Saturday July 28th for the first time ever I went to Walmart in Valparaiso Indiana to exchange a melon that my mother a frequent shopper had prchased there. I returned the melon and went to choose another. Because I had to reach deep into a crate to lift the melon I placed an expensive pair of sunglasses in the shopping cart so they would not get crushed in a pants pocket. I am a man so obviously have no purse.
As quickly as I could reach in the crate to lift the melon and place it in the basket someone stole my sunglasses. I assumed that a child had perhaps taken them and once the parent saw them would return them or leave them somewhere laying in the store. I went to the sunglass department and the optical department after going to customer service. I was told that it usually takes a couple of days for lost items to show up.
Every day I went back to inquire whether they had been found. Memos were place by a manager each department. Which was decent of them. After a few days I sent an email to Walmart and received the automated reply. Then the symapthy reply telling me to contact management at the store.
When I spoke to a manager stating that my gut feeling was that a store employee probably found them and realizing their value kept them. The managers reply was that when you enter a Walmart store at your own risk the only security concern they have is for their goods that they sell. That the same risk applies to their parking lot.
I am 58 years old and suppose that I have been lucky to have never had anything stolen from me while in a store.
I will never enter a Walmart again and have suggested to other members of my family that the Walmart environment is not really safe no matter how bright the lights are. What is most dissapointing is they did not even offer to replace my overpriced sunglasses with a pair or their cheap low quality sunglasses. Not that I would have accepted them but a bit of courtesy and maybe even pretend sympathy could have gone a long way to convince me that they even care about the individual shopper given the Walmart and mass corporate attitude toward suppliers and customers.
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