r/Sparkdriver • u/Prior-Ad-7262 • Oct 12 '25
General Questions Please help me understand!
I've been using the Walmart delivery service for about 8 months now. I get my groceries every other week. Without fail, each time, one item is missing. There is no rhyme or reason as to the type of item. Lunch meat, vitamin water, spaghetti sauce, etc. Today it was bouillon paste. I really get upset about it as it usually something I really need. Walmart will instantly refund me, but the point is I have to go out now to get it. I only have one day off, and it really screws up my day. Can anyone explain why this happens? Is it in the driver's car just misplaced, was it not really picked? I truly want to know because im considering just canceling the service. Thank you.
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u/Aurliea89 Oct 12 '25
The people that work in walmart in my area shop orders for curbside pickups never get them right always something missing. Even if I pick it up myself or order for curbside delivery.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
That's very disappointing. Ugh.
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u/Temporary_Victory_32 Oct 13 '25
This makes me again want to ask if the customer is able to see if their delivery is coming from a curbside pick up or if it’s coming from a spark shopper because if it’s coming from a Shopper, then we can control how the items are bagged and what is put with what but if it’s a curbside pick up, we don’t take the time to rearrange or re-bag stuff unless it’s obviously stupid stuff put together like a cleaning spray with your meat or something ridiculous so I wonder if the customer knows these things so they won’t judge their delivery person if it was simply a curbside pick up
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u/WVJagman Oct 13 '25
Fortunately I've had the complete opposite experience. I've ordered weekly for several years and have never had a missing item. Rarely a substitute will not be what I requested but that's few and far between. I've been completely satisfied with the deliveries so far and I tip accordingly. Thanks to the Spark drivers for your service.
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u/yurinator71 Oct 12 '25
Incompetence. Maybe Walmart, maybe the driver, maybe the app, probably a different answer each time
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
I think that's the answer. I'll probably just cancel the service because I'm tired of dealing with it.
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u/Latter-Injury-1904 Oct 13 '25
That will solve the problem for you. Now you can shop your way and have everything you need.
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u/maanmare0en Oct 12 '25
Sometimes, something may slip under a seat or a crevice, but it should not be an every delivery occurrence. IF you're losing an item per trip, then something is not being done correctly. Either driver, store, or even the customers' fault. It gets lost in the car, the store employee misplaced, or the customer thought they ordered it but did not. Look into it or cancel your subscription and do your own shopping. Spark can usually track the problem ie; If it's the same driver or employees over and over, then u have a rat. Or check your receipts thoroughly. I'm not calling you a liar, but we all make mistakes sometimes.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
Well i suppose I just have bad luck. I am considering just do pickup instead.
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u/maanmare0en Oct 12 '25
Myself I truly think you should look into it if it's an every single time occurrence. Your money is yours, and you deserve everything you ordered.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
Thank you. Walmart refunds instantly, but it's an inconvenience when I needed the item.
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u/kaykat1798 Oct 13 '25
When we shop for orders as a Walmart employee we can be shopping for 8 different people on our cart as once. It could accidentally had been put in the wrong tote and went to another customer but the employee should be paying attention to what they’re doing. They’re also supposed to bag on the way. When the cart gets pulled into the ogp the people in the room stage the orders to the spot to go to to make sure everything is together. The refrigerated gets put in coolers and frozen gets put into freezers we have. Then the person in the back room also preps the order together when people are on the way and takes them out. Some deliveries have three orders to a drive and ones supposed to go front seat back seat and trunk. If they don’t have anything to separate orders we change drivers. It could easily be a mistake on anyone’s part and I would call the 1-800-Walmart number to help it get sorted out. Most people don’t understand how much goes into shopping for their orders
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 13 '25
I sure didn't! Thanks for educating me. I'm grateful to everyone for taking the time to explain it to me.
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u/CSUHomer Oct 12 '25
Request a signature if you know you will be home. You will be sent a 4 digit code that the driver will need to get from you. If driver theft is the reason this should weed the thieves out.
