CVS Pharmacy

absolutely terrible customer service from my interaction with the Pharmacy. I have type 1 Diabetes and needed answers to a very quick/​time sensitive question and they left me on hold for nearly 20 minutes. Once they picked up the phone they then proceeded to put me on hold for nearly another 20 minutes. Turns out their medication is more expensive than other places as well. Horrible prices and costumer service

This is for the pharmacy specifically, and not the store at large. If you need a CVS pharmacy, i HIGHLY recommend this one over the one further up on Market Street at Market at 3^rd/​4^th. Yes, the hours are a bit more limited, but they are open till 8 pm, which is like 2 hours later than the Target pharmacy. The pharmacists are FAST. If I want to wait in the store or go run errands nearby, they usually have the prescription filled within 10 – 20 minutes! Then they text you to tell you your prescription is ready. I wish I knew the pharmacists’ names, but almost all of them have been really excellent. They work with you, they tell you if your insurance won’t cover something, they expedite if you’re in a hurry. The other CVS further up market is generally more slammed so they can’t turn things around quickly. Also, that CVS always has crazy people wandering around. The only annoying people I’ve encountered at this CVS are millennials planning (loudly) their Coachella trip. OMG, use your indoor voice!

*THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE PHARMACY*
This CVS Pharmacy is not only one of the worst I have ever been to anywhere in the United States, but it’s also unacceptably bad just on basic pharmacy standards.
First, the hours of operation are a complete joke. What kind of person never needs a prescription on a weekend? How can you have no weekend hours? This raises a much bigger issue with respect to CVS Pharmacy here in San Francisco. The fact that there aren’t any 24-​hour CVS locations in this entire city is very problematic. I am a day behind on taking a prescription because there was nowhere open to pick it up this weekend. Furthermore, the website for this location says that the pharmacy is open at 7 AM Monday to Friday. Come to find out, the store opens at that time but the pharmacy doesn’t open until 8 AM. Maybe San Francisco is just resigned to everyone using marijuana the cure their ailments, but I think it would be helpful to most people if they could actually pick up their prescriptions at more convenient hours of the day based on their work schedules.
In addition to having terrible hours and not being able to service their customers adequately, the pharmacist here apparently doesn’t care if they give you the proper drugs or the proper dosages. I was prescribed two medicines by my doctor — one that had to be taken twice a day for seven days, and another that just had to be taken one single time. The pharmacy filled both prescriptions as if they needed to be taken twice a day for seven days (and put those instructions on both packages), meaning that I spent much more money on this medicine than I should have. More disturbingly though, I nearly took 14 times the dosage I should have for one of those prescriptions, which for some drugs could probably kill you. Thankfully, I figured out something was wrong after the second dosage and consulted my doctor, who showed me all the prescriptions they sent over to this pharmacy and confirmed that they hadn’t written the wrong instructions. This pharmacist apparently can’t read or doesn’t care to. I mean, that is a really, really dangerous for many drugs.
Because there’s no CVS in the city with hours better than this one, which really isn’t saying much, I am probably going to have to switch to Walgreens or some other chain that hopefully will fill my prescriptions on weekends and not try to kill me by giving me 14 times the dosage I actually need.

I’ve had good experiences in this store before — it’s small so they don’t have every random thing I’ve stopped in to look for but have always been courteous. Previously, were I to rate it, I would have given it four or five stars.
However, last week I stopped in to buy a bottle of water and an energy drink and happened to look at the racks they are stored on in the cooler — covered in mold. So incredibly gross. The management of this location should be ashamed of themselves and their attention to detail. Your coolers full of food and drink that you sell to people every day are filthy and moldy. Everything in them is cross-​contaminated. I hope you roll up your sleeves and get to scrubbing it yourselves. I won’t be returning.

After repeatedly being disappointed by the pharmacy at Walgreens on Mission Street (see review below), I tried the pharmacy at CVS on Market. Truly a night and day experience. The pharmacist was fast, efficient, and knowledgeable. When the medication that my doctor prescribed was excessively expensive, the pharmacist recommended a generic that was a fraction of the price and approved by my doctor. When my prescription was sent to the wrong CVS, they were able to quickly puzzle it out as to where it went and quickly transferred it to this location. Goodbye Walgreens, HELLO CVS!

