The Walmart Saga

How hard can it be to get a company to take your money?  Pretty hard, apparently!

Over the last two days, my computer has died.  Considering that my computer is my window on the world and keeping in touch with those that I love, I was frantic to either get it fixed or buy another.  Last night, I alerted my daughter to my problems, and she and her husband did some research.  Understand that my daughter is a whiz-bang on computers, but my son-in-law is a Senior Software Engineer with Toshiba.  Suffice it to say that I trust their judgment on all things computer...and they determined that I would be money ahead just to buy a new one.  Denis even figured out which computer I should buy, based on my budget, and where I could get it:  Walmart. But before I could buy anything, I needed to transfer money from savings to checking.  My computer wasn't working, so I had to ask Meg to do that for me, giving her my information....but then, of course, the bank didn't recognize her computer and wanted to call me for validation.  Fortunately, that worked.

Megan's research on the Internet showed that the Plainfield Walmart had two of the ones Denis was recommending, so I drove to Walmart after church.  I handed the clerk the paper that detailed the particular computer  (a Dell) that I wanted to purchase.  It was on sale.  The gal took me to the computer displays  and showed me a Dell--not the right one--and said "This is the only Dell that we carry."  Rats!  But when we turned the corner and went down the next row of display computers, there were two more Dells.  They were also not the right ones, but I began to question the competence of the clerk.  I asked her then to explain to me why the Internet would say that they had several in stock.  She said it sometimes takes 24 hours for the Internet to catch up.  We went to a customer service computer, which was very slow (and apparently the only one of two that was working at the moment), only to find out that the computer I wanted was "pickup only".  Essentially that means that it has to be ordered online, then can be picked up at the store...but it was promised for just a couple of hours after the order is placed.  Huh?  If it wasn't already in the store, how would it get there that fast??

Frustrated, I decided I'd just go home and have Megan order it for me--but changed my mind.  Let's just order it here at the store.  Had to wait for another clerk...told her my problem...and since the one operational customer computer was in use, we attempted to use the other one.  It had to be rebooted, blah, blah, and three or four times, we tried to make an order, to no avail.  It skipped pages, wouldn't accept prompts, and (basically) worked as bad as the one I had at home!  I gave up and came home.  Meg ordered it for me, online, using my card information, etc.  It was promised to be "in store" a couple of hours later.  (I still don't get that.  If it wasn't in the store when I was there, how was it going to be there 2-3 hours later??)  Shortly thereafter, Meg called to tell me that the order had been canceled because the computer "wasn't available in the Plainfield store", but the money had already been spoken for in my account.  (Not spent...just not available).  It would take awhile for it to be released back into my account.

Next, we decided that we should try the Avon Walmart, just a few miles away.  The Internet said they had some of the computers, but since my funds had been encumbered, Meg ordered one online, putting the financial end on HER account.  Again, promised for a couple of hours later...but then, that was canceled because the system couldn't verify her financial information.  Thinking she could have made a mistake, she tried again...also canceled.  In desperation, I decided to CALL the Avon store to see if they had the computer.  After a few minutes of searching, the dude on the other end of the line told me that they didn't have that computer.  By this time, my daughter and I had been on the goose chase for hours and hours.  I asked the guy if there was someone I could talk to about how all of this works, and he transferred me to Pam in Customer Service.

Stupid as I am, even I understand that mere employees don't make corporate decisions and can't explain the unexplainable, but Pam listened to me and told me to call back in a few minutes...that she was going back to electronics to see if they had that computer, even though I told her that the clerk there had said they didn't.  When I did call back, Pam was on a register, but the gal that answered the phone went to talk to her.  She came back with Pam's response: She says we don't have that computer.  You'll have to order it online.  AAARRGH!!!!

When I called Meg with the news, we both had enough sense of humor left to laugh about it.  Something about Walmart's online operations is broken.  Tomorrow, I will deal with a Plan B, but it won't involve Walmart!  If it weren't still the Sabbath, I would curse.

If this post actually goes through, I will consider it fortunate.  This computer is barely working.  Hope to be back, in spades, with a new one in a couple of days!