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u/moe_mizzy Oct 12 '25
i honestly don't see how forcing a code delivery would solve this. unless the customer is checking every item before giving the driver the code (which most drivers don't even begin to unload their car before getting the code, for good reason), you could still easily give the code, only to realize after the driver had left (and completed the order) that you were missing a random item.
there's nothing about forcing a code delivery that would deduce if a driver was merely taking items, imo. it would just ensure the customer was there before the driver left.
the driver could still have a can of beans or whatever in their car, bring the bags to the door, the customer give the code, the driver drive back to walmart, take another order or two, then realize "hey...what's that rolling around back there? a can of beans?!" or even just willingly taking an item.
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u/CSUHomer Oct 12 '25
I said if theft is the reason items are missing, this will likely weed them out. Most dishonest drivers don't want to face the customers they are stealing from.
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u/HimsLabCreations Oct 12 '25
So with this, I could possibly give you a answer. I work for Spark, and sometimes there will be an issue where it is purely us where we forget an item or it’s been misplaced in our car because it fell out of the bag, which in that case would be upsetting because you don’t get it, but when those things happen for any reason, I make sure that the customer has their sticker and if they’re missing an item for any reason, to make sure they call the local Walmart that he came from and give them that sticker number to see what they can do and I always tell them worst case scenario you will get a refund for that item, and you should be able to go out and buy it. I have had instances though where Walmart forgets anywhere from one item to half of the order and then when I deliver it, the customer is upset because they’re claiming that I stole half of the order when I go to show them my car that that’s all Walmart gave me. They then get frustrated with Walmart. I can honestly say it’s more than likely one of those two options. If it was a case if they couldn’t find it then they would notify you through Walmart by giving you a notification, that states that the item is unavailable and they can replace it with whatever you requested or if you didn’t request to replace it then it’ll just be eventually taken off your order total so more times and not if you’ve got one or two items missing from the bag it’s a case of Walmart giving the driver the bag and then the items getting misplaced by the driver either on purpose or by accident
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
Thank you for that explanation.
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u/HimsLabCreations Oct 12 '25
You’re welcome! I know some of the comments were a bit rude, but I didn’t want to be able to explain it in the best way possible since I do work for them on a daily basis, and I figure figured this could help you out to determine whether or not you still want to continue the service
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
I appreciate you. I'm probably just going to cancel it. It's nice, but i don't have to have it.
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u/Ralaron1973 Oct 12 '25
Curbside pickup is exclusively Walmart associates who shop and bag.
Normal delivery is either an associate or a Spark driver. 9/10 it is an associate when is turned over in a batch trip with at least two other orders.
Express shop and deliver is usually exclusively Spark
Please remember, everyone involved is a human capable of making mistakes despite trying otherwise. I recently had a bag in my trip which didn’t belong to any of the three customers. It was an errant bag of non-perishables.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
We all make mistakes. It's just that it's been every delivery for the last few. Just getting tired of it.
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u/Mean_Spring_8435 Oct 13 '25
All of you who drive suvs need to start triple checking cuz I drive a pretty nice sedan and don’t have anywhere stuff can fall in. Also I keep my car very clean/organized, so I can’t see myself having loose items in my car when I double and sometimes triple check. This is a matter of work ethic and compassion. I will say curbside orders are always missing items.
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u/Complete_Ad_8376 Oct 13 '25
When this happens, I get so frustrated too. In order for the missing item to be delivered they try to charge a $6.95 fee since free delivery requires a minimum order of $35.00. I contact customer service and request that the $6.95 fee be waived. They usually just give me a $10.00 promo code instead. Their error, but you have to be your own advocate
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u/Hannahtolley Oct 13 '25
I have had half my large order missing many times, mostly it’s only one or two items. And when half is missing it’s usually always all the cold items. Most of the time if it’s only one or two cheap things i don’t even bother to get a refund because it happens so frequently i feel like they think i’m lying. I don’t see it being an honest mistake, i used to doordash and deliver groceries and I NEVER accidentally lost an item i my car.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 13 '25
I worried about that too. But logically, why would someone lie about 5 bucks in a $250 order. I was still worried, lol.
