CVS pharmacy

If I could give this place less stars I would. It’s a crap shoot if you’ll get a knowledgable person in the pharmacy. Otherwise you have to settle for incompetent and nice or asshole and mediocre. I dunno. Pick your poison at this dump. Nobody would choose to go here. It’s one of those terrible places that remains in business because it’s close to many homes. Jesus God I hope the management reads these things. Do something about your horrific excuse for a business. I hate this place enough that I will eventually write a letter to corporate.

I mean, how bad can a pharmacy be?
I have been filling my prescriptions here (insurance mandates a CVS) — and there is ALWAYS an at least 30 minute line to pick them up. Sometimes an hour. It is 24 hrs, so I stopped by after work at 2 and 3 AM (I thought this wouldn’t be peak hours?) — makes no difference.
And it is not like the lines are long. The other day I stopped by and there were only 2 people in front of me (again, i am talking about the prescription counter). After 35 minutes (I checked the time on my phone) waiting, they were still on customer #2, explaining to her the benefits and disadvantages of various over-​the-​counter cold medicines. I mean, for her this may have been great customer service, but I just couldn’t wait any longer, so I left.
Came back the next day, and there was NO line — only one person being helped at the counter — and moi! Do you think this made any difference? No. The clerk chatted with the woman about how this is a part-​time work for him, about how he likes to count money, other nonsense like that (I don’t mind the chatter BUT ONLY IF THE chatterbox can continue to work fast) — and was moving slooowly only during the pauses in the conversation. Finally, he messed something with the purchase and tried to reverse it, but wasn’t able to. At this point, I had been waiting for 22 minutes! He told the customer, well, now I have to see what I can do about me, give me 10 – 15 minutes!!!
Again — 35 minutes per customer!!!
I did not pick up my prescription, and will be transferring to a mail order pharmacy.

Do not. Under ANY circumstances go here. Ever. I receive text messages from them daily about a different customer!!! They once gave me this individuals medication!
They take zero responsibility and when I ask for my script and tell them I just spoke with someone they deny it even though I see their names!
Utterly atrocious

I have to agree… I have Never Ever been to a pharmacy this awful… Really it should not get a star at all… Avoid it…

I liked my experience in this cvs so much buying paper towels and a bottle of water, i felt the need to share it on Unilocal lol. Staff was so friendly. I noticed paper towels on the end of the aisle and before i could say to myself how much is this one of the staff came over and asked if I needed anything, i asked the price and then she walked me to full supply. on my way out some other staff member said have a good day.

Horrible customer service. Had one too many issues here. Will take my business elsewhere.

I’m very surprised to read all of the mediocre to downright bad reviews of the pharmacy department for this CVS. I specifically came here to praise them! It’s pretty much THE best experience I’ve had with any pharmacy in NYC.
It’s only recently (within the past year) that I’ve been put on a daily medication for my anxiety. (The sign of a true New Yorker, am I right? Ha!) I used to get my prescription filled at a small pharmacy near my Washington Heights office. I switched to this CVS for two reasons. One, I was moved to work primarily at my hospital department’s Upper East Side office. Two, said small pharmacy gave me 20 mg of my medication in June instead of my usual 10 mg; the pills looked identical and it made me a little sick. Though the switch up was amended, addressed to the pharmacy tech that screwed up, and apologized for, it left me weary. Hence, the switch to this CVS for my monthly prescription needs.
I’ll just knock out a small list here:
1.) It has always been full staffed upon my arrival.
2.) The staff is competent and thorough.
3.) The staff is helpful and understands the importance of staying on regular medications; when I needed to transfer my prescription from my old pharmacy to this one, it was done within an hour, and my prescription was ready for pick-​up the next day, due to insurance reasons. The only thing that sucked is that I needed my prescription THAT day, as I was completely out of what I had. They gave me one pill from their stock, paid for out of pocket, to tide me over until I could come back the next day. Since they knew the side effects of the particular medication I’m on, they knew that if I waited until the next day, I could start to experience withdrawal symptoms such as vertigo and nausea. I’m so grateful they were able to provide for me.
4.) The staff is emphatic. While waiting for a prescription to be filled a couple of months ago, a relatively irate older woman was speaking with a pharmacy tech, unable to understand her new prescriptions her doctor gave her via an e-​script, apparently with a different dosage of whatever she was taking. «My doctor never changes up my medications! This is wrong! Don’t you dare give me this new stuff!» she was yelling at the staff. One, the tech held her cool and got on the phone with both her insurance provider and doctor. Next, the head pharmacist came over and gently, calmly spoke with the woman and her doctor on the phone, in tandem, so the woman could understand. By the end of those 15 minutes, the woman had calmed down, thanked the pharmacist and the tech, and was on her way with her new medications, understanding why she was taking a new dosage. I was seriously impressed by their empathy and professionalism.
Hence, do you understand why I’m surprised at these bad ratings? Have I been to the pharmacy on all of the good days? Has everyone else gone on bad days when the rude and incompetent staff was working? I’m not calling my fellow Unilocalers liars, honestly. If I thought this pharmacy sucked, I’d say it. I can’t. They’ve been amazing. Those are just my two cents that I hope will be considered if you, the reader, are looking for a great and reliable pharmacy on the Upper East Side.

Just tried refilling an rx here but didn’t have my number. I spoke with some girl who claimed she couldn’t find me– then proceeded to tell me I would need to call the last cvs and have it transferred. I’ve refilled in cvs’s in several locations and different states and never had a problem. When I told her that she said let me talk to the pharmacist and put me on hold forever. Isn’t the point of a chain pharmacy is that you can refill wherever you are? I will never go here.

