Companies Offering Dumb Customer Service

[DallasEast]

Company: Walmart

I rarely carry cash. The Walmart app is one of my favorites on my iPhone. I connected my debit and credit cards to it. It makes self-checkout a breeze. Usually.

Today, there were some young men at an entrance fundraising for their youth baseball league. I told one of them I would donate when I left the store.

This was the first time I tried self-checkout with the intent to withdraw cash in addition to my purchases. There was no option to choose getting cash back on the register when I used my app. That could not be correct, right? So, I called over a customer service representative monitoring self-checkout.

I asked how can I get cash back? She asked whether I was using a card? I said no because I was using my Walmart app, which is connected to a card. She was honest and said she did not know if it would give me a cashback option using the app. I did not want to hog my register and keep someone else from checking out sooner, so I choose 'checkout'.

Yep. No cashback option appeared and the register finalized my purchase.

Luckily for me, the store had an ATM, which I used to give the young men some cash. Of course, the ATM tacked on a $3.00 service fee to handle the transaction, which would have been free if the register had allowed cashback using the store app.

It seems like dumb customer service to me. A huge, multi-billion dollar retail company like Walmart allows any debit or credit card customer to get cashback at the self-checkout register. Yet, a Walmart app customer, who ties their cards TO the app, cannot do the exact same thing. It does not seem like the latter purchasing option was well thought out.

 

[Creeper]

It doesn't make any sense to me either. What difference does it make to them if your charge is $30 or $33? They are still getting paid. I would love to hear their explanation. Oversight? or it is about credit card charges?

My peeve about service is the credit card companies like Mastercard and VISA that are regulating what you can purchase with their cards. The block purchases related to gambling now, even lottery tickets for legal state run lotteries! Seems to me, how I spend my money is none of their business. If they don't like it they can cut my credit limit. As long as I pay my bill, leave me alone when it comes to what I purchase.

 

[CyberB0b]

It’s a security measure.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Customer service as we knew it is dead. Grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants are transitioning, or have transitioned, to self-serve. Expect an hour phone wait for airlines, utilities, or any high traffic provider. And don’t expect to talk to a human until you’ve gone through 5-10 minutes of button pushing and hopefully found that hidden option for humanity. Worse part is all those employees are treated like such crap by both the customers and their employer, that you’re lucky if you find the one who hasn’t had their soul drained yet.

 

[Runwildboys]

I love it when the cashier rings me up say $20.27, and I give him/her $31, because I don't want all the bills, and he/she looks at me like I'm about to punch him/her in the throat.

 

[dsturgeon]

Company: Walmart

I rarely carry cash. The Walmart app is one of my favorites on my iPhone. I connected my debit and credit cards to it. It makes self-checkout a breeze. Usually.

Today, there were some young men at an entrance fundraising for their youth baseball league. I told one of them I would donate when I left the store.

This was the first time I tried self-checkout with the intent to withdraw cash in addition to my purchases. There was no option to choose getting cash back on the register when I used my app. That could not be correct, right? So, I called over a customer service representative monitoring self-checkout.

I asked how can I get cash back? She asked whether I was using a card? I said no because I was using my Walmart app, which is connected to a card. She was honest and said she did not know if it would give me a cashback option using the app. I did not want to hog my register and keep someone else from checking out sooner, so I choose 'checkout'.

Yep. No cashback option appeared and the register finalized my purchase.

Luckily for me, the store had an ATM, which I used to give the young men some cash. Of course, the ATM tacked on a $3.00 service fee to handle the transaction, which would have been free if the register had allowed cashback using the store app.

It seems like dumb customer service to me. A huge, multi-billion dollar retail company like Walmart allows any debit or credit card customer to get cashback at the self-checkout register. Yet, a Walmart app customer, who ties their cards TO the app, cannot do the exact same thing. It does not seem like the latter purchasing option was well thought out.

I would guess the switch from debit card - to phone app - to walmart changes to a credit transaction without the cash back option available

carry cash on you, walmart is not your bank

 

[DallasEast]

I would guess the switch from debit card - to phone app - to walmart changes to a credit transaction without the cash back option available

Admittedly, that is likely technically correct for in-store transactions using an app for most or all brick-and-mortar chains. For now, that is.

carry cash on you, walmart is not your bank

It is not necessary for me or anyone else to carry cash on them. Or it is not necessary to do so on every occasion in the 21st century.

