Friday

I was on Wal-Mart's website on Friday checking to see when Super Smash Bros Brawl for the Wii would be available. Imagine my surprise when I saw it was available for pre-order at a price of $19.82! I jumped on it right away to lock in my price. Wow! Newly released Wii games usually go for about $50. Even with shipping, I'm coming out way ahead! I clicked through to purchase the game. The website thanked me for my order and said they would send me a confirmation. Sure enough, I got a confirmation email from them with the details of my order: total purchase price, when I could expect shipment, and that my credit card would not be charged until the order had shipped.

Everything was great, and I was satisfied with my purchase. Until Saturday, that is. Saturday is when I got the following email from walmart.com:

We are contacting you regarding your recent order 2677303127823.

At the time you placed your order, the price of the item(s) listed below was incorrect on our website. Due to this issue, we have canceled the item(s) from your order. No further action is required on your part regarding this issue and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Your payment method will not be charged for the item(s). Any authorization hold on your credit card account will be released in accordance with your financial institution's holds policy. Please contact your financial institution for more information.

Item(s):

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Wii Qty 1


Please note: Any items in your order that are not listed above will be delivered as planned. Click on "My Account" on http://www.walmart.com/ to track the status of any remaining items in your order.

Should you have any questions, please refer to our Order Acceptance policy:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=119625&path=0:5436:120160:119599:119625#1

You may also contact one of our Customer Service Associates at http://us.f815.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=help@walmart.com.

Sincerely,

Customer Service at Walmart.com
http://www.walmart.com/

When you click on the link to the "Order Acceptance policy", it basically states that if they erroneously price an item they have the right to cancel the order. I think this is bad business, but okay, whatever.

The problem I had was that they indeed charged my credit card. Nope, it wasn't an authorization hold, it was an actual charge.

So I contacted customer service. I was like excuse me, but you charged my credit card already. You should honor the price.

The high school dropout on the other end was like, Uh...no. That's not our policy. We can yank that price out from under you at will. (I think I heard an evil laugh at this point, but that could've been my imagination.) I'd suspected that my argument wasn't going to fly, but it was worth a try anyway.

Then I told him their policy also stated my card would not be charged until the item shipped, but they had already charged my card. So, what's the deal, dude? Y'all get to pick and choose which of your stated policies you are going to follow?

The crickets chirping on the other end of the phone indicated a clear lack of comprehension on his part. So I dropped it.

I continued: Look dude, since y'all aren't gonna give me the item at the price you listed I want my money back.

He finally decided to form words: Yes ma'am. We've issued the credit back into your account. It usually shows up in 3-5 business days.

I wasn't mad until then. But now I was.

Playing with my money is like playing with my emotions, Smokey!

Why should I wait 3-5 business days for MY money? Y'all didn't wait 3-5 business days to get it! And, again, your own policy states that they wouldn't charge my card until the item was shipped. It was a pre-order for next month, so there was absolutely no reason my card should have already been charged.

The poor slug said there was nothing he could do. So I asked to speak to someone with adult-level comprehension, presumably a supervisor (though we all know THAT is no guarantee of more intelligence). He put the shift lead on the phone. I explained the situation and why I was hot, and pointed out that if they had the means to charge immediately then they should have the means to credit just as quickly.

I don't really care about the game or the $20, but it's the principal. There's principalities involved in this thing.

She indicated that she understood my point and said she would have them issue an immediate credit, which she did. So I asked why the brick and mortar stores had to honor ticketed prices but the website could get away with cancelling orders when they screw up a price. She said Wal-Mart and walmart.com are separate entities. This is not an answer, but whatever. She said I was welcome to resubmit my order at the current price of $49.98. Thanks, but I'll pass. If I'm going to pay that price, I might as well wait until the game is released and go get it from the Best Buy or Toys-R-Us around the corner. I wouldn't even have to go out of my way, and I'd save on the shipping charge. The only reason I pre-ordered it anyway was because it was going to save me 30 bucks.

I had already stopped shopping at Wal-Mart's brick and mortar stores. There really isn't one that's in my immediate vicinity, and they negated any benefit I would get from driving past two Meijer stores and three Target stores when they discontinued layaway, which I only ever used for the holidays anyway. But I had still been able to find a few deals on walmart.com. I ordered a Fisher Price I Can Play Piano for about $20 with overnight shipping. That item was retailing for about $60. And I had been able to find some other great deals when they were doing the 99-cent shipping thing.

But this has soured me on their website, too. I have to admit, though, that I love getting great deals. If I find another great deal on walmart.com, I can't promise I won't try to cash in on it.

And you know this, man!

The Little Things

I was in my local Target today, and happened upon some items clearanced at 75% off. There were a bunch of toys (and I grabbed plenty), and I also found some decent picture frames for $1.25 each. Also, I had a coupon for $2.25 off a box of Electrasol dishwasher detergent, which was already on sale for $2.66! I was thrilled when I checked out and paid less than $80 for more than $300 worth of merchandise. As I was in my car driving home, I began to ponder.

