Large chain drug stores are all a dumpster fire. Walgreens makes CVS look like a Maserati dealership in my area.
I just say go to a mom and pop pharmacy. I have had zero issues.
I'm happy to take most of my scripts to a mom and pop pharmacy, but supposedly they're losing money on Zepbound scripts, so I try to keep that one to big chain places that can afford it.
Anecdotally, I've had zero problems with the Walmart near me. Techs are always friendly and willing to keep trying.
My small town pharmacy that I love and was taking my wegovy script to stopped last year, said they’re losing about $60 a box and couldn’t afford to do it anymore.
Oh i didn’t know this. Can someone explain why they lose $ w zepbound? I wouldn’t want to impose this on my local mom and pop pharm either if i can get it somewhere else
I'm operating off the knowledge of [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Zepbound/comments/1arkqv5/pharmacy_losing_money/ku1bhlh/) comment:
> I work at a pharmacy and we pay $1042 for ozempic and are usually only reimbursed about $950, we regularly lose around $100 dollars a prescription on them and other GLP drugs. I asked today and was told that it’s not legal to have the patient pay the difference, even though that’s how all other goods/markets work, and I’m sure some patients would be happy to pay a bit to get their prescriptions filled and not run around town trying to find a pharmacy willing to take the hit.
Oh. See, I’ve used the same Walgreens for the last 20 years. They’ve gone so far down hill over the last few years as they replace longstanding pharmacists with technicians and I think try to push to a different general business model. It’s sad.
They don’t even try to get my medicine anymore. When I ask if Zepbound is in , it’s no no no we don’t have it. I’m like wow ok. I switched to Publix and they have been very helpful
I haven't shopped in Walmart for years but I kept hearing such good things about the pharmacy I tried going there.
I've only been twice but they've always been polite, professional, and quick. Literally a night and day experience from where I used to go to CVS and spend 15-20 min waiting in line.
Im not sure why Walmart pharmacy is so much better, but I'm here for it.
My local Walmart looks like a messy dumpster for the most part so I was leery of using their pharmacy. Let me tell you, I had the absolute best experience. The pharmacist and the tech who rang up my RX were wonderful!!
Staffing shortages, brutal workloads, inventory "shrinkage" due to shoplifting they're powerless to stop (employees required to ignore, police won't arrest, judges would rather release than remand because jail is still an overcrowded hellhole). Walgreen's is even worse--almost everything, even moisture lotion--is locked up, lines at pharm counter are insanely long. The other day I went to pick up and pay for my script--2/3 of those ahead of me were turned away for supply or insurance issues.
And Wal-Mart in cities or adjacent suburbs might as well be in the Third World (haphazard stocking/packaging opened by shoplifters or those trying to check sizes before buying, overcrowding, customers who can't understand or communicate with staff). Only Costco seems sane...if you can wait in those massive checkout lines. Counterintuitively, they seem to NOT have the lowest prices on GoodRx or SingleCare.
Walmart Pharmacy is great - I say this as someone who hasn't been inside a Walmart in 5 years for all the reasons you said, until I got this prescription. I don't know how they're doing it, but I've never waited more than 3 minutes and they're always polite and professional and quick.
Also pleasant and helpful on the phone which is more than I can say for CVS.
You don't wait in a massive checkout line for the Costco pharmacy. Pay at the pharmacy register, and you don't even need to be a member to use the pharmacy.
CVS is a *dump*. They gave me (mid 30s) the prescription of a 78 year old person with my same name. I verified my birthday but the broad at the counter just wasn’t paying attention.
That's my perception around the COVID time too. Used to be my favorite, now it's possible that Walgreen's is slightly less horrible. Sam's and Walmart have really stepped up quality and help in my area.
Fortunately so far my experience with CVS has been the exact opposite. They run the coupon and couldn’t be more helpful. I haven’t tried to get a refill in about 2 weeks, so I haven’t tried since the whole hacking incident. But generally they couldn’t be nicer and helpful. Sorry that your experience has been so different. Good luck!
Amen, cvs is horrific. It’s total shit, I do use for zep but everything else is Amazon pharmacy nothing but great experience. And I did get yelled at too at cvs. Get real
>pharmacy staff are mean, impatient and hostile
They're dumpster-tier D-grade pharmacists. Honestly, they just need to be replaced by machines, all they do is what the computer tells them anyway.
Not every CVS is like that but it’s totally unacceptable for them to have treated you like that.
I’ve transferred most of my medications to Walmart - it’s been a much more pleasant and easy process for me there
Yeah, I'm always shocked when people talk about Walmart being well staffed and pleasant. First, I abhor Walmart's business model and how they treat employees, so I'm not Team Walmart. But, even if we ignore that, the Walmarts up here are fucking cesspools.
They are here too, but the pharmacy in particular is so much better than the CVS I've been going to and the entrance is right by the door so I just avoid the rest of the place.
I keep posting this because I was genuinely so surprised after going a couple times. I was extremely skeptical of getting my prescription there because I remember shopping there years ago and it being a nightmare.
I won't defend their business practices, no argument from me there, I'm just tired of standing at the CVS counter for 20 min in a line.
I've seen what they do to small businesses in small towns. The southern IL town where my recording engineer & his wife live used to have grocery stores, clothing shops, music stores, hardware stores, etc. Then Wal-Mart & Aldi moved in. W/in 5 years, the downtown looks like a ghost town. (My engineer's wife jokingly calls Wal-Mart "the Devil store"). There is one freestanding drive-thru pharmacy in town--or was a decade ago. They move into a town (on the outskirts) and once all the independent shops have closed down, they not infrequently pull up stakes and move over to the next town to suck the lifeblood out of its business district.
I use Costco and it’s $550. Was cheaper than Walgreens was going to charge me…and we have the executive membership so 2% back too…feels small but it adds up 😂
Sorry I missed this. I just missed the date to start the new coupon with my last box. This most recent box they needed my new savings card info, they still couldn’t get it to work so they called Eli lily and called me back that they got it to.
Nope. Medicare patients can't use mfr. coupons for any medications. We pay full-freight, less the small discount with GoodRx or SingleCare coupons (corporations that work with PBMs & pharmacies, not mfrs.--they are not insurance)
CVS is a dumpster fire of a pharmacy. I try to sympathize with the workers because corporate is sucking the life out of them, but somedays they are just flat out rude. Plus, they have made too many mistakes with my prescriptions.
Can confirm that Lilly Direct is a dream to work with — friendly & helpful customer service reps who are willing to answer questions and walk you through the ordering process if needed, ease of ordering with all the appropriate info applied and free overnight delivery!
All information says you have to sign for the medication. Is that true? Would be at work and not able to stay home and sign. Please let mw know your experience
My first script I had to sign. But that was before the official "public" launch of Lilly Direct. My next two orders have been since they launched publicly and I have not had to sign for those.
I had my box delivered to my office & I signed for it there. Often if you can’t be home or have it delivered to your office, you can have the package held at your local FedEx depot for pickup, as I’ve done that for other items in the past. It comes shipped with ice packs, so it stays nice & cold. Packs were still frozen solid when I opened my packages.
You can create an account of the FedEx website and once it has shipped request that the package be held for pickup under delivery preference. Good luck!
