Walmart Gift Card after mispricing on SSBB

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rgratto2

2[H]4U
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This was the original deal thread. Walmart had Super Smash Brothers Brawl listed at $20, but then canceled everyone's orders because it was a pricing error. I got in on the deal, and my order got canceled. However, I got an email yesterday from them, and they gave me a $10 gift card to compensate. Did anyone else get similar treatment?

I think this is great, there have been a lot of pricing errors online, and most retailers just cancel the order and refer to their right to cancel any order for any reason. I was quite surprised, but am overall very pleased with the way this was handled, and am planning on leaving Walmart positive feedback telling them so.

We apologize for our recent video game pricing error and the incorrect information included in our follow up e-mail correspondence with you.

As we are always striving to provide a positive customer experience, we will be sending you a $10 electronic Gift Card toward a future purchase as an apology for your recent experience. (One Gift Card per affected customer; this card can only be used online at Walmart.com. Look for details in a separate email.)
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A couple of years ago Walmart had a pricing error on UC2:Liandri Conflict for Xbox. I think all the orders were cancelled, but they sent me and many others the game anyways at the listed price.

It's pretty nice that Walmart seems to try to honor or compensate even price mistakes.
 
I received my $10 gift certificate for use online this morning. I think that was a decent gesture on their part.
 
Got mine too. Cool for them to own up on the mistake. Wish more companies would see it like WalMart does.
 
Also got mine. Doesn't make me feel any different about their wage/benefits practices, but that's a different discussion for a different forum.

I agree that it was a decent and appropriate move on their part, kinda surprising in today's corporate world.
 
TexasAg05 said:
Also got mine. Doesn't make me feel any different about their wage/benefits practices, but that's a different discussion for a different forum.

I agree that it was a decent and appropriate move on their part, kinda surprising in today's corporate world.
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Kroger is much, much worse than Walmart.
 
Got mine as well. Good stuff, but I'd still have rather gotten the game at the mis-price :D
 
I'm not satisfied. If this were a brick and mortar store they would have had to honor the deal for the game. I don't want some crappy $10 gift card that I am not going to use, I want the game for the price that was agreed upon. We as customers need to step up and say this sort of treatment isn't right. As far as I am concerned you have a contract once you receive confirmation, I think it's going to take someone going to court and arguing that just because you put something in a TOS it doesn't make it legal.

Giving us a Walmart online gift card just makes this a bait and switch. Get a couple hundred people to bite at a deal, pull the deal, give them a $10 gift card, come off smelling like roses, and watch as you have now tricked a large number of consumers into shopping at your website that wouldn't have normally. I really hope all of you guys don't fall for this.
 
You actually expected to get a $50 game for $20, a month before it was supposed to be released?

Common sense. I'm amazed they gave you anything.
 
Blazestorm said:
You actually expected to get a $50 game for $20, a month before it was supposed to be released?

Common sense. I'm amazed they gave you anything.
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Your right Blaze, I mean just because they had a web site that said it, I was able to enter my information, and they sent me a confirmation email I must have been crazy to think that it was valid.

Places have specials all of the time. You can say the same thing about most of the deals in the forums. For example I just got a headset for .24 cents after rebate. Common sense right? Either that or honoring your advertised specials and respecting your customers.
 
Bomber18 said:
Your right Blaze, I mean just because they had a web site that said it, I was able to enter my information, and they sent me a confirmation email I must have been crazy to think that it was valid.

Places have specials all of the time. You can say the same thing about most of the deals in the forums. For example I just got a headset for .24 cents after rebate. Common sense right? Either that or honoring your advertised specials and respecting your customers.
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After rebate... sure, Ive gotten free stuff from buy.com with google checkout.

But this was a month before the product was scheduled to be released... and it showed up for under $20... it wasn't a special, it as a pricing error. :rolleyes: I could see $10 maybe $15 off... but 60% discount because you're pre-ordering. Don't play stupid... you knew it was a pricing error and tried to take advantage of it...
 
Blazestorm said:
After rebate... sure, Ive gotten free stuff from buy.com with google checkout.

But this was a month before the product was scheduled to be released... and it showed up for under $20... it wasn't a special, it as a pricing error. :rolleyes: I could see $10 maybe $15 off... but 60% discount because you're pre-ordering. Don't play stupid... you knew it was a pricing error and tried to take advantage of it...
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Well, I don't exactly see what the problem is with that, it's their mistake, not mine.
 
