Wal-Mart’s “discretionary” return policy

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Mon, Dec 29 2008 | 2 Comments

Since Christmas, returning things to Wal-Mart has been more difficult than any other time of the year, particularly at my local store. I’m going to place the blame on my store’s “sometimes” return policy where it is up to the customer service manager’s discretion whether or not the “fake” return policy is valid.

Friday night Chris and his parents go to Wal-Mart to return the Playstation 3 he got for Christmas. His mom was assured when she bought it that it had a 90 day return policy, opened or not. I called the store before we went and I was told 15 days. After deciding what I was told was a load of hooey, they went to customer service anyway. There they were told 30 days and she was 6 days out, right AFTER Christmas. This is from their website:

As an added convenience for customers, Wal-Mart has adjusted its return policy for the holiday gift buying season for items that have a limited return/exchange period (15 days, 30 days, etc.). For these items purchased between Nov. 15 and Dec. 25, the limited return period will begin Dec. 26. This includes items such as TVs, cameras, computers, DVD and music players which can have a 15-30 day return period.

Their original return policy (not during the holiday season):

All merchandise purchased from Walmart.com may be returned either to a store or by mail within 90 days, unless otherwise noted below:
ELECTRONICS

* Computer hardware: Must be returned with any included software within 15 days of receipt.
* Computer components and computer accessories: Must be returned within 45 days of receipt.
* Computer software: Must be returned unopened.
* Camcorders and digital cameras: Must be returned within 30 days of receipt.
* GPS units, digital music players and portable video players: Must be returned within 15 days of receipt.

Wal-Mart ended up accepting the Playstation 3 return. Probably because they were called out on their “discretionary” return policy.

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Tags: customer service, music player, music

WalMart settles wage suits for $640 million

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Tue, Dec 23 2008 | 0 Comments

This year lawsuits were filed against Wal-Mart’s wage-and-hour “issues”.

The discount retailer, which has more than 1.4 million employees, said the amount it pays will depend on how many claims are submitted by eligible workers and could range from $352 million to $640 million. – AP

Wal Mart has been trying to clean up its image and hopefully it will pay off. It is trying to get customers (and potential customers) to see its stores as a bit higher quality than in the past. It says that part of the clean up is to finalize these lawsuits.

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Tags: eligible workers, wal mart, walmart

Best Buy hoarding Wii’s?

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Dec 10 2008 | 2 Comments

Over two years after its initial release some stores are still having trouble keeping Wii’s in stock. Just the other day Walmart.com said they had “tens of thousands” of them and still sold out within a matter of minutes.

A rumor floating around gadget and electronic blogs says that some Best Buy stores are holding the popular game system until this Sunday.

I can’t believe that the Wii is still so hard to find. After the 2 years it has been out, it has been steadily out of stock in a lot of locations.

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Tags: stock, blog, best buy