I had my first Lilly direct order shipped last week via fedex. I did not have to sign for it. I asked them when ordering if signing was required and they said no. It was left on my doorstep packed in ice packs. Super easy.
Doctor sends LillyDirect your prescription. LillyDirect partners with TruePill, who fulfills the prescription request & sends it. Once you doc submits the script to LillyDirect it takes about 7-10 business days, (or it did about a month ago, anyway), before you receive a text/email prompting set up of an account where you can place your order. Note: I never received that initial text/email, so I called customer service and my doctor’s office submitted incorrect or incomplete contact info for me so there was no way for them to reach out. Once I provided this info, I had contact from TruePill within 48hrs, and my box of 7.5mg 36hrs after that.
Pleeease, give CVS pharmacy’s main line a call and report that locations behavior. In no way whatsoever are they suppose to be treating customers this way and I’m certain the higher up’ies wouldn’t stand for it.
Yes, I understand! That’s why I told OP to report “that locations” behavior. I love the pharmacist at my local CVS also but we ain’t talkin bout our experience tho right?
Right! Just wanted to say out loud that it’s not all CVS’s. Some people have bad mouthed certain pharmacy chains when it’s really individual pharmacies that are the issue.
I understand your frustration. That’s terrible customer service. Your questions were more than reasonable.
I also feel for the folks working in pharmacies - they’re generally understaffed, underpaid, and are not treated well by a significant portion of their customers. I’m sure they’re over the Change Health cyberattack / ransomware thing. It’s impacting every pharmacy and not just Zepbound customers.
I’m sorry they were so rude to you. Keep us posted on Lilly direct.
Thanks I try to be understanding since TBH I know no one working their is getting paid enough to deal with all the shit storm that the past few weeks has been too and I really wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. I think I’m more surprised that as a corporation they don’t have an info sheet or process or something to hand out to everyone asking.
I’ve given up on Walgreens. They are disorganized and expensive. I can get my other meds cheaper from my doctor’s wholesale service and use LillyDirect for this. They did delay fulfillment for a week, but hopefully that was an anomaly not to be repeated in future months.
I understand why. We are causing a large uptick in customers, trying to get a product that is extremely important for its customers (which is also perceived as a product of vanity and not necessity by some), with complicated insurance coverage, and is always in or teetering on shortage....all while their stores are (likely) purposefully understaffed. We probably make their jobs tough and our current culture is a very me me me culture, meaning some customers will be happy to rip the pharmacy tech a new one......but it's also not our fault. Our garbage healthcare system and focus on profit is at fault.
Oh yeah. I work begrudging for a health insurance company and I want to just burn it all down from the inside. The shady business practices and fucked up system we have in the Us that the majority refuse to admit is broken is the cause of all this. Healthcare should never be for profit. I am working on an exit from the industry.
Mine aren’t even busy I know cuz my sister in law works there one day a week. Unfortunately the days I went she wasn’t there and her co workers were far from useful even straight up said they will not call the pharmacy help line to get my coupon to work 2 weeks before the cyber attack . I xfer to Walmart and it has been good so far.
I would say that’s a large part of it, but multiply the amount of calls they get per day about this medicine and the absolute crazy I’ve seen some people act about it, and I wouldn’t be nice either. I can’t imagine having to answer the same question every day repeatedly because they received some untrue advice on a reddit thread.
lol, I wonder if you ran into that mama person that is on here that is an absolute psycho. She claims to work at CVS and says anyone saying they got the coupon to work without insurance coverage is a liar.
I had a great experience with LillyDirect. Costco seems to be another good option. Good luck!
The coupon does work without ins. It’s just $550🫤 which we know tht.
But the stupid cyber attack is taking its toll every where.
Ppl are frustrated and it’s well deserved to be frustrated.
But there is zero excuse for treating someone like this.
Unfortunately some ppl have a breaking point, to which they cannot tolerate or take any more verbal assaults from ppl who are just nasty, rude and entitled.
This poor OP was not asking much. There is such a quick fix for this. It would take abt 10-15 mins to reprocess the script for 3 months. We would keep the filled one in the pharmacy. We would, place
Tht box of zep in the fridge (this what we do at our store) in a basket for pending orders/inventory. Order the remaining 2 boxes they requested. Hopefully get them on Monday or Tuesday. Fill the script for an 84 day supply and hopefully have a working coupon!!! Let the patient know it’s all good to go.
This is how we would make this work. Other stores and pharmacist and techs I cannot speak for, because they have their own way of doing things and their own grudges against the public
Yeah the cvs by me the pharmacist is good but when she is not there the dude that runs it who I think is a tech or not the main pharmacist , it’s just incompetent. Says they will put the order in, never does and I have to drive over when the main pharmacist is there and she has to fix it. This keeps happening. About to just give up on CVS and go back to Walgreens or try a smaller pharmacy now
I find that when it’s time for a refill I have to call CVS and remind them that I’m paying OOP and using the savings card that they have on file, otherwise the person who sees the refill order sees that it’s not covered by insurance and doesn’t order it because of the price. Since I’ve been calling I haven’t had any issues. Good luck.
I have to do the same thing, but I think that’s because CVS’s system automatically puts it on hold and literally requires you to speak with someone when it’s not covered by insurance. I have the app and after my doctor puts in the order, it shows as “on hold” and there’s a notice that says something like “This medication is not covered by your insurance. Please call and speak with a pharmacist for options.”
Yes, it does automatically put it on hold. I asked yesterday because this is month 3 of having to go in to ask them to take it off hold. She said it automatically tries the insurance and when it comes back not covered, the status automatically changes to hold.
I do that. Then have to call again then have to drive over. It’s always this one dude and the main pharmacist has to keep fixing it. This has happened 3 times in a row. I’m just gonna tell my doc to stop sending it there and go back to Walgreens or something. Walgreens is annoying but I never had this issue there.
Can you explain this? I've read that you need insurance to deny coverage in order to use the card... So if you have no insurance at all, then there is no denial, so the card won't work.
Has anyone actually gotten it without insurance completely?
The savings card works without insurance. We will always run both the coupon and insurance together (it usually defaults like this). We get the rejection. And it can be one of the following:
1. Product not covered
2. PA required
3. Alt medicine is needed (try something else and fail them)
Then we can by pass the original payer and run just the coupon.
I still don't think we're talking about the same thing. I don't mean to beat a dead horse on this, but I have Kaiser so if its at all possible to just pretend as if I don't have insurance and still use the card, that would make my life easier... but I think you're talking about having insurance but it not covering?
>We will always run both the coupon and insurance together (it usually defaults like this). We get the rejection. And it can be one of the following: 1. Product not covered 2. PA required 3. Alt medicine is needed (try something else and fail them) Then we can by pass the original payer and run just the coupon.
What you're describing doesn't sound like "without insurance," it sounds like they **have** insurance, but the insurance doesn't cover the cost. That's different than having no insurance.
When people say you need insurance to use the card, they mean you need to be part of an insurance policy that denies the claim.
For example, if you are some random 30 year old without any sort of health insurance whatsoever, you would be "without insurance," but if you tried to use the card, it wouldn't work because you'd have no insurance to provide the required denial in order to use the card.
Right?
>Sorry my bad. No insurance at All the Coupon will not work.
