Frustrating trip to Wal Mart or Watch Your Receipts

[eeyoreforever]

Aaagh! I just got home from Wal Mart. I went to get 3 rolls of film developed, so I picked up a few things while I was waiting. Went back to get my film and they had several orders mixed up. I had to wait about 20 minutes while they determined which negatives went with which pics and which index cards went with everything else. I looked at the prices on the envelopes and they charge me 8.40 for one roll and 11.18 for the other two rolls. The price on the sign is 8.08 for double prints. I complained. They fixed it. Savings- $3.10/roll plus tax. Then I go up front to finish checking out and I had picked up a Spongebob Square Pants Game that was normally 15.87, but had a big sale price hanging under it for $8.85. I wasn't watching when the clerk rang it up, so I paid and headed for the parking lot. Started looking at my receipt on the way out and noticed it rang up at 15.87. Went back to customer service, the lady went to the toy dept to check the price, came back and told me it was not on sale and there was not sale tag hanging. I got my money back and headed for the parking lot again. Got to thinking-I know I'm not crazy-there was a sale tag there. Went back in again and sure enough, the tag was right there. I talked to a guy in the toy dept and he told me that the customer service lady had looked at that tag because they had discussed it. So why would she lie to me???? This guy had the electronics dept ring it up for me at the sale price since it was right by the toys. So that was another $7.00 they tried to overcharge me. The only good news was that I found a dollar bill in the parking lot on the way back to my car. Sorry to rant, but now I remember why I don't like Wal Mart!

 

[Breezy_Carol]

I think Walmart does that on purpose. I really dislike shopping there for the same reason. On more than one occasion they have rung up items at higher than the posted price. I avoid the store as much as I can.

 

[Trib]

What is wallmart so I know to avoid it

 

[SoonerKate]

After many issues like that, along with other issues I had there (like being asked to leave the store when I brought in a forgery affidavit for some checks that were written there. The manager didn't seem to appreciate my bringing that to their attention.), and their kind of shady business practices, I won't shop there anymore. Yes, it's more expensive to go elsewhere, but it's definitely worth it.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

I really do not like Wal-Mart. All of the ones here in Orlando are DIRTY ALL OF THE TIME!!

I'm a Target chick myself

 

[Gupsmom]

I agree...make sure you watch the prices when you check out. This happened to me this week at Wal-Mart. I found some cute play pants for my 5 yr old. They were on a rack with a sign that said Simply Basic Pants (the brand I bought) $4.47. I figured for that price she could paint in them or roll in the mud, etc so I bought 3 pairs. When I checked out they rang up $7.47. I had to wait while they called back and checked the price. They did fix it. I would have been ticked if I didn't catch it though.

Jess

 

[FreshTressa]

Ugg, how totally frustrating and DISHONEST!!!

I can't believe she would lie like that. We have had that price mismatch thing happen to us sooo many times, and not just at walmart, at toysrus and target too. I think companies should have to pay a fine for doing that.

 

[KatelynnsAuntie]

I've always had good luck at WalMart with pricing. But the stores are always soooo crowded and I can't stand waiting for half in hour for the check out line, so I usually go to Target. But just last week I went to Target and bought a paper towel holder, the kind that sits on the kitchen counter, and the sticker said $6.97 but it rang up at $9.97 but I didn't notice until I got home and looked at the receipt. I thought maybe I had just looked at the wrong sticker but the next time I went back to Target I checked again and by Job I was right, the sticker said $6.97! I haven't decided if I want to go back and try to refunded the 3 bucks or not.

Personally I have to wonder if the stores do that on purpose, hoping you won't notice, and then if you do, I'm sure they hope it would be too much of a bother to go back and try to get the refund.

I'm with you, FreshTressa. I think they should to pay some sort of fine in addition to say, oh I don't know, giving the item in question to the customer for free...

 

[JKMastalski]

ALSO be careful with your wal mart credit card bills. Even when I mail it in plenty of time, they seem to "accidently"charge me late fees!

 

[Toodles524]

That is only one of my pet peeves. The other is the rain check scam. You may leave with a rain check, but you never get the item. They will make sure the item is not in stock until your raincheck expires. All of this reminds me of the MCI and Sprint scams, where they over charge you on your bill and it takes hours to get it fixed. All of it amounts to a form of legalized theft. So many people don't take the time to make them correct it, or they just don't realize they have been overcharged. Target, Kmart and Walmart all have this stuff down to an art form!

 

[honeywolf7]

I think there are some stores that give you the item for free plus give you $1 if you notice that something rung up wrong.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I used to work at Kohl's who puts almost everything on sale. Trust me, this is NOT the time of year where you want your signing to be wrong and for things to ring up wrong. It's an inconvenience for us as well. NOT for helping the customer, but because then we have to check it compared to the Ad and scan the merchandise to see if all on the rack is wrong or just those items. And the find the correct sign or make our own. Sometimes the company sends us the wrong sign or they make changes last minute to compete with other stores.

