Friday, February 19, 2010

Wal-Mart to take out self-service registers

I had a beef with Wal-Mart last week, to the point I took the time to complain via their web-site.

I had two complaints. The first was they were out of my favorite coffee, (Cafe Bustelo) which is the main reason I go to Wal-Mart in the first place. I went there 2 times in one week, and they were out both times.

My second complaint was their self-check out registers, as well as their lines at the register. I remember when Wal-Mart first opened their big stores (when they started opening in large metro areas, not just small towns). One of their big customer service draws was a guarantee to open a new register if there were more than 2 persons in line. This was when Sam Walton was still alive.

Well, those days are sure over, and there are often more than 2 people waiting for even a self-service register.

Which was the case on the day I was there. Not only that, but the self-service register wasn't even working properly. Every time you scanned an item, you would have to push a button to tell it you didn't want to bag that item (the sensor for bagging must not have been working). As people lined up behind me, I said to the clerk that they should close the line. She said, "there are only 2 working now as it is".

Anyway, I wrote an e-mail with these two complaints. First off, I got at automated response telling me the item requested was no longer being carried. No reply regarding the self-service check out.


I replied to this e-mail, with a little more complaining, and low and behold I got a letter of apology (hand signed) in the mail from the store manager, along with a $10.00 gift card.

Then, a few days later the store manager phoned me (3 times, the first 2 I missed) to let me know they did in fact have in stock the coffee, and, that the self-service registers are being removed when the next remodel is done.

I found this last bit very interesting. Apparently they have had so much down time with the self-sevice registers , they have just decided to take them out and put in more express lanes. The manager didn't know much more, but did say that some stores never even got the self-check outs. I am guessing it's a corporate change.

Anyway, when I told Gary about this he said "that's blog worthy".

So here it is.

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