jrspires

Went to my local WalMart this morning with the sole purpose of getting 2 of the $39 WD 500gb portable hard drives. The associates told me they did not receive any of them and just 3 of the 1.5 Seagates in the ad, which were already gone. After finding several 500gb WD's on the shelf, I asked the store manager if they could sell me those for the same price since it was the same exact item, same brand, size everything, just a different barcode. He said they could not honor the ad price because those were only for the promo items they send on Black Friday. Plus, no rainchecks as usual. I called the next closest store, and they didn't get them either. So forget about the damn price matching. They won't even match their own damn ad with the same identical item. I am done with Black Friday doorbusters. If I can't buy it online, to hell with it. I emailed WalMart, but I'll die of shock if they do anything to remedy it. I've worked as a retail manager for almost 10 yrs & there's no way in hell I could continually piss on my customers the way Wal Mart does. If at all possible, I'll shop somewhere else.

I'm a manager of a retailer that still does layaway, and a former layaway customer, so I've seen it from both sides of the fence. As an employee, I can understand why WalMart eliminated layaway. I understand the need for such a program, but the customers are the reason it's gone. It's sad that everyone had to lose out due to irresponsible customers abusing the system, but there's no way to make it work. The store I work for still does layaways, and I would say only 15-20% are actually paid out. The rest are done by half-wits(and that's being conservative in some cases) who couldn't manage their money if their lives depended on it and are just taking solace in the fact they don't have to pay for it right then. Supplies are limited, especially around Christmas time. Why should we lose sales because the merchandise is in the back in a layaway bin, being held for someone who's never coming back to get it? I say let them have to get the credit cards and have to pay the ungodly interest. Most of the ones who never pay them out are the same fools borrowing money from finance companies at 40% interest. I miss layaway as a shopper, but as a retailer, it's a pain in the butt, and the efforts of a few irresponsible morons ruined a good thing for everybody.