Walmart just lost me as a customer (vent)

[jrnunzio3]

Background: My 78 year old father called me yesterday telling me he was going to Walmart for a new cell phone. Great. He asked if they couldn't program it could I, not a problem, but I am sure Walmart will.

I personally go to Walmart, ask them at the Wireless register if they will program/activate my fathers phone for him when he comes in. They say yes, no problem. I tell them Dad will be there in soon.

Get call from Dad at 8:20 this morning. Walmart wouldn't activate/program his phone could I? I told him I was at Walmart, talked to the sales associates there (2 different) and they both told me yes they would do it for him.

I call Walmart. I get some sob story about how they are short handed, had to fire some associate yesterday...blah...blah...blah. I told the manager how I was there, spoke with associates and was told this would be done for my father. These 2 partiular associates were just standing around talking, not really working in my opinion, no lines. So I know they weren't that busy. Now I have to go get the phone from Dad, try to activate it myself and if not go back to Walmart. They told me it is going to take about 20-30 minutes to activate.

What ever happened to customer service???

Sorry, I just needed to vent. They really ticked me off being told one thing and then doing another to a 78 year old man.

 

[shortbun]

no lines at Walmart the Saturday after Thanksgiving? Sorry about your dad but you just need to activate his phone for him. I don't shop at Walmart for much headier reasons.

 

[powellrj]

I'm sorry, but thats not something you go in and do the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Its the busiest shopping weekend of the year and they are short handed. I'm sure if you go back on monday morning they would be more than happy to take care of you.

I also don't like Wal-Mart, but not getting a phone activated the Saturday after Thanksgiving wouldn't even register on my radar. There is no way I would send my dad who is 74 OUT on that day, let alone into Wal-Mart to have a phone activated.

 

[thelionqueen]

I understand a need to vent, and would be disappointed not getting something I was told I was to get. However, that said, I do agree with going into a Wal-Mart on the busiest shopping days of the year and asking for anything. It truly is just not the best idea, even if they said they could do it, I would have anticipated issues with the sheer volume of customers they have.

I am a strong supporter of Wal-Mart and often stand in direct opposition of others who aren't. I do not want to start this debate on that topic here or in regards to this issue, I just wanted to say that I find their customer service fair to good most days, and would suggest you give them a try on a less hectic weekend. I'm sure if you sent your dad there say 8;00 am on a weekday, you would have a better outcome. Just my .02

 

[jrnunzio3]

no lines at Walmart the Saturday after Thanksgiving? Sorry about your dad but you just need to activate his phone for him. I don't shop at Walmart for much headier reasons.

Oh there were lines at the front of the store, just none at the Wireless Dept. there were 3 associates there (1 was taking care of a customer, showing her how to use her phone and the other 2 were standing there talking about their Thanksgiving).

 

[happygirl]

i understand a need to vent, and would be disappointed not getting something i was told i was to get. However, that said, i do agree with going into a wal-mart on the busiest shopping days of the year and asking for anything. It truly is just not the best idea, even if they said they could do it, i would have anticipated issues with the sheer volume of customers they have.

I am a strong supporter of wal-mart and often stand in direct opposition of others who aren't. I do not want to start this debate on that topic here or in regards to this issue, i just wanted to say that i find their customer service fair to good most days, and would suggest you give them a try on a less hectic weekend. I'm sure if you sent your dad there say 8;00 am on a weekday, you would have a better outcome. Just my .02

ita!!!

 

[SaveTheSeaTurtles]

I am sorry that you had a bad experience but I don't think (IMO) that this is a reason to boycott the store. This is the busiest weekend of the year for stores and the poor associates being paid little more than minimum wage are working their tails off over ridiculous hours and often putting up with irate, irrational customers who are, themselves, on edge.. (too many times, the holidays bring out the worst in many of us!)

This is one particular time of year that retail associates deserve a little extra understanding, I think.

I hope your Dad gets the phone activated.

 

[Panna]

So, it being a big shopping day is a reason for poor customer service? I could just imagine the customers I deal with if I told them I was to busy to serve them properly. You purchase a cell phone and part of what you are purchasing is activation. You expect me, the customer to take additional time out of what I am doing, to come back another day to finish a purchase? It doesn't matter how busy a store is, that is no excuse for not properly doing your job.

The manager should have apologized, not offered excuses.

