that I owed for the Remicade for that dose. I would then put the payment for the Remicade on my credit card. No dose of Remicade was ever shipped to me from Caremark Pharmacy without prepayment.

Over a year, after receiving my last dose of Remicade, I started receiving bills from Caremark Pharmacy in the amount of $2,834.91. I ignored the first couple of bills that I received from Caremark Pharmacy because I knew that they were being sent to me in error, since I had prepaid for every single dose of Remicade that I had ever received. I do not recall exactly how many bills I actually received before I finally called Caremark Pharmacy, but I would suppose that I called after receiving the third bill. (I received the first bill and thought, "Well, they made a mistake sending me this. " Then they sent the second bill and I thought, "Gee. They still have not realized that I prepaid for every single dose of Remicade that I ever received? " Then I received a third bill and thought, "I need to tell them that I do not owe them any money.")

When I called Caremark Pharmacy about the erroneous bills I had been receiving, they told me that the bill was not an error. I kept trying to explain that the bill had to be an error because Caremark Pharmacy had a no exceptions policy that required that all Remicade be paid for before shipment from the pharmacy, but my words fell on deaf ears. It was at that time that I asked for an itemized bill. I asked to be sent an itemized bill that listed every dose of Remicade that I had received from Caremark Pharmacy.

When the itemized bill came, that was supposed to list all the Remicade that Caremark Pharmacy had provided me with, only one dose was listed. I think that I received approximately 10 doses of Remicade from Caremark Pharmacy. (The medication was shipped to Deaconess Billings Hospital, not to me personally). I called Caremark Pharmacy again and made a second request for an itemized bill. When the next itemized bill arrived from Caremark Pharmacy, it again only had one dose listed. I called Caremark Pharmacy again.

I made anecdotal notes about every conversation I had with Caremark Pharmacy, but most of those notes were packed away when we started our home office remodel. The few notes that are readily available to me identify the people I was talking to at this time as Cynthia and Taryn. I repeatedly asked for an itemized bill, but I received the same response every single time I asked for one, "I am sorry, Mrs. C, you only received one dose of Remicade from Caremark Pharmacy. My response to her was, "So, if I can find the credit card that I used to have, that I used to pay for all that Remicade, and I prove to you that I paid for a minimum of 5 doses of Remicade --- that is 5 times the amount that you say that you sent to me --- will you agree that I do not owe you any money?" At that time my file was transferred to a senior resolution manager.

I think that the name of the Caremark Pharmacy Senior Resolution Manager was Dalton. This gentleman told me that Caremark Pharmacy had provided only one of my doses of Remicade; all the other doses of Remicade had been provided by a pharmacy that Caremark Pharmacy had purchased, and for that reason Caremark did not have access to those bills. My response to him was: 1) When my phone rang, my caller identification said Caremark Pharmacy; 2) When I answered the phone, the person on the other end of the line identified themselves as being from Caremark Pharmacy; 3) The charges on my credit card were from Caremark Pharmacy; 4) On two separate occasions there were problems with my Remicade dose that occurred while I was in the Infusion Center at Deaconess Billings Hospital.

During both of those times I called the 800 numbers that I had for Caremark Pharmacy and the problem was remedied. But my Remicade was not provided by Caremark Pharmacy. How could that be? This Senior Resolution Manager held his ground and said that the prior doses of Remicade had not been provided by Caremark Pharmacy.

It was at this time that I started calling every single 800 numbers that I could find for Caremark Pharmacy. During one of those phone calls to a random Caremark Pharmacy 800 numbers, a kind soul told me (I have her name and phone number, but I am not going to jeopardize her job), "I have documentation that you received numerous doses of Remicade from Caremark Pharmacy. My computer shows 8 doses, but my screen also shows that the file is not complete. Caremark Pharmacy changed their computer billing program and they lost almost all of their past bills. That is why they will not send you an itemized bill; they lost your past bills. The complexity of your bill is compounded by the fact that you received your medication from the pharmacy in Richardson, Texas. That pharmacy has closed and we lost those bills, too.

With God as my witness, I have always paid every single bill that I have ever owed and my credit history was spotless prior to this fiasco. I prepaid for every single dose of Remicade that I ever received. I went to Deaconess Billings Hospital to request an itemized bill listing every dose of Remicade I received there --- hopefully, when I have that bill I will be able to track down the credit card that I used to pay for the Remicade and I will be able to find out what my insurance number was at the time I received this Remicade. (I no longer have the credit card that I used to pay for the Remicade, and I no longer have the medical insurance that I had, when I received the Remicade, and all of our payment information that we had on our home computer was lost during a battle with a virulent computer virus). Obtaining the bill from the hospital where I received the Remicade has been complicated by the recent movement of their infusion center. The Infusion Center's bills used to be on the main hospital computer, but when the physical location of the center changed, they changed the location of the bills on the computer. The administrative assistant in the rheumatology office is tracking down the bill for me.

The last conversation I had with an employee at Caremark Pharmacy was a female (I think this conversation was with Taryn). I said matter of fact, as if it was common knowledge, "I do not think this is fair. Caremark Pharmacy lost their bills when they changed their computer program, and you are absolutely incorrect about me owing you money. " She replied, "We lost our prior bills, but this bill was not paid. "

This Caremark Pharmacy employee, Taryn, inadvertently provided me with a second source that confirms that Caremark Pharmacy lost their files and they have absolutely no clue who owes them what. Since I no longer have the credit card that I used to pay for the Remicade, my thought was that if I could obtain an itemized bill showing me the dates that I received the Remicade, maybe I could find the credit card (I am relatively certain that I paid my hospital bill with the same credit card that I used to pay my Caremark Pharmacy bill) that I used to pay for the drug and I could do a check and balance. If I received 10 doses of Remicade, I would match that against 10 charges on my credit card. All of this is very difficult because Caremark Pharmacy waited such an exorbitant amount of time before billing me. The information is very difficult to obtain because so much time has passed.

When I say to Caremark Pharmacy, "I paid you. I am innocent of the charge that I owe you money," I do not understand why Caremark Pharmacy has absolutely no obligation to provide me with the information that I need regarding payment of this account. In my last conversation with Caremark Pharmacy I said, "Send me an itemized bill so that I can check to see if I can find payments that match up with your dates of service. If I find an unequal service:payment ratio, I will gleefully pay you the money you are requesting; but I am not going to send you $2,834.91 just because you say so." Taryn said that if I did not send the money, that they would turn me over to a collection agency. And they did.