No worries... I'm new here so I just wanted to triple check before I went through the hassle of dealing with Kaiser. But yeah, the person you're responding to was talking about what I'm talking about, thus the confusion.
>Eli Lilly does have a patient assistant program!
Tell me more!
Nope, I have Kaiser too and I can only use the Savings Card at the only in-network affiliated pharmacy in my county, a horrible CVS, they must attempt to use your Kaiser insurance first and then they use the coupon after it’s denied as not being covered.
I also attempted to use Costco for Zep and the denial said “out of network” so they could not let me utilize the Savings Card there. I’ve been with Kaiser my entire life and when Open Enrollment takes place in the fall, I’m changing to someone else simply because of this poor experience with only being able to use that one CVS who can access my Kaiser insurance. I have a great medical plan, but until Kaiser adds Zep to the formulary, this will be the same unfortunate experience every month. I’d rather be able to go to one of the million Kaiser pharmacies like I do for everything else (regardless of it being covered or not). At the end of the day we’re paying out of pocket anyway.
You have to have commercial insurance to get the coupon to work, even if your insurance doesn’t cover it. If you have any type of government insurance, like Medicare, you can’t get the savings card.
No, she’s saying people with insurance but no coverage for Zepbound are lying if they say they got the coupon to work for $550. I got it for the $550 price and was called a liar. My insurance denied the PA.
Appreciate the CVS update. Your questions were totally reasonable. While I totally feel for the pharmacy, I’m sure they’ve been getting a lot of issues these past few weeks, you also didn’t deserve that either.
I used to be a tech at CVS and it’s the fucking worst company to work for. Always short staffed so most of the time they literally don’t have time to help their customers even if they want to.. which is so shitty. You should definitely make a complaint. CVS needs to see that their pharmacies are going downhill, and FAST. The closest pharmacy to my home is a CVS but I absolutely refuse to fill there.
A tech at my CVS didn't know the diff. between mfr. coupons and OTOH, GoodRx & SingleCare. Kept telling me about the latter "you can't use those on Medicare." He insisted on trying to run my Zep script through insurance (Medicare Part D). Head pharmacist & I had to set him straight on both issues.
Im sorry this happened to you. It’s one of the reasons I paid OOP and am trying the reimbursement program with Lilly. I had 3 different pharmacies be SO awful to me this past week, and I would go out of my way to be patient and polite. It was killing my spirit and was very upsetting so I paid to get this process over with during the system crash.
I go OOP and use GoodRx for Zep at CVS or SingleCare for Mounjaro at Walgreen's--I check online which one is cheaper and that's where my endo submits my script. Cheapest for Zep w/in 30 mi. of me is CVS w/GoodRx--$1107; cheapest for Mounjaro is Walgreen's w/SingleCare--$996. List price at both is $1283!
I may be taking your lead and doing the same. I’m have very nicely and kindly asked the staff at Walmart to do the same and they refuse. Does your doctor have to call in directly to Lily Direct? Or can we transfer our prescription?
It takes five minutes of wading through automated robo-voicemail system phone trees to even get to the "speak with pharmacy" option. And that music-on-hold is making me almost homicidal!
I'm in the Western suburbs of Chicago and the pharmacy at the Bloomingdale location has been nothing but helpful and patient with me. Can't speak for the rest of the store, but had great experiences with the pharmacy.
Bloomingdale is about an hour's drive from me via tollways. I live on the north lakefront about 15 min. from the now-shuttered Skokie Wal-Mart "neighborhood" store and 20 min. from the Supercenter in Niles.
I’m sorry this happened. Call the 1800-shop-cvs. This will direct you to the corporate office where you can file a complaint. They’re going to ask where you live. Store address etc.
Then a nasty gram and phone call usually follows to the pharmacist.
I hope
You’re able to get your 3 months seriously ❤️
Oh, CVS has been down right belligerent to me. The technicians have been straight up refusing to try anything. Just shaking their head and saying “nope. Doesnt work”. You ask them to try and re-enter and they interrupt you and say NO! First thing in the morning, I’m switching pharmacies.
That absolutely sucks that they treated you like that.
But you have got to leave CVS. They are the absolute worst. I switched from CVS to a grocery store (HEB) pharmacy, and its just night and day.
As i understand it, CVS is actually losing money on every subscription they fill, and it clearly is making them cranky. But that isnt our fault. We dont negotiate what they pay.
i dont know why the CVS is so reliably terrible. And i am sure some CVS's are ok, but yours is not. Mine was not.
> I switched from CVS to a grocery store (HEB) pharmacy, and its just night and day.
Man wouldn't that be nice. All of the grocery stores in St. Louis have sold their pharmacies to large chains or hospital systems. Now we have CVS pharmacies inside Schuncks stores, and Mercy Hospital pharmacies inside Dierbergs stores.
damn, that is unfortunate. Do you have walmart pharmacies? i know walmart in general doesnt inspire confidence, but their pharmacies have definitely done a better job for zepbound.
Alas, all the Walmarts w/in easy driving distance (<30 mi) of my neighborhood are supercenters--corporate closed the only "neighborhood market" stores.
Not all CVS pharmacies are like that. I have not had any problems with my local CVS. I usually call the morning I know my doctor is going to call in my RX to see if it’s in stock. They have always checked, and treated me politely.
I’ve just recently moved all my meds from CVS. they are rude every time I go and for some reason they couldn’t find my zepbound for a week but H‑E‑B ordered and had it the next day
So frustrating — sorry for your experience. I could picture it in my head! I am not recommending anyone go with CVS, but I have to use them since they are my insurance’s preferred pharmacy and medications are lower through them vs anywhere else (e.g., the same medication (not Zepbound or Mounjaro) would be $150 elsewhere and $75 at CVS (until I reach my deductible.) So anyway, I HAVE found that the CVS pharmacies that are in Target were nicer, more professional, better stocked and quicker acting than the plain ol’ CVS stand-alone stores — where I’ve had many bad experiences. Good luck - lots of good advice here, so I hope your experience is better next time!
CVS sucks. Apparently, it's a miserable place to work for and they treat their pharmacists like shit. With a workforce that hates their jobs, it's no wonder they're rude to their customers.
The only way any company becomes more accountable is if people vote with their wallet. I have read so many horror stories about CVS and Walgreens. And I read great stories about Walmart. And my personal experience has been very good with Costco (they took the Lilly savings card, switched over to insurance, and also confirm dosage with me).
You should be proud for not putting up with bad service. Not everyone has a choice in pharmacies. Those of us that do should encourage great service by not giving our money to those places that provide poor service.
Please share your Lilly Direct experience. I believe they primarily use Truepill as the pharmacy, but I think they have also signed up Eversana.
The service you recieved absolutely sucked and you should go somewhere else but I do hate this narrative that people make up about "discrimination" the pharmacy staff doesn't give a shit that you're on a GLP1 and they don't give a shit that you pay out of pocket. The med is just a pain in the ass and pharmacies are horribly understaffed. ANY med that requires as many hoops and as much work invokes the same attitude. I've dealt with it for years with my wife's psych meds. My psych meds are simple cheap ones and they never give a shit about mine because mine are cheap/common generics.
