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

[vtqanh]

Originally posted by: ThaGrandCow

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.

exactly. Can you imagine how bad Walmart would look if every customer opened every single box at the cash register to inspect the content?

 

[rudeguy]

for what its worth: I work in retail and this thing happens alot. I sold a guy the nicest Kenwood car audio cd player we had. He said he was taking it elsewhere to have it installed. He returned about a half hour later saying that he got the wrong deck. I openned the box and found a 2 year old, bottom of the line kenwood deck. Now I know that the box I sold him was the right one (we had just gotten them in) but there was nothing I could do but refund him his money and take a $400 hit.

Another time a guy bought the top of the line Denon home receiver and returned it the same day unopenned (or so we thought.) A couple weeks later, a guy buys the same receiver, but comes back later in the day saying he got the wrong one. There was an ancient JVC receiver in the box. Which customer was scamming??? No way to tell.

People scam, other people get shafted because of it. It should be the store manager's call on what to do with your uncle's camera. Be polite and respectful and ask him to help you out, dont demand anything. Its his call 100% since you cant prove that you didnt switch the cameras, remember that when you are talking to him.

 

[JoeKing]

Did the box have any indication of being previously opened? Was it sealed?

 

[vtqanh]

Originally posted by: Joeyman
Did the box have any indication of being previously opened? Was it sealed?

Canon digital cameras are never sealed. It's the kind of box that you just open it out without having to cut/remove any tape at all.

 

[Spencer278]

Originally posted by: GoodDad
for what its worth: I work in retail and this thing happens alot. I sold a guy the nicest Kenwood car audio cd player we had. He said he was taking it elsewhere to have it installed. He returned about a half hour later saying that he got the wrong deck. I openned the box and found a 2 year old, bottom of the line kenwood deck. Now I know that the box I sold him was the right one (we had just gotten them in) but there was nothing I could do but refund him his money and take a $400 hit.

Another time a guy bought the top of the line Denon home receiver and returned it the same day unopenned (or so we thought.) A couple weeks later, a guy buys the same receiver, but comes back later in the day saying he got the wrong one. There was an ancient JVC receiver in the box. Which customer was scamming??? No way to tell.

People scam, other people get shafted because of it. It should be the store manager's call on what to do with your uncle's camera. Be polite and respectful and ask him to help you out, dont demand anything. Its his call 100% since you cant prove that you didnt switch the cameras, remember that when you are talking to him.

If it happens so often why doen't companies require all products that be inside a clear package?

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: Spencer278

Originally posted by: GoodDad
for what its worth: I work in retail and this thing happens alot. I sold a guy the nicest Kenwood car audio cd player we had. He said he was taking it elsewhere to have it installed. He returned about a half hour later saying that he got the wrong deck. I openned the box and found a 2 year old, bottom of the line kenwood deck. Now I know that the box I sold him was the right one (we had just gotten them in) but there was nothing I could do but refund him his money and take a $400 hit.

Another time a guy bought the top of the line Denon home receiver and returned it the same day unopenned (or so we thought.) A couple weeks later, a guy buys the same receiver, but comes back later in the day saying he got the wrong one. There was an ancient JVC receiver in the box. Which customer was scamming??? No way to tell.

People scam, other people get shafted because of it. It should be the store manager's call on what to do with your uncle's camera. Be polite and respectful and ask him to help you out, dont demand anything. Its his call 100% since you cant prove that you didnt switch the cameras, remember that when you are talking to him.

If it happens so often why doen't companies require all products that be inside a clear package?

because the box people would revolt and there would be anarchy

I dont have all the answers...just telling you what we people who work in retail have to deal with

 

[JoeKing]

Originally posted by: vtqanh

Originally posted by: Joeyman
Did the box have any indication of being previously opened? Was it sealed?

Canon digital cameras are never sealed. It's the kind of box that you just open it out without having to cut/remove any tape at all.

wow talk about a flaw in packaging. If I were to buy an expensive item I'd feel better if it were nice an sealed in plastic. Like how harddrives are sealed.

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: Joeyman

Originally posted by: vtqanh

Originally posted by: Joeyman
Did the box have any indication of being previously opened? Was it sealed?

Canon digital cameras are never sealed. It's the kind of box that you just open it out without having to cut/remove any tape at all.

wow talk about a flaw in packaging. If I were to buy an expensive item I'd feel better if it were nice an sealed in plastic. Like how harddrives are sealed.

most manufacturers only put a small piece of tape over the flap of the box. I have never bought a canon product so I cant tell you if they do or not. I can check at work tomorow to be sure.

 

[vtqanh]

Originally posted by: GoodDad

Originally posted by: Joeyman

Originally posted by: vtqanh

Originally posted by: Joeyman
Did the box have any indication of being previously opened? Was it sealed?

