JHZR2
Staff member
I generally buy oil on price. With the proliferation of Chinese filters, I have not bought oil in the combo deals at the parts stores in quite a while.
So that means WM, Amazon, and other sales at parts stores. As one can imagine, WM typically wins. I am in no way a WM fan - the in store experience is not generally worth the savings, but few places have such a broad range of oils to shop at reasonable prices, that I put up with it for that.
I was looking to buy Valvoline VAS for our van. $21.97 at WM. Thought there was a $10 rebate on it. There wasnt. So I wanted to go PP 0w-20, which was on a shelf labeled $22.97 at WalMart #1. It rang up wrong. They went back, saw the shelf, but saw elsewhere that it was priced higher, at $27.97 or so. So wouldnt give the price.
I found while waiting for the price match, that HD in the same town had PP 0w-20 for $25.98. WM wouldnt price match it until they asked their manager, though the WM website clearly says theyll match homedepot.com for WM.com purchases (Yes, I recognize I was there in person, but the WM.com site said I could buy online for delivery today, so....???). Not friendly, and the store, the shoppers, etc all made for a horrible experience.
Left there and went about my business, which took me to another shopping center with a WM, call it WM#2. Having seen the thread on $17.97 rollback, figured Id have a look. Nope, $27.97. Took some up front because this store is known to be friendlier and more with it. They would not price match either. So apparently I could buy on walmart.com for same day pickup, and get HD price match (or just buy at HD, but was concerned about the $10 rebate). They at least confirmed that walmart in store no longer matches prices on ads or otherwise. Period. Even if its $2 or so for customer satisfaction.
Disgusted, left there, rolled by Pep Boys, and noted the $14 PYB oil change. Interested in not giving WM the business, even on the $17.97 PYB I just bought, I went in. Filters were Chinesium so I avoided the combo deal, but the shelf price at Pep Boys was $16.97. Next to it was 5qt PP 0w-20, for $24.97 - cheaper than WM and HD! Success, so the $17.97 5qt of PYB will be going back to WM at some off hour to avoid the line of 15+ people waiting to return stuff and get money orders.
So Pep Boys got my business, for 15 qts of oil. Being curious, I looked up the PP price at pepboys.com - $38+!!!!!
So Id never have stepped foot inside PB had the $14 oil change rebate special not been on the window. Im glad I did - PB has won some goodwill from me (particularly since they let me take 5 x 1qt bottles for the 5qt jug price. Ill be back there.
WM is under boycott for ALL things (really I only ever got oil there, but have occasionally bought other things there). Nope. I wasted a TON of time in walmart stores I wouldn't have otherwise gone to, to save not a lot of money. WM #1 could have easily adjusted the price, and made the sale on that plus another $50 or so worth of stuff in a cart that I abandoned out of disgust. WM #2, who was more friendly could have made it right too.
But how does one generally get accurate pricing on this stuff in a time-efficient manner? PB obviously isnt accurate between their store and the shelf prices...
Thanks, rant off.
So that means WM, Amazon, and other sales at parts stores. As one can imagine, WM typically wins. I am in no way a WM fan - the in store experience is not generally worth the savings, but few places have such a broad range of oils to shop at reasonable prices, that I put up with it for that.
I was looking to buy Valvoline VAS for our van. $21.97 at WM. Thought there was a $10 rebate on it. There wasnt. So I wanted to go PP 0w-20, which was on a shelf labeled $22.97 at WalMart #1. It rang up wrong. They went back, saw the shelf, but saw elsewhere that it was priced higher, at $27.97 or so. So wouldnt give the price.
I found while waiting for the price match, that HD in the same town had PP 0w-20 for $25.98. WM wouldnt price match it until they asked their manager, though the WM website clearly says theyll match homedepot.com for WM.com purchases (Yes, I recognize I was there in person, but the WM.com site said I could buy online for delivery today, so....???). Not friendly, and the store, the shoppers, etc all made for a horrible experience.
Left there and went about my business, which took me to another shopping center with a WM, call it WM#2. Having seen the thread on $17.97 rollback, figured Id have a look. Nope, $27.97. Took some up front because this store is known to be friendlier and more with it. They would not price match either. So apparently I could buy on walmart.com for same day pickup, and get HD price match (or just buy at HD, but was concerned about the $10 rebate). They at least confirmed that walmart in store no longer matches prices on ads or otherwise. Period. Even if its $2 or so for customer satisfaction.
Disgusted, left there, rolled by Pep Boys, and noted the $14 PYB oil change. Interested in not giving WM the business, even on the $17.97 PYB I just bought, I went in. Filters were Chinesium so I avoided the combo deal, but the shelf price at Pep Boys was $16.97. Next to it was 5qt PP 0w-20, for $24.97 - cheaper than WM and HD! Success, so the $17.97 5qt of PYB will be going back to WM at some off hour to avoid the line of 15+ people waiting to return stuff and get money orders.
So Pep Boys got my business, for 15 qts of oil. Being curious, I looked up the PP price at pepboys.com - $38+!!!!!
So Id never have stepped foot inside PB had the $14 oil change rebate special not been on the window. Im glad I did - PB has won some goodwill from me (particularly since they let me take 5 x 1qt bottles for the 5qt jug price. Ill be back there.
WM is under boycott for ALL things (really I only ever got oil there, but have occasionally bought other things there). Nope. I wasted a TON of time in walmart stores I wouldn't have otherwise gone to, to save not a lot of money. WM #1 could have easily adjusted the price, and made the sale on that plus another $50 or so worth of stuff in a cart that I abandoned out of disgust. WM #2, who was more friendly could have made it right too.
But how does one generally get accurate pricing on this stuff in a time-efficient manner? PB obviously isnt accurate between their store and the shelf prices...
Thanks, rant off.
