Wal-Mart "Black Friday" Complaints

I was in line for approximately 2 hours waiting for the Kodak camera that our Helena Wal-Mart had on sale for $49.99 at midnight on November 25th. At 5 minutes to midnight, John-Wal-Mart's manager decided that he wanted to move the display out into the open area of the store. I was 5th in line for this item and had been standing around waiting since around 10pm. As soon as he moved the display, several people who were just walking up to get in line were now at the front and everyone who was in the front of the line was now in back. This made everyone in line very upset, even me, because the display didn't need to be moved.

Midnight struck and people went crazy. Everyone was pushing and shoving and it turned into a free-frawl. I bent down and reached through the people and got a camera. As I was getting up and trying to step out of the madness, I was pushed down to the ground and then trampled. I hit my back and my hips. It hurt really badly. When I was finally able to get up, I had pain that was moving from my lower back to my neck. My husband went and addressed this with a Wal-Mart manager, Brian, since he had witnessed the entire madness that just happened. Brian met up with me since I was in the front of the store and took my statement. He told me that if I needed to go to the doctor, Wal-Mart would take care of all the bills because this shouldn't have happened.

I left that evening and ended up going to the ER because my back was hurting so bad and I couldn't get comfortable. The ER checked me out and told me that I didn't have any major problems, but that I pulled the muscles in my back and bruised my hip bones pretty good. The doctor gave me muscle relaxers, a pain medication, and a note to not go to work for 2 days and just rest. My husband went and talked to a manager later on November 25th about how I ended up in the ER and wanted to know how to move forward. He was informed that we needed to contact Claims Management in order to get the bills paid.

We both called several times to file a claim with Debbie **. She called me once and left a message. Then, she sent me a letter that said she was going to close my case out because she hadn't heard from us. I called and complained that evening on her voicemail that I expected a phone call because she has never tried other than once to contact me. My husband finally got into touch with her and she said she needed my statement about the incident to make a final decision. I called her later the next day when I had a moment and gave her my statement. During the phone call, she told me that "I took the risk of going into Wal-Mart on Black Friday but she would review the tapes and make a decision".

I couldn't believe this! You mean to tell me that I took risk of being injured by going into a store that should have prevented this from happening and could have if they hadn't moved the display 5 minutes before opening time. I waited patiently for Debbie to get back in touch with me. When she did, she left a voicemail that a decision had been made about my claim. My husband called about the status and was informed that again, I took the risk and there wasn't anything that they had done wrong in the situation. Now I have a $900 medical bill that Wal-Mart won't cover because they say I took the risk by shopping there. I just can't believe this happened and Wal-Mart won't take any responsibility.

I ordered a wireless printer. I can't track my order, all it says is the order was shipped and would be in my Walmart 12-5 through 12-8. I was given an 800 number to call. I called on 12-14. I was told my shipment was here. I went to the store and was told there was no record of my call. There is a record on my cell phone. I was told my order was shipped late 12-13. I am very upset. Worthless info to track my order. It doesn't give any info on where the article is. I will never use the site-to-store again. I don't even know if I will have the printer in time for Christmas. I will have to reevaluate if I will ever shop at Walmart again.

I went to Van Buren, AR Super Walmart for the Black Friday event. They had a fairly good stock of sale items! I was after the Xbox 360 and the Xbox 360 live cards. The Xbox 360 live cards were on sale at Walmart for $12.00, however, Best Buy had them on sale for less at $7.99. So I picked up enough for two years! Finally, I made it to the end of the checkout. I was told a CSM would have to override since I had so many. I waited and waited for the CSM, only walking around and not helping anyone. After 10 minutes, I got her attention. She came over then sent a manager over. The manager told me to go to service desk and they could help me there! So she canceled my entire sale and sent me to the service desk. I got there the same manager and said, "sorry, there is nothing we can do for you. We can not price comp those because it is crashing our system. So you will need to pay our price and call a manager in the morning!".

So then I had to recheck all my items, overpay Walmart price even though the signs all around me in the store say "if you find it cheaper, we will give you a gift card for the difference"! So I called the next morning, asked for the same lady. She told me, "sorry, everyone is gone. You will have to call again on Monday"! I just showed up, went to the service desk and asked again! They don't know anything so they called the manager. She said the department manager knows about it and to call her! They called her. She said, "make the lady come back here and I will explain"! So yet again, I walked back to her to find that she is putting me in line again to wait to talk to her. I left because you know what she is going to say? "Wait in line again for me just tell you sorry, I can't help you!". I mean really? Like she is going to give me a rebate at the electronic counter! So come on Walmart, where's the price comp? Where is the gift card if you find it for less? You guys are losing your touch and I am an unsatisfied customer!