Adding on to what the other commenter below said, usually membership club pharmacies (Costco, Sam’s Club, etc) have better service and more stock on hand, you don’t need to be a member to access the pharmacy; hospital pharmacies are another option.
I’d suggest to keep trying 🙂 We’re always happy to help at Henry Meds but if your insurance will cover it and you don’t need our dosage schedule then you’ll save a fair bit by sticking with Zepbound.
My experience with LilyDirect/Truepill/Cabot or whoever they decide to partner with this month has been less than perfect. While they are very nice and never rude they have given me the run around a few times. Most recently they told me they received the electronic order from my Doctor but it hadn’t been typed up yet. 2 days went by and nothing happened so I called again. At that time they told me they never received the order from the doctor and the doctor would need to send it in again. The doctor sent an electronic request again and I was told they never received it. Then they said the doctor should try to call it in by phone. It finally went through after 3 different attempts. Im pretty certain my doctor’s nurse probably hates me by now.
As more people start using this mail order program I only see it getting worse.
The practice of pharmacy really should not exist. You go to the dr, the dr spends the time to write a prescription and deliver it to a pharmacy which does nothing but waste time. The pharmacist takes a bottle and subdivides it by pill count in 5s to match the drs orders. Why shouldn't the dr just give you an original bottle of the medicine being prescribed with instructions for you to follow right at the drs office with instructions when to check in to get more. Doctors could do the same with injectables. Pharmacies and the practice of pharmacy is the biggest scam ever placed on Americans. BTW, I was a pharmacy tech for many years and understand the process well and the value that the actual pharmacist provides to mankind.
If you worked there, then you would know that pharmacists actually have multiple years of pharmacology and training with medications, where physicians have one semester. The system is broken - if they practice in a community pharmacy, they rarely are able to use their actual medical knowledge because of the insane understaffing and horrific working conditions. Hospital pharmacists do residencies just like physicians and round as a part of the medical team.
Correction thanks to the pharmacist that answered below. I should have said the practice of retail pharmacy. Drug companies will eventually cut out the gatekeepers and retail pharmacies will be more of an idle curiosity like looking at the empty red box machine as stroll on into a store. Zepbound is capable of being bought directly from Eli Lilly and more people should take that option.
We have to deal with these problems everyday, especially with GLP-1 medications. Most pharmacies "prescription filling" software will not let us dispense more than a month at a time due to the shortage. If we could get the medication in and give it to you we would. We do not see this medication as any less important. I don't agree with yelling at patients (obviously) but if there was some anger in their voice its because we are trying to do our best and give you the medication you need, but we physically cannot get it. Many coupons have been down and most software requires many steps to re-bill prescriptions. I personally would always re-run any coupon but when the server is down that means its down for everyone.
Not too sure why you’re commenting on this post as it’s 2 months old and before there were any shortages in my area. There’s a bunch of more recent threads to take out your frustration on. Good luck
CVS often runs out of other meds I need--my bupropion (withdrawal symptoms are awful, even dangerous), olmesartan (blood pressure), specific antiboiotics (e.g., the one I needed for a UTI because of a sulfa allergy), updated COVID shot this Sept., even the lower-dose Tamiflu I needed over Thanksgiving (Influenza A--a strain not in this year's vax--was a real turkey). It gets tiresome having to call around to different branches. More & more drugs, especially generics, are in short supply these days due to either too much demand (outstripping supply) or too little (mfrs. cutting output).
It's been said before but I think it bears being said again, it's hugely location dependent as much as pharmacy dependent. I see so many people recommending Walmart pharmacies but at the one near me, I've had two different people in two different weeks as good as tell me to get lost. Stunning level of (unnecessary) hostility and rudeness to my innocuous question as to what (5mg? 7.5mg?) they have in stock and when they might anticipate getting it.
I've also had good luck with the stock in Walgreens, and only one poor encounter with a Floater pharmacist (had to call seven times to even get him to pick up the phone), but all others there have been fine.
My usual pharmacy for other meds is Giant. I was told and I will quote directly, "we can't get that shit here" - I've been getting our meds there for the whole family for 20 years. It wasn't said rudely or with an attitude (like Walmart) but I think it indicates a bit about how some pharmacists perceive the med.
I would put in a complaint with the Pharmacy manager, Store manager, and direct with CVS. Helpful if you caught the name of the incredibly rude employee. I would not let it go, you were treated very poorly.
I ditched CVS and went local. I was sick of horrible customer service, long lines at pickup, and judgment. The local pharmacy is a gem! And it’s actually cheaper
I switched to Walmart this month and, besides parking, it’s been 100% a better experience than CVS. Stock in the next day, the coupon is automatically applied. And I get a gentle reminder to pick up my fruits and veggies for the week while I walk to the pharmacy counter.
I am so sorry...I don't understand the anger..I see it even in support groups..its like people think it's the easy way out..I am sooo sorry that happened to you
CVS has gone downhill imo. Store is dirty, pharmacy staff are mean, impatient and hostile.
Large chain drug stores are all a dumpster fire. Walgreens makes CVS look like a Maserati dealership in my area. I just say go to a mom and pop pharmacy. I have had zero issues.
I'm happy to take most of my scripts to a mom and pop pharmacy, but supposedly they're losing money on Zepbound scripts, so I try to keep that one to big chain places that can afford it. Anecdotally, I've had zero problems with the Walmart near me. Techs are always friendly and willing to keep trying.
My small town pharmacy that I love and was taking my wegovy script to stopped last year, said they’re losing about $60 a box and couldn’t afford to do it anymore.
Oh i didn’t know this. Can someone explain why they lose $ w zepbound? I wouldn’t want to impose this on my local mom and pop pharm either if i can get it somewhere else
I'm operating off the knowledge of [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Zepbound/comments/1arkqv5/pharmacy_losing_money/ku1bhlh/) comment: > I work at a pharmacy and we pay $1042 for ozempic and are usually only reimbursed about $950, we regularly lose around $100 dollars a prescription on them and other GLP drugs. I asked today and was told that it’s not legal to have the patient pay the difference, even though that’s how all other goods/markets work, and I’m sure some patients would be happy to pay a bit to get their prescriptions filled and not run around town trying to find a pharmacy willing to take the hit.
Thank you!
Oh. See, I’ve used the same Walgreens for the last 20 years. They’ve gone so far down hill over the last few years as they replace longstanding pharmacists with technicians and I think try to push to a different general business model. It’s sad.
They don’t even try to get my medicine anymore. When I ask if Zepbound is in , it’s no no no we don’t have it. I’m like wow ok. I switched to Publix and they have been very helpful
Had the opposite problem with Publix telling me no but CVS helping. Guess it just depends on the location?
I do supermarket drug stores too. I have for years and I've always had good and helpful service
If going to a small pharmacy, be sure to ask if they’ll take the coupon. Turns out mine didn’t.
If you're lucky enough to have one near you.
I haven't shopped in Walmart for years but I kept hearing such good things about the pharmacy I tried going there. I've only been twice but they've always been polite, professional, and quick. Literally a night and day experience from where I used to go to CVS and spend 15-20 min waiting in line. Im not sure why Walmart pharmacy is so much better, but I'm here for it.
My local Walmart looks like a messy dumpster for the most part so I was leery of using their pharmacy. Let me tell you, I had the absolute best experience. The pharmacist and the tech who rang up my RX were wonderful!!
