A Walmart Grocery Pickup Review
Walmart has not paid me to write this. All thoughts and opinions are mine... But seriously, Walmart, feel free to pay me for writing this Walmart Grocery Pickup review. Ahem.
A Walmart Grocery Pickup Review
I first heard about the Walmart Grocery Pickup this year via the internets. I quickly went online to see if the service was offered in my area... and it was not. Through Walmart's website I signed up to get notifications once the service was available in my area.
This month, Walmart Grocery Pickup emailed me and let me know that it was available in Tallahassee. Woohoo! They even gave me a $10 off $50 coupon. Even better, right?
Here is my Walmart Grocery Pickup review, which includes a play-by-play of my experience using the service for the first time. It was not what I expected!
Login
The first thing you need to do is login or create an account. While doing this you'll also verify that this service is offered in your area.
Add Groceries to Cart
The next thing you need to do is add groceries to your cart. It's pretty simple.
Go nuts.
Checkout
After you've added all the food and other miscellaneous to your cart (I bought a hose and hairclips) click on "Check out".
Choose your pickup location and pickup time.
Review and Choose Substitutions
Here's where next time I would do things differently...
See those green checks to the right of each item (in the photo below)? What that means is that if they are out of that particular item they will choose a substitution for me.
Three things were substituted in my order - cherry tomatoes, chicken broth and hairclips.
The morning of my pickup day I got a call from a Walmart associate apologizing that they were out of a particular item and asking if xyz was ok instead.
- For my cherry tomatoes, instead of the organic I ordered they gave me conventional, but yellow, cherry tomatoes.
- For the chicken broth, instead of the organic Pacific Natural Foods brand, they gave me 2 Sams Choice organic bone broths (for the price of one).
- The haircips actually looked the same to me, so I'm not sure what went on there.
*If they do substitute something they will always have you pay the least expensive price.
If I were to do it again, I think I would just not have them do substitutions. I think that will keep things simpler.
Pickup Day
Pickup day was exciting for me! I tried to get my kids excited about it too. My seven year old thought I was being weird.
Me: Son, aren't you excited about going to Walmart and the workers doing the grocery shopping for us??
Kid: Sure.
Thanks, kid.
That afternoon I got a call reminding me about pickup instructions and to let me know my groceries would be ready to be picked up at the scheduled time. They wanted me to call them about 15 minutes before I arrived.
I chose my pickup time to be 3 - 4 pm. I chose that because I have to pickup my son at 3 pm and I knew that right after that I could easily swing by Walmart. Normally, I wouldn't go grocery shopping right after pickup but I thought I could manage having someone do it for me. 😉
Here we are in the pickup line. My daughter was excited! She didn't know why though!
So after I got my son I called Walmart and told them I was on my way. They were super overly-polite on the phone. If my northern relatives heard them, they would be suspicious. They were SO polite and SO gracious.
While I was driving to Walmart I was wondering exactly how easy it would be to figure out where to go. I pulled into the parking lot and what do I see? Orange signs telling me which way to go. Easy! I like easy.
I followed the signs to the side of the building. I parked in one of the parking spots.
After I parked I called the number (the same number I called to let them know I was on my way) and let them know I was here and where I was parked. Not that anybody else was in this parking lot with me. But, I thought I'd just try to be helpful.
And then I waited about 3 minutes. And I found myself getting impatient. And then I thought how ridiculous I was being because someone was about to bring my groceries out to my car for me. 'Merica.
And then this blue vested angel showed up at my window bearing gifts. He brought a cold water and random food samples I would never normally eat or buy.
My son thought the samples were amazing. By giving him snacks they won him over. However, I bet when we come next time and there are no gift-snacks, he'll feel disappointed. LOL!
(Side note: In my bag of samples there was this seemingly random can of chickpeas. I laughed when I saw it. A can of beans? How weird! Turns out it is for this hummus mix that you put in a blender or food processor. Ooohhhh.)
After I explained my weird behavior (taking his picture) to this blue vested angel (that I'm a blogger and will be blogging about my experience) he disappeared into Walmart and reappeared only to give me more gifts.
Flowers? What is this Walmart-blue-vested magic spell I've been put under?
Meanwhile, my daughter fell asleep and missed this whole experience. If I was actually going grocery shopping I would have had to wake her up. And we all know how well grocery shopping works after you wake up a three year old from too short of a nap. (Thank you Walmart Grocery Pickup for preventing a public meltdown! Woohoo!)
While he was waiting, my son read some of his book he's reading for school. Yay!
The baby, on the other hand, whined the whole time. She was probably the least happy about the curbside service. (See? I'm not the only one feeling impatient while someone else grocery shops for me AND loads it in my vehicle. LOL!)
This is the lady that shopped and loaded my groceries (see below). I forgot to get a picture of her face. She's probably grateful.
And whoa... did you see Richard's tattoos? He's so cool. We're best friends now. Except he wouldn't tell me his last name. He said his name was "just Rich".
