Complaint Review: walmart

You wanted a major black friday deal and got in line at 4am?  I've worked retail for years to get the real sales like that people start lining up in the evening.  There was likely less than 10 of the laptops.  Trust me at 4am you had no shot to be one of the first.  The fact that Wal-Mart is open before the sale starts and the people who die during these sales is why they and many stores give out bracelets or coupons to the first people in line.  Also this is nice for the customer who shows up at 10pm as they can find out all the sale items are claimed and they can try the next deal on their list.

Best Buy is closed of course but they use claim tickets and when I drive buy on thanksgiving day people are already in line.

Black Friday is not a day for the untrained shopper.  And honestly on many things you can get better deals online.  Remember the cheap electronics are cheap electronics.   Yeah it might be nice to get a $200 laptop but you can find ones that are much better values on sale at newegg all the time.

and the poem appears as 'Consumer Comment #2' at Ripoff Report 104690.

Thank You

I wonder out of the total population of the United States..if we counted the "people" that camp out for a black Friday sale vs all the people who do not..it would come out to pretty much a negligible percentage. So Steve, by "people", do you mean the majority, or the one 1000th of one percent who do this every year to save a few hundred bucks on a cheap laptop or camera or whatever?

Do you honestly believe in your heart that your rants are going to stop them next year? Or, is it true as so many others here say about you, your only motive is to knock others for the sake of making you feel better about your shortcomings?..aka "Napoleon" complex?

Let me clarify.

The whole "Black Friday" thing is stupid. People who play into it are stupid. The deals are just not that good overall. It's just not worth it in reality.

If you watch the sale ads, you can get deals just as good about a month prior to "Black Friday".

It's all hype, and not any real "savings". It's a SCAM. People are for the most part, SHEEP, so they play along.

Baaaaaaahhhhhhh.

...while I can admit I would never camp out overnight for a sale item..the people who do camp out get what is called a "voucher"..like Walmart used the bracelets, and BestBuy gives tickets etc. So they ARE going to get the item and they KNOW it.

It is only the consumers who arrive late and complain the item is not there and claim "bait and switch" because the store ran out of a hot item that others waited days for who are the stupid ones.

I did some shopping myself on Black Friday and can attest, many of the advertised items were still at the stores. Tons and TONS of the advertised items.

But I did not have to worry about any cheap laptops as I would rather pay more for a quality one then get a piece of crap just because it is on sale. And I would rather pay more then camp out for days in front of a store, or in a section of the store, it is just not the way I chose to shop.

However, I find no reason to criticize anyone who would camp out to save a few hundred dollars on a laptop or camera or whatever. I am not a very religious person but I do believe with the verse from the bible "Let He Who is Without Sin Cast the First Stone" which basically means who gives any of us the right to judge others unfairly unless those who judge can honestly say they are so perfect. Although there are some who suffer from narcissism and therefore will not understand the point.. so perhaps it was not even worth bringing up?

I remember visiting new york on thanksgiving holiday and shopping at that same wal-mart where the guy got killed in a stampede. I wont go back to that one

Walmart received and staged, mostly outdoor in their caged areas, a tremendous stock of all the advertised items. When the sale officially went off at 5:00 am, the lines in the stores were enormous (i'm not a walmart employee but have 1st hand knowledge). They positioned all the products at different locals in the store with registers at each location. Did stores give out the bands at previous hours, different in every store- yeah - was that ideal - no - they wanted some sort of line order - was that bait and switch - hell no - all the advertised items were sold.

If you choose to get up at those hours, you choose to play the game.

It's a crapshoot - many people bring multiple family members to get in different lines for different products. Are they "stupid?" I wouldn't go that far - the wal-mart demographic isn't exactly Harvard grads; in fact, many customers cannot shop online because they don't have credit. On the other hand, there are plenty that get a "rush" for these sales to see if in fact they can get the "advertised" items - to some it is like winning the lottery.

Online consumer electronics business was up during Black Friday, I believe 15%, well beyond the small gainsthe stores had. Plenty of deals there - and by avoiding places like Sears, Best Buy, HH Gregg - you don't have to get hammered for needless services :-)

Believe me, the Walmart department and zonemanagers wanted to sell out of everything, the sooner the better. No bait and switch.