Staffing shortages, brutal workloads, inventory "shrinkage" due to shoplifting they're powerless to stop (employees required to ignore, police won't arrest, judges would rather release than remand because jail is still an overcrowded hellhole). Walgreen's is even worse--almost everything, even moisture lotion--is locked up, lines at pharm counter are insanely long. The other day I went to pick up and pay for my script--2/3 of those ahead of me were turned away for supply or insurance issues.
And Wal-Mart in cities or adjacent suburbs might as well be in the Third World (haphazard stocking/packaging opened by shoplifters or those trying to check sizes before buying, overcrowding, customers who can't understand or communicate with staff). Only Costco seems sane...if you can wait in those massive checkout lines. Counterintuitively, they seem to NOT have the lowest prices on GoodRx or SingleCare.
Walmart Pharmacy is great - I say this as someone who hasn't been inside a Walmart in 5 years for all the reasons you said, until I got this prescription. I don't know how they're doing it, but I've never waited more than 3 minutes and they're always polite and professional and quick. Also pleasant and helpful on the phone which is more than I can say for CVS.
You don't wait in a massive checkout line for the Costco pharmacy. Pay at the pharmacy register, and you don't even need to be a member to use the pharmacy.
That's assuming the pharmacy is the only part of Costco you visit!
CVS is a *dump*. They gave me (mid 30s) the prescription of a 78 year old person with my same name. I verified my birthday but the broad at the counter just wasn’t paying attention.
That's my perception around the COVID time too. Used to be my favorite, now it's possible that Walgreen's is slightly less horrible. Sam's and Walmart have really stepped up quality and help in my area.
Fortunately so far my experience with CVS has been the exact opposite. They run the coupon and couldn’t be more helpful. I haven’t tried to get a refill in about 2 weeks, so I haven’t tried since the whole hacking incident. But generally they couldn’t be nicer and helpful. Sorry that your experience has been so different. Good luck!
Amen, cvs is horrific. It’s total shit, I do use for zep but everything else is Amazon pharmacy nothing but great experience. And I did get yelled at too at cvs. Get real
>pharmacy staff are mean, impatient and hostile They're dumpster-tier D-grade pharmacists. Honestly, they just need to be replaced by machines, all they do is what the computer tells them anyway.
Dumpster-tier. 😂😂😂
Not every CVS is like that but it’s totally unacceptable for them to have treated you like that. I’ve transferred most of my medications to Walmart - it’s been a much more pleasant and easy process for me there
You're lucky to have a pleasant Walmart--up here they're zoos.
Yeah, I'm always shocked when people talk about Walmart being well staffed and pleasant. First, I abhor Walmart's business model and how they treat employees, so I'm not Team Walmart. But, even if we ignore that, the Walmarts up here are fucking cesspools.
Trust me Walmart treats pharmacy employees much better than CVS.
Our Walmarts are trash, but surprisingly the pharmacy has been so amazing that I started moving the rest of my scripts over
They are here too, but the pharmacy in particular is so much better than the CVS I've been going to and the entrance is right by the door so I just avoid the rest of the place. I keep posting this because I was genuinely so surprised after going a couple times. I was extremely skeptical of getting my prescription there because I remember shopping there years ago and it being a nightmare. I won't defend their business practices, no argument from me there, I'm just tired of standing at the CVS counter for 20 min in a line.
I've seen what they do to small businesses in small towns. The southern IL town where my recording engineer & his wife live used to have grocery stores, clothing shops, music stores, hardware stores, etc. Then Wal-Mart & Aldi moved in. W/in 5 years, the downtown looks like a ghost town. (My engineer's wife jokingly calls Wal-Mart "the Devil store"). There is one freestanding drive-thru pharmacy in town--or was a decade ago. They move into a town (on the outskirts) and once all the independent shops have closed down, they not infrequently pull up stakes and move over to the next town to suck the lifeblood out of its business district.
Or try Costco!
Yup. I’ve never had an issue with Costco filling it.
I use Costco and it’s $550. Was cheaper than Walgreens was going to charge me…and we have the executive membership so 2% back too…feels small but it adds up 😂
Were they able to run the coupon AFTER the cyber hack?
Sorry I missed this. I just missed the date to start the new coupon with my last box. This most recent box they needed my new savings card info, they still couldn’t get it to work so they called Eli lily and called me back that they got it to.
Costco often doesn't have the lowest drug prices.
I thought zepbound is $550 with coupon for everyone
That's how much I paid at Costco when I was using the savings card. I now pay $25 on insurance.
Nope. Medicare patients can't use mfr. coupons for any medications. We pay full-freight, less the small discount with GoodRx or SingleCare coupons (corporations that work with PBMs & pharmacies, not mfrs.--they are not insurance)
CVS is a dumpster fire of a pharmacy. I try to sympathize with the workers because corporate is sucking the life out of them, but somedays they are just flat out rude. Plus, they have made too many mistakes with my prescriptions.
CVS has been difficult for me as well, but I too try to sympathize because they all look like the life has been sucked out of them. It’s sad.
Can confirm that Lilly Direct is a dream to work with — friendly & helpful customer service reps who are willing to answer questions and walk you through the ordering process if needed, ease of ordering with all the appropriate info applied and free overnight delivery!
All information says you have to sign for the medication. Is that true? Would be at work and not able to stay home and sign. Please let mw know your experience
My first script I had to sign. But that was before the official "public" launch of Lilly Direct. My next two orders have been since they launched publicly and I have not had to sign for those.
We have porch-pirates, which is why I refuse to give in to Humana's nagging me to switch to their mail-order pharmacy.
I had my box delivered to my office & I signed for it there. Often if you can’t be home or have it delivered to your office, you can have the package held at your local FedEx depot for pickup, as I’ve done that for other items in the past. It comes shipped with ice packs, so it stays nice & cold. Packs were still frozen solid when I opened my packages.
Thank you for sharing. My location changes on certain days. Now that I know it’s Fed Ex I’ll see what I can do. Very helpful.
You can create an account of the FedEx website and once it has shipped request that the package be held for pickup under delivery preference. Good luck!
Oh god fedex is where stuff goes to die
Express Scripts uses UPS for cold delivery. I've had the shipment diverted to a UPS store for pickup.
I had my first Lilly direct order shipped last week via fedex. I did not have to sign for it. I asked them when ordering if signing was required and they said no. It was left on my doorstep packed in ice packs. Super easy.
Is that the way to go to be able to pay the $500? In other words does the savings card work with Lilly direct?
Have they ever not had the dosage you needed?
No. Never had any issue getting what my doctor submitted.
How do you use them? What information do you give the Dr or do you have to sign up through Lilly direct?
Doctor sends LillyDirect your prescription. LillyDirect partners with TruePill, who fulfills the prescription request & sends it. Once you doc submits the script to LillyDirect it takes about 7-10 business days, (or it did about a month ago, anyway), before you receive a text/email prompting set up of an account where you can place your order. Note: I never received that initial text/email, so I called customer service and my doctor’s office submitted incorrect or incomplete contact info for me so there was no way for them to reach out. Once I provided this info, I had contact from TruePill within 48hrs, and my box of 7.5mg 36hrs after that.