This has taken up a tremendous amount of my time and caused me endless frustration and agitation. I have spent countless hours on the phone with Caremark Pharmacy and the collection agency, Miramed Revenues. With the exception of one phone call, my dealings with Miramed have not been unpleasant at all, but I cannot say the same thing about my dealings with Caremark Pharmacy. The people at Caremark have absolutely no qualms about screaming at me and making my life very unpleasant and obviously, Dalton does not have a problem about blatantly lying about what is going on at Caremark Pharmacy. This has been grossly unpleasant.

For many years, I had self-paid Blue Cross and received my MS medication Copaxone through Caremark. In approximately 05/09, I started my Keystone65 HMO. On 06/24/09, I called Caremark and requested a refill for a 90-day supply. The prescription was filled 06/25/09 and received 06/26/09. There also was a message on my answering machine from a Caremark customer service rep. When I spoke with the rep Monday 06/29, I was told that because the insurance had changed that I was going to have to pay the co-insurance cost of $4,400.41.

The bottom line is their shipping department filled the prescription before they checked to see that it would be paid for by either the patient or the insurance before filling it. I had contacted Shared Solutions, a division of Teva the manufacturer, who helps patients in financial need, said they would contact Caremark. When I had the self-paid insurance, my co-pay was under Shared Solutions maximum for the covered deductable. So I never had to pay out-of-pocket costs.

Also contacted Independence Blue Cross and filled a grievance. Blue Cross sent me a written decision of my grievance 07/24/09. It said I would have to pay the $4,400.71 myself. I've never heard from Shared Solutions or Caremark again. So I assumed the issue was resolved. Then on 02/05/10, I received a bill, dated 02/01/10, for $4,264.80. The bill just came again dated 03/01/10.

We are customers of CVS/Caremark. Late in 2009, a notice was sent out, telling all customers of CVS/Caremark that unless we used CVS Pharmacies for our long-term medications, insurance would no longer cover the cost. I have verified that with CVS/Caremark. It seems pretty unfair, possibly even illegal, to force insured (and paying ) customers to use their associated pharmacies that, so far, have proven to be less than stellar. I would prefer to use my old Walgreens pharmacy, which was just as good as I could hope for. We haven't seen the full impact yet, but we've had to deal with rude pharmacists, and the inability to manage our prescriptions online.

I was hospitalized in the beginning of 12/09, and diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. My cardiologist ordered lisinopril and metotropol from Caremark, which I became allergic to, and I did not feel well with after I came home from the hospital. When the delivery from Caremark arrived, I did not open the package of these heart drugs, and my postman sent it right back.

Caremark charged me $81.71 for this order and will not credit my account this amount because the customer service representative advised it was not Caremark's error, and I will have to pay for this medication which I can't use, and don't have. Caremark received this medication back unopened. It used to be their policy that if the package was not opened, they would accept the medication back and credit my account. Now, I was informed, the policy changed, and because it was not their error, I would have to pay full price for the medication that was sent back.

I was never informed from Caremark in writing that this policy changed. The representative doesn't know when it changed. The policy is not on the website. The representative can't send it to me and advised me to write to their legal department. I did not write to their legal department but instead decided to write to you for help in this matter. Caremark will not allow me a first time credit etc.

Ive been in sever pain for over 18yrs in that time Ive taken many different kinds of pain management meds. I went to get my perscription filled in November the 16th I was told they changed the rules. I an no longer get it filled after being on the same medication for 8yrs. Caremark denied 2 appeals. And the third appeal has to go to Chryslers. Which tells me Caremark is a go between not a insurance comp. So my Dr wrote the appeal to Chry. They sent me a copy of the letter they wrote him. I guess I am not part of the quateation I am the one who suffers well someone who has no knowledge of my spinal problem gets to decide. Weather ill walk. Crawl or get in a wheelchair and the pain is still unbearable. Someone else decides the quality of my life. Unbelievable and on it goes they have no time frame or so they said.

A prescription for Ativan was sent to Caremark, which they filled and sent to me. When I ordered a refill, they sent the generic, which I can't take. I called and explained the situation and they said they were sorry, the prescription did state Ativan and not a generic, they had no idea how the problem occurred, and they would send me a pre-paid return mailer for the generic and send me the Ativan-and it would take about a week.

After a week, I called and asked if they had sent the mailer-the person I talked to said they were filling the prescription for Ativan and I would receive that first, followed by a mailer for the generic later. That didn't make sense to me (Ativan is a controlled substance), so I called up again and was told various stories-all conflicting-until I talked to a supervisor, who said what I said happened, never happened. I went to the Caremark web site, and someone had changed the web site entries to make it appear that the generic was what was ordered originally. I told the supervisor that someone had made data changes and considering it was a controlled substance, he should look into the matter.

Interestingly, whoever made the web changes missed one which states that Ativan was sent both times, which I've printed. The supervisor told me that was the problem of the pharmacy-I told him I didn't think the DEA cared what department was involved. So I had to get another prescription for the Ativan from my physician. There was an incredible number of stories and alibis offered on the phone, none of which were true.

Since my employer switched to Caremark, the price of my medications has gone up while my freedom to choose who fills my prescriptions has decreased. They price me with inconsistent information over the phone so that I am unable to make a sound, affordable health plan.


During the transition, Caremark mischarged me for a prescription. When I called to report the problem, they admitted that they had made a mistake. An employee named Carl told me that Caremark would refund me the difference. They also told me not to return to my preferred pharmacy at Target, even though Target had gladly offered to resolve the matter for me. I had always had a good experience with Target's pharmacy (and terrible experiences at CVS, with whom Caremark is affiliated), but followed Caremark's advice in good faith because it appeared that they were going to correct the problem.


Nearly one month later, Caremark decided not only to deny the refund but to change my medication to the highest priced tier so that I will always pay the greatest possible price. No-one from Caremark notified me about the decision or change; I found out because I called to request a status report. When I asked them why they hadn't notified me, they told me it was my employer's responsibility and that I should call ERS or Healthselect (note: those institutions told me to contact Caremark). Caremark insulates themselves from responsibility by deflecting blame and making it inconvenient for customers to get information from them.


