I am so pissed at Walmart Customer Service!!
By lilybug
@lilybug (21107)
United States
August 10, 2008 11:16am CST
I bought some clothes for my son on tax free weekend. He was not with me, so I just go the size clothes he normally wears. Well, NONE of them fit him. Ok, fine! We go back to Walmart and he comes with me this time. Since I bought them on tax free weekend I had to return them in order to get bigger sizes, so I would have to pay the tax on them. Sounds dumb to me, but ok. The service desk lady insists she has to put it back on my debit card instead of giving me cash. I told her that I was going to be spending the money as soon as I walked away from the service desk, so was she sure it would go right back on my card otherwise give me a gift card instead. She insisted that it would automatically go back on my card. Ok, fine. I get the money back on my card and then go buy the other clothes. Friday I got an overdraft notice in the mail from the bank. Because the service desk worker LIED to me 
, I bounced something. I called the bank. By the time I got the overdraft notice I had bounced FIVE things! I got all of the charges reversed thank goodness. Have you ever had anything like this happen to you? Should I call Walmart to complain too?
, I bounced something. I called the bank. By the time I got the overdraft notice I had bounced FIVE things! I got all of the charges reversed thank goodness. Have you ever had anything like this happen to you? Should I call Walmart to complain too?5 people like this
21 responses
@alori61 (344)
• United States
10 Aug 08
I had this happen to me once I had bought a new vaccumm cleaner the first time I used it it caught on fire. I took it back to the walmart and told them I wanted a new one but didn't want the same brand they put it back on my debit card but when I went to purchase the new vaccumm the charge wouldn't go through, it took 10 days for the money to get back in my account, and it wasn't my bank it was walmart that did it. They do not credit the money back in the way they take it out. Thank god my bank rejected the charges instead of charging me an overdraft.
2 people like this
@luvstochat (6907)
• United States
10 Aug 08
It never hurts to complain. The customer service lady can't guarnteee the money will go directly back on your card. If it was like on a Sunday when the bank was not open then they don't do their bookwork until Monday and your money would not have been directly on your card.
You were right in asking for a gift card and she should have complied it would not have been hard for her to put that money on the gift card and everything would have been fine. Complain to a Walmart manager.
2 people like this
@Lafemcrafts (475)
• United States
10 Aug 08
oh I would call walmart no doubt.. I am an asst manager in a retail store.. if you buy with a credit card or debit thats how you get your refund back.. yes it should have been credited right away .. so it was walmarts fault.. beofre you bought anything else I would have doubled checked to make sure it was credited just to protect your self .. some info you can use in the future so it does not happen again .
2 people like this
@sudalunts (5523)
• United States
10 Aug 08
Yes, a wire transfer takes 3 - 5 days to post. That's what it was, Walmart is not a bank where the funds would have been automatically deposited, and even banks take 3 - 5 days to post. the store should be responsible for giving you false hope and information.
@bmorehouse1 (1028)
• United States
11 Aug 08
I hate walmart stores. I do shop there, only because in our small town we don't have any other choices. I tried to take something back that was given as a gift to me and they wouldn't take it because it was not bought at their store. They had one on the shelf just like it, but they simply would not let me exchange it or anything. We have had other troubles trying to exchange things there - especially in electronics. If I were you I would definitely go in and complain to the manager and also go online and complain. They caused you a lot of grief unnecessarily! Best wishes!
1 person likes this
@sunny69316 (638)
• China
10 Aug 08
Hi,Lilybug,
The worker is wrong with that,you should call Walmart to complain!The customer has the right to complain!God bless you!
1 person likes this
@sharkbiter (382)
• United States
11 Aug 08
I believe I would call and complain. I really don't like Walmart, but it is about the only place in this town that we have to shop. Walmart's are getting to big a franchise and need to be knocked down a few pegs, in my opinion. Their policies are crazy. If you were going to change the clothes for bigger sizes, why even go through all that. Why not let you go get clothes that will fit and add up the difference. That's crazy!
@subha12 (18441)
• India
11 Aug 08
it is really bad,. yes i also have bad experience with customer care many tmes. sometimes those were associated with other type of poblems. in one time the customer care was not ready to refund me the money but to buy something taht is of same value or more than the previous purchase.
@cinderella2007 (2662)
•
11 Aug 08
I would go to the store and share your concerns about staff telling customers that the money will automatically go back into their accounts as obviously yours didnt. You wasnt happy with your service so you should mention it to the store manager. He might not e able to do much accept apologise but it will be good to let the staff know that money doesnt not automatically go back onto the card. They might even change the way the give refunds.
Also I would question the bank to find out if when you return things and it goes back on your card, how long will the money take to be in your account so nothing happens like this. Question why it happened, is it normal procedure and stuff. Find out if the bank was at fault or if it was Walmart. I would complain to whoever was at fault. You as a customer to both, have the right to air your concerns. What if it had happened to someone who hadnt been able to get the charges reversed!!
Normally when it is refunded back onto your card it should be done straight away as its done electronically.
