Here’s a cheap way to replace your cellphone if you lose it while under contract. Just go to Walmart and buy one of their pre-paid cellphones, then call up your provider and ask for them to activate the phone under your account. You’ll need the provide the serial number and the ESN of your old phone. Those are found underneath the battery (so it’s a good idea to write them down BEFORE you lose your phone).
walmart
Walmart Took Secret Life Insurance Policies Out On Employees, Collected After Their Death
By 7.3.07
Armatrout was one of about 350,000 employees Wal-Mart secretly insured nationwide, said Texas attorney Michael D. Myers, who estimated the company collected on 75 to 100 policies involving Florida employees who died.
Watch Out For Falling Rising Prices
By 6.30.07
Walmart’s little yellow smiley face must have taken revenge on the corporate overseers who make him slash through the aisles like a jaundiced deflationary Casper. More pictures and our tipster’s email, inside…
States Target Big Box Retail
By 6.29.07
Maine Gov. John Baldacci last week signed into law a measure requiring developers of retail stores exceeding 75,000 square feet to conduct studies gauging the project’s impact on municipal services, the environment and local businesses. The proposed store can’t be approved if the studies find it is likely to cause a quantifiable, “undue adverse impact” on more than one of those fronts and is expected to have a harmful effect on the community overall.
Guy Switches Price Tag On Walmart Plasma TV, Tries To Buy It For $4.88
By 6.29.07
The dumb scams people try to pull never cease to amaze us. Take Chandon L. Simms, 23, of Monroe, LA. He walked into his local Walmart, grabbed a 42″ Sanyo Plasma TV, removed its price tag and affixed one that would scan for only $4.88.
T-Mobile Sells New Phone Loaded With Porn
By 6.24.07
Taking a page from Comcast, T-Mobile sold Shelby Hinds a phone containing 60 images from an online porn gallery associated with another user’s account. Shelby purchased the phone from a T-Mobile kiosk at Walmart, where she “watched the salesman take the wrapping off two new phones and program them. ” T-Mobile said the porn was Shelby’s fault:
…the representative on the phone told her the only way the phone could have those images was if she took the photos herself or if the pictures were sent to her in a text message.
Shelby brought the smut phone to a T-Mobile store, where the employees said they had “never seen a problem like this before.” T-Mobile is now attributing the porn to a “technical glitch,” and will replace the phone free of charge and waive Shelby’s activation fees. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
Jury Awards Walmart Pharmacist $2 Million In Sex-Discrimination Suit
By 6.21.07
A Massachusetts jury has awarded a former Walmart employee almost $2 million dollars after finding that the company underpaid her, then fired her as a result of gender discrimination, according to Reuters.
“We respect the jury’s decision but we feel that it did not reflect the facts in the case, so we are studying the decision and have not ruled out an appeal,” said Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley, in a phone interview on Wednesday. “Ms. Haddad was dismissed because of numerous violations of company policy.”
This Walmart Birthday Cake Shows Excellent Craftmanship
By 6.18.07
Hey consumerist just thought I’d let you and every other customer out there know that Wal-mart sucks at making cakes! It was my daughter’s 3rd birthday yesterday (06.17.07) and my wife ordered a cake a week ago to be made for this date. When we picked it up with a little less than an hour until the party started, we were extremely disappointed to say the least. We complained and they gave us 20% off but that wasn’t enough as far as we were concerned. I told customer service “We shouldn’t have to pay more than half for a half-assed cake” (I just couldn’t resist making a pun haha). All they said was “twenty percent is the most we can give you”. We didn’t have time to get another cake and just went ahead and bought it but we will never buy another cake from Wal-Mart again that’s for damn sure. I mean look at at it, it looks hardly anything like the advertisement! That strip with black lines on it, yeah that’s supposed to look like a film strip. Oh and to boot my wife ordered butter cream filling and they put strawberry instead. Is it really that hard to follow directions and deliver a worthy product? Apparently.
Indeed, that cake is pretty weak. They should probably get rid of the picture if they can’t actually make that cake.
More Than $3 Billion Stolen From Walmart This Year
By 6.13.07
According to the AP, so-called “shrinkage” at Walmart could rise to more than $3 billion this year. The shrinkage comes from a combination of supplier fraud, employee theft, bad bookkeeping and, of course, shoplifting.
Walmarts Tries To Become Your Bank With The "Walmart MoneyCard"
By 6.11.07
“Would you like to load your check onto a Wal-Mart MoneyCard?”
Walmart Pet Food Recalled Due To Salmonella Contamination
By 6.7.07
Only one specific lot of 55 pound bonus bags of Ol’ Roy Complete Nutrition dry dog food was affected. Pets who eat the food or people who handle it could be infected with salmonella, so if you’ve purchased this dog food you’re going to want to throw it out and return the empty bag to Walmart for a refund.
Walmart Nazi Tshirt Watch: Week 29
By 6.7.07
29 weeks after Walmart agreed to remove shirts bearing Nazi iconography from its shelves, and 17 weeks after getting a letter from Congress demanding the shirts removal, they’re still there. Adam writes:
So I’m at Wal Mart in Commerce City, CO looking for a gift for a friend and start rummaging through the T Shirt section not looking for anything in particular, just killing some time. Suddenly I notice this familiar looking skull peeking out at me. “Surely it can’t be…” I think to myself. Oh, it is…. I grab it and pull it out; there it is in all its glory. It’s like finding a piece of history. Nazi Wal Mart history.
We keep posting these to show you how some businesses manipulate the by-the-books media. A fracas erupts, the company send out a public statement apologizing and pledging to change their ways, the press publishes it, everyone feels goods, and we turn to a clip of Scrappy the Jet-skiing squirrel. Guess what, the company doesn’t always do what they said they were gonna do. — BEN POPKEN
Walmart Subsidy Watch: Why Do Public Officials Give Your Tax Money To Walmart?
By 6.5.07
Here’s something we don’t really understand. Why do public officials feel they need to give government subsidies to the nation’s largest employer? It’s sort of baffling.
Walmart Shareholder's Meeting: Less Discussion, More J. Lo.
By 6.4.07
Jennifer Lopez was the main attraction at Walmart’s 4 hour long “shareholder’s meeting”, along with American Idol winner Jordin Sparks and comedian Sinbad. Less important? The shareholders. Walmart allotted 3 minutes to each of the resolutions shareholders had put forward. Why was such little time available for shareholders to discuss the company they own? “Time-constraints!” Walmart had to make room for the following:
Walmart Sued For Dangerous Vomit Puddle
By 5.31.07
June and James Medema of Blue Grass, Iowa have filed a lawsuit against Walmart after June slipped and fell in a puddle of vomit. The owner of the vomit has not been identified, nor does the lawsuit specifically state how Walmart was negligent.
Walmart Worker Fired For Posting Joke On MySpace
By 5.31.07
Watch out, kids. Don’t try to be funny on the internet or you’ll be fired by Walmart.
Is Walmart Too Cheap For Its Own Good?
By 5.30.07
According to a confidential report leaked to the New York Times by WakeUpWalmart.com, Walmart’s low prices may be working against it when it comes to selling plasma TVs and more expensive clothes. From the NYT:
A confidential report prepared for senior executives at Wal-Mart Stores concludes, in stark terms, that the chain’s traditional strengths — its reputation for discounts, its all-in-one shopping format and its enormous selection — “work against us” as it tries to move upscale.
Walmart Sells Refurb TVs As New?
By 5.29.07
Walmart takes TVs people return and sells them as new, according to this unverified report we received.
