Walmart sold me the wrong product and now does not let me return it - UPDATE 3/15 : They will take it back

vtqanh

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2001
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I bought a Canon S400 at Walmart on March 1st and sent it oversea. My uncle carried the S400 with him oversea since he had an emergency situation and had to go back there. With all the hot deals on the S400 floating around, I would have never bought it from Walmart if it hadn't been an emergency leave. And also because he was in a hurry, we did not have time to inspect the camera, either.
Later, it turned out that the camera inside the box was an S100 (I guess some fvcking a*hole swapped the camera and returned it, and some idiotic Walmart cashier didnt even bother to check). Needless to say, my uncle brought it back when he got back here on March 12th. I was just at Walmart about 15 minutes ago and told them that the camera wasn't what I paid for and they did not let me return it, claiming that there wasnt anything they could do :|:|:|. The store manager already left so they told me I could come back tomorrow morning to talk to him/her.
That will be it for now. I will come back tomorrow and see what they say.
Has anyone experienced similar situations? If yes, how did it get resolved? What if the store manager refuses to accept the return?

Update - 3/14 : I came back to the same store this morning and spoke to the store manager (she said she was the co-manager since the real store manager is sick). Her name was Amy and despite her beautiful name, her attitude sucked. She did not let me return the camera and kept saying that if it wasn't the right camera, it could not be returned. I remained calm and polite all the time but now I regret that I did. I will talk to the Customer Service hot line (1-800-WALMART) tomorrow morning and see what they say before I file a dispute with American Express. Has anyone tried to file a dispute with Amex on similar situations?
Update - 3/15 : I called Walmart Home Office this morning. The lady who answered the phone was very polite. She took my phone number and my address and said that it would be forwarded to the store manager (the real one, not the co-manager). She said if the store manager does not resolve the situation to my satisfaction, then I can call back and they will forward it to the upperlevel management.
LAST UPDATE: I just received a call from Amy and she said that after the store manager reviewed the case, he agreed to take it back. So I didnt have to take it as far as I thought I would have to.
 

Falloutboy

Diamond Member
Jan 2, 2003
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all you got is your word. how are they to know that you didn't swap it like the ahole that did it to begin with. although this might be a situation where if you make a big enough scene you'll get your way :D
 

LAUST

Diamond Member
Sep 13, 2000
8,957
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Sometimes people have to learn their lessons the hard way, now you won't be going to go back to the $h!thole anymore right? ;)
 

ctcsoft

Platinum Member
Nov 21, 2003
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well...

walmart has one of the best return policies... its kinda hard to beat them in that regard.

think about it.. if this happened at any online vendor or other store i doubt they'd accept the return either.

your gonna have to really b!tch and moan.
 

murphy55d

Lifer
Dec 26, 2000
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*sigh*

Let me start off by saying, I work at a Wal-mart. This sort of thing happens all the time. ALL THE TIME, people bring back stuff with the wrong item inside. In fact just this week, someone returned a video card box(i think it was an FX 5200 box), with a Rage 128 card inside. What happens is, when something like this, or a camera, camcorder, etc get returned, someone from electronics is supposed to come up and inspect the contents to make sure it is the right item. A lot of times, the people in electronics are idiots, and wouldn't know the difference if you showed them. What happens then sometimes, is this item gets put back on the shelf, if it was not returned as defective, which then screws whoever buys that.

Just think about it from the store's POV... how do they know you're NOT trying to rip them off? It happens so often, people trying to do this, that it's no wonder you couldn't return it. The lack of knowledge of the electronics people, and the frequency of being ripped off are to blame when you can't return something like this.
 

weezergirl

Diamond Member
May 24, 2000
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maybe you should just try to return it and if they say anything say this was what was in the box when i bought it. :p if they are stupid, which obviously they are they wont' even realize it's not the s400!
 

vtqanh

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2001
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Originally posted by: weezergirl
maybe you should just try to return it and if they say anything say this was what was in the box when i bought it. :p if they are stupid, which obviously they are they wont' even realize it's not the s400!

yeah, and then they will put it back on the floor so somebody will get screwed?
 

weezergirl

Diamond Member
May 24, 2000
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And I would justlike to say, that even though my suggestion was pretty unethical as well. why should you pay for walmarts incompetency?
 

weezergirl

Diamond Member
May 24, 2000
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Originally posted by: vtqanh
Originally posted by: weezergirl
maybe you should just try to return it and if they say anything say this was what was in the box when i bought it. :p if they are stupid, which obviously they are they wont' even realize it's not the s400!

yeah, and then they will put it back on the floor so somebody will get screwed?

maybe that person will open the box and examine the product before buying it thus alerting the salespeople to hopefully take it off the floor. YOU NEVER KNOW! just trying to help geesh :p
 

KK

Lifer
Jan 2, 2001
15,903
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Originally posted by: vtqanh
Originally posted by: KK
did you pay with a CC?

KK

I paid with Amex Gold, not sure if they will do anything in this kind of situation though

Well they should. You didn't get what you paid for. They, Walmart, are commiting fraud.

KK
 

Aves

Lifer
Feb 7, 2001
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I bought RollerCoaster Tycoon from Wal-Mart and when I got to the car I opened the box and the disc wasn't in it. I immediately turned around and spent 2 hours fighting with them just to get a replacement. I wasn't even out of the store 60 seconds.

You're going to be hard pressed to get them to believe you and give you a new camera, especially after nearly 2 weeks.
 

Aves

Lifer
Feb 7, 2001
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Originally posted by: KK
Well they should. You didn't get what you paid for. They, Walmart, are commiting fraud.

For all Wal-Mart knows he's the one commiting fraud. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.
 

bentwookie

Golden Member
Aug 3, 2002
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I wouldn't even mention it went overseas...just say you bought it as a gift and when the recipient opened it, it was the wrong item. Just remain cool. I was able to return a swimming pool beyond the 3 month grace period.
 

vtqanh

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2001
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Originally posted by: aves2k
Originally posted by: KK
Well they should. You didn't get what you paid for. They, Walmart, are commiting fraud.

For all Wal-Mart knows he's the one commiting fraud. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

there will be an update after I get back from Walmart tomorrow morning. The manager is in at 7 AM
 

Freejack2

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2000
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Rule #1, before you leave the store open the box and make sure it's really what's supposed to be in there.
 

vtqanh

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2001
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Originally posted by: Freejack2
Rule #1, before you leave the store open the box and make sure it's really what's supposed to be in there.

I will apply that rule from now on for every purchase at Walmart
 

atom

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 1999
4,722
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Same thing happened to me and a copy of partition magic at crapUSA. Opened the box and instead of the PM CD inside the sleeve it had a Barbie Makeover CD inside. :|
 

ThaGrandCow

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2001
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Originally posted by: Freejack2
Rule #1, before you leave the store open the box and make sure it's really what's supposed to be in there.

That's a great rule, but in practice that's difficult to stick to. Part of the implied trust you give to a store by purchasing from them is that what is marked on the box is actually in there.
 

vtqanh

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2001
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Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
That's what you get for shopping at Wal Mart.

well, I had to buy a camera before 8AM that morning, Walmart was the only store that carried digital cameras and was open at that time.