I'm visiting a friend in Corsicana and he's dull as hell... So I may just mosey up to Mesquite and have a talk with that crooked sombitch!
Posted on 12/14/2006 5:07:03 PM PST by publana
My parents who are in their seventies, retired, and on Social Security stopped at Walmart on US Hwy 80 in Mesquite, TX to get gas. After paying at the pump with a Walmart Gift Card and retrieving the receipt, the woman in the booth comes over the speaker and asks him how he intends to pay.
My Dad tells her he has already paid and shows her the receipt through the window. They argue a bit, then she asks him to see the $500 Walmart Gift Card. Instead of telling her to buzz off, he hands her the card. She tells him the card isn't any good and she isn't returning it. He shows her the balance of $414.18 printed on the receipt and demands the return of the receipt. Another customer sees what is going on and calls the police.
The police come, run his license to see if they can arrest him for anything, takes the woman's side and does nothing other than to tell her to return the card. My parents leave. After driving about a mile, my mother says to go back and complain to the manager at Walmart.
The manager at Walmart looks at the card and checks it. It shows a zero balance. It also is a much older card than the card my Dad had recently purchase. It had a creation date of October. It dawns on my Dad that the woman switched the card. Although, the manager agrees with my Dad, he says there is nothing he can do. He suggests he calls the police for the woman's theft.
The police come back and do nothing. They say it's a matter for Small Claims Court and refuse to file a report. My Dad wants a report filed because he realizes this woman has a great scam going. Switch cards, keep the one with the money. The customer will not notice the money is gone until the next time he goes to Walmart to make a purchase with the card. By that time, the person will not even remember handing the card to the employee.
My parents, being retired and on social security, could not afford to lose $400 at Christmas time.
Be careful out there!
There must be a phone number for the Corporate office of WalMart. Give them a call and explain what happened.
I should also mention that the gas station at Walmart is run by Murphy Oil. We contacted them, earlier today, but have yet to receive a reply.
bttt
Thanks, I'm going to call them tomorrow.
I think if you call the regional office thay will happily replace the card with the full amount.
Is there an "investigative reporter" at one of the local television stations? The public spotlight might make Wal-Mart management a little more receptive to you parent's situation.
Just a thought. Hope your parents get some justice here.
I think I have a good chance of getting the money back for my Dad, but it's the woman I want busted. She's going to keep doing this and probably has been doing it for a long time. Unfortunately, nobody seems to want to expend the effort at catching her.
I am sure you are angry, but you have also just performed a great service. With your permission, I will copy the essential parts of what happened with all identifiers removed and email it to friends and family.
There is also another scam with gift cards:
You buy the gift card. Thief has already copied down the access number which was visible*. After a few days, thief checks to see if the card has been activated. If it has been activated, thief empties the account with (online) purchases.
---
*Many stores are aware of this scam and are now packaging the cards so that the access number cannot be seen.
I'd go to the service station and visit the clerk in person. I'd have the money in five minutes, or at least my $400 worth of satisfaction. I don't like thieves.
I'm visiting a friend in Corsicana and he's dull as hell... So I may just mosey up to Mesquite and have a talk with that crooked sombitch!
Good luck.
Unfortunately for your parents, they drew a dumbass cop. This is not a small claims matter, it is a theft. In Kaleefornia it would be a felony because the value was over 400 dollars. Too bad.
Walmart is not a bank. Nor is Borders.
... or any other corporation.
US Fed is a pretty good bet, but that sometimes looks odd too.
Switzerland - That is a bank.
I hope so. My Dad is too old to be this stressed and upset. I've never seen him so upset. I told him I'd give him the money, but that didn't do any good, of course.
Brassy thief, combined with an honest, decent citizen, led to this. A good lesson for all of us.
I agree, get the local paper or tv station involved. Make a public stink. Contact the elected official in charge of the police department and complain. Complain to regional Wal-Mart managers.
E-mail/fax O'Reilly, Ann Landers, etc. Any national consumer affairs organization. Complain to senior services, file an ADA complaint, complain to AARP.
The more places you complain and provide them with the local Wal-mart manager's name and phone number, the more enquiries will be made and the bigger problem you become, the faster they will fix it to shut you up.
The cop said it wasn't a theft because he didn't see it. My Dad asked him if he stuck a gun at somebody out here and took their money and he didn't see it, would that not be a theft. The cop said, "No, it would be armed robbery." My Dads said it was still a theft and the cop said it wasn't.
