Walmart Can’t Seem To Stop Customer Service Complaints

SHUTTERSTOCK

If you ask its customers, they do not come first at Walmart, and, therefore, the world’s largest retailer ranks last in their opinion when it comes to customer service.

That’s where Walmart came out among department and discount stores in the previous American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI); the chain actually dropped two points in maintaining the bottom spot in the latest edition, reports CBS News.

The outlet also shares that Walmart continued to rank dead last among the top supermarkets and health and personal care stores in the U.S., according to the most recent survey, which polled more than 9,000 customers in November and December.

All this, despite efforts, CBS News points out, on the part of Walmart to improve the maligned customer experience at its stores by, among other changes, raising its minimum wage to $10 an hour (which cut profits) and attempting to move into smaller-scale retailing with Walmart Express stores (a venture that was abandoned last month).

“Altering [negative customer] perceptions [is] going to take time,” ACSI Director David VanAmburg said in statement shared by CBS News. “If you think about the general reputation of Walmart as perceived by shoppers that are surveyed by a study like the ACSI, it is not a perception that it’s a great place to shop.”

Walmart, for its part, appears to disagree with the findings of the ASCI survey, with a spokesperson telling the outlet: “We survey millions of customers throughout the year and receive great feedback on our efforts to deliver clean stores, fast checkouts and a friendly store environment. We continue to raise the bar in these areas so we can make the shopping experience even better for our customers.”

The outlet also shares that Whole Foods slipped eight points among supermarkets in the latest ACSI survey, from 81 points the previous year to 73 this year.

While Walmart was ranked lowest in the survey (with 66 points) among department stores, at the top of that category was Nordstrom, which received an average customer service score of 82 (out of 100).