I have no life.

And I'm surprisingly fine with that.

It doesn't take much these days to make me smile. Things like saving a ton of money, helping my child with math homework, and the fact that new episodes of Monk and Psych will be on tonight are enough to keep me content. That's not to say there aren't things I want to accomplish in life, just that I'm perfectly okay with where I am right now.

Now if I could only get a handle on this insomnia thing...

New Year, New Outlook

Okay, I know I've been neglecting my blogging lately. I have good reasons, but probably not good enough. So I'll just try to do better from now on.

I'm one of those people who loves the holiday season, but I'm always glad when it's over. This year was no exception. Especially because my daughter and I spent most of the holiday season in a self-imposed quarantine. I have to say that nobody appreciates the human immune system more than I do. I've always found disease processes to be quite fascinating, and I take great pleasure in knowing the very precise physiological path that an infection follows. On paper. Because here's what I know, ladies and gentlemen: 1) having a sick child really sucks, and 2) infection is neither pleasurable nor fascinating when it's inside of me.

Anyway, as I was pondering all things 2007, it occurred to me that several new pet peeves surfaced last year (and a couple of old ones). For the sake of education ('cause you know I'm ALL about education...LOL) I will list them for you:

1. The news media. Okay, I've never really liked watching the news. I always contended that if anything important ever happened in the world, Stuart Scott would tell me on Sportscenter. Maybe that was a stretch, but last year the media reached an all-time low standard for what passes as news. I mean, between the endless stories about Tom Cruise and What's-Her-Name (now his wife), Britney and Lindsey's drama-filled lives, and human interest stories so ridiculous you forfeit thousands of brain cells with each viewing, they might have managed to mention the genocide in the Sudan a handful of times.
2. The I've-Gotta-Start-A-Foundation syndrome. First of all, let me preface this tirade by saying that I sympathize with anyone who has lost a child. As a parent, I can't even begin to imagine the agony of life after such a tragedy. That said, there seems to be some kind of requirement these days, a mandate that you can't possibly have loved your child unless you start a foundation dedicated to whatever disease or accident was responsible for his or her death. For example: I saw a story featuring parents who had lost their 15-year-old daughter to a fatal wind surfing accident. As I said, it was tragic. But they weren't on the news because their daughter had been killed. They were there to discuss the foundation they started to "raise awareness" about wind surfing accidents, which even they admitted are extremely and ridiculously rare occurrences. But they believed the foundation was important because (say it with me y'all 'cause I know you know it) "if we can spare just one family from going through this, that makes it worthwhile." Okay, I'm all for doing whatever you can do to deal with the pain. But, in the name of all you consider holy, stay off the television. Or at least get some new lines.
3. The New England Patriots. To quote Kathy Bates from The Waterboy, "Zzzzzzzzzz...da devil...da devil...da devil...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz."
4. Regarding the phrase "In regards to..." This madness has been going on for years, but last year I saw a marked increase in use (probably because I had a boss who felt it necessary to put this in EVERY email he EVER wrote in life). This phrase is very aggravating. And very incorrect. I cringe every time I'm forced to read it or hear it. One should never use this phrase. EVER! Simply put, with regard to that particular phrase, it is much more concise and infinitely less annoying to use the word "regarding". If you are a person that uses this phrase often, please give my regards to your high school English teacher.
5. Hip-hop music. Anyone who knows me knows how much I've always loved hip-hop music. But what masquerades as hip-hop these days is ridiculous. At the risk of sounding like an old woman (Shaddup!), it just ain't what it used to be. I mean no disrespect to Soulja Boy ('cause I like to Crank That too), but if I can memorize the words to a song after hearing it once it's a pretty safe bet that the lyrics aren't very compelling. Oh, and this thing about every song has to feature someone else has gotten way out of control. Record companies complain that people are only downloading single tracks instead of buying full CDs. Okay...duh! I don't know whose CD to buy. The song is by this person featuring that person and that person and the other person. Besides, I might be so inclined to buy a full CD if it had more than one good track on it. Remember when Run DMC or LL Cool J would drop an album and EVERY song on it was a hit? You were at the record store the day the album dropped to get it. Remember Dr. Dre's The Chronic CD? Snoop's Doggystyle CD? You didn't mind buying the whole CD because you knew you were getting your money's worth. These days, you MIGHT get two decent songs on a CD if you're lucky, and they probably sound alike.

I'm not really a resolutions kinda gal, but I'm going to try to be much less aggravated this year. In the interest of full disclosure, I'd have to say my effort is already in jeopardy. You can't blame me though. What with the NFL playoffs in full swing AND the presidential election in 2008, it's possible that I picked the wrong year.