CVS Extra Care Bucks FAQ/General Info Thread -- Please refer newbies here with questions

CVS Information/FAQ

(information is this post is believed accurate. Corporate policies are subject to change at any time, and this is not meant to be a guarantee of all policies and situations at CVS with the Extra Bucks Program. Some policies are subject to store manager discretion as well)

ECBs and CRTs
ECBs -- Extra Care Bucks- earned by completing their promotions.
CRTs -- Cash Register Tape- coupons that print at the bottom of your receipt.
WYB -- When You Buy

How do I participate in the program?

You first need to get an EXTRA CARE CARD. They are free at the store, get the card before checking out with your purchases. You should put the keyring card on your keychain for future quick use. You are assigned a unique CVS Extra Card number. Your Extra Bucks (explained below) WILL BE LINKED TO THIS CARD ONLY. You have to use Extra Bucks on the card they are earned with.

What are Extra Bucks?

Extra Bucks are spending print outs on the bottom of your receipt. You tear them off and use them on your next purchase(s). THEY ARE NOT CASH. You must use an entire ECB on a purchase. i.e., If your ECB is for $10 and you spend $9.11, you DO NOT GET CHANGE OR AN ECB BACK. You can use multiple ECB's on one order.

It is always best to use left over remainder on something you need, even if it's a pack of gum or a box of tissues. You can also use EXTRA BUCKS to pay for PHOTO LAB purchases of reprints, film, digital camera supplies, enlargements, etc. Wasting a portion of an ECB is like leaving value on the table.

Does CVS take coupons?
Yes. They accept manufacturer's coupons including printables and CVS coupons.

Is there a limit to how many internet printables they will accept?

No. They do have the right to refuse the coupons if they question their validity.

Does CVS price match other store's sales?

No. However, the pharmacy will often accept competitor coupons for prescriptions offering a Gift Card Bonus of $20-$40 (depending on coupon)

Can I use more than one manufacturer’s coupon on a B1G1 free promo?

The official answer from corporate is yes, but YMMV according to your store manager.

Is there a limit to how many coupons I can use in one transaction?

According to corporate, you can use one CVS coupon and one Manufacturer coupon per item.

Do I get overage on my coupons?

No overage-- you should be able to get the items free though.

Can I use coupons on clearance items?

Yes. If they give you a hard time, call corporate.

The reason they have problems sometimes is that they take a product off inventory , mark out the barcode and then it won't scan.
When this happens the coupon won't have anything to match up to. Usually the cashier can still just manually enter the coupon.

What do you mean by "fillers"?

Fillers are items that you can use to "fill" the amount you need to buy when you have a CVS coupon good for things like $2 off a $10 purchase.
You may have bought items that total $9.75, and need 25¢ to be able to use the coupon.

What happens if I need to return something that I used ECB's/coupons to purchase?

YMMV.If you used manufacturers coupons, you should get the full amount of purchase back.
IF you used ECBs and coupons, they will only refund what you paid. In this case, it would be better to return with no receipt.
They will probably not refund cash, but a money card.
Again, don't try to return $100s worth of stuff and expect a refund...common sense! They do not return GLUCOSE MONITORS any longer. All Sales FINAL on this item.

CVS Brand Guarantee

All CVS brand products and all cosmetics have a 100% satisfaction guarantee or your money back.

Where can I find $3/15, $4/20, $5/20 coupons?

These coupons are often mailed, found on weekly ads, emailed from CVS,
found in-store (booklets, store-opening promotion coupons etc.),or printed on your CRT.

Can I use more than one $/$$ coupon on my order?

YMMV. Most stores won't allow it. There are still some that will.
If you have a $2/$10 and $5/$20, you would have to spend $30 to be able to use both.

When do the CRT coupons and ECBs expire?

The CRT coupons on your receipt expire 2 weeks from printing.
The ECBs expire 30 days from the time that they are printed.

How do I get the ECBs to print?

The coupons print at the bottom of your receipt when you make a purchase.
ECB's EXPIRE 30 Days from the date earned. i.e., July 1st purchase, ECB will expire around July 30th.

