Letter Received from Walmart's Legal Representatives

[Uberfemme]

And if your car got stolen at the local bank, church, library or elementary school would it be their fault? Most retail establishments, public parking lots, and garages have disclaimers that they are not responsible for the cars or their contents. Why? Because they know that there are bad people out there. The scum of the earth who will take things from you anytime, anywhere. Now, if it was a WM employee who stole the car, took it apart, and resold it in the automotive section then that would be a different story :)

In this case, it really was their fault. Not only did the security guard sit there and watch, one of Wal-Mart's store employees did as well. After our car was stolen, we found out there have been several thefts from that parking lot. Oddly enough, the same thing has not happened at the Super Target down the street. Apparently, thieves choose the Wal-Mart parking lot because of the lack of policing.

 

The problem I have with Wal-Mart os the obvious lack of security in their parking lots. I had not idea how bad crime in Wal-Mart parking lots was until after my car was stolen.

[dawnelise0004]

Well after last years Wal-Mart nightmare, which involved a 2 hour showdown with me and several managers and a phone conversation with the regional office I had already pretty much decided no Wal-Mart this year, but after the ad thing that is a 100% definate.

 

Yeah I ended up at a Wal-Mart last year that said Wal-Mart didn't price match any Black Friday adds...so you can probably imagine how well that went. But in the end I did prevail!

[mcmc]

the wal-mart where I work price matched anything that is within a 100 something radious had to be the exact same item had to be one price could not be anything that was a percentage off thing. Must be an individual store type thing.

[JohnnyLaRue]

Not a fan of Walmart and make an effort NOT to shop there. I do agree their BF deals are a joke.

[amani]

Brad & other GD:

 

Do you think "corporate people" :gdparanoid:from Wal-Mart and other stores come to snope and see what us "consumers" talk about and what we think about BF? It's funny to read some of the post.

Anyhoooo......It depends on how bad I want that deal at Wally World, I might fight the crowd, then again, I'm almost finsh. I might just be at Target and BB.

[dec458]

I don't understand. How does it hurt Walmart to have their flyer released early?

They don't want the other competitors to pick on their pricing and match it. If they released it at least on the 23rd or so, the other retailers probably wouldn't have time to compete.

[dec458]

the wal-mart where I work price matched anything that is within a 100 something radious had to be the exact same item had to be one price could not be anything that was a percentage off thing. Must be an individual store type thing.

That helps some, but not a whole lot, because Walmart will have some things made special for them. For instance, I bought an RCA 26" TV they had on special and the model was only available from Walmart.

[caramel]

Screw Walmart. It's a POS company with the worst customer relations and it can go bankrupt for all I care. Target here I come!

[chaoz]

i have heard they will have some cheap lcd 19inch for around 100.

[chaoz]

Screw Walmart. It's a POS company with the worst customer relations and it can go bankrupt for all I care. Target here I come!

If WM went under this world would be a better place.customer service is so bad and its like that at every store.would never think that sams club is the same company they are actually nice there.

 

WM i ask for help and i get sorry not my dept.Sorry im on break..

[jstluvem]

not shopping there this BF either, at one time was my favorite .

[slvbeard]

Nice letterhead...

[TazErase]

Screw Walmart. After what they did to me last year I will never run for one of their special sales again. Last year they had a special deal on laptops a few weeks before Black Friday. The sale didn't start until the next day but since the Walmart is 24hrs I decided to go at about 5pm the night before to stand in line (I love standing hours in line to get good deals which is why I am always one of the first on line where I go on BF), any way there was no line, so I asked where to go to wait for the laptops to go on sale. I was told that they gave out tickets at noon and there were none left but I was welcome to return and see if anyone doesn't return to get theirs. I decided to stay around for 7 hours to wait to see what happens and out of the 40 they had available, 17 of them (that I know of) went to Walmart employees that took off their uniform vests as they were getting near where they were going to have them for sale. Well a few people didn't show and I overheard the assistant manager saying to "put this one in the back and mark Hold for Dave on it, when I asked the employee who Dave was, it was her son, she already got one for herself (coupon #1) but wanted another even though besides me there were about 15 others waiting to get the leftovers if someone didn't show. The point is, if you are going to have a sale set a time to give out the coupns for the items and let everyone get a fair chance at it. It is not right when the employees decide when to give out the tickets and at least 18 of the 40 items available go to the employees because they knew the tickets were going to be given out and got them before any customers had a chance to get them.

I have not and will not race to Walmart for their big sale items again in the future, I'll be on their competitors lines long before they give out their tickets any way.

