Things that frustrate us all

[Kraig]

shouldn't that be FA-LA-LA-LA-LA,LA-LA-LA-LA…

I gave my thumbs up as a Haha, only because Ho Ho Ho wasn't available.

 

[DEWLine]

Hallmark Stores shall continue to set us all at defiance, I fear.

 

[tharpdevenport]

GOOD.
FUCKING.
GOD.

You want to experience some frustration, try ordering on walmart.com without phone service!


So, I've had a WM account for a few years now, periods where I got nothing, sometimes I was able to make some money and get things. I use it only for items that are no longer carried in the store and items never in store, otherwise I go to my local store and get what I need.

When I created my account, I did not have phone service. Phone service was not necessary to create an account. To this day, I do not have phone service. Been many years, getting fairly close to a decade without phone service.

This was never an issue. I have my account set to communicate by e-mail only.

In fact, I just ordered about three months ago successfully with no phone service.

Now cut to two days ago: I hit check out and WHAM -- it wants to verify me yet a THIRD GODDAMN TIME, this time by phone service. Trust me, there is no way around it. You can log in without phone service, but you cannot place an order without it.

I say "Third time" because I verified my account when I created it, and each time I log in, I use an e-mail verification. So even if you discount the initial verification, I am still being asked to verify a second time (for an already verified account). How many goddamn times do they got to know it's me. I'm not ordering fucking plutonium, goddamnit.

So far, no way around it. They have eliminated guest check out, the help@ WM e-mail bounces back as saying they no longer monitor it, tell you to call customer service (oh, lord).

I got onto virtual chat to figure out what was going on, since this had never been a thing before, got nowhere, was forwarded to a real person. After barely getting anywhere, the real person simply STOPPED replying to me -- I never even get to the help! I closed out the window, tried again, got another real person, this time it started going somewhere. This one tells me the updates Terms of Service say you have to have phone service in order to place an order. I open the ToS and keyword search "phone". It DOES NOT say that anywhere. I cannot find this anywhere in the site, including help articles. This apparently exists verbally only. I asked multiple times to be forwarded to somebody higher up to get this resolved. NO ONE EVER GETS BACK TO ME. All names that indicate I was dealing out out-sourced help from Africa (probably not even a Wal-Mart store there), like "Mustafa".

I do a feedback form on the website, since there is no other way for me to reach Wal-Mart online. I get a response today saying they can't help me, they're not the right people to talk to. HOW THE FUCK would I have known that? The form didn't even say who I would be talking to! They tell me to call customer service. Did these fucktards not read my text at all? I said I don't have phone service. Is WM staffed with morons now?

One of these things I really needed. I take a supplement called Selenium, which creates a sort of jelly in the stomach, which is helpful for a person with an ulcer like me. I've had horrible pain, often to the point I cannot breath because of the pain, and blood. With a regimen of Selenium (your results will vary, of course; maybe it'll do nothing for you), two a day, I was able to get it to the point where I rarely ever had pain and even then it was minor, it changed my life. Then they stopped selling it at all local stores. I don't have work, I have limited money, I have to go with the cheapest products I can and there is no cheap alternative in competitor stores I can go in in person. Now I am done to like five or so pills, and WM seems fit to just ignore me and have fuckwits respond.

And I find the whole story of having to use a phone number to place an order now, to be a HUGE SACK OF LIES. Why? Well, it's simple: in order to do this, they have to have I.T. staff who update the coding of the site to implement the system, so when that happens, all users would get it at once. But that's NOT what has been happening, it's been hitting random people randomly for over a year now. That's impossible, the amount of time and money it would take to encode the site and target person or persons but not everybody, would be insane.

So, now I am stuck, unable to order on the WM website and it appears my escalation was ignored.

Meanwhile, I loaded $38.00 onto a WM gift card so I could place the order (the bare minimum you have to spend to get free shipping; there was already a few dollars on it to cover taxes), which I don't even know right now if they'll cash me back out, because if they do not and I cannot use that money to order from a competitor, they will have effectively STOLEN the money from me and left me unable to order from another website. Fuck if they care, it seems.



Meanwhile, I spent an incredibly frustrating day trying to get help from them and find a competitor. HOURS of my life down the drain. And believe me, I tried probably three dozen SMS websites to get a text verification that way. Like 95% of the numbers are either no longer in use, or have already been used by somebody else for WM verification (once a number is used, it can't be use it twice). And what numbers did get accepted by the WM website ... the text messages never arrived. And yes, I did wait.


I had another frustrating (and baffling) experience trying another website called iHerb.

So, I see on iHerb a virtual chat assistant, so I decided to talk to it rather then get frustrated over looking up information on the FAQ's.

I ask it if I need a phone to register with them; nope, so all good so far.

