Consumerist reader The Unicorn has $550 tied up in some strange Wal-Mart purgatory for a PlayStation 3 bundle that they won’t ship to her, even though it clearly states in their online terms that they won’t charge you for your order until it’s shipped. Her customer service queries are being met with content-free scripted CSR-bot responses. She writes, “Here’s the thing: don’t ever buy anything from Walmart, ever. I knew this, and ignored it, and now I’m paying the price.”
Update – 06/27/08: The Unicorn says Wal-Mart called her today and offered to cancel the order!
Update – 06/26/08: The Unicorn posted a slight correction after we published this story: “hey, just to clarify — after Chris (I think) responded to my email re: the Terms of Service issue, I doublechecked my bank account & the funds haven’t actually been withdrawn yet.” However, she notes that since she can’t cancel the order, those funds remain unavailable.
Here’s her full story:
So, the Monday before last (6/16), my husband & I came to the unfortunate realization that the 80GB Playstation 3 we’d been saving up to buy was only available through a limited-edition bundle, & that the Metal Gear Solid 4 bundles were basically unavailable in any store near us. After contacting every Game Stop, Circuit City, Best Buy, Target, etc. in the Chicagoland region, we reluctantly expanded our search to the Walmart website, & after checking back several times, all of a sudden an “add to cart” option appeared next to the listing for the MGS4 PS3 bundle. And rationalizing that patronizing Walmart was worth it in order to get a rare piece of game equipment, we placed an order for the system, which the site said would arrive between Friday 6/20 & Tuesday 6/24. After the order was placed, it showed up as “processing” in Walmart’s order tracking system, & I was told I’d receive a second email whenever the system shipped. I figured that was good news, but I was a little worried, because the MGS4 bundle showed up as “out of stock” immediately after the order was placed, & it seemed like a crazy coincidence that I would’ve gotten the last one.
Here’s the thing: don’t ever buy anything from Walmart, ever. I knew this, & ignored it, & now I’m paying the price.
Coincidentally, that same Monday night, my husband & I rented a movie from Blockbuster, & in the course of some chitchat the clerk randomly told us that they were the only Chicago store to have the MGS4 bundle in stock. (This was the one in Uptown, for any fellow Chicagoans, although I don’t know if they’d have any more.) Since the order from Walmart hadn’t shipped yet, we decided a PS3 in-hand was better than the promise of one from a retailer we hated, we took the Blockbuster clerk up on his offer & went home with our new toy.
Our plan was to cancel the Walmart.com order, but as it turns out, it’s not possible to cancel online orders once they’re placed. Fair enough; we figured we’d just sell the second system at cost on eBay or Craigslist whenever it arrived, or else return it to the store & eat the shipping charges.
…Except, the order is still listed as “processing” in Walmart’s order tracking system. It hasn’t shipped, & it certainly hasn’t arrived by this past Tuesday like it was supposed to. But Walmart was certainly happy to take $550.00 out of my debit account as soon as the order was put through back on the 16th! I’ve emailed them through their website three times now, explaining that I need the funds freed from my account so that I can patronize a brick-&-mortar store that has the systems in stock. (I figured it would needlessly complicate things to say I already bought another system; the only reason that was even an option is that we’re currently flush with wedding-present money, & usually having $550.00 missing from my checking account would automatically preclude any other purchases of similar magnitude.) My last response from Walmart came on June 21st, & it was just a scripted message explaining that they can’t cancel online orders in progress because their distributors usually ship things so quickly that it’s impossible blah blah blah — clearly not the case here, when the order in question has been languishing unshipped for over a week & Walmart still doesn’t have the item in stock. All of this makes me really glad that I actually bought a real-live PS3 when I had the chance, but given that I don’t know if Walmart’s even going to be getting any additional MGS4 bundles, I’m starting to get worried this order will be stuck in “processing” for the rest of time.
Do you guys have any ideas as to how I can get them to refund the money they’re holding hostage? I saw your list of executive numbers, but I don’t know that any of those would necessarily be appropriate for an online purchase, & as much as I dislike Walmart, I’m hesitant to call up random people in their corporate office who probably have no recourse to help me with this issue.
We say it’s time to go corporate. Don’t worry about bothering them—it’s why they get paid, to make things happen. In particular, they need to be made aware that they’re not honoring their terms of service as listed on their website.
Update!: A former Wal-Mart call center employee has shared some tips on how to resolve outstanding orders like this one.