[Doctor Gonzo]

Well, I was talking to my neighbor, who has been a manager at our local WM for many, many years. She often goes to meetings in Bentonville Arkansas where the main brain-trust is located. She has seen the Black Friday AD for this year, and when I asked her if there was any type of bargain that really stood out, she said NO - nothing that interested her. She said it is very much like the AD that has come out the last two or three years. "Nothing very special" were her exact words. Cheap pajamas/nightwear and slippers kind of stuff. Maybe this is why they don't want the AD leaked? Her Daughter and Daughter-in-law go out shopping together every year on Black Friday, and she always gives them a list of things to pick up for her that are at all the other stores.

 

My Wife and I have not been to a wal-Mart on BF for four years now, Guess this will make it five.

[matchbox20girl]

Wow..nothing like acting like you have something special to protect.

 

Uhhhhhhhhhh........they've SEEN their own ads the past few years, right?

 

THAT is worth protecting?

[Guest fgrocker]

Wow there are some jaded comments on this topic. I have no association with Walmart, but I do have an opinion.

 

If you don't like a store's customer service, don't shop there. If you don't think their BF deals are worthwhile, don't go and wait in line. They have no legal responsibility to allow their BF ad to be released beforehand if they don't want it to be. We're the ones that expect to see every ad weeks before the actual sale dates, and they are still giving it to us five days in advance. Stop being greedy and accept the fact that you won't see it until then.

 

Having said that, it's obvious that many of you don't realize that Walmart provides many, many, many US citizens with employment and helps to lower the cost of competitors (especially on BF). Try not to be bitter about what you don't have, be thankful for what you do.

[sigrist_2000]

Well, I was talking to my neighbor, who has been a manager at our local WM for many, many years. She often goes to meetings in Bentonville Arkansas where the main brain-trust is located. She has seen the Black Friday AD for this year, and when I asked her if there was any type of bargain that really stood out, she said NO - nothing that interested her. She said it is very much like the AD that has come out the last two or three years. "Nothing very special" were her exact words. Cheap pajamas/nightwear and slippers kind of stuff. Maybe this is why they don't want the AD leaked? Her Daughter and Daughter-in-law go out shopping together every year on Black Friday, and she always gives them a list of things to pick up for her that are at all the other stores.

 

My Wife and I have not been to a wal-Mart on BF for four years now, Guess this will make it five.

can she recall if there were any bargain priced dvds?

[peggbt]

A few notes: I've done the retail thing for decades, though not anymore TG! However, I can tell you, having worked for Sears & Disney, that corporate DOES monitor the posts about their stuff. They take notes to see if it's the same people complaining over and over or if a certain topic draws different users that don't usually post. They keep notes on the names of employees that are used to make sure the company line is being kept. And, yes, at Sears we did get to see the BF ad in August and the Disney Xmas catalog (when it existed) in July or August. And the level of WM suckiness varies from store to store and manager to manager.

[nikkilugi]

Wow there are some jaded comments on this topic. I have no association with Walmart, but I do have an opinion.

 

If you don't like a store's customer service, don't shop there. If you don't think their BF deals are worthwhile, don't go and wait in line. They have no legal responsibility to allow their BF ad to be released beforehand if they don't want it to be. We're the ones that expect to see every ad weeks before the actual sale dates, and they are still giving it to us five days in advance. Stop being greedy and accept the fact that you won't see it until then.

 

Having said that, it's obvious that many of you don't realize that Walmart provides many, many, many US citizens with employment and helps to lower the cost of competitors (especially on BF). Try not to be bitter about what you don't have, be thankful for what you do.

 

Unfortunately a lot of people don't have an option not to shop at Wal-Mart because they have effectively run lots of business out of many smaller towns. Wal-Mart has been good at lowering prices low enough to drive smaller mom and pop business right out of business.

 

The fact that Wal-Mart employs people is great - HOWEVER let's talk about how much those people are paid, about how they get diddly for insurance, about how many are on assistance because their paychecks don't cover the rent. We can talk about Wal-Mart cutting hours of employees below full-time so that they (Wal-Mart) doesn't have to offer those employees insurance.

 

No I wasn't one of the people complaining, however I do think it is fine if people want to. We are here for valid reasons, many of us have budgeted our $$ for Christmas and we would love to know what will be on sale on BF so that way we can gauge if a item is a better buy on sale this week versus BF. We have valid reasons for wanting the ads early - it's not about greed.

[amani]

Some people don't understand true BFers. That's the reason for this site.....don't like it kick rocks. I love BLACK FRIDAY.....

 

Yeah....100 posts

[dieseldude]

Fairydustcrissy I'm with you. Have not shopped in WM in many years. Can count on one hand the number of times I was actually in a WM. Not a fan of the way they do business. And I'm not just talking on the retail end. Buying and distribution too. The way they treat employees is a joke. I could care less what they sell a certain item for. I'll shop my local stores first.

[mabennett]

my best friend works at walmart and she said she couldn't hold anything because if management found out, she could be fired.