What can you use ECBs on?

You can use them on almost anything in the store. Prescriptions, alcohol, tobacco, gift cards are excluded. Some stores will tell you milk is prohibited also.

Can I have more than one card?

No, you cannot have more than one card to your name with the same address. However, you can have a card for everyone in your household.

For those with more than one card, what info do you put down to register them?

If you use/have multiple Extracare Cards, you do not have to register all of them. You will not recieve email offers, but you can still access the card online by just putting in the EC card number and leaving the other fields blank (your info will appear as "null, null, null"). ExtraCare bucks will still accrue & you will still get coupons printed out from the register too.

Can I buy something for $4 and use a $5 ECB?

You can, but you would lose money. You have to use the full amount of the ECB because you will not get money back.

If my ECBs expire, can I get them back or use expired one?

Typically no. However, if there were extenuating circumstance (problem at store, extended illness, etc.) You can try explaining to manager and see if they will over-ride as a special favor.

Call the CVS 800 number. If your ECBs expire without being used, they POSSIBLY can reset them for you. THIS IS YMMV. your mileage may vary.

The weekly CRT coupons offering product discounts cannot be reset.

When CVS has their "Buy $xx worth of ___, get $xx ECB" promo, is the amount required to qualify before or after coupons?

The qualifying amount is before coupons. You can use CVS and Manufacturers coupons, and ECBs to lower your total.

When CVS has their "Buy x of ___, and earn $xx ECB" promo, and the items are on sale B1G1 Free, do both of them count toward the promo?

If the ECB deal is buy a specific amount of $$ in order to obtain the ECB, then only the one you pay for counts. The free one will NOT count.

If the ECB deal is buy a specific number of ITEMS in order to obtain the ECB, then both items will count.

Do I have to buy all promo items in one transaction or can I buy in separate transactions?

You can buy in separate transactions. Check your ad to see if it states otherwise. SOME promos are requiring purchases in one transaction.

If CVS has an ECB deal that is unlimited or has a limit of more than one and I buy them all in the same day, how many ECBs will I get?
All of the ECBs earned on ONE Transaction for each unlimited promo will be combined into one larger ECB.

For example, if the Enviga was unlimited at the price of 1.49 and you bought 12, you would get a single ECB for the amount of 17.88.
If you bought 6 today and 2 tomorrow, you would get ECBs for 8.94 and 2.98 respectively.

My CVS did not have a promo item in stock to make my purchase required to earn ECBs.
I got a raincheck for the sale price of the item during that promo. Will I still get my ECBs even after the promo week is over?

Here is the answer from e-mailing CVS:

If you did receive a rain check for an Extra Buck promotion, you can still earn Extra Bucks after the promotion is over.
After you make the purchases qualified in the promotion, you may call or email us with your receipt information, name,
and Extra Care card number, and we will be more than happy to add the purchase to the promotion.

The receipt information that we will need is:

REG# ,TRAN# ,STR# ,DATE,SUBTOTAL

What do you mean by "rolling" ECBs?

This is the term for using ECBs earned on a previous promo to pay for another promo that earns ECBs.

For example:
Buy 9 Irish Spring soap packs and get $15 ECBs. Take those $15 ECBs and use them to buy other items that will also generate ECBs.

CVS sent me an email with a coupon to get TRIPLE the ECBs when you purchase either in-store or online. How does this work?

It's not triple the ECB for every promotion. It is triple the credit for what you spend toward your quarterly ECB (which is 2%).

So if you spent $50 in the quarter, you would get $3.00 in ECBs rather than $1.00.

CVS gives 2% back in ECB on your purchases.

This is the amount that you actually paid after coupons. At the bottom of your receipt, you can find what amount you have spent.

If you paid using ECBs or gift cards, that money 'spent' does not count.

For example, if you spent:
00-24.99 dollars ............................. you get $0.00 in ECBs.
25-49.99 dollars ............................. you get $0.50 in ECBs.
50-74.99 dollars ............................. you get $1.00 in ECBs.
75-99.99 dollars ............................. you get $1.50 in ECBs.

