Complaint Review: Wal-Mart

I prefer to shop at Big Lots personally.

There are some nice dollar stores where she would be just as happy.

I think she learned her lesson.

My lawyer is considering the options.

Regardless of how cheap you mother is, and your whole monologue about the Depression and other irrelevant information, the point remains that it is highly inappropriate and unusual behavior to unplug display models from shelves and remove products without permission from store staff. Nobody would help her? Well did she bother ASKING? It sounds like she just stood there watching and listening to the store employees' conversation, before dismantling something that did not belong to her. And how is the cashier supposed to know what kind of stereo it is? That is such a ridiculous excuse.

Your entire story makes no sense. If your "cheap" mother had $300 in her pocket to spend on a stereo, AND expected stellar customer service to boot, she should have gone ANYWHERE but Walmart. Case closed.

You are grossly misinformed. No matter what shift you work (by the way, 2nd shift ends at 11pm), you are there to help the customer. Period. Third shift may have a "primary" duty to stock shelves (they dont unload trucks, the unloaders do that), but when there's a customer, they become your primary concern. Your badge or job code might say stocker, but if you are on the sales floor, you represent wallyworld and the customer can give a rats patooey what you do, you are there for them whether you like it or not. I know I wanted to get my pallets thrown so i can get pimped out in other departments to make management happy, but i know i have to roll out the red carpet for the customer (and please read that with some sarcasm, walmart customers can be ugly sometimes). they provided my paycheck.

While i think the original story might be a little embellished I can believe the chatter that was going on. I saw it every night and I stayed away from that drama. In every walmart I know of, they usually dont carry a cashier in the department on third shift for security reasons but there at least should have been an available associate.

Like most people her age who have experienced the Depression , Mom does NOT like to spend much money.

I guess she likes Wal-Mart because she can relate to Sam Walton, the founder. He came up hardscrabble- by his own bootstraps, same as Mom. He created the original merchandising principles of Wal-Mart FOR PEOPLE LIKE HER! She feels at home in there.

For instance,YOU be a member of a minority group and go into one of these UPSCALE DEPARTMENT STORES like NORDSTROMS, for instance, where they would only hire WASP models because that's the ONLY clientle they wanted in their stores...I have known African Americans here who could buy the entire inventory of the Nordstrom's here in town but WILL NOT SHOP THERE. And neither will I!

Mom says the Chinese workers who are not prison slave labor are treated only slightly worse than workers in Mexico used to be treated.

Also, if we don't buy the products, the Chinese government might execute the idled workers and she feels sorry for the workers. That's just how Mom thinks.

I wish I knew why Mom is so cheap.

She must have seen some rather horrible stuff back in the Depression.

Even though she always had a job that paid rather well, she refuses to talk about those times.

She hoards her money. She always has. Hates banks. Says when they closed, during that Bank Holiday in the 1930s or late 1920s, her Dad lost everything but the house where out family has always lived.

She said she was looking underneath the radio and on the back and underneath it and trying to see if it was digital or analog and since nobody would wait on her,she was going to unplug it to take it to the register and ask them since she had already walked around trying to find someone who would help and stumbled into the "We Hate Wetbacks and Indians" discussion. She also wanted to PAY for it if they told her what it was and it was what she wanted. She has never even received a traffic ticket when she could drive! She does NOT steal. I think she had about $300 cash on her at the time. Mom pays cash.

All her life she has worked hard to get what she wanted.

This is also a common practice at this WalMart. I have seen White and African American people unplug the last remaining item and buy it at the registers with NO problem.The manager is happy to see it go ( It sells at the regular Wal-Mart price, NOT at a DISCOUNT) because then they don't have to maintain the "discount tables".

She buys demonstrators because she has seen them working and with some old people, they don't want to buy something that does not work because then they have to ask their family members to take them back to the store.

I understand someone MAY have gone back a few days after the original incident and vidcammed the same discussion with a few choice remarks about someone who appeared to be my mother thrown in . Talking, sneering faces on tape with two sources of sound....

Judging from the Walmart's employee actions they wouldn't help. I've seen this before and I'm white. No reason why anyone should expect help from people that can't get jobs anywhere else cause they are too lazy to do their jobs.

From what I've seen the electronic store wires there inventory close to the wall. On the few occasions I have gone there I will disconnect the wires to look at the back and see what kind of wiring attachments are there to make sure it suits my needs. If they don't like it screw em. I would have been glad to let them do it but they were too busy figuring out ways to get out of helping people.