Then I ask if I need a phone to place an order. Nope, no phone needed. Getting better!

Then I ask it if I can use a gift card to place an order online. That's where things fell off the rails. So, it replies it only takes iHerb gift cards to order off the iHerb website. Okaaayyy, so, where do I go purchas an iHerb gift card? On the iHerb website. Wait, if I have to use another form of payment to get a virtual gift card, why can't I just use another form of payment in the fitst place? Why am I stupidly jumping threw two hoops for no reason? So then I ask if I can load an iHerb gift card with another gift card. It replies I can, using acceptable forms of payment like the Godawful PayPal and so forth, including credit cards. And that I can use such forms of payment to order off the iHerb website. Wait, what? I was told only iHerb gift cards can be used to order off the iHerb website. Now it an take fucking credit cards and other electronic payments.

So, then again I asked it: can I use a VISA gift card to order then (since VISA is a credit card business). It tells me: Yes, yes I can. The fuck you say? You told me earlier only iHerb gift cards are acceptable gift cards to order off iHerb. Confused yet? I know I am!

So I asked to speak to a real person. It asks me to log in to get a real person. I have to creating a fucking account just to talk to somebody???

No contact form or e-mail on the website. I search online, find an info@ e-mail. It bounces back saying they no longer use it. Tells me to use the virtual assistant or call for help. I got conflicting information, have no idea which is correct, and I cant' reach them for clarification.

DEAR.
SWEET.
FLUFFY
LORD.


And this isn't even over yet!!! I still got to find a competitor alternative site to order from. Had many frustrations today (Publix doesn't even show items they DO carry when you search for them), Walgreen has ridiculously limited options for an online provider, another site didn't offer free shipping like others do, K-Mart website froze and was difficult, etc.

Then Monday I have to go to a store to get stuff and will be seeking the store manager to explain my experience. Maybe he's got a private number he can call to get somebody and resolve this. He'll probably have to approve cashing me out, because no doubt a cashier will tell me they can't.

Wal-Mart has made my life hell!

 

[Kraig]

GOOD.
FUCKING.
GOD.

You want to experience some frustration, try ordering on walmart.com without phone service!


So, I've had a WM account for a few years now, periods where I got nothing, sometimes I was able to make some money and get things. I use it only for items that are no longer carried in the store and items never in store, otherwise I go to my local store and get what I need.

When I created my account, I did not have phone service. Phone service was not necessary to create an account. To this day, I do not have phone service. Been many years, getting fairly close to a decade without phone service.

This was never an issue. I have my account set to communicate by e-mail only.

In fact, I just ordered about three months ago successfully with no phone service.

Now cut to two days ago: I hit check out and WHAM -- it wants to verify me yet a THIRD GODDAMN TIME, this time by phone service. Trust me, there is no way around it. You can log in without phone service, but you cannot place an order without it.

I say "Third time" because I verified my account when I created it, and each time I log in, I use an e-mail verification. So even if you discount the initial verification, I am still being asked to verify a second time (for an already verified account). How many goddamn times do they got to know it's me. I'm not ordering fucking plutonium, goddamnit.

So far, no way around it. They have eliminated guest check out, the help@ WM e-mail bounces back as saying they no longer monitor it, tell you to call customer service (oh, lord).

I got onto virtual chat to figure out what was going on, since this had never been a thing before, got nowhere, was forwarded to a real person. After barely getting anywhere, the real person simply STOPPED replying to me -- I never even get to the help! I closed out the window, tried again, got another real person, this time it started going somewhere. This one tells me the updates Terms of Service say you have to have phone service in order to place an order. I open the ToS and keyword search "phone". It DOES NOT say that anywhere. I cannot find this anywhere in the site, including help articles. This apparently exists verbally only. I asked multiple times to be forwarded to somebody higher up to get this resolved. NO ONE EVER GETS BACK TO ME. All names that indicate I was dealing out out-sourced help from Africa (probably not even a Wal-Mart store there), like "Mustafa".

I do a feedback form on the website, since there is no other way for me to reach Wal-Mart online. I get a response today saying they can't help me, they're not the right people to talk to. HOW THE FUCK would I have known that? The form didn't even say who I would be talking to! They tell me to call customer service. Did these fucktards not read my text at all? I said I don't have phone service. Is WM staffed with morons now?

One of these things I really needed. I take a supplement called Selenium, which creates a sort of jelly in the stomach, which is helpful for a person with an ulcer like me. I've had horrible pain, often to the point I cannot breath because of the pain, and blood. With a regimen of Selenium (your results will vary, of course; maybe it'll do nothing for you), two a day, I was able to get it to the point where I rarely ever had pain and even then it was minor, it changed my life. Then they stopped selling it at all local stores. I don't have work, I have limited money, I have to go with the cheapest products I can and there is no cheap alternative in competitor stores I can go in in person. Now I am done to like five or so pills, and WM seems fit to just ignore me and have fuckwits respond.

