Walmart has lost my business and my respect

Last week Melissa and I purchased a piece of furniture and a DVD from Walmart. When we unpacked the furniture we could see it had been repackaged and had a large scratch on the front, which was disappointing since we believed we were buying a new, pristine piece of furniture. We then tried to play the DVD in three different DVD players, but were unsuccessful (I double checked the DVD to make sure the region was correct and tried other DVDs, which all played properly).

Today after work, Melissa and I went to Walmart to return the defective items. When we arrived, we loaded the furniture and DVD in a shopping cart and proceeded to the customer service  counter where after waiting in line, we had the pleasure of speaking with Nina, an extremely rude and unprofessional “customer service” representative. She informed us that we didn't have the necessary “yellow stickers” and could not return the items. In a condescending tone, she demanded we return to the entrance to get the stickers. We informed her there was no one at the entrance when we arrived, to which she replied in an extremely sarcastic tone, "There is always someone there!". She then mumbled something that sounded inappropriate and walked away, which left us standing at the customer service counter wondering if she was coming back.

After a few minutes I took the items back to the entrance and waited for the person who was supposed to be "watching" the door to finish flirting with a woman in the Subway restaurant (near the entrance). When Richard finally came over he said, "You must have stolen this because the box isn't cold." By this time, I was rather upset having just been accused of stealing the items in the cart (even though I had the receipt in my hand and several people had seen Melissa and I enter the store). I told him I was going to call the police and we could review the security tapes together if he didn't believe me. After several minutes of discussion another employee came over and told him to give me the stickers.

I took the stickers and returned to the customer service desk where a quality customer service representative politely assisted us with the return of the items.

As a direct result of being treated so poorly, Melissa asked to speak with a manager. When the manager arrived, two strangers who were also waiting in the long customer service line took the opportunity to tell the manager about the situation and how poorly Melissa and I had been treated. When they finished telling him what they observed, the manager asked us to tell him what happened. During our entire conversation with the manager he did not make eye contact with Melissa or me, nor did he apologize for the employees’ inexcusable behavior or attempt to rectify the situation.

As a result of this debacle, Walmart has officially lost my business and more importantly, my respect.