When I asked Caremark how a person could make an affordable health plan, they told me that I can call them during my Doctor's appointment to inquire how much each one of my prescriptions will cost. But I am regularly on hold for 10-15 minutes each time I call Caremark, and even longer for them to bumble their way through their database. In more than one instance, I had to prompt Caremark employees to give me accurate information because what they were telling me contradicted information I had received previously from them. I doubt that my Doctor is going to put up with that! Besides, I believe my Doctor should give me recommendations based on their knowledge and experience. Caremark employees like Brandi freely acknowledge that they know nothing about drugs or health, so why should they get to make decisions that impact my health directly? Why are the non-experts at Caremark making health care decisions? I pay them a huge portion of my paycheck and I am but one employee in a large institution, so why can't they afford to hire medical experts or let the real medical doctors make the decisions?

Caremark tells me that they do not have to publish how much each drug will cost, so they don't. It's up to the customer to call and inquire, and it's still subject to change at any time without notice. So one month I will be charged $35 for a drug; the next, $75. Because Caremark won't put their prices in writing, the price can change from one moment to the next (as it did for me). How can this be legal?

I recently went for a follow up with my doctor after having surgery on my hand. He asked me some off-the-wall questions concerning medications I have taken for pain and present medications for my Anklylosing Spondolitis. I thought it was an odd question, so while I waited to have my cast removed, I looked at my chart. There was a letter from Caremark/CVS stating that they are concerned because I had refilled numerous prescriptions for pain medications. In the last year I have had three surgeries on my hands, so of course I needed to take the pain medication prescribed to me after my surgeries. I also take one Ultram on a daily basis as a maintenance for my back pain. They have record of all my surgeries. Why was there a need to embarrass and humiliate me by insinuating that I may have, as they stated it, a possiblity of drug abuse.

Below are some of the scenarios we continue to encounter in our quest to get the medicines our Dr. prescribes us. We are repeatedly in a situation where we cannot wait or are forced to wait on Caremark's mail order service. Ultimately, we are left days without the medicine, some of which are life threatening or with withdraw symptoms if abruptly stopped. Caremark has a simple solution, just pay full price out of pocket at the local pharmacy. Which incidentally does not get applied toward your annual deductible. These are just a few of the scenarios. There are many others , but the end result is the same.

Scenario 1: Your Dr. prescribes you medicine that is considered a "Maintenance" medicine. Your prescription is for three months of medicine.

1) You drop off your prescription at the local pharmacy. And get your first fill.
2) Second month you get your second fill.
3) Third month is denied by insurance (Caremark)because it is "Maintenance". ) Day one without your medicine.
4) Caremark refuses to transfer from CVS pharmacy because it is controlled substance. Day one without your medicine
5) Forced to contact Dr. requesting new prescription , Dr. still sees you have one fill remaining. Day one without your medicine.
6) Dr. contacts CVS to determine final fill was not done. Day two without your medicine
7) Dr. calls prescription into Caremark -- Day three without your medicine.
8) Caremark processes your order -- Day 4 to day 7 without your medicine

9. Caremark ships your order 7 to 10 days -- Day 10 without your medicine.

Scenario 2:
Your Dr. prescribes you medicine that is considered a "Maintenance" medicine. Your prescription is for three months of medicine.
1) You mail your prescription and form into Caremark. Day one without your medicine.
2) Caremark processes your order -- Day 2 to day 7 without your medicine.

3) Caremark ships your order 7 to 10 days -- Ten days without your medicine.

Scenario 3: Your Dr. prescribes you medicine that is considered a "Maintenance" medicine. Your prescription is for three months of medicine at specific initial dosage. Fourth month dosage will be increased by Dr.
1) You drop off your prescription at the local pharmacy. And get your first fill.
2) Second month you get your second fill.
3) Third month is denied by insurance (Caremark)because it is "Maintenance". ) Day one without your medicine.
4) Caremark refuses to transfer from CVS pharmacy because it is controlled substance. Day one without your medicine
5) Forced to contact Dr. requesting new prescription , Dr. still sees you have one fill remaining. Day one without your medicine.
6) Dr. contacts CVS to determine final fill was not done. Day two without your medicine
7) Dr. calls prescription into Caremark -- Day three without your medicine.
8) Caremark processes your order -- Day 4 to day 7 without your medicine
9) Caremark ships your order 7 to 10 days -- Day 10 without your medicine.
10) Fourth Month new prescription increase in dosage.
11) Caremark refuses to fill at local pharmacy ( maximum fill on medicine (previous dosage) has been reached. Day one without your medicine.
12) CVS refuses to give new prescription back to you to mail to Caremark
13) Forced to contact Dr. requesting new prescription -- Day two without your medicine.
14) Dr. contacts CVS to determine why fill was not done. Day two without your medicine
15) Dr. calls prescription into Caremark -- Day three without your medicine.
16) Caremark processes your order -- Day 4 to day 7 without your medicine

17) Caremark ships your order 7 to 10 days -- Day 10 without your medicine.

I was beginning to think that my years of constant problems with Caremark was unique. This company has about made me crazy. They've lost prescriptions in the mail...then delayed replacement. Then, charged my CC TWICE for the prescriptions. They charge my CC with no authorization; They've lost checks I've sent, because I do not want them to have my CC anymore. They've changed prescription dosages, and number. They lie constantly; one person tells you something, then another person tells you something completely different. We've had to run to local pharmacy to get needed asthma medication refills, and pay out the nose, due to the incompetancy of this company. They send me letters saying they've tried to contact us by phone, and could not get in touch with us, so they cancel prescriptions, which is so untrue. They sure contact, me with no problem, when they want money. They claim they tried contacting my dr's office, which again, is an outright lie, as my dr's office informs me they never heard from Caremark.

I'm so disgusted and sick and tired of dealing with them. Someone needs to sue the pants off of them, with this many complaints out there. As long as noone does anything, they will continue their totally unacceptable practices.

I cannot wait to find another job, just to get rid of this place.

This company harasses it's users by constantly badgering, incessant calling, and threatening letters and phone calls all but forcing you to renew your prescriptions and threatening to report you to your physician that your not taking your prescription medicine. (Case in point, my doctor told me to half the dosage of a medicine, hence I would have twice as much medicine.) I told them countless times and they still harass me! Unbelievable! Economic being that I am always ordering more medicine whether I need it or not! Constantly switching medicines around! Emotional abuse!