I wish I could give them zero stars. They seem to have about as much staff as a normal pharmacy in terms of number of people working, but each worker does ¹⁄₁₀^th of the work of a normal person, so the lines are awful, and slow.
The icing on the cake — they are consistently rude. My insurance requires me to use cvs otherwise I’d go with any other choice.

It’s a 24 hour pharmacy (prescription-​wise). Which is great… if they have your prescription in stock (little technicality there). Granted, this location has things in stock more often than the CVS on 1^st ave and the low 80s. But it could use some help on inventory management. I’ve learned to call before trudging over there, and if I ask when they expect a prescription to be in stock I get a «why don’t you call us on Friday to check?» This gives me flashbacks of when the other CVS I mentioned gave me back my prescription 12 hours later when those in the pharmacy mistakenly thought it was in stock. It’s like a Tool Convention in the pharmacy department.

Go to Duane Reade instead. The service is awful.

AWFUL. Every time I go to fill a prescription there is drama of some sort. They are either baffled and have lost my presrciption, or they’re indifferent and they tell me to wait 10 – 15 minutes and when I return 15 minutes later its another 15 mins. It’s not just me either. Every time I’m there, there is at least 1 if not 2 other disgruntled patrons dealing with similar issues. Dealing with this pharmacy is FRUSTRATING to say the least. There is no such thing as customer service here. The attitude I have witnessed their employee Octavia throw at people would make any business owner shudder. I wish my insurance contracted with a better pharmacy.

This is absolutely the worst pharmacy!!! Do not go there. The pharmacists are always «too busy». I had prescriptions tha were ordered by my physician and it was processes by the wrong store. I had called at 6pm for them to transfer and was told everything would be ready within one hr. I went to pick it us about 4 hrs later and nothing was done. Everyone was cluless and acted like they did not know anything about the conversation. I spoke to Aisha, the person I originally spoke to and she told me that she did not follow-​up because she was «kind of busy» and placed me back on hold into the hold prompt. Now the other store is closed and I have to wait for tomorrow again. I will never send them any scripts! DO NOT USE THIS PHARMACY!!! They never follow-​up on anything.

Horrible, horrible pharmacy.
First, I was coming out of the hospital from a pretty major operation. I called them in advance to make sure I could drop off the prescription and they could fill it and bring it right over to my house. I was physically unable to wait. No problem, they said. They can absolutely do it. I drop it off at 1030am and am told they can’t get it to me until 1pm. I’m kind of stuck at this point and say okay. At 130pm, it’s not here. I call the pharmacy and am put on hold for 15 minutes. I call back. They haven’t even processed it yet. Nor do they have any idea when it will get here. The delivery guy left a few minutes ago and had lots of deliveries before he got back. I can’t set it up anywhere else now, and am basically laying here in fucking agony. 3pm, they finally came.
I hate these people. I hate them even more than I hate Empire Blue Cross from breaking up with Duane Reade.

This is a great CVS. It is conveniently located. I love the discounts they send in the e-​mail and that you don’t have to carry a rewards card with you to take advantage of sales (they can do a search with your home phone number). I also love the serve yourself check-​out.
CVS also carries two relatively high end European skincare lines. Vichy and La Roche Posay. Both very good lines and somewhat reasonably priced.
They also have a huge selection of baby products which came in very handy when my girls were infants.

This CVS is on the smaller side, but you can find everything you want and check out quickly. Sounds like, based on other reviews, that if you need assistance, it could be a tougher experience. However, I knew precisely what I wanted and got everything I needed without much hassle at all.

Most inept pharmacy on the Upper East Side. The drop off took half an hour because the lady behind the counter went off to help her colleague find an umbrella. Seriously understaffed as well.

Horrible! This is easily one of the worst convenience stores I have ever been to.
They were extremely rude and unprofessional, the checkout always takes a long time because of the automated checkout. Employees are always annoyed when they have to help you at the checkout (which they always do because many many items require employees to «okay» them first).
In general people are just annoyed that you’re in the store and interrupting whatever they’re doing — which is usually laughing amongst themselves. The pharmacy counter is beyond horrible. I had to go there because I needed and Rx fast and they were open 24 hours, but I would never, never go there if I didn’t absolutely have to. Beyond unacceptable in every capacity.

I agree with the other poster about the service here: it sucks. Here’s why…
I have repeatedly used the self check-​out service at CVS and several times the machine freezes after the credit card reader shows «processing.» Every time I have been made to wait 15+ minutes while the store staff reboots the console and verifies that my prior transaction was completed (ie credit card was billed) — it has always gone through, as the crash occurs afterward. Just recently, I used self check-​out and the machine froze again post-​processing of the credit card. The store manager, Mike, told me to ring it up again but I refused and asked him to confirm the transaction. He printed out a receipt of the «last transaction» even though I saw him push «2 transactions prior» when printing the receipt. He claimed the sale did not go through and I would have to try again. I allowed this to happen as I was not permitted to leave the store. Sure enough, upon arriving home, I discovered that I had been billed 2X for the $$$ at CVS. The original transaction DID in fact go through, yet I was forced to checkout again with staff because Mike deceived me by printing out false receipts as the «most recent purchase.»
Nobody apologized for my wait or offered anything for my troubles (a coupon?). In fact, I was ignored while I waited 15+ minutes to prove their faulty machine billed my card — it had, but the manager wasn’t satisfied anyway. Worse, they have not fixed this machine! It has happened over and over. Worst drug store in this area, and with plenty to choose from I will not be going back.

In a pinch, it’s a 24 hour pharmacy. That being said, the service is atrocious… incompetence and unfriendly. Use an independent pharmacy any chance you get!!!