Electronics at Walmart
 

If you buy electronics at Walmart be sure to read the small signs telling you what the return policy is! I purchased a cell phone there and 22 days latter am having a problem with it. Took it back and they tell me there is only a 15 day return policy on cell phones! I told the two managers that I was not informed of the return policy when I purchased it and they basicly said it is the customers responsibility to read the signs to know what the policy is!!
This is typical of Walmarts "NO CUSTOMER SERVICE ATTITUDE"!!!!
Wish we had a RENYS here!!:ohdear:

No one goes to Walmart for their great customer service... You get what you pay for, almost always....

Not that I am defending Walmart, but most stores like Verizon (14) day and others up to a 30 day return policy. Best Buy may have a 30 day policy but if not defective there is a 10% restocking fee. However, I would tend to agree though with Walmart. If everyone came in after the date, when would it stop? Did you expect to get a refund or did you want an exchange after the expiration date? They would probably exchange it.

Costco gives you 90 days on most electronic stuff with no hassle. Best program in the buisness by far. If you don't want to take the drive, you can get it online at Costco.com. Too bad there isn't a Costco closer to the villages than the ones that already exist.

Watch out at Sam's Club, too. Up in MI we bought a laptop and were told by the salesman that we had 90 days to return it. The hard drive puked shortly after we arrived back here. We went to Sam's here to see if we could exchange it, and happened to find out the return policy for laptops is actually only 30 days. Fortunately we were still within 30 days, decided just to return it and find one elsewhere.

I go to best buy because of the 30 day vs the Wal-Mart 15 day. I have returned many items and have never had to our been asked to pay a restocking fee, fyi.

At Walmart and Sam's Club they offer a very inexpensive extended warranties on their higher end electronics which extends the warranty up to four years. Never had any trouble returning any defective items to either store. I wonder if the cell phones are actually a rented kiosk space by the cell phone companies? Maybe someone can answer this. :popcorn:

With all the negatives about Walmart one wonders how they are the #1 retailer in the world. Perhaps they do something right??

check your credit card policy
 

Many credit cards offer an automatic extended warranty when used to buy electronics. It is in the fine print of the papers you got when you signed up, but if you can't find it, a call to the 800 # would likely work to find out if it is part of your features.

I don't think I have ever been verbally told a return policy unless I asked.

I always ask. Our (almost) problem was that we were given the wrong answer, i.e., 90 days, when it is only 30 days. We got lucky, having the hard drive go before 30 days was up. Otherwise we would be dealing with Samsung, sending the laptop back to them for repairs. My experience with that is when something is wrong with a new computer, it's usually a lemon, and other things go wrong too, frequently after the warranty's up.

Thanks, that's a worthwhile warning for those of us who seldom buy any electronic items.

There are signs throughout the Walmart store with details on the return policy, one of them is located almost directly overhead with the cell phones above the registers in that area !!!

What if you don't happen to look up? I've been in there many times and don't recall seeing any such signs. :duck:

I suppose you do as I always do on every major purchase...ASK :)

Actually, I think cell phones and cameras and other items "purchased"...used and then returned after use (yes, you do pay EVERYWHERE for those who push the rules) are tighter than most products OR you pay that restocking charge and maybe more.

Not defending anyone here, but to me, the signs are pretty obvious. Posting the return policy clearly is their job, being aware of it on a major purchase is ours !

Well, those signs are not obvious in Sam's. Plus I ASKED, and they told me 90 days, when it was 30. The sign we finally saw was on the wall behind the salesgirl at the Customer Service desk.

But I think it's good that you can return a laptop at all. Used to be when you bought them, from the company or dedicated computer store, they wouldn't take them back no matter what. If you got it home and didn't like it, too bad. If it broke, they would just fix it and fix it till the warranty was up, and then you were out of luck if you had a lemon. That happened to me with an HP lemon. The Fed EX guy came to the door five times with a laptop box to collect it. He was incredulous.

So I'm happy with a 30-day return policy.