My Wal-Mart Experience

And it wasn't a good one either...Here is my verbage to the corporate customer service email I sent:
As a Christmas gift, I received a Tetra Whisper Aquarium Kit and was very excited. I went to Wal-Mart to purchase the other items needed for my aquarium...stones, food, foilage and even some fish. When I got home, I started putting it together and then noticed the filter suction cup was broken off. I needed to replace it right away because the fish were still in the bag. Now since I already started putting it together and the stones and water were already in the tank, I only brought with me the broken filter and I went to the store in Mays Landing. I retrieved a new aquarium kit and brought it to the customer service/return area. I nicely explained that all I wanted to do was exchange the bad filter for the new filter in the new box. The "representative" explained that I needed to bring the entire KIT back in order to replace it. I then asked to see the manager on duty and the assistant manager walked out and tried to explain the reason he could not do it. I asked that he take the new filter from the box and exchange it for the broken one...therefore damaging out that box. He told me I needed to go back home, empty out the aquarium and bring it back to him. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I was not happy and told him that is unacceptable. Myself being a Store Manager I would do everything I could to make the customer happy which he did not. I still do not understand his reasoning or logic. This is now an inconvienence for me...all I needed was a non-broken filter so my new fish could have a happy home. If I had brought back the kit from home and replaced it with a new one, it would be the exact same thing as replacing my broken filter but with less inconvienence. do you understand my point? So I went back into the store, bought a new one, brought it back to my car and replaced the new one with the broken filter, return back to the store and returned it. The exact same thing your assistant manager should have done in the first place without having me purchase it first. I walked away very upset from that AM. In the end, I got what I wanted and my fish have a clean home. I would rather travel to a different store than ever shop there again. thank you for listening and this story will be blogged...