Walmart Authorization Hold

Step1 - Call Walmart everyday.

Step2 - After 30 days of talking to the boys in India press 2 when you call in and speak to the guys in Montreal. Say you have called in everyday for the past 30 days and nothing has happened. Then have them escalate. After a 7 days break Repeat step 1. Be relentless. This is the new norm as companies outsource customer support.

Call ur bank 10-15x too. Keep after everyone.

Source - I myself waited for a refund for 90+ days. Eventually a customer service supervisor on the 30th call tells me one of the luxuries afforded to him as a supervisor he can issues a digital gift card emailed to me for my refund.

The nice customer approach with Walmart won’t work you’ll simply be lied to and be told to wait 5-10 business days lol

Pre-authorized hold charge you mean?

If so, nothing has been posted yet and nothing has been charged to your account

chimaican wrote: ↑ Pre-authorized hold charge you mean?

If so, nothing has been posted yet and nothing has been charged to your account

its a payment which has been posted to my account. I verified with both Paypal and my bank. Both of them say its an actual payment, and not a pre-authorisation anymore.

DroNBA wrote: ↑ Step1 - Call Walmart everyday.

Step2 - After 30 days of talking to the boys in India press 2 when you call in and speak to the guys in Montreal. Say you have called in everyday for the past 30 days and nothing has happened. Then have them escalate. After a 7 days break Repeat step 1. Be relentless. This is the new norm as companies outsource customer support.

Call ur bank 10-15x too. Keep after everyone.

Source - I myself waited for a refund for 90+ days. Eventually a customer service supervisor on the 30th call tells me one of the luxuries afforded to him as a supervisor he can issues a digital gift card emailed to me for my refund.

The nice customer approach with Walmart won’t work you’ll simply be lied to and be told to wait 5-10 business days lol

I have been calling them everyday and they are not helpful at all. They just stick to one dialogue, wont even connect me to a supervisor. It has been such an unpleasant experience. I am at my wit's end.

PurpleRecess wrote: ↑ I have been calling them everyday and they are not helpful at all. They just stick to one dialogue, wont even connect me to a supervisor. It has been such an unpleasant experience. I am at my wit's end.

Then contact PayPal or your credit card provider and explain to them. If you have proof the actual charge should be zero, they should be able to correct it/do a chargeback.

Engage both Walmart and Bank

Walmart
- Goto their store, customer service counter
- Show them that Walmart final payment is $0.00
- Either show them your mobile banking or screenshot from computer or statement if already received, to explain the problem to them

Bank
- Obtain Walmart invoice or statement showing $0.00 payment
- Call credit card centre
- Explain problem to credit card rep, offering the Walmart invoice as supporting document

Paigne wrote: ↑ Then contact PayPal or your credit card provider and explain to them. If you have proof the actual charge should be zero, they should be able to correct it/do a chargeback.

I have never done a chargeback before. Are there any negative implications to me as a customer, if i do?

PurpleRecess wrote: ↑ I have never done a chargeback before. Are there any negative implications to me as a customer, if i do?

I don't think there is - I've only done it once and with another retailer and I was still able to make a subsequent order with them in the future.

Since you paid by CC I would definitely go the chargeback route. As PP mentioned, the process to get your issue addressed and even get your money back from Walmart is atrociously long and frustrating. You're lucky you used your Paypal/CC as you can go the chargeback route. I had a similar scenario but used a Walmart GC, which meant I could only go through their CS and it was a long 3-month battle. Save yourself the frustration..chargeback and don't look back.

Wait a couple days to see if it updates. When I make purchases online I see the "pending charge" immediately. If you use a prepaid card it will take the "pending charge" right off your balance immediately. I use a Walmart Mastercard & if an item is not in stock, I can at times see a "pending charge" for the original amount & an "approved charge" for something less. This means there is a nearly double hit to my credit limit temporarily. (If I add an item after ordering I will see the original "pending charge" & a separate additional "pending charge" that both change to "approved charges" in a day or so.)

The maximum length of a hold for a pending transaction should be 5 days, though it is going to vary by card. It can be only a day/2/3.

PurpleRecess wrote: ↑ I have never done a chargeback before. Are there any negative implications to me as a customer, if i do?

Yes and no.

Generally speaking for most people, it doesn't have any negative impact but it does depend on the retailer because some will possibly stop doing future business with you due to a chargeback. This is obviously YMMV and amazon is pretty well known to block customer who does a charge back on them. Walmart however isn't known for this (to my knowledge). Obviously each time you do a chargeback it is also recorded. As someone who has never done a chargeback before, this isnt much of a concern but if bank/CC company notices that a high percentage of your purchases get chargeback, they will without a doubt flag the account and be more careful with allowing future chargebacks. Again if its your first chargeback ever, it shouldn't be much of a concern.