I went to the Walmart in Manahawkin, New Jersey to purchase items advertised for Black Friday, specifically a laptop computer. Of course, the laptop I wanted was not available so I looked for the next best one in the store. I found where they were located and I was told by Heather (who was an assistant manager) that we have to give her our name and had to stay in the line. Our children or other family members or friends could not stand in line with us, and if we left the line, we would forfeit and not be able to purchase the laptop. I got in the computer line at 10:00 and needed to stand there for two hours! Without the children being able to stand there?

This has got to be the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. And Heather walked up and down the line like a prison guard verifying no one would come in the line or leave. Whoever heard of such absurd rules? The whole reason for having the computers (and other limited quantity sale items) is to "pull" people into your store. What were we to do with our children if they can't stand in line with us? Did Walmart consider the children being kidnapped in a frenzied store during the Black Friday sale since they couldn't stand in line with their parents? What about someone needing to use the facilities? If you needed to, you'll lose your place in line? How ridiculous!

Wal-Mart in Commack, NY allowed people to line up for the 8:00 am sales for 3D Vizio TV at 3:00 am, me being number 2 in line and an hour prior to sale, they advise everyone in line the TV was never shipped to the store. This seems to be consistent with several Wal-Marts on different items like the PSP. This was a total waste of time and Wal-Mart has really crossed the line.

I bought a 32" Emerson flat screen HD TV on 11-16-11 for $249.00 plus tax. On Black Friday, they went on sale for $188.00. I went in to see if they could give me store credit at least. The Wal-Mart manager told me it has been past the 7 days allowed and was not even considering customer satisfaction. I feel like the rule should have been waived and given store credit. I thought Wal-Mart was all about customer satisfaction. Wal-Mart is 40 miles round trip for me and I'm a stroke victim. Thank you for your time.

It's sad when you go to Black Friday sale specifically for something that was shown on sale in the newspaper and when you get there, they tell you they never got any. What's really sad is when you hear from another employee that they did but decided not to put them out because they had no plate, and then they get rude with my mother when she tries to ask them about it.

Black Friday false ad. The Wal-Mart flyer states at 8am on Friday morning the PSP will be $99. I was number 6 in line only to find out the store did not get the shipment. I went to the Wal-Mart Facebook page and this same problem happened in other stores all across the US. If not the PSP, the TV was not available.

Walmart was handing out tickets for the PS3 bundles that were on sale for $199.00 this Black Friday. I got my ticket, waited in line for 2 1/2 hours for 10:00pm to come. When it was 9:50pm, a worker came around and said, "Okay, if you have a ticket, you will be getting a PS3, if you don't have one, please don't line up". When it came to our turn to get the PS3 they said, "Sorry, we have no more PS3s. All we have left are PS360s that are an extra $150".

Now you would think that they would count the merchandise they have and hand out that many tickets instead of waiting till the end and giving us that "we're sorry" crap. To top it off, the employee there was trying to blame us for not reading the ad correctly, saying in small letters it says PS360 in small print for $349.00. I told her, "Well, I'm not here for that one. I'm here for the $199 bundle". So at the end, I ended up wasting almost 3 hours of my night.

Walmart had the vampire movie on line up until 12 midnight for $49.99. The second it turned midnight, it went on sale for $10.00. Unfortunately, the sign now states sold out. Four different people I had at four different Walmarts said the same thing the minute they went on sale--they were sold out. This is a scam during Black Friday. This is false advertising to get people away from their families on the one holiday that you're supposed to give thanks and spend time with them. I am thinking maybe I won't be giving them business this Christmas either.

The Gettysburg Walmart employees and flyers had stated that Black Friday sales for everything but electronics would start at 10:00PM. Electronics would start at 12:01AM. We got in line around 9PM and entered the store about 10:15PM. We made our way to the electronics, we had gone for to get the Xbox 360 Kinect bundle for $199.99 and at 10:25PM, they were all sold out along with every other electronic. I am very upset and mad that Walmart had lied in the flyer and employees. They had sold out every electronics before the stated they were supposed to start handing them out! Walmart is a bunch of liars and I'm very disappointed with them. There should be a rain check, discounts or gift cards given out due to the false advertisement!