*FYI you are not allowed to help Walmart employees load the groceries in your vehicle. (I've totally done this though and nobody stopped me.)
*FYI you are not allowed to tip Walmart employees for loading the groceries in your vehicle.
Rich said that they hand picked everything to make sure it was the best. He also said that if I wanted my bananas to be more or less green next time to just let them know. They were perfectly yellow. Not brown or green.
After they loaded everything up, they gave me a receipt on regular paper, were overly thankful and polite (I'm not complaining... it was really sweet!) and I headed on home.
At Home
Once I got home, I brought everything inside and checked things out.
(But first, I ran to the bathroom and peed. And while I was there I thought to myself that if I actually went grocery shopping I would have had to drag all three kids to the bathroom with me. And that by using the Walmart Grocery Pickup service I avoided the whole "Walmart bathroom" experience. I'm so grateful.)
Some bags had stickers on them that said "substitution" or "fragile". The bread was labeled fragile and the items substituted were labeled too.
Here's most everything I bought, except for the hose and hairclips. The butternut squash isn't from Walmart... just ignore that. Hiding in the pile is a thing of spring mix, fresh dill and mushrooms. I paid $48 after my $10 coupon. What a deal!
Here's my order summary, but not necessarily what I got (because of substitutions).
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Walmart Grocery Pickup Review
I LOVED the Walmart Grocery Pickup service. LOVED it. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
It was so simple, saved me at least an hour of time, allowed me to avoid public restrooms with my three kids AND my three year old got to take a nap which she desperately needed (but refused to do at home).
I will absolutely use this service again. I even will buy my meat there (Costco! Get on board with this pickup thing, ok?) because they have grass-fed beef and free range chicken.
Walmart Grocery Pickup has forever changed my life. Hallelujah and amen.
(Side Note: I think this curbside pickup service would be PERFECT for going on vacation. "Grocery shop" online while driving to the destination, schedule a pickup time and bam, vacation grocery shopping is done. More time at the pool and less time at Walmart. Perfect.)
UPDATE 5/2018
I've used this service a bajillion times since I wrote this post. I'm still generally pleased with this service. Here are some thoughts...
- The "search" function on walmart.grocery.com needs some help. For example, if I type in "organic" not everything they sell that's organic pops up. Walmart, you're missing out here.
- Product photos are small which makes it difficult to decide to buy a product or not. Walmart, you could do so much better!
- I've used this service when out of town on vacation. Other stores have more products than mine. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.
- A few times I've rejected an item at pickup, but was charged for it on my final bill. I called customer service at (800) 924-9206 and they resolved the issue quickly. Wait times were negligible. One time, for my inconvenience, they even gave me a $15 coupon for a future order!
- Sometimes even if I choose "no substitutions" I am given a substituted item anyways. Sometimes I'm ok with it, sometimes I'm not. I'm happy with that because sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised with that they give me.
- I love that they give me the lower price if an item is substituted. Sometimes I come out majorly winning in these scenarios. 😉
Leave a Comment
Have you used this service? Leave a comment with your own Walmart Grocery Pickup review and let us know how it went for you!
Nice article. I'm thinking about doing it for the first time in the Phoenix area, not pick-up but delivery. They have that here. I'm disabled and it's really hard for me to shop. I always worry about the produce, meats, and fruits though.. I was thinking trying small and going from there or getting produce, meats, and fruits myself (I can probably manage that), and get the rest through delivery. We'll see.. Thanks for the story..
Awful Walmart grocery pickup experience for me. Won't be back.
Care to elaborate?
Tried it for the first time yesterday. I wanted to do a same day order, but was only given the option of next day. So I made my appointment, downloaded the app as they suggested for "better and faster service." I checked in 15 minutes before I arrived, and took a designated spot. My phone tracker even said "you have arrived!" And there I patiently sat for 20 minutes, watching two other people receive their groceries. Finally, the same tired looking employee came to my car and asked if I had an order. I said yes, and that I checked in and had been waiting 20 minutes. She took my name. 10 minutes later she brought my stuff and said that the system didn't show that I checked in, and I should call instead. No one offered me cold water, snacks, samples or flowers lol! She stood there until I loaded my own groceries in my car (with my injured shoulder). Took 35 minutes, in which I probably could have done the shopping myself. I will try it again, and call ahead next time.
OH my word!! I think you had an abnormal experience. Is there another walmart near you that you could try instead?
My experiences have been phenomenally good. I think the service is likely 100% attributable to the store manager. I got a good one. Some aren't so lucky. I have two more Walmarts close, but no reason to change stores after my first four pickups. Better luck next time.
Submitted my order last night and will pick it up this afternoon after work. This is my first experience with Walmart Grocery Pick-up, but I was out sick yesterday and needed to come back to work but still didn't really feel well enough for grocery shopping, whic I have not had time to do. I really hope this is a good experience, it will help out a lot with my new 4/10 work schedule! I didn't order my produce on there, or ice cream so I will run inside for those items. I also wanted a rotisserie chicken and searched for it with no results found. Fingers crossed, wish me luck!!
