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Customer service is non existent in a majority of the WalMarts I have frequented. Tangentially, a social worker friend of mine says she supports and shops at Wa

Customer service is non existent in a majority of the WalMarts I have frequented. Tangentially, a social worker friend of mine says she supports and shops at WalMart because WalMart employs the otherwise unemployable.

blisterpeanuts 11y ago
Curiously, I have had the opposite experience at Walmarts around the country. I've almost always found help when I needed it, the employees seemed reasonably competent and none of these "unemployable losers" that I keep hearing about on social media. To the extent that retail is still a profession, anyway. A couple of generations back, retail was a high standards industry with highly trained staff and high expectations among the customers.
- nommm-nommm 11y ago
  On Friday I went to Walmart to pick up a site to store online order. Well, lets start with the fact they told me it would be there by Monday (I ordered it on Sat). I went to the site to store counter which was in the back. There was shelves behind the counter that were empty (shouldn't those shelves contain site to store orders for easy access?). Pressed the "call employee" button. Sat down and waited, waited, waited. Some employee on their way to the bathroom asked me if I needed assistance, "I pressed the button." He radioed in that he needed someone at site to store. Nobody. So he went to go get the person. They come back eventually guy says "sorry about the wait I was helping another customer at the front of the store." Apparently only one employee is capable of operating site to store. He looks up my order says "this may take a minute to find." and goes to the back. 10 minutes later (no exaggeration) he comes back and says "this will take a little longer." Someone else comes to site to store and presses the button. Same guy comes out and says hes looking for my order so he'll be with them in a while. Once again... apparently only one person can operate site to store and if they are busy oh well. Another employee walks by and asks if we need help. Other person was like "I haven't been helped, he's looking for this other persons order." She goes to the back to get him (apparently she can't operate site to store either). She comes out and says hes moving boxes because someone buried my order behind boxes and that's all she knows. Guy comes back out eventually with my order. Checks me out and he doesn't have a pen for me to sign that I got my order. I just took one out of my pocket, signed the paper, and gave him the pen (it was a free pen). Took at least 30 minutes altogether. I don't get it. The whole point of site to store is for convenience but they seem to make it as inconvenient as possible.
  - blisterpeanuts 11y ago
    Did they email you that your order was in, or did you just go on the basis of an estimated arrival date? It sounds as though checking for an online order is not one of Walmart's core strengths. I would imagine there's a system that they use: order arrives, gets processed in the inventory system, gets placed in a particular spot at customer service order pick-ups, customer is notified. If you came in before that process is complete you probably caught them unawares. It does sound needlessly awkward, though.
    - nommm-nommm 11y ago
      No. They emailed me 4 hours before I went there. If I went there based on the estimated time I would have been 4 days early. It obviously didn't "get placed in a particular spot at customer service order pick-ups." It was in the normal stockroom treated like normal stock - which means people don't pay attention to quick and easy access and stuff gets piled on top. They have shelves in the site to store area behind the desk. Said shelves are completely empty. It does make sense that they don't want people taking stuff off the site to store shelves so they keep them in the back. Even though the shelves are behind the desk the desk is unattended except whe someone presses the button. My experience is not unusual at all for Walmart site to store, if you look online you'll see plenty of similar stories.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
  - jmd28 11y ago
    Kudos to the young fellow who dug through boxes to find your order. Frankly you come off way worse than any of the employees in this story.
    - nommm-nommm 11y ago
      WTF? I didn't complain at all, not even one bit. I sat down on the bench and later layed down on the bench and just waited quietly and said "ok" when he told me he needed more time. Never complained, never said anything nasty, never said anything at all unless spoken to, actually. I didn't yell at anyone or get upset or annoyed, or rude, or use a harsh tone, or anything of the sort. Never said anything but "its alright" when people said "Sorry for the wait." So I come across as a terrible person for basically showing up and waiting quietly on a bench? What should I have done that would be pleasing to you? Not picked up my order? Employee had to deal with crappy mismanagement, I wasn't angry at him, and I even helped him out by giving him my pen so he didn't have to go find one for the next people. Crappy policies and crappy mismanagement causes bad customer service experience. It seems obvious the problems. Site to store orders should be in their own area for quick access and not be comingled with other stock as to not get buried. They should have more than one employee operating site to store so that if one employee is in the middle of something another can take over. Those two things would fix 99% of customer service issues with site to store. I don't think that the employees did anything wrong, they were set up for failure. I worked at a job in high school that set its employees up for failure, so I know how frustrating it can be. There was quite a few grown adults who took great pleasure in screaming at 16 year olds for things outside of their control at that job. I never do that. I don't even mind waiting at all usually, but there is a reasonable wait time and there are wait times nobody can predict (higher than usual crowd) and theres unreasonable wait times that are avoidable. I also never said he was young, you made that part up. He wasn't young at all.
- wtbob 11y ago
  The boy at Walmart's cell phone sales desk spent almost an hour helping my elderly mom figure out how to call and activate her pay-as-you-go cell plan, which is really not in his job description. I can't say I've had a bad experience with Walmart customer service — at least I don't remember it.
  - Pxtl 11y ago
    I find Walmart csr work is like Valve. If you actually find a human to talk to, they're great. Good luck.
Spooky23 11y ago
Walmart service declined when Sam Walton died and the family took over. It's an especially awful and unpleasant store in the northeast, but generally speaking you get a higher level of service and competence in the south where they are more established and have a cadre of competent management.

