After having his fill of CVS robocalls, an Illinois man filed a TCPA class action lawsuit against the nationwide pharmacy chain.
Plaintiff Richard O’Hern says CVS has been placing automatically-dialed calls and calls using an artificial or prerecorded message to consumers who never consented to be contacted that way by CVS.
O’Hern alleges these CVS robocalls violate the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA.
The plaintiff says that following CVS’s recent purchase of Target pharmacy locations, the company has inflicted a campaign of unwanted telemarketing phone calls on many former Target pharmacy customers. These calls were made under the guise of being “reminders” to refill their prescriptions at CVS, he says.
The former Target customers never consented to receiving CVS robocalls, O’Hern claims. Many of them had do-not-call instructions on file with Target and never anticipated that by giving Target their phone numbers, they would end up receiving CVS robocalls.
But O’Hern says that after purchasing the Target pharmacy locations in December 2015, CVS simply merged the list of Target customers’ phone numbers into its list of recipients for prerecorded reminder calls, without bothering to confirm those customer’s consent.
He cites consumer complaints from various sources about the aggressive nature of CVS robocalls. Customers say they received calls every few days without ever having consented to being called. Some say they get repeated calls reminding them to pick up a prescription weeks after they did in fact pick it up.
O’Hern also claims that CVS robocalls have a detrimental effect on that company’s function as a provider of pharmacy services.
He quotes a CVS employee who says many customers refrain from giving the company their primary phone number to avoid unwanted calls. Without those persons’ primary phone number, pharmacists may then be unable to contact them in case of emergency, the employee says.
This CVS robocalls class action lawsuit was originally filed in Illinois state court in August 2016. CVS removed it to federal court on Nov. 4, 2016.
O’Hern seeks to represent two Classes of individuals who received automated prescription reminder calls from CVS on their mobile phones and whose phone numbers CVS acquired only through its purchase of Target’s pharmacies.
The autodialer Class would represent all such Class Members who received calls placed using computerized dialing equipment, and the robocall Class would represent those who received calls with a prerecorded or artificial voice.
O’Hern is asking for a court order barring CVS from continuing the allegedly unlawful conduct complained of. He also seeks an award of actual and statutory damages, court costs and attorneys’ fees.
The plaintiff is represented by Benjamin H. Richman and Elizabeth A. Winkowski of Edelson PC.
The CVS Robocalls Class Action Lawsuit is Richard O’Hern v. CVS Pharmacy Inc., et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-10353, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
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7 thoughts onCVS Class Action Says ‘Reminder’ Robocalls Violate Federal Law
May I be added at this point? Is it too late? I am receiving calls for someone else’s prescription 3-5 a week sometimes. I have called their customer service line several times and have had promises made and no solution. I even blocked the number but I still get voice mails regularly… since March.
I keep getting calls from CVS in Madison Tn for a Charles whose prescriptions are ready or automatic refill sign up. I’m not Charles and no Charles lives with me, plus I dont live nor have ever lived in Madison Tn. Not sure how this guy is using my phone number when I already use it at my own towns CVS. I called the number back and they said only CVS Corporate could deal with it but CVS Corporate couldnt do anything without the last name. So I’ve had to download an app to block the voicemails, because despite blocking the number on my phone, the voicemails would still be left.
CVS PHARMACY RETAIL has been fined before by FTC and FCC. I keep getting robocalls from them EVEN WHEN I TOLD THEM “MULTIPLE” times I was not refilling any medication. They continued with text messages & calls. So now I will be filing a formal complaint against them. They ought to be put out of business. Additionally when I looked at my account they have scripts/meds on hold which I AM NOT and/or did not order. This should be considered health care fraud. All they want to do is upsell people for the “greed” of money. Before I used to get refills with a grocery store (not Target, not Walmart, not Walgreens) which was wonderful. All these others engage in violating consumer protection.
add me
I called CVS and finally got them to stop calling for refills. Then on my next prescription, when I was picking it up and paying I had to sign for it and part of it was to consent to receiving the refill calls, when I said no, they said that’s not an option, I had to sign to get the prescription. I said no again and they handed me a slip of paper with the number and website to request to be taken off of the robo call list. I’ll just go to Walgreens next time.
Why not try an independent pharmacy?
I am constantly receiving calls from CVS to get my Rx filled when they are not ready to be filled. When I mention this to the pharmacists, they tell me to ignore all calls from their incompetent automatic robot calls. I got even more calls and texts from their automated systems. The pharmacist told me that if I was to remove my phone number that it would be permanent and that I would not get any more calls even the ones that tell me if they have a problem with the Rx. I was asked to call CVS Corporate to discuss the automated phone calls. When I did, they told me that the repeated calls were from the pharmacist. Which CVS department is making repeated unsolicited calls?