![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-219805-100x100.png\")
why does this kinda stuff never happen to me when I make frivolous purchases?
curse you OP, curses!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-590902-100x100.png\")
@zentex: I bought a Blu ray burner at Frys 6 months ago, should have been $279.99 and it rang up as $49.99. Went back and bought 4 and I am going to use them for christmas presents this year. Thats the only stroke of luck I have had with retail purchases.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-498964-100x100.png\")
Rockin. I love it when stuff like that happens. I was trying to buy a small pink carebear for my neice for Christmas. The bear had no tag and it was the only one left. After trying to figure out the price and seeing her line starting to back up, the cashier rang it up as 1 dollar and let me take it.
That's nothing compared to the deal this guy got, but I just felt like sharing.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/css/images/default.gif\")
@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!:
I think it does say a lot, for both you and the OP.
Most people here might be freaking that this guy got 90% off. I think the real story here is that there's still employees who will take the initiative, (and have been empowered to do so,) to err in the customer's favor when an in-house obstacle comes up.
Lesson for companies: People remember these things, and it's a lot easier to return and spend more at a place that gave you a free ride once upon a time, than to tick'em off with a ridiculous story of incompetence.
It's not the ~55$ that'll keep him going to that Wal-mart, any more than the few dollars that Kimaroo saved. It's that someone could acknowledge the issue, and rectify it without further inconveniencing the customer.
@Several: I shop at Wal*mart pretty oftin and at the store I frequent I've had shockingly good service. So yes, I do keep going back.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-356584-100x100.png\")
@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: yeah, I've mentioned this before too, it's never the service at Wal-Mart that creates a bad experience for me, it's the other shoppers.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-169958-100x100.png\")
@pb5000: last time i went into walmart, there was a Crazy Black Lady™ screaming at the pharmacy tech... probably a dozen people (including an employee) watching from a distance... i walked out and got what i needed from the RiteAid next door. (cops were parked in front when i walked by again)
@pb5000: I can agree with that.. but it seems those dang annoying shoppers are EVERYWHERE. It doesn't matter whether you're at Wal*Mart, the gas station, or somewhere expensive like the Houston Galleria.
They're eevverrryywhere.
He can't mention the specific wal-mart where the purchase was made because if he did then she would be fired for trying to offer some customer service. Remember, it's wal-mart.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-534738-100x100.png\")
Sweet.. you should have bought two dude.. one for me
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-376262-100x100.png\")
This EXACT same thing happened to me at K-mart. I was trying to buy a shade-gazebo-camping-tent thing and it kept ringing up with the $5 protection plan and she finally voided the tent off and charged me $5. I told her it was wrong but she said in a funny voice, \"You're holdin' up the line!\" I laughed and paid her. if I could have tipped her I would have.
Strange world we live in, no?
@baristabrawl: Awesome.. I bet you saved a bundle on that one. Maybe companies should learn that forcing their replacement plans are costing them money in a way they hadn't thought of.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-112580-100x100.png\")
I first thought the one in the picture was purchased for $6. That looks like a $500 heli in that pic.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-890779-100x100.png\")
@dvdchris: I'm not 100% sure, I'm not positive... but maybe, just MAYBE.. the pic.. just MAYBE!!... MIGHT not be from the actual person. MAYBE.
Times may have changed in the 4 or so years since I worked at Wal-Mart, but I can't believe that the manager couldn't ring up the item manually. You tell it the department and type in the price and a short description. That's what happened with Kimaroo up above. Additionally, all cashiers had that ability, not just managers.
That being said, the manager still did right by the OP, and probably did what she knew how to do with the skills she had. I don't shop at Wal-Mart for other reasons, but I'm happy to hear when someone gets good service from them.
@Liam Kinkaid: Problem is, if no one's had to do it in a long time, people may no longer even know how to do it, or realize the function exists anymore. It's like when you present a traveller's cheque to a store. With the advent of widespread credit and debit use, next to no one uses the things anymore and cashiers often have to call over senior staff and get out all sorts of POS terminal manuals to figure out what buttons to press to even accept them anymore.
something not shitty happened at walmart? lies!
