Ironically after recently titling a post in a positive light for Wal-Mart, I fall victim to one of the stupidest processes I have experienced in awhile.  For my birthday, some friends of mine went in together and bought me BioShock for the Xbox360.  Thanks again for that kind gesture!  Anyway, we were playing Rock Band all night and didn’t get a chance to play it.  This resulted in a bonus as it turned out they bought the game at Wal-Mart and an advertisement came out the next day from Best Buy for $20 less.  I figured I would take it back to Wal-Mart and have the ticket adjusted and therefore save my friends some money (it was on a credit card, so the money would simply be added back on to that account).  

A day or two later I headed over to Wal-Mart at lunch to complete the adjustment.  There was even a printed sign on the door how they honor competitor sale ads.  This should have been a walk in the park, but things quickly derailed when I went up to the service desk.

I gave the service desk employee the game receipt, the Best Buy ad and the game.  I thought bringing the game was unnecessary, but ended up being required when all was said and done.  The clerk was clearly thrilled that she had the opportunity to save a customer some money (assuming that the disgusted look and sigh she gave was her way of showing that).  After verifying the date on the ad (as expected), she ended up scooping up the receipt and Best Buy ad and walked over to consult the apparent manager out on the floor.  After some discussion, she returned and said they could not make an adjustment because it was not purchased at that particular store (in fact, it was purchased in Washington, and I was currently standing in the East Peoria store).  I told her I didn’t exactly understand why that was an issue only to get the same response repeated.  As my lunchtime was getting eaten away, I decided to go with option two and go with the outright return with later repurchase at Best Buy.  So I asked her to return it which prompted her to pickup the ad and receipt again and head back to the manager.  This time I distinctly heard again “he can’t have an adjustment because it wasn’t bought here”  this I knew for the third time.  The clerk clarified that I wanted to return it and she said it was okay, but he can’t get an adjustment… increment counter to number four.  Upon her return, she says I can return it, but can’t get an adjustment – I glanced down at my watch and make a difficult decision not to go for an even 10 on the “no adjustment” ticker.  I responded with “that is why I asked you to return it” and waited for the clerk to pick up the receipt and scan in the barcode printed on it.  Once that was done, they magically had the transaction in the computer and the credit was made back on the card….  I’ll apologize for missing something here, but this has to be the stupidest thing I have experienced in awhile – clearly their systems are interfaced or they would not be able to link the transaction back to the card and synchronize with their accounting processes.   Not to mention in the I.T. world, this company is routinely heralded for their advanced business intelligence systems which provide decision support for stocking/inventory – example, they know that hurricane weather results in increased strawberry poptart purchases so they know to increase their inventory based on the seasonal climate.  Humans are a creature of habit, strong businesses have been tapping into those cycles since before I entered into the corporate I.T. world – long live corporate data warehouses and the cubes they produce.

As a result, I was left with no time for lunch,  no game, a to-do to drop by Best Buy, a recollect from the people who purchased the game (thanks for turning what I thought was a nice gesture into an embarrassing explanation)  and a commitment not to purchase any computer games from Wal-Mart again.  As I was getting my return receipt, I asked what was preventing me from simply going back and re-buying with the Best Buy ad and she responded with “Nothing”.  Nothing, I guess, unless you were thoroughly disgusted with the whole situation as I was. 

Oh well, off to Best Buy.