Terms and Conditions [Wal-Mart]
(Photo: Clean Wal-mart)
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When the charge does come on the card, if it hasn’t already, I would…
1. I called to find out if Wal-Mart has any such thing as Customer Relations, and they said the CR for Web ordering is phone 800-966-6546 options 2, 3, 8, and they would at least listen and try to resolve for you. Failing that…
2. File a charge back with credit card.
3. File fraud charges with Arkansas and Illinois AG offices.
Good luck and have fun!
@alfundo: Umm as a matter of fact they do, you might actually want to read the news once in awhile outside of your fan boy universe.
Damn, why did you GO TO WALMART???? Seriously, you’re lookin’ for trouble.
@sean77: Umm fanboi, Unreal III release on the PS3 on 12/12/2007 last year. Sony also allows user created content on it, and Microsoft won’t.
I doubt if a chargeback on the debit card will work. Banks do not care, even if they claim it’s policy. I cancelled a check years ago, paid the $15 fee for it, and they STILL let the check go through.
I wouldn’t hold out any hope that the $550 can be released until and unless Walmart ok’s it. Walmart is screwy, banks are screwy, and debit cards are evil. Credit cards are evil too but equally evil to both sides, unlike debit cards which are friendly to the merchant.
@sean77: Take it to Kotaku, kid.
Sorry, that comment was supposed to be directed at CharlieInSeattle.
Also, knock it off with the snotty “umm”s.
Sorry, that comment was supposed to be directed at CharlieInSeattle. And knock it off with the snotty “umm”s while you’re at it.
(FIX YOUR COMMENTS, GAWKER)
@invaderzim: Hmm…The only reviews I can find online were done back in 2006. They all said that the PS3 was as good or better than the BR players they were comparing it to.
/shrug
@The Unicorn: I don’t understand why you would shift over to debit cards, it seems to me that your money is more vulnerable when you buy with a debit card. With a credit card you can approve the charges later in the month. With a debit card, the money is immediately withdrawn from your account.
@cristiana: Even though the 80GB consoles are not labeled as “limited”, last time I checked, they were harder to find than the so-called “limited” gun metal grey MGS4 bundles (you could still order them from Konami’s website, the option was there but I never actually tried to order one). On eBay, the 80GB bundles are going for $100 more than retail easily. If Unicorn ends up actually getting a second bundle, might as well eBay that sucker.
@AaronZ: I totally agree with you (except for the Wal-Mart thing, no problems with them yet). DO NOT USE DEBIT CARDS FOR ONLINE PURCHASES! Ever! Don’t most people have at least one credit card for emergencies or whatever? I’d be pretty pissed to have $550 tied up in my checking accout.
Call your bank.
Report it as a fraudalent website purchase.
Have them send you a new debit card.
GFY Wal mart!
Wow, I can’t believe there aren’t any comments on the inappropriate and excessive use of ampersands yet.
@alfundo: Yeah I bought my PS3 last night because I couldnt stand living without Halo… biosho…lost odys…mass eff…I think its time to return my PS3 and get a 360
@SearchX:
Yeah, the gun-gray models are easier to find, but, that is because of the stupid pricing, 100 dollars more for no bc and 40gb less hard drive space. But, yeah, for now the 80gb bundle is hard to find, however, since they were saving for a while, waiting a little longer couldn’t have hurt.
@rzr: @Consumer007: wow, thanks for the phone number; I’m hoping I might have luck talking to a real live person versus someone whose job it is to cut & paste email templates.
@clnclarinet: when you’re on your deathbed, you’ll think to yourself “so many… wasted… keystrokes… should’ve… used… ampersands… like… ‘and’… but… quicker.” whereas all I’ll have to regret was this friggin’ PS3 purchase.
UPDATE! okay, so, I just got a call from some California-based Walmart CSR, who “was just going through some of their orders” & noticed that my PS3 bundle hadn’t shipped. she said they’d be getting some more in soon, but wanted to know if I’d prefer to cancel my order. obviously, I said yes, & I let her know that I’d tried to email their online customer support about it to no avail. she was very apologetic, & said they’d take care of the cancellation right away.
now, perhaps this is a coincidence, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Walmart has someone monitoring their online mentions & perhaps put two & two together. & regardless of how this came to pass, I will gladly credit Consumerist for the victory. I didn’t have to call & yell at anyone! hooray!
For next time, you could have called your credit card company, explained the situation, and they would have removed the hold on your money.