That women that works at wall mart makes very little money prolly has kids come on Its Christmas she needed the money I for one feel sorry for her
Thanks for the advice. You're right. I need to be making a big stink because Walmart does not want the publicity. The manager's name was James Bozard, btw. He was nice and helpful to my Dad, but said his hands were tied and couldn't do anything because it is Murphy Oil's responsibility and not theirs.
I don't feel a bit sorry for her. Stealing from people is not the way to get money for your kids at Christmas time.
My Dad uses the Walmart Card to buy groceries at Sams because the only credit card they take is Discover. He buys the card to pay for his gas and groceries. Basically, this woman just took food off a 72 year old man's table.
There is a record of the sale, and a record that the clerk was in possession of the card.
You have all of the evidence you need to get satisfaction from Murphy Oil and Walmart.
Thanks Valpal1. I wrote all those down to call/email tomorrow. I knew if I came here, Freepers would have some great ideas. :)
You're joking right? She works for Murphy USA, not Wal-Mart, BTW.
Thanks for relating your family's sad tale.
IF and ONLY IF you can't get satisfaction soon...read below.
My inexpert suggestion (and thus probably foolish) would be to really go over
your folks story. Make it short, sweet and direct.
Call the local newspapers and TV stations. At least one is likely to
have a "consumer affairs" or "scam" reporter that would salivate over
a story like this.
And a story about grinch behind plexiglas robbing an adorable
senior-citizen couple AT CHRISTMAS TIME...that's red meat for most journalists.
Be prepared for WalMart/Murphy Oil and the local police to fire back.
But sometimes, going public is the only way for the disinfectant
of exposure to the light of day to clean up these infective insults to
a daily civil life.
And prevent the scammer from getting away with it over and over again.
And I'm no lawyer, but I think your folks have been the victim of
a real crime, and a felony at that.
Thought an old NYCer like you might appreciate my insight on this! I admit, my bad attitude has served me well my whole life! ;-)
Either you are a sucker waiting for a scam artist to take away your life savings or you are very good at sarcasm.
Like using cash?
Katie Sandifer
Community Relations
P.O. Box 7000
El Dorado, AR 71731 (870) 881-6866
ksandifer@murphyoilcorp.com
If he has the receipt, there should be a computer trail back to the card id that he used. He should demand that Walmart freeze that card (probably too late but worth the shot) while things play out. He should also demand the card's transaction history and register video. It was a Walmart employee who perpetrated the fraud so Walmart should be the defendant in small claims court. And tell them never, ever get a debit card or a gift card, certainly not in large demoninations.
The whole event was probably videotaped by a security tape. Get that tape.
The lack of punctuation in your post makes it difficult to be completely sure of your meaning, but you appear to be condoning a theft. Please explain what you actually meant.
I went to Murphy Oil and sent the email via their form. I didn't find Katie Sandifer. Thanks so much!
He tried to do that. There is a phone number on the card to call and an APP number (whatever that is.) He called and spoke to a woman at Murphy. She said the receipt does not have the last 4 digits (sounds like bull to me); thus she cannot kill 9999 cards to kill just one. While sympathetic, she said there wasn't anything she could do.
Hire a junk-yard-dog-mean attorney and sue the ass off of Wal*Mart!
She probably also defrauds the welfare system, shoplifts and generally thieves at every opportunity from anyone unfortunate enough to cross paths with her.
All the time telling herself she needs and deserves what she takes cause life is so tough and been unfair to her and she never gets any breaks, waah, waah, waah.
Walmart said they're not responsible because it's Murphy Oil. Murphy Oil tells my Dad they can't do anything. Murphy Oil is on Walmart property. Isn't Murphy Oil, at the very least, a subcontractor? Wouldn't Walmart have some sort of authority with them?
She was exactly that type according to my Dad.
Ok, perhaps not a Walmart employee although the Murphy / Walmart relationship should be probed. But if there is separation, then the electronic commerce transfer from Walmart to Murphy might open this up to some state and even federal agencies.
"But if there is separation, then the electronic commerce transfer from
Walmart to Murphy might open this up to some state and even federal agencies."
I should have thought of that.
Check the state and fed websites for "consumer affairs" or "consumer protection".
State protections vary a lot, but it's worth investigating.
Would the purchaser of the Gift Card have his Gift Card Number somewhere / somehow?
Would his receipt for the $414.18 balance have his Gift Card number?
If the clerk was not smart, his card would still have his finger prints on it?
My Dad wouldn't ever go to a lawyer over it. He's just not a "sue" kind of person; so getting him to a lawyer probably never happen. The funny (for lack of a better word) is that my Dad is a big Walmart defender and shops there for everything that can be had at Walmart.
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