This is not directly related to SW, but I've heard a number of SW
broadcasters comment on Wal-Mart and some of their deeds, especially
driving the small businessman out of business.

I had an experience yesterday -- as in previous days with Wal-Mart --
and decided to drop the Wal-Mart service department a note this morning
- eastern time. I'm pasting it to the bottom of this note and will let
you know what kind of useful information I get back from them.

What I told them only scratched the surface. I could probably write a
book, well at least a pamphlet, concerning Wal-Mart's "service" center
dealings.

Not included in the msg. is the store location and number which was
entered just above the block allowing comments. I'll leave that off
this message as it probably could apply to many Wal-Mart stores. If
you're getting your car service there on a regular basis you may just
want to have it serviced elsewhere from time to time as they may not be
doing all they claim to be doing! :-)

Al

===============

You need to have someone drop by the service department, have a car
serviced and then double check to see what was ACTUALLY done vs what was
recorded as being done on the invoice.

Yesterday, I drove about 45 miles each way, as usual to have the car
serviced at R. Mt. since I left the Henderson, NC servicing -- another
story for later. I got the 15 pt. service with synthetic oil and had
the tires balanced and rotated -- allegedly!

Time I left the store the tires were bumping worse than before.
Actually, the car was running very smoothly when I took it in but I felt
is was time for a rotation and figured they may as well balance them
while they were at it. From 10 to 30 mph it was very obvious there was
a problem and I suspected some loose wheel lugs, which was not the case.
I took it to the place I last bought tires today, in Norlina, and the
tires were at 25 psi vs the 35psi alleged on the Service Order. They
were out of balance. I got the two front tires rebalanced and will
probably go back and get the two rear ones balanced as there is still a
slight bump.

The invoice has often said there were ZERO fitting for grease and there
have been TWO on each side for many years! I checked the right front
today while the wheel was off and that fitting had NOT been greased. I
didn't check the other 3 fittings, but will go elsewhere to have the car
greased!

I will probably continue to buy "stuff" from Wala-Mart; but I doubt I'll
EVER go back there to get anything serviced.

As to the grease fittings. This was discussed when the order was
placed. After it had been "serviced" was was in the tire area I told
Joe L (? on the L) that I'd like to walk over and double check the
grease fittings to be sure it was greased. It would have been very
simple since the car was jacked up anyway. What he did was ASK the guy
who did the "service" and he said it was greased. Actually, the work
order says, "COMPLETE, 0 Ftngs" but the man said he greased it and then
said there were TWO fittings instead of the FOUR that are there -- two
per side.

BTW: They hae my name spelled as "Patric, Al" in the computer.

Thanks for letting me provide the feed back. What you do with it or
about it is up to you, but I doubt I'll TRUST the Wal-Mart service
departments for anything any more! It's a good price, if the work were
actually done. But if the service men are so pushed that they have to
lie about the things being done in order to satisfy Wal-Mart production
requirements it is a rotten "deal".

Al Patrick

I bought a computer there which never worked right since I got it. When I tried
to return it for exchange, Wal-Mart refused to do so and said that all computer
products including hardwware and the ecomputers theirselves must be returned
within 14 days, and since it was more than 14 days, thy couldn't accept it as a
return and told me I had to call the manufacturer and then wal-mart gave me a
false phone number to the manufacturer of the computer.

After several calls to telephone directory assistance, I finally found the real
phone number to the manufacturer of the computer. and guess what?

The manufacturer told me to take it back to Wal-Mart since it still wasn't a
year old and Wal-Mart had signed a contract with the computer manufacturer to
take that manufacturers computers back for a whole year from date of purchase
if they're defective.

I told him I tried to do so and Wal_Mart refused to do so and said it had to be
within 14 days.

Then he re-iterated that Wal-Mart had signed a contract with the manufacturer
to take it back within a year.

Since Wal-Mart efused to take it back, I had to send it back to the
manufacturer for repairs ( and it's still not fixed correctly, yet),

but the bottom line here is that Wal-Mart has violated their contrat with
Compaq computers and gotten away with it.

