
Michelle of Janesville, WI on May 1, 2012
Satisfaction Rating1/5
I went into the Super Walmart in Janesville, WI a few weeks ago on a weekday afternoon to the photo department to have some old 8 millimeter film transferred to DVD format. It's a family footage dated on 1959 found among deceased brother's belongings marked "Trip to Conn. and Shorts." When I walked up to the counter, I said to the associate, "Hi, can I get this put on DVD?" She proceeded to stare at me like a deer in the headlights and remained speechless a little too long. So to break the silence, I said jokingly, "Maybe not, you're looking at me like I'm from another planet." Then she said, "We don't do that." And I responded, "I'm pretty sure you do. Is there a manager around who may know?" She grabbed a scrap of paper and asked for my name, so I said and spelled Michelle **.
Then she asked for my phone number. I felt my pockets and said, "Oh, I left my phone in the truck. Are you going to call me while I'm in the store shopping?" She then replied with attitude, "It's gonna be at least an hour." I was taken aback with her tone and unwillingness to ask a superior for help plus the run around with the supposed call back. So I said back with tone as I took the film and tin off the counter, "Well, I don't have a lot of time to be screwing around," and added I was going to go up front to ask a manager I turned around and walked out of photo department, angry.
Then at the end of the isle where it meets the main isle, I saw a manager and two sales associates talking. I held up the film and tin and asked, "Say, do any of you guys know how to put 8mm on DVD?" The manager took the film and tin from me and carried it up the next isle near electronics and found another associate stocking. Her name was ** and he handed her the film and tin. I followed him and there was the counter person already complaining/explaining about me to ** and everyone in front of me, very uncomfortably standing there. So ** walked me over to a drop box where she filled out the envelope with my info. I began to take the film out of the canister and she stopped me suggesting that it would be better to leave it in.
We also discussed how I was hesitant about sending more than one reel at a time for fear of loss or damage to irreplaceable 50-year-old family images of long ago passed away parents and brother. ** handled the material, put it in the envelope, sealed it, tore off the claim check receipt and handed it to me. She told me that pick up had just happened yesterday and it would be another week. I said that would be fine. She is the one gem of that department. I got a call a week or so later on 4/19/12 from the processing company out of Georgia. My caller ID read **. The person asked me if I knew if I had sent her an empty tin. I was stunned and knew for a fact there was film in there! A manager plus ** had handled it; you can feel the difference in weight of an empty tin and one with a reel of film.
I'm 99% sure that other associate tampered with it. She had my name and I made her look bad and went to a manager, plus I gave her attitude back. I am sick over the loss of this film, which had been carefully stored for so many years, and priceless and irreplaceable images that I'll never get to see now. I went back into the store the following day and luckily ** was there again and I refreshed her memory not that there are a lot of customers bringing in 8 mm film. She was very forthright and remembered my concerns about more than one reel and leaving it in canister and the whole situation with the counter person.
When I told her I got a call that the tin was empty when it got to the processing company, she looked surprised knowing she had sealed it in the envelope. I told ** I was almost sure that other associate had tampered with it; she had my name from the slip of paper and access. I asked what the other associate's name was and ** replied she couldn't tell me, but she knew who the person/employee was. When I asked the name of the manager who had carried the film in tin and handed it to her, she thought it was **. She also assured me that Walmart would take care of it, investigate, and that there are cameras everywhere. I thought to myself, probably not inside that drop box, though? ** tried to find her manager, but she wasn't in the back and I wanted to write out what had been said between myself and the counter person, which I have done here, before taking it to management. I got another call from the processing company telling me they were shipping the empty tin back to the store, which is where it should presently sit.