Here in Ohio it is still freezing and miserable! Oh how I long for a sunny, warm beach! Knowing this, my wonderful Son (of which I have 2, but this story is related to the eldest) gave me a gift of money and said that he wanted me to get an electric blanket. He had been to a store to purchase one for me, but then thought that I might be able to find a better deal where I live. Later that night he called and suggested that I look on walley*world.com to see if they had anything on sale. And I did, and they did! I input my size and color desired, and then saw the price. When I clicked on "send to store" I saw a large box with the note "this item is available at your local walley*world store", yippppeee, right?
So I decide to be brave and venture out into the sleet, so that I will able to have the warm blanket on me that night. Then, the next day, making it today, when it was supposed to be cold and nasty, I would be all toasty warm. So I get there, and sure enough, they have several available, even in the color that I wanted. But then I noticed the sale tag. It priced the blanket at 14$ MORE than I was quoted on line. While I know that the entry page says that on-line prices may vary, the product page gave a specific price and said "it is in stock at your local store". To me, that meant, at that price!
I spent a good ten to fifteen minutes trying to find a sales associate, but evidentially everyone went home early due to weather. Finally I went to the front of the store and, after some hunting, found someone to speak with. I carefully explained the situation and was told that the on-line price was probably given because the next town's walley*world had marked their blankets down further than this stores'. The computer supposedly gave the lowest price, not my stores' price. While that is goofey, it said it was at my store at this price! Oh well, no problem because you price match, right? "Well yea, but not with other walley*worlds, just different stores."
Hmm, so they were telling me that they would not honor their own stores price/sale, but would honor a m*mart price. How odd is that? Let me tell you, it got worse! She proceeded to tell me that I could not speak to the section manager that I needed to speak to, because she left early due to the weather, however, I could either buy it and not open it, then return it if I wasn't satisfied....or I could drive back into town, yet another time, and speak to the manager another day......BUT, she doubted that it would make a difference because that is "just the way it is".
Cold, and now very depressed, I purchased the blanket and headed home. There was no way I was going to leave it in the box, but believe you me, I was fully prepared to return it if necessary. When I returned to the store earlier today, I found the manager that I needed and explained my dilemma to her. She reiterated much of what the worker from the previous night had told me, but she blamed the price difference on the web site versus the store. She suggested that I get on the computer and request a site to store delivery of the blanket.......as we stood in front of about 50 of the blankets in question. So........., let me get this straight. I purchased a blanket for 14$ more than your website said it would be. Now I am supposed to return the one I purchased, and then order a blanket to come here, to this store, where there are at least 50 of said blankets already. Yes! That about covered it!
Why does this seem stupid to only me? Actually, I was told that it was stupid in her eyes as well, but, in the past she had not been allowed to do anything for the customer complaining about this. Now that is stupid! Another stupid thing, the computer at the store, the one set up to order site to store items for customers, views differently than our home computer screens. I thought I was going crazy until a worker stated, "nope it is different, and it doesn't tell you that the price may not be the price in the store either." She went on to point out to the manager that it was "confusing". With this in mind, the manager said that she would call and ask if she could do something for me or not, but no promises. She said, in fact, that she had called many times and had always been told no. In the end, she informed me that she would refund the difference in price. She said that she told "them" that she would be angry had she been in my position, and besides that, maybe I would spend that 14$ before I left the store.
Whatever their motivation, they made it right with me, but I am left to wonder why this is not the general practice or policy? Why is it set up to be confusing? Why does the manager have to call to take care of an issue that she saw and understood ? Maybe the problem lies in the fact that, from what I was told, walley world dot com is actually a type of sub-contractor for the walley*world (store) corporation, and is in fact, owned by another entity. While I am not sure of the truth of this statement, it makes me wonder.
If you have had, or ever do have, a similar experience, it was recommended to me that we call 1-800- walley*world (use the real spelling of course) to voice a complaint. Actually I heard this number at least four times, from four different people, before I left the store. They sounded as if they were begging me to call. Why? Because they are tired of the insanity. In simple terms, they don't understand, nor do they like, having to enforce policies that defy logic.
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