Walmart.com

Okay, I don't want to start an argument about whether or not to shop at Walmart. It certainly is hard on small businesses but -- for the majority of Americans price matters so they flock to Walmart to buy Chinese goods, then go home and complain about the Chinese . I'm not yet ready to abandon the free market.

Anyway, I got a new phone and went shopping for a case. It appeared that Walmart.com had what I was looking for. Since I was a little unsure about getting the right case, I placed my order with the confidence that, should it not be the right item, I could simply take it to my local Walmart for a quick refund or exchange. -- LET THE BUYER BEWARE!!!

My phone is a ZTE Maven 2. So I bought the case for a ZTE Maven. First off it was kind of weird because the product arrived in a bubble wrap envelope, with no documentation whatsoever, no sales receipt, no nothin', just the phone case. Well, not all Mavens are alike and the ZTE Maven 2 is not a Maven. No problem, I'll just take it back.

I marched into Walmart, told the clerk that this arrived with no paper work, and presented him with a print out of my email order confirmation. He fiddles around for a minute, then tells me he can't give me a refund. The clerk next to him then declares that Walmart and all the big companies are trying to do like E-Bay, in offering third party merchandise. I told her I didn't care what Walmart was trying to do, I just wanted my money back! They gave me a phone number for Walmart.com. I called.

The representative gave me an address for the merchandiser. Tekco.com. I emailed. Their reply was headed: "Hal Sullivan" wroted at 2016-12-20 22:40:" Here's what I got back: (Honest to god verbatim.)

"hi,could you let me know the return you wanna return? wrong item or you dont like it?"

I responded. They replied. I noted:

"The case is not made for my phone. The description said "ZTE Maven" I have a "ZTE Maven 2" I didn't know there was a difference. I'm afraid it will cost me more to send this case back to you than it is worth."

They replied:

"Hi dear buyer,
Sorry to know that.
The case you ordered is for ZTE Maven, not for ZTE Maven 2.
We afraid tha you ordered wrong case.
In this case, we usually will not bear the return postage.
Hope for your kindly understanding.
Would you like sell this item by yourself? Maybe it will helpful for your firend?
Or do you prefer return it for a full refund?
Warm regards
Yours"

Finally I replied!

"Me no likey you bery bery much. Hope for you to kiss my ass but me afraid you bite. Me do business with proficient speakers of English from now on. Me tell friends Tekcoo products no good. No should buy.
Warm Regards"

YOU are definitely THE MAN!! Did you subject your email,'some ting wong'???? I'm lovin' it man. Please post their response, if there is one.

Fwank.

But you have to admit that their English is better than your Mandarin.

I ordered an ice fishing rod from Cabelas.ca. It arrived on the Friday before Xmas with a broken tip. I telephoned and explained the problem. They told me to keep the broken rod and I received another before Christmas by express post. I was impressed - and not for the first time.

All told, I have had very few problems ordering online.

lol.

More than likely he/she on the other end of the email chain needed Hal's message translated.

I understood it just fine!

Wal mart might just call you back to see if you would be interested in being a store greeter

Well, they did reply:

"Hi again dear buyer,
This is not item problem, but you ordered wrong item.
So would you like keep the item Or return the item?
Regards
Yours"

To which I responded:

"Yes."

Well, I'll be the first to bash Walmart. The hell with Walmart!

Without starting a new thread, it's all basically about the same thing. I want to talk about hardware stores.

The other week I needed a new sump pump for my basement. I've got a guy that does stuff like that for me, so, I asked Mike where was the best place to buy one.

Years ago, we only had 1 place, here in town to buy stuff like that, unless you'd special order it. Now we have 4. I've got all 4 listed in my phone.

The original hardware store, they have pretty much everything that you'd need, but it's expensive. It's just around the corner for me, and I do most of my business with them.

Anyway, I called Mike's first choice the other morning (not Walmart), told them that I needed a pedestal style sump pump. I asked for the specs, and price. The guy said $79.99. I asked him again and he said: Yes Sir, 80 bucks. I said Ok, and hung up.

Well, I called my favorite hardware store, asked them the same question. (I wanted to make sure it was in stock, at both stores.)

When I called the hardware store they transferred my call to Paul in the back of the store. I've known Paul all of my life, and I've known the manager of the store all of his life. Both are very knowledgeable about hardware, and will get you rigged up with what will work, if you're in a bind.

Anyway, Paul gave me a price of $175 or so, for basically the same pump, that I could buy at the other place for $80. After tax, that would be $100 difference.

But the next time I'm in the hardware store, I'm going to tell Paul and the Manager, why I didn't buy their pump. If it'd been priced at $100, they would have made a sale.

I'll tell you, anymore I do my shopping for stuff like that on the phone. Otherwise, what should be in stock, might not be. And then you end up running all over the place, for something that you need now!