You also receive $1 in ECB's for every 2 RX's you fill at CVS. As above, this is paid out quarterly.

** If you got a gift card for a new/transferred prescription, they deduct the value of the card from your points for the quarter.

The quarterly ECB print out on the first day of the month following the end of the quarter.

Example: The ECB for the quarter ending 3/16/06 begin to print on 4/1/06.

When do the quarters run?
January-March, April-June, July-September and October-December.

What is the phone number for CVS?

1-800-SHOP-CVS

big thanks to mom2re91755/sd for some above info.

IF YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC QUESTION, respond within this thread and someone will try to answer you. You can also call the 800# above as CVS is the authority on their own program (we hope )

Nice job, MC! Your post actually answered a couple questions I had about the Extra Care program.

PhrugalPhan said: I'm not a newbie, but I do have a question. What do you do if you lose your ECBs?

I "lost" mine about a week ago, and calling CVS was zero help. And, btw, I say "lost", because I had my ECBs paper clipped and sitting in my basket at the register, and the clerk quickly pulled it behind the counter while I was checking out. I went back an hour later when I realized what happened and the clerk was gone, and so were the ECBs. I called CVS customer support the next day and they said "sorry, can't help, but please come back to CVS"

Unfortunately, not much. Treat your ECB's like cash. If someone swiped your $10 bills off the counter/basket, you can't call the treasury department and ask for replacements. Not meant to be sarcastic, just the reality I suppose.

The ECB's wouldn't be much use without the corresponding card, so she either tossed them in the trash or stuck them in the register.

PhrugalPhan said: MISTERCHEAP said: PhrugalPhan said: I'm not a newbie, but I do have a question. What do you do if you lose your ECBs?

I "lost" mine about a week ago, and calling CVS was zero help. And, btw, I say "lost", because I had my ECBs paper clipped and sitting in my basket at the register, and the clerk quickly pulled it behind the counter while I was checking out. I went back an hour later when I realized what happened and the clerk was gone, and so were the ECBs. I called CVS customer support the next day and they said "sorry, can't help, but please come back to CVS"

Unfortunately, not much. Treat your ECB's like cash. If someone swiped your $10 bills off the counter/basket, you can't call the treasury department and ask for replacements. Not meant to be sarcastic, just the reality I suppose.

The ECB's wouldn't be much use without the corresponding card, so she either tossed them in the trash or stuck them in the register.

Not to be sarcastic, but $10 bills can be used by anyone, where as ECBs are linked a specific person's card. If they don't have a record of what ECBs have been redeemed, what's to keep an enterprising person from working out a way from printing duplicate ECBs on receipt type paper and reusing the same "ECB" over and over again? That would seem like a serious loophole on their part if that's the case. And if that loophole doesn't exist, they could easily reproduce the ECBs again.

Because each ECB has a one time use code associated with it. Once redeemed, future redemptions will beep and show "already used" on the register. As for the $10 analogy, I understand what you mean, I was just cautioning that you need to protect the ECB like you would cash. If you lose it, you are pretty much out of luck. As for reproducing the ECB, if you don't have the ECB in front of you to read the codes to the 800#, they don't have a way to reset them in their system.

If you have an expired ECB, sometimes they can help you because you can read off the data on the print out.

Believe me, I'd like to help you if I could here and I know it's frustrating to lose the ECB's and be out the value, but I'm telling you what I know to be the case. If someone has a solution, I hope they will post it up.

hi MC, thanks for the info.
i have a question though, how come some people have certain CRTs that didn't print on my card? i'm reading through the deals and some say they have crt for this to sweeten the deal and some 4off 20. how can i get them? i tried scanning my card on the machines and all i get is the same crts or coupons. thanks a lot

PhrugalPhan said: MISTERCHEAP said: Because each ECB has a one time use code associated with it. Once redeemed, future redemptions will beep and show "already used" on the register. As for the $10 analogy, I understand what you mean, I was just cautioning that you need to protect the ECB like you would cash. If you lose it, you are pretty much out of luck. As for reproducing the ECB, if you don't have the ECB in front of you to read the codes to the 800#, they don't have a way to reset them in their system.

