Wal-Mart "Black Friday" Complaints

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George of Montgomery County, Md. (11/29/05):
Arrived at the Germantown, Maryland Walmart at 430 am Friday morning for a 500 am opening, and the line was around the corner all the way back to the Oil Change station on the southside.

Montgomery County has been a bit restrictive with Walmart (this is the only one for the entire county). Most of the the folks in today's line were working-poor African-American, Hispanic and Asian shoppers.

They are also voters -- something that the Montgomery County good-government cabal hasn't fully realized.

My objective was one of those under-$400 HP laptops which have been continually advertised on television and also on the front page of the Walmart flyer. The Hispanic fellow behind me pointed to the same publicized item and eagerly nodded.

In the true tradition of the late Walmart founder Sam Walton, kudos go to the Walmart employee who offered coffee to the potential shoppers wrapping around the store in 20-degree temperatures.

Yet that's all that Walmart had to offer.

All the much-ballyhooed laptops were sold-out in just a minute, according to the on-floor person in photo/electronics.

Surprisingly, the Montgomery County police were there to hand them out (four cruisers were out in front until at least 10:00 am after I decided to shop at Kohls and Target next door). Yet ONLY 30 laptops were available according to many employees with whom I spoke.

An ass't manager said that they only had 16 xbox 360s the other day and that HP is responsible for the serious lack of laptops this morning.

Here's some news: the xbox wasn't advertised and the HP laptop was. Anyway, when did Walmart's problems with its supposedly superior logistic system get blamed on the vendors?

Sam Walton would have been ashamed.

Never have so many arrived at the doors of Walmart, and not been converted to a sale. So retail analysts note: don't count the foot-traffic: count what the cash registers ring ... or don't ring up today.

Michael of Tigard, OR (11/25/05) Wal-Mart advertised HP Pavilion laptop computers for $378.00 available on Friday morning between 5:00 am to 11:00 am. My wife and I left home at 3:30 a.m. and arrived at Wal-Mart at 4:05 a.m. When we arrived I noticed there weren't any directions, signs or roped off areas to help with crowd control. When the doors opened there was mass hysteria crowding through one double door.

There was confusion, heated arguments, and lots of pushing and shoving. When a manager stated that there were only 25 units available, this created further anger, frustration, pushing and shoving. As customers were helped, the crowd was socked in with no safe exit. I made it an effort to move aside to make way for serviced customers to exit, only to be pushed further back. I was the first one to be told all computers were sold out. Then the manager selected the four customers who pushed, shoved and verbally screamed at other customers to be the last ones to receive the laptops.

Damages: Wal-Mart advertised the HP laptops in both newspaper ads and on the Internet web page. I believe Wal-Mart mislead the public without indicating 'limited quantity on hand'. I have taken part in the after Thanksgiving sales for over 9 years and never have I felt so poorly serviced by a retailer, had my life threatened, as well as the grief and mental anguish I experienced.

Elena of Chicago, IL (11/25/05)
The Wal-Mart ad for the day after Thanksgiving sale drew a lot of people. We were in line by 3:30 AM and waited until the 5:00 AM opening. The lines were fine until 4:45 when over 100 people started to line up by the parked cars.

When the doors opened it was a stampede and people were smashed at the doors. Once in the store it was no better. Fights broke out in the electronics department and employees were yelling for police and store managers over the intercom.

Advertised toys were not available. I asked for the advertised game "Dream Life" and was told by the toy department manager that the game never came in and it was store police not to issue rain checks.

The duel DVD portable players were nowhere to be found as well. You could not get any answers from anyone in the store where they were or if they had them.

Damages: When a store advertises items I think it is their responsibility to have to goods offered. In Wal-Mart's case they did not and made no effort to fix the problem.

The lack of security was inexcusable for such a big sale day. It was the stores responsibility to hire security to handle crowd control. Getting trampled, punched and pushed trying to buy goods is something the company needed to deal with before hand. It is Wal-Mart's responsibility to insure consumers are not hurt entering their stores. They should have also told people who were in line for so long that other advertised items were not available.

Grady of Gulf Shores, AL (11/25/05)
The day after Thanksgiving sale did not have products as advertised. We called Wal-Mart about a toy Hummer and were told they had three pallet loads. When we got to the store none were there. Customer service said they never had any.

To add insult to injury they were very rude (how to get rid of a bad attitude class would help this store stay in business).

Susan of Lincoln, NE (11/25/05)
Wal-Mart's After Thanksgiving Sale advertised the "bullet" processor at a 25% discount. The ad stated the sale did not start until Nov 25th, so I called at midnight but was told the product was not out yet. I went to the store at approximately 7:30 a.m. and could not find the "bullet".

A very nice employee tried to help me find it. He asked his supervisor, who very nastily stated that they didn't have any, hadn't had any and probably wouldn't have any. He was extremely rude. I asked why the big ad in their circular then and he said Wal-Mart does it all the time and there aren't any rain checks.

Damages: I have bought a lot from Wal-Mart because of my daycare business but this is the last straw. They have lost my business for good. I think Wal-Mart has no respect for their customers or they wouldn't have ads without having the product.

Elnora of Wilton, IA (11/25/05)
The Wal-Mart Day After Thanksgiving Sale advertised laptops for $398.00. There was no posting about limited quantities and the ad stated (in fine print) "If you find that the item is unavailable you may request a rain check or we will offer you a like item at or close to the cost of the unavailable item." When we approached the Co-manager about the laptop, he was cocky and said that he wouldn't do it and we were out of luck.

While we were waiting in line for the laptops, we overhead an employee tell another non-employee that they had stashed two away for them. That is not fair to us the consumer. We spend tremendous amounts of money at that store and we don't get even an "I'm sorry" let's try to make it right. Has Wal-Mart become so big that the customer doesn't matter anymore?

Gloria of Memphis, TN (11/25/05)
Wal-Mart had an after Thanksgiving sale that was advertised from 6am till 11am. I was in the store at 10:30 looking for the computer they had for $398. I asked the salesman for the advertised computer but he gave me the wrong computer. I had no ideal it was the wrong one until the cashier gave me a different price. An employee suggested we speak to the manger so he could give us a discount.

The manager was very rude and treated us like we were a bother to him. I had just spent $185 in the store and there was no need for this man to be rude and disrespectful.

Mary of Hinesville, GA (11/25/05)
I got to Wal-Mart by 10:00a.m. to buy the Ventura 6.2" Portable DVD/CD player with the car power cord. They were sold out but the sale was supposed to go until 11:00am. I asked if I could have a rain check and the manager said "No". I said "why?" on the back of the sale flyer it says and I quote your policy "We will issue a Rain Check at your request so you may purchase the item at the advertised price when it becomes available." The manager said it was first come; first serve and they were out of the DVD/CD players so there would be no more and no rain checks will be issued.

The flyer even states: "An advertised item may not be available for purchase due to unforeseen difficulties. If this happens, Wal-Mart will sell you a similar item at a comparable price (or reduction in price if the item is on sale)."

Frank of Gilroy, CA (11/25/05)
Wal-Mart had laptops on sale at 5:00 a.m. but when I got there before 4:00 a.m. all the laptops were gone. They had handed out numbers at midnight, which I think is unfair. If you want to hand out numbers at that time then you should say midnight. That was unfair to many customers. I am very upset about that!!

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