Angela Mitchell
Wal-Mart Supercenter
May 7, 2007
Dear Ms. Mitchell:
I am writing to inform you that for the first time ever I intend to respond to those survey requests that are printed at the top of customer receipts. Unfortunately the response will be far from positive. We are located equidistant between your store and the one on Woodmen at Powers and we generally prefer your store due to the nicer layout and ease of parking.
I came to your store on Sunday, May 6 to buy groceries and some household goods. Teresita was my cashier and all went well during the ring-up process. My shopping experience quickly went from pleasant to infuriating when she began to process my manufacturers’ coupons. I should not that this is not the first time I have had an issue with coupons and Teresita—the previous situation was minor—but this visit was particularly irritating and she was the only cashier on duty at that time of evening.
First, she had read each and every coupon. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. I mean read as in the coupon item, the amount the expiration date, everything. When it was apparent that she couldn’t mentally recall each item I had purchased, she took it upon herself to rifle through all my bags—which I had already loaded into the shopping cart—to search out the items. And I do mean “rifle” for she was not gentle in looking through my items. She did this for just about every coupon.
When a coupon didn’t automatically scan, she set it aside as a reject. If she didn’t remember an item, she set it aside as a reject. She was completely overzealous when it came to the “Free” coupons. For example, the chocolate: Get any Hershey’s Cacao Reserve item up to $2.99 free. Note that there was no condition, just get the item free. She balked at the coupon because I got a bag of mini chocolate bites rather than the chocolate bar as pictured on the coupon. Again, the coupon didn’t specify an item or type only that it be Cacao Reserve and under $2.99. It turns out she rifled through my purchases so that she could get the pricing for the “free” coupons rather than looking at the receipt copy she printed.
Of the several coupons she rejected, I had to “prove” that I did indeed get the items. One she summarily rejected because she couldn’t read the expiry date. One she rejected because I had only purchased one item however, the coupon had two values: 75¢ off two items, 25¢ off of one item.
Her diligence paid off for she was indeed correct in rejecting on particular coupon worth 40¢. But at what cost? During my 38 minute ordeal waiting for her to process my coupons, I noticed at least two customers queue up and then leave without purchasing the items they had.
Since your store didn’t have all the items I wanted to buy, I stopped by the King Soopers grocery store down the road to get those remaining items. On a whim I asked about the coupons she rejected and in particular the one with the expiration date at the top mistakenly shorn off. Not only did King Soopers honor the coupon, they doubled its value. The clerk was surprised that someone so diligent in checking the coupons didn’t notice the other expiration date in the body of the coupon.
My frustrations don’t end there. When it finally was time to pay, I used my Visa card and evidently the $200+ tab was flagged and she requested to see my identification. I produced identification issued by the Utah state Department of Public Safety . She said it wasn’t valid ID. First, I think there are a few million Utahns who would disagree with that assessment. Next, I fail to see how an identification card used to obtain unrestricted access credentials to the Cheyenne Mountain and Schriever Air Force installations would not be sufficient for matching a name on a Visa card while shopping at Wal-Mart.
While this extremely irritating situation may not deter me from patronizing Wal-Mart for general merchandise, it makes me wonder if perhaps we should just do our grocery shopping someplace that specializes in such things. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
jonesing
cc: PlanetFeedback
When I got home from work her poor little face was beat red, she isn't used to working out in the yard, so being the nice guy that I am 
I turned the AC on. It sure does feel good in here now................
I tell the guy the price is wrong and showed him the clearance tag. Sure enough, $179 is the closeout price. So he rings it up and oh looky there...special deal, get a $30 gift card FREE when you buy this unit! 
and because they have a free shuttle as well as a rental counter inside the hotel! So, rather than staying at my parents' house and dealing with the traffic, we'll get a room there and spend the day at DL. Hopefully they'll come along to see the ship off since they won't ever go on a cruise. 
It was real tough though after seeing the AKV demo rooms the other week. They are really nice. 
