January 25, 2011
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I. Am. SO! Mad. Furious.
Ordered the Bissell Momentum vacuum from Wal-Mart on January 12. Highly recommended, but on-line only.
Received an email on January 13th saying it’d shipped. Except it turns out that was just a shipping label being issued…FedEx didn’t actually take possession of it until the 17th.
On the 19th I watched the tracking site, eagerly waiting for it to arrive. Six cats without a working vacuum? Not good.
To my dismay, that evening the tracking showed “delivery exception.” Oops. I’d made a mistake when entering the shipping address, omitting a numeral. Okay, that’s my fault. The next morning I called early and they got it on the truck with the correct shipping address. Watched and waited. No delivery.
The next day it showed “On vehicle for delivery.” Watched and waited. No show.
On Monday morning (yesterday) I called, a trifle perturbed. The representative (and don’t even get me started on how difficult it was to convince the stupid automated answering thingummy…Don sold ‘em but personally hated ‘em…to give me over to an actual human being) couldn’t really figure out why it hadn’t been delivered earlier, but assured me it’d be on the truck today. Call early to make sure, though. So I did. Yes, it was on the truck. A few minutes before 5 p.m. I was getting anxious, called the 800 number and browbeat the computer into letting me talk to a person, and was told it was for sure on the truck. They had until 8 p.m. to get it to me.
At 7:25…fine, I’m impatient…I checked the computer tracking site to see “delivery exception: no one home or business closed”. Called the 800 number, snarled at the computer, then started in on the guy who answered. While on the phone with him, Joe came into the bedroom carrying a whacking big brown box.
Oh. Um, it arrived. Sorry. Thanks. Felt like a moron.
Opened the box to discover pieces of the vacuum cleaner had been dumped into it and brown paper added for bulk. No instructions. No packing slip. Nothing. According to the label it had come from Bentonville, Arkansas, so this was how it was shipped to me. Grimly and angrily I took a photo, closed it, printed off a proof of purchase from the net, then hauled it out to the car. Dmitry said Joe was careful to stay out of the way, I was so mad. Drove to the Wal-Mart and shoved the box along the ground and into the store, whereupon the greeter greeted me rather nervously. Smoke was doubtless emanating from my ears. When she scanned the bar code on the box she was nonplussed, muttering it made no sense. ”Sweet candy?” she said, puzzled. I pointed out someone in Bentonville had clearly taken an empty box that had held candy and dumped the pieces of the vacuum into it. She affixed a sticker on it, offered a buggy (which I refused, as my mood called for kicking the box along), and pointed me to customer service.
The woman working the desk, named Twana, was a sensible person. The supervisor she nabbed was, regrettably, not. That woman - okay, to be fair she had her purse hooked over her shoulder, so must have been on her way out, but back when I was manager I delayed my leaving many, many times to take care of problems such as this – poked at the contents and inquired whether or not it worked. I told her with some exasperation I really had no idea, as I closed the box right after I opened it. She wanted the packing slip. Irritably I told her there was no packing slip, or any papers of any kind inside the box. ”This is not acceptable,” I firmly stated.
Ms. Useless blithely advised Twana to get the serial number, then left, leaving us both staring after her in astonishment and annoyance. How the deuce Twana was supposed to do that, considering the fact the shipping people in Arkansas had neglected to include any information that would have such a number, we couldn’t imagine. Then it turned out I had left home in such a rushed fury I’d forgotten to get my AmEx, which was how I’d paid for it. Oops.
Twana went ahead and gave me a gift card for the amount I’d paid, though from what she said to a newbie next to her, I don’t think she was actually supposed to. She requested to be allowed to keep the papers I’d printed out, which I graciously allowed, seeing as how I can easily print them out again, if needful.
Then I went to the vacuum department, chose another one, and purchased it. It’s okay, I guess, but it’s not a Dyson, that’s for sure. Still, I emptied the container three times when vacuuming the living room and my bedroom. Barring bones and skin, I swear I vacuumed up the equivalent of a cat.
If Wal-Mart thinks it’s heard the last of this, it’s sorely mistaken. I cannot imagine what buffoon thought it’d be a good idea to take pieces of a vacuum cleaner, toss them in an empty box with some wadded up brown paper, not bother with instructions or a packing slip, then send it on its way. Talk about a lose-lose situation, as now a local Wal-Mart is stuck with a vacuum it doesn’t carry (it was only available on-line, remember), with no documentation or anything, plus it had to deal with an irate customer. Not to mention a less-than-stellar performance by a supervisor. Twana was the sole bright spot, and I fully intend to let Wal-Mart know that.
I also think I may crab a bit more at FedEx. Fine, it’s my fault it wasn’t delivered on the 19th, but that doesn’t excuse it’s not showing on Thursday or Friday, when it was said to be on the truck for delivery.
Mercy Maud, what a foul-up this was! Argh!
Comments (5)
That’s inexcusable indeed.
i ordered two pairs of sweatpants for Faron in November – on backorder, expected ship date early December. They were a gift. Fine. They started in Tennessee, I believe, went to Philadelphia, then back to TN, BACK to Philly, to Harrisburg BACK TO TN!! I finally emailed someone and they arrived in a few days – after Christmas.
The shipper was someone I’d never heard of, a package service which gets stuff to the post office. Trust me, UPS does it muc better!
i haven’t ordered a ton of stuff from WalMart online but what I have has usually arrived in good shape and in a timely manner. Seems they are slipping!
me<><
:question: Did you order a bissell or a dyson? I am so spoiled ordering from Amazon, so far so good. I’m sorry it was such a disaster! I order vitamins from Pilgrim’s pride, neglected to check label on line for ingredients, found out when they arrived that they had soy in them, so had to send them back. Most frustrating! Yours was much worse. I did have that much trouble getting something delivered from Best Buy one time. Never will have them deliver again. Mom
Ordered a Bissell. Wound up with a Dirt Devil. A Dyson is what I’ve had for years…well, I got it when the previous living room carpet was laid, so it’s been several years.
Sniffle. I really want my Dyson. Or another Dyson. But they are pricey.
No doubt WalMart will throw the whole thing away. When I volunteered at an organization that gave out free clothing, the local WalMart would give us several cartons of brand new clothes every week – returns, flawed things, odds and ends. Then the store got a new manager and he didn’t want to let an employee put the things in boxes for us to pick up. He told the woman who had been very willing to do it (the organization had helped her when she needed it) to just throw everything away. She felt bad about it, but what could she do? What a waste.
And Cindy, those sweatpants have traveled more than Faron has!
Nice article, thanks.
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