If you have an expired ECB, sometimes they can help you because you can read off the data on the print out.

Believe me, I'd like to help you if I could here and I know it's frustrating to lose the ECB's and be out the value, but I'm telling you what I know to be the case. If someone has a solution, I hope they will post it up.

Thanks for the info, and I certainly wasn't blaming you. If what you say is true, and the ECBs show as already used, and CVS already knows how much a person has already gotten in ECBs, then they could easily print out replacements of unused ECBs if they wanted. They just don't want to. I guess its their business model of ECBs, hoping people lose them. Extra frustrating when their cashier did it to me.

Phrugal,

I wouldn't take it personally. I can't tell you how many people I see throw out the print outs on the floor/garbage at some of my CVS's. It amazes me that some people don't see the value and the cashiers see printed out stuff left in a basket and assume it's someone's trash. That may be what happened to you, they just figured you left it as trash and tossed it.

I've seen people throw out extra bucks, $25 RX Gift Card offers on their CRT's etc. They view it as nuisance or advertising and not money to them.

I don't think CVS has an organized business model to hope Extra Bucks don't get redeemed, it's simply up to the individual to be on top of the deals and their print outs to get the max value from them.

Take care.

MR C

MISTERCHEAP said: I can't tell you how many people I see throw out the print outs on the floor/garbage at some of my CVS's. It amazes me that some people don't see the value and the cashiers see printed out stuff left in a basket and assume it's someone's trash. That may be what happened to you, they just figured you left it as trash and tossed it.

I've seen people throw out extra bucks, $25 RX Gift Card offers on their CRT's etc. They view it as nuisance or advertising and not money to them.

I look like an oddity when I got to my local CVS, because most people don't bother with using the ECB's and CRT's or the coupons they can get from the website, or the ones they get snail-mailed to them. I can recall going there earlier this year with a $4 off $20 from the web, free box of tissues from email, and ECB's and CRT's. I think I handed the clerk 4 sheets of paper each with coupons printed from my printer, plus manufacturer's coupons. I didn't see anybody else doing anything remotely similar, the clerk handed me my receipt with the usual "You saved x number of $$$'s today". It was close to $20, and the people behind me in line looked positively dumbfounded.

It pays to register your card online, and sign-up for emails. But most people don't bother. When they had the free hand sanitizer purse-pocket spray, I couldn't find them and had to show the clerk the coupon and ask. She pointed to a box at the far end of the counter and said that she hasn't had a customer yet with that coupon, she wasn't even aware of it! I told her I got it in email. I get coupons snail-mailed to me, base on frequent purchases of certain items. So, purchases generate item-specofic coupons too. Every little bit helps. I think CVS can afford the program, and advertise it, just because they know that many simply don't bother or forget alltogether.

thanks for the info, I recently found out about the usefulness of extra bucks, and that answered most of my questions, save one; how often do the coupons from the scanners actually change? IE if I go to cvs and swipe my card today, I'll get 3 coupons; if I go the day after and swipe it, I'll get the same 3 coupons. How long do I wait before the coupon printouts change?

MISTERCHEAP said: ...
I don't think CVS has an organized business model to hope Extra Bucks don't get redeemed, it's simply up to the individual to be on top of the deals and their print outs to get the max value from them.

Take care.

MR C

ECBs are paid for by the manufacturer, which usually isn't CVS, so CVS doesn't lose out when people don't redeem them. At least some of my cashiers point out ECBs and some even have me stand there and wait while they circle the amounts with a highlighter. It doesn't help me but I'd imagine it does help others. It can be a confusing program so it's no surprise that some people just toss things without understanding. Some cashiers are great about explaining the system but some are even more confused than the customers.
My MIL just refuses to believe that anything can be free. She will save coupons for us (and we give her extra stuff) but anything that comes on her card almost certainly gets tossed.
Total agreement that it's up to the individual to do the best they can with the program. Considering the turnover at CVS you really can't expect much help from the cashiers (sometimes you even have to teach them).

micolit said: thanks MR C. i was thinking that maybe you have to scan your card on a specific day to get a specific CRT. hehe. thanks a lot. keep up the good work! you're a great help

