Walmart's new policy on price matching?
I read this on another forum and surprised nobody posted it here yet that a memo got sent from Head Office around to WM's nationwide mentioning changes to their policy for price matching.
The new policy is that you can now PM using print-outs, including printed flyers (terms excluding warehouse sale, wholesale, etc) from any retailer from anywhere in Canada. (My guess is printout must include sale period?) Supposedly you can now PM prices in other provinces, although I am sceptical about that one. Not all WM's have been updated yet on the new policy but you can give them a try.
Another thing that was mentioned also I find hard to believe... "when price matching in the past the competitor would have to have the item in stock... they no longer require this." ...hmmm?
Confirmed places include the Oakville, Burlington, Kelowna, Wetaskiwin, Bracebridge, Barrie, Owen Sound, Heartland and Erin Mills locations. Many locations don't know about any new policy change and will refuse it. Some will say that there was a policy change but their interpretation is different.
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Another person called a Walmart to confirm and ask about their price matching policy and the response was "Yes, we now price match Canada wide". when asked, If one could take a printed flyer over from another province, could it be price matched? The response again was "Yes". Also asked was if one could use a phone or device and response was also yes, as long as they could see details.
Although the response from the company online on social sites such as Walmart's Facebook page has been different, stating there has been no such change on this policy. A typical response "Hello! We have not changed our customer ad match policy. The ad match policy you see written on our flyers and in store signage has not changed. We have always encouraged our store managers to be empowered to run their stores in a manner that gives the best customer experience possible. [...]" My guess is that the new policy did not trickle down the stream to their online department yet.
It's nice to see Walmart's are catching up with other retailers in terms of allowing to PM print outs, but it's leaving a little chance for abuse because IFAIK they don't need to confirm printouts that places like BB/FS/Staples do. And I still find it hard to believe you can PM other provinces that are not local...
The new policy is that you can now PM using print-outs, including printed flyers (terms excluding warehouse sale, wholesale, etc) from any retailer from anywhere in Canada. (My guess is printout must include sale period?) Supposedly you can now PM prices in other provinces, although I am sceptical about that one. Not all WM's have been updated yet on the new policy but you can give them a try.
Another thing that was mentioned also I find hard to believe... "when price matching in the past the competitor would have to have the item in stock... they no longer require this." ...hmmm?
Confirmed places include the Oakville, Burlington, Kelowna, Wetaskiwin, Bracebridge, Barrie, Owen Sound, Heartland and Erin Mills locations. Many locations don't know about any new policy change and will refuse it. Some will say that there was a policy change but their interpretation is different.
---
Another person called a Walmart to confirm and ask about their price matching policy and the response was "Yes, we now price match Canada wide". when asked, If one could take a printed flyer over from another province, could it be price matched? The response again was "Yes". Also asked was if one could use a phone or device and response was also yes, as long as they could see details.
Although the response from the company online on social sites such as Walmart's Facebook page has been different, stating there has been no such change on this policy. A typical response "Hello! We have not changed our customer ad match policy. The ad match policy you see written on our flyers and in store signage has not changed. We have always encouraged our store managers to be empowered to run their stores in a manner that gives the best customer experience possible. [...]" My guess is that the new policy did not trickle down the stream to their online department yet.
It's nice to see Walmart's are catching up with other retailers in terms of allowing to PM print outs, but it's leaving a little chance for abuse because IFAIK they don't need to confirm printouts that places like BB/FS/Staples do. And I still find it hard to believe you can PM other provinces that are not local...