Last Wednesday, I went to a doctor who wrote me two prescriptions. One was for an antibiotic and one for pain relief (I have chronic back pain and have been getting this same prescription for years; CVS should definitely know me by now). My fiance brought the prescriptions to the nearby CVS the next day, where he was told they could fill the antibiotic, but they did not have the pain medication in stock so it would be ordered and would be available to pick up on Monday. This made me nervous but as I said, I trusted CVS.

On Monday, the day before I was to leave town on a very, very important trip, we went to pick up my medication which I was also in dire need of seeing as I had allowed myself just enough from my last refill to last me until this pickup. We waited at the drive-thru window for several minutes when finally an employee came back and informed us that there was no record of anyone leaving a prescription under my name. I told her this was impossible and that we had also quite successfully picked up an antibiotic the same day. She left for another several minutes and came back again, this time claiming that she did have record of the antibiotic being picked up, but that there was no other medication waiting to be filled. Again, I told her this was impossible and to please get a manager.

Yet another several minutes later, another woman came to the window. I explained the situation and she left to look it up for herself. This time when she came back to the window and told me that there were no refills left on this prescription. I told her she was mistaken, this was a new prescription, not a refill. She asked me if I had left it with another CVS.

Now, I've done this several times before and I know that if you drop off a prescription at one CVS, record of the prescription will be visible at any location, not just the one where it was dropped off, so I asked her, what difference would that make? She didn't like this and immediately became very rude and impatient. She slammed the window without saying a word and eventually came back to tell me that if they weren't able to fill it at the time of drop-off, they would have given the prescription back to me. I asked my fiance if he remembered getting anything back before he left the store that night and he insisted that he was sure he didn't receive anything but the antibiotic.

We were told to go to the 24 CVS down the road as this one would soon be closed. They would call my doctors office and attempt to authorize a prescription for the medication. Down the road we went.

This time we went inside. The woman behind the counter seemed to know who I was right away and--without greeting me or apologizing--told me that my doctor didn't give an emergency phone number on his answering machine and that nothing could be done if I didn't have another number at which to reach him. She repeated this to me many times throughout our conversation as if I somehow secretly knew another number and was purposely withholding the information. She, like the previous two women, was also extremely rude and condescending.

I continued to complain that I had done everything on my end and I wanted to know what they were planning on doing to rectify this situation. She maintained that the prescription must have been returned to me, that I must have lost it, and that she could do nothing to help me unless I provided her with another phone number to reach my doctor. I became overwhelmed with frustration and literally burst into tears at the thought of leaving town without my medication. This meant nothing to her and so I left.

I began to think that perhaps the prescription had been attached to the prescription bag for the antibiotic and remembered that I had tossed it out the day before. My fiance called into work that night to come home with me and look through the dumpster for our garbage bags and try to find the prescription bag I had thrown away. We ended up finding it but the prescription wasn't there, just as I had assumed.

I knew they couldn't reach my doctor until the next day and I just couldn't go on a trip like this, so I canceled my flight. Again, this was a highly important family event I was missing is all I'll say. Highly important.

The next morning I woke up and called the CVS right as they opened. I explained what had happened the previous night and they told me they hadn't called my doctor yet. I indicated how important it was and they assured me they would call as soon as possible. I waited an hour and called my doctor myself to ask if he had heard from the pharmacy.

My doctor told me they had called to have him authorize the dispensing of this medication when in the middle of the phone call, they found the prescription. I was enraged. Everything I had been through and been blamed for and for what?

I called the CVS to confirm what my doctor told me and they said it was true, they had found the prescription and I could come pick it up at any time. Once again, no apology. No "you were right, we were wrong". Nothing. Needless to say I called their 'higher-ups' to file a complaint and demanded that something be done about this. The woman on the phone was appropriately mortified and apologized profusely. I am waiting for a call back from a woman who is supposedly the supervisor of the pharmacy to tell me what action will be taken.

Luckily, I was able to book a bus to be where I needed to be on time. This trip will take me an extra five hours and be way more uncomfortable thanks to CVS. The moral of this story is don't leave important prescriptions with CVS no matter how many times you've been there! If they can't fill it, take it somewhere else!