Walmart - Congratulations! You have lost a customer. I vow never to shop here again. No longer will I tolerate the Gestapo practices some of your "customer service" associates have taken upon themselves to implement and/or enforce.
My husband and I went to the Walmart in Richmond, Indiana, around 6:30p.m. on Friday, 9/25/15. We gathered our purchases, last of which was an 8pk of beer. My husband selected the beer from the shelf and HE carried it to the checkout line. On our way to the checkout line, our son pulled me away, two lanes over, to the aisle displaying various novelty items like Pokémon cards and Minecraft key chains.
During this time, my husband placed the merchandise on the conveyor belt. The cashier, an underage girl named Kimber, could not complete the transaction because of the beer. Sally, the CSM, came and carded my husband. He presented his ID and proceeded to swipe the debit card he pulled from HIS wallet. Seeing the items had been bagged and it appeared we were ready to leave, I gathered my son and headed to the checkout line.
Upon arrival, Sally curtly demanded to see my ID. Mind you, the transaction was in the final stage. My husband had already presented HIS ID, and HIS debit card with HIS name on it had already been swiped. At no point did I ever touch the beer, motion towards the beer, speak of the beer. There was no reason for Sally to suspect this beer was being purchased for me and she had no logical reason to request my ID.
Seeing that my husband had not yet completed the transaction, I told him to stop. I handed Sally my ID to validate my age, and I told her we will not be purchasing anything from this store. My husband selected "No" on the screen that asks you to confirm your total, Sally handed my ID back, and we moved towards the exit doors, only to be chased down by Sally who told us the transaction had somehow been completed and we needed to collect our bags. My husband collected our bags, and we headed directly to the Customer Service department where I politely asked for, and received, a full refund without incident.
After we left, we went to Meijer and purchased the same items. Because of the "policy" of this local Walmart, I will continue to take my business to Meijer, even though I end up paying a few dollars more. The gracious customer service I receive from Meijer more than makes up for the slight price increase.
So please tell me, how does Walmart justify ID'ing people when NO transaction has taken place between said person and the business? I wasn't in the aisle when he picked it up. I did not handle the merchandise at any point. We did not use a cart so the argument of communal property is void. The debit card came from my husband's wallet and bears his name. I did not participate at any point, and yet Sally still felt compelled to insist I produce an ID card after her transaction with my husband had reached its end. Can you please explain why your CSM's actions were valid given the circumstances? I'm having a hard time discerning the rationale behind her demands.
I'm a mother of three small children. Halloween, birthdays, and Christmas are fast approaching. Because of Sally's lack of judgment, your Richmond store just lost out on a potential few thousand dollars' worth of sales within the next few months. It might seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but if this practice continues, others will follow. The profit loss will exponentially increase as one mother of three becomes a thousand mothers' of three. Walmart might want to reevaluate their store policies and the approach their employees take to implement such policies. No business is too big to fail, and the ecommerce business is booming with no end in sight. It is no longer a burden for the consumer to take their business elsewhere as distance is no longer a factor determining the range of shops one can visit. There is nothing that I can purchase in your store that I cannot purchase online or in a competitor's store. read more