I usually LOVE going to CVS but there was one time I had a really bad experience with a cashier. This is a series of reposts about that original experience.

Today’s CVS post is not about saving money…but about saving my sanity. I had a little bit of a customer service issue with CVS the last time I visited on September 28. The day started off fine with me standing in line with my items in one hand and a bunch of coupons in the other hand.

I got to the front and there was no one behind me so I thought it would be easy. I rang up the monitor and one other item and then noticed that I did not get the ECB from the monitor. I questioned it and the cashier told me that there were no ECBs for that item….just a mail in rebate.

Oops.

I am now red in the face……so I asked her to void the transaction so I could get all my coupons and ECBs that I had used for the transaction back.

Voids vs. Returns

The cashier decided that she would do a return on the item instead of voiding. This is where the trouble started. I used to work in retail and I know that sometimes when you do a return it will not kick the coupons back…so I asked her to void it instead.

The first thing she tells me is that the monitor originally cost $74 (I knew that) and was now on sale for $9.99 (I know that too..that is why I was getting it) so I was saving a HUGE amount of money (gee, you think so? Maybe THAT is why I am getting…because I like to get things for FREE or REDUCED).

I say I understand all that but since it does not have ECBs then I want to cancel the transaction. She gives me a look like I am crazy (little does she know) and takes the items from me.

She proceeded to do a return and then all the problems began. I had gotten an item for $9.99 and two items for $2.50 each, using an $11.99 ECB and a few manufacturer’s coupons. I ended up having to pay $0.74 which I used a gift card on.

The gift cards can be swiped like credit cards and then you have to push the button for Money Card instead of the Credit button. For some reason the gift cards take a few seconds to process while the credit cards seem to go through almost instantly.

The cashier seemed to think that this was my fault and actually berated me for the machine being slow. I tried to explain to her that I had swiped the gift card on other occasions and it worked but she refused to believe me.

Have you ever had to correct a cashier on the policy of the store where that person actually worked?