Aetna/CVS Medicare Benefits - No Accountability, Beyond Frustating!
This has been one of the most frustrating customer service experiences I have ever had.
On June 10, my mother placed an order through the CVS Benefits portal using her Aetna Medicare Advantage OTC benefit. She receives $45 per quarter to use on eligible items. Her cart totaled exactly $45, and she intended to use her remaining $41.57 benefit balance and pay the remaining $3.43 with another payment method.
Unfortunately, there was a system glitch during checkout. The website would not allow her to enter the additional payment information. The order never completed, and she never received an order confirmation. However, the items disappeared from her cart and her Benefits card was still charged $41.57.
After waiting 48 hours, we called CVS Benefits. The representative eventually located the transaction after about 30 minutes, confirmed it existed in their system, and provided a transaction number. We were told someone would review the issue and contact us within 48 hours.
No one ever called. Since then, we have called seven separate times, spending well over six hours on the phone. Every representative has required us to explain the entire situation from the beginning. We have repeatedly been promised callbacks within 24, 48, or 72 hours. None of those callbacks ever happened.
For weeks, representatives incorrectly assumed the problem involved shipping or fulfillment. On June 27, we finally reached a supervisor who immediately understood that this was an IT issue involving a transaction that became stuck between checkout and order creation. She even acknowledged that several other customers had experienced the same problem. She promised detailed documentation and a callback within 48 hours.
Again, no one called.
On our seventh call, the representative contacted Aetna Member Services, then escalated to a manager, who ultimately admitted this was an IT issue that even management could not resolve. We were again promised that IT would contact us within 24 hours.
Four days later, we are still waiting.
At this point, this is no longer about the $41.57. It is about accountability. CVS Benefits withdrew money from my mother's benefit card without creating an order, and nearly a month later, no one has taken ownership of resolving the issue. Every call ends with another promise of a callback that never comes.
If there is a system bug affecting multiple Medicare members, it should be treated as a high-priority issue. Instead, customers are left to repeatedly call, explain the same story, and hope someone follows through.
CVS and Aetna need to do much better. Their technology failed, but what has been far more disappointing is the complete lack of ownership, communication, and follow-up. Medicare beneficiaries deserve better than being ignored after seven phone calls and countless broken promises.
