#1499, Friday, August 28: The walmart.com experience never to be repeated.

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Post 1499, Day 240 of 2015
- 1,701 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Last night was the kind of night that makes me go hmmm...

My cheap microwave, after four years of service, stopped making microwaves, so the few foods for which I employ it would not cook.

As is my methodology, I did a little research, checking the usual places, looking for sales on higher-rated products, and determining which to buy, and where. I'm willing to pay a little more if I can buy local, but small appliances are all imported and the margin means buying local really isn't an option.

The one I decided on (sold under a few different American brand names) was by far cheapest if I bought it at Walmart. I checked walmart.com and found it in stock at the next-closest Walmart to me. With that information came a pitch to buy it online and pick it up at the store "same day".

This seemed like a good idea, and as if it meant I would spend less time in Walmart, so that's what I did.

Bad idea.

I had just set myself up for the worst shopping experience of my life. It turns out that walmart.com is not well-integrated with the Walmart stores.

Walmart.com asked for my phone number so they could text me when it was ready for pickup, which I supplied. Minutes later, I received a text message that my order was being processed, and the next text I got would let me know that the order was ready for me to pick up.

Four hours later, after work, and with me wanting to pick it up right after dinner, there was no message. I decided to go to the store (I knew they had it in stock) and move things along by bringing it to the pickup counter myself.

I am delusional. I can't do that. What if I cancel the order? I ask. You can't cancel while it is still being processed. Can you move the processing along? I mean, I'm here, now, with the item in a cart (pointing). We'll see.

Twenty minutes later, no, we can't do anything until we get notice from walmart.com.

Well, what about just making a note on the order, in-process as it is, that the item has been picked up? Let me find a manager to see if we can help. (Customer service rep disappears).

Returns in ten minutes alone - the Manager and Assistant Manager don't know how to make changes in walmart.com.

Okay. I wheel the cart to the cashier at the opposite end of the store, pay for it (again), thinking I will cancel the order and get a refund when I get the text message telling me it has been processed and is ready. I can be stupid.

I have missed the first event I wanted to go to that evening. What should have taken an hour has taken three, and with a far-from-acceptable outcome. And, I feel foolish (not in a good way).

Of course, the text never comes. However, in the morning I find an email from ten minutes after I left the store (which, by the way, was almost ninety minutes after I left my apartment to pick up the cheap microwave) telling me the item is ready for pickup. I use the link supplied for 'Questions about this order' to get a refund.

There is nothing on the order page telling me how to get a refund. I call walmart.com's customer service. I am quickly(!) connected to someone who seems very nice. He has a little trouble finding the order, and when he does, he tells me that after the order is processed, there isn't any way to cancel it. The fact that it hasn't been shipped but pulled from stock means nothing.

And he can't arrange for the store to handle the refund. I ask for his manager. I am on hold for fifteen minutes. On his return, the rep tells me he can't find his manager, but he called the store. They have it, but he can't arrange for a return and refund over the phone. If I wait fourteen days, it will go back in stock and my refund will be processed within a week.

Are there any other options? None. What if I go back to the store, pick it up, then immediately return it? Oh, I guess you could do that. Thank you. You've been no help.

I realize that, in time and travel costs, and even at today's low gas prices, my thirty per cent savings has turned into a much more than retail cost for a relatively small purchase. My frustration? Priceless.

I smile as I fill out the customer survey that immediately follows, knowing I will lose another ninety minutes revisiting the store and getting my money back.

Food and Diet Section

Today's Weight:                   207.0 lbs

Previous Weight (8/27):           207.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:                - 0.4 lbs

Diet Comment

Yesterday was a pretty neutral day, food-wise. Good.

Food Log

Breakfast
A Quest bar.

Lunch

Roasted turkey breast chopped salad: shaved Parmesan cheese, baby kale, baby spinach, chard, cole slaw mix and balsamic vinaigrette.

Snack 
A Quest bar.

Dinner 
Sliced London broil with Dijon mustard (appetizer), then a wild-caught salmon patty on Ezekiel 4:9 Flax sprouted grain bread with cole slaw.

Snack 
A Quest bar.

Liquid Intake
   Espressos: 2;  Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 112+ oz.

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