I bought my sister a $25.00 gift certificate today at Walmart.com (C'mooooon Googlers.) Do you know what an online $25.00 gift card is worth? About $18.00. Buyer Beware.
I called the online phone number and was told that gift cards DO NOT include taxes or S&H. I am seeing red right now. Maybe all of you know about this practice, but I sure as hell didn't. And if the order after taxes, S&H comes to less than the $25.00 they credit you the balance toward your next purchase. For anyone that does not have a credit card to shop online, I guess they get to pocket the change. What a deal. If 1000 people buy cards and the average person leaves, say $.80 and never goes back to order again, that comes to $800.00 they get to keep. Hmmm.
I wrote them the following after calming down a bit.
I am very disappointed in Walmart online. I purchased an online gift card for my little sister. She received it and went to shop. The amount was $25.00. She found a bathrobe she had been looking at and it was on sale for $19.00. She added it to her cart and when she went to checkout, it came up to over the $25.00. She does not have a credit card to pay the difference and she should not have to! She called me and I was beside myself with embarrasment. I told her the card was for $25.00, but in all reality, it is only worth approximatly $18.00. If you are going to charge for shipping on gift cards, you should include that in the price of the card. The recipient should not be expected to pay for a gift! This is not even mentioned on your website. In my opinion, a $25.00 gift card should be worth $25.00, not $25.00 minus shipping, handling and taxes. This is not acceptable. Were you to state on your website that the person redeeming a gift card is responsible for these charges, it would not have bothered me. I would have gladly ordered for her and paid the extra. This borders on false advertising and I will be checking with the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney Generals office to find out if it is.
In this season of giving, it saddens me that a company the size of Walmart would engage in these tactics.
I believe this is the last time I will be shopping with walmart and I will be posting this experience online to my reading audience shortly.
Cosmic
I know the spirit is in giving and I have no problem with giving ~~~~ to my sister ~~~~. I do have a problem with giving a gift to Walmart! As it was, she is as frugal as I am. They only got to keep about $.30 of hers.
Ok, that makes 2 rants this Christmas season. I guess I should get naked, spray myself with pine scent, and run around the house draped in nothing but Christmas tree lights. Maybe then I will get in the festive mood.
Ok, I did manage to get my tree up and decorated today. That counts for something, right? And I did get three of the Christmas presents I ordered in the mail today and that makes me happy.