I am sorry he had to go down there for pretty much a wasted trip. Hope the cell phone gets activated with no issues.

 

[mrsklamc]

I'm not an expert here but when I see a wireless kiosk in wal-mart it doesn't appear to be staffed by wal-mart. On the surface it looks like they are employees of whatever carrier owns the kiosk.

 

[KKB]

Since when?
I agree that this was not handled well by the store (sorry, but not surprised); but I also agree that this was not the best day to decide to do this.
I personally choose not to shop at Walmart as due to their poor treatment of employees; their unethical purchasing methods; they USED to be USA only...NOT anymore; how they plow into small towns and force all the mom & pops out of town; and the poor customer service.
I have a neighbor who swears they are so much cheaper than Target. I have yet to find most things much cheaper on a regular basis. And Target has received many awards for their upstanding treatment of employees, their communities, etc.
No wonder why Walmart's sales are flat & Target have been increasing for the last 5 years...
Sorry, had to vent...

 

[BoogasMom]

So, it being a big shopping day is a reason for poor customer service? I could just imagine the customers I deal with if I told them I was to busy to serve them properly. You purchase a cell phone and part of what you are purchasing is activation. You expect me, the customer to take additional time out of what I am doing, to come back another day to finish a purchase? It doesn't matter how busy a store is, that is no excuse for not properly doing your job.

The manager should have apologized, not offered excuses.

I am sorry he had to go down there for pretty much a wasted trip. Hope the cell phone gets activated with no issues.

I completely agree!

 

[SaveTheSeaTurtles]

So, it being a big shopping day is a reason for poor customer service? I could just imagine the customers I deal with if I told them I was to busy to serve them properly. You purchase a cell phone and part of what you are purchasing is activation. You expect me, the customer to take additional time out of what I am doing, to come back another day to finish a purchase? It doesn't matter how busy a store is, that is no excuse for not properly doing your job.

The manager should have apologized, not offered excuses.

I am sorry he had to go down there for pretty much a wasted trip. Hope the cell phone gets activated with no issues.

Panna - No, it is not a reason for poor customer service. That is not what I said. I said that it is not a reason to boycott the whole store. There is not a store on the planet that is perfect in it's delivery of customer service. Even Disney, known for superior customer service, has it's issues.

 

[Art 1]

I went into a super wal mart for the first time, last week. I'll never go back.

 

[ajh88]

To the OP: I understand feeling frustrated about this and the manager you spoke with should have handled it differently. I have never purchased a cell phone there, so I personally don't know what the regular procedure is. We HAVE purchased pay as you go phones from Target and we have always had to activate these ourselves at home. I would encourage you to contact the corporate office with your complaint - customer complaints are typically acted on in a swift fashion, though I don't know what the ultimate resolution usually is. And as another poster mentioned, depending on the kiosk or the type of cell phone, the employees may actually be contractors and not employees of Wal-Mart. The final comment I will make in this regard is that you may not be able to tell how busy (or not) someone is because they are "just standing there." It could very well be there were just lazy and not wanting to be helpful, or there could be an entire host of other reasons why they were not as helpful as they could have been.

As for the ever-raging Target vs. Wal-Mart debate - as the spouse of a person who has worked at both companies, Target did NOT treat him any better than Wal-Mart has and he worked for FAR less money there. I still shop in both stores, and I'll leave it at that. People are certainly free to shop (or not shop) wherever they choose and for whatever reasons they choose.

 

[KKB]

As for the ever-raging Target vs. Wal-Mart debate - as the spouse of a person who has worked at both companies, Target did NOT treat him any better than Wal-Mart has and he worked for FAR less money there. I still shop in both stores, and I'll leave it at that. People are certainly free to shop (or not shop) wherever they choose and for whatever reasons they choose.

I realize that there are situation to situation differences. My issue is Walmart's lack of full-time employees in an effort to not pay benefits.

 

[ajh88]

I realize that there are situation to situation differences. My issue is Walmart's lack of full-time employees in an effort to not pay benefits.

I understand this and of course it happens. However, it is more difficult for me to accept this as an argument against W-M when I watched my father in law struggle with this as a union employee of a "family owned" chain of grocery stores. He would work enough hours just long enough to qualify, then mysteriously his hours would be cut until he no longer qualified.