I would like to thank everyone who took out the time in answering me with useful suggestions.

I finally got hold of a supervisor who has escalated the issue to the financial department... asked me to wait until Friday. If this doesn't go through, I will do the chargeback. But all in all, the customer experience at Walmart has been so unpleasant. Worst experience ever.

I would be careful about doing a chargeback since you paid via PayPal.

Initiating a chargeback agaisnt PayPal usually results in an automatic perma-ban

KanataKG wrote: ↑ I would be careful about doing a chargeback since you paid via PayPal.

Initiating a chargeback agaisnt PayPal usually results in an automatic perma-ban

i was thinking of asking Paypal to reverse the charge against Walmart. Cuz i have an issue with walmart and not paypal. And when u say "automatic perma-ban" , does it mean i wont be able to use Paypal ever?

I would honestly wait 5 days after you made the transaction & breathe deep & I bet it will sort itself out. I am pretty sure it is because you are seeing the "pending" instead of "approved" charge through PayPal. Grocery stores are awful for requiring pre-approvals. Most other merchants do not do that.

lecale wrote: ↑ I would honestly wait 5 days after you made the transaction & breathe deep & I bet it will sort itself out. I am pretty sure it is because you are seeing the "pending" instead of "approved" charge through PayPal. Grocery stores are awful for requiring pre-approvals. Most other merchants do not do that.

The thing is, i have already waited for 10 business days. My grocery pick up was on June 20th. And when i saw the payment posted, i called customer service. They said to wait 7-10 business days for the charges to be reversed. But here we are.... 7th July and still no updates. Also, I called my bank and paypal, both of which say its an authorized payment and not a pending payment.

PurpleRecess wrote: ↑ The thing is, i have already waited for 10 business days. My grocery pick up was on June 20th. And when i saw the payment posted, i called customer service. They said to wait 7-10 business days for the charges to be reversed. But here we are.... 7th July and still no updates. Also, I called my bank and paypal, both of which say its an authorized payment and not a pending payment.

Are you sure the evoucher was still valid for the amount you purchased minus the items that were sold out?

Walmart made me jump through hoops for 3 months once. I was only charged for part of my order & called them to let them know I owed them money. They then charged me the full total amount so I paid double on half my order & that took me 3 months of waiting & calls to resolve. Grant that they can absolutely be stupid. (& so can I...never again. In fact it happened again later & I did not tell them I had not been charged for everything just because I became that much smarter.)

Walmart does not tend to respond to peaceful, logical people well. You need to throw a tantrum. That is the only way I got any action on my issue after 3 months of calls. Everyone brushed my complaints off as if it could not have happened & they did not know what to do if it had. Channel a 2-year-old and have at them. That is my honest advice.

lecale wrote: ↑ Are you sure the evoucher was still valid for the amount you purchased minus the items that were sold out?

Walmart made me jump through hoops for 3 months once. I was only charged for part of my order & called them to let them know I owed them money. They then charged me the full total amount so I paid double on half my order & that took me 3 months of waiting & calls to resolve. Grant that they can absolutely be stupid. (& so can I...never again. In fact it happened again later & I did not tell them I had not been charged for everything just because I became that much smarter.)

Walmart does not tend to respond to peaceful, logical people well. You need to throw a tantrum. That is the only way I got any action on my issue after 3 months of calls. Everyone brushed my complaints off as if it could not have happened & they did not know what to do if it had. Channel a 2-year-old and have at them. That is my honest advice.

100% percent sure. Infact it was much lesser than the evoucher value

And yes, very true on the responding thing. They have been unco-operative and rude as well.

PurpleRecess wrote: ↑ 100% percent sure. Infact it was much lesser than the evoucher value

And yes, very true on the responding thing. They have been unco-operative and rude as well.

I am very sorry that you are dealing with this. They are honestly bad about acknowledging problems & it is often hard to convince them that an issue is real & needs to be acted on. By Friday it will be 3 weeks & they really have no excuse. The charge has obviously been approved. By no stretch of the imagination would it not have been. Do not let them push you off another few days next time. They are doing this because call volume is high and they can keep their times to "resolve an issue" down if they just push people off. Tell them you have called X times & waited patiently & will not be brushed off without your issue being addressed, once again. They have actually shut down the chat on their website & directed everyone to the phones so they can give everyone the runaround.

@ lecale

Thank you. Am going to do exactly the thing you suggested. Though I wish I could get a hold of someone in Canada itself ( no disrespect to anyone ). Its just the present customer service agents fail to understand my problem.