blisterpeanuts 11y ago

Curiously, I have had the opposite experience at Walmarts around the country. I've almost always found help when I needed it, the employees seemed reasonably competent and none of these "unemployable losers" that I keep hearing about on social media. To the extent that retail is still a profession, anyway. A couple of generations back, retail was a high standards industry with highly trained staff and high expectations among the customers.

nommm-nommm 11y ago
On Friday I went to Walmart to pick up a site to store online order. Well, lets start with the fact they told me it would be there by Monday (I ordered it on Sat). I went to the site to store counter which was in the back. There was shelves behind the counter that were empty (shouldn't those shelves contain site to store orders for easy access?). Pressed the "call employee" button. Sat down and waited, waited, waited. Some employee on their way to the bathroom asked me if I needed assistance, "I pressed the button." He radioed in that he needed someone at site to store. Nobody. So he went to go get the person. They come back eventually guy says "sorry about the wait I was helping another customer at the front of the store." Apparently only one employee is capable of operating site to store. He looks up my order says "this may take a minute to find." and goes to the back. 10 minutes later (no exaggeration) he comes back and says "this will take a little longer." Someone else comes to site to store and presses the button. Same guy comes out and says hes looking for my order so he'll be with them in a while. Once again... apparently only one person can operate site to store and if they are busy oh well. Another employee walks by and asks if we need help. Other person was like "I haven't been helped, he's looking for this other persons order." She goes to the back to get him (apparently she can't operate site to store either). She comes out and says hes moving boxes because someone buried my order behind boxes and that's all she knows. Guy comes back out eventually with my order. Checks me out and he doesn't have a pen for me to sign that I got my order. I just took one out of my pocket, signed the paper, and gave him the pen (it was a free pen). Took at least 30 minutes altogether. I don't get it. The whole point of site to store is for convenience but they seem to make it as inconvenient as possible.
- blisterpeanuts 11y ago
  Did they email you that your order was in, or did you just go on the basis of an estimated arrival date? It sounds as though checking for an online order is not one of Walmart's core strengths. I would imagine there's a system that they use: order arrives, gets processed in the inventory system, gets placed in a particular spot at customer service order pick-ups, customer is notified. If you came in before that process is complete you probably caught them unawares. It does sound needlessly awkward, though.
  - nommm-nommm 11y ago
    No. They emailed me 4 hours before I went there. If I went there based on the estimated time I would have been 4 days early. It obviously didn't "get placed in a particular spot at customer service order pick-ups." It was in the normal stockroom treated like normal stock - which means people don't pay attention to quick and easy access and stuff gets piled on top. They have shelves in the site to store area behind the desk. Said shelves are completely empty. It does make sense that they don't want people taking stuff off the site to store shelves so they keep them in the back. Even though the shelves are behind the desk the desk is unattended except whe someone presses the button. My experience is not unusual at all for Walmart site to store, if you look online you'll see plenty of similar stories.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- jmd28 11y ago
  Kudos to the young fellow who dug through boxes to find your order. Frankly you come off way worse than any of the employees in this story.
  - nommm-nommm 11y ago
    WTF? I didn't complain at all, not even one bit. I sat down on the bench and later layed down on the bench and just waited quietly and said "ok" when he told me he needed more time. Never complained, never said anything nasty, never said anything at all unless spoken to, actually. I didn't yell at anyone or get upset or annoyed, or rude, or use a harsh tone, or anything of the sort. Never said anything but "its alright" when people said "Sorry for the wait." So I come across as a terrible person for basically showing up and waiting quietly on a bench? What should I have done that would be pleasing to you? Not picked up my order? Employee had to deal with crappy mismanagement, I wasn't angry at him, and I even helped him out by giving him my pen so he didn't have to go find one for the next people. Crappy policies and crappy mismanagement causes bad customer service experience. It seems obvious the problems. Site to store orders should be in their own area for quick access and not be comingled with other stock as to not get buried. They should have more than one employee operating site to store so that if one employee is in the middle of something another can take over. Those two things would fix 99% of customer service issues with site to store. I don't think that the employees did anything wrong, they were set up for failure. I worked at a job in high school that set its employees up for failure, so I know how frustrating it can be. There was quite a few grown adults who took great pleasure in screaming at 16 year olds for things outside of their control at that job. I never do that. I don't even mind waiting at all usually, but there is a reasonable wait time and there are wait times nobody can predict (higher than usual crowd) and theres unreasonable wait times that are avoidable. I also never said he was young, you made that part up. He wasn't young at all.
wtbob 11y ago
The boy at Walmart's cell phone sales desk spent almost an hour helping my elderly mom figure out how to call and activate her pay-as-you-go cell plan, which is really not in his job description. I can't say I've had a bad experience with Walmart customer service — at least I don't remember it.
- Pxtl 11y ago
  I find Walmart csr work is like Valve. If you actually find a human to talk to, they're great. Good luck.

Spooky23 11y ago

Walmart service declined when Sam Walton died and the family took over. It's an especially awful and unpleasant store in the northeast, but generally speaking you get a higher level of service and competence in the south where they are more established and have a cadre of competent management.