My husband and I are disabled and went to Walmart on Black Friday at 6:30 to take advantage of the sale on an HD Flat Screen TV because our TV is going bad. Now 48 hours earlier, I called and talked to the Electronics Dept., and was told that we would be given a voucher. When we got there, the TVs were sold out, and that vouchers were never given out.

Now I asked what are disabled people to do, as we do not have a lot of money and we live below the poverty line so we can not take advantage of sales and now we can't even acquire a decent TV. My husband is partially blind so he can't read or see the picture on a regular TV. But he can see a flat screen TV pretty well. We were told we were just out of luck. This was not fair. Thanks Walmart.

On Thursday November 25, we went to Walmart at 11:00pm to get the video games that were on sale at 12:01am. We had planned to go back there at 4:00am to get the laptop that was on sale for Black Friday for $198.00.

While we were walking around Walmart, we saw a line forming at the place which was supposed to be a secret location as to where these laptops were. At 12:01am I went online to cash out. My boyfriend decided to go check out the line and find out what was going on, so we could possibly make a change of plans and wait in line if that was what we were supposed to do. He got back to the line at 12:05am and was asked what he wanted. He told the guy that he was coming back to wait til 5:00am to get the laptop.

The guys proceeded to tell him that he is too late. The laptops were already all sold out. There were maybe 20 people in line and each of these 20 people were able to get 2, so they were all out. How does that work? First of all why should 1 person be able to get 2 especially if there is a limited supply? On Sunday I was talking to an employee of Walmart who is my friend. I told him what had happened, and he was appalled. Mostly because he said that there were probably more than 40 laptops to be had, but unfortunately some of the associates probably got their hands on them first.

They most likely took them and put them in the back on hold for themselves, so that made the amount of laptops available much less, which really isn't fair at all. Besides that these employees get the laptop for $198 and then get to use their discount as well. What a rip off? First of, advertising that these laptops will go on sale at 5:00am and they were sold out by 12:05am was totally uncalled for. I can't believe what a ripoff the Walmart in Glenmont is. It is a fairly small community and to have a big store chain like this falsely advertise and then rip us off is totally unacceptable.

Same thing as everyone else, I got to the store at 3:45 am, and people were lined up with wrist bands they received at 2 am or before for the items on sale at 5 am. I asked an assistant about the false advertising. She said, "No it was false. They opened at midnight and everything was on sale." Well, not the 5-11 am items were supposed to be.

She said they didn't have any idea what time they were handing out the wrist bands till they did it. I find that hard to believe when all the same stores in Indy did the same thing at the same time, hard a fluke. The store parking lot was half full, with carts available, unlike years in the past. I will not buy one item from Wal-Mart this year for my family due to this. If I have to pay more for it, as long as it doesn't go in Wal-Mart's pocket, that's fine with me. People plan these 5-11 specials for a reason. It's 5 to 11 only, not 2 am. I was so mad I came home and bought items on line, free shipping to my door and haven't been out since, nothing worse than ruining your day right off the bat. I've been shopping these Black Fridays or the day after for over 20 years. Never have I seen such a scam in all my life. Thank you for listening.

That story on 11/29 about Black Friday sales, and being sold out before opening, is absolutely ludicrous! THAT is what the spectacle of Black Friday is about!!! EVERYONE lines up for doorbusters, and the ads themselves say they are EXTREMELY limited quantities! I have been "BF'ing" for over 7 years, and everyone I've run into, always knows the deal: first come, first served, and if you want to guarantee a purchase, be the first 5 in line. I lined up at a Staples for a $399 laptop (HP DV6-1443US) for my wife at midnight, store opeing at 6am.

So, someone wants to stroll in at 5am and be able to get a laptop? Please - good luck with that. I normally hate Walmart, and everything the human rights abusing company stands for, but I will defend them on the BF sales. The entire reason they give out tickets 1hr prior to opening, is so someone doesn't get killed like last year, with a bunch of idiots stampeding at door-opening. Best Buy, Staples, they all do the same - 30-60min before opening, the go down the line, first going first, and ask what they are there for, and giving out tickets or coupons, the number of which EXACTLY match the stock on hand. They also are courteous enough to tell you how many of the high-demand items they have before they start, so you can already go home, in case you decided to stroll up 1hr before opening. In my case, they had 5 of the laptops, and I was second in line. They also try to ensure that each person gets only one - now this doesn't discourage a couple from each getting one, but hey, "them's the breaks."