I personally worked as a contracted employee for a large, non-retail company for a couple of years. I made a great hourly wage but had absolutely no benefits, including vacation, whatsoever - and I worked full time. I eventually was hired by that company and had great benefits, but even that company looked for ways to avoid paying benefits unless absolutely necessary.

It doesn't make it right for W-M to do it, but it doesn't make it right for ANY chain or store (or other business) to do it and I find it difficult (if not impossible) to believe that the only big box retailer to operate this way is W-M. And while I often hear the arguments about how terribly W-M treats employees, my DH has worked at several chains over his 20 years in retail, and I can unequivocally say that W-M is NOT the worst place he has ever worked (it isn't the best either, but we didn't expect it to be - we are just thankful he has a job!).

 

[sk!mom]

Since when?
I agree that this was not handled well by the store (sorry, but not surprised); but I also agree that this was not the best day to decide to do this.
I personally choose not to shop at Walmart as due to their poor treatment of employees; their unethical purchasing methods; they USED to be USA only...NOT anymore; how they plow into small towns and force all the mom & pops out of town; and the poor customer service.
I have a neighbor who swears they are so much cheaper than Target. I have yet to find most things much cheaper on a regular basis. And Target has received many awards for their upstanding treatment of employees, their communities, etc.
No wonder why Walmart's sales are flat & Target have been increasing for the last 5 years...
Sorry, had to vent...

ITA...I avoid Wal Mart in favor of Target, Best Buy, or online purchases. I'd like to buy local but that is rarely possible.

The OP's experience seems typical WM to me. Good luck with the phone and if this helped you see the light as far as WM goes then...yippee. Maybe one more person to avoid WM.

 

[sk!mom]

I understand this and of course it happens. However, it is more difficult for me to accept this as an argument against W-M when I watched my father in law struggle with this as a union employee of a "family owned" chain of grocery stores. He would work enough hours just long enough to qualify, then mysteriously his hours would be cut until he no longer qualified.

I personally worked as a contracted employee for a large, non-retail company for a couple of years. I made a great hourly wage but had absolutely no benefits, including vacation, whatsoever - and I worked full time. I eventually was hired by that company and had great benefits, but even that company looked for ways to avoid paying benefits unless absolutely necessary.

It doesn't make it right for W-M to do it, but it doesn't make it right for ANY chain or store (or other business) to do it and I find it difficult (if not impossible) to believe that the only big box retailer to operate this way is W-M. And while I often hear the arguments about how terribly W-M treats employees, my DH has worked at several chains over his 20 years in retail, and I can unequivocally say that W-M is NOT the worst place he has ever worked (it isn't the best either, but we didn't expect it to be - we are just thankful he has a job!).

My DS worked for WM and desperately needed insurance. He would have never qualified working there as they make sure their employees don't. He now works for a large regional grocery chain where all employees are eligible for insurance at a reasonable rate. Around $60 per month for my single DS and their scrips are only $5 each if they have them filled at the store pharmacy. This insurance is offered to all employees- full and part time. Wm has made billions on the backs of poorly paid employees. I refuse to support them!

 

[smidgen21]

Since when?
I agree that this was not handled well by the store (sorry, but not surprised); but I also agree that this was not the best day to decide to do this.
I personally choose not to shop at Walmart as due to their poor treatment of employees; their unethical purchasing methods; they USED to be USA only...NOT anymore; how they plow into small towns and force all the mom & pops out of town; and the poor customer service.
I have a neighbor who swears they are so much cheaper than Target. I have yet to find most things much cheaper on a regular basis. And Target has received many awards for their upstanding treatment of employees, their communities, etc.
No wonder why Walmart's sales are flat & Target have been increasing for the last 5 years...
Sorry, had to vent...

I also choose Target for the same reasons! Their sales are consistently better than Walmart's "EDLP". I use the stockpile shopping method...when it's on sale + coupon buy all you can afford/have room for. Then never pay full price.

 

[NYCDiane]

I realize that there are situation to situation differences. My issue is Walmart's lack of full-time employees in an effort to not pay benefits.

Hate to break the news to you, but about 99% of retail establishments do that, including supermarkets. None of them want to pay benefits, none of them will hire people with true work experience (for fear they will demand benefits or at least a decent wage). At these stores, if you do happen to find a "full timer", it's someone who was either already in the union and is making a lateral move or someone who has been working there many years and they had no choice but to give them full time (usually someone above sales associate or cashier)