I was livid with Walmart.com last night & this morning. Yesterday they had the Iron Man 2 Blu Ray Combo Pack
(no it doesn't link to Walmart, I won't help them get hits) with a DVD & a digital copy listed for $15 including free shipping. I placed my order at 9:30a. At 10:30p, I get an e-mail from them canceling the order due to limited availability. Funny, they had enough availability when they processed my order.
Conveniently, they sent the e-mail a mere 30 minutes before customer service closed for the night. Unfortunately, I did not see the e-mail until 11:30p, after customer service had closed. At this point, they had enough availability to be offering the DVD for $24.96.
I have read in a few places that people did call and were told it was a pricing error and was never meant to be offered at this price. I am calling BS on that. Last year, Walmart started a pricing war with pre-orders on new releases offering them for $10. Amazon, Target, and other retailers soon matched their price. I believe that Walmart tried to start the same thing this year, and no one else was willing to play so they cancelled their orders.
I called Customer Service this morning when they opened to find out that it was a pricing error that would not be honored per the online terms of service. I went through two layers of managers, basically being told that is their terms of service and the corporate office has said that they are not to honor the price. I reminded them of the bad PR they are getting on DVD forums, blogs, and through Twitter & Facebook. That I would no longer be shopping there and that I was filing a complaint with the attorney general's office and the better business bureau.
About 5 minutes later, as I was almost done with my complaint to the attorney general's office, I get a call from the customer service rep that they will be honoring the $15 price. She still had my screen up when they got the information about the policy change. They replaced my order at the increased price and gave me the credit to the $15. My friend also called back and had it adjusted. On his first call, he was told that the vendor told them the price was too low and that nothing could be done. If you had placed the order at $15 and had it cancelled, call their customer service and get the order reinstated.
While I am glad that Walmart has done the right thing by honoring their sales (if you know to call back again), it has still left a sour taste in my mouth. Had I gotten satisfaction on my first call, I would not have as bad of an impression.
For my movie preorders, I'll be sticking with Amazon.com from now on. Once you place your preorder, they give you a price protection guarantee. They will give you the lowest price they offer the movie at between the date you order and the release date.