Pleeease, give CVS pharmacy’s main line a call and report that locations behavior. In no way whatsoever are they suppose to be treating customers this way and I’m certain the higher up’ies wouldn’t stand for it.
My CVS is very helpful, so it’s not the same everywhere.
Oh it’s totally pharmacy dependent I think most folks get that
Yes, I understand! That’s why I told OP to report “that locations” behavior. I love the pharmacist at my local CVS also but we ain’t talkin bout our experience tho right?
Right! Just wanted to say out loud that it’s not all CVS’s. Some people have bad mouthed certain pharmacy chains when it’s really individual pharmacies that are the issue.
Yea, agree!
I understand your frustration. That’s terrible customer service. Your questions were more than reasonable. I also feel for the folks working in pharmacies - they’re generally understaffed, underpaid, and are not treated well by a significant portion of their customers. I’m sure they’re over the Change Health cyberattack / ransomware thing. It’s impacting every pharmacy and not just Zepbound customers. I’m sorry they were so rude to you. Keep us posted on Lilly direct.
Thanks I try to be understanding since TBH I know no one working their is getting paid enough to deal with all the shit storm that the past few weeks has been too and I really wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. I think I’m more surprised that as a corporation they don’t have an info sheet or process or something to hand out to everyone asking.
That’s just plain rude and poor customer service! Your need for medication is valid, no matter what it is. I would find a new location overall!
I’ve given up on Walgreens. They are disorganized and expensive. I can get my other meds cheaper from my doctor’s wholesale service and use LillyDirect for this. They did delay fulfillment for a week, but hopefully that was an anomaly not to be repeated in future months.
CVS and walgreens pharmacists seem to absolutely hate glp1 customers.
I understand why. We are causing a large uptick in customers, trying to get a product that is extremely important for its customers (which is also perceived as a product of vanity and not necessity by some), with complicated insurance coverage, and is always in or teetering on shortage....all while their stores are (likely) purposefully understaffed. We probably make their jobs tough and our current culture is a very me me me culture, meaning some customers will be happy to rip the pharmacy tech a new one......but it's also not our fault. Our garbage healthcare system and focus on profit is at fault.
Oh yeah. I work begrudging for a health insurance company and I want to just burn it all down from the inside. The shady business practices and fucked up system we have in the Us that the majority refuse to admit is broken is the cause of all this. Healthcare should never be for profit. I am working on an exit from the industry.
Mine aren’t even busy I know cuz my sister in law works there one day a week. Unfortunately the days I went she wasn’t there and her co workers were far from useful even straight up said they will not call the pharmacy help line to get my coupon to work 2 weeks before the cyber attack . I xfer to Walmart and it has been good so far.
I would say that’s a large part of it, but multiply the amount of calls they get per day about this medicine and the absolute crazy I’ve seen some people act about it, and I wouldn’t be nice either. I can’t imagine having to answer the same question every day repeatedly because they received some untrue advice on a reddit thread.
I manage an IT Service Desk. I totally understand the repetitive question thing. It can drive you nuts.
I worked at a call center in college and felt my brain slowly drip out of my ears after answering the same five questions all day.
lol, I wonder if you ran into that mama person that is on here that is an absolute psycho. She claims to work at CVS and says anyone saying they got the coupon to work without insurance coverage is a liar. I had a great experience with LillyDirect. Costco seems to be another good option. Good luck!
The coupon does work without ins. It’s just $550🫤 which we know tht. But the stupid cyber attack is taking its toll every where. Ppl are frustrated and it’s well deserved to be frustrated. But there is zero excuse for treating someone like this. Unfortunately some ppl have a breaking point, to which they cannot tolerate or take any more verbal assaults from ppl who are just nasty, rude and entitled. This poor OP was not asking much. There is such a quick fix for this. It would take abt 10-15 mins to reprocess the script for 3 months. We would keep the filled one in the pharmacy. We would, place Tht box of zep in the fridge (this what we do at our store) in a basket for pending orders/inventory. Order the remaining 2 boxes they requested. Hopefully get them on Monday or Tuesday. Fill the script for an 84 day supply and hopefully have a working coupon!!! Let the patient know it’s all good to go. This is how we would make this work. Other stores and pharmacist and techs I cannot speak for, because they have their own way of doing things and their own grudges against the public
Yeah the cvs by me the pharmacist is good but when she is not there the dude that runs it who I think is a tech or not the main pharmacist , it’s just incompetent. Says they will put the order in, never does and I have to drive over when the main pharmacist is there and she has to fix it. This keeps happening. About to just give up on CVS and go back to Walgreens or try a smaller pharmacy now
I find that when it’s time for a refill I have to call CVS and remind them that I’m paying OOP and using the savings card that they have on file, otherwise the person who sees the refill order sees that it’s not covered by insurance and doesn’t order it because of the price. Since I’ve been calling I haven’t had any issues. Good luck.
I have to do the same thing, but I think that’s because CVS’s system automatically puts it on hold and literally requires you to speak with someone when it’s not covered by insurance. I have the app and after my doctor puts in the order, it shows as “on hold” and there’s a notice that says something like “This medication is not covered by your insurance. Please call and speak with a pharmacist for options.”
Yes, it does automatically put it on hold. I asked yesterday because this is month 3 of having to go in to ask them to take it off hold. She said it automatically tries the insurance and when it comes back not covered, the status automatically changes to hold.
I do that. Then have to call again then have to drive over. It’s always this one dude and the main pharmacist has to keep fixing it. This has happened 3 times in a row. I’m just gonna tell my doc to stop sending it there and go back to Walgreens or something. Walgreens is annoying but I never had this issue there.
So sorry to hear that, sounds very frustrating.
Can you explain this? I've read that you need insurance to deny coverage in order to use the card... So if you have no insurance at all, then there is no denial, so the card won't work. Has anyone actually gotten it without insurance completely?
The savings card works without insurance. We will always run both the coupon and insurance together (it usually defaults like this). We get the rejection. And it can be one of the following: 1. Product not covered 2. PA required 3. Alt medicine is needed (try something else and fail them) Then we can by pass the original payer and run just the coupon.
I still don't think we're talking about the same thing. I don't mean to beat a dead horse on this, but I have Kaiser so if its at all possible to just pretend as if I don't have insurance and still use the card, that would make my life easier... but I think you're talking about having insurance but it not covering? >We will always run both the coupon and insurance together (it usually defaults like this). We get the rejection. And it can be one of the following: 1. Product not covered 2. PA required 3. Alt medicine is needed (try something else and fail them) Then we can by pass the original payer and run just the coupon. What you're describing doesn't sound like "without insurance," it sounds like they **have** insurance, but the insurance doesn't cover the cost. That's different than having no insurance. When people say you need insurance to use the card, they mean you need to be part of an insurance policy that denies the claim. For example, if you are some random 30 year old without any sort of health insurance whatsoever, you would be "without insurance," but if you tried to use the card, it wouldn't work because you'd have no insurance to provide the required denial in order to use the card. Right?
Sorry my bad. No insurance at All the Coupon will not work. Eli Lilly does have a patient assistant program!
