Why I hate Wal-Mart

Everytime I walk into Wal-Mart I cringe a little inside. The fluorescent lights hover over a store full of poison.

If you read my blog regularly, you've probably heard about the incident last summer that had me absolutely livid. Wal-Mart sells toys with lead in them - the packaging even says that they contain lead. HELLO? Why are these sold in the first place?

Anyway, over the past 8 months I have gone to Wal-Mart about two times. One to get Ry some new slippers and the other, ironically, to buy myself some new slippers.

On February 29th we decided to get the oil changed in my Scion. The price was good and we could go in to buy the kiddos their big kid bikes. All seemed fine until the next day when my car had a horrible smell and white smoke coming from the engine. When Peter went to check it out, the oil cap wasn't attached and oil had spewed all over the engine. We went through about 5 days of a terrible smell coming from my car.

We took the car back to Wal-Mart to show the manager. One of the auto employees even told us that the person who did our car was from the camera department and had never changed oil before. The manager told us they were filing a claim with the insurance company and our engine would be detailed when the claim came through.

Well... today the insurance company tells us that they reviewed the security footage and it appears that the tech did put the cap on and they are not going to honor their promise of cleaning our engine. I am absolutely LIVID. I even called the store again to complain to the general manager. Obviously the cap was put on wonky and popped off. But they are not going to do anything.

Now I can understand if this were some small situation, BUT MY CAR COULD HAVE CAUGHT ON FIRE. With THREE children inside. I'm sorry... but when it comes to safety and my children, I will go into overdrive to protect them ALWAYS.

It is my solemn vow to never step foot inside a Wal-Mart store again. They obviously don't care about doing what is right or the safety of their patrons. They sell things to children that contain known poisons and they do it all in the name of saving us, the consumers, money. It's time to be a smart consumer. It's time to spend our money at stores that know the value of our business. If that means spending a little bit more or driving a little bit further, I am game. I have converted just about all of my drugstore type purchases to drugstore.com, amazon.com, and Costco. I can get everything I need at a reasonable price and never have to walk into a Wal-Mart again.

I urge you as a reader to do the same - to vote with your dollars and tell Wal-Mart to shove it!