Starting today, you can go to your neighborhood Walmart store and pick up an iPhone 5 from Walmart’s own house-brand carrier, StraightTalk Wireless. With it you’ll get a $45 unlimited talk/text/data plan. Instead of a phone subsidy, you’ll be paying the unlocked-phone price for your handset: $649 for a 16GB iPhone 5. That’s the same price you’ll pay for an unlocked phone straight from Apple, but Walmart offers something extra: you can finance your purchase and pay $25 per month with no interest…for 26 months. [More]
Straight Talk Wireless Introduces iPhone 5 With $45 Unlimited Everything: What’s The Catch?
By January 11, 2013
Walmart Employee: Don’t Blame Cashiers For Requiring You To Show Your I.D.
By January 9, 2013
In an era of identity theft and growing concerns about privacy, it’s not hard to understand why shoppers are hesitant to provide their photo IDs and phone numbers for something as simple as buying groceries. But one Walmart employee asks that consumers please refrain from taking out their frustration on him and his coworkers. [More]
If Your Resolution Is To Finally Figure Out That Whole Hygiene Thing, Walmart Has You Covered
By January 8, 2013
It’s a new year, and you know what that means: We all make promises to ourselves that we probably won’t keep (although I swear I’m going to start my own organic dairy farm someday and have a bestselling cheese brand) or will at least give up on early in February. But hey, you, the one without a toothbrush who hasn’t figured out soap yet — Walmart is here for you. [More]
Staffers & Experts Explain Why Walmart Can’t (And Maybe Shouldn’t) Change The Oil In Your Fiat
By January 4, 2013
Yesterday we told you about the Walmart customer who didn’t understand why his local Walmart refused to change the oil in his 2012 Fiat 500. He was simply told it was because the car wasn’t in “the book.” We asked if anyone could shine some light on this issue — and you responded. [More]
Competitors Accuse Walmart Of Providing Inaccurate Price Comparisons In Ads
By January 4, 2013
For several months, Walmart has been running a series of ads touting its Low Price Guarantee and calling out specific competitors for their higher prices. But those retailers are now fighting back with complaints in several states. [More]
Walmart Won’t Change The Oil In My Fiat Because It’s Not “In The Book”
By January 3, 2013
For a few years in the ’90s, I was one of maybe three people (or at least that’s how it felt) in the entire U.S. with a Daihatsu (stop giggling; yeah, I mean you). It was a pain in the rear to get certain parts, but I never once had a problem getting the oil changed. Apparently, times have changed. [More]
How To Get Good Service At A Chronically Understaffed Walmart
By January 2, 2013
What should you know when you place an online order that you plan to pick up at your local Walmart store? An insider––an ordinary store employee in an ordinary Walmart––reached out to us to explain to customers what you should know before you click “Site-to-Store,” and other pitfalls. Walmart may employ millions of Americans, but it still tries to run stores with the smallest crew that it get by with.
Let’s hand the floor over to the employee, who we’ll call “Samantha”: [More]
Sam’s Club Recalls Smoked Salmon Sold In 42 States
By December 28, 2012
With year-end parties still to come, there will probably be some of you munching on Smoked Salmon in the next few days. If that salmon was purchased at Sam’s Club, you might want to keep reading. [More]
Repair Company Can’t Fix TV Without Parts, Warranty Won’t Replace Repairable TV
By December 28, 2012
How long could your household go without a television? It depends on how many people are there, what you watch, what time of year it is, how the weather is, and whether or not it’s Christmas break and your kids are home from school. That’s the case for Roman’s family, cord cutters who are cut off from television content. Last Black Friday, Roman got a Vizio 3D smart TV from Walmart. Just under a year later, the set doesn’t work. That’s okay, though: he bought the extended warranty. The repair service set up an appointment, then just didn’t show after Roman took a day off work and waited around for them. Why? They didn’t have the part he needed in stock. [More]
Walmart Sold Us A High Chair Covered With Food And Mold As New
By December 28, 2012
Part of the delight of Christmas morning is opening up fresh, shiny, untouched gifts. Our new stuff gets wrapped in colorful paper outside of the boxes and layers of protective plastic by the Asian teenagers who made them for us. Jan’s great-grandson is still a baby, so he probably didn’t care one way or the other about the condition of his gifts, but the grown-up family members did. The high chair they bought him had been used. Used a lot. And it was covered with food and mold. It should be their baby who has the privilege of throwing spaghetti on his high chair, not someone else’s. [More]
Amazon Retains Its Crown Among Online Retailers In This Year’s Holiday Consumer Satisfaction Survey
By December 27, 2012
Online retailers are sitting pretty these days due to the convenience they offer during busy times like the holidays, but according to this year’s survey of consumer satisfaction, some businesses made out better than others. Amazon is the reigning champ of customer satisfaction, and it held onto that title again this year, beating out upstarts like Gilt.com and RueLaLa.com. [More]
Walmart Knows I Bought Lube At The Store, Sends Me E-Mails About Other Lubes I Might Enjoy
By December 17, 2012
Some folks are put off by online retailers tracking their browsing and buying habits in order to send them recommendations, but what about when your minor — and decidedly personal — purchases at bricks-and-mortar stores become the basis of marketing e-mails? [More]
Woman Cited For Shopping Cart Rage Because There Are Plenty Of Carts To Go Around
By December 14, 2012
The nice thing about the supermarket is that they have these large, rolling vessels available to use for free, so shoppers can fill them with items and not have to carry all those groceries. They’re called shopping carts, and unless there’s some special occasion where a store is flooded with shoppers, there are usually quite a few of them available. So punching a fellow shopper in the face over shopping cart rage? That doesn’t need to happen. [More]
Report: Walmart & Kroger Among Top Bidders For Hostess Assets
By December 14, 2012
A Twinkie here, a Ho Ho there — with bidders reportedly lining up to gobble Hostess’ assets, the brand’s snacks could be split up among some big name brands. Walmart and Kroger are said to be in the scrum of companies waiting to bid on the bits and pieces that remain of Hostess during its liquidation sale. [More]
Walmart Shoplifter Dies After Being Shot By Off-Duty Deputy
By December 7, 2012
An off-duty sheriff’s deputy, working in uniform as a security officer for a Texas Walmart, reportedly shot an alleged shoplifter after being dragged by her car in the store’s parking lot. [More]
Hitting Up The Same Walmart Three Times To Shoplift Goes Poorly For Woman
By December 6, 2012
Let’s be clear: The old adages “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” or “Third time’s the charm!” should not be applicable in shoplifting situations, or any kind of crime for that matter. But police in Texas say one woman’s failure to make it out of a local Walmart with purloined goods twice before didn’t prevent her from trying a third time. [More]
Walmart Lists “Sending Someone Money” As A Reason You Shouldn’t Wire Money To Someone
By December 5, 2012
A lot of international fraud scams involve having to wire money to the scammers, and they’ve become so commonplace that operators of wire services like Western Union train employees to keep an eye out for red flags indicating a possible scam might be occurring. But we think this warning sign from Walmart and MoneyGram might be a little too over-cautious. [More]
Study: There Are Plenty Of People Who Would Take Out A Walmart Or PayPal Mortgage
By December 4, 2012
What’s an average citizen to do when getting a mortgage from a big bank or other financial institution isn’t an option? Perhaps you might consider taking out mortgages from a retailer like Walmart, or even PayPal? A new financial services study says there are plenty of people out there who would be down with a situation like that. [More]