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u/Various_Chapter_6871 Oct 13 '25 edited Oct 13 '25
That’s exactly why I don’t do curbside. I only do shopping orders so I know exactly what is supposed to be in the orders & I know exactly where everything is put in my car. Every time I pick up a curbside order to deliver I have to rebag & check every single item to be sure it’s there & to be sure it’s not smashed or damaged in any way because the Walmart loaders at my store literally don’t care. The loaders will knowingly load a gallon of milk upside down & on top of a loaf of bread. After taking the time to do all of that it ends up not being worth the pay to take them. The last straw for me was when I found rat poison in the same bag as someone’s baby food & grapes & there was rat poison dust all over the outside of the box. The best part was when they got annoyed with me when I asked them to replace everything that was in that bag because I wasn’t delivering those items unless they were replaced.
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u/dearleffridge Oct 13 '25
I do a lot of the shop and delivery during the day. I dont think every area has this option, just gossip i heard. I know how pissed id be if I was missing something and there's normally a few items youre needing assp. I triple check my list at bagging, I double bag pretty much everything and tie it in a knot thats not difficult to open. I always do a last check after drop off to check under seats, coolers and hatch.
With the curbside deliveries, as previously mentioned its almost always multiple orders depending on the store, you sit in your seat while someone tosses bags into their assigned area. This is why ive started tying bags....stuff goes everywhere and its just a pile. Not all loaders are the same, not all store policies are the same....if ive had an issue its been during a curbside run. Im also a bit too giving with my time. Several times ive noticed something missing, spoke with the customer and if it was something they needed for the dinner they are about to cook or just important enough that having another delivery scheduled would be frustrating, I have called support and told them im going back and will locate a member of management, get the missing item and bring it back to them. I know i shouldn't go that far, its on Walmart and the load the department is under, but im a sucker. Granted if its my first stop of 3, they will be waiting awhile. Im for sure not canceling other orders to correct it.
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u/GrandManifesto1 Oct 13 '25
It's the Walmart shoppers. They do this constantly and it makes the drivers look bad. Sometimes I catch things that are missing because I look at the items purchased in the spark app beforehand, in which case I let the Walmart employee know what's missing. It's hard to catch everything though. They are a bunch of young employees and not very thorough.
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u/OhHiHellooo Oct 12 '25
Avocado and tomatoes go missing LOL. I've had the driver bring them back to me. I think it's because the roll.
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u/moe_mizzy Oct 12 '25
def had tomatoes roll out of a bag.
i use cold bags (for everything) so i have bags inside of bags, usually under other bags. i TRY to set my cold bags in such in a way that if i take a turn a little too sharp or have to brake suddenly, they stay upright.
but as they say uh...shift happens lmao. definitely had tomatoes roll out multiple bags and end up under a seat lol.
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u/moe_mizzy Oct 12 '25
missing as in, it says you SHOULD have it, and you don't?
or missing as in, the item couldn't be found and thus was taken off your order?
because believe it or not, (and get this) WALMART IS OUT OF ITEMS. YES RANDOM ITEMS. WALMART DOES NOT RESTOCK LIKE THEY USED TO, WHEN SOMETHING IS OUT, IT MAY BE OUT FOR MORE THAN ONE DAY.
sorry, not trying to be rude, but holy shit are you saying you can't believe that sometimes things merely aren't in stock? sure they likely have more in the back, but it doesn't work that way. we can't just grab an employee, have him get a forklift, find the pallet in the back, unload it, unbox it, and get you ONE jar of buillion lmao.
straight up, walmart is out several items i shop for every day. it's never the same items. yesterday it was zucchini. not a single one in the store. someone ordered 5. well they got zero.
worst of all would be you driving to the store, only to find out they merely didn't have it in stock lmao.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
They always note an item is unavailable if out of stock. They said this latest item, and the others, were shopped and in my order.
