I've taken to publicly writing letters of dissatisfaction. It helps my venting process, and for the two people who read this, I hope to spread the word about sucky customer service experiences, such that you may avoid such fate.
Here is what I typed on www.walmart.com in the section where one could share feedback about a store experience.
On January 7, 2006, I purchased a queen bed set (item 084155001203K) from the Mountain View, CA Walmart store. The bed was intended for a vacation home, located approximately 250 miles away. I transported the bed to the home, feeling confident that I had purchased a quality product from your store. As I set up the bed, it quickly became apparent, by the remnant bodily fluids and paper towel in the bed liner, that the bed had been used and returned. I have photos of the stain, should you care to see them.
Despite being disgusted, as should be understandable, I continued to want that model of bed, though one that was brand new. I called the Reno, NV store, which was closest to my vacation home located in the Lake Tahoe area. I was put on hold, then hung up on. I called the Mountain View store from my vacation home, to be put on hold, then hung up on after repeated attempted to speak with a manager in the furniture department. I simply wanted to find another of the same item.
I packed up the bed, knowing I would not keep it. I returned home and contacted the Mountain View store again to inform them of what had happened and to get their assistance in finding me a replacement item. This time, after two attempts, I was finally put in touch with Shayla. She had a helpful disposition and located three stores in the surrounding area that showed this bed in stock. She called the stores to find that only one store, Fremont, CA, actually had the bed.
Shayla asked a representative from the Fremont store whether they would hold the bed for me until the store's closing, allowing me time to cajole someone into traveling to Fremont in the rain during commuter traffic. Because the bed is on clearance, the store employee refused to hold the item.
I called the store directly to explain the situation. I just wanted to purchase an item that was not used. After repeated attempts, again, to reach a manager, Nycee attempted to help me. She explained the store policy, that clearance items could not be put on hold. I told her that I had purchased the item from Mountain View - the "period bed" as it is now known in my family - and I simply wanted what I intended to purchase, a new, uncontaminated bed. To secure the bed, I was willing to provide her with my credit card information, which she stated she could not take over the phone. I explained that I was making special arrangements to have a friend drive to Fremont to purchase the bed, and after such extenuating efforts, wanted some way to ensure his battles with commuter traffic, his gas and bridge toll expenditures, and the three hours of his life spent in the car traveling to and from your store would not go to waste. She put me on hold, and eventually hung up on me, though it seemed that her hanging up was not intentional.
I am writing to express frustration. It's ridiculous that I was sold a bed, represented as a new product, that clearly should have been damaged out of your inventory. It is disgusting that I had to discover the stain and handle the product soiled with someone else's bodily excretions, repackaging it to return it to the store. It was disappointing, to be without a clean bed in my new vacation home, after believing I had found a suitable sleeping solution. It's horrible that I had to trouble a friend to use his vehicle to transport the bed 250 miles to the vacation home and 250 miles back to the San Francisco Bay Area. The consistent lack of attention to answering the phones was appalling. The rigidity of the rules such that your managers in Mountain View and Fremont were unable to provide adequate customer service in a unique situation to correct a mistake that your store made (not checking the item for damage before putting in on the sales floor) was surprising. It's been costly - in terms of time, gas, cell phone minutes, gas, and aggravation - to rush to Walmart to try to purchase what I should have had in my possession - a new bed. It will be a hassle because I will need to borrow or rent yet another vehicle to transport this new bed, should I secure one, to my vacation home.
I used to tout Walmart as a beacon of retail success. I learned of your world class supply chain management processes in business school and was in awe. I read about the customer service that made you famous and carried over many of Sam Walton's leadership principles in my own general management working in retail and in corporate America. Now working in equity research, covering a segment of the consumer sector, I am a personal shareholder in your business, because I believed that with your supposed operating philosophy and scale, you would be an invincible retail presence. Yet after this disappointing experience, I am ready to not only sell my shares, but short your stock and tell everyone I know about Walmart's fall from grace. I decided to start my marketing campaign with you.
As a former retail manager, I welcomed customer feedback, both positive and constructive, because I couldn't be in all places at all times, monitoring each interaction that had occurred among my sales associates and my highly valued customers. I'm writing in the hopes that my recent dissatisfaction is a contained incident that you will take seriously and attempt to remedy, restoring my belief in the power of your Company to provide exceptional customer service. Please don't let me down, again.