I just moved to Sarasota, FL from Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I was in the process of changing psychiatrists. Before I could see my new psychiatrist for my medications management, I ran out of Provigil and Vyvance. I called the psychiatrist's office to see what to do. They said I should go to my primary care physician to have enough medication prescribed until I could see the new psychiatrist.

I went to my PCP at Manatee County Rural Health Services, Inc. Southeast and received the prescriptions from the doctor. Then I went to the pharmacy to have them filled. Caremark approved the Vyvance and denied the claim on Provigil. Please note that I have been taking both medications for over 2 years. Caremark has never denied a claim on the other medication.

Once a year, they do ask for a pre-approval from the doctor which I forgot about. I got the telephone number for the emergency appeal line. The doctor's office was obtaining the approval from Wachovia Bank, since Caremark was administering the prescription plan for them. On the appeal letter, I received from Caremark, the appeal would take 72 hours. It was well over 72 hours, and there's no response from Wachovia/Caremark.

I suffer from narcolepsy. Without this medication, I am lucky to stay awake 6 hours a day, and without it, I certainly can't work. It is also making it very hard on my relationship with my fiancee to deal with. Because of this, I am being kept from having any quality of life. I am on a limited income. This prescription costs well over $650/month in the drug store. I need help! Thanks to you.

To start, CVS Caremark is the prescription insurance provided by my husband's work. I had gone to the doctor in February to get my prescription refills, which were Lexapro for depression and levothyroxine for my bad thyroid. The doctor filled my prescription, and I went to Wal-Mart to have the first one filled, because that is what Caremark will allow. After that, you have to use the mail order for maintenance meds.

So the last week of March, I called Caremark and my doctor and thought everything was fine, until I logged into my account on Caremark's website and my prescription was cancelled the first week of April 2009. We called Caremark to find out what was wrong, and they told us that the doctor did not write the prescription dispensing information the right way. So we called the doctor, and they resent the information to Caremark. This was now the first week of May 2009.

My husband's debit card was charged for the prescriptions, which is for 3 months' worth of both Lexapro and Synthroid (Caremark did not have levothyroxine). I watched the website everyday, and finally on May 14, 2009, my meds were shipped and they had put a tracking number to track it. I put the tracking number into the USPS website, and it showed that I could not track from their website. So I looked everywhere to find where I could track this number to no avail.

I waited for 2 weeks and tried the number everyday with the same results. We then called Caremark to find out where it was, and they told us they did not know and pretty much told us we were not telling the truth. We waited another week and no meds, and the tracking number still did not work. So we called Caremark again, and they said they would send out a new prescription asap and that if the other one arrived, to send them a blue card so that we would not be charged again. Now we have already paid them almost $58.00 for meds we have not ever received!

On June 3, 2009, I received an email, saying that they would not fill the prescription, because they needed the doctor to send them a new prescription. They said they had talked to the doctor, and she would not refill the prescription because I needed blood work. But I have not been able to take my meds consistently because of this huge mistake by Caremark.

We found out they did not ever talk to the doctor, because she only works 1 day a week at the local office. We have repeatedly called Caremark and the doctor's office to get this taken care of, but no one wants to help us. I refuse to pay Caremark another $58.00 for medications that are nowhere to be found. And since I have not been able to take my medications regularly, I will not go to the doctor for an appointment, just so she can ask why I have not been taking my meds.

I am so tired of the runaround with Caremark on this matter and my doctor's office too. But my main concern is Caremark. I don't think it is fair to deny someone their medications that they need, just because someone made a mistake.

I am a retired administrative secretary from the Trenton Board of education and am under the NJ State Health Benefits Program. Our union fought long and hard to get the best benefits we could, and at times, went without raises to get them. This includes our prescription benefit which is now under CVS Caremark. I am presently having an ongoing problem with the specialty pharmacy of Caremark in getting the medication Humira. Caremark insists on getting preauthorization forms every 6 months so that I can take this drug. I've been told that my insurance only allows me to take the drug every other week for 75 days, unless my doctor says it is necessary that I take it every week. My doctor writes the prescriptions and tells them that I need this drug every week, but Caremark has decided that I only need it every other week. They also make me get this drug by mail order and not from my local pharmacy.

I take this drug for rheumatoid arthritis that I have had since 1971. This crippling and deadly disease is not going to go away. The drug Humira is a miracle drug that keeps me from being in a wheelchair or bedridden. I don't believe Caremark has the right to decide how much of a drug I need to have a decent quality of life. I have been put through all the stress and bureaucracy I can handle. If I don't receive this medication, my R/A will go out of remission.

I have spoken with Caremark representatives, supervisors, care coordinators, my doctor's office and so far everyone says they don't know why I'm not getting my medication. I'm out of Humira at the present time. If I don't receive this soon, my R/A will come out of remission and I will start suffering severe, crippling pain. Before Caremark and now CVS Caremark took over our benefits program, I had no problem getting my medication from the local pharmacy. I know that Caremark is a large corporation and has a lot of shareholders, but I feel they should not be paid with the monies they save on me. Thank you for any help you can suggest. I don't know where else to go.

I am a retired administrative secretary from the Trenton Board of Education and am under the NJ State Health Benefits Program. Our union fought long and hard to get the best benefits we could, and at times, went without raises to get them. This includes our prescription benefit which is now under CVS Caremark. I am presently having an ongoing problem with the specialty pharmacy of Caremark in getting the medication Humira. Caremark insists on getting preauthorization forms every 6 months so that I can take this drug. I've been told that my insurance only allows me to take the drug every other week for 75 days, unless my doctor says it is necessary that I take it every week. My doctor writes the prescriptions and tells them that I need this drug every week, but Caremark has decided that I only need it every other week. They also make me get this drug by mail order and not from my local pharmacy. I take this drug for rheumatoid arthritis that I have had since 1971. This crippling and deadly disease is not going to go away.

The drug Humira is a miracle drug that keeps me from being in a wheelchair or bedridden. I don't believe Caremark has the right to decide how much of a drug I need to have a decent quality of life. I have been put through all the stress and bureaucracy I can handle. If I don't receive this medication, my RA will go out of remission. I have spoken with Caremark representatives, supervisors, care coordinators, my doctor's office and so far everyone says they don't know why I'm not getting my medication. Before Caremark and now CVS Caremark took over our benefits program, I had no problem getting my medication from the local pharmacy. I know that Caremark is a large corporation and has a lot of shareholders, but I feel they should not be paid with the monies they save on me. Thank you for any help you can suggest. I don't know where else to go.

