What’s your problem? Wal-Mart won’t price match my discontinued TouchPad

Question: I bought an HP Touchpad from Wal-Mart recently. Shortly afterwards, I looked online and was shocked to see they had been discontinued.

I contacted Wal-Mart and was informed I was too late for exchange or return by one day. I informed them that Best Buy and HP are honoring the rebate or refund. They told me I was out of luck.

I would like to keep my touchpad and get the rebate — the difference between the current $149 price and the $499 I paid. Can you help me, please? – Nancy Heimstra, Flagstaff, Ariz.

Answer: HP’s decision to discontinue the TouchPad only a few weeks after releasing it shocked the technology world. And you’re right, both HP and Best Buy said they would do a price match any early adopters who got the TouchPad before the announcement.

But not Wal-Mart.

You could have returned the TouchPad under its refunds policy but you missed the deadline by a day. So technically, Wal-Mart didn’t have to do anything for you.

So what?

A quick online search reveals that Wal-Mart was dealing with TouchPad-related refunds on a case-by-case basis; some price matches were being honored while other customers were being shown the door.

Wal-Mart should have clearly stated its policy up front, the same way Best Buy and several other retailers did. I imagine it too was caught by surprise when HP made its startling announcement, and didn’t know what to do next.

This is one of those times when being an “early adopter” didn’t make any sense. (And I admit, I’m one of those people – so let that be a lesson to me!) You might want to wait a few weeks or months before buying the latest gadget.

I contacted Wal-Mart on your behalf. A representative got in touch with you and said that since this was a “special circumstance” it would price match the TouchPad.

  • Anonymous

    “A special circumstance?” 
    Meaning…more bad press for Wallyworld, I assume. 

  • Tampa Jim

    It should not take Chris getting involved to make Wal-Mart do the right thing. Note to self: no more technology purchases at Wal-Mart. 

  • Mel

    I’m not sure this was a “special circumstance” at all unless the definition of special circumstance is “getting Chris involved.”  These sort of situations happen often with technology and fall into the “sh*t happens” category in my opinion.  Yes, it sucks when your new technology is outdated, repriced, etc… quickly, (my iPhone 3G is only a few months old but already outmoded) but what if the OP had been 3 days or a week outside the refund window? Or a month? instead of 1 day? At what point is WalMart allowed to say, “Sorry our policy is x days and you exceeded that.”  I suspect for every whiner like this one who thinks s/he is owed the price difference, there are a hundred who say “well shoot I wish I’d waited; oh well” and move on without expecting compensation.

  • http://alexspeaks.com Alex Humphrey

    Haha, exactly! They only did it because he called.

  • Anonymous

    Chris, you are a miracle worker~~~~!!!!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_V4OUPLCINOL723CGHVR53CQ72Y Kevin

    I’m grudgingly glad that this person got his money back, but… as Mel said, at some point, you have to accept that in the tech world, new products are announced and discontinued all the time, and prices sometimes drop dramatically from one week to the next. As many reasons as there are to dislike Walmart, this isn’t really one of them.

  • Glb6

    Chris, you helped another one!  You are great!

  • Rinacres

    Being faced with one or two refunds/price matches, I can see WalMart agreeing to fudge on the time-allowance.  However, when faced with potentially thousands of consumers suddenly clamoring for it, it would cause a concern for even a large retailer.  They were right to lock down on their policy.  As stated by other users, too many times this will happen with electronics – you buy and the next month out comes the new version.  I think there is even a funny commercial by Best Buy highlighting just that.  It was nice of WalMart to give in, but they shouldn’t have had to.

  • Bjrdrnnnr

    I quit shopping Wal-Mart years ago.  Their customer service is zilch.  I would rather pay a few dollars more and deal with local merchants.

  • Steve R

    That was my thought, too.

    I don’t see anything wrong with asking for a price match, but really, it’s not Walmart’s fault that the TouchPad was discontinued so quickly.

  • http://www.facebook.com/asiansm Dang Ph

    I never shop at Walmart. Walmart is a big bully who drive the small and local businesses to bankrupt. Walmart don’t respect local customs and don’t want the workers get unionized so they close down a Walmart in North of Quebec. I side with the unionized workers and support the local and small business instead of big bully multinational. I am ready to pay a little extra because I don’t want my downtown becoming a ghost town with a mega supermarket in the suburbs that only people with SUV car can shop. Americans don’t realized why Main-Street in many cities are like now with closing shops and only coffee shop is open.

  • Rosered7033

    Anyone else here thinking HP should pony up and give a price adjustment to those retailers who were caught by surprise by the quick demise of the touchpad?  Manufacturers make poor business decisions all the time, and to keep good will, some, if not all, the blame should be on their shoulders.  This is a particularly odd circumstance, and HP should back it’s retailers.  HP was quick to offer a rebate that they know not everyone will send in, instead of backing the product they manufactured and released.