Human nature is funny... we get excited and giddy when an error like this works in our favor, but when we get hit with an inappropriate charge, we're outraged-- outraged !
Still, have fun with the helicopter.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-16563-100x100.png\")
I told them not to worry about it as there was a Radio Shack across the street that had the same model at (amazingly) the same price.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-590531-100x100.png\")
@Trai_Dep: I kind of figured that \"amazingly\" was sarcasm, but perhaps not.
I used to work in an independent camera store. Our camera prices were a dollar or three more than Walmart's. Our battery prices for those same cameras were usually at least $5 cheaper. Walmart is only a deal if you compare prices with competitors and selectively purchase the cheaper items.
First off, yeah totally awesome getting such a sweet deal.
But, what happens when you get selected for a receipt check and there's no helicopter on the receipt? Prepare for incompetence round 2...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-887707-100x100.png\")
Given that they get more credit for selling protection plans than actual product, apparently the manager figured she (her store) would get more credit for selling the protection plan alone. Trouble is, the inventory will end up wrong.
\"Hey, we're short one helicopter and we've got an extra protection plan lying around\"
Wal-Mart keeps their labor costs low by not paying their workers, falsifying timesheets, using gov't healthcare instead of providing their own, etc. that $60 is money well spent to get this guy to come back and buy more plastic crap from China.
@sbcpunkrocker: Yes, WalMart is the nations largest employer and we all know they don't pay the workers...
@GitEmSteveDave_NowDoesSurnames: Canadians... Chinese...
Polar Bears... Pandas.... Look, they BOTH have bears, right?
Oh wait. Grizzlies! Canada has two bear-types* to China's one.
They win. H̶a̶n̶d̶s̶ Paws down.
* wink!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-371038-100x100.png\")
I wonder if they could have just rang through the entire thing and just did a refund for the $5.88. Not ideal, but maybe possible.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-21984-100x100.png\")
In the past Walmart's reliance on fast inventory turns generated weird low prices as they obsolete one item for a nearly similar item. I needed some some safety relfectors for a small utility trailer and found a pack of adhesive versions discounted for about $1 versus a different sku (that probably replaced the $1 version)was $8-$9. It was a no-brained and discounted so I bought it...
A while back, the local walmart had Congo Tetras as fish of the month for $6.50. I wanted one, but didn't want to pay that much. when Congo Tetras are small, they lack colors and are ugly. I waited a few months, and the fish somehow lived. I decided to get one. They no longer had the pricing info, so they gave me all 8 Congo Tetras for free.
I used up my stash of road flares last year saving some lives, so when I stumbled across some at my local Walmart, I grabbed them. They're sort of hard to find.
These particular ones were on an end-cap in the back of the store where they put discounted merchandise and other things they want to get rid of. I figured the price couldn't be tooo bad, and anyway, I needed flares.
At the register, the flares would not ring up. Not in the system. They looked like very old stock, probably had been removed from the computer. Who knows. Anyway they refused to sell them to me. Tossed them to the side and told me I was holding up the line.
So goody for this guy who got his helo. Sometimes people win.
My mother was at Macy's looking for an immersion blender. They only carried one model and only two of them were left on the shelf. It's a KitchenAid, nice (I have one), and normally $70. She brought it to the counter and when the employee scanned it, the system reported that it wasn't in there. She called the manager who was surprised they were still on the shelf and hadn't been sent back. Apparently that store was no longer carrying them. He told the lady at the counter to charge the clearance price of another item. It rang up $2. $2 for a brand new, $60 item that my mom was specifically shopping for. How often does that happen?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-81626-100x100.png\")
I think that specific WalMart needs to be mentioned here. That was an above and beyond decision.
@Mackinstyle: No, more like a \"someone might get fired\" decision.