Saturday, March 23, 2013

Never Buy an Auto Battery from WalMart. Never.

Last year I bought a new battery for my truck from WalMart.  I usually go to Farm and Fleet for batteries, but my neighbor talked me into WalMart.  When I purchased the battery, the clerk assured me, "If you have any problems, bring it back and we'll take care of it."

I've been having trouble with the battery for the last three months.  It wouldn't hold a charge.  It must have been 10 or 12 times I had to jump the battery.  After checking my charging system, I returned to WalMart to get a replacement battery.  Ha!  The clerk at the auto desk said I have to wait for an hour and a half while they test the battery.  She said that people try to scam them and get free batteries.  Thing is, when I first arrived, I found a wallet on the counter.  I turned it in to the clerk.  Now the clerk was suggesting that I was trying to scam the store.  "Would I have turned in the wallet if I was a crook?" I asked the clerk.  No response.

Of course, nothing gets done until you get the manager involved.  We had to go through the whole rigamarole again, and he also said I had to wait an hour and a half while they tested the battery.  I went ballistic. Nothing was said about this at the time of sale.  Now, the clerk said I could go home and return later to see how the battery test went.  I asked, "How am I supposed to drive my truck home without a battery?"  Silence, again.

I finally got as new battery.  I had to yell and fuss and raise hell.  After I got the battery, I told the manager that I had managed an auto repair shop and I never made my customers go through hysterics before I would honor our warranties.  He said, "You didn't have to get upset."  I said, "I wouldn't have received a new battery without raising hell."  Again, silence.

The moral of the story is, don't buy auto batteries from WalMart.  They claim to have solid warranties backing their products, but when you try to get warranty service, they treat you like a criminal.  I hate that damn store and ruefully regret buying a battery from them. Never again. 

10 comments:

legal stranger said...

Every 3 years you can get a free replacemnt, how can you go wrong?

Why Not? said...

Not saying anything about you personally but I have worked at that wal-mart.. People are ruthless and will return very old and very used things and say they were new and something wrong. I think they are used to being scammed there, unfortunately the kind of clientele they are used to there. I worked in the domestics department when the place was newly opened. I still remember whenever we would go and collect the returns of the day you would always be disgusted by what they have returned for a refund. We sold pillows and they came in see through plastic bags. The particular pillow that came in the that particular bag was white with blue stripes. I received two returned pillows that were completely white, very flat and had at least 10 years worth of drool and sweat stains on it. It was retuned with a note saying that when they got home they noticed the pillows were stained. I was furious with the customer service desk for returning it.

I suppose after so many years of being screwed over by dishonest people they have had to adopt some stricter policies when returning items.. This unfortunately makes the rest of us suffer in the customer service department. Stick with smaller more local stores that know their products, care for the community around them and give better customer service.

TSE said...

IF you are shopping at Menards NEVER buy scotch-taped up products. These are usually returns that people took parts out of and then returned. Menards rarely checks.

Once I bought a motion detector sensor with a box that was scotch taped and torn. When I removed the motion sensor I discovered it was someone else's old sensor and that the batteries had leaked. What a mess - but Menards took it back.

They also have lots of used 2 cycle trimmers available for sale that were run with straight gas.

BL Basketcase said...

I love the return policy at Menards! Mostly no receipt needed. Better paid with a card and they can look up your sale !

OrbsCorbs said...

One of the things I hate about the store is the clientele. You meet some of the dregs of society there. I can see where they might try to take advantage of the store.

What the store has going for it, obviously, is low prices. But more and more often, I find the shelves are not properly stocked and a number of items that I came for are unavailable. I have to go to a different discount store to finish my shopping. This has happened so often that I'm considering just going to the other store. It might cost a little more, but I don't have to fight animals in the aisles and they have what I want. It's quite a ways out for me to go to WalMart, and it is especially discouraging to go there and find empty shelves.

Timt49 said...

Had to go through the very same thing at Sears in Sun City over a battery. Wasn't a big deal, me and the old man wandered over to the food court, sucked up Orange Julius and watched the babes....

OrbsCorbs said...

Yeah, I suppose I could have stood around for 90 minutes, looking at the WalMart "babes."

BL Basketcase said...

We gotta love those peeps... Amusing

OrbsCorbs said...

WalMart is the first circle of hell.

Beejay said...

Orbs, you are so right about the stocking the shelves. I now go there for only a few items. I've found a minimal price difference between WalMart and my grocery store. However, what I did find at the grocery store was customer service! Please, thank you, etc. and a smile.