Shoppers at Costco, Sam’s Club and other warehouse clubs are likely quite familiar with the many sample servers situated around the store, handing out freebies to eager customers. One such sample server has penned an open letter to warehouse club shoppers saying that he loves his job, but there are some things you all do that really get under his skin. [More]
Retail Services
Yep, Shoppers Started Camping Out For Black Friday This Wednesday
By 11.16.12
Yes, it’s advantageous to line up for an irresistible sale early. A duo of California shoppers were a little too early to this year’s Black Friday sale at their local Best Buy, though, camping outside of the store more than a week ahead of time. Security staff booted them off the property, asking them to return on Thanksgiving. Thank Providence someone in this scenario is sane. [More]
Former Costco Employee Responds To Man Who Refuses To Show Membership Card Or Have Receipt Checked
By 11.16.12
Yesterday, we told you about the California man who, in spite of being aware of Costco policy when he became a member, refuses to show his membership card when he enters the store and makes it impossible for his receipt to be checked on the way out. Today, someone who actually worked at Costco writes in with a rebuttal. [More]
Sears Has The Tires I Ordered In Stock For Anyone But Me
By 11.16.12
Ally is a tireless disgruntled former Sears customer. We don’t mean that she’s tireless in that she’s working without ceasing to take down Sears. We mean that she really needs some new tires, which she ordered from Sears last week. She called them up to make sure that they had her tires in stock, and they did. When the time came for her service appointment, though, she found out that Sears didn’t have the tires in stock for her, and they couldn’t explain why in a clear way. What they could provide her with was a hold on her bank account because she had originally ordered the tires with her debit card. So that was awesome. [More]
More Obnoxious: Agreeing to Membership Rules You Have No Intention of Following, Or Having Your Receipt Checked?
By 11.15.12
At most stores, it’s reasonable for customers to walk in without being aware of that retailer’s particular policies. But when you sign up for a members-only warehouse store like Costco, it’s made pretty clear from the get-go that you’re agreeing to abide by the store’s rules. Isn’t that the trade-off for being able to buy Snickers by the carton? [More]
Couponing, Interrupted: Front-Line Employees Speak Out About Kroger Spider-Man Promotion
By 11.15.12
Earlier this week, we shared Sarah’s story about her failed attempt to get a free bag of Pirate’s Booty from a coupon provided at Safeway. The top half of this sheet advertised the DVD of the new “Spider-Man” reboot; the bottom had two separate coupons. One coupon (for batteries) specified that the customer had to buy the DVD in large letters. The other (for Pirate’s Booty snack food) didn’t. Sarah says that she tore off this coupon and went to claim her four ounces of cheesy goodness. That’s when things went horribly wrong, The cashier refused to take the coupon, acted like Sarah was trying to run a scam, and–worst of all–mocked Sarah when the cashier thought that she had left the store. She hadn’t. She was standing right nearby. [More]
Missed Black Friday 2011? Don’t Worry, Most Retailers Are Selling Same Stuff At Same Sale Prices
By 11.14.12
Did you miss shopping Black Friday sales last year and have regretted it ever since? Don’t. Our friends over at NerdWallet nerded over this year’s “leaked” Black Friday ads and determined that so far, nine out of ten stores are offering the same exact items on sale at the same exact prices. [More]
Man Mad At Walmart Because He Doesn’t Actually Want A $480 Fake iPad
By 11.14.12
Even if you’re not buying iPads in gas stations (either in Texas or Florida, or anywhere else for that matter), customers are finding out there are duds popping up in the places you’d least expect. A man in Miami says he recently bought an iPad from Walmart ended up with a $480 piece of plastic that does absolutely nothing and is in fact, not an iPad. [More]
Study: Amazon Has Cheapest Toys Online [Cue Other Retailers Scrambling To Cut Prices]
By 11.14.12
In the retail world, it’s all about beating out the competition. And if you can offer the lowest prices and thus lure the most customers, well then you’re the winningest of all. A new analysis of retailers has come up with a big old carrot of motivation by saying Amazon has cheaper online prices for toys than major chains like Walmart and Target. Let the price wars begin, just in time for the holiday season. [More]
How Do You Access Orbitz Low Fare Promise, Exactly?
