Loose My Money & Let It Go!!!

This morning provided some decent fireworks in my finally successful efforts to get an electronic chokehold off my money from Wal-Mart.com.

Yeah, I said it and I'm calling them out for making me spend over 1 hour and 10 minutes to get them to finally break down and do the right thing.

The problem is not confined to Wal-Mart.com since there are more than enough people within corporate America, mom-and-pop shops, and other legitimate and fly-by-night businesses that fail to realize that you cannot hide behind your so-called "policies" if you expect the customer to patronize your business at some point in the future.

When I first graduated college at Francis Marion College in Florence, SC, I worked for a family restaurant named Quincy's as an assistant manager. The closest modern competitor to Quincy's would be Golden Corral.

There were many times when a steak may not have been cooked to the customer's expectations no matter how well it was cooked to our own internal standards.

At the point of hearing the customer's concern, there was no way in time and eternity that I could have said, "Well, you requested a medium rare steak and by our standards, this is cooked medium rare".

What I was initially told by the first customer service rep is that the billing department would be sending a release on my funds to my financial institution and that it would 2 to 5 business days.

He already experienced the situation before and I let him know that I was well acquainted with all of the theory behind the process and I wanted to speak with someone within the billing department that HAD MADE THE ACTUAL CALL to release my funds.

The rep placed me on hold, contacted the billing department, and came back to tell me the same story. Though I persisted and insisted on speaking with someone within the billing department, I was not being forwarded to the billing department.

Then I requested to speak with a manager who must have been just a supervisor instead and she proceeded to give me the same company line of theory that I once again replied that I already knew what was going to happen "in theory". I wanted to speak with someone that had made "THE ACTUAL CALL".

The supervisor placed me on hold and returned to give me the same corporate line of theory.

She even told me that a person named Carolina within the billing and finance department had explained the process that is known all-to-well within Wal-Mart.

But Carolina was not making herself available and was still depending upon Wal-Mart's and corporate America's second-line-of-defense in this situation: the supervisor.

When I had to once firmly and clearly state my original request to speak with someone within the billing and finance department, I was forwarded to Michelle who clearly was a member of management.

I knew that Michelle had her management card by the polished way she repeated the same corporate line that everyone else had roughly stated.

I had to eventually pull over and park in front of a local branch of my bank to see if I needed to verify any changes.

Michelle and I jousted round for round and she really passed MANAGEMENT 404 with the statement, "But we have other customers as well" as if my experience better or worse was going to infringe upon the toes of anyone else.

I thank God that the following statement came out of my mouth:

"I know that this process is going to clear itself within a week. If the situation was not compounded and the amount of money so high, it would not be a problem. But what I am to think about Wal-Mart tomorrow?"

At this point some the light of day came through and she said, "We cannot confirm that your credit card company is going to release the funds immediately. We normally have to send a fax requesting that the money is released. We call the credit card company and make the request, and everything else is left up to them".

I said "that is all I can request from Wal-Mart. I just want to speak with someone who has made the call versus hearing from you that the call WILL BE MADE. From the time that we have spent on the phone, someone could have made the call already or you could have placed me on hold to make the call".

At this point, we were on the phone for at least 50 minutes. She once came back on the line and said that my bank had placed someone on hold and Wal-Mart was waiting to obtain the person's name.

I do remember within the conversation saying something to the effect that if personnel within the billing and finance department do not have the capability of talking with the customer, then I don't know what to think of Wal-Mart.

Here my friends is the essence of the problem.

Too many people, regardless of their socio-economic status or background are placing more faith within the corporate policy than their own sense of right and wrong. Failing to empathize with the customer if you were in the same situation means that you believe that it is better to give the customer to a competitor than to solve the problem ON THE FIRST CALL or CONTACT.

The manager Michelle finally did the right thing, but the first two people could have done the same thing.

If a corporate policy was needed, then the policy should have stated that if a hold over a certain X number of dollars was reached, then the call should be immediately made upon the company first being notified of the situation.

A better policy would be that the first customer service rep that I spoke with Friday night around 10 or 11 p.m. should not have told me that I could have corrected the situation myself.

I should have been told to wait until Monday morning for the billing and finance department to open or risk having the pending hold doubled on my account.

Nevertheless, I have learned a brand-new lesson about e-commerce.

Again, it does not matter if the website is available 25 hours a day, 8 days a week, 370 days a year: DO NOT PLACE AN ONLINE ORDER IF THE BILLING AND FINANCE DEPARTMENT IS NOT GOING TO BE ACCESSIBLE WITHIN 12 HOURS!!!!

I never did get to speak with anyone billing and finance. I found out that the billing and finance department is located in Arkansas and Wal-Mart.com is located elsewhere.

I am not sure if Arkansas is considered the south or mid-central United States, but someone somewhere within Wal-Mart has to take responsibility for the financial gag order that their online payment process makes everyday.

Any amount under $500 can justify the day-to-day wait, but when a customer is billed twice or the amount exceeds $500 (mine transaction tripled and still exceeded this amount) Wal-Mart should bring out their own SWAT team to correct the error in the customer's favor REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTION DOES.

At least clear your own name in the game I say.

I was told too often what policies my financial institution might have and it did not simply matter.

I was not going to switch financial institutions over this event, but I might think twice about shopping at Wal-Mart offline and online.

In the heat of the moment, I would have gladly accepted being lied to versus being told that it was not possible for someone to make the call;))

If the first person had said, "I just finished speaking with your bank and the funds will be released", I could hold Wal-Mart harmless.

When Michelle eventually told me that my financial institution said that they were not going to release the funds, all I said was "That is all I could ask of Wal-Mart".

I did not run to my bank to find out the status and called many hours later within the day to hear that the funds were released and my account was intact (I knew that there were a few checks written prior to the weekend that were on their way to the bank).

By no means am I afraid of writing a rubber check and as an entrepreneur, it has to be done willingly at times.

I am not sure whether I can regain the time spent on the phone in this situation, but I do know that someone else can benefit from this experience.

Please, please, please drop me a line or comment if you remember at any point in the future to bail out of the online shopping cart during a late night pre-weekend or weekend purchase online:))

The gray hairs and funds you save may be your own;)

I am not afraid to go to bat with anyone on any issue especially when the school of customer service is on my side!!! Being a Christian does not mean that we have to let the lions attack and eat us when we have the strength to lock their jaws ourselves!

Thank you Quincy's, UPS, AT&T, Wilson High School, Crystal Springs, and any place else that I have worked and had to deal with the general public.

You indeed have taught me well;)