CVS Caremark
Customer Service, "Prior-Authorization Department" is evil, and website crashes

As of Jan my employer switched from Blue Cross Blue Shield prescription coverage to CVS Caremark prescription coverage. From day one, Caremark was the worst, ever. I had to contact the customer service department, who reads from a script, sound like they have a 3rd grade education, and are unfamiliar with any medications. I sat on the phone with customer service for four hours before I could fill a single prescription filled. I also had to spent an hour on the phone with tech support so I could log on to the website. Customer service told me that there was not any literature on how to navigate their prescription coverage system, so I would just have to fly by the seat of my pants.

I was not sent the prescription card until March, two months after it was supposed to be in effect. They never mentioned that if there is a medication that is taken longer than 90 days, it must be ordered through the mail order.

Fast forward 6 months, I had a prescription sent by my physician to Caremark. After two weeks, I began to wonder why it had not arrived, so I checked on the website, which did not show the prescription at all. When I called the customer service, I was told that it needed a "prior-authorization", and that I had to contact my physician to obtain it. I contacted my physician's office and they were able to contact the "prior-authorization" department and sent in the information that they requested. I did not hear anything for two weeks from caremark, again. I contacted customer service and they told me that it was denied by the "prior-authorization" department, but provided absolutely no explanation. I went back to my physician and she prescribed another similar medication, then sent the prescription directly to Caremark. Again, two weeks later, I called customer service to ask the status of my order. They replied that it was also denied by the "prior-authorization" department. I asked if there was anything I could do to obtain the reason for the denial, and the customer service rep gave me a phone number for the "prior-authorization" department. I called the number and it sent me through a confusing menu, including asking unrelated questions like, "Are you a medicare patient in South Carolina? Press one." After several more questions, it re-directed me back to the customer service department. The poor person that I tried to talk to, clearly had been under trained. I began to ask for an explanation from this person, but was completely unsuccessful, told me she was sorry that she could not help me and then hung up.

I went to the website, logged in, then composed an e-mail asking for assistance on resolving this issue. When I hit the "send" button it crashes the site, locks up completely, where even when I completely close my browser and return to the site, it is still locked up. Two hours later, I was able to finally log back in, checked my sent box and the e-mail was not sent, it completely gone. I tried a second time, with the same results.

In summary, customer service was completely unhelpful, the "prior-authorization" department is completely unreachable, but has total control over your health, and the web site is garbage. Yet, I am stuck with Caremark, I have no choice in my coverage, so I will continue to tear our my hair, trying to deal with them.

Company: CVS Caremark
Country: USA

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