Walmart and dozens of other stores are not banks. However, they have allowed customers to use their debit or credit cards and retrieve cash back at both manned and self-checkout registers. They may not be banks but they do allow customers to withdraw money from their bank accounts like banks. Maybe they have bank envy, lol.

 

[Rockport]

It’s a security measure.

I believe its corporate greed.

 

[Runwildboys]

I believe its corporate greed.

How do they make more money this way?

 

[gtb1943]

Better question would be to ask if there are ANY companies that have really good customer service.

 

[Rockport]

How do they make more money this way?

Don’t know but I’ve worked for some of the largest publicly held companies in the US and know how the operate.

 

[Rockport]

Better question would be to ask if there are ANY companies that have really good customer service.

In Japan they do.

 

[CyberB0b]

I believe its corporate greed.

Corporate greed by preventing him from spending money? It’s a security measure most likely from his issuing bank, to prevent fraud.

 

[Rockport]

Corporate greed by preventing him from spending money? It’s a security measure most likely from his issuing bank, to prevent fraud.

Every self checkout I’ve been to allows for cash back so it’s not a security problem. They may say that but their a financial gain of some sort being had I guarantee.

 

[dsturgeon]

Every self checkout I’ve been to allows for cash back so it’s not a security problem. They may say that but their a financial gain of some sort being had I guarantee.

it is cheaper to keep a self checkout machine stocked with cash than it is to pay more cashiers

 

[Rockport]

it is cheaper to keep a self checkout machine stocked with cash than it is to pay more cashiers

Not necessarily. You still have to build the hardware, software and pay for maintenance of the cash back system.

 

[DallasEast]

Corporate greed by preventing him from spending money? It’s a security measure most likely from his issuing bank, to prevent fraud.

Are you saying it is a security measure for every issuing bank having a depositor using a Walmart app? That would be *sort of* understandable. Or is it an applicable measure made by my bank? That second opinion does not seem logical since the cash back option is regulated to the self-checking register. It is the register's software that determines whether the customer is paying with a card or the app, not the financial institution behind either.

 

[CyberB0b]

Are you saying it is a security measure for every issuing bank having a depositor using a Walmart app? That would be *sort of* understandable. Or is it an applicable measure made by my bank? That second opinion does not seem logical since the cash back option is regulated to the self-checking register. It is the register's software that determines whether the customer is paying with a card or the app, not the financial institution behind either.

When you add a card to a second layer, like the Walmart app, Apple Pay, Samsung pay, etc, most issuing banks have a list of terms and conditions that you agree to, and there are security measures in place.

There’s more natural layers of security when you’re required to have the PIN and the physical card, vs a virtual card in an app, especially when withdrawing cash and not physical goods.

 

[CyberB0b]

Not necessarily. You still have to build the hardware, software and pay for maintenance of the cash back system.

Hardware and software don’t take breaks, call in sick, demand benefits, etc. There’s a breakeven point, and I bet it isn’t even that far in the future. This is a perfect example of corporate greed.

 

[DallasEast]

When you add a card to a second layer, like the Walmart app, Apple Pay, Samsung pay, etc, most issuing banks have a list of terms and conditions that you agree to, and there are security measures in place.

There’s more natural layers of security when you’re required to have the PIN and the physical card, vs a virtual card in an app, especially when withdrawing cash and not physical goods.

Understood. That makes sense. However, I would like to point out that my transaction did not error out as a cancellation at the point of service, which was the self-checkout register. The option for requesting cash back did not generate on screen.

Also, both manned and self-checkout registers do not include any signage informing the customer is restricted to direct credit card transactions only. It is assumed. The issue is negated if the customer goes through a cash register. The cashier inputs the cash back request (unlike other merchants, like supermarkets, that allow the customer to key in a cashback option with a preset amount at the card terminal).

The same cannot said of Walmart informing its Walmart app paying customers. We discover that disconnect ourselves. I say ourselves without any knowledge of my experience being duplicated elsewhere because it is highly unlikely that my instance has been unique. Then again, I could be a special case out of the tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of Walmart Pay customers.