Wal-mart sells box of rocks -- twice...

[caseydog]

OOOOOOOPS!

Florida teen finds rocks in Nintendo DS box
by Ben Silverman
Buzz up!
April 27 2:53 P.M.

Jodi Wykle knew her son would be thrilled when she gave him a new Nintendo DS for his birthday.

Instead, he was rocked.

According to WTSP-TV, the confused teen opened up his gift only to find bunch of stones and a rolled up Chinese newspaper in place of the popular handheld.

Needless to say, mom was equally stunned.

"When he opened it, he was pulling the seal off, my sister-in-law carries a pocket knife and she opened it and that's when he pulled it out and it was Chinese newspaper and a bunch of rocks," she explained.

The troubling discovery prompted the Florida woman to contact the local Wal-Mart where she bought the curious box and complain, but reportedly workers there told her it wasn't their problem and that she should contact Nintendo instead. Of course, Nintendo told her roughly the same thing, leaving mother and son with a $138 box of rocks.

"They don't want to do nothing. They want me to keep the box of rocks. I'm not buying a box of rocks for $138," she said.

Amazingly enough, however, Wal-Mart soon caved after learning that the same box of rocks had been previously returned by another disgruntled customer. How exactly it made it back onto store shelves remains a mystery, but for her troubles, Wykle was given a full refund and a $20 gift card.

It's not the first time Wal-Mart has gotten into hot water for selling a questionable handheld. Earlier this month, a PSP system bought at a different Wal-Mart store in Florida was found to contain a memory stick filled with pornographic images.

[toypusher]

I guess if you buy any electronics at Evil-Mart, you should demand to open the box and check it before paying for it!!!

[Micro469]

At a lot of stores, if merchandise is returned, and there supposidly is nothing wrong with it, they will put it back on the shelf and sell it again. It's too much of a hassle to send it back to the manufacturer.....

[chorizon]

I really do not like wal-mart. I rarely go there. The last time I went, they didn't put the items I purchased into my shopping cart. This seemed to be normal, I looked around and other customers were even bagging their own stuff. Did I mention the customer service was excellent, though? I liked how the cashier never greeted me, rang my stuff up, and didn't even tell me the total, leaving me to say ," Uh, I guess that'll be 59.99?" After looking at me like I was crazy, saying "yup" and handing me the receipt, I truly felt like a special customer!

[Larwyn]

I returned a self leveling laser level to Lowes because it was nowhere near level when it said that it was. I told them when I returned it that it was defective. A couple of days later I saw the same one back on the shelf, I know it was the same one because I had made a small mark on it with a sharpie just to see if this would happen.

Had the same thing happen with one of those combination tire gauge/chuck things at Home Depot. That thing would read 32 lbs when the pressure was actually 39 lbs. I told the cashier as much when I returned it. I recognized that one back on the shelf latter because of the way I had cut the bubble packaging and the way they taped it back up to sell to some unsuspecting soul. Guess they really do not care too much about the quality of their product at eitehr one of those two stores.

Seems to me that once product proves defective, they should mark it as such and return it to China.

[Barefoot]

Yep, I make it a habit never to buy a resealed box of anything, having been burned once, then having forgotten! The second time I was steamed at myself. God love their easy return policy, at least here, but folx will "buy" something, take out or swap out what they need, and "return" it.

[caseydog]

Okay, try to wrap your head around this. You work at the returns desk at Wal-Mart. Someone returns a Nintendo box with rocks and a Chinese newspaper inside. Surely, you will look at the rocks and newspaper. And then -------- it gets taped up, and placed on the shelf again.

No hidden defect here -- not a level that doesn't work right -- it's a box of freaking rocks wrapped in a Chinese newspaper.

My brain locks up when I try to comprehend how this could happen.

CD

[chorizon]

My brain locks up when I try to comprehend how this could happen.

CD

Obviously some sort of malicious intent/employee mal-content like that domino's video making all the rounds.

[chorizon]

Actually kinda reminds me of a taxi-ride I had last year. We were at Jazzfest in NOLA, and were heading back to the French Quarter. Since our party was so large, I had to sit in the front of the van, so I got to chat quite a bit with the chauffeur.

If there was ever any doubt as to the way this taxi-driver felt about things in general he was quite clear on the subject. The subject being that he "just didn't give a #%#!". He wasn't real specific about the object of these feelings, but after saying that phrase about 30 to 40 times during the 10 minute ride back to the French Quarter, I realized that he was definitely strong in his conviction.

That he "just didn't give a #%#!"

Like a lot of people I run into that are customer service these days.

This guy actually had the cojones to say it though...to his customers. But it might have had something to do with all the empty Heineken bottles on the floorboard, or possibly the one he was drinking while dutifully shuttling us back to town.

[rowerwet]

Told my wife I wanted a hedge trimmer for fathers day, she got the last syle they had at HD. I open it up and it is a cordless trimmer (very expensive that is why it was left) and no charger for the battery. the end of the box was tapped shut, the end the charger should have been in!

[Eunice]

I really do not like wal-mart. I rarely go there. The last time I went, they didn't put the items I purchased into my shopping cart. This seemed to be normal, I looked around and other customers were even bagging their own stuff. Did I mention the customer service was excellent, though? I liked how the cashier never greeted me, rang my stuff up, and didn't even tell me the total, leaving me to say ," Uh, I guess that'll be 59.99?" After looking at me like I was crazy, saying "yup" and handing me the receipt, I truly felt like a special customer!

sorry I have to jump in...I can list dozens and dozens of stores, resturants, movie houses, gas stations, beauty salons that this has happened to me. The list is endless All clerks have bad days. I really dont believe that Wal Mart or any store TRAIN their staff to be rude. I know they have training to give good customer service. I would LOVE to have a WalMart where I live.

[ARKPAT]

Ask the Wal-Mart return Desk to play the game ON THOSE ROCKS.

Hmmmm........

Looks defective to me and my council.

Got any recomendation about the game not working.

Been there done that!



Rattle their cage.



Pat

[Laredo]

better still ... patronize somebody who's going to care about your customer satisfaction, eh?

[George Kraus]

I am sure the box of rocks was created by another customer, what they do is buy the item, take it home, take the item out, load it up with a bunch of rocks or whatever, tape it back up, and return it. Most retail stores require that the box be opened when it is returned, in front of the customer, to avoid this. They would rather take the loss on selling it as an open item than take a total loss on a box of rocks. But if the store doesn't do this then things like this happen. It probably made it back to the shelf because a return clerk did not follow protocol when doing their job. My son-in-law used to manage at a major retailer and said this is very common, they did not experience this at their store because they opened all returned packages.

There is all kinds of people in this world and some will do anything to steal a buck.

[caseydog]

I really do not like wal-mart. I rarely go there. The last time I went, they didn't put the items I purchased into my shopping cart. This seemed to be normal, I looked around and other customers were even bagging their own stuff. Did I mention the customer service was excellent, though? I liked how the cashier never greeted me, rang my stuff up, and didn't even tell me the total, leaving me to say ," Uh, I guess that'll be 59.99?" After looking at me like I was crazy, saying "yup" and handing me the receipt, I truly felt like a special customer!

sorry I have to jump in...I can list dozens and dozens of stores, resturants, movie houses, gas stations, beauty salons that this has happened to me. The list is endless All clerks have bad days. I really dont believe that Wal Mart or any store TRAIN their staff to be rude. I know they have training to give good customer service. I would LOVE to have a WalMart where I live.

But, they do train them how to fill out forms to get government assistance to augment their below or near poverty level wages, and how to get government paid health care when they get sick or hurt.

There is a high cost to those low prices.