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Walmart Compressor Saga

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Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58):
If this is the wrong Gate for this, please move to where it may be more appropriate!

Well, as promised here is the saga of my attempts to purchase a 4500 psi compressor from Walmart.com…  I can say that Walmart has been very supportive and they claim they feel my frustration with these vendors.  I am happy to report that I have not lost a dime through any of these transactions, even though on 2 of the purchases, the transactions did actually hit my credit card.  On both occasions, a quick chat with Walmart on-line resulted in an instant refund!
 
This started back on September 9th when I saw Walmart.com had YH Compressors listed on their website.  These were the simple version, but they were listed for under $200.00 with free shipping.

The first order was placed on September 9th, it shipped Sept 11th and was delivered Sep 18th.  Unfortunately, it was delivered to Easton, PA.  The day I received the e-mail from Walmart saying my compressor was shipped was the same day I received an e-mail from the 3rd party vendor telling me the item was out of stock and they would be issuing me a refund.  When I placed the order the Walmart ad said 5 available.  I never received the compressor, but did receive a refund!

The second attempt was on Sep 16th.  Same thing, the day I got the shipping notification from Walmart, I received an e-mail from the vendor with an excuse as to why they couldn’t deliver and promised a refund.  This one never arrived at the carrier, so it was never delivered. 
On Sep 20th, I tried a different vendor.  This time I received an e-mail from Walmart saying the order was cancelled at the request of the customer.  I never requested a cancellation, but I was refunded the full amount.

Sep 22nd, tried again.  Again, I received a notification the item shipped, and about an hour later received an e-mail from the seller saying the item was damaged in shipment and could not be delivered.  This one was delivered to Green bay, WI.  Again, I received a refund.
I probably wouldn’t have kept this up if I had to go through the hoops I did with eBay, but Walmart was there and had my back on each transaction, so I figured maybe the next one would be delivered…

On Sep 26, I placed another order with yet another seller.  Same thing, Received shipment notification followed by a seller email with an excuse for why they couldn’t deliver.  This one was delivered to Pikeville, TN…  Again, I received a full refund…
It was around this time frame when I contacted Walmart and asked about the problems I was having obtaining a compressor I had made several attempts to purchase from their website.  Things were escalated to higher authorities, but the vendors remained and their wares did not change. 

So, on Sep 29, I made another attempt, thinking Walmart was on this now, and surely these guys would deliver or risk being kicked off Walmart.com!  But, yet again, I received a shipping notification followed by the same excuse about it being damaged during shipment.  This one was delivered to Smyrna, GA.  A refund soon followed.

On Oct 5, I made another attempt, again, receive shipment notification followed by the exact same email excuse as before.  Now, keep in mind, each of these purchases after the first 2 attempts have been from different vendors, or at least different vendor names.  I suspect they are all the same Chinese company… 

On Oct 17, I placed one last order, with yet another vendor.  Unfortunately, the same outcome, a shipment notification followed by the exact same excuse as the previous 2 orders.

I have tracking numbers for these last 2, but I doubt I’ll see either one of them and have no idea where they are headed.  But I did contact Walmart again this morning and reported the transactions again.  I was immediately escalated this time, and was issued a refund for both before the chat session was completed.   I have given up trying to place an order with a 3rd party vendor through Walmart and have shared my frustration over this whole process.  The vendor from which I placed the last order still has the same compressor listed on Walmart.com.  I actually received 2 e-mails from this guy.  The first said he pulled the ad due to problems other customers reported with the phone I ordered.  I contacted him back and told him I ordered a compressor not a phone, and my second e-mail was the same damaged in transit e-mail I had previously received from 2 different vendors.  I really hope Walmart will take this seriously and will make an effort to clean out these worthless vendors who advertise stuff they clearly have no intention of delivering! 

UPDATE:  Walmart posted the tracking info on the last order I placed on the 17th, seems it was delivered to Norman, OK yesterday!  Oh, it shipped on Oct 10th, 7 days before the order was placed!  Do these idiots even know what Logistics are?

The one mystery that remains, what exactly do these guys have to gain in all this?  I have not lost a dime in any of these transactions, and I can’t see where these vendors stood to gain anything either.  It’s got to take a certain amount of effort to list these items, so why bother if you really don’t have them or have no intention of ever selling one?  The answer to that question may never be answered.

I know I must appear to be a gluten for punishment, but since Walmart ensured each unfulfilled transaction was refunded, it became more an exercise to point out to Walmart that these guys were advertising items they did not intend to deliver.  I know Walmart attempted to contact these vendors and never received a reply.  So, I hope my efforts drew enough attention to this issue to where maybe Walmart will do something about it.  Only time will tell…

Sorry, this went way longer than I intended!

CraigH:
Walmart's "partnership" endeavors have not been very good.   With a vendor in a foreign country it can only get worse.  I have had similar occurrences with Amazon when foreign vendors were involved.   But if Walmart is the seller things work ok.   Their website search and displaying is terrible though.

WesBob:
That is quite a saga Paul! If Walmart is not getting their money back but still allowing these guys to sell that is insanity! They must have an undercover amazon agent trying to sabotage their 3rd party seller arrangement! If these crooks aren't getting anything out of it, as you mentioned, then they must be the insane ones along with Walmart for allowing them to continue. What a ridiculous setup!

archellas:
I LOVE ordering from Walmart!

A few months back they were clearing Gamo TS-22 .22 heavy pellets for $2.89 (yeah really!) Being cheap I only ordered two tins.

A few days later, I got word they were at the store. I giddily drove up and was handed the envelope ... way tooo light for two tins of pellets .... Well ..... it had two bottles of Gamo oil. Several calls and apologies later, and after they confirmed what my order was SUPPOSED to be, the asst mgr gave me the oil (free) and reordered the pellets.

A few days later, email notified me of pickup. I drive to the store, envelope .... TOOO LIGHT! 2 MORE bottle of Gamo oil. This time they sent them back, but .... manager offered me a $20 credit for my inconvenience. I, reluctantly, accepted and the order was reprocessed.

Few more days, message, I drive there - AGAIN, they give me the envelope .....  YEAH, TOOOO LIGHT! More oil. They cancelled my order and asked me to contact Walmart customer service online. I did. Supervisor offered me a $25 credit to make up for the confusion. She refunded me my original charge. She offered to reorder for me .... Out of Stock, sorry ....

Hey stop laughing ..... I NEVER got the pellets, but I did get $45 AND two bottle of Gamo gun oil.

You just gotta love Walmart !!!!!

Cheers

Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58):
TJ, great story!  I keep getting apologies for my inconvenience, but they haven't offered me anything but apologies!  That's okay though, if they do something about these wacko vendors on their website, I'd be happy and feel like I accomplished something!  I was really hoping they'd try and force one of these guys to actually deliver a compressor!  Even if it's the simple version, it would be a good deal at $160!  I only plan on using it to fill my guns, so I don't really need much more than that.

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