I'm set to go pick up my first order in about 15 minutes! I'm super excited, but will try to keep my hopes reasonable due to all the mixed experiences I just read. Mistakes are bound to happen (we're all human)...I gotta remember that. I'll leave my review in a reply to this post! Woot! Thank you for this informative review!
Just got back. It was a perfect pickup. A sweet lady named Ashley brought everything out to me within 5 minutes and quickly loaded the items into my trunk. When she was finished, she came to my car window with the loaf of bread I'd ordered and apologized that it had been smashed by other groceries. She quickly ran in to get me another one. WOW! I got home and checked to make sure everything was accounted for. It was! Great produce/meat selections. Everything else was exactly what I had requested. I got a little Walmart bag of samples too - just like yours.
The ONLY thing that didn't work was the Checkin process. I wasn't able to do it from the Walmart app so I just called. They answered quickly and all went well. I think I have the wrong app. It looks like there must be a separate Walmart Grocery Pickup app that is different from the regular Walmart app. Gotta check that out for next time.
Meijer started doing a service like this, but you can use your digital mperks coupons and leave specific instructions (like how Rich told you about the bananas) about any item. I don't ever shop at Walmart, but it sounds like a similar concept, for those others who would like another similar option.
As an older person having trouble walking, I will use this fantastic service. I try to use the electric carts but they aren't always available. I'll comment on my experience after the 3rd.
Sounds great!
Wow! I was so surprised at the variety of comments and am so sorry to hear that some had a very negative experience, I have now used it about 5 or 6 times and was hooked after the first time, Have had a handful of substitutions overall and two items they gave me I liked better than what I had originally ordered. I checked in 10 mins ahead of time, arrived and within 2-3 minutes they were bringing out my groceries. After the first visit or two they knew me and my car and when they came out they quickly and efficiently loaded my things in the back of my car. I was very pleased. I was initiallly nervous about them picking the produce and meat but soon learned they they do a great job at that as well. I high recommend!
I used this service for the first time yesterday at the Manchester, MO store. I checked in on the app on my way. My order was at my car within 3 minutes of my arrival. Everything was as ordered and the produce was high quality. Saved me at least an hour; I will use the service again for sure.
I tried it for the first time last week and it was one of the best things I have ever done!!!! Heavenly
I am picking up this weeks groceries again this afternoon from the wal-mart pick up.
Yippy!!!!
I'm recovering from knee surgery. A trip to the grocery store would be nearly impossible. Your review was very helpful. This sounds like a plan for me.
I love this service! The one word of caution I will say is that on my last to orders I have been charged THREE times. One is for the actual purchase and two that are pending transactions, that stay on my credit card statement until I call and have Wal-Mart contact my bank to have them removed. Wal-Mart has told me that the first pending charge is the initial charge when I order my groceries, the second pending charge is the amount with substitutions and out of stock items, and last the third is the actual charge for my picked up items. It has taken up to 6 business days to get the two pending transactions off of my credit card. Though I wonder how long they would stay on there if I didn't call to get them removed?!?.. To be fair I have used this service for over a year now and this has just recently started to happen with my last two orders. Other than this hiccup I have only had good experiences when using this service.
Well, I found only good reviews on youtube for this service, so I did a google search, and this was the first page I found.
Very interesting to see how many other people besides me have had negative experiences. Some on here have even had worse experiences than mine have been.
I really need this service due to disability, but it has been frustrating.
And if the same thing happened as did to the poster just before me, that would be a deal-killer! I live on ONLY Social Security, and would have "bounced checks" if this happened.
Sending up prayers.........
They didn't have any same day appointments even though I was looking in the morning. Its the next day already, I have a pickup scheduled for 1PM in 20 minutes for around 20-30 items. I'll go pick up and leave a comment about my experience shortly.
Update:
Pulled into the parking area, the app said someone was on their way out. I waited a couple minutes then called the number just to be sure in case no one was looking at the screen or whatever. Took only about 10-15 minutes total from the time I pulled in until the time I pulled out.
The associate loaded my car up for me, they only made 1 substitution and it was fine. I received all my items, $10 off for using a coupon code for first time customers at checkout, and they also gave me a nice little gift basket with a couple random samples.
So far so good, will be ordering through walmart grocery pickup again 🙂
Just used this service on a large ($250) order. From the time I pulled in only took about 15 minutes to get loaded...I didnt give
them much warning either because I was across the street at another store. of the 2 substitutions 1 was fine the other they
substituted whole grain bread for white bread. Not a good sub for me and not one that I think they would try but??? The
other issue was that I was missing 2 items (be sure to check your order when you get home especially if its a large one). They
left off 2 large chocolate bars. I called back and they are going to refund me the money (fingers crossed). So, if I get all my
refunds from the missing items and the sub that I rejected I will be a pretty happy camper. Easy to use and the person that
helped me was very friendly. Didnt get a bag of goodies but oh, well :-). For the convenience and time savings I'll be thrilled and happy to use them again if it all works out with the refunds.