Customer Disservice

We were at walmart today and we noticed in the parking lot that someone had their lights on. I know how much of a pain a dead battery can be so we decided to go in to have the person paged. John noticed a woman crying at the customer service desk. Her children were missing in the store and she was trying to get someone from customer service to help look and maybe call the police as she was only looking away for a second and then her kids were gone. The customer service person not only refused to help, she told the woman to quit causing drama and to get out of the store! John wanted to complain to the manager, and the manager agreed with the employee! Also the manager and the employee made a racist remark on top of it all towards the poor woman who only wanted to find her kids. :mad: I fully intend to call walmarts complaint number. The manager was disrespectful and rude. I couldn't immagine have to deal with trying to find my child and having to deal with BS from the store people too.
Ugh, some people really should study what customer service means.
I hope the woman found her kids. When we left she was in the process of using someones cell phone to call the police. The store manager wouldn't even let her use the phone.

I work at Customer Service at Bed, Bath & Beyond and we have strict policies about missing children. If someone tells us their kid is missing, we IMMEDIATELY announce an "Adam Alert", where an store Associate and Manager will stand guard at the doors while all employees get a description of the missing child, what they were wearing and all important information and go look for them.

Wal-Mart needs to be made known of their hideous behavior towards a woman whose child or children are missing. Keep in mind that Customer Service deals with all kinds of complaints, demands, rude behavior, etc. Believe me, I've been the brunt of some of that behavior. There are also two sides to every story. They may have had run ins with her before, who knows?? If I were that woman, I would've called the police from my cell phone and went over Customer Service. You can never be too careful.

I thought Wal-Mart was the ones that invented the Adam Alert! :eek:

I should have added that the woman had two kids, one was in a stroller and one was about 5 or 6. The woman had her purse (with her cell phone :rolleyes: ) in the stroller.
What bugged me was the fact that the manager and the employee threw out a racial slur, and that people were agreeing with them. I dont think there is ever a situation where that kind of reaction is appropriate.

Racial slurs are never appriopriate. I don't care what situation you're in. I hope you got their (the employees) names. I'd be on the phone to Corporate in a nano-second.

I would have said something to the management right then and there. I hope you called their corporate office with names and a description of the event. If for no other reason but self preservation, people need to do better jobs, with the way the economy is right now. Even if compassion isn't something they're familiar with, you'd think considering their paycheck might be motivational.

I'll admit, I haven't seen blatant disrespect like that from a Walmart employee before, but I can say that it's literally been about 15 years since I actually got GOOD customer service at Walmart.

That's outrageous!!! I found myself getting angry just reading about it. If I had been there in person I would have called 911 myself, and when the police arrived, filed a formal complaint against Walmart with them, and then Walmart corporate.
I certainly hope that the children were found safe.

I'd seen that "Adam Alert" sticker on store doors, and never knew what it meant! Poorly played on Walmart's part, though.

I wonder about the other side of the story.

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Originally Posted by sasvermont

I wonder about the other side of the story.

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I still would have treated the alleged situation with immediate action, and if it was unfounded, then deal with the consequences later. There supposedly were children involved, and better to be safe than sorry. IMO

No doubt about the alert being necessary under normal circumstances, but we don't know all the circumstances. Racial slurs are totally uncalled for and I wonder what person thinks its ok! I think the entire situation was unfortunate and hopefull it turned out without harm.

I still think there is a part to this story that is not known to us.

Walmart is Walmart. I hate the stores to tell you the truth, but would not discount a customer pulling some goofy routine to provoke the person in customer service.

Working in retail, one sees all kinds of routines that would drive the most together person to total distraction!

I hope the woman complains, if she was harmed in any way. I assume she would.

I love kids and would hope that more mothers would keep track of their children while they shop. The store is not a baby sitting service. No store is. I know children move around stores, but the parent(s) are there to take care of them.....hopefully. Many parents do not care until their child is missing. I see it day in and day out!

I hope this story has a good ending.

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Originally Posted by pomtzu

I still would have treated the alleged situation with immediate action, and if it was unfounded, then deal with the consequences later. There supposedly were children involved, and better to be safe than sorry. IMO

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Agreed. Also, there's no side of the story that could have justified the use of racial slurs. None whatsoever.

Ditto, I am just shocked by this. Who are these horrid, stupid people? I would also write to the local paper and boycott that Walmart. A child no matter what race or side of town they are from is a child and by God you had better treat it as the precious creature it is.

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Originally Posted by pomtzu

That's outrageous!!! I found myself getting angry just reading about it. If I had been there in person I would have called 911 myself, and when the police arrived, filed a formal complaint against Walmart with them, and then Walmart corporate.
I certainly hope that the children were found safe.

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They do the Adam alert at the local wal-mart here.. When Eden (my niece) was about 3-4, my mom was in Wal-mart and she jerked away from my mom and took off running.. My mom told an employee that she saw walking by, and she paged the front desk and immediately told them to do it!
Even the employees that were working on the floor were helping look for her... The found her within a few minutes hiding under one of the clothes racks..

I can't believe someone would be so hateful when someone elses child is missing in the store.. The child could have run out of the store into the parking lot and been run over.

If I had been standing there seeing that go on, I too would've used my cell phone to call the police myself. Then I would ask the mother if there was anything I could do to help her find them.