“iPhones are at the top of the wish list for many people every Black Friday, and retailers battle each other with all sorts of interesting deals on Apple’s flagship product,” Chris Smith reports for BGR.
“This year, several retailers have advertised iPhone deals that covered the latest iPhone models, with Walmart being one of the companies that proposed a few impressive discounts on 2018 and 2017 iPhones,” Smith reports. “But shoppers who came in early to take advantage of the deals quickly discovered that not all stores stocked enough devices to meet demand.”
“Walmart, however, did not have enough iPhone stock in several locations, and Business Insider was the first to notice complaints on social media from shoppers who were not able to score their desired iPhone deal in Walmart stores,” Smith reports. “One of the problems seems to be the lack of information, as customers had no way of knowing which Walmart locations would stock certain iPhone models.”
@Walmart how do I find out what walmarts have iphone XR in stock? Just went to a walmart and they weren't even carrying them.
— Brian (@Big_Problems_) November 23, 2018
Wow that’s a fail. @Walmart big ads for iPhone X and XR and XS deals… in the store I went to didn’t have any. Been looking for days online, because it is an in-store only deal you can’t figure out who has phones in stock.
— Davina Brewer @3hats (@3HatsComm) November 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/burnhamish/status/1065766644084105216
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, Wal-Mart shouldn’t have advertised it if they only had a few units in stock lest they get accused of running a bait and switch scheme.
Back in my college days I worked for a store that did this often – big ads for great deals on something, only to have a dozen or less in stock and many angry customers by the end of the first or second day of a week long sale. The organization was called Sears. How well did that work out?
Please remember that the clerk behind the counter has NO POWER over the number of iPhones or other gear in stock. He/she is probably part time and secretly wishes they had a pallet full of the phones out back.
When I worked for Sears the quantities we were sent for sales were determined by bean counters in the HQ. I wish the bean counters had to explain to angry customers why they did not have adequate stock. They might have changed their ways.
That’s what happens when you stop providing professional courteous service to people. They leave and karma does the rest. Seen it at Sears, recently seen it at their Wedding magazine, and we’ve seen Infowars have their sorry asses kicked out of Apple.
It doesn’t bode well for any company or organization that is not ready, willing or able to act with professional care. Some folks view silent defecations and tuning a blind eye to obvious and blatant bullying very very seriously.
Shocking since Wal-Mart is the stalwart example of customer service and supply. (Not.)
There must be an error. This years iPhones are a flop. Those overprice phone nobody wants anymore makes me think this news is FAKE NEWS!!!
s4rc45m
You can go to Walmart.com and see exactly how many of something that is in stock. Snagged the last two $249 iPads at the local store and that’s just what the website said they had. They had seven earlier in the morning.
The procurement manager at Walmart must have read that iPhones aren’t selling and didn’t order enough.
s/
(more probably they tried to order more and there isn’t enough supply. Sort of puts a different take on the negativity about aapl in the news
BTW: I’m in Canada now and tried to buy a new iPad Pro yesterday at Best Buy Canada and even online it’s all sold out for nearly all models. )
Consumers should be able to receive a rain check. Otherwise it is bait and switch.
C’mon, it’s WALMART. What did you really expect?
Try to find a Series 4 Apple Watch on sale. Absolutely impossible.
I was 6th in line. I wanted to get an 8plus. They ran out so I got the X instead. The problem was they had no limit per customer. Everyone ahead of me were buying 4 phones each. Still $400 back is a good deal.