WalMart Rant

[The Moonshiner]

I try not to let stupid people that do stupid things like that get to me. What's the point?
I would of skipped all that and been concerned about the service my vehicle actually received. If it was me that'd be the last oil change they did for me and I'd immediately find a new place, go directly there and have a new one done just in case they did put the wrong oil in it.
That's just me though

 

[gtaus]

Your experience there was completely unacceptable! I was an automotive tech for many years! That would have never happened if I had done the service work! The service manager did not even come close to doing the right thing! Sorry for the crappy experience!

Thanks. I have been in a number of management positions over my life. I know mistakes can happen. There was an easy fix to correct this situation, but the service manager chose a different path every time. I appreciate you validating my frustrations about this service experience.

FYI, many years ago I had a small problem with car service at a different shop. That manager took my car back in, put his best mechanic on the job to correct the situation, and apologized for the inconvenience I went through. He even thanked me for allowing them the opportunity to fix the situation. That meant a lot to me. In fact, because of the way they handled their mistake and the attitude he showed me, I keep using that shop for a number years before I moved. Again, I don't expect perfection, but if a mistake is made, just do your best to make it right.

 

[gtaus]

I try not to let stupid people that do stupid things like that get to me. What's the point?
I would of skipped all that and been concerned about the service my vehicle actually received. If it was me that'd be the last oil change they did for me and I'd immediately find a new place, go directly there and have a new one done just in case they did put the wrong oil in it.
That's just me though

I appreciate that. Indeed, sometimes it's just not worth the time and effort to make a complaint. You just chose never to go back to that place.

But I have a long history of positive service from our WalMart, over 15 years. There are a number of reasons and benefits to me getting the oil change service at our WalMart. I don't want to cut that relationship on a one-off bad interaction with a service manager I have never seen before.

But yeah, I'm keeping my future options open depending on how upper management at our local WalMart responds to my complaint. I do have other options, but they are not as convenient for me. In this case, I felt it in my best interest to file a complaint and hope for a better outcome.

As to the oil change itself, other than not reading the odometer correctly, the service mechanic documented the correct oil and filter was used. I think he just grabbed the wrong oil change sticker from another car and failed to double check himself as he put the new sticker on the windshield.

 

[Snowbelt]

Warning - rant to follow about WalMart. Just getting some things off my chest.

I have 4 vehicles that I have been getting oil change service done at WalMart for many years. Never had a problem until yesterday. Anyways, my oil change finished late in the afternoon yesterday, and it was dark when I drove home. I did not read the new oil change sticker until today. Then I noticed they had put in the wrong weight oil and the odometer reading was off by 30,000 miles! OK, I got someone else's sticker. But I was concerned that the service on my car had been performed correctly. So, today I went back to WalMart to have them check their records and put on a new oil change sticker. A simple 5-minute job - or so I thought.

I went to buy some groceries and came back about 10 minutes later.

Instead of sending a service mechanic out to the car to verify the odometer and that the correct service had been done yesterday, they just handwrote me a new sticker, gave it to me, and told me to put it on the windshield myself. Red flags going up at this point because I knew nobody had verified the service or the mileage.

Well, I go out to the car to put on the new sticker and noticed that the mileage was still all wrong. So, back into the store again to find out what is going on. Turns out the mechanic had entered the wrong mileage when he performed the oil change.

At this point, I suggest that a service mechanic actually go out to the car, verify the correct information, and fix it. Well, the manager says she will do that. She adds that she knows "How picky I am." What!? She does not know me at all. Period. That really got me on the defensive.

She goes outside and does not come back, for quite a while, maybe 10-15 minutes. So, I go out to the service area and look through the door window to see what's taking her so long. She is not at my car, nor walking back to the service center. I see her outside apparently taking a break, just walking around doing nothing.

She finally comes back into the store. Then she takes the new sticker and goes back outside to put it on the windshield, taking her sweet time, burning up more of my time. I think she planned it that way.

She finally comes back into the store and says everything is taken care of. Well, I ask if she updated the mileage in the computer of my oil change. Nope, she says she can't do that. She would have to schedule another oil change to make any change in their system. Nothing can be done. End of story.

I told her that I was not satisfied with her attitude and the service I received. I asked how to submit a complaint to WalMart. Nope, she would not give me a form, an address, or a telephone number to call. She said I could go home and look up that information online.

At this point, I asked to talk to the store manager. Nope. She was the service manager and she would deal with it. I insisted on getting the name of the store manager and another employee finally got me a WalMart business card and wrote the name of the General Manager on the back. I thanked him and left.

Well, I actually drove around to the front of the store, went to the main customer service counter, and asked to talk to the manager on duty for the store. A nice young man can up to the front, listened to my experience, and gave me all the information I needed to file a written complaint about my service experience. He told me to write everything down and send it to him via email, which he would forward to the GM. He assured me that WalMart would get back to me in the next few days.

The 5-minute stop I had planned turned into over an hour!

Long story short, I ended up writing a 4-page complaint about the service I received and the attitude and insults I got from their service manager. I have been getting my cars serviced at WalMart for years and never had such a negative experience. Depending on the response I get back from the GM at our WalMart, I might have to look elsewhere for oil change service, or maybe my complaint will lead to some improvements. I hope so. I enjoy being able to go online and schedule my oil change, and then do our grocery shopping while waiting for the service to get done. Never had a problem until this recent episode.