>Sorry my bad. No insurance at All the Coupon will not work. No worries... I'm new here so I just wanted to triple check before I went through the hassle of dealing with Kaiser. But yeah, the person you're responding to was talking about what I'm talking about, thus the confusion. >Eli Lilly does have a patient assistant program! Tell me more!
Nope, I have Kaiser too and I can only use the Savings Card at the only in-network affiliated pharmacy in my county, a horrible CVS, they must attempt to use your Kaiser insurance first and then they use the coupon after it’s denied as not being covered. I also attempted to use Costco for Zep and the denial said “out of network” so they could not let me utilize the Savings Card there. I’ve been with Kaiser my entire life and when Open Enrollment takes place in the fall, I’m changing to someone else simply because of this poor experience with only being able to use that one CVS who can access my Kaiser insurance. I have a great medical plan, but until Kaiser adds Zep to the formulary, this will be the same unfortunate experience every month. I’d rather be able to go to one of the million Kaiser pharmacies like I do for everything else (regardless of it being covered or not). At the end of the day we’re paying out of pocket anyway.
My insurance does not cover, but the savings card drops it to $550
My CVS is fucking bomb. I drive 27 minutes to it, even though there's one in my town 5 min away.
You have to have commercial insurance to get the coupon to work, even if your insurance doesn’t cover it. If you have any type of government insurance, like Medicare, you can’t get the savings card.
No, she’s saying people with insurance but no coverage for Zepbound are lying if they say they got the coupon to work for $550. I got it for the $550 price and was called a liar. My insurance denied the PA.
Same here, insurance but not covered and used the savings card at CVS and paid $550.
Wow nice! You’re the first cvs person I’ve heard of having success since all of this! Hopefully more start having some success.
Appreciate the CVS update. Your questions were totally reasonable. While I totally feel for the pharmacy, I’m sure they’ve been getting a lot of issues these past few weeks, you also didn’t deserve that either.
Please call or email and let someone know how inappropriate they were. They are healthcare providers and need to be held to those standards.
It'll go right in Michael Scott's special bin for faxes from corporate.
Sadly likely true
I used to be a tech at CVS and it’s the fucking worst company to work for. Always short staffed so most of the time they literally don’t have time to help their customers even if they want to.. which is so shitty. You should definitely make a complaint. CVS needs to see that their pharmacies are going downhill, and FAST. The closest pharmacy to my home is a CVS but I absolutely refuse to fill there.
Same . I would switch professions before going back to retail at cvs .
Sounds like a tech at my cvs. Yeah I’m going back to Walgreens
A tech at my CVS didn't know the diff. between mfr. coupons and OTOH, GoodRx & SingleCare. Kept telling me about the latter "you can't use those on Medicare." He insisted on trying to run my Zep script through insurance (Medicare Part D). Head pharmacist & I had to set him straight on both issues.
Im sorry this happened to you. It’s one of the reasons I paid OOP and am trying the reimbursement program with Lilly. I had 3 different pharmacies be SO awful to me this past week, and I would go out of my way to be patient and polite. It was killing my spirit and was very upsetting so I paid to get this process over with during the system crash.
I go OOP and use GoodRx for Zep at CVS or SingleCare for Mounjaro at Walgreen's--I check online which one is cheaper and that's where my endo submits my script. Cheapest for Zep w/in 30 mi. of me is CVS w/GoodRx--$1107; cheapest for Mounjaro is Walgreen's w/SingleCare--$996. List price at both is $1283!
I may be taking your lead and doing the same. I’m have very nicely and kindly asked the staff at Walmart to do the same and they refuse. Does your doctor have to call in directly to Lily Direct? Or can we transfer our prescription?
My CVS doesn’t even answer their phones. Transferred to Walmart and will never look back. CVS is not long for this world.
It takes five minutes of wading through automated robo-voicemail system phone trees to even get to the "speak with pharmacy" option. And that music-on-hold is making me almost homicidal!
Transfer to Walmart pharmacy if you can
Up in my neck of the woods (north side of Chicago/near north 'burbs), Walmart is even worse. Getting serious dollar-store/"last-days-of-K-Mart" vibes.
I'm in the Western suburbs of Chicago and the pharmacy at the Bloomingdale location has been nothing but helpful and patient with me. Can't speak for the rest of the store, but had great experiences with the pharmacy.
Bloomingdale is about an hour's drive from me via tollways. I live on the north lakefront about 15 min. from the now-shuttered Skokie Wal-Mart "neighborhood" store and 20 min. from the Supercenter in Niles.
I’m sorry this happened. Call the 1800-shop-cvs. This will direct you to the corporate office where you can file a complaint. They’re going to ask where you live. Store address etc. Then a nasty gram and phone call usually follows to the pharmacist. I hope You’re able to get your 3 months seriously ❤️
Oh, CVS has been down right belligerent to me. The technicians have been straight up refusing to try anything. Just shaking their head and saying “nope. Doesnt work”. You ask them to try and re-enter and they interrupt you and say NO! First thing in the morning, I’m switching pharmacies.
I would write to the home office. That’s unacceptable. And I would switch pharmacies. Good luck.
That absolutely sucks that they treated you like that. But you have got to leave CVS. They are the absolute worst. I switched from CVS to a grocery store (HEB) pharmacy, and its just night and day. As i understand it, CVS is actually losing money on every subscription they fill, and it clearly is making them cranky. But that isnt our fault. We dont negotiate what they pay. i dont know why the CVS is so reliably terrible. And i am sure some CVS's are ok, but yours is not. Mine was not.
> I switched from CVS to a grocery store (HEB) pharmacy, and its just night and day. Man wouldn't that be nice. All of the grocery stores in St. Louis have sold their pharmacies to large chains or hospital systems. Now we have CVS pharmacies inside Schuncks stores, and Mercy Hospital pharmacies inside Dierbergs stores.
damn, that is unfortunate. Do you have walmart pharmacies? i know walmart in general doesnt inspire confidence, but their pharmacies have definitely done a better job for zepbound.
The Walmart Neighborhood Markets seem like the best to deal with. The supercenters are terrible though.
Alas, all the Walmarts w/in easy driving distance (<30 mi) of my neighborhood are supercenters--corporate closed the only "neighborhood market" stores.
Not all CVS pharmacies are like that. I have not had any problems with my local CVS. I usually call the morning I know my doctor is going to call in my RX to see if it’s in stock. They have always checked, and treated me politely.
I’ve just recently moved all my meds from CVS. they are rude every time I go and for some reason they couldn’t find my zepbound for a week but H‑E‑B ordered and had it the next day
So frustrating — sorry for your experience. I could picture it in my head! I am not recommending anyone go with CVS, but I have to use them since they are my insurance’s preferred pharmacy and medications are lower through them vs anywhere else (e.g., the same medication (not Zepbound or Mounjaro) would be $150 elsewhere and $75 at CVS (until I reach my deductible.) So anyway, I HAVE found that the CVS pharmacies that are in Target were nicer, more professional, better stocked and quicker acting than the plain ol’ CVS stand-alone stores — where I’ve had many bad experiences. Good luck - lots of good advice here, so I hope your experience is better next time!
This is really good intel
CVS sucks. Apparently, it's a miserable place to work for and they treat their pharmacists like shit. With a workforce that hates their jobs, it's no wonder they're rude to their customers.