Our store was audited at random times. They would go through departments and scan random items and compare it to the signing. I don't know if the store was fined or not.

They won't give you the item for free, but they should honor the price on the sign.

If you are ever in a Kohl's take the time to look around the ENTIRE Mrs. Department. (That includes Petites and Plus.) On Sunday Morning ALL of those signs get changed by one person. It used to take me 2 hours just to prep the signs (putting them in order and mapping them out, numbered compared to a map.) And then it takes the person another 2 hours to set it. Sometimes mistakes happen.

 

[tkd lisa]

I've never had that problem at WalMart, but it used to happen to me at Meijers all the time!

For those of you not from the midwest, Meijers is like the original super WalMart's, with everything from tires to milk.

The worst case there was when my kids were babies and were on the liquid vitamin drops. DD couldn't have iron, DS needed iron, so I always had to get 2. The sign on the rack said something like 9.99 under each of them (I remember that stuff was EXPENSIVE!). It rang up at 16.99 apiece. I had already paid, so I went to customer service and explained the problem. She ran it over the scanner and said "it says 16.99" DUH! Obviously that's what it SCANNED as! After 15 minutes, the health and beauty person confirmed the right price. For $14, you can be sure I waited. I explained that Cub's (another grocery chain at that time) had the policy that if an item rang up wrong, they gave it to you free. Customer service said "Maam, we aren't Cubs." Last time I ever shopped there, and I used to spend $100 a week there at least!

 

[p-nut]

eeyoreforever I would call 1-800-walmart and tell them what happened. It would help if you could remember names or times. Managers hate when the main office gets calls on there stores. they are suppose to respond to them.
Having had worked at a walmart years ago I can say ..No they DO NOT do it on purpose..it is called human error..someone has to put the upc numbers in the computer system and someone else is responsable for signs and lables etc...sales end new ones begin..shifts change people call in..customers move things around trying to get what they want on sale(yes it has happened)..I am not making excuses just look at the whole picture...yes it is wrong
it should not happen and if everyone were doing there job right it would not happen but it does happen.
As for that girl lying to you that is just plain WRONG. I would be all over that one. She does not need to be in that position any longer.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I also wanted to say that the Girl who lied was really wrong! I would defintely call management on that one. Did you get her name? If not you can tell them when you were there and they can figure out who was working.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

I purchased the Carpenters Christmas Portrait CD at Best Buy. The tag on it said $3.99. I thought WOW great deal!

It rang up at $12.99.... and since I did not notice until I got home, I returned it to another store for a price adjustment. They gave me the money back with no hassle.

Just out of curiosity, and possibly to buy some more CD's as gifts, I went to the Christmas area to check the price.

There was a $12.99 sticker on top of all the $3.99 stickers!!!! I looked at a few other CD's... some were priced the same as that sticker underneath and others were considerably 'marked-up'.

Check your receipts... (and the stickers under the stickers! ) no matter where you shop!

 

[HoneyPooh]

Saw a whole program on 60 minutes or 20/20 a long time ago. They purchased items that were marked on sale and checked to see if they rang up correctly. I think they found about 4/5 out of 10 items rang up at the before sale price. They informed the store managers of the problem and waited a couple of days then went back and purchased the same exact items and had the same exact errors. Don't remember all the stores but I know they did Sears and a few Grocery stores like Super Fresh etc. They concluded that the stores make a lot of money each year on the times this is done and the consumer does not notice. In the grocery stores some of the errors were for only 1 or 2 cents but when they calculated the yearly total it was a LOT of money. I'm sure there are human errors but I also think some other scamming goes on.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

The best a store can do is report it to the corporate who has the ability to change the price in the system (at Kohl's anyway). And then give you the price it was signed for.

 

[BrerMom]

I shop Meijer for groceries because of their prices, but I've sure learned to watch for their "tricks." They frequently will hang a sale sign with a brand that is not on sale. Another trick is to say "limit one" in the ad, but not on the sale sign. If you buy two, the second one is full price. I make sure I have an ad in hand when I check out because two of three times, there will be an over-charge and I have to prove that there was supposed to be a sale price.

In Michigan, if you are overcharged by a scanner and catch it later, you can go to the customer service desk and get a refund. If you mention the law, they are required to give you the difference times some number that I don't remember up to $5.00. I try to catch the errors with the clerk because I don't want to waste time standing in that long line.

I soooo wish Meijer hadn't run Cub out of the area.

Maybe our Target is different, but I haven't had the problems mentioned. I also buy a lot of items on clearance and am pleasantly surprised when the item rings up for much less than expected.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I worked in Michigan and remember that law. I know that it had to be a very specific type of error because lots of people brought it up thinking they were going to get $5, but the law did not apply to their situation. I don't remember what the law said specifically.