Thank goodness this place is in the FiDi because Walgreens just isn’t cutting it lately!
This CVS has way more products and is clean and organized. The staff is always very helpful too. I came here to get a flu shot and it was seamless. The pharmacist that administered the shot was extremely polite and gracious and I got a coupon to go shopping with afterwards!
Both Walgreens near my office never have what I need and this CVS always delivers. The staff is very friendly. When I came in here this week my coupon I received via email wouldn’t scan so the manager came over and manually entered in my discount and didn’t give me any kind of hassle.
It may be small but it’s definitely efficient!

Excellent location. It’s a bit small due to the building size, but everything you need is there. Note that a lot of homeless people come and go into this venue. While that is no issue, one of them ended up taking up the representative’s time the whole time, which resulted in very slow «express checkout» service (since you need the alarm tag removed from detergent).
It ended up taking about 15 minutes to check-​out.
I’ll still continue to visit this newer location to pick up things I need on the go.

Bottom Line: A clean and organized CVS with exceptional customer service.
Wow! Never have I walked into a drug store and received such a warm and welcoming greeting! I felt really special coming in here. I liked that the employees were not hiding behind a counter and were on the floor able to easily show me where to find stuff. And what a breath of fresh air to not have to hunt down employees to ask for help. Even better, they immediately knew where to find everything from makeup remover to diet coke.
The store is clean and organized too. This location is a great place to drop in for everyday needs, things you forgot to bring with you to SF, postcards and drinks.
Check out here is self-​checkout, but when I was there there were employees assisting and expediting with that process.

The pharmacy at this very urban location makes you feel as if you are in small neighborhood. Rihann and Angela greet me by my name, and are always so helpful and knowledgeable. Their personable approach is like a breath of fresh air in the hustle and bustle of Market street.

To be fair, I visited this the morning of the crazy SF Giants celebration parade… so I’m sure they were under the pressure of having to deal w/​the hordes of parade-​goers like me. That being said, this is a relatively small establishment, and therefore has somewhat limited stock, but the shelves were well-​stocked of what they did have — and I perused the drinks/​refrigerated section, the snacks/​chips-​cookies-​candies, newspapers (very limited due to the special parade edition being sold out), and umbrellas. Staff seemed to be doing their best to accommodate and assist customers as needed.

I really like this place conveniently located next to the Bart. The employees here are always nice and willing to help.

My favourite pharmacy store ever. Why? Angela and Rihanna (I hope I spelt her name right). Isn’t it true, you fall in love with a place because of people you meet there.
They remember my name, even when I visit after significant gap in time. Very efficient, go an extra mile to ensure I get my medication on time and all my queries are satisfactorily answered. Thank you for the peace of mind you provide and your ever-​pleasant smiles.
Apart from that, I always get things at a discounted price, courtesy all the discount coupons I get here. I try to do as much of my grocery here as possible. Rest of the staff is also very courteous and customer-​oriented. Good job CVS, you have a loyal customer in me.

This was the worst pharmacy experience I’ve ever had. Laura, was less than helpful to deal with over the phone when I was trying to get my prescription transferred from Walgreen’s. She insisted that Walgreen’s needed to call CVS for the transfer to go through. I told her that typically the pharmacy the patient would like to use verifies the information with the old pharmacy. She disagreed and so I go to Walgreen’s and what do they tell me? CVS needs to call.
I call Laura back and she says, «Ugh I don’t understand why they just can’t call us!» How hard is it to please your new customer and just call? I mean this is a part of your job! Needless to say, I never got a phone call that my prescription was ready and I will not be going back to this CVS again.

I still have love for CVS –but the self serve option at most of their Market street locations is just not optimal.
I came in here with my mom and we wanted some toiletry items that were locked up. We kept on buzzing for assistance but no one came to our aid. Finally we went to the counter and asked the sole person working — if he could help us. He explained that he didn’t have a key and that if we waited — he would have someone open the locked items.
We waited.
And waited. And waited.
We asked him again and he said that he would call her again.
We waited. And waited.
We must have waited for a good 15 minutes — and we asked him again. He shrugged and said that he didn’t know where she was. We finally decided that we’d just go elsewhere. The man helping us didn’t seem too concerned.
If you want simple grab and go stuff — I guess CVS is ok — but I’d much rather stick to Walgreens or Target for any basic items.
Trust.