Criticizing them for limited stock on doorbusters, which is plainly clear on the ads (they even detail how price-matching is not done on black friday) is not fair, and actually makes the complainers look like idiots.

Advice to the complainers: If you want that $499 42" LCD next year, get in line EARLY! You can't have your sleep AND LCD too! Others might've waited for 12-18 hours in line, and you want to stroll in 1hr before opening?

Please, get a life, and find something REAL to complain about!!!

My husband and i arrived at walmart at around 3:30 a.m. the store did not open until 5:00 a.m. At five the line did not move, we waited around 2 more hours to get into the store. Once we got in, we were looking for a 46" T.V. well nobody knew where to get them. Some people were handed tickets for the WII and the PS systems and they had to also go empty-handed because they had run out.

I understand that they only had a certain amount of items, but they should have given out the tickets in the line and not have us wait until we got inside. The people like always were not helpful at all. I also went to Toys R Us and they were so organized that I will definitely will be going back there next year. I told all the people I know to never go to Walmart on Black Friday is a waste. Maybe if enough people complaint they will do something to fix the bad organization that they had.

I have copied the email I sent to Walmart corp (feedback). I have not heard any response to my email. I sent it twice.

Wal-Mart (#3493) - **** Dr., Martinez, CA 94553

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to you today because I am very upset about the way the Wal-Mart here in Pittsburg, CA handled the sale of the Nintendo WII. I had inquired about the sale of the WII on Monday 12/04/06. The associate in the electronics department informed us that they would not have any systems until Wednesday (12/06/06). She stated that there would be a limited number and the manager would pass out coupons for the limited number at 7a.m. for the store opening at 9a.m. The Wednesday we arrived at the store at 5:50a.m. There was one other person in line ahead of us. Around 6:15a.m. when the line started getting long, the manager came out and asked what we were waiting for. I told him, To the purchase of the WII.? He told us they were already given out. He stated that some people were lined up at midnight and they gave out the coupons around 4a.m. Everyone in line was so upset and in disbelieve, we all stayed in line until around 6:45am. Extremely upset, I decided to get into my car and drive to the Martinez, CA Wal-Mart.

Going as fast as I could, I arrived at the Martinez store a little before 7 a.m. There was a line formed already but the manager came out and informed us that the coupons for the WII would be not be handed out at 8 a.m. At 7:45 a.m. the manager came back out and let us know that there were 14 units. So everyone knew the first 14 people would receive units. Although I was upset with not getting a unit at Martinez I am more upset with the way management in Pittsburg handled it. If the associates informed people that the coupons would be hand out at 7am then it should have been handed out at 7 a.m. It's really not fair to the customer to say one thing and do something completely different. The coupons were handed out 3 hours before they were suppose to be. How could we know that they'd hand out coupons sooner, if no one informed us? Everyone in line was told the same inform about ticket at 7 a.m. If people arrived earlier then us they should have understood they were going to have to wait until 7 a.m. to get their coupon, just like on Black Friday.

I honestly think the manager and/or associates gave those coupons to people they knew. If people were waiting at 12 a.m., how did they decide on the 4 a.m. handout, why didn't they wait 3 more hours to give out coupons at the right time and why were we questioned about why we were waiting outside. There was no sign that coupons were already given out, nothing to tell all the people who were informed at the 7 a.m. handout that they were already given out. It doesn't make sense. From the way the Martinez store handled the arrangements, there most have been some sort of protocol. That protocol exhibited at that store seems to coincide with the information we were informed about originally.

I am at least happy that the Martinez store followed procedure and at least 14 true customers received the units. There was no question that the first 14 people waiting in line received the coupons. Everyone saw the coupons being issued out at the assigned time. What is upsetting is I waste my time thinking at Pittsburg store and I could have gotten a system in Martinez. When I arrived at 7 a.m. I was only 35 in line (we all started counting when they announced there was only 14). If I arrived at 5:50 a.m., I am sure I would have been one of the first 14 people. I truly hope that others are writing about Pittsburgs lack of professionalism and fairness. I (like others in the line, I'm sure) work an 8-5pm job and sacrificed getting up extra early and waiting in the cold weather to try to get this gift for family. It's just really disturbing how certain stores feel they can treat customers and other follow rules in order to be fair. Can you please inform me of the protocol for distribution of limited items such as the Nintendo WII during the holiday season?

