Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Could it get any worse?

So last night ended horribly. I went to take a picture of Parker opening some late Christmas presents and as I went to focus the camera the doorbell rang. I sat the camera on the kitchen counter (where my mom was standing) and went to answer the door. When I came back I picked up the camera and turned it on expecting to see my sweet darling child through the screen. Instead of that wonderful picture, I got a screen that looked like someone had thrown a baseball at it. I turned it off and then back on hoping that something was just momentarily wrong with it. Of course I was wrong and my little birthday present that I had saved up to get was broken. No big deal right? I bought it at Wal-Mart less than a month ago and surely they would help me get my memory catcher back to working condition, or at least replace it for one that is the same. WRONG! So this morning we went traipsing off to the store that sells anything you need with high hopes and great expectations. I left the store near tears and full of disappointment. Apparently they ONLY refund or exchange cameras 30 days after you buy them, of course my little jewel had decided to break 1 day too late and I decided to try and get help 2 days too late. After speaking to 5 different managers and having 1 of them tell me that I could exchange it for any camera I wanted as long as it was comparable in style and capabilities to the one I had that was sad and broken I felt much better. I went to the camera department, found the camera that was exactly like mine except for the fact that it was black instead of red and 80.00 more than the one I had purchased (Because I had purchased it while it was on sale). I went back to customer service (And let me tell you they should change the service part to let me just screw you out of any money or whatever you are trying to do, you should just know that all sales are now final) and of course this was only my 4Th time to stand in the long line, I got to the front excited and relieved that everything was indeed going to be OK. The lady rang up the broken and sad camera and rang up the new camera and told me it was going to be 80.00, of course I say, no the manager flagged me down and told me that I could pick one comparable to the one that I have. Then much to my relief the manager walks over just at that time, seemingly to me like she is going to save the day. This is one day I was wrong more times than right in my assumptions. She looks at the 2 cameras (which again I add were the exact same make, just a different model) and then tells me it will be 80.00 dollars. I of course ask her exactly what she said then when she flagged my mom and I down in the middle of the store (this was after of course I was ranting like a lunatic that everyone should buy their electronics at Target, Best Buy or Circuit City and not here), she tells me what she thinks she told me and I tell her that is not what she said. At this point she says "Well then, since you didn't understand me the 1st time let me be clear this time, you can buy this camera or you can take your broken one home". Of course by this time I was seeing red, and it wasn't just because the camera that I held so near and dear was that color. I snatched my camera from her (with my receipt, fat lot of good that piece of paper has done me) and walked off. Of course after telling her that it was fine I was just never going to buy any electronics from Wal-Mart again, what's the point? Now let me add at this juncture that not every Wal-Mart employee is mean and horrible, the 2 ladies that were originally helping me were very nice and kind and you could tell that if there was anything they could have done they would have. The thing that gets me is that Wal-Mart would not even give me my money back because it had been TWO DAYS too late, you see their 90 day return policy does not apply to cameras. I thankfully bought the extended warranty through Samsung and hopefully in the morning will have better news to tell. I am just praying that they help me, because Parker turns 2 in a little more than a month and it would be very sad if I had no camera to document the occasion. Especially if I did not have one because Wal-Mart is not willing to loose 80.00 to do the right thing. (Of course we all know they wouldn't loose a dime in the matter, they would just ship it back to the company) So, the point of this blog is: Buy ALL of your electronics ANYWHERE but Wal-Mart, they will not help you, replace it or exchange it. And if it's 30 days out they will not even refund your money so you could go somewhere decent that cares about their customers happiness. My advice is Best Buy or Target, we've had some problems with products from there and both places were helpful and courteous and it did not take me more than 2 hours to get the run around. Love to all, hope your day was better than mine and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey girl, that is very uncool. *Shake fist at Wal-Mart*. I hope the company helps you out... and gives you a better camera than you had before ;)

Denae said...

Wow, that's a bummer! I have a really bad Walmart story too. I actually wrote the long, detailed story in one of my first blogs.

Anyway, we would LOVE to be invited to Parker's party. I'm sure Will would be in heaven! And I'm glad you saw the post...I meant to come comment on your blog to tell you to look, but I guess I forgot.