Hi. My name is Michael Walker. I am in here quite a bit.
I have bought a total of 3 new Windows laptops here over the past 5 years or so.
As a general rule, I prefer being able to walk into a store and buy something over having to order it online.
But that’s superfluous information, I guess.
I want to say before I say anything else that I am not trying to get anybody in trouble with this little stunt, I am just filing my complaint in a place where somebody might actually read it, as opposed to filling in a box on Walmart’s website and having my complaint ignored.
Which, again, is not something I am blaming anyone at this store for. Everyone working here is awesome, it’s the impersonal structure of Walmart as a corporation that I am complaining about.
A few weeks ago, after looking at this very display model, I decided I wanted to buy an iPad Pro. I am an amateur musician and songwriter, as well as a “creative” in other media, and this device looked like something that would be fun and useful for me.
I have an iPad Pro now, 10.5 inch, 64 GB storage, just like this one, except mine’s rose gold.
I found it on Walmart.com, and before sales tax it was $478, significantly cheaper than the $649 this nearly identical one is going for.
Which by the way, did you guys get more of these in? Wasn’t this “non-working display model” supposed to be removed from display a few weeks ago, when I asked if any more of these were coming in and was told “no”?
Anyways, I can’t really complain much because I ended up saving a decent amount of cash by ordering from Walmart.com.
And I wouldn’t be complaining at all, if not for this next thing, which isn’t the fault of anyone here, or really the fault of anyone working for Walmart below the corporate/executive level.
I decided to get an Apple Pencil to use with my iPad Pro. I came here last week looking for one, but you guys don’t carry them.
So, I decided to order one from Walmart.com.
There are 2 delivery options available: have it delivered to my house, or have it delivered here for pickup.
The website told me that pickup dates were estimated, and that they may change. So if somebody working here reads this, I knew that going in.
Anyways, I decided to order my Apple Pencil on Thursday, August 8. The website said they were available for pickup at this store before I put the item in my virtual shopping cart.
When I put it in the cart on the website, the pickup day changed to Friday, August 9.
Estimated delivery to my house was Monday, August 12.
Wanting to play/work with my new Apple Pencil as soon as possible, I chose the pickup option.
I knew I would be coming here over the weekend anyway (hi, I am in here now, pulling this up on this “non-working display model” which seems to work exactly like my iPad Pro at home), so I wouldn’t have to make a special trip to come up here and pick up my Apple Pencil.
Anyways, I placed my order.
A while later, I got a message saying that pickup of my item was delayed.
You wanna know when the website told me I could pick it up?
Monday, August 12. After 6 pm.
Which was the estimated delivery date, if I’d had the Apple Pencil sent to my house. Plus a few hours, probably, plus a drive to the store to pick it up.
I looked online, and I could *attempt to* cancel the order and make a new order…
But according to the website, it might not be possible to cancel my order.
So I called the customer service line. The friendly person I talked to told me the same thing, that I could *try* to cancel the order, but it may not be possible.
I don’t want two hundred-dollar Apple Pencils.
I want one of them.
And I was misled by Walmart’s website into thinking I could have one delivered here over the weekend.
And now I have to make a special trip up here to get my Apple Pencil, on the same date it could have been delivered to my house.
I can’t help but be annoyed by that.
But here’s the really annoying part:
Nobody I can complain to – in person or online – can actually do anything about this issue.
This issue comes from Walmart’s corporate and executive structure, where policies are made and enacted for the website and for Walmart stores around the world.
This complaint will never be heard, essentially.
And to repeat, if any manager reads this, I am not complaining about you, and I am not complaining about anyone who works for this store.
I am not even complaining about the customer service rep I talked to on the phone.
I am complaining because Walmart’s pickup system is, to be frank, misleading.
I was misled into thinking I could get an Apple Pencil delivered to this store over the weekend.
And after the order was made, after Walmart changed the pickup date to something very inconvenient for me, I was not able to change my delivery options.
This is something Walmart needs to improve on. At the very least, Walmart needs to stop misleading people about when items ordered online can be picked up.
My item went from “in stock” to “sorry for the delay, we could have sent it to your house faster” in the space of an hour or two.
And there was no guaranteed way for me to change my delivery options after my order was placed.
I am not a happy camper right now.
But what can I do about it?
Nothing.
What can anyone in this store do about it?
Nothing.
What can customer service people do about it?
Nothing.
This problem comes from the corporate and executive level.
I will put this same webpage on this same iPad Pro when I make a special trip up here to get my Apple Pencil next week.
Because Walmart’s pickup system needs to be improved, and I want somebody to know that, even if it makes no difference.
I am pretty sure it won’t make any difference, for the record.
For any customers reading this, if you order something from Walmart.com, just have it sent to your house. Because the actual pickup dates are not going to be what the website claims before you order, and once you place your order you are pretty much stuck with it.
Thank you (whoever you are) for reading.
Leave a comment if you want; I will have to approve it, but as long as it’s a real person commenting, I will approve it.
Have an awesome day.
P.S. Adding insult to injury, I tell you what. 🙂
They don’t actually have any of these in the store, FYI.