Looks like there are a lot of smash bros fans, cant wait for the game to come out so I can finally get some use out of my wii!
 
I got mine. I was disappointed that it was cancelled, but not surprised at all. It was obviously a pricing error. Nice of them to own up to their mistake (though they should probably fix the way orders are cancelled, what with the email saying I cancelled the order and all).
 
I was surprised. I made my order pretty much knowing it would get canceled (but with a sliver of hope) so I didn't really expect restitution or anything. I think I'll use it to order a Nintendo DS game.
 
I agree with Blazestorm.

We all knew it was wrong. We all jumped on it just in case they didnt catch it and we really COULD get it for only $20. They specifically have a disclaimer stating that mis-priced items will not be honored. You knew this could and probably would happen

Nonetheless, they caught it, and they STILL gave you a gift for their mistake and your trouble.

If you want to act surprised about anything, act surprised that they just gave you $10 for free.

You say you wont use it? You were going to order SSBB on their website anyway. Use the GC to order something else, or hold onto it and get SSBB for $10 off for "nothing".
 
I've regularly seen signs posted at several different brick-and-mortars appologizing for errors in print advertising. "We regret that the $1000 37' LCD TV was a misprint and should have read 37" LCD TV..."

I can't imagine who the "the world owes me" chump would be that would go screaming for a manager about a misprint.

I worked as a manager for Wal*Mart for 8 years and I'll agree they have problems but this was a misprint, they cancelled the orders and could have left it there but owned up to the mistake and made a small gesture to compensate. They weren't required to do that since, as stated, they have the right to cancel any order at any time.

Wally*World showed good service in this instance.
 
I think everyone needs to rethink what misprint is in the digital age. I have seen brick and motar stores have misprints in their ads yes, in these cases they usually have signs informing the customer of the error. I have also seen old sale signs out on merchandise or incorrectly priced by a price gun. In these cases the item rings up at the "real" price but if there is a sign or a sticker that says otherwise they are required to sell it to you at the lower price.

Online it's obviously diffrent but here the analogy in my mind. I see the game marked for $20. I said, I absolutely hate walmart and wouldn't shop here otherwise but for that price il bite. I go to the cashier give them all of my personal information, they run the credit card and everythings fine. They say "thanks, have a nice day" in the form of a confirmation email and im out the door. Now someone runs out into the parking lot and grabs my bag gives me back my money, and yells read the disclaimer. Would that be acceptable to any of you?

I think the rules of ecommerce are still somewhat clouded and it's moves like this that shape what is allowable. Dell pushing back the 8800gt they offered for weeks until finally canceling it. The pay pal cash back percentage allotted funds running out without informing customers. These are all events that other companies see.

Another company could see this and decide, hey I can show a great price, have a few hundred people make new accounts that wouldn't have otherwise, get their personal information (sell it if so inclined to turn a profit), pull the deal, and throw them a small incentive to buy something with me. They end up with a few hundred more people that are now primed to buy things at their site and will almost deffinitly buy something that costs more than the value of the gift card.

Maybe my tin foil hat is on but I think everyone should consider situations like this where we the consumer condone this kind of behavior. I for one want the customer to have the rights again in the marketplace.
 
Yup, got my $10 gift card too. People may hate walmart but one thing they know how to do well is keep their customers happy.
 
Bomber18 said:
Online it's obviously diffrent but here the analogy in my mind. I see the game marked for $20. I said, I absolutely hate walmart and wouldn't shop here otherwise but for that price il bite. I go to the cashier give them all of my personal information, they run the credit card and everythings fine. They say "thanks, have a nice day" in the form of a confirmation email and im out the door. Now someone runs out into the parking lot and grabs my bag gives me back my money, and yells read the disclaimer. Would that be acceptable to any of you?
.
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I think your analogy may be a little flawed. When you place an order on a web site, you have not bought the item yet. You are initiating your intent to purchase the item. As a show of intent, you have given your payment information. Now the web site will send you an email confirming that they've received that intent

However, until they ship the item out, they have every right to reject your payment for whatever reason (or no reason at all). If you are walking out with the merchandise, in the e-commerce world, that could be considered as package has been shipped.

It's like handing your card to the cashier and them getting ready to swipe it. Granted, if you compare this with e-commerce practises, the cashier is holding your card for a few days before swiping it and giving you your items. The cashier has every right to hand you back your card and say, "sorry, we can't take payment for this item".

