10 Frequent Complaints Customers Make About Walmart

You can expect low prices and convenient shopping all in one spot at Walmart, but that doesn't mean the chain is perfect. There is a list of customer complaints. Of course, just because people complain about something at one Walmart doesn't necessarily mean that it's a problem everywhere. While some stores don't get tons of complaints, others, like a notorious one in Cleveland, Ohio, have a reputation for being worse than most. 

There seem to be enough people complaining about certain things to constitute a pattern, showing vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the chain, or at some stores. The problems largely revolve around insufficient staff to help customers, delivery and pickup issues, and shoppers not being able to get in and out of the store effectively with everything they need. However, some complaints come from store policies to keep customers shopping longer or to solve larger problems, like shoplifting. As such, they're not likely to change. These are 10 common complaints people mention about their Walmart shopping experiences.

One of the most frequent complaints we've seen about Walmart is that the checkout speed is agonizingly slow. For some customers, slow checkout inspired them to use pickup and delivery to eliminate the wait. In fact, some shoppers report that, as the number of open registers (especially self-check ones) shrank, the grocery pickup area increased.

Walmart eliminated self-checkout in some stores, like Aldi has. However, those changes are supposedly meant to increase efficiency, discourage shoplifting, and eliminate the frustrations of broken-down machines at the self-checkout. While some customers welcome the change since they don't like having to check out their own groceries, others dislike how slowly some employees scan and the long lines from having too few lanes open. Some people even called the store while stuck in line, asking for more open registers, which is especially tempting when there are just two lanes open, and they've been in line for 20 or more minutes. People on social media complained that even locations that have added more employees to check out groceries haven't managed to help make the time spent checking out any faster overall.

Some customers find it rare that many are open, even in locations with plenty of self-checks. One Redditor complained that there may be 20 self-checks, but only a fourth of them are open; in turn, everyone stands there waiting for an employee to notice they need a problem solved.

Customers are baffled and annoyed by all the items locked away at their Walmart, making it a challenge to buy what they want. A big frustration with this system is that it can take a while to find someone to unlock cases so that customers can get the items that they're looking for. In some locations, employees need an app on their phones to be able to unlock the doors, and not every employee seems to have it. Then, once the locked case is open, some stores go as far as to also place the item in an anti-theft case or follow customers to the register with the item.

It's often the higher-priced items at Walmart that are secured with lock and key. Depending on the store, you'll find everything from health and beauty items to toys, sporting goods, and laundry detergent locked away. Plus, some more awkward and private items require an employee's help, too, like pregnancy tests, condoms, and feminine hygiene medications.

One of the most shocking things that is behind locked doors is baby formula. It turns out that, because of shortages and its cost, there are a lot of baby formula theft rings – alleged to have stolen tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of baby formula to resell or to use to cut illegal drugs.

Walmart is reportedly one of the worst supermarket chains when it comes to customer service. We don't know about you, but when we've gone to the customer service desk at our local Walmart, there's rarely anyone there. Getting good customer service help via phone and chat can be challenging, too.

Remember all that baby formula and other products stored in locked cases at some Walmarts? Well, it turns out that sometimes only customer service has a key. Unfortunately, customers on social media reported giving up waiting for anyone to show up to an empty customer service desk with a key after ringing the buzzer and waiting 25 minutes or more.

When trying to get help outside of the store, it can be challenging to find a real human to talk to. Several customers who tried calling or chatting with real human customer service representatives reported rudeness, that the conversation was short, or that it ended without resolution. Sometimes, multiple phone calls don't seem to solve the problem, or people get the runaround with conflicting stories from different customer service representatives.

Although Walmart tends to have a wide variety, it might not have everything you need or the brands you want. If you're shopping at a Walmart with a smaller footprint and fewer grocery items, like a Walmart Neighborhood Market, the possibility of finding exactly what you want decreases. Although in some smaller towns, Walmart often has more products than the average grocery store. So, it really depends on your location, what you're looking for, and what other supermarkets are around you.

Super Walmarts may be large, but even these stores don't have the room to carry every grocery product under the sun. So, customers complain they often need to visit other supermarkets with a wider selection of grocery items. Plus, Walmart has a smaller variety of produce than many other chains.

While there tends to be an international food section, we've had difficulty finding even some more popular international food ingredients like gochujang, tahini, or miso available for same-day pickup. You may be able to get them if you wait for them to be shipped from elsewhere. Otherwise, some customers end up making substitutions or finding another source for international groceries in their area.

One customer complaint about Walmart was so widespread that it ended up sparking a class-action lawsuit in 2022: mislabeling and overcharging grocery items by weight. With already high grocery prices, people were eager to benefit from this lawsuit.

The allegation was that the listed weights on some Walmart grocery items were higher than the actual weights. So, even when the store sold them on clearance, customers ended up paying more for the sale price by weight than they would have at the regular price if the package weight had been correct. The affected products were bagged citrus and some weighted meats and seafood items customers had bought between 2018 and 2024.