Monday is when they generally print (or Sunday at 9 PM for the west coast) but I agree that you get what you get. There are sometimes certain ones that will print every time you scan your card (assuming you made a purchase or enough time has passed since the last scan).
For what you get -- Sometimes it's because you bought the product before, sometimes it's because you bought a competing product, sometimes everyone gets certain ones, sometimes there's a sale coming up for it, and sometimes they seem to be completely unexplainable. But be sure to scan your card over and over again until the CRTs stop coming. Sometimes I get three or more sets in a row.

etothex said: thanks for the info, I recently found out about the usefulness of extra bucks, and that answered most of my questions, save one; how often do the coupons from the scanners actually change? IE if I go to cvs and swipe my card today, I'll get 3 coupons; if I go the day after and swipe it, I'll get the same 3 coupons. How long do I wait before the coupon printouts change?

Monday, the ones you get all the time may reoccur on Monday too but they should print after one or more sets of new ones.

But I went months without getting anything more than the standard ones, so sometimes those will be all you get for awhile.

verst2 said:
Today I finally took the time to register my card and saw that my balance is $20 something. What does this mean?? is that my extra bucks ? don't they expire ? Can I redeem it?

what exactly does it say? Is this online or on a receipt?

saffronreynolds said:

verst2 said:
Today I finally took the time to register my card and saw that my balance is $20 something. What does this mean?? is that my extra bucks ? don't they expire ? Can I redeem it?

what exactly does it say? Is this online or on a receipt?

This is what I see online..

ExtraCare Promotion History
Description Point Balance End Date Promotion Details
SPRING 2008 SPENDING 23.15 06/16/2008

If you get a coupon link sent to you by email from your ExtraCare account, Do Not Post The Link! Here's why:

The coupon has your name in it, and your email ExtraCare account ID embedded in the link. These are targetted; and CVS's way of keeping them in the lines of the terms, is to generate the coupons based on your ExtraCare email card account. Not only that, if someone use's your coupon, then you go to try and use it later yourself, because it is tied directly to the use of the CVS ExtraCare card, the you may find that the system says you already got the discount. This is not just for the CVS terms that you not post links, but also to protect you! CVS ExtraCare members should NEVER post links to their account-generated, name-personalized coupons on the boards, especially if they intend to use the coupon itself.

In this thread, I gave instructions on how cardholders can sign-up and generate their own ExtraCare coupons. I put the same information in the Quick Summary. The coupons have your name on them, and the use of them is tied to your account. I would hate to be you and go to CVS and find that someone else used my discount because I foolishly ignored CVS terms and shared my link. I'm not sure a lot of people realize this, so I am adding it to this thread. Don't post direct links to coupons individually targetted to you and your CVS account. Do post an alert when you get them, so others can check their emails, and to prompt newbies not getting ExtraCare emails, to sign-up for them. Do post general CVS coupons that any CVS ExtraCare cardholder can use, including links to those coupons. Sometimes CVS emails untargetted coupons. These same coupons may also be available in newspapers and in coupon books found at CVS. The emailed ones will not have your name on the coupon, and your ID # won't be embedded in the URL. Feel free to share and alert others of those, when you see/get them.

micolit said: can i use ecb for online purchase? (from cvs.com)

You can only use the quarterly one online, you can't use the ones you get from weekly/monthly deals.

smstewart9554 said: I'm not sure the best place to post this, but I thought it could be added to the FAQ.

I noticed that CVS updated their website over the weekend. If you make an online account (I didn't have one before) and link your CVS card, you can now see all your unused unexpired ECBs. Before this weekend, I think you could only see your quarter ECB's, but now you can see all of them and what "deal" from which you earned them. Unfortunately, from what I can figure out, you are still only able to print the quarter ECBs though.

Did anybody get your quarter ECBs for spring printed? I haven't got mine.

Ok, I am trying to understand this quaterly ECB. I never had any print out for the spring. Do you have to go in on the day that it says it will print? For example it says that my summer ECB will print out October 1st, do I have to go in on October 1st to get them?