(((competitor's name redacted))) has a wider assortment of quality electronics anyway. You should go there with your mother. (((redacted))) associates jump thru hoops to help and they usually stay open until 10 pm where I live. The electronics are priced better then Walmart anyway.

sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company, ..plus, if you post a competitors name more than likely they will show up on search engines as a Rip-off! - - your comments on this policy are welcome. CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report. In this case we removed an alleged competitor's name

There is no reason for such behavior. I'd contact the manager AND corporate offices. Have contacted them myself a few times and gotten good results. But just think about what you have written. "...she was trying to get the(display) model unplugged..." I mean how weird is that? Who unplugs display models and takes them to the register to ask if they'll sell them at a discount? She may very well have not been trying to steal the item BUT that's just odd behavior. It's like me unplugging their 50" big screen TV, lugging it to the register and asking, "It's a display model, WILL YOU SELL IT TO ME AT A DISCOUNT"? When I've been at wal-mart, they usually have the discounted, marked display items on a seperate table or if they're on the shelf, they have a red discounted tag on them. I think your mother was trying to negotiate a deal on an off the shelf item. And what's with this "exquisite...authentic, beautiful...very nice, high end ....??????? Strange. IN WAL-MART????? Most of their crap is made in china.

1- It is not appropriate to go into an electronics store and start dismantling a display, unplugging the item as if to remove it from the shelf. Most electronics stores do NOT sell display pieces unless the display is specifically marked as being for sale! People that sneakily dismantle displays are usually trying to steal something. You are lucky all you got were a few odd comments, as store security and the police would likely have gotten involved had you gone any further with the dismantling scheme.

2- If you "are not poor" why would you select Walmart as your choice of retailer for finding quality stereo equipment? Walmart has the most substandard electronics department you could possibly find. It does not make sense to shop there for such an item when there are much better, reasonably-priced retailers around, not to mention internet-based stores.

3- Why would you purposely want to buy a display piece, not knowing the history of the item, how it has been handled or how often it's been in use, when you could simply select the same item brand new in a sealed box? Especially when you are buying this item as a gift? Your actions make absolutely no sense.

1- It is not appropriate to go into an electronics store and start dismantling a display, unplugging the item as if to remove it from the shelf. Most electronics stores do NOT sell display pieces unless the display is specifically marked as being for sale! People that sneakily dismantle displays are usually trying to steal something. You are lucky all you got were a few odd comments, as store security and the police would likely have gotten involved had you gone any further with the dismantling scheme.

2- If you "are not poor" why would you select Walmart as your choice of retailer for finding quality stereo equipment? Walmart has the most substandard electronics department you could possibly find. It does not make sense to shop there for such an item when there are much better, reasonably-priced retailers around, not to mention internet-based stores.

3- Why would you purposely want to buy a display piece, not knowing the history of the item, how it has been handled or how often it's been in use, when you could simply select the same item brand new in a sealed box? Especially when you are buying this item as a gift? Your actions make absolutely no sense.

1- It is not appropriate to go into an electronics store and start dismantling a display, unplugging the item as if to remove it from the shelf. Most electronics stores do NOT sell display pieces unless the display is specifically marked as being for sale! People that sneakily dismantle displays are usually trying to steal something. You are lucky all you got were a few odd comments, as store security and the police would likely have gotten involved had you gone any further with the dismantling scheme.

2- If you "are not poor" why would you select Walmart as your choice of retailer for finding quality stereo equipment? Walmart has the most substandard electronics department you could possibly find. It does not make sense to shop there for such an item when there are much better, reasonably-priced retailers around, not to mention internet-based stores.

3- Why would you purposely want to buy a display piece, not knowing the history of the item, how it has been handled or how often it's been in use, when you could simply select the same item brand new in a sealed box? Especially when you are buying this item as a gift? Your actions make absolutely no sense.

Just an FYI, not about the alleged race problems etc.

Anytime after 9-10 PM, the employees that are in the store are NOT hired to help customers, they are hired to unload the truck and stock the floor. Now, if I customer wants help and ask, of course they are supposed to help them. But the "2nd shift" of walmart gets off anywhere from 7pm to 10pm-ish. I used to work that shift, they give you about 10-12 hours worth of work to do in 8 hours, you are literally not there for customers, you have to stock the floor, or unload trucks. There is not ONE person on the entire sales floor that is just walking around to help people like there is during the day.

STAY OUT OF WAL MART, DON't SHOP THERE, THAT's THE SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEM.
If your mother wanted to purchase that type of gift she needs to go to a reputable stereo store, and of course she will have to shop in the sunlight and not the moonlight because all the other stores in the world usually close by 9pm.
Wal Mart is a joke that is not funny, and I stay completely away from that
company.