The Pulmicort that was sent to me in March was not requested by me nor my physician. I had been taken off Pulmicort in January and placed on other medications. However, have charged me a $40 co-pay for a medication that I do not even take. Representatives (Ashley, Rosey, and Janice) claim they received a fax from Dr. Sherman's office. I contacted Judy who handles the prescription refills for Dr. Sherman's office, and she has no record of sending any such fax. There is no record of having any contact with company since January 2009. CVS Caremark refuses to credit my account. I do not want my credit ruined for their mistake.

On April 9, 2008, my daughter had broken out into a very bad rash, and the doctor has prescribed the medicine that was purchased under this claim. When I went to the pharmacy, they said that Allison was not on my policy. I corrected them, but they told me to contact Caremark. I called Caremark that night and spoke with a representative who said that there was an error on your end and that Allison was covered. She told me to buy the medicine and submit the receipt for reimbursement (less my standard co-pay of course).

So this medicine was purchased with authorization from the representative at Caremark. Please do not deny this claim again. I need that money refunded. The current economy has left me in a personal financial mess. I cannot have this claim denied again. Please check your records to see that I did call on the night in question, and your representative said I should buy the drug (as my daughter was in a lot of pain) and that Caremark would correct the problem and reimburse the difference.

This has been going on for a little over a year. I want it resolved. This error on their part has cost me $187 less my co-pay ($30), so I'm out $157.

I have multiple sclerosis. I have been on Provigil for fatigue for years. for some odd reason they denied it at prior auth this time. they lied and would not tell me the denial was their doing (cust serv kept saying to call my doc and the pharmacy and that was where the hold-up was - but it turned out the hold-up was that Caremark was denying). then despite [providing journal articles and a convincing letter from my doc (an MS specialist) they have denied me on the two additional appeal levels. now i am filing the external appeal. they count on the fact that most just give up

when i run out i will be barely able to do my job as i will be falling asleep in the afternoon. i am counsel to the majority leader of the state senate. i am using all the political pressure i can but to no avail

I mailed a prescription for Lyrica 75mg along with the new prescription paperwork. Script was for 2 pills per day for 30 days with 5 refills. Pills came in the mail today, a 30 month supply (60 pills). I saw I was charged $70 while a previous order I had filled in my local drug store was only $40 for same quantity. When looking at the Caremark website 'Check the cost of a presciption' feature, I put in the number of pills per day and did a search and the cost came up as $40 for a 30 day supply from the drug store and $111 for a 90 day supply with mail order.

I did another search to try to find the cost for mail order one month supply but that did not come up. Very shady. On the original order form it indicates that you should have your Dr. write for a 90-day supply, but it does not state that if you don't you will have to pay a penalty over the cost at a drug store. I received no help when calling customer service, sounded like she was just reading off of a script. I asked if I got Dr. to rewrite prescription for 90 days, could I receive any kind of credit and was told no. If you don't get 90-day supply, that's the cost-$30 over retail. I suppose I paid for the full cost of the drug. Extremely deceptive practices.

I paid almost twice the amount for this prescription and was basically denied my benefits.

I sent 5 prescriptions by fax to this company 3/16/09. I called 800 no. today and they said they just received it on 3/26/09. That is ridiculous. I am now without my medicine and was waiting each day thinking it would be in the mail every day this week.

I didn't ask the Dr. for a short order to tide me over because it has already been 10 day till the order had been sent to them.

I have used Caremark for over 4 years now, only because my insurance requires me to use this pharmacy. During this time I have dealt with many mistakes. One of the biggest was last year Caremark charged my credit card over $1200.00 without my knowledge. A charge that should have went to my insurance company. When I called to question it I was told that since the card was on file it was used and it was a mistake. I asked that the card be taken off file. I then went through the mess of getting the insurance company to reimburse me for the charge. Which was not an easy task. At the beginning of this year I received a very polite phone call from Caremark. It had come to their attention that I had an insurance change.

When the insurance company was contacted it was found that I had a flexible spending account that was linked to a debit card and could I please give Caremark the number of that debit card. I replyed that I would not need a refill for a full 2 months and would give the card number at that time. I am a little wary now of giving out card numbers to this pharmacy. The person from Caremark then confirmed my insurance co-pay and deductible with me and stated it as a correct 20%. Before the call ended she reiterated the importance of Caremark getting the card niumber as soon as possible as it could delay shipments.

Last week I called in a refill and was told that I needed to pay 25% of the prescription charge. I stated that I had it in writting that I pay 20% and had just spoke with my insurance company confirming this. She told me that she had two notes on my account one said 20%, the other 25%. She would check on this, call me the following week and accept a credit card number at that time. The following week the same person (Annette) called back and told me a dollar amount for the co-pay and asked for a credit card number. I asked if this was 20% or 25% since she was only quoting the co-pay not the total. She said 25%. We then had the same conversation we had the previous week and she suddenly remembered she was suppossed to check on this, but hadn't. I was told checking on it now would delay the shipment.

So I gave her my credit card number, and called the person would had typed in the note of 25% and the note of 20%. She was the same person that had called at the beginning of the year wanting a my debit card number. She could not confirm the 25% or the 20%. So she did the math of the total minus my deductible and said it looked like 20%. No apology for making the incorrect note. When I get theese shipments I NEVER receive any billing paperwork with them like you would at a neighborhood pharmacy. It is only the medication in a box with a cold pack. I must rely on their word for it, and wait for the monthly statement from my insurance company to see if I was charged correctly or not.

The shipment was scheduled to arrive on my day off, March 25. However when I returned home from work on the 24th it was on my porch. A very expensive medication that requires refrigeration on the porch all day while I am at work. I ask that I do not have to sign for deliveries because it takes me some time to answer the door, but I always schedule the delivery on a day that I am home. When I called to asked about why the medication was delivered early I was transferred and then told to call a different number. I did I was told to call Annette later (she was away from her desk) because the computer showed she scheduled the shipment for the 24th. I really don't want to talk to Annette again ever.

