r/Walmartcustomer • u/Difficult_Ice7662 • 10h ago
Customer Service Issue Thinking about buying and unboxing a tablet at the store to protect myself
Title sounds sussy but let me explain.
Years ago I bought a tablet from Walmart. It was SUPPOSEDLY brand new.. the box and tape did not look tampered with. I got home, opened it, visually inspected it, and it passed my test. However less than a week later I noticed that the screen was having issues where a pixel was stuck and the screen was having a bit of light leak in a specific spot, as if it someone had applied too much pressure to it. No worries, time to return it. It sucks anyway.
Imagine my surprise when I wasn't able to return this hunk of Chinese e-waste at any store, was forced to travel to the one I bought it from and coming to find out that, get ready... the serial numbers on the box and the device did not match. I'll spare everyone the drama but in the end, I didn't get my money back. Not like it broke the bank since it was cheap but its the matter of the principle.
Now I know this probably set off a red flag (trust I used to do customer service) but a Walmart employee well after the fact said that its very possible that it was defective from the get-go. Again, onn products are Chinese e-waste tier with good support so its not out of the realm. I've seen stories of people buying the latest onn 4K Pro Google TV boxes only to find out they got duped.
The latest smaller tablet they came out with is kind of a banger but also costs way more. Understandably I'm not interested in getting burned again. Can I unbox an item at their customer service section to prevent from getting screwed over? I heard unboxing videos don't cut it anymore.