The Walmart in Norman, Oklahoma refused to accept bike returns until a district manager, acting on a reader tip, reminded the store that they were violating company policy. Reader Keia tried to return the “shoddily constructed,” “dangerous piece of garbage” for a bike that Walmart sold him, but an employee, backed by the store manager, explained that since Walmart could repair the bike, their return policy didn’t apply. That didn’t sound right, so Keia went over their heads…
He writes:
Just thought I would share an experience I had at Wal-Mart purchasing a bike. I bought a bicycle with Wal-Mart in order to save on gas money and try to increase my overall health. Living within 2 miles of my University, and considering I happen to work there as well, riding a bike only made good sense.
I bought a Next brand bike from Wal-Mart for the cost of 110 dollars, and about 100 dollars in accessories (helmet, lights, lock, etc). The first problem I had – none of the accessories fit. Literally, none of them. The lights, the bike pump, everything I purchased did not fit correctly on the unit I purchased. “Well, I’ll just deal with it”, I said to myself. Within a week, the chain kept coming off, the brakes were so tight the wheels could barely turn (because the tires, when completely aired up, were too big for the brakes), and on top of all that the right plastic pedal snapped while I was riding the bike and nearly threw me into traffic. All in all, it was a shodily constructed and dangerous piece of garbage.
Needless to say, I thought it would be best for me to return it to Wal-Mart. I loaded it in my car, took it to my local Supercenter with receipt in hand, and headed to the customer service counter. There I encountered Cheryl, the Customer Service Manager at the Norman – East branch. Upon trying to return it, I was told that they had a strict policy regarding bike retuns. What follows is a rough approximation of my conversation with her:
Me: “I’d like to return this bike.”
Her: “We don’t return bikes.”
Me: “Why not?”
Her: “Because we can repair them for you, so we don’t give refunds on them.”
Me: “What? It isn’t listed as an exception on the wall behind you.”
Her: “We can’t have all of our exceptions listed, that would take up room we use for advertising.”
Me: “No one told me about this policy before I bought the bike though.”
Her: “We don’t have to.”
I stood there in shock for a few minutes, shooting her the most angry stare I could manage. I packed up the bike, and left. Later, I called them, asked for her full name (which she wouldn’t give me) and told her that I would be filing a lawsuit in small claims court against them. To my wife’s first year law school brain the Return Policy on that wall is a contract that allows me to return the bike within 90 days of purchase with valid receipt, and a lawsuit in SCC would almost be a guaranteed win.
Luckily, before filing the suit, I called the district manager. She told me that the “policy” touted by Cheryl did not exist, and urged me to contact the store manager before filing a claim. If the store manager refused to take care of it, she would handle it from the district level. He told me the same thing Cheryl did until I mentioned my chat with his boss, and he amended his stance to say “that the policy was more of a guideline than anything else” to avoid returns for flat tires. This is just as absurd as what Cheryl told me, but regardless, I got my refund – and I purchased a bike from a real bike store.
I just wanted to share my experience with the readers of The Consumerist, so they could be wary of buying an important purchase like a primary mode of transportation from such an unscrupulous company – and to be wary of what lower management tells you. Worst case scenario, contact district staff. Wal-Mart is seems to be often more afraid of pad PR than anything else.
Great work, Keia! Don’t take no for an answer just because it’s delivered by someone wearing a smock and a name tag. If you firmly and politely escalate your complaint, more often than not, you’ll get exactly what you want.
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Alright, as someone who assembled bikes, worked the courtesy desk at Wal-Mart and was trained quite well on how to do both I might add, let me set the record straight.
I’ll be the first to admit that Wal-Mart bikes are not the most well made bikes in the world, but I’ve run into situations like this before. Although this policy does not officially exist, it can be something that the bikes assemblers and customer service staff initiate in order to cut down on the amount of bike returns as a result of dumbass customers who try to return a bike saying it won’t shift anymore or that the brakes are rubbing. The reality of buying a bike (almost ANY bike) is that with repeated use, the cables stretch out and the derailleur (gear shifters) don’t work as well as they should. All this requires is 5 min to tighten up the cables and voila, it works like a new bike. Same thing with the brakes. Customers (especially those who buy bikes at Wal-Mart) don’t understand this and get so return-happy that they immediately assume its the store’s fault. (I once had a customer return a bike because they ran it over with their car. Or the customer who claim the wheel was making a clicking sound when she still had the cardboard display packaging in her spokes. And we took them both back, too. You don’t hear customers complaining about that…) We would have always rather repaired a bike for a simple fix like that rather than return it and throw it away (because that’s what happens to bikes that get returned to Wal-Mart that customers CLAIM are defective, another store policy).
That being said, this store either doesn’t have a qualified assembler or in a rush to meet a quota of bikes built for the day had someone untrained do it (which granted, shouldn’t have happened in the first place, but is the main thing that drives the assemblers nuts). I’ll the be the first to admit that this bike definitely wasn’t put together right, but it doesn’t mean the customer should have threatened a lawsuit. I could have had that bike fixed in probably 15 minutes. Like I said, I’ve run into this situation plenty of times before and dealt with plenty of unruly customers before. I had a customer make my wife cry because she told him that I could fix it (free of charge as an employee of the store) for him and he still refused, yelling and screaming that he wanted to see a manager about it, when all it would have taken is 5 minutes of adjustments.
The fact of the matter is that if you spend $100 on a bike at Wal-Mart (especially a NEXT), you can’t expect too much. Obviously it was badly assembled, but I’m sure the store was just trying to repair something that was easily fixable rather than take it back and have to throw it away. Just because its Wal-Mart doesn’t mean that you can’t have a little common sense and cut them some slack.
Sorry for the gigantic post, but like I said, it was something I had to deal with a LOT.
As a Walmart Associate (I know, but I’m a poor college student, and I need the money) I can tell you that there is NO return policy that states bikes can only be repaired, not returned. It is a store manager decision to overrule any company policy (which is technically against the rules).
I’ve been fighting this policy at my store because the bike I bought has had to be repaired 4 times in less than 2 weeks. I’ve also been told that as an associate my “knowledge of specific return policies allows me an advantage over the other customers” and that if the manger returned the bike “he would be discriminating against all the other customers whose bike he couldn’t return.” As an associate, I do know company policy better than the average customer, but I felt I that I wasn’t being treated well as a customer either. I will be calling district managment as well.
Now, as a company, Walmart does not have to tell you of the any return policy or display all of the policies. However, if you go up to the customer service desk and ask about any specific item’s return policy, be sure to specifically ask to see the actual written policy. Many stores will say they have a certain return policy, but it might be the store manger’s decision to change the policy. Whereas the Walmart company policy is the only policy they are allowed to follow, and the one you are allowed to use as a customer. If you have problems, always ask to speak to the store manager, and don’t take no for an answer. If you still have problems, ask to call disctrict management. The name number should be displayed with the store manager’s name and number. If it’s not, check the bathrooms. The district manager’s name and number is usually listed on the “if this bathroom is not satisfactory…” sign.
Thanks to this article, I was able to receive a refund for my bike at Walmart. The associate told me the exact same thing. While I was waiting in line, I googled “walmart bike returns” this article showed up in the results. I immediately went to my car and called the store manager. I stated that their return policy for bikes violates policy. She immediately told me to come back into the store and gave me a refund. Thank u!