Aside from the shock of the credit card charge and the wondering if I had been a victim of identity theft. I then had to go throught the time and effort of being reimbursed. My calls to Caremark take a large chunk of time out of my day since I am often transferred or given another number to call. The stress of each mistake can not be good for me. I would love to send Caremark a bill for my time wasted fixing their repeated mistakes. It has come to my attention that I made now use the local CVS for my medication. Unfortunatly CVS and Caremark are now merged. I do not want to reward such poor customer service with any more money.

Roughly around Jan 19,2009 a very warm day in CA, I received a prescription from CVS/CAREMARK mail order for a patient. The package lists my correct address, but the recipient does not live at this address. I wrote return to sender this person does not live at this address. Ironically, we were in San Luis Obispo the next day helping the pharmacists fight CenCal Health; which wants to use CVS/CAREMARK for their mail order prescriptions to local patients.

Then again on March 3, 2009 I received a package again from CVS/CAREMARK for the same patient. I reported them for HIPAA violations and to the California state Board of Pharmacy. This poor patient hasn't received their prescription since January to my knowledge. Also they broke a law by delivering to a door and just leaving a package without a signature confirmation.

I have expensive topical cream that I call and explain ndo not send it to me at the moment I still have plenty at the moment , and I will ask for the script to be sent next month , I went on line the following month and my perscription for the cream was deleted I call and explain that I did not want the script cancel and deleted just prostpone for a month , I contacted Care via the Web and called and I was Told by the phone rep that need to contacted the doctor and have a new script sent In (Faxed) ask to talked to a maniger and they said , that there was no manger at that time, I left my phone to call me at there convience no phone return phone call nothing ?

several phone calls about refills on prescriptions especially Soma for back pain from car accident. When you call them depending on the day or time of day you either get a different story, put on hold for an inordinate amount of time, are told you are taking too much medication by someone who is neither a pharmacist or doctor, refills not filled or sent in a timely manner, when you ask to speak to somone who generally knows and cares what is going on with your prescriptions (soma is not the only medication I have had issues with; they have delayed my seizure medication and told me to go to my PCP to ask for samples) there is either total silence or rudeness depending on the day or time. Truly a non-professional, non-caring organization. I use them only because it is my employers prescription plan. I could not recommend them to anyone!

Delays in getting my seizure medication,back pain medication and thyroid medication. I was in a mva and need both seizure meds and medication for back spasms in order to work, when i don't have either, i run the risk of having a seizure, losing my drivers license and my license to practice my profession as an x-ray tech. I also have thyroid cancer; without the synthroid, i run a risk of my TSH levels begin to elevate, and any mets that i already have be fed and grow by the elevating hormone levels. The consequences of that are obvious. I just want my medications when i want them and have on occasion paid out of pocket to have some scripts filled just to be able to have them when i need them and not deal with caremark!


Caremark continues to fail to send me my perscription with a vacation override for my Nasal Spray even thought they have authorized a vacation override at least twice. They stop processing the perscription and do not notify via me their website or by phone.

When I happen to check my messages on their website, I end up calling them again to only find out that the pharmacist is waiting for another authorization from my doctor, even though my doctor has given me a perscription with refills to cover a whole year. I travel for an extended period of time annually and always need this nasal spray and getting Caremark to fill their authorized vacation override takes me at least one month worth of calls and follow-ups. Their response is that the pharmacist does not call the doctor. So in brief, they need the doctor's approval, but they do not call my doctor or me to tell me that and they just sit and wait for me to find out. I have had this problem with Caremark for the past 6 years for the same perscription and the same reason!

I spend hours on the phone trying to get this taken care of. It is very stressful and frustrating to deal with Caremark year after year for the same reason, and they do not fix their problem or even care. They failed to provide me with my perscribed medication with the vacation override before my last assignment to another country and I ended up with a very serious sinus infection that took months to treat, out my pocket expense with acupuncture. My doctor wanted to perform surgery but I chose acupuncture treatment instead and ended up paying for it. If I had the nasal spray, I would not have had that infection. Now I am getting to take on another assignment abroad in a few days and am still trying to get my nasal spray from Caremark since the beginning of February.

I am trying to get my husbands ONE-TOUCH ULTRA TEST STRIPS. We sent a new prescription from the doctor. after several attempts, still no test strips. I received mine but he did not. Now they say the plan does not cover them. I received mine in January after ordering them in January.

They are also denying me access to the website. I went on the NALC website to find the drug list to find out it is on there. They said they only cover ACCU-CHEC, then why are both listed on the preferred drug list.

When I was first diagnosed with IBS my doctor perscribed Levbid. I went to my local pharmacy and it was filled with generic, Hyoscyamine. I have been using this since Sept. 2008. In January on my doctor's visit she e-mailed it to Caremark and when I received it it was for Levbid at a cost of $80.00 for 3 months. My cost for generic is $12.00 for 1 month. I called Caremark to ask why no generic and they told me there isn't one.

Now that confused me as Rite Aid filled my script with Hyoscyamine, generic. I asked why, if Caremark had no substitution they did not call me or e-mail me and let me know. Their reply, they don't have to! Well, no-one has to do anything, but common courtesy would dictate a telephone call informing the patient. So what it comes down to is they are forcing me to accept the Levbid at a cost of $80.00 when if the generic was used the cost $22.50. Now perhaps if I was still working I would overlook their discretion but I was laid off and really have to watch how much is being paid out.


I've been on Hyzaar 50/12.5mg for my blood pressure for several years. I USED to pay $40 for a 90 day supply, since there was no generic. There is still no GENERIC but the same prescription is now $177.12 for the same 90 day supply. My PCP put me on Micardis 40/12.5 tablets @ $43.61 and I have had nothing but problems with this substitution. How can a medication go up $137.12 for a 3 month supply if there is no generic available and the alternative is making me ill? All the other big medical plans still charge $40 for this same Rx. What gives?

costing me $548 more a year for medication that has NO GENERIC available. Alternative is causing me many physical problems, dizziness, numbness, lethargy etc.


My husband was diagnoised with MS 1 year ago, he is still employed but finding it difficult to stay awake on his job, his neuro. prescribed Provigil/200mg. and said that this drug has been used by MS patients with good results, the drug is very expensive and needless to say Caremark would not approve the prescription, reason being that it was not a drug used expressly for MS.I am outraged, we pay very high premiums , and have for years, and now we need help and ..nothing!

