[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Wal-Mart to Online Customers: No Talking here

[GraysonPeddie]

They don't want to find the answers online? Consider them lazy, but that can be embarrassing for customer service... :(

[yearight3]

Customers to Walmart. NO buying. People should be boycotting these clowns anyway for forcefeeding Chinese garbage on us.

[rlescaille]

"Customers to Walmart. NO buying. People should be boycotting these clowns anyway for forcefeeding Chinese garbage on us."
OK.....Then let's boycott 95% of all other retail chains selling Chinese made products. Oh, and don't forget our beloved all-American GM company looks to China for vehicle production and marketshare. China gets lots of financial love from the US. This is nothing to scoff at...this is capitalism and profit maximization that the US teaches so well.
findarticles.com/p/articles/mi[um0UDO/is[/u]716/ai96081975]

[rkinne01]

The reason people prefer to call an actual person is that the website's "help" section is rarely any help at all or contains outdated information.

[DeeJay]

True most, if not all, retailers buy from China,, but WM is the biggest and worst offender so what better way to make a point than to boycott their stores?

I would like to know why,, after all these years of buying from China, all of a sudden we are having problems. Are they purposely harming us?

[PCTechPhil]

There is no way Walmart can put every answer to every question online. No business can. It's impossible. There are always, and I mean ALWAYS, questions that are not answered online and require a customer service rep to answer. When I have a problem with an online business, I try to find an answer online. But when it's not there, I darn well want to be able to talk to a human being to get an answer. Sam Walton, is this how you really want to screw your customers?

[dobregon]

While it remains to be seen how this will work out for Wal-mart, it's possible they could be throwing the baby out with the bath water. There are instances where the contact center can be a sales center, but it depends on how you engage your customers to begin with. It seems as if the problem here was helping customers find the right channel for their needs. The company saw the phone as a cost, but that could be because of when and where they were offering it as an option. If you offer your phone number on pages where customers can track their shipments, customers will use the phone to track their shipments.
What happens now if a customer has a sales related question that can't be handled online? More than likely, they'll abandon the transaction all together and look elsewhere.
Perhaps a more proactive way of targeting sales opportunities vs. support and tracking would benefit the company more than forcing all customers down a single path? Ultimately, when it comes to long-term

[WinTard]

The very reason our economy is in shambles, is because of us, the consumers. So let's stop pointing the finger elsewhere. If we buy Chinese products, it's our fault. Look at Dell, Apple, Motorola, and almost every other piece of high-technology, is "proudly designed in the USA", yet manufactured in China.

Avoiding the truth, isn't going to resolve the problem. It is the root cause to the problem in the first place.

Prejudice is so narrow minded, and futile.

I personally like the Quality Products originating from China. Would you call Apple products low-quality? Well they are all made in China to specifications.

Yet on the low-end of things, local entrepreneurs massively profit from low-quality products also made in China, to their specs. You get junk, because you want junk and low prices. Face it. You are guilty for creating the market conditions you deplore.

I'm happy to buy at Wal-Mart because I feel I get good value for my dollars. Period.

Now, I'm not going to put up with any organization telling me what I can or cannot do. So I'll still buy at Wal-Mart, but won't follow their rules or anybody else's for that matter.

~~~~~~~~~
Learn the rules well, so you can break them properly.
~ The Dalai Lama

[rgreen4]

Wal-Mart and a lot of other on-line stores can take lessons from Newegg. I absolutely love to spend money at Newegg because they provide you with so much information. First of all they give you the specs on the items in grea detail, better than either CDW or Tiger Direct. Then the have photos of the items in great detail if needed (most memory modules only have one, but how many do you need?). Then when you order, you get an immediate e-mail back stating that the order has been accepted and is in process. Then a little while later you get an e-mail with the information that your card has been charged. When the order is shipped, you get an e-mail with the tracking number. Finally you get the e-mail with your invoice.

The best part - you don't have to go searching for anything once you place the order. I deal with 5 on line stores on a regular basis, 2 for computer related and electronic items, 2 for pet supplies and one for clothing and footwear. None of the other 4 come anywhere else to Newegg's service. This is why it is so highly recommended in the community.

[WinTard]

A satisfied customer is the best recommendation ever IMHO.
Thank you rgreen4!

[mcbarker]

WinTard said:

The very reason our economy is in shambles, is because of us, the consumers. So let's stop pointing the finger elsewhere. If we buy Chinese products, it's our fault. Look at Dell, Apple, Motorola, and almost every other piece of high-technology, is "proudly designed in the USA", yet manufactured in China.Avoiding the truth, isn't going to resolve the problem. It is the root cause to the problem in the first place.

Prejudice is so narrow minded, and futile.

I personally like the Quality Products originating from China. Would you call Apple products low-quality? Well they are all made in China to specifications.

Yet on the low-end of things, local entrepreneurs massively profit from low-quality products also made in China, to their specs. You get junk, because you want junk and low prices. Face it. You are guilty for creating the market conditions you deplore.

I'm happy to buy at Wal-Mart because I feel I get good value for my dollars. Period.

Now, I'm not going to put up with any organization telling me what I can or cannot do. So I'll still buy at Wal-Mart, but won't follow their rules or anybody else's for that matter.

~~~~~~~~~
Learn the rules well, so you can break them properly.
~ The Dalai LamaI

I only partially agree that we are to blame for our economy's woes for buying Chinese products, but the sad fact is that there aren't many other options available. If this country were to go to war with China at some point in the future, we wouldn't last more than a couple of months, because most of the spare parts for our electrical equipment are manufactured there, and in the event of a conflict, all they have to do is cut off our supplies.