While Walmart denied any wrongdoing or deception, it ultimately agreed to a $45 million class-action settlement as a result of the complaint. Customers were promised 2% of the cost of qualifying items in cash, up to $500, if they'd kept their receipts as proof of purchase. However, customers could only get $10-$25 without a receipt, so most people we found on social media reported getting about $25 back. Some were disappointed because they were sure they'd overpaid by much more than that during the timeframe in question.

One of the risks you run when ordering produce via delivery at Walmart is getting bad fruits and vegetables. When you go to the store in person, you can pick what looks nice and doesn't have brown or soft spots. However, if you're leaving that choice up to a shopper (who is in a hurry to get your produce and get out the door), it can be a gamble.

Customers have made all sorts of complaints about the produce delivery on social media. It's often wilted, bruised, or even rotten. One person said they couldn't understand what was going through the head of the delivery shopper who chose a super ripe bunch of bananas for them that would need to be consumed immediately. And that seems to be the main problem: There's often no thought going into the produce choices. It is likely that the problem is that the employee simply doesn't have time to stop and scrutinize what products they're picking.

Because of often getting rotten veggies, some customers on social media have experimented with using different delivery services like Uber Eats to get better results. Some people have had good luck requesting the InHome service (if available), which uses Walmart employees and allows you to review and reject anything before the driver leaves. Although it costs more, some customers find it worth it to ensure the quality of their food.

Some customers ordering grocery delivery from Walmart have complained about not getting items because they're either out of stock or delivered to the wrong customer. Both scenarios are frustrating.

The frequency of missing items may vary based on your location. Always check your order and receipt to determine if the item was out of stock or if they substituted certain items in your bag. The ordered item is often unavailable, and customers find substitutions to be hit or miss — sometimes they get the substitution message in time, sometimes they get a useful substitution, while other times they don't get a substitution at all. Some customers on social media talked about even getting the wrong item completely when it wasn't listed as a substitution (like the delivery shopper mistaking grapefruits for oranges).

Having orders delivered to the wrong address is an ongoing issue. We constantly see people on our local social media pages talking about getting someone else's Walmart grocery delivery. So, it's not surprising that the Walmart website asks you to check whether the delivery photo matches your house if your whole order is missing. Luckily, some customers say they recognize their neighbor's house in the delivery photo and go retrieve it without involving customer service.

It's not just delivery orders that end up with mistakes and problems; there are plenty with grocery pickups at Walmart, too. There's certainly plenty of human error, but it can be frustrating in other ways as well.

At least when you pick up your order at the store, you know you'll get it and don't have to worry about misdelivery. However, there are still plenty of missing items and questionable substitutions. Some customers ended up going inside only to find that the "out of stock" items were sitting on the shelf. Damaged and spoiled produce is still a problem, but at least you can check your produce before leaving the parking lot.

Customers on social media who have a Walmart with a lot of pickup orders often report waiting a long time for their orders. That said, getting a pickup parking spot can be challenging in some locations because regular customers park there. It seems that, no matter the time of day or night, some busier locations may have hour-long wait times for pickup orders. In some places, customers report waiting 20 to 30 minutes before a pickup employee even exits the store. Others had to call the Walmart location because the store didn't know they were waiting, or it turned out that the order was simply lost.

One of our biggest pet peeves about Walmart is how everything is constantly moving around the store. Just when you think you know where the canned goods aisle is or where to find beans, everything shifts. So, a grocery trip that you thought would take a couple of minutes turns into a treasure hunt, or you end up spending time looking for the aisle numbers for newly-moved products on the app.

Customers find the whole process of searching for items in new places annoying. Even worse is when employees forget to change the signs above the aisles so that the aisle labeled as the bread aisle contains cereal instead. Even if the employees don't move the item you want across the store, they'll shift the location of the product you want on the same shelf. So, some customers complained about accidentally getting the wrong item simply because they grabbed a box from where the product had been sitting for months or years.

Walmart isn't the only store that moves its products around the store since it's an effective strategy to get you to buy more. At this point, most of us have come to expect it, but we're not necessarily happy that we end up buying 10 items when we just walked in to get one.

And when you need an employee for whatever reason, getting help can be challenging. Customers on social media complained about asking an employee for help or pressing a button to page for help, only to find themselves still waiting for that help 15 to 30 minutes later. Other times, they've asked multiple employees for help and nobody can offer them a solution or has time for them.

In some locations, customers feel like none of the employees act as if they care or want to help. Meanwhile, Walmart employees on social media paint a different picture. Some say they're worried about losing their job for spending too much time helping a customer instead of being productive. So, while some employees may not care, that's not always the case. Sometimes employees feel overworked and don't have the time, may lose their break time spending time helping a customer, don't have time to help while doing a timed task, or it could be a management issue instead. Other times, the problem is that there just aren't enough people available to help everyone. So, before you jump to conclusions, realize that there's likely a lot going on in the background that you might not know about. As such, you're likely to get more help from someone who doesn't already look like they're busy.