My husband stands the risk of being fired from his job that he has worked at since 1968.We can not afford the cost of the drug that he needs.

I renewed several prescriptions via the internet on 12-22-08. After waiting nearly 2 weeks, I never received my medication. I researched the matter and found a tracking number that only revealed billing information received. From past history of tracking numbers, I believe this means UPS was notified of a shipment, but they have not physically received the package. No other information was available.

On January the 5th, I contacted your customer service and after a 45 minute conversation including the representative being in contact with the pharmacy, I was assured the prescriptions would be resent out overnight for me to receive them on Wednesday, January the 7th. Even though I was already out of one of my medications, and was presently experiencing withdrawal symptoms, I agreed that would be fine.

On Tuesday, January the 6th at 6:58 pm central time, I received an email stating there was a problem with my order. I wonder how there could be a problem since the order was processed nearly 2 weeks ago. The simple solution was to reprint the original labels, fill the prescriptions, and ship the package. I contacted customer service immediately and learned the pharmacy closed at 8:00 pm eastern time.

Not only did they not send my prescriptions for me to receive them on Wednesday, they waited until after hours before they contacted me with this information. The hold up was the pharmacist for some unknown reason chose to fill my prescriptions again, and some of those prescriptions did not have refills. The original prescriptions were not delivered to me the patient, so there is no need for a new refill. In addition did they intend to charge me for both? If not, then they must believe I didnt receive the original medications. If they do, then they must have made 2 separate claims to my insurance benefits. How did they explain in the over ride for the second transaction?

The patient did not receive original medication I am sure. Well then either way, they believe the patient did not receive the medication, so an additional refill was not necessary. I have now been without my medication for 4 days, with no delivery in sight. I have been experiencing withdrawal symptoms for 3 days. It is affecting my job and my home life.

Briefly, on 12/18/08 I called Caremark to expedite needed perscriptions. i was told the fastest way was for them to call my physician. I provided information. Their system shows confirmation of order on 12/19/08. On/about 12/23/08, I received an automated call that my order was delayed. I called and thought I clarified the confusion.

On 12/30/08, I had not received my order so i called again. Still NO ORDER and I was told they have 10 days to fill - according to whom? i was also told they would expediate as I was running out of medication. on 01/02/09 I received an automated call that the order would be sent, but I had to confirm. At 6 P.M. est, there was no one to speak with, so i left a message.

On 01/03/09, antoher automated message that I had to confirm before they would ship. i called again and confirmed. On another matter, I called on 01/04/09 to cancel a perscription becasue I now needed to have it filled locally as I was running out. By now, I had already run out of another med. I checked again on the order and was told it would be expedited and sen FEDX at no cost on 01/05/09.

On 10/06/09 i received yet another automated message that the order shipped and I would receive in 5 - 7 days. What happened to overnight? I called AGAIn and had to speak to 3 people (supervisors) before anyone could tell me the stats. in the meantime, I had run out of 2 medications. it is very difficult to actually have personal, courteous interaction with Caremark.

I am unsure of physical damage as I have been out of two medications that are required daily. It is too soon to tell. Finaclially, their failure to fill promptly meant that I went into a new caledar year and immediately incurred a potential $1,800 expense. I had to cancel that order. Plus, i spent at least 2 hours of work time since i had to resolve immediately.

I have been taking Wellbutrin XL for about 4 years. It's a medical necessity. About a year and half ago, the drug coverage was switched to Caremark. They covered my Wellbutrin just fine. When the generic version became available, I gladly switched to that to save money. Unfortunately I had a bad reaction to that and had to go back to the name brand version. The doctor also wanted to try a higher dose but in the past I couldn't handle one pill with a higher dose. So, he prescribed 2 pills daily. I filled that but after a few days, I felt that I couldn't handle that and stopped. When I went to refill the prescription for just a 30 day supply all hell broke loose. Caremark decided that they weren't going to refill it because I was only allowed 365 pills for a lifetime. My pharmacist could not believe it. She said she had NEVER heard of such a thing. Neither had I.

Caremark had made a decision, out of the blue, that I was taking the Wellbutrin for smoking cessation! I have never smoked in my life. They have access to my MIB and they can see what the Wellbutrin was prescribed for. So the battle begins. I call them and ask what we need to do to get this corrected. After MUCH time on the phone, they said that my doctor needs to call the Doctor Call Prior Authorization Line and tell them I'm taking the drug as a medical necessity. My doctor did that promptly. I called a week later to verify, and after an hour on the phone, it was decided that now the doctor need to FAX, not call, three things in: 1. Medical necessity but NOT for smoke cessation. 2. Show any past history for why I'm taking Wellbutrin. 3. For medical reasons I cannot take generic version. My doctor faxed in this information.

Within the week I called to see if everything had been received and if we can get this cleared up. After some discussion and review, I was told that there was no information about me other than I had used up my 365 day supply! They had nothing in their notes about any of this! They suggested that I try a different number on my card. I said no way. I want to talk to the highest member of management that I can talk to right now. They sent me to a Sr. Team Supervisor. After going over the whole story with him again, he was going to try and dismiss me with the premise that the 365 day deal was in the contract and that's all that could be done. I told him that this better be settled and today because I will not let it rest. They did say that the doctor would need to fax the same information in again with Urgent written on it and they could work toward a 24-48 turnaround time. The Prior Authorization group is the problem here. They are being as difficult as they can be and I really don't know why. They are denying any help to me even though the premiums are being paid.

I'm extremely grateful that I have been blessed with prescription drug coverage. However, for some reason, even though we're paying for it, we're not being authorized to have it covered.

Caremark ripped me a new one. My doctor wrote me a prescription for 30 days instead of 90 days, like I have been getting for the past 4 years. I know it's my fault for not checking the script, but I figured the doctor probably would have gotten it right by now. Caremark charged me for 90 days instead of 30 or even 60. When I complained the told me they would call the doctor and take care of it. So now they are charging me again for a 90 day supply when they are only sending a 60 day. So I am paying double for one order.

I wasn't at home yesterday when they called to tell me what they were doing. So I called first thing this morning to find out they can't cancell it. They screwed me over good. I am on disability so I don't have much income and I was charged double for this script. I am just going to have to scale back on the amount of medications I take for awhile

First prescriptioon was rejected then the system cancelled it. After getting approval I spent an hour on the phone and was told there was nothing they could do except call the doctor and get him to call in a local prescription while we wait up to 10 days for the mail refill. Terrible attitude towards customer service. Gracie was good but unable to solve the problem.

