Health

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CVS Email Offered 50% Off Memberships, But It’s Full Price Online

CVS just sent out a sensational year-end promotion via email for CVS ExtraCare Plus — its premium loyalty program — promising customers a $10 monthly bonus reward for a year and it would only cost $2 a month.
CVSExtraCare Plus offer

Whatta deal — pay $2 a month and get $10 off every month!

CVS maintains two types of loyalty programs. The most common is CVS ExtraCare – a free card with a barcode that most of us have. The other is called CVS ExtraCare Plus – which is a $48 a year program that provides extra benefits, including 20% off on full price CVS brand products, free delivery and shipping, and a $10 monthly credit on purchases.

Since MrConsumer had planned to feature this offer in Consumer World as the “Bargain of the Week,” he tested the promotion on the CVS website to ensure it was giving customers what it promised.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Charge for CVS ExtraCare Plus

To his surprise, the screen on which customers would finalize the purchase of the plan for a year was charging the full price — $48.

We immediately contacted CVS’ PR folks to alert them to the issue and get an explanation. And the answer was, where else, lurking in the fine print:

*MOUSE PRINT:

CVS promotion fine print

So you have to be a first-time “plus” member, and enroll in person in the store. The company could have made it a lot easier for customers if they simply issued a promo code that could be entered on the CVS website in order to get the half off deal.

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Albertsons Baits Shoppers Then Discloses the Real Deal

Star Market and Shaw’s in New England are part of the Albertsons family of supermarkets. They recently send emails with the subject line: “Get up to $20 off groceries this August.” With the price of food, who wouldn’t be interested? Similar offers were probably made to customers of their other supermarket chains.

The main offer was inviting customers to create a Sincerely Health profile and you would receive a $10 off coupon (among other money back opportunities).

Get $10 coupon

Of course, there is a nasty asterisk after the $10 off promise which leads to not very helpful fine print.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Star Market fine print

That tiny type says to see the rewards account for minimum purchase requirements.

Only when checking the terms online, do you learn that a $50 minimum purchase is necessary to use the $10 coupon.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Star Market offer details

A company that values playing it straight with customers more would not play games like this. They would simply say, “Create a Sincerely Health profile, and get $10 off a $50 a purchase.”

Is this too much to ask?

We asked Albertsons some pointed questions about this promotion twice, but they did not reply.

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These Eyeglasses Automatically Adjust to Your Vision?

NoBlu eyeglassesIt must be a miracle. NoBlu Vision claims that their eyeglasses automatically adjust to your vision. [See their NoBlu-glasses video.]

Nearsighted, farsighted, it doesn’t matter. “Gone are the days of eye tests and endless lens changes,” the site claims.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Automatically adapts

Could any of this be true? MrConsumer contacted an optometrist who is a former member of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Optometry, Dr. David Schurgin, and asked him that very question.

The good doctor called the company twice and got different answers each time. The first representative said the glasses adjust to near and far by sliding them up or down your nose.

The second rep said that these glasses were not adjustable and are just for viewing a television or a computer. That is mentioned nowhere on the website.

The website also claims the glasses filter UV and blue light. But, the doctor was told the lenses were made of glass which he says is unlikely because glass does not usually block UV light unless they are sunglasses.

Our optometrist concluded, “The only adapting of the lenses are that they change to a darker color when exposed to UV light or sunlight.”

We wanted to verify if the nearly perfect five-star TrustScore at the top of the website was a genuine reflection of consumer reviews:

Trust score

But, looking at Trustpilot, the website that establishes the TrustScore based on actual consumer reviews, the company has very few reviews and a low rating.

*MOUSE PRINT:

No-Blue TrustPilot

Lastly, the website boasts a string of big name media logos on it suggesting the product has been written up by all these respected media entities. We could find no evidence of that.

news logos

Oddly, another version of their website has eliminated all references to the glasses automatically adjusting to one’s vision. It still shows that it received five-star reviews but it omits the TrustScore identifier.

Needless to say, we think you need to cast a skeptical eye on this product. And in the doctor’s opinion, “what a ripoff.”