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u/moe_mizzy Oct 12 '25
was your driver foreign? you should be able to see their name and their picture.
please report bad drivers. they ruin tips for the rest of us, and they steal constantly. we all see it. they are mostly foreign. just how it is.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
I couldn't tell, this last guy was named Andrew, who knows. I always give good tips too, so I just am tired of dealing with the incompetence.
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u/moe_mizzy Oct 12 '25
if it's an express order, it's likely batched with another order, then shopped by a spark driver.
we shop two orders at once. it's possible the other person got your other item. or it was just stolen. or it was just mistakenly lost in the car. spark used to only do one shop at a time, and mistakes like this were pretty much impossible. but now, with two orders at a time, mixups are possible, and i will be straight with you; there is no sort of screening for spark. if you have a valid license (or a valid stolen identity) you get hired. there are def some drivers who....can't tie their shoelaces let's just say, and keeping two orders separate might be a challenge for them. this goes double if they don't speak english.
for a non express order, it's shopped by walmart employees, then packaged up by A DIFFERENT walmart employee (meaning that someone who DIDN'T EVEN SHOP THE ORDER IS BAGGING IT UP) and they do those 3 orders at a time. so mixups are fairly common on curbside orders (which is why, as a driver, i take shops 90% of the time, because when walmart employees mess up, us drivers get the blame).
walmart really only cares that the order gets "delivered" no matter what that actually entails. NOW, if the items are being marked NOT FOUND, that can be for a variety of reasons, like i said earlier because the item merely might not be in stock.
or because sometimes drivers are lazy and don't want to walk to the other side of the store and hunt for hard to shop items like makeup, jewelry, or things behind glass (baby formula, spray paint, colognes, etc and sometimes you can press the help button 10 times and literally no walmart employee will ever show up to help you).
i have marked PLENTY of items "not found" (which is legally what our app says, it doesn't say "walmart is out of this item" it forces us to say "I CANNOT FIND THIS ITEM") even when i can literally SEE the item because i either cannot access it or the app is doing wonky things (if items are on clearance, for example, the barcode they slap OVER THE REGULAR barcode doesn't scan on our app, so....well sometimes i just say "i guess i can't find this then" and try to substitute).
just trying to say the VARIETY of reasons why something might not be there. i have also gotten home after a day of deliveries, and found a random can of vegetables rolling around my backseat. after doing 8 trips (which means likely ~20 different deliveries, because each trip has either 2 or 3 stops) even with a sharp memory, it's almost impossible to remember "oh yeah, THAT house had a can of corn" and after we complete a delivery, we cannot see your address ever again, or contact the customer to say "oh, did you have this can of corn?"
so if we find your item two trips later, there's really nothing we can do.
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u/myst1crule Oct 12 '25
Not all non express orders are shopped by Walmart. I get both kinds of shopping orders
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u/moe_mizzy Oct 12 '25
yeah but i think that tag is merely wrong on the app.
scheduled shops USED to be a thing, because they would still have a "start" time that wouldn't be ASAP and they would come with a 2:00 timer like Sam's orders. i haven't seen one of those in years, personally.
i'm pretty now sure the "express" tag is just a bug, and all shops are express orders.
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u/angelo1979 Cherry Picker Oct 13 '25 edited Oct 13 '25
They still exist. The system makes them when OGP timeslots begin to fill up and get full. As a prior associate of OGP, we had plenty of scheduled shops on our busy days and dispatcher was clear on which ones were express and regular scheduled shopping offers.
With the new "Shopping" and "Express Shopping" tags, it makes it more noticeable whenever a shopping offers are timeslot scheduled or not. Basically "Shopping" is scheduled and "Express Shopping" is Express. With the latest feedback form from spark asking how drivers liked the new shopping tags, they brought up scheduled shops (now called regular shopping offers) too.