By 11.14.12
Travel-booking site Orbitz has what they call a Low Fare Promise: if you find a cheaper posted fare for the same flight that costs at least $5 less than what you just paid at Orbitz, they’ll give you a $50 coupon for a future trip. Ryan did exactly that: he found a cheaper fare on the airline’s website after booking through Orbitz, so he surfed back to their site to claim his coupon. Only he couldn’t figure out how. The first customer service person he spoke to at Orbitz had no idea, either. [More]
For $7/Month, Walmart Will Send You A Box Of Snacks
By 11.14.12
Earlier today, Walmart launched a subscription service called Goodies.co, which will send members a box of food each month for rate of $7. But it looks like one of the main purposes of this program is to entice customers into providing feedback on these items, many of which aren’t currently on Walmart shelves. [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart In The Temple Of America Online
By 11.14.12 — Updated: 8.15.13
If you desperately need a copy of Windows Vista, it seems that your local Walmart is the place to go. That’s what the brave retail archeologists/Consumerist readers known as the Raiders of the Lost Walmart have learned as their excavations continue. [More]
Bookstore Combats E-Books With One Thing Your Kindle Can’t Offer
By 11.13.12
Whatever benefits an e-book might have over its print counterpart, and no matter how close digital media gets to ink-on-paper, there is one thing that downloaded copy of Moby Dick can’t offer to some readers: The collectable factor. [More]
Returning Tools To Sears Should Not Be This Complicated
By 11.13.12
Oh, Sears. They sort of want to become a modern retailer, but don’t know how. They just can’t figure out this whole 21st-century retail thing. E-mail reminders? Returning items online that were purchased online? Too confusing. Too modern. Make it go away. Jim is the rare Consumerist reader who has no complaints about Sears, even though he actually shops there. But even he admits that his recent experience returning some Craftsman tools was needlessly complicated and required a lot more steps than it should have. [More]
How I Stopped Rationalizing And Left Wells Fargo Behind For A Local Bank
By 11.12.12
Chris happened to live in Minnesota when he opened his first bank account at age 18, and went with Wells Fargo. They were everywhere, convenient, and the rest of his family were all signing up with them too. Shrug – why not? He stuck with them for more than a decade. He moved around the continent and a lot of things changed through his twenties, but his Wells Fargo account was a constant. Sometimes it was a little inconvenient, but he stuck with them out of habit. Until his balance fell low enough that they began charging him fees for the privilege of being their customer. It took him less than an hour to switch everything over to a local bank that isn’t fee-happy. Why, he wonders, did he stick with Big Stagecoach for so long? [More]
Walmart Workers Toss iPads Around, Post Video Online, Get Fired
By 11.12.12
We should be grateful that stupid people are often stupid across the board. This makes them easier to identify. That was the case with some night-shift warehouse employees at a Kentucky Walmart who thought that it would be fun to toss around what they claimed were iPads, dropping the boxes a few times like [insert name of your least favorite football team here.] Their poor judgement means that they thought it would be a fantastic idea to take a video of the shenanigans and post it on YouTube. [More]
Target Employees Not Exactly Thrilled With Idea Of Opening At 9 P.M. On Thanksgiving
By 11.9.12
Last year, one Target employee managed to get 200,000 signatures on a petition asking Target to reconsider its plan to have employees start work at 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving night. Target not only went ahead with that early opening, it’s apparently moved up the opening time to 9 p.m. this year, causing a round of new petitions. [More]
Walmart, Where Math Is Hard But The Fruit Is 110% Delicious
By 11.9.12
You might be able to figure it out from the name, but a Pluot is a hybrid between a plum and an apricot. As for what percentage of each of those fruits are represented in a Pluot, well… Walmart doesn’t seem to know. [More]