I expect I'll get a refund on the oil change. The refund may address the transaction, but it does not resolve the experience. It's not about the money. They need to do better.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

I'm sorry you had such a lousy experience. I recently had my own Walmart experience. They use self-checkout for the vast majority of customers, with only one regular lane open out of the 12 to 15 present. I came in to the checkout area with my cart of items and started to scan them. it was early in the day and there were only a couple of people there, and three or four open scanners. The employee said it looked like I had more than 15 items (their limit for self-checkout) and would have to leave and go through the regular checkout. I counted them in front of her and indeed, I had 16. If I had been thinking, I would have handed her one of the items and resumed scanning, but I wasn't, so I went to the regular checkout lane where I had to stand behind four or five people with overflowing carts for the next 45 minutes. All that time I could see the self-checkout area, which always had several open scanning stations. But Rules Is Rules I guess.

 

[gtaus]

I had more than 15 items (their limit for self-checkout)

Our WalMart forces everyone to use the self-checkouts. No limits on the items. Gone are most of the checkout people who would scan and bag your groceries.

Lots of people are scamming the self-checkouts. If you incorrectly scan an item, it's on you to prove that you were not trying to shop lift.

One-time Dear Wife was using the self-checkout at Wal-Mart and her total came to more than $50 over what she had purchased. Turns out, the shopper before her had scanned a few items, paid for them, but then scanned the additional items and left without paying. So, all those items rolled over to Dear Wife when she checked out. Fortunately, she caught it and the store had to reverse those charges.

I liked it better when people scanned and bagged your groceries. However, now if you want that service, you are stuck in that 45-minute line because they don't man those checkouts anymore. There is probably only one or two lanes with checkout people and about 30 lanes of self-checkout.

If I had been thinking, I would have handed her one of the items and resumed scanning,

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too. Things we wish we would have done at the time if we had thought about it faster.

BTW, I recently saw a YouTube video where big grocery chains were being sued for deceptive pricing practices. They would put up sales signs on items but have the regular price in the computer scanner. Another practice they uncovered was that sales tags would not be taken down for weeks, or even months. The result was the store was making 30-40% above the prices they displayed on the shelves for a number of products. They proved it was the store policy, not a mistake. Or at least that what was the allegation in the lawsuit.

 

[FrostRanger]

There's a reason I left Walmart years ago. The work was fine, my coworkers were great and most of the customers were fine (people are usually pretty nice here) but management was awful. I remember once I was on lunch and they had a spill, instead of using the spill station 10f feet away they took a couple of buckets of softballs and placed it around the spill. When I later reported it to a manager she didn't even care! If someone had slipped on that it would have been 100% on them, how can you be a manager and not care about a huge safety liability like that?

 

[Bsmac]

I try not to let stupid people that do stupid things like that get to me. What's the point?
I would of skipped all that and been concerned about the service my vehicle actually received. If it was me that'd be the last oil change they did for me and I'd immediately find a new place, go directly there and have a new one done just in case they did put the wrong oil in it.
That's just me though

I wouldn`t have gone back either. A good service manager would have went out of their way to make you happy as a customer!

 

[gtaus]

There's a reason I left Walmart years ago. The work was fine, my coworkers were great and most of the customers were fine (people are usually pretty nice here) but management was awful. I remember once I was on lunch and they had a spill, instead of using the spill station 10f feet away they took a couple of buckets of softballs and placed it around the spill. When I later reported it to a manager she didn't even care! If someone had slipped on that it would have been 100% on them, how can you be a manager and not care about a huge safety liability like that?

If you chose to be in the people business, you really need to make an effort to care about people. The people I know that worked at WalMart had the same experience as you. The co-workers were fine, the customers were OK, but problems with management caused them to leave. There are very few people you see working at our WalMart more than a few months. It's a constant rotation of new people leaving before they fully get trained in for the job.

 

[azurbanclucker]

Just remember that Walmart hires people from the HUMAN RACE.
Sorry you encountered a misfit

For as cheap as they can get them. "you ain't paying me for this" is common in customer service.

 

[Bsmac]

Our WalMart forces everyone to use the self-checkouts. No limits on the items. Gone are most of the checkout people who would scan and bag your groceries.

Lots of people are scamming the self-checkouts. If you incorrectly scan an item, it's on you to prove that you were not trying to shop lift.

One-time Dear Wife was using the self-checkout at Wal-Mart and her total came to more than $50 over what she had purchased. Turns out, the shopper before her had scanned a few items, paid for them, but then scanned the additional items and left without paying. So, all those items rolled over to Dear Wife when she checked out. Fortunately, she caught it and the store had to reverse those charges.

I liked it better when people scanned and bagged your groceries. However, now if you want that service, you are stuck in that 45-minute line because they don't man those checkouts anymore. There is probably only one or two lanes with checkout people and about 30 lanes of self-checkout.



Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too. Things we wish we would have done at the time if we had thought about it faster.

BTW, I recently saw a YouTube video where big grocery chains were being sued for deceptive pricing practices. They would put up sales signs on items but have the regular price in the computer scanner. Another practice they uncovered was that sales tags would not be taken down for weeks, or even months. The result was the store was making 30-40% above the prices they displayed on the shelves for a number of products. They proved it was the store policy, not a mistake. Or at least that what was the allegation in the lawsuit.

Limited number of clerks, more profit for Wally World!