And I find the whole story of having to use a phone number to place an order now, to be a HUGE SACK OF LIES. Why? Well, it's simple: in order to do this, they have to have I.T. staff who update the coding of the site to implement the system, so when that happens, all users would get it at once. But that's NOT what has been happening, it's been hitting random people randomly for over a year now. That's impossible, the amount of time and money it would take to encode the site and target person or persons but not everybody, would be insane.

So, now I am stuck, unable to order on the WM website and it appears my escalation was ignored.

Meanwhile, I loaded $38.00 onto a WM gift card so I could place the order (the bare minimum you have to spend to get free shipping; there was already a few dollars on it to cover taxes), which I don't even know right now if they'll cash me back out, because if they do not and I cannot use that money to order from a competitor, they will have effectively STOLEN the money from me and left me unable to order from another website. Fuck if they care, it seems.



Meanwhile, I spent an incredibly frustrating day trying to get help from them and find a competitor. HOURS of my life down the drain. And believe me, I tried probably three dozen SMS websites to get a text verification that way. Like 95% of the numbers are either no longer in use, or have already been used by somebody else for WM verification (once a number is used, it can't be use it twice). And what numbers did get accepted by the WM website ... the text messages never arrived. And yes, I did wait.


I had another frustrating (and baffling) experience trying another website called iHerb.

So, I see on iHerb a virtual chat assistant, so I decided to talk to it rather then get frustrated over looking up information on the FAQ's.

I ask it if I need a phone to register with them; nope, so all good so far.

Then I ask if I need a phone to place an order. Nope, no phone needed. Getting better!

Then I ask it if I can use a gift card to place an order online. That's where things fell off the rails. So, it replies it only takes iHerb gift cards to order off the iHerb website. Okaaayyy, so, where do I go purchas an iHerb gift card? On the iHerb website. Wait, if I have to use another form of payment to get a virtual gift card, why can't I just use another form of payment in the fitst place? Why am I stupidly jumping threw two hoops for no reason? So then I ask if I can load an iHerb gift card with another gift card. It replies I can, using acceptable forms of payment like the Godawful PayPal and so forth, including credit cards. And that I can use such forms of payment to order off the iHerb website. Wait, what? I was told only iHerb gift cards can be used to order off the iHerb website. Now it an take fucking credit cards and other electronic payments.

So, then again I asked it: can I use a VISA gift card to order then (since VISA is a credit card business). It tells me: Yes, yes I can. The fuck you say? You told me earlier only iHerb gift cards are acceptable gift cards to order off iHerb. Confused yet? I know I am!

So I asked to speak to a real person. It asks me to log in to get a real person. I have to creating a fucking account just to talk to somebody???

No contact form or e-mail on the website. I search online, find an info@ e-mail. It bounces back saying they no longer use it. Tells me to use the virtual assistant or call for help. I got conflicting information, have no idea which is correct, and I cant' reach them for clarification.

DEAR.
SWEET.
FLUFFY
LORD.


And this isn't even over yet!!! I still got to find a competitor alternative site to order from. Had many frustrations today (Publix doesn't even show items they DO carry when you search for them), Walgreen has ridiculously limited options for an online provider, another site didn't offer free shipping like others do, K-Mart website froze and was difficult, etc.

Then Monday I have to go to a store to get stuff and will be seeking the store manager to explain my experience. Maybe he's got a private number he can call to get somebody and resolve this. He'll probably have to approve cashing me out, because no doubt a cashier will tell me they can't.

Wal-Mart has made my life hell!

The only thing I could think to do, is like you said, would be to go to your local Walmart store customer service/returns counter with a printout of what you want to order, and see if they can order it and ship it to the store for customer pickup or to your house, and override the phone mess, by using the Walmart store phone number, because the store would be ordering it, for you. When it arrives at the local store, have the local Walmart or Walmart.com email you about the arrival. Another phone number to use would be the public library, after you talk to the library staff.

 

[Artoo Atari]

I'll never use Walmart.com again.

One year I went to my local Walmart to buy a bicycle for my daughter. They only had one left of the kind I was looking for but it was beat up, paint peeling, seat torn, etc. I asked the guy working there if they had any new ones in the back and he said no, but I could just go online and order a new one and it would be delivered to my house. So, i ordered a new one online.

Two days later, the bike was just sitting on my porch assembled. No box. No packaging. No papers. It was the very bike I had looked at in the store. The very one. I returned it of course and got a refund but not before going through the rudest, most clueless customer "service" process I've ever experienced.

Never again.