Thursday, November 13, 2008

Wal-Mart No More!

Who likes going to several different stores to get all of the items on their shopping list? Not me1 That's why I've pretty much been a Wal-Mart shopper. All my grocery and miscellaneous sundries can be found under the same roof.

Until recently, that is. Lately I've had issues when I'd go to Wal-Mart, look down the aisle full of body wash bottles until I find the one I'm looking for... only to find, it isn't there! I cannot tell you guys how many times I've gone to Wal-Mart with my list in hand only to realize at least one (but usually several) of the specific items on my list were out of stock! It got to be so incredibly frustrating, but I'd just deal with it. I'd make the longer drive to Target and pay a few pennies more to get the item I needed.

On top of the whole "out of stock" issue, I've also started experiencing an extremely frustrating trend at the check-out. Now, I've never really been a coupon person, but for the past 2 or 3 months I've started looking online for coupons for the items I needed to purchase, print them, and take them with me to Wal-Mart. Sometimes I'd even build my shopping list around the items I was able to find coupons for. Almost every single time I tried to check out at Wal-Mart, the cashier would refuse to accept one or more of my coupons because they "wouldn't scan." I'm sorry, doesn't it say "75 cents off Bounty paper towels" right there above the little bar code thingy? Couldn't they just--heaven forbid--manually type in the coupon amount? (Shameful side note: I know for a fact this as possible as I used to work as a Wal-Mart cashier during high school). When I inquired about this they of course told me they weren't able to accept the coupon. Period. Needless to say, there were several times I dug through the several bags of purchases to locate the one or more items these unaccepted coupons were for, and have the cashier remove them simply out of principle. SO frustrating!

Last Sunday, it happened again--for the last time!!! I couldn't believe this cashier as she made an incredibly poor attempt to scan my little coupon and quickly refuse to accept it. I was with hubs and LO at the time (normally it's just me and LO) and I complained to hubs the entire way out to the car. There's just NO REASON for that. What ever happened to "customer service" I ask!?

No surprise here, but I jumped on my customer service soap box and sent a scathing email to Wal-Mart about my horrible experiences in their store. That was Sunday night. Today is Thursday, and I've still received no response from them. Am I surprised? Of course not. BUT... I have been inspired by Wal-Mart's complete lack of service to their customers to...



((wait for it))








(wait for it))







BOYCOTT WAL-MART!!!!!



That's right! I've officially decided to never, ever, ever, ever, ever walk through the doors of Wal-Mart stores again. How possible is this, you might ask? I believe it's quite possible! It's already day 4 of my boycott and it's going strong! There's nothing I purchase at Wal-Mart that I can't also find at Bi-Lo, Target, AC Moore, or any other retail establishment.

Should be interesting to see how long I can go without shopping at Wal-Mart. Although I've found that when I commit to something and really put my mind to it, I can do anything. We shall see!

2 comments:

  1. Good for you. I've stopped even trying coupons at Wal Mart. It's not even worth my time. My biggest pet peeve about Wal Mart though? If there are 2 in your town they are set up in the opposite. So if you happen to be at the one you don't normally visit and just need to run in for, say, advil, you park on the side where it is at your normal Wal Mart only to walk inside and have to walk across the entire store to get your one item.

    Bah!

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  2. I agree - WalMart has been my least favorite store for years. I tried going in again 3 weeks ago. It only made me realize how much I don't like it. Keep up the boycott!

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