I have been having an ONGOING problem with Caremark with regard to getting my prescriptions refilled. They seemingly never, ever receive the fax request for renewal, thus none of my doctors (my primary or pain management doctor) will send a request in. They are sick of Caremark and I am sick of Caremark. I have to pay out of pocket to send my scripts in via certified mail.

I saw my pain management doctor on 11/5/2008 and still do not have my refills as of today, 12/03/2008! My doctor has faxed over two requests (one on 11/24 and again on 12/01)and both have never been acknowledged by Caremark. The excuse I received last time was that Caremark has not updated their antiquated fax machines. Caremark is one company that should close its doors for the welfare of its customers.

I have had to drive, yet again, 60 miles round trip to receive hard copies of my scripts. They either cannot read the scripts or they never receive them. I have spent more hours on the road and phone trying to gain resolution to this problem. My stress levels are beyond anything I should have to endure. I merely want my medicine refilled in a timely manner.

Nov. 11-placed a 'fast order' for prevacid/nasarel. Followed up w/doc to ensure they rec'd order. They did.
Nov. 13-called Caremark to inquire about Rx and was told that it was returned to dr for more info. Called dr and they said that they had already faxed that back.

Nov. 18-rec'd email from Carmark advising that my prevacid order was cancelled. Called Caremark and was told that if the doc office would just call they could clear this up. I called my doc office and asked them to please call and they assured me they would. That same day I was assured by my doc that they called and spoke to Gail in the pharmacy and the order was placed. I called Caremark to confirm this but was told that they couldnt confirm this for 72 hours as that how long it would take to show up in the system.

Nov. 21 After waiting the required 72 hours, I called Caremark to find the status of my Rx and learned that there was nothing new. There was no record of my doc ever calling. In addition there was no record of my call to the fast order dept on Nov. 11.

Marilyn had a senior manager? at Caremark call my docs office to confirm the order. Someone from Caremark was then going to call me to advise that the order was indeed in process. However, after waiting awhile and not receiving that phone call, I contacted the docs office myself. I learned that while the dr's office was on the phone w/Caremark, the connection was lost during a transfer of the call to Caremark's pharmacy and Caremark never called them back.

So...I called Caremark again and spoke with yet another representative. Once more, I had to explain the same long story. This representative wanted to transfer me to fast start to start the process all over again. Instead I asked to be transferred to a senior manager (since the other rep Marilyn, earlier that day, was able to do that for me). After holding for quite awhilePat of the Senior Team picked up the phone. Pat claimed that my doctor hung up on them when they called earlier. She promised to call the dr again and transfer them to the pharmacy to order my Rx. She also told me that I would then have to wait 48 business hours before Id know if the order had been placed, but she did promise to call me back to let me know that the connection between Dr. and Pharmacy was made. Im still waiting.

This isnt the first bad experience Ive had w/Caremark. A similar situation occurred three months ago.

I have been taking a medicaiton, Toprol xl 50mg 1 a day for several years. About 7 months ago caremark along with my primary care physician decided it was ok to switch me to a generic form of the medication. I was happy to try it as it was less expensive for me. About 2 weeks into taking it I started getting really bad headaches so I started monitoring my Blood Pressure. It had significantly increased so I notified my physician who called and had Caremark send me brand. After a few days back on the med my BP was again normal.

In June of 2008 when I requested a refill Caremark once again filled with generic after I had called them and asked them to put a notation in my records that the generic DID NOT work. I had to go thru an act of congress again to force them to finally send me brand. This has happened again this week (on 9/11/08. Again they decided they were going to send me generic. When I again had to call them I was told that my dr ok'd generic however my doctors office has assured me that they wrote the script and also called caremark and told them brand only.

I spoke with caremark, cancelled the generic order and actually after talking to 2 people in customer service I insisted on speaking to a pharmacist whose name was Dale. He also told me the same thing customer service had said. I asked him why he didn't see a note in my file NOT to send generic as it doesn't work for me and he said there was no such note. I had told someone on Wed in customer service when I cancelled that order to please place in my chart NOT to send generic but I guess they chose not to do as I had asked. Again my doctors office has tried to take care of this and again I have the generic medication being mailed to me. I cannot prove who is lying about this but clearly either my Doctor's office or Caremark is lying about the generic issue.

My blood pressure has risen drastically over this, it will get worse because I will be out of my brand name in about 10 days and will have to pay double to use a local pharmacy because obviously caremark can't get it right. I just want someone to be aware that if I have a heart attack or stroke because of medication issues that either my doctor or Caremark pharmacy need to be examined for their role in my health problems

I have been using Caremark for a few years now without much issue, however, in 2008 everything seemed to change. We had some problems historically with them challenging a prescription for Protonix. Instead of allowing the prescription for one year (4 refills), they'd change it to only two refills! Finally that was resolved. However, recently both my doctor's office and we are completely fed up with the prescription renewals not being received. They've faxed in five prescriptions four time - 8/15, 8/25, 9/5 and today 9/11. Each time they include the fax confirmation so they knew they went through okay.

Caremark claims they've never received them. We made sure the doctor had our ID, date of birth, names correct. We confirmed the fax numbers they sent them too. Everything checked out. Finally the doctor called in one much needed prescription on 9/2 --- it's been the only prescription received and filled. The doctor's office was on hold for 40 minutes and said they will not call in any more prescriptions because they can't take that long for just one prescription. After calling and emailing Caremark countless times, we were always just given the run around. It's always the doctor's fault.

One CSR actually said if the paperworks not correct, they throw them away. When I asked why I didn't call, he stumbled for an answer and said they couldn't verify correct contact information. Today I was fed up and finally demanded to talk to someone higher up, and got transferred to Lena in their customer resolution center. We'll see if that actually makes a difference. I'm not hopeful at this point. We're approaching full four weeks of not getting prescriptions filled correctly!

We've had to go to Walgreen's to refill the necessary heart medications, basically costing us 2-3 times the money just so that the prescriptions aren't interrupted. I don't know what's happened, but this year has been hellish trying to work with Caremark. I recommend to everyone with disputes to contact your local Better Business Bureau as well!


Quantcast