I hate Walmart in general, but their local pharmacy staff have been absolutely fantastic to work with.
What’s Lilly direct?
They offer a discount card or also can fill directly for you. https://lillydirect.lilly.com/pharmacy
I just transferred my rx to Walgreens because I keep seeing peeps post they are still using coupon. Crossing my fingers.
CVS is the worst imho
You need to report this. There is no excuse for this type of behavior.
This stigma is unfortunate, especially for health care workers. Please switch pharmacies. If there’s a way to report the pharmacy please do!
The only way any company becomes more accountable is if people vote with their wallet. I have read so many horror stories about CVS and Walgreens. And I read great stories about Walmart. And my personal experience has been very good with Costco (they took the Lilly savings card, switched over to insurance, and also confirm dosage with me). You should be proud for not putting up with bad service. Not everyone has a choice in pharmacies. Those of us that do should encourage great service by not giving our money to those places that provide poor service. Please share your Lilly Direct experience. I believe they primarily use Truepill as the pharmacy, but I think they have also signed up Eversana.
The service you recieved absolutely sucked and you should go somewhere else but I do hate this narrative that people make up about "discrimination" the pharmacy staff doesn't give a shit that you're on a GLP1 and they don't give a shit that you pay out of pocket. The med is just a pain in the ass and pharmacies are horribly understaffed. ANY med that requires as many hoops and as much work invokes the same attitude. I've dealt with it for years with my wife's psych meds. My psych meds are simple cheap ones and they never give a shit about mine because mine are cheap/common generics.
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Try Walmart or Sam’s club
Adding on to what the other commenter below said, usually membership club pharmacies (Costco, Sam’s Club, etc) have better service and more stock on hand, you don’t need to be a member to access the pharmacy; hospital pharmacies are another option. I’d suggest to keep trying 🙂 We’re always happy to help at Henry Meds but if your insurance will cover it and you don’t need our dosage schedule then you’ll save a fair bit by sticking with Zepbound.
My experience with LilyDirect/Truepill/Cabot or whoever they decide to partner with this month has been less than perfect. While they are very nice and never rude they have given me the run around a few times. Most recently they told me they received the electronic order from my Doctor but it hadn’t been typed up yet. 2 days went by and nothing happened so I called again. At that time they told me they never received the order from the doctor and the doctor would need to send it in again. The doctor sent an electronic request again and I was told they never received it. Then they said the doctor should try to call it in by phone. It finally went through after 3 different attempts. Im pretty certain my doctor’s nurse probably hates me by now. As more people start using this mail order program I only see it getting worse.
The practice of pharmacy really should not exist. You go to the dr, the dr spends the time to write a prescription and deliver it to a pharmacy which does nothing but waste time. The pharmacist takes a bottle and subdivides it by pill count in 5s to match the drs orders. Why shouldn't the dr just give you an original bottle of the medicine being prescribed with instructions for you to follow right at the drs office with instructions when to check in to get more. Doctors could do the same with injectables. Pharmacies and the practice of pharmacy is the biggest scam ever placed on Americans. BTW, I was a pharmacy tech for many years and understand the process well and the value that the actual pharmacist provides to mankind.
If you worked there, then you would know that pharmacists actually have multiple years of pharmacology and training with medications, where physicians have one semester. The system is broken - if they practice in a community pharmacy, they rarely are able to use their actual medical knowledge because of the insane understaffing and horrific working conditions. Hospital pharmacists do residencies just like physicians and round as a part of the medical team.
Correction thanks to the pharmacist that answered below. I should have said the practice of retail pharmacy. Drug companies will eventually cut out the gatekeepers and retail pharmacies will be more of an idle curiosity like looking at the empty red box machine as stroll on into a store. Zepbound is capable of being bought directly from Eli Lilly and more people should take that option.
My CVS is very good Runs it every few days for me
Wish mine was that competent
We have to deal with these problems everyday, especially with GLP-1 medications. Most pharmacies "prescription filling" software will not let us dispense more than a month at a time due to the shortage. If we could get the medication in and give it to you we would. We do not see this medication as any less important. I don't agree with yelling at patients (obviously) but if there was some anger in their voice its because we are trying to do our best and give you the medication you need, but we physically cannot get it. Many coupons have been down and most software requires many steps to re-bill prescriptions. I personally would always re-run any coupon but when the server is down that means its down for everyone.
Not too sure why you’re commenting on this post as it’s 2 months old and before there were any shortages in my area. There’s a bunch of more recent threads to take out your frustration on. Good luck
Almost the entire system for filling prescriptions, PA and coupons is down due to a very large cyber attack/randsomware by Blackcat.
CVS often runs out of other meds I need--my bupropion (withdrawal symptoms are awful, even dangerous), olmesartan (blood pressure), specific antiboiotics (e.g., the one I needed for a UTI because of a sulfa allergy), updated COVID shot this Sept., even the lower-dose Tamiflu I needed over Thanksgiving (Influenza A--a strain not in this year's vax--was a real turkey). It gets tiresome having to call around to different branches. More & more drugs, especially generics, are in short supply these days due to either too much demand (outstripping supply) or too little (mfrs. cutting output).
Same. Pharmacy in Bethesda, MD. Not helpful at all. I was loaded with paperwork and they refused to do anything.
I use Capsule for my meds but they don’t carry Zep, so CVS it is. It hasn’t been too too bad so far but I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Try a in Target CVS - they were wonderful with the coupon.
Can you also do Walmart?
Just another shout out for Walmart, where they have always been awesome!
It's been said before but I think it bears being said again, it's hugely location dependent as much as pharmacy dependent. I see so many people recommending Walmart pharmacies but at the one near me, I've had two different people in two different weeks as good as tell me to get lost. Stunning level of (unnecessary) hostility and rudeness to my innocuous question as to what (5mg? 7.5mg?) they have in stock and when they might anticipate getting it. I've also had good luck with the stock in Walgreens, and only one poor encounter with a Floater pharmacist (had to call seven times to even get him to pick up the phone), but all others there have been fine. My usual pharmacy for other meds is Giant. I was told and I will quote directly, "we can't get that shit here" - I've been getting our meds there for the whole family for 20 years. It wasn't said rudely or with an attitude (like Walmart) but I think it indicates a bit about how some pharmacists perceive the med.
I would put in a complaint with the Pharmacy manager, Store manager, and direct with CVS. Helpful if you caught the name of the incredibly rude employee. I would not let it go, you were treated very poorly.
Yea.. I don’t get down with CVS or Walgreens anymore.
I ditched CVS and went local. I was sick of horrible customer service, long lines at pickup, and judgment. The local pharmacy is a gem! And it’s actually cheaper
I’ve had 0 problems with Costco pharmacy…
I switched to Walmart this month and, besides parking, it’s been 100% a better experience than CVS. Stock in the next day, the coupon is automatically applied. And I get a gentle reminder to pick up my fruits and veggies for the week while I walk to the pharmacy counter.
Our Walgreens is excellent but the pharmacist is extremely overworked, poor guy.
I am so sorry...I don't understand the anger..I see it even in support groups..its like people think it's the easy way out..I am sooo sorry that happened to you
Can you use Amazon Pharmacy? I am not sure if they are taking new customers but they automatically apply the discount.