With regards to the Walmart's SSBB price error, all you were doing is trying your luck to see if they truly meant to sell it at $20. If they did, you just bought a $50 game for $20 (or lost $20 and gained a game). If they said, "oops sorry here's a $10 gift card", you still gain from that. Most e-tailers will just cancel it, say "sorry, please come back again" and leave it at that.
 
Bomber18 said:
Another company could see this and decide, hey I can show a great price, have a few hundred people make new accounts that wouldn't have otherwise, get their personal information (sell it if so inclined to turn a profit), pull the deal, and throw them a small incentive to buy something with me. They end up with a few hundred more people that are now primed to buy things at their site and will almost deffinitly buy something that costs more than the value of the gift card.
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Jesus christ. It was a pricing error. They have no obligation to uphold it.

You got something for trying to take advantage of a pricing error. You don't have to spend it, you could give it away, sell it on ebay for $5, who really cares? You have lost nothing, yet you still manage to complain.

Bestbuy Business had 4 x 1 gigs of DDR2 800 back a few months ago for $60. I ordered and assumed it would get cancelled, with a possible stroke of luck I could get some cheap ram, few days later it was cancelled and so was everyone else's orders. Because it was a pricing error and nothing else, nobody threw a hissy-fit... we went "well shit... oh well" and moved on with our lives.

The difference with the Dell and MSI deal was that Dell took more orders than they could fullfill at a price MSI wasn't supposed to be selling them at. MSI wouldn't be able to produce Nvidia cards anymore because they were undercutting the rest of the companies, Dell is stuck with unfullfilled orders, they keep trying to talk to MSI and Nvidia to see if they can work something out (delaying the orders), in the end MSI tells Dell they can't make cards for that price or they'll lose their ability to produce Nvidia cards, Dell is forced to cancel the orders because they have no product to sell. It's not that difficult of a concept.

They're not going to lose money to get you to sign up a membership, I've signed on with hundreds of companies online and never received emails unless I clicked "send me special deals and offers" which typically come from a company I like and buy products from, so if they happen to have a deal I'll get emails... If I don't see anything I like, I delete the email... pretty simple.

Half of [H]otDeals / SlickDeals is pricing errors and trying to take advantage of them, along with coupon exploiting (Dell's $25 off $25 thing) and Google Checkout $10 w/ Free shipping (So you get free stuff). The other half are legitimately good deals that are being offered by companies, like CC and Bestbuy have 1TB externals for $250 right now... that's what the OEM drives sell for... Soyo's $300 24" monitor at office-max that shows up every once in a while... Those are "deals" that save you some money... CC had Mx518's for $10... that was a [H]otDeal because it was instore pricing too, meaning it wasn't a pricing error.

It was a god damn pricing error, it's not a bait and switch scam, there is no conspiracy, if you don't want to spend money at walmart, don't. They gave you something of value when you tried to take advantage of them, and you're still pissed off.
 
God forbid someone tries to take advantage of a mispriced item by a billion dollar corporation!!

:rolleyes:
 
Holy freaking shit people! I can't believe there are people out there who are actually pissed about this. I mean, you tried to buy something for less than 1/2 of the MSRP before it is even released. WTF is wrong with you? The world doesn't owe you shit and neither does Walmart. If you don't want to shop there, then don't. But don't get pissed because the one time you compromised your beliefs to get something on the cheap, they decided to cancel the order realizing it was a mistake. Even after they tried to make good on the mistake by giving out free $10 gc's, you are still miffed? Everyone who tried to get in on this absolutely, 100%, and unequivocally, knew it was a mistake. To say otherwise, is foolish and no one is stupid enough to believe that either. Walmart is doing something most others wouldn't i.e. giving out the gc's. No telling how many orders were made and how much they are losing by just trying to be reputable. As large as they are, one might think they don't care but apparently someone there, does.

Rationalizing it by saying Walmart is a billion dollar corporation doesn't work either. I hope you don't try to run a business some day, otherwise, you are in for a very rude awakening.

For a legal contract to take place, there has to be consideration given (in this case money for goods). Giving your credit card information to them with the intent to receive the game is not consideration. It is only consideration once Walmart has charged your card. Then you would have a valid argument. Since no money changed hands, no consideration was given therefore, no contract and no breach of contract (a big no no in tort laws).

Get rid of the world owes me attitude. That is the biggest reason our society is in the crapper IMO.
 
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