Walmart+ shopper fumes over promotion ‘screwing’ longtime members and told to cancel to ‘trick the system’

A consumer has become angry because of a promotion he was excluded from at Walmart.

They argued that the retail giant should have offered the deal to all those who pay for the membership service.

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This service, Walmart+, costs $98 per year for those who subscribe and offers several important benefits.

Members get free delivery on all items with no minimum order fee, fuel discounts up to 10 cents per gallon, a Paramount+ subscription, and early access to Black Friday sales.

In an effort to get more shoppers to sign up, Walmart recently announced that it would reduce the cost of the annual fee by 50% for new members.

It runs from now until December 2, but is exclusive to new Walmart+ members only.

This means that longtime members who simply renew their subscription after the year ends can't benefit, something that some Walmart shoppers didn't like.

Those who already have a membership should be able to take advantage of the discount, said David, a Walmart+ member for several years.

Verify fairness

While he was advised of an alternative solution to the exclusive upgrade, David felt it should not be completed.

“@Walmart tried to renew my #Walmart+ membership at the discounted price they offer to new members – I was told I had to cancel my membership and then sign up again if I wanted the discount,” he wrote in a post on X earlier this month.

“It's too terrible that you won't be offering this to your current long-term members.”

Walmart responded quickly, explaining the situation in more detail to the frustrated customer.

“Currently, the offer is available to all new, trial and monthly members,” the retail giant said.

“However, this offer is not currently available to current Annual Members.”

“We have promotions available often, so we encourage you to check back regularly for any new deals!” Walmart added.

Despite the retailer's response, David was still unsatisfied and claimed Walmart was “getting it wrong.” [its] “Old members by not giving them the same price.”

“Ridiculous, don't you get that?” he asked.

It is unclear whether the situation has ever been resolved.

Anger feature

One of Walmart+'s biggest benefits, the scan-and-go feature of the retailer's mobile app, has caused problems recently as well.

Scan & Go allows Walmart+ members to use their phones to scan merchandise they want to purchase as they walk throughout the store and place the items in their shopping cart.

The app then generates one barcode for each item to be scanned at self-checkout for a quick and easy checkout.

To enhance the Scan & Go feature for members, Walmart has allowed store managers in select locations to begin blocking certain self-checkout kiosks to make the process easier.

Many regular customers were angry at the move, arguing that it only led to longer queues and more difficult shopping experiences for them.

Still others were angry that Walmart refused to allow a certain payment method, prompting them to leave groceries behind and walk out of the store in protest.