@mikeysmom (2088)
• United States
11 Aug 08
i would complain but not to the store because you will not get anywhere. email your complaint to the corporate headquarters/customer service and you will get a repsonde if not satisfaction of some sort. i have done it and always fare better than calling the store. no offense to anyone, but they sometimes do not have the brightest people working in that store and they make silly mistakes which turn out to be big mistakes on our end. she really did make the mistake and you had to go through all of that aggravation because of it. good luck and let us know what happens.
@jonesy123 (3948)
• United States
11 Aug 08
Oh, I know exactly what you are talking about. Those people so often don't know anything about money other than to make proper change, lol. Walmart gladly takes it out of your account the very same day, but will not refund it back into your account until five days have passed. That's true with most stores, btw. I can't believe she didn't give you the gift card. That's just crazy. My guess is she didn't know how or found it more convenient to scan the barcodes on the clothes and the bottom of the receipt rather than going through the extra couple of steps to issue a gift card.
I would write a nasty letter to Walmart HQ. Although just like the actual store manager, they probably won't care. You can try and call the store, but you hardly ever can get a hold of a store manager, if you need one. They are always in some sort of meeting or something, lol. But it might make you feel better to put it all out there. A BBB complaint may be possible, too.
It's a shame that Walmart only cares about the bottom line. I have noticed though that they are not the cheapest game anymore. I do most of my shopping elsewhere now.
@StarChild517 (657)
• United States
11 Aug 08
I would of called walmart to complain too about the service desk lady thats why I dont trust to many people because alot cant do their job right and somehow manage to keep the job
@Angra_Mainyu (377)
• United States
10 Aug 08
I am not trying to insult you so don't take this the wrong way.
I would never trust a Wal-mart employee. If they really knew how debit cards and the banking system worked they would probably not be working at Wal-mart and have received a proper education. The employee was probably told to tell people that just to get rid of them. If an employee told me that I would have them get the manager because I know it wasn't true. Then I would ask the manager why their employee was lying to me. If the manager did the same, then there would be a problem.
I know that something refunded to a debit card is not going to show up before Wal-mart processes their credit card transactions. Usually it is done once a day when they do the closing reports. As you found out it isn't automatically.
It will not make a difference but I would complain. I would write letters to everyone above the manager at the store. It does no good to complain to a store manager. You have to go over their head. Make them account for the training they gave the employee that lied to you.
@Angra_Mainyu (377)
• United States
10 Aug 08
This would depend on the degree. A generic degree would definitely eliminate you from the job market. I am not going to list what I think are useless degrees. But it isn't a sign of the times. It was a poor choice in education.
@rae777 (110)
•
10 Aug 08
Watch their vision center too. I took glasses back to get them fixed and they told me the warranty was expired. I told them no it still has a week to go. Turns out the Warranty started a week before I got the glasses because I had paid in advance. WHo starts a warranty before you even have a product.
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
10 Aug 08
i work in customer service as well and i know that when i refunded the customer the money to their debit or credit card, it won't go in straight away... and i always tell them that... also, i prefer to give them a gift card if they only want an exchange... it is the reasonable thing to do... i don't understand why the customer service people that serve you insist on refunding the money back to your debit card instead of giving you the store credit... sounds ridiculous to me... anyway, glad that everything is settled now... take care and have a nice day...
@bellaofchaos (11538)
• United States
10 Aug 08
No I haven't had that happen to me but I have worked retail and know that it takes up to a month for it to get back onto your card. I would definitely call and complain to walmart and tell them that they caused you a lot of pain and agony and that they need to have better informed employees. You might end up getting a gift card out of it for you inconvenience.
@twallace (2675)
• United States
10 Aug 08
Oh, I know that was a pain in the butt to deal with. The lady might not have had her information correct. Question did you go back to Wally-World and tell the lady or her supervisor that she gave you the wrong information. Cause if she told you that, then be sure that she told another customer the same thing. Glad you got everything straight though.
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
11 Aug 08
Oh, I would definitely call Walmart to complain. If one of their employees is giving out erroneous information, they need to know about it.
@philjas (1134)
• United States
11 Aug 08
I've found that it's best to take things back WITHOUT a receipt, even if you still have it, because then they just give you the money on a new Walmart gift card so you can just go into the store and buy whatever you want. You can't spend the money anywhere else, of course, but this is the easiest way, and fastest, and it has worked for me even if the item wasn't bought in that store. If you get them into exchanges or cash refunds it gets too complicated, but they seem to have no problem just scanning the item, scanning a gift card, then handing it to you with that amount on it.
@mands61123 (2098)
•
11 Aug 08
hi lilybug i'm sorry this happened to you but i'm glad the bank was so nice they aren't usually. I would say you need to make the manager aware of the situation. I used to work in customer service and am amazed at the staff employed in such roles thesedays. We were regularily repremanded for things that service assistance are not even aware of these days. I don't mean to sound like an old gran but these days you're lucky if they have manners, they don't ignore you at the till, they smile, they don't talk to their friend or another co worker while you are waiting to ask a question or to be served, they can be found anywhere in the vacinity, they even pretend to give a crap. So for all of us that work our arses off trying to keep customers happy yes he should be aware that she's not fullfilling her role.
God i'm grumpy this morning!! lol