Canon digital cameras are never sealed. It's the kind of box that you just open it out without having to cut/remove any tape at all.

wow talk about a flaw in packaging. If I were to buy an expensive item I'd feel better if it were nice an sealed in plastic. Like how harddrives are sealed.

most manufacturers only put a small piece of tape over the flap of the box. I have never bought a canon product so I cant tell you if they do or not. I can check at work tomorow to be sure.

This is the third canon camera I have bought and none of them has any tape over the flap of the box

 

[JonnyBlaze]

just go return it without saying anything and get over on em like someone else did.

JBlaze

 

[Dragnov]

Originally posted by: murphy55d
*sigh*
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.

Er, I would definitely say the responsibilty is on Walmart to ensure the right product is inside when accepting returns... Then there simply wouldn't be this problem.

 

[AlienCraft]

<does not shop at China-Mart

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

American Express will handle this nicely. Send a picture of the box and camera and let them know what happened and which store won't handle it, that is, after speaking with the manager tomorrow. American Express will most likely refund you the full cost

 

[vtqanh]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
American Express will handle this nicely. Send a picture of the box and camera and let them know what happened and which store won't handle it, that is, after speaking with the manager tomorrow. American Express will most likely refund you the full cost

yep, that will be my last option on the list. First one being talking to the store manager tomorrow, second being calling Walmart Home Office number (1800walmart)

 

[vtqanh]

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?

 

[episodic]

Can't believe you remained calm . . .


I go ape over 10$ rebates though - I might faint if it were hundreds of dollars . . .

 

[SunnyD]

Walmart's policy - the customer is always right -- that is unless we can screw him over.

 

[vtqanh]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Walmart's policy - the customer is always right -- that is unless we can screw him over.

I will go with every available option until this matter is resolved. next step will be Walmart's home office (through the hotline phone number). Then I will be sending letters to Walmart's corporate office (like, one every week) while filing a charge dispute at Amex.

 

[Spencer278]

Just start with Amex you will have better luck. If you really want to get the problem resolved by wal-mart find out win the distric manager is going to be at the store in question and then hunt him down and start complaining to him.

 

[vtqanh]

Originally posted by: Spencer278
Just start with Amex you will have better luck. If you really want to get the problem resolved by wal-mart find out win the distric manager is going to be at the store in question and then hunt him down and start complaining to him.

It won't be that hard to know when the DM is there since I know a lot of people working at that store. However, I also have heard from those people that the district manager was a d!ck, so I'm not sure if there will be better luck going that route

 

[dym]

Originally posted by: vtqanh

Originally posted by: Spencer278
Just start with Amex you will have better luck. If you really want to get the problem resolved by wal-mart find out win the distric manager is going to be at the store in question and then hunt him down and start complaining to him.

It won't be that hard to know when the DM is there since I know a lot of people working at that store. However, I also have heard from those people that the district manager was a d!ck, so I'm not sure if there will be better luck going that route

Just let it go...
:beer:

 

[Sluggo]

Originally posted by: vtqanh

Originally posted by: Spencer278
Just start with Amex you will have better luck. If you really want to get the problem resolved by wal-mart find out win the distric manager is going to be at the store in question and then hunt him down and start complaining to him.

It won't be that hard to know when the DM is there since I know a lot of people working at that store. However, I also have heard from those people that the district manager was a d!ck, so I'm not sure if there will be better luck going that route

It will be easier and less hassle to just dispute the purchase with your CC company. You have already tried to rectify the situation with the store on 2 occasions, and been denied.

 

[bentwookie]

you must not have an honest face..I can pretty much return anything, sometimes even without a receipt.

 

[Dacalo]

Originally posted by: GoodDad
for what its worth: I work in retail and this thing happens alot. I sold a guy the nicest Kenwood car audio cd player we had. He said he was taking it elsewhere to have it installed. He returned about a half hour later saying that he got the wrong deck. I openned the box and found a 2 year old, bottom of the line kenwood deck. Now I know that the box I sold him was the right one (we had just gotten them in) but there was nothing I could do but refund him his money and take a $400 hit.

Another time a guy bought the top of the line Denon home receiver and returned it the same day unopenned (or so we thought.) A couple weeks later, a guy buys the same receiver, but comes back later in the day saying he got the wrong one. There was an ancient JVC receiver in the box. Which customer was scamming??? No way to tell.

People scam, other people get shafted because of it. It should be the store manager's call on what to do with your uncle's camera. Be polite and respectful and ask him to help you out, dont demand anything. Its his call 100% since you cant prove that you didnt switch the cameras, remember that when you are talking to him.

It's just plainly sad how low people would go to scam others like that.

I hope it works out for you. You are in a sticky situation where distrust is inevitable from retailer's POV.

 

[NeoPTLD]

I learned a lesson in this thread.

If I'm buying anything remotely expensive, I am going to inspect the content in witness of an employee.