Chinese mafia.
La Dolce di Far Niente
"Waterperson77" wrote in message
...
I bought a computer there which never worked right since I got it. When I
tried
to return it for exchange, Wal-Mart refused to do so and said that all
computer
products including hardwware and the ecomputers theirselves must be
returned
within 14 days, and since it was more than 14 days, thy couldn't accept it
as a
return and told me I had to call the manufacturer and then wal-mart gave
me a
false phone number to the manufacturer of the computer.

After several calls to telephone directory assistance, I finally found the
real
phone number to the manufacturer of the computer. and guess what?

The manufacturer told me to take it back to Wal-Mart since it still wasn't
a
year old and Wal-Mart had signed a contract with the computer manufacturer
to
take that manufacturers computers back for a whole year from date of
purchase
if they're defective.

I told him I tried to do so and Wal_Mart refused to do so and said it had
to be
within 14 days.

Then he re-iterated that Wal-Mart had signed a contract with the
manufacturer
to take it back within a year.

Since Wal-Mart efused to take it back, I had to send it back to the
manufacturer for repairs ( and it's still not fixed correctly, yet),

but the bottom line here is that Wal-Mart has violated their contrat with
Compaq computers and gotten away with it.

Take your local Wal-Mart to small claims court for not honoring the
warranty. They will probably settle with you. They don't want the publicity
that this would gather especially if you threatened to involve the media.
"Maximus" wrote in message
ink.net...
Chinese mafia.
La Dolce di Far Niente
"Waterperson77" wrote in message
...
I bought a computer there which never worked right since I got it. When
I
tried
to return it for exchange, Wal-Mart refused to do so and said that all
computer
products including hardwware and the ecomputers theirselves must be
returned
within 14 days, and since it was more than 14 days, thy couldn't accept
it
as a
return and told me I had to call the manufacturer and then wal-mart gave
me a
false phone number to the manufacturer of the computer.

After several calls to telephone directory assistance, I finally found
the
real
phone number to the manufacturer of the computer. and guess what?

The manufacturer told me to take it back to Wal-Mart since it still
wasn't
a
year old and Wal-Mart had signed a contract with the computer
manufacturer
to
take that manufacturers computers back for a whole year from date of
purchase
if they're defective.

I told him I tried to do so and Wal_Mart refused to do so and said it
had
to be
within 14 days.

Then he re-iterated that Wal-Mart had signed a contract with the
manufacturer
to take it back within a year.

Since Wal-Mart efused to take it back, I had to send it back to the
manufacturer for repairs ( and it's still not fixed correctly, yet),

but the bottom line here is that Wal-Mart has violated their contrat
with
Compaq computers and gotten away with it.

but the bottom line here is that Wal-Mart has violated their contrat with
Compaq computers and gotten away with it.


Had a similar experience with Compaq - machine went bad 41 days after
purchase. Past the Computer City 30 day return policy. Spent 16
weeks fighting with Compaq to honor the warranty. Local "authorized"
service center completely rebuilt it and still couldn't get it to
work. Compaq had a run-around for everything. And a ton of high
school kids putting me on hold.

My take - Compaq is proof positive that McVeigh parked the truck in
the wrong place.

"Al Patrick" wrote in message
...

Yesterday, I drove about 45 miles each way, as usual to have the car
serviced at R. Mt. since I left the Henderson, NC servicing -- another
story for later. I got the 15 pt. service with synthetic oil and had
the tires balanced and rotated -- allegedly!

Anyone who would trust routine maintenance to their
car being performed by the idiots who staff Wal-Mart
deserves to get screwed.

Same goes for Jiffy Lube, Kmart, Sears and those many
many chain store type transmission repair shops.

(I've added Sears also, as they used to have good car service
several years ago, but they now are in the shi++er too
with low-paid "mechanics" who don't know a socketwrench from
a toilet plunger)

"strange vermicelli" wrote:
| (I've added Sears also, as they used to have good car service
| several years ago, but they now are in the shi++er too
| with low-paid "mechanics" who don't know a socketwrench from
| a toilet plunger)

Didn't you get the memo, Strange?

I refer to line four: "We no longer employ
mechanics. We will no longer refer to our
place of business as a "Garage." We are,
henceforth, "Service Technicians," and we
work in a "Service Center."

These Technicians couldn't find their asses
with both hands, a map, and a flashlight, unless
their asses were equipeed with a chip, and a
chip - reader plug - in.

Buncha jackasses.

73,

Steve Lawrence
Burnsville, MN



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