Messy Walmart online return experience

Last week I had quite an embarrassing shopping experience at Walmart all because of my careless online order.

It all started when I arrived at the designated pickup spot after placing an online order. I checked in on Walmart’s app, providing my parking spot number and car color, and then waited.

When two Walmart employees came over with the delivery, I was taken aback by how many items there were. I couldn’t believe I actually ordered all of those, I even started to wonder if they would all fit in my small car. Honestly, I was in a hurry while placing the order, so I couldn’t recall what I bought and I already had a hectic day when I went to pick up my items, so my mind was fried, leaving me unsure what to do or unable to think straight at first.

It was only when I took a closer look at the stuff that I realized there were too many energy drinks. I checked the order, obviously the amount they brought matched what I ordered. Still, I had no clue how I ended up with this many. I decided to return the extras right there but one employee said they were just in charge of delivery, and couldn’t assist with returns. I tried explaining that it didn’t make sense to haul them home just to bring them right back. There had to be a way to handle this at pickup.

Then a manager got involved. She instructed me to take the excess energy drinks to the service center inside the store for the return. All I needed to do was show a staff member there an order bar code sticker, which was attached to a delivery container.

Feeling somewhat relieved, I peeled off the sticker, hurriedly pushed a cart full of drinks to the service center, and showed an employee there the order ticket. However, she said the ticket wasn’t valid. Since I’d ordered online, I had to start the return online as well.

Well, it started to sound complex, especially when the lady couldn’t give me clear steps. The thought of lugging a cart full of drinks home pushed me to sort this mess out. I went to my order on Walmart’s app, clicked the return option, and chose the items as well as quantities I wanted to return. For one type of drink, since I was only sending back one pack, I was promptly refunded without needing to physically return the item. However, for the other type, since the return quantity was much larger, the refund was pending. Soon after, I got an email saying I needed to return the items to any Walmart store and show the staff the return barcode included in the email. Since I was already in the store, I showed the barcode to the lady, and she scanned it, giving me a refund receipt. Though she wasn’t exactly the most helpful, she was nice and generally supportive, so I handed her the pack that I was initially told I didn’t have to return, for her to keep.

Look at the insane number of drinks I mistakenly ordered, only for S.

What a messy experience! But it clearly pointed out how prone I am to making mistakes when rushing. A reminder for me to be careful and stay calm, especially in a hurried situation.