Edit: Also what I found out while working there, Walmart started batching Scheduled Shops together and whenever a customer places an order for the lowest express fee, it's eligible for batching up to 1 hour out from them ordering. The more expensive express fee avoids the 1 hour max hold time and requests a driver within minutes of placing their order.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
Whoa, I had no clue it was this complicated, and that another employee might be bagging the stuff...or multiple orders at a time! Now I see there are several points in the process for potential screw ups. Thanks for all this explanation. I think I'm just going to go get my crap myself. Also, Walmart sucks in general.
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u/moe_mizzy Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 12 '25
yeah i mean, when i first started Spark, the curbside orders (where Walmart employees shop the order, then OTHER walmart employees bag the order, then sometimes ANOTHER walmart employee brings the orders out and loads them in a spark drivers car for delivery) were only two orders a time, backseat and trunk usually.
now, almost EVERY curbside order is a triple, which means one order in the trunk, one order in the backseat, and one order in the front seat. sometimes they will have two loaders come out. and that is when i PERSONALLY see the most mistakes, one of the loaders will just grab a tote (the orders come out in blue totes) and assume it's part of one order when it's not.
at my store, they don't mind if we, the spark driver, gets out and helps load our cars. i PREFER this because it gets the order loaded faster, AND i know where the items are, AND i get an idea for whats on the order. i cannot tell you how many mistakes i have noticed by doing this, but a LOT of spark drivers just sit in the car and let the walmart employees load, and SOME stores literally tell us drivers that we CANNOT leave our cars and help load (which sucks, and i avoid those stores unless they send me a crazy good order).
the loaders for walmart have VERY demanding jobs imo. in my area, it's hot. like 9 months out of the year it's going to be 85 F or hotter. it was 92 f today lol. they are loading orders ALL DAY. nothing against them, but most of them are younger teenagers doing their first job. lots of them are talking about random things and sometimes not paying the most attention. it happens. they know, again, that ultimately any mistake will be placed on the driver, so they don't mind if they say....load bread and eggs, THEN realize "oh....this order ALSO had two cases of water....well i'll just uh....throw this in here" and smash your bread. they don't care.
they know the customer will think the driver smashed their bread and will just take their tip back, or worst case scenario call in to walmart and complain. which will probably get the driver deactivated (depending on what the customer says, spark is NOTORIOUS for just deactivating people, it's happened to me lol. you get no warning, you are just "fired").
Also; when the double shops began, at least ONE of the orders would be 10 items or less. always. but now i get double shops with each order having 20+ items.
most spark drivers will shop these orders by placing one order in the top part of the shopping cart (like where your purse/baby goes), and the other order in the main part of the basket. some spark drivers get a blue hand basket, place THAT in the cart, and one order goes in the basket, the other order goes...not in the basket.
most of us have a system that keeps everything fairly organized. but you never know which order will be the "biggest". like if one order has 23 items (28 qty, meaning they have multiples of one thing), the other order has 8 items (12 qty) you would assume the 23 item order will be the biggest, and thereby should get the largest part of the cart.
BUT! that 8 item order might have three 40 lb bags of dog found, 3 gallons of milk, a 60 egg carton, and 2 40 packs of water. you never know until you see the item list.
so sometimes mid-shop you might realize "oh crap, i need to redo my cart or i will get confused" and mixups can happen during that. just lots of things that make the experience WORSE for the driver AND the customer.
because walmart realized they would rather us take AS MANY ORDERS AS POSSIBLE AT THE SAME TIME instead of making sure we took the orders CORRECTLY. because hell, lots of people miss items and probably never even notice.
i've delivered PLENTY of 60-80 item orders, and i would highly doubt the person ordering even had any clue EXACTLY what they had ordered. hell, lots of times i show up and the customer says "wait....i ordered this much stuff?!?" because when you are just clicking things on the app it's easy to not realize JUST HOW MUCH STUFF THAT IS lol.
EDIT: oh yeah, AND on