Utter incompetence abounds!
The pickup department is so incompetent that I have called Walmart online, the store itself, and I am mere moments from Better Business Bureauing it.
This has nothing to do with COVID. This has everything to do with training your employees to know what's what and do halfway decent customer service.
Something I like is discontinued. I was going to have a last hurrah. Spent $100.
Went last weekend. It was nuts. Labor day. I went to the customer pickup area. Wasn't sure if I qualified. I called the number on the parking spot ]sign. Gave them my name. They said, "Oh, [name of item]?" "Yes." "Ok, we'll be out with it." So I wait. And wait. And wait. 17 minutes--I checked the call history. And I see someone who came after me and got a bunch of stuff got their stuff and was gone. So I call. They say, "Oh, you have to come in the store for that."
Really? Because you just told me you were coming out with it.
I look over at the line to get in, and because it's Labor Day 2020 and carpe diem, there's a line out the store and it's hot and I've already got a headache I'm not going to wait in that, so I decide to get it over a lunch hour. I now regret not just picking it up then. It's so much worse to be up a creek with more time and gas invested.
Yes, I skipped eating my lunch today (with the help of a big late breakfast) to do an in-store pickup way over there. I once again check in as I leave home. Nobody in pickup, but the other associates in the customer service area radio for someone. I wait maybe 5 minutes before someone comes over. He gets my bag and I'm all happy leaving until I start ripping open the bag to see that they grabbed the wrong item. 16 times. for $100+. Coffee mixes. They got me coffee mixes. I don't drink coffee.
I take it back to the counter. The associate says it can't be refunded since I picked it up. I'm like... come now. Come now. You're Walmart. See how what I ordered was pink lemonade mixes? See how this is coffee? I didn't agree to this. He started talking about substitutions.
Nowhere did it say anything about substitutions. Not when I was ordering. Not in my pickup notifications. Not in the order history. Nowhere. Someone just grabbed something by the big brand (Yes, it was Starbucks) and I guess assumed I'd be happy with over 100 cups of disgusting coffee.
Time is ticking. The associate tries to figure out how to refund it but can't. Doesn't try to get a manager or anything. I know I will live to fight the coffee battle for a refund another day, but I need to get back to work so I don't get docked... they'd call it vacation time.
I called corporate Walmart and then the store on the way home. The manager I spoke to didn't like my using the word "incompetent," but I don't know other words to describe failures at every turn to provide me with one item. She tried to explain why associates may have substituted my product and said she'd talk to the manager over there about training employees that items picked up are returnable. That's something, though it doesn't help me.
But I take responsibility. Really, this is my fault. It's my fault for thinking Walmart employees could work together to find one thing in their store, know the pickup policy, communicate, know return policies, have someone working in a department during its open hours, or know to ask for help when they are in over their heads. It's my fault for trusting Walmart with a job meant for Amazon.
Wish me luck on my third trip to a Walmart regarding this matter. I know I can't break even (gas and time), but maybe I can get that actual money back? If not, it's time for Better Business Bureau and a disputed charge.
Do I even need to say I won't be going to the Bridgeton store?
I leave you at close to 2 hours in, and who knows how many miles on my car and damage for the ozone? I'm $100 poorer and I get to carry coffee around. read more