Something positive about Walmart !!!!

[bersaguy]

Well, I have to say I read about Dolo's issues with Walmart and I sincerely
hope that they do what is right by him for sure.
I had a great experience with Walmart and
I seldom spend much time at Walmart for many years now. Last month
when they were getting ready to release American Sniper I went up
there a couple days early to talk with the people back in electronics
about how many companies of the movie they will be getting. One
employee said they will be getting about 100 Blue Ray copies,
150 Combo packs and 125 Plain copies for standard Disc players.
She also volunteered that if I wanted to make sure I got a copy
I might want to be there pretty early. I asked why and she said we
have one lady that is a straw buyer for about 15 Rental Video stores
and they will send her in to buy about 200 of the new releases and
she shows up every time any new hot releases come out and will
fill a cart up by 8AM. If I miss it I will have to wait about 2 weeks
till they get another shipment in. I asked if anyone has ever reported
that to the manager and she said she didn't know.
  I decided to take my complaint to the Corporate level and ask them
if they knew about straw buyers doing that at their stores. I didn't figure
my complaint would get any attention. To my surprise evidently
Corporate was very concerned and wrote me back in two days.
  They wanted to know which store I shopped at. I wote them back
and told them and they wrote back and thanked me. The following day
my Walmart store called me on the phone to discuss any issues I was
having. I told the assistant manager about my concern about being
able to purchase American Sniper and about the straw buyer they had
using their store to supply several rental stores with their stock.
   She informed me that she was not aware of it but she would look into it.
She did exactly that and she was in electronics when the lady showed up
and began emptying the shelves. She walked up to her and ask her what
 she was buying so many videos for and found out she was in fact working
for several rental stores that had a limit on how many they could order of
popular releases. The manager told her that she was going to limit her
on the number of Videos she could get and the woman got very up set
and told the manager she could not restrict how many she could purchase
and the manager cut the number even more.
   I showed up about 10 o'clock AM and pleased to see a lot of copies
of the movie on the shelves. I bought a combo pack and gave my
son in law the Blue ray because he has a Blue Ray player and I don't.
 I saw the lady that told me about the straw buyer and she laughed.
She said yep, she showed up and the manager really made her mad
and I bet she will not be back but will go to another store. I was very
impressed that that Corporate did react really quick and so did their
store managers. I know there is not a lot of good things posted about
Walmart so I thought I would post something positive for a change...........jmho

[hipower]

That's an awesome story, Doug. I've rarely had problems getting anything, but when I have, it's been on really big attention grabbing movies like American Sniper.

So that does make sense.

Good job.

[LagerHead]

Well, I have to say I read about Dolo's issues with Walmart and I sincerely
hope that they do what is right by him for sure.
I had a great experience with Walmart and
I seldom spend much time at Walmart for many years now. Last month
when they were getting ready to release American Sniper I went up
there a couple days early to talk with the people back in electronics
about how many companies of the movie they will be getting. One
employee said they will be getting about 100 Blue Ray copies,
150 Combo packs and 125 Plain copies for standard Disc players.
She also volunteered that if I wanted to make sure I got a copy
I might want to be there pretty early. I asked why and she said we
have one lady that is a straw buyer for about 15 Rental Video stores
and they will send her in to buy about 200 of the new releases and
she shows up every time any new hot releases come out and will
fill a cart up by 8AM. If I miss it I will have to wait about 2 weeks
till they get another shipment in. I asked if anyone has ever reported
that to the manager and she said she didn't know.
  I decided to take my complaint to the Corporate level and ask them
if they knew about straw buyers doing that at their stores. I didn't figure
my complaint would get any attention. To my surprise evidently
Corporate was very concerned and wrote me back in two days.
  They wanted to know which store I shopped at. I wote them back
and told them and they wrote back and thanked me. The following day
my Walmart store called me on the phone to discuss any issues I was
having. I told the assistant manager about my concern about being
able to purchase American Sniper and about the straw buyer they had
using their store to supply several rental stores with their stock.
   She informed me that she was not aware of it but she would look into it.
She did exactly that and she was in electronics when the lady showed up
and began emptying the shelves. She walked up to her and ask her what
 she was buying so many videos for and found out she was in fact working
for several rental stores that had a limit on how many they could order of
popular releases. The manager told her that she was going to limit her
on the number of Videos she could get and the woman got very up set
and told the manager she could not restrict how many she could purchase
and the manager cut the number even more.
   I showed up about 10 o'clock AM and pleased to see a lot of copies
of the movie on the shelves. I bought a combo pack and gave my
son in law the Blue ray because he has a Blue Ray player and I don't.
 I saw the lady that told me about the straw buyer and she laughed.
She said yep, she showed up and the manager really made her mad
and I bet she will not be back but will go to another store. I was very
impressed that that Corporate did react really quick and so did their
store managers. I know there is not a lot of good things posted about
Walmart so I thought I would post something positive for a change...........jmho

 

 

Attitude reflects leadership. It's as simple as that. If a manager lets his/her employees get away with treating customers like crap, they will do it (provided it's in their nature in the first place). If they lay down the law and set a good example, they will have employees that will do the same. It's that simple.

[Pain103]

 I read all that and I caught myself thinking there's movie rental places still?

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

I read all that and I caught myself thinking there's movie rental places still?

She could be stocking redbox! Some of those are privately owned.

[bersaguy]

No, their are several independent video rental stores one of them  being Captain Video is family owned and operates about 8 stores around middle Tennessee and she bought for them and a couple others. They are mostly located in small towns. If I were Dolo I would by pass the store management and go directly to Corporate with his problem. I have to say I was impressed at how fast Corporate reacted to my email and contacted my store and told the store manager to get this issue resolved ASAP. I think it may have taken about 4 days from my complaint to the problem fixed. It seems when Corporate speaks store managers listen at Walmart. I figure why deal with the flunkies when you can go to the top...........jmho

[No_0ne]

Next time there's a video you want that's likely to be hard to get at first, try doing a pre-order through Amazon or other online retailers, normally you get the item the first day it's released.

[runco]

I too was amazed that old fashioned video stores were still in existent.  Great story! 

 

BTW, I am a proud shopper of Walmart.  Never a complaint in 30 years.  A few years back, I once figured they get about ~$12G from my household a year that doesn't include large purchases like TVs, grills, guns, and did I mention guns?  Probably not as much money now, there is a Food City closer, but honestly I don't see much savings if any, FC vs. Walmart.   That gas card gimmick sure does keep me a little more loyal to FC though, plus I like FC since they are sponser of NASCAR.

 

I even worked at two of the Wal Mart stores when I was a teenager, the first one in Johnson City while going to college and then the original one in Sevierville.  Got in trouble with the general manager for dating a fellow associate at the one in Sevierville.  Back then it was against the rules.  :shhh:  We kept it secret though after the butt chewing!  BTW, when the one opened in Johnson City back in the fall of 1987, it was the largest store built.  I understand that record lasted about a month.  I also understand that original store no longer exists, and would be considered very small when compared to the large super centers of today! 

 

P.S. No I didn't marry her!  I would wait another 12 years to find Mrs. Runco!

Edited June 15, 2015 by Runco