Posted on 12/14/2006 5:07:03 PM PST by publana
My parents who are in their seventies, retired, and on Social Security stopped at Walmart on US Hwy 80 in Mesquite, TX to get gas. After paying at the pump with a Walmart Gift Card and retrieving the receipt, the woman in the booth comes over the speaker and asks him how he intends to pay.
My Dad tells her he has already paid and shows her the receipt through the window. They argue a bit, then she asks him to see the $500 Walmart Gift Card. Instead of telling her to buzz off, he hands her the card. She tells him the card isn't any good and she isn't returning it. He shows her the balance of $414.18 printed on the receipt and demands the return of the receipt. Another customer sees what is going on and calls the police.
The police come, run his license to see if they can arrest him for anything, takes the woman's side and does nothing other than to tell her to return the card. My parents leave. After driving about a mile, my mother says to go back and complain to the manager at Walmart.
The manager at Walmart looks at the card and checks it. It shows a zero balance. It also is a much older card than the card my Dad had recently purchase. It had a creation date of October. It dawns on my Dad that the woman switched the card. Although, the manager agrees with my Dad, he says there is nothing he can do. He suggests he calls the police for the woman's theft.
The police come back and do nothing. They say it's a matter for Small Claims Court and refuse to file a report. My Dad wants a report filed because he realizes this woman has a great scam going. Switch cards, keep the one with the money. The customer will not notice the money is gone until the next time he goes to Walmart to make a purchase with the card. By that time, the person will not even remember handing the card to the employee.
My parents, being retired and on social security, could not afford to lose $400 at Christmas time.
Be careful out there!
I went to Murphy Oil and sent the email via their form. I didn't find Katie Sandifer. Thanks so much!
He tried to do that. There is a phone number on the card to call and an APP number (whatever that is.) He called and spoke to a woman at Murphy. She said the receipt does not have the last 4 digits (sounds like bull to me); thus she cannot kill 9999 cards to kill just one. While sympathetic, she said there wasn't anything she could do.
Hire a junk-yard-dog-mean attorney and sue the ass off of Wal*Mart!
She probably also defrauds the welfare system, shoplifts and generally thieves at every opportunity from anyone unfortunate enough to cross paths with her.
All the time telling herself she needs and deserves what she takes cause life is so tough and been unfair to her and she never gets any breaks, waah, waah, waah.
Walmart said they're not responsible because it's Murphy Oil. Murphy Oil tells my Dad they can't do anything. Murphy Oil is on Walmart property. Isn't Murphy Oil, at the very least, a subcontractor? Wouldn't Walmart have some sort of authority with them?
She was exactly that type according to my Dad.
Ok, perhaps not a Walmart employee although the Murphy / Walmart relationship should be probed. But if there is separation, then the electronic commerce transfer from Walmart to Murphy might open this up to some state and even federal agencies.
"But if there is separation, then the electronic commerce transfer from
Walmart to Murphy might open this up to some state and even federal agencies."
I should have thought of that.
Check the state and fed websites for "consumer affairs" or "consumer protection".
State protections vary a lot, but it's worth investigating.
Would the purchaser of the Gift Card have his Gift Card Number somewhere / somehow?
Would his receipt for the $414.18 balance have his Gift Card number?
If the clerk was not smart, his card would still have his finger prints on it?
My Dad wouldn't ever go to a lawyer over it. He's just not a "sue" kind of person; so getting him to a lawyer probably never happen. The funny (for lack of a better word) is that my Dad is a big Walmart defender and shops there for everything that can be had at Walmart.
wrap a chain around the booth next time that woman is working there. hook your truck up to it and tow it down the road till she tells you where your money is.
an asphalt hot flash will clear up her memory.
Yes, the receipt has the amount left on the card and an APP number, that according to Murphy Oil, is missing the last 4 digits.
He tried very hard to get the police to search she and the booth, but they wouldn't hear of it. A report wasn't even filed.
What could he do with her fingerprints? She legitimately touched it because she handed it back to him when the police told her to do so.
ROFL! I'm glad I'm not currently in Texas because I would already be in jail, I'm afraid. Messing with one's parents is not a nice thing to do.
the other thought was to padlock the door and douse the booth in petrol and show them my Zippo.
It merely reinforces my point that your parents drew a dumbass cop. There are any number of crimes that are never witnessed by a cop, felony or misdemeanor, that still go on trial and result in convictions. I HATE lardasses like that! Your dad is correct, it was still a theft!
I'm psychic! (okay, then I just know the type ;-) I feel real bad for your folks getting ripped that way.
I'd be going after Murphy's oil with a vengenance for any security tape and I'd be ripping the police chief and/or mayor's about incompetent policing.
There's a senior center just about everywhere, they have advocacy services there as well. Some police departments have officers assigned specifically for senior crime because they are such a target for fraud artists like this one. The PD probably has a website too and may have department heads listed with email addies and extension numbers.
I sent your story to my brother who lives southeast of Mesquite and who uses a Walmart card often. Thanks!
From the newsletter:
Other Business: Lila Thorn reported that the newest Board Member- James Bozard of Wal-Mart had been transferred to Mesquite. James noted his replacement would be Keith Mitchell.
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