I only go to CVS for two reasons: a) it’s right outside the Muni station on my way to/​from work, and b) my medical insurance insists I get my prescriptions through CVS.
I like that you can do the self-​serve option, but if the receipt machine is broken, then it takes about 10 minutes for them to go into the office and get you one (say, if you want to buy something you might have to return). When they do give you a receipt, it’s about 5 feet long! WTF? I don’t have room for all that shit in my wallet! And the few times I’ve tried to use the printed coupon it wouldn’t let me. Annoying. Also, if you are looking for something, the staff never seem to know where anything is. I rarely see the same face twice — I wonder if they have a high turnover in that particular store?
The head pharmacist (the guy who looks like Ben Kinglsey) is abrupt, rude, and somewhat condescending. He also takes f… o…r…e…v…e…r to look stuff up on the computer. I hate dealing with him because I feel like he’s doing me a HUGE favor by doing his job.
However, Angela, the pharmacy assistant, is always a delight to deal with — the second star is for her and her only — I’d give her 5 stars if possible. She always goes out of her way to resolve the many issues CVS seem to have with every prescription refill I have. (The CVS system is always jacked up — they seem to have me in there with several different spellings of both my first and last name, so they can never find me.)
I miss getting my prescriptions at Walgreens. They seemed to have friendlier pharmacists and better customer service in general.

***Pretty standard CVS though the employee at the front who was helping direct customers as well as providing tips on self checkout was friendly and very helpful***
This CVS is located in a very busy area and there is not much street parking. You can find metered parking alongside the street that faces the Ferry Building. Pay parking structures and lots are also located nearby.

This review is for the pharmacy specifically. The pharmacists/​staff are INCREDIBLY friendly and helpful. I had a very easy time transferring my prescription over the phone, and was pleasantly surprised at the demeanor and overall care the person on the line put into helping me.
When I went to pick up my order, I had some issues with insurance since I had just moved AND switched providers. My company hadn’t mailed me the correct card yet but I still needed my prescription, so the team said I could come back with my information for a refund of the regular price. About an hour later, I received a phone call from an employee named Kevin who went well ABOVE AND BEYOND by calling around different providers to find me in their system and guarantee I’d be able to get my cost down to the $ 5 price.
I have not had service like this at any other pharmacy!

This fairly new CVS is located in the Financial District near the busy intersection of Market and Montgomery Streets. This is very close to the old Bank of America and Wells Fargo buildings and the Montgomery BART station.
Just a couple comments about this CVS. The employees are friendly and attentive. When I asked about restrooms, I was told there were none for customer use and was directed to Peet’s coffee shop next door. I believe this store has self checkout lanes only. I didn’t see any traditional checkout lanes.
Many of the shelves are outfitted with plastic protectors, presumably for security. I guess they’ve had problems with shoplifting. This is the first time I’ve encountered these plastic protectors and they are incredibly cumbersome and annoying. You might have to slide six or seven plastic protectors to the side just to get to a tube of toothpaste!

DO NOT GET YOUR PRESCRIPTIONS FILLED HERE. I REPEAT. DO NOT DO IT.
Horrible. Horrible experience. I dropped off my prescription and asked to pick it up asap. I came back and was told that they did not have the entire prescription and that I’d have to come back and pick up the remaining quantity. I was told by the clerk I can come back anytime the following day– ANYTIME.
The next day I came in the afternoon and once again, was told that the item has not come in yet. I was told the item would be ready the next day at anytime. The pharmacist told the clerk that she should have informed me of the pick up time, which she failed to do. An hour later, the pharmacist called me and told me that the shipment arrived. A little too late as I was already back in my office working.
The following day I went back and asked the clerk for my prescription. She looked my name up in the computer and then proceeded to asked me what I needed because I had nothing filled. First of all, YOU OWE ME MY PRESCRIPTION. Second of all, do not give me attitude because YOU messed up.
If you have free time and nothing to do and like to go back and forth, I suggest you drop your prescriptions off here. Also, a side note, this is a very small CVS. I was looking for Christmas bows and they did not have any. Um, OK.

I have been waiting for this place to open! Everyday as I get off BART I walked past this «coming soon» CVS and it’s open! I had to look for some joint medicine this week and the pharmacy lady was super helpful and their selection was vast but they did not have the liquid form I needed. The lady said that the GNC most likely would have what I was looking for and didn’t try to sell me on the tablets.
I went back today during a break with my co-​worker and we just looked around. Not a bad shop! It’s convenient for me to stop for snacks, medicine, or maybe that guilty pleasure magazine!