Walmart Boycott

When I to Walmart for formula, I like to stock up with 4 or 5 cans so that I don't have to go every single week. I went to Walmart two weeks ago and they were out of the kind of formula that Lexi uses. It wasn't that big of a deal because I still had two unopened cans at home. I went again earlier this week and was irritated to find that they were still out. I called my sister who also stocks up and asked her if she had a can that I could buy because now we were one bottle away from being completely out of formula. She said that she had been at Walmart the week previous and they were out then too. She only had two cans left and was hesitant to let me buy one of them because we didn't know how long Walmart would have this shortage. Completely understandable. So I grab a can that is one "quality" below the formula I normally buy and head off in search of a Walmart associate to find out when in the world they will have formula.

I can't find an associate anywhere so I head to the dressing rooms where there is ALWAYS an associate. I ask for a manager because by this time I am getting slightly irritated. After three pages for a manager and almost ten minutes of waiting, a mohawk sporting "support manager" finally arrived. I told him that between my sister and I, we had been to Walmart in search of THEIR brand of formula three times and they were out every time. I wondered if he knew when some might come in. He walked off to, apparently to go check it out (he didn't say anything to me about where he was going or if he was coming back), so I sat down to wait. After a few minutes, I asked the dressing room associate if the "support manager" was going to return with some answers. She said that she hoped so. After waiting another almost ten minutes, he reappeared to let me know that a truck was coming in that night. He had also put in two more orders of formula which should be there in 12 days. So I left Walmart with my lower grade formula.

Later that afternoon, my sister went to a different Walmart to find out if they had any formula. They had ONE can. She called me to see if I wanted her to buy it for me. Since I hadn't opened the can that I had purchased earlier and had plans to see my sister in a few hours, I had her buy it. My plan was to return the lower grade formula the next day when I went to Walmart to stock up on the regular formula. So I was thinking that I lucked out and my irritation with Walmart was starting to diminish.

The next morning I left for Walmart at 7:15 am. I wanted to make sure that I got to Walmart in time to purchase 5 cans for me and my sister wanted 10 cans. I had no idea when they would run out since they can't seem to keep it stocked. First, I went to the Customer Service counter to return the lower grade formula. She told me to leave the formula with her and go get the formula that I needed and then we would just do an exchange. I told her that I needed to get 10-15 cans of formula and asked her if that would be a problem. She said that it wouldn't. So I went back in search of formula.

To my pleasant surprise, they had formula and the cans were the 25% more bonus cans for the regular price. I decided that instead of getting just 5 cans for myself, I would get 10 cans since I didn't know how long they would have the bonus cans. 10 cans would get me until Lexi goes onto regular milk and if I had any extra then my sister would buy them from me because her son is 3 1/2 months younger than Lexi. So, I loaded 20 cans in the cart and headed back to customer service. Remember, I was getting 10 cans for my sister also.

There was a line at customer service so I patiently waited. The guy in front of me wanted stamps so the customer service lady (same one as before) flagged down the supervisor who had stamps. The customer service walked out to meet the supervisor halfway and then instead of returning with the stamps she walked a little ways with the supervisor talking to her about something. Then they stopped and both looked at my cart. The customer service lady then came walking back into the customer service area with the supervisor following a little bit behind her. The customer service lady then told me that the limit on formula was 8 cans. WHAT?!? I asked her if this rule was just for purchasing at customer service or if it was at all the cashiers. The supervisor then piped up and said that the rule applied at all Walmarts. I looked at the customer service lady and asked why she hadn't said anything when I was there 10 minutes prior and asked her if getting 10-15 cans was going to be a problem. She irritatingly said that she had been unsure of the rules.

The problem with this is that she had initiated the conversation with the supervisor. It wasn't like the supervisor had walked in, seen my 20 cans, and said that there was a limit. When the customer service lady had gone to get stamps, she asked the supervisor about the amount of formula that I was buying. So if she was unsure then, she would have been unsure 10 minutes prior and shouldn't have told me that it was fine. She should have said that there might be a limit and she would have to check. On top of that, NOWHERE is it posted that there is a limit on the formula that you can purchase at one time.

I was LIVID. So I left the store with only 8 cans and called my sister as I drove home. She said that it was ridiculous and that she had purchased 10 cans before. So she said that she was going to go to the same Walmart later in the day and try and purchase 12 cans........10 for her and 2 for me to complete the 10 that I initially wanted. She told me that she thought that I should call the general manager. So later that day she went to Walmart and guess what?!? She purchased 12 cans and they didn't say a darn thing.

So this morning I am calling the general manager at Walmart. She has been off for a few days but should be there today. I have decided to boycott Walmart. However, if I do need anything there, I will just send Joseph. That way, I won't break MY boycott!