[elite2058]

I will shopping at Meijers again this year. The people lined up at Walmart came over cold & empty handed of Wii's. I could have gotten 2 at Meijers and I was warm and toasty. The staff was so pleasant (overwhelmed but nice) that I wrote to corporate. But, I do wish they had coffee available for us 3 am people:).

[Hurricain]

I wonder if they would like some cheese with that wine.

[brandibug]

So why wouldn't they want someone making preparations to shop at their store? I mean, by Nov 24 most people will have a game plan for BF and if they don't have Wal-Marts info, well then Wal-Mart gets left out of the shopping trip. Do they not realize that by getting the ad earlier, it might serve to entice people to shop there instead of a competitor? That seems dumb to me.

[Illinoismom]

Shopping at Walmart is something I do, But I watched a show on a movie channel I think anout their practices. They do not give any of there employees over 30 hours full time so that they can qualify for state assistance and encourage it. There annual yearly salary is below poverty level and this was all documented.

 

If they didn't have good prices and were the closest store it would make a differance

[mcmc]

I work at wal-mart I work 40 hours every week. We get an extra $1 an hour on sundays we get sick days paid for we get personel days and after two years you have two weeks vacation. I am sorry but working for wal-mart is not that bad alot of places do not offer sick days pay or personel days. Its not a bad place to work.

[TazErase]

Seriously since Walmart did this last year let's see how they like it if this site stopped posting anything Walmart related? Like many of the others on here, I make my BF plans long before the ads are "officialy" released. I have Best Buy (my first stop after my over night after getting there Thanksgiving morning) Staples (which I am not sure I am going to bother wih since there ad hasn't been posted), and Sears. Usually a few others mixed in if there is time.Looks like Circuit City will be taking my business from Staples, and Target will be getting my Walmart business. Easier that way in any case since Best Buy, Circuit City, Kohls, Target, Staples, Sears, and almost every other major retailer is within walking distance and Walmart requires me to drive 5 miles. I'll probably just stay in the one area which is less than 2 miles from my house instead of wasting my time with Walmart which doesn't even tell when they will give out tickets or where for the items listed and in many cases the employees get almost 50% of the tickets by the time the customers even know theare available. I'd rather stay in line at Best Buy all day Thanksgiving and all night and be sure to get the items I want rather than go to Walmart for any of the doorbusters since it's not a matter of when you get there, but more who you know and getting lucky to be at the place where they give out the tickets when they choose to give them out.

 

Hey Walmart execs, hope you read this post since I could rant all day about how the only ones that really get your best doorbusters are the employyes, and the assistant manager who not only kept one for herself but put one away for her son and another for her husband to pick up later in the day. I haven't returned for any of your sales items since and have no intention of doing it in the future. Besides, the Best Buy ads are much better any way!

[crazypurgatory]

Screw Walmart. After what they did to me last year I will never run for one of their special sales again. Last year they had a special deal on laptops a few weeks before Black Friday. The sale didn't start until the next day but since the Walmart is 24hrs I decided to go at about 5pm the night before to stand in line (I love standing hours in line to get good deals which is why I am always one of the first on line where I go on BF), any way there was no line, so I asked where to go to wait for the laptops to go on sale. I was told that they gave out tickets at noon and there were none left but I was welcome to return and see if anyone doesn't return to get theirs. I decided to stay around for 7 hours to wait to see what happens and out of the 40 they had available, 17 of them (that I know of) went to Walmart employees that took off their uniform vests as they were getting near where they were going to have them for sale. Well a few people didn't show and I overheard the assistant manager saying to "put this one in the back and mark Hold for Dave on it, when I asked the employee who Dave was, it was her son, she already got one for herself (coupon #1) but wanted another even though besides me there were about 15 others waiting to get the leftovers if someone didn't show. The point is, if you are going to have a sale set a time to give out the coupns for the items and let everyone get a fair chance at it. It is not right when the employees decide when to give out the tickets and at least 18 of the 40 items available go to the employees because they knew the tickets were going to be given out and got them before any customers had a chance to get them.

I have not and will not race to Walmart for their big sale items again in the future, I'll be on their competitors lines long before they give out their tickets any way.

WOW thats bad.

You would think that if you worked for walmart you would either not be able to get the deal unless you were off or they would make sure they did a special order just for the people that work there.

That way they have 40 for the customers.

And when they do things like that they should and they should have a Law that they must put in the ad what time or if they are going to hand out tickets.

[Joolij]

Last year I ordered a Wii from them before Christmas and guess what I got in the mail-a giftcard for the amount (i think $249) that said Wii Gift Card on it. I had ordered the Wii and they said it was out of stock but would be getting more in and sent me the giftcard with wording that suggested it was good for a Wii when they came in. lo and behold i heard nothing from them on my order except for this card that showed up so i thought i was in line for the next shipments. I called them and the nice lady explained it was just a Giftcard i could use for anything since they couldnt guarantee the Wii. They had closed my order as being fulfilled....Will NEVER spend another dime there.