CVS, Ronkonkoma NY

I always have issues with this CVS location. Over the years, they have not had my pills ready, or gave me a hard time about refills that were on my chart… my latest visit, I called and was told it was ready. Well, they lost my script, so I was standing there for 30 mins while everyone looked, until a man came in to start his shift and found it immediately, thankful for him and his competence… and then this random heavy set straight haired lady decided after the whole process had been completed to mention that they couldn’t take a copy of my ID… despite that I had already said I didn’t want it, so, because of her incompetence and delayed response I had to stand there for another additional 5 minutes while they fixed the error… thankful again for the man who did the transaction, he was very friendly and helpful, but displeasure to the heavy set lady with the straight hair, who was mostly just useless and rude.

Quite possibly the worst pharmacy on Earth. Pull into the drive thru. ONE car in front. It took TWENTY MINUTES to help this one customer. By the time we got to the window there was a line of cars behind us about 12 cars deep. During this time we called to see why they were ignoring the drive thru line. We were told to come inside (in a rude nasty tone) because there was no one inside. Well if there was no one inside why were you not helping the drive thru line? The car in front of us was visibly upset. Just look at all the reviews on this one CVS. They are the absolute worst. We’ve dealt with them being slow many times but this was so insanely horrible it’s worth a one star review. The pharmacists are rude, condescending and slow as molasses. They don’t care at all about their customers. This has gone on for years here and it’s time for CVS to do something about this one location

In the past two years I’ve been shopping at this location, I’ve seen at least 23 employees, specifically in the pharmacy, come and go. Only three people that have stayed the same are absolutely awful. Seems like management at this location is a problem, switched to another retail pharmacy not long ago.

Debby at the front desk was absolutely horrible. SO rude and miserable I was actually in shock. She does not know how to treat or talk to customers.

CVS - is terrible with their notifications and communication, often come in and promised prescriptions aren’t ready or they fail to let you know they need extra approval (really terrible with time sensitive prescriptions that need the patient to contact their healthcare provider asap, if you are new to the medical game - usually pharmacies are pretty ineffective with approvals without an assist, - persistence from the patient or their family contacting their medical provider is required) or come home to find out that a prescription wasn’t filled to find out there was an over the counter “equivalent” but they don’t bother telling you while you are there (you can easily miss this picking up multiple new prescriptions, especially on discharge from a hospital - my experience at other pharmacies is that they have always told me why it wasn’t filled and directed me to the aisle where I could find what I need.)

They never make it easier by “contacting” the doctors office for you. Either they never do or the doctors offices never respond to them but the end result is I always have to call. Or then they are too helpful and call to “change” a prescription without reaching out to you first and somehow that works - so when you don’t want them to do something - that works. Had a couple prescriptions written for brand name bc the fillers used in the generic sold at CVS were causing an allergic reaction and then they go get it switched back to exactly what we didn’t want. They should check with the patient to find out if there was a reason a brand or more expensive medication was ordered before attempting to switch it - the doctors office can miss this if the staff working there blindly approves it without checking why.

Sometimes the staff has gone above and beyond in ways I’ve very much appreciated (earning the star and a few five star days - this review is based on the overall experience), it’s evident from their demeanor they are very overworked, perhaps understaffed, for the most part they are friendly and there have been a few really great people that hopefully won’t get destroyed by working there or will move on before they do (I’ve seen a few go from happy and friendly to looking they haven’t slept in a decade / this is just a job to get through).

Have your good music ready if you use the drive thru, most often it’s better to walk inside once there is more than 3 cars. Inside is hit or miss with the lines. Been going here for over ten years and it hasn’t changed at all (caregiver).

Honestly, I believe a lot of this is due to corporate, training and being too busy and I’m betting understaffed - they should not rely on the automated phone system to communicate important information to patients and have a couple people dedicated strictly to patient communication and difficult prior authorizations instead of trying to make them jump across jobs managing everything when inevitably it’s going to take too long or the ball is going to get dropped for time sensitive prescriptions that patients really need right away (has happened to us - this can cause people to be hospitalized or extended stay in the hospital when all they need are necessary medications to come / stay home).

For my own prescriptions I go to another chain pharmacy where I’ve had a far better experience and feel like maybe they treat the staff better too as I’ve never seen them look so dire as they can at CVS, have yet to encounter the run arounds and constant frustration experienced at CVS there.