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Wal-Mart Threatens Legal Action Against GottaDeal.com


Brad

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I never did the black friday thing...there is nothing I want / ned so badly that I have to get up at the crack of dawn and fight other people over...silly especially since the deals are no better than they are a week or 2 later. This Black Friday I will be on the Rhone in Germany touring castles and spending my hard earned money on really good Reisling!

This was one of replies! Must be rough!

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i have always been a "reluctant" wal-mart shopper; dont like their consumer policy, quality of goods, business practices, etc. they have still gotten my money, though, for a variety of reasons including low prices, convenience and the like. for someone like me who has only been able to spend considerable amounts of money in any store for about the last ten years, the total amount that has gone straight to walmarts bank account figures in the tens of thousands.

 

recently in my area, there has been growing discontent with walmart due to what happened when a new super walmart moved in to town. of course, they promised lots of new jobs and a boost to the economy, even contributing extra money to the town for traffic improvements in order to sweeten the deal. what has everyone so angry is that now that walmart is in, they are suing the town, claiming the new tax valuation is too high, and asking for an almost 50% decrease in their tax contribution to the towns economy. and the local news has reported that this is common practice for walmart, that in more than 2000 towns across the country, this is what they do. i dont remember the figure for their resulting tax savings nationwide, but it was in the hundreds of millions. makes me want to puke.

 

i was already considering a boycott due to the tax thing, but this bf ridiculousness is the last straw and the deal is now sealed. NOT ONE MORE PENNY!!!!!

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I have been checking the other BF sites (shame on me, I know) and they have been voicing the same concerns as us, but not quite as loud as we have. I have started posting on them, calling for solidarity in our complaining to W*lm*rt. Perhaps, if we all band together, we can send a strong enough message to them to make a difference.

Don't worry about going to other BF sites - we all know which is the best site :)

 

And yeah, I was expecting more from the other sites. I guess they are more concerned with keeping their affiliate relationship with Wal-Mart than doing what's right. They don't want to chance losing $ from Wal-Mart, so they have to keep Wal-Mart happy. That's obviously not happening here, lol. Kind of sad, since if Wal-Mart gets away with this, every other store can easily do the same thing to all the BF sites.

 

Once again, keep calling and e-mailing today everyone. Let them know you're not going to go away anytime soon!

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I know that W*l-M*rt doesn't care, but I haven't shopped there in so long that I honestly can't remember the last time I bought something at one of their stores. And my life is none the worse for it.

 

I do think that this tactic seriously sucks and will e-mail and call, just for the principle involved.

 

I think that they also feel if you can't plan too far in advance, maybe, just maybe, a customer will stick around a store a little longer and buy other items instead of rushing off to the next BF deal. After all, they don't make the biggest profit margins on some of these doorbuster deals -- it's the other items people throw in the cart, since they are *already there anyway*. They want people to stick around and spend more. Anyway, just my thought.

 

Good luck campaigning, everyone! :)

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It is my understanding that you are threatening to take legal action against the entities of the website known as www dot gottadeal dot com. Please understand that the majority of individuals use the pre-published information acquired from this site to plan their "Black Friday" shopping strategy. It is VERY helpful to know in advance where certain “deals” are going to be within each individual retail outlet. I do not think that “Wal-Mart” should be concerned with their sales ads being leaked out prior to Black Friday. The Wal-Mart chain has been a cornerstone for retail business in many communities for years. I trust Wal-Mart and find it very disturbing that they would consider legal action against any individual that was attempting to make it easier for consumers to shop.

 

I respectfully request that you DO NOT take any sort of legal action against any entity that provides pre-published information concerning Black Friday sales advertisements.

 

Respectfully,

 

XXX XXXXX

President, Midwest Consumer Shopping Group

 

 

What do you guys think?

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Sent another email, and my DH called. I can't believe he called!

 

He is upset because he sees this as the big powerhouse threating to sue as a show of their power.

 

DH started his call with, " I understand not wanting to have information made to the public early, but it happens". He said the tactic was all wrong, and that in this day and age it is hard to keep anything secret for long. (He gave Harry Potter book 7 as an example.) He said a better choice would be to politely ask sites to remove the ad IF leaked. He felt they would lose a lot less consumers that way.

 

He also suggested they could use a leak towards their advantage. If leaked they could view public response and if poor, they could offer an incentive. An incentive such as a coupon for an additional 10 or 15% off total purchase. The coupon could easily be printed off of their website or handed out the morning of BF and of course "leaked" so consumers were made aware.

 

I am so proud of DH!

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He also suggested they could use a leak towards their advantage. If leaked they could view public response and if poor, they could offer an incentive. An incentive such as a coupon for an additional 10 or 15% off total purchase. The coupon could easily be printed off of their website or handed out the morning of BF and of course "leaked" so consumers were made aware.

 

Wow! Good for your hubby! What a great idea too! The leaked ads could certainly be used to their advantage if they worked it right.

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I think it would serve WM good if we didn't buy from them this BF and did our business at those stores that aren't sue happy and actually want customers. How in the world they can think "leaked BF ad= excited potential customers" is a bad thing is beyond me.

 

Eh, they probably don't want to tip off BB and Target on how bad their ad is again this year. This could actually work to our advantage- BB and Target put out the good ads, everyone else is waiting at WM for their "secret sales" and we at gottadeal get all the good stuff! :gdyes: Hopefully BB and Target, etc will see the error of WM's ways and not raise a fuss. ;)

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If anyone can find more direct phone numbers or e-mail addresses for the higher-ups at WM, that would also be awesome.

 

I found three more numbers for Wal-Mart Media Relations. That way we're not just hitting Sarah in Media Relations but the rest of the staff as well.

 

Shannon E. Frederick (479) 277-7584

Tara Raddohl (479) 277-7589 [email protected]

Tara Stewart (479) 273-4314 [email protected]

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Well, this has sealed my decision to stop shopping at Walmart completely. They just completely remodeled my Walmart in town and it looks worse than it did before (huge scratches on the floor, spills everywhere, disgusting bathrooms). I have no desire to shop at Walmart anymore. I've been making the extra 15 minute drive to Target to avoid it and will likely continue it, as this annoys me. I wrote in about it too, btw.
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Utterly ridiculous... I will boycott Walmart on Black Friday.

I will too. There are many other stores out there and I have no problem taking my money elsewhere. I rely on this early information to decide where I am going to shop. I usually go to walmart first, but now......... I think they are causing themselves some really negative publicity. I would think they would want to shout what their GREAT deals would be, but that is just my opinion! I am contacting walmart today!!

 

Edited:

I just emailed them and I will call them when I settle down a bit. I just cannot tell you how pi$$ed I am over this whole thing. I do so much shopping at walmart (probably 95% including groceries and all), mainly because of the convienence of having it very close by. I think now is a good time to give my hard earned money to some other places. It may not be a big deal to a big corporation like walmart but it is to me. I understand they are a business but they really should think about the consumers in a situation like this. I don't think they understand just how important this early information is to most of us...or just don't care maybe.

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I bought something from WM online the day before this story broke. The reason I purchased it from WM online was that I saw it listed on gottadeal.com!!! I think I need to call and tell them I plan to return it as soon as it is received and buy it somewhere else.

 

My sister used to work at WM and here is one her favorite WM employee jokes:

 

Q: What's the difference between a Wal-Mart employee and a jobless person.

A: The jobless person makes more money and has better insurance!!!

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