We’ve talked in the past about How to Deal with Rude Cashiers at Walmart but we’ve never really discussed how to deal with incompetent or poorly trained associates. My son’s girlfriend recently started working for Walmart so I got a little insight into how they are trained on policies and was surprised that so little time was spent training associates on coupon and price matching policies. In fact she told us that the only training she go was when she was on the register. Every time she encountered something new, she called for a CSM and they walked her through how to handle the situation. No wonder we run into cashiers that don’t seem to know a coupon from a hole in the ground so often!
I had a little run in with a few poorly trained associates this week and I think you would all benefit with seeing what happened and how the situation was finally resolved but first, a little background. I just upgraded my phone to the new Samsung Note 5 (which is amazing!) and as a thank you, Samsung gave me a free Year of Netflix. As awesome as Netflix on my phone is, I really wanted to watch it on my TV and for that I needed another Chromecast. (BTW, Chromecast might be the most incredible piece of technology I own. Now that I have one on every TV, every single digital file on any hard drive in the house or any webpage or YouTube video can be cast to the TV. It’s absolutely amazing.)
I did a little research and saw that while Amazon was charging $35, Walmart.com had it for just $29.49. (Looks like those prices have changed a bit but that’s what it was when I bought them.) I could have bought it online at Walmart.com but I knew I was going up to my store a bit later so I’d just pick it up off the shelf and price match it.
So I went to the store, picked up my groceries and headed to Electronics to get my Chromecast where I saw the shelf price was $35. No biggie, I knew I could change the price at the register so I headed to the front to check out.
I had a few ad matches and a few coupons for my groceries and that all went well but when I told the cashier my Chromecast was cheaper on Walmart.com, she informed me that this particular store doesn’t match online prices.
Hmmm…that’s clearly not right but I assumed it was just another poorly trained associate so I politely asked her to call the CSM over and ask her about my price match and in the meantime, I pulled up the Walmart Online Price Matching Policy on my phone just in case.
By this time the CSM came over and I explained what was going on to her and to my utter astonishment, she told me the same thing the cashier told me. She that the Store Manager has told all associates that they don’t match online prices and she wasn’t interested in reading the policy I had on my phone either. I pointed out how nuts they were being considering I could buy it on my phone and choose the Pick Up in Store option and go to the back desk and pick it up there for the price I wanted but all to no avail.
I knew my next stop would probably be to call 800-WALMART and explain what was going on to them and I knew that if I did that, I was getting my Chromecast for $29.49 but before I pushed it that far I wanted to see if I could at least talk to the store manager and see if he was actually refusing to follow the written store policies. I asked if he was available and by some Walmart Miracle he was working on a little display not 10 feet from where this little drama was going on. Lucky me!
I walked over to the Manager and told him what happened and emphasized that 2 of his employees just told me that HE was the one that told them not to do Online Price Matching. His reaction was exactly what it should have been. He said that his store follows ALL the official Walmart policies and even if he did have an issue with it, he certainly wouldn’t be arguing about a $5 change in price.
Finally someone with some sanity! He asked me who told me these things and then he instructed a different cashier to check me out so hopefully some On The Job Training took place after I walked away.
So if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, remember to follow these step
- Stay Calm – You will always catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
- Know Your Policies – Smartphones are awesome for this.
- Ask for the Manager – Just keep going right up the line until you find someone who knows how to do their job.
- Call Corporate – If all else fails, call the Home Office at 800-WALMART. They will almost always tell the manager to follow the written guidelines.
Hopefully you will never be in a situation where you have to go through this but if you ever are, remember those 4 steps and save your money!