Hey stacy you shouldn't really call people names or call people fat. You are just like the play ground "BULLY" who thinks they are better then anyone else.If you can't what you dish out. Don't say anything at all.

And you are In the wrong not me, you think you are "BETTER" then every one else. Your not so grow the f*** up.

"Black Friday" sales, etc are all stupid geared toward stupid people. The reality of it is they bring in about a half dozen items and mark them down substantially just to get 1000 stupid people in the store who think they can all get one!

Anyone who would camp out the night before or stand in line for hours to "maybe" get a deal on something like thisis an absolute moron. That is just plain stupidity.

There is not one thing at any of these sales that you can't get later on at the same store, or somewhere else for the same money, or very close to it. Like on the computers, they are such cut down junk models anyway, who would even want one? I guess broke and stupid go hand in hand. Why are people so gullible and stupid?

I'll shop right from the comfort of my computer, on my schedule, and get exactly what I want, and have it delivered to my door. No lines, no fights, no stinky people, no problem.

I suggest that people who attend these "sales" get a grip on reality. Get a life.

Law, Edgeman and others are just stating the realistic TRUTH! Charles you could not find your fat a*s if you were sitting on it! This site is for real ripoffs and if the OP thinks that Black Friday is false advertising they are not living in the real world.

Oh and neither are you - one only has to type in your name and State to find out how out of touch you and poor mommy are. Go ahead and bash me - Least I have a job and a life and BTW I am not a ROR plant like you suggest Ronny G is.

Hey I am the law why are you here to put posters of complaints down. And why do you protect these businesses who treat custormers like "S***". You are planted here just like the other people who have posted hateful & mean comments.

A******

Hmm, something getting sold out quickly during the holiday season. That's odd.

In case you're wondering, I'm being sarcastic. Obviously everyone and their brother is going to be out shopping that day so it stands to reason that Walmart is probably going to sell out of a particular item. What's "sooo stupid" is the fact that you'd rather blame Walmart for the situation that blame yourself for not shopping earlier in the year.

This is hardly a ripoff nor is it a bait and switch. This is a matter of first come. first served.

Two years ago a man was trampled to death during WalMart's Black Friday event. Because of this, WalMart changed their policy and the next year they opened the store and allowed people to "camp" overnight in designated sections for whatever product they wanted to buy. I was there after midnight during the 2009 event for a certain console bundle and waited with many others until 5am. A little before 5 they had the people who had been waiting all night line up first to get the systems. That meant the people who showed up later may or may not get a system depending on the quantity available.

This year WalMart gave bracelets to people but the stores were still open several hours before the sale. That means the first people to show up were guaranteed a laptop at the sale price. This is also why you see people camping overnight in front of other stores like Target, Best Buy or Toys R Us. They want to be sure to get a product before it sells out.

It is just common sense that high demand products like laptops (even low quality laptops like the ones on sale) will go quickly. The laptops were not sold before 5 am, customers simply reserved the laptops. If a customer doesn't claim their laptop in time then it goes to the next customer who shows up and wants to pay for it.

This is not a bait and switch as WalMart doesn't make any more money from selling a $498 or $598 laptop than it does selling the $198 and $298 laptops. They make money selling you cases and other accessories.

WalMart will probably offer another cheap laptop around tax season next year. If you want it be sure to get there early.

..the complaints roll in regarding black Friday sales by all the big retailers. From what I understand, Walmart changed the way they conduct the sale since someone was killed by the stampede of frenzied greedy customers trying to get the sale items first when they used to line them up outside first come first serve,then open the doors at a specific time... It was an epic failure.

Now I do not know why or how anyone else knew of the bracelets and you did not, I would never shop at Walmart even if something was free...but unless they tried to switch you to another item..it is not really an illegal bait and switch..but simply they ran out of the laptops before you got there. If they had never sold a single laptop at the advertised price, then at least the "bait" part would have merit. I can not find bait, or switch in this report,,just another black Friday mayhem debacle because they ran out of something early on.