Walmart shortchanges gift receipt return

If you have a gift receipt, you are supposed to get the original purchase price for something you return. But one woman who visited a Walmart says that's not what happened to her.

And she wants others to know her story.

Wanted to Return Gift

Carmen Rudd's preschool daughter loves her Lalaloopsy doll set she received for Christmas. But she didn't need two of the same gift.

"She obviously didn't need two, they're pretty large so we decided to take it back and get something else she wanted," she said.

So Rudd says she took her gift receipt, and marched the second doll set back to Walmart for a refund.

That's where the problem began.

"We had a gift receipt and it kept ringing up at $19.90. And the original price was $39.97," Rudd said.

Rudd says relatives told her they paid $39, not $19. But despite the gift receipt, Walmart would offer her only the current markdown price, $20 less.

Rudd wonders how many other customers may have been shortchanged.

"I think there are so many people out there returning items after Christmas and if you have a gift receipt you think you're golden! Now I can understand if i went in there without a receipt, but I had one," Rudd said.

Walmart Responds

After Rudd found the original receipt, we contacted Walmart which apologized, saying its policy is to "always refund the original price with a gift receipt." A spokeswoman told us "when executed properly, it works."

But Walmart has been the subject of several news reports and even one lawsuit in California because of this issue.

The retailer says managers have been instructed to watch for this error. Rudd said she thinks shoppers should too.

Walmart says the store finally did give Rudd the full $39 for the doll set, and is sorry for any inconvenience to her or anyone else.      

But keep an eye out when returning, so you don't waste your money.

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