This country, sadly, no longer has the facility to suddenly start manufacturing the necessary hardware to fight such a war. So it is not just an economic problem, but also a national security issue. Unfortunately, by the time the politicians and corporate America heeds such a threat, it will be too late.If events continue to travel their present path, China will be the next USA, and we will be the next UK, a once great empire in decline, forced down the path of socialism.

Sorry for getting a little off topic.... I'll get off my soapbox now.

[WinTard]

My point is that we can't fix our problems by blaming the fault onto others... We created our problems ourselves, and must resolve them by ourselves.

Taking responsibility is the first step. A change of thinking is the next step. A change of course of action is the third step.

As far as others, instead of finding what divides us as human beings, why not look for the common ground?

We are all looking for happiness, the freedom to become what we are meant to be.

And it is through trade, exchange, cooperation, that war can be averted.

The Only Enemy is War itself...

~~~~~~~~~~
Peace hath her victories, no less renowned than War.
~ John Milton

We should try to expand our common ground on the basis of mutual respect.
~ Hu Jintao, Chinese President at the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics...

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
~ Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, 16th President of the United States

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
~ Lao Tzu

Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths.
~ Muhammad Ali

All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.
~ Aristotle

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
~ Winston Churchill

We cannot solve our current problems with the same level of thinking that got us there.
~ Albert Einstein

[mcbarker]

Nice sentiments, but a little naive. Human nature being what it is, will never allow us to find Utopia. Although most of us may say that we want the path of enlightenment, our greed, jealousy, hunger for power... humanity, if you will, won't allow us to seek out that path. We are, in effect, our own worst enemies.
You can quote all of the enlightened souls who ever passed through our lives, and our history, but it still won't change our true nature. That is, unfortunately, hardwired into our species.
With the possible exceptions of Lao Tzu and Aristotle, the people you quoted had, or have a violent side, which contradicted their peaceful sounding platitudes.

Unfair... You edited, and added a couple. :)


Message was edited by: mcbarker

[WinTard]

I agree these ideals are naive. To me naivety = sincerity = purity = courage = strength = honor.

But even though perfection is probably unattainable, since we human beings are imperfect, surely we're intelligent enough to find a proper balance in between.

Any good deal is win-win. Whoever thinks otherwise is doomed to failure.

~~~~~~~~~
Strive for excellence, not perfection.
~ H. Jackson Brown Jr.

The Yin cannot exist without the Yang. Good cannot exist without evil. Absence defines presence. Without life there would be no death. Without fear, no courage either...
~ Another WinTarded observation.

I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of the self.
~ Dalai Lama (Head of the Dge-lugs-pa order of Tibetan Buddhists, 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, b.1935)

I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.
~ Dalai Lama (Head of the Dge-lugs-pa order of Tibetan Buddhists, 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, b.1935)

I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness?
~ Dalai Lama (Head of the Dge-lugs-pa order of Tibetan Buddhists, 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, b.1935)

Is the Dalai Lama a Nobel Peace laureate disoriented oriental? ;)

Message was edited by: WinTard

PS: Sorry about the after-edits, I cheetah all the time! And also apologies to all for getting way off topic again!

[mcbarker]

WinTard said:

I agree these ideals are naive. To me naivety = sincerity = purity = courage = strength = honor.

But even though perfection is probably unattainable, since we human beings are imperfect, surely we're intelligent enough to find a proper balance in >between.

One would think that we have the intelligence to find a proper balance, but then, just how intelligent are we? We measure our intelligence by our ability to "reason" and communicate with each other, (abilities which we call instinct in other species?), and judge ourselves to be superior because we are the proud owners of an opposable thumb.

We also judge all other species to be less intelligent because they cannot learn to communicate with us in our language, and yet, we cannot learn their language. So doesn't that make us less intelligent than we think we are? A majority of people (including myself) cannot even communicate with another human being from a different location in their native language.

I guess my point is, that other species seem to have found the critical life balance (the Garden of Eden, for lack of a better term), unintelligent as we deem them to be, so why can't we, and does that mean that maybe we're not as intelligent as we think we are?

Consider this... We are the only species on the planet which emulates a virus, destroying its own environment, and ensuring its inevitable self destruction. Sadly, that may be our destiny, and ultimately, our epitaph.

Hopefully, there is no supreme being judging us from his/her/it's Heavenly throne, because we are failing the test miserably. On the other hand, those among us with the strength to influence and lead, will hopefully quickly gain the wisdom to do so wisely.

As for our own personal insecurities and shortcomings, we each must face, and win, that battle within ourselves alone. I don't believe that happiness is an end in itself, but rather, a result of finding inner peace and balance in our lives. In order to achieve that kind of balance, we must first be at one with ourselves, and those around us. Only then will we experience true happiness.

[WinTard]

Thank you mcbarker for your enlightening and mind-expanding views. I 100% agree with your philosophy.

~~~~~~~~~
No tool is more beneficial than intelligence. No enemy is more harmful than ignorance.
~ Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Harithi al-Baghdadi al-Mufid

Intelligence plus character ? that is the true goal of education.
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

If you would take, you must first give, this is the beginning of intelligence.
~ Lao Tzu

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.
~ Lao Tzu

One of the indictments of civilizations is that happiness and intelligence are so rarely found in the same person.
~ William Feather

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.
~ Stephen Hawking

Open minds and hearts are vastly superior to closed ones.
{Chinese Proverb}

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
~ Malcolm S. Forbes, 1917-1990, American Publisher

Learning is the process of discovering something is possible.
{Chinese Proverb}