Wednesday, December 5, 2007

My walmart love hate relationship!

I love walmart prices! However I find myself so MAD at walmart on so many occasions. Last week BOTH our cars needed some attention. The van needed the tires rotated and balanced and the car needed an oil change. Since walmart is cheap we of course bought our tires there, so this service would/should be free. Apparently, you need to purchase a cart load of patience along with the tire warranty. I waited for 2 hours on monday morning with a hungry little toddler who hates shopping. We did our grocery shopping and the lady that brought her car in AFTER mine found me in the dairy section. She had just checked on her car and it was in the shop and nearly finished. Not to draw an obvious conclusion but since I had come in before her, I figured that mine was probably finished. So I bought my things and headed for the tire center. Only to find my car had not moved. Yep still right where I left it, not a thing done to it. I mentioned that I thought they took the cars in the order they arrived and sure enough the lady confirmed this. So why is my car still sitting there you ask, good question. Madelyn was completely loosing it after 2 hours of wondering, so we decided to leave.
The next night we decided to just make an evening of it. We went to Walmart with the 2 vehicles. Joe's car went in first and then the van. So here we ALL are at Walmart at 6:00 at night. First came the "I need to use the bathroom from Kaitlyn and Jenna." So we head into the bathroom only to find not a single piece of toilet paper! Only moments later Jenna starts screaming. Apparently when she sat down somehow the toilet pinched her leg under the lid. ( still not sure HOW this happened) I got Jenna settled down and under control and we go to wash our hands. Here we find only one out of 3 of the motion sensors for the water works!! Great there is now a long line because we held things up with the leg incident, and only one place to wash hands lovely! We find Joe and get in line to pay for our things. We wait FOREVER in line to pay for our items. (this no longer surprises me at walmart, it is a guarantee!) Okay so back to the tire center we go. Joe's car is done! yeah Apparently they can't find the locking hub cap wrench for the van. So I go out to the garage with the guy to get it for him. We get out there and he goes to lower the van. There is this terrible loud crunching noise! The guy swears and then disappears and leaves me standing there. I waited and waited and waited 15 minutes goes by and I am not sure what is going on! I walk back to the service desk . Apparently the lift was not working properly and he had to go get someone to help him. They finally get the Van down and I decided to grab the car seat so I could take my tired kids home and leave Joe to wait for the van. I load all the kids in the car get all the car seats situated and start down the road. We get about 3 blocks and the car starts smoking and smells awful! I turned around and headed back to WALMART! We find that they have over filled the oil and spilled it all over the manifold. By this time the van is done and we see the mechanic pull it out of the garage and go speeding through the parking lot squealing the tires around the corner!! NICE THATS MY CAR!! At this point we were still waiting for Joe's car to cool down enough to check the oil . Joe went in to get the keys for the van. I load all the kids up in the Van this time. Joe comes out to check the oil and Walmart locked the door! Yep we are parked not 3 feet from the door with the hood up. They were aware that there was a problem, and they locked the door anyway! So nothing we can do but head home now. I get in the van and they tossed the oily locking wrench on the console. Oil everywhere. Not to mention all the stuff that once was on the console is spread throughout my car from the crazy mechanic speeding through the parking lot! To top the entire evening off we get home to find out that they actually ended up charging us for the tire rotation which should have been free, and they left a big oil stain on the seat of Joe's car, which is now on both of our PANTS!! Don't you just LOVE WALMART! The funny thing is that we are looking into a practice that is 2 hours from the nearest walmart and I have been sad about it!! My ongoing love hate relationship continues I guess!

10 comments:

  1. oh my gosh!!! You need to find a contest for 'craziest customer service story' or 'worst Walmart experience' and enter your story... you would win hands down. What jerks! I would have marched into the Walmart and asked to speak to the store manager - at least get your stuff for free after all that. And I would have lugged my kids inside and made them listen to them scream. You poor people!!! I'm so sorry!!! You could have called me and I would have come got your kids!

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  2. You always have good horror stories, Jess. This one in particular, though makes me so angry! I would want to go back early the next morning and open a large can of Whoop-A, but I would probably have to wait a couple of hours for my turn in line. Stupid Walmart. I'm going to TARGET.

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  3. I hope that you complain. Seriously!! We won't be back there for an oil change. They over tightened the plug on Travis' car and it needs to be rethreaded, I told them that they should pay for it and they agreed. Thank goodness. Seriously, complain.

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  4. ugh - I have a pit in my stomach from reading this story... I have nothing to say... my headache is already starting for you... I truly hate Walmart...

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  5. That is awful Jessica! I had no idea about your ordeal Monday. It is good to know about your difficulty there though because we are in the market for new tires and had considered Walmart. I loved that you get free rotation and balance when you buy tires from them, but as always, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Your story has now crossed them off our list.

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  6. Have you ever considered writing a book? *grin* I love your story telling...

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  7. Oh Jess! How horrible! I quickley learned never get car service at walmart! I had a problem with them too, but nothing near as bad as yours. You not only had one thing go wrong, but several! You definatley need to complain and talk to the manager. How your car was mistreated and all of the grease stains is too unacceptable. No matter how long it has been you need to bring it up. How rediculous! I shop at walmart for food mainly and other household supplies because we are so poor! Hopefully next year we can afford to go to a normal grocery store! I am so sorry. Half way through your ordeal, I would have seriously lost it, especially with 3 children. Good luck!

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  8. What an AWFUL experience!!! I can't believe that...actually I totally can, but I would not have left, my crazy self would have pounded on the door until someone (probably security) stopped me!!! I got my new tire form Costco (free tire rotation, balance and a six year or 60,000 mile warranty, even if you get a nail or screw or something!) I have a membership if anyone needs it!

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  9. Quick update: I did go back and get my money for the rotation. I think I will write a letter to the manager of the store.

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  10. Jess, now you HAVE to complain! I was telling this story to Ron yesterday and he was FURIOUS! You'd think it had happened to him! Anyway, first words out of his mouth were, "Did they complain?" There is NO excuse for the horrible service! Anyway, glad you got your money back. :o)

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