Sincerely,

Kenya

On Black Friday, November 24, 2006 they advertised in their ad an Idog Assortment for $10. When I tried to buy one they told me they were $27.77. I then argued and they said that it a certain Idog in a black box not a white one. The ad didn't give specifics and never said which one. It simply showed an Idog assortment which was exactly what I had.

They would not honor the ad. I feel like this was fraud because they advertised a product at $10 and then tried to charge consumers $27.77.

I went to the Walmart in Clinton, Ia on black friday to get one of the HP laptops. This store did not close so there were people waiting by the sale merchandise all night. I got to the store at 4:30 and there were two young men who said they had been standing next to the laptops since 1 am . People were gathered around all of the sale merchandise but especially the laptops.

Some of the people put their shopping carts between them and the people behind them. I asked a couple of people if they could move the carts out of the way. They said " no way " The Walmart staff saw this and did nothing to stop it. By this time there were at least 100 people gathered around in a circle of these 40 laptops. One Walmart employee came up at 4:55 and said he was going to take off the black plastic. As soon as he started to rip it off all of the people behind me rushed forward. There was a shopping cart right in front of me. It left me nowhere to go.

I was knocked to the ground and people stepped on me. I was also afraid that I was in real trouble. One of the young boys that were ahead of me helped me up. I could not believe what had happened. I have gone out shopping on black friday before and had never ever been touched let alone knocked to the ground. There was no security in this department to stop this from happening. There was one employee to handle 100 people. I did fill out an accident report at customer service. My back hurt and my neck also was sore. I was terribly upset and traumatized.

When I filled out the accident report a manager told me that they were not at fault because other customers had hurt me and not them. I asked if they ever heard of crowd control and they again said there was no other way to do it. I am 62 years old and have never been treated so poorly-- not one employee asked if I was alright or needed to sit down. They acted as if the black friday shoppers were disgusting to them.

It was Black Friday in the suburb of Boston. My girlfriend and I got there at 4:30 and waited in line til the store opened. The temperature was below freezing and the line was around the side of the store.

As the store finally opened, people who were waiting in their cars just waltzed right in like there was no line. Managers from Walmart just sat there doing nothing. Me being the very changed (reformed) person that I am now was good by not saying or doing anything. They should have said something though. After getting everyone their gifts, I finished at the jewelry desk to get Mom her jewelry. The total bill came to almost $400. I paid by check, so they had to get it approved by a manager.

25 minutes later and a lot of aggravation Pam comes over, looks at me and says this ID isn't you. I asked her if she was kidding? She said no! I said I have a military id do you want to see that? She said yes. She STILL didn't believe me!!!!!! I will never shop there again!

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.

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.

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).

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.

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?

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.

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)."

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!!

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.

Today is " Black Friday" so I looked at the ads in the paper yesterday to see if there was anything worth fighting the crowds for. So in the Walmart ad I spot a $30.00 DVD player and a Lite Bright Cube for $10.00 for my daughter. Our DVD player has just stopped working. So I figured I would venture out for the 25 mile drive, in the fog ,with my 5 and 2 year old. I set the alarm for 6:00, dragged my children out of bed and proceeded to Walmart. I arrived there at 6:30 went straight back to the electronics department and to my surprise there wasn't any $30.00 DVD players. There was $70.00, $90.00 and $150.00 DVD players though.

So I asked the clerk what time they sold out, and she informed me 6:15. I also asked if there were as many of the $30.00 DVD players as the $90.00 one,when the sale began at 6:00. The clerk said they had about twice as many of the more expensive ones because they were" a better quality". So this is when I got pretty mad. I then decided I should go check out the Lite Bright Cube to see if I could get one of those. They too were all sold out. Now mind you, this is now about 6:40, forty minutes after the six hour sale had begun. So I started to ask myself, is there a shortage of DVD players and Lite Brights. HUMMMMMM I doubt it.

So now I will get to my complaint. Walmart purposely ordered a very inadequate amount of the items that were "eye-catching" in their ads. Why? Because they could draw people in ,and maybe they would buy the more expensive items, that Walmart made sure they had lots of. I forgot to say that they had a display model left and I asked if I could get a rain check. See i would think since Walmart obviously screwed up on their ordering, they would love to redeem themselves by offering rain checks. I know why they are not, because they want people to buy the other models that are in the store today. Well I walked out of there without spending any of the money I had in my pocket. My husband and I usually spend around $2000.00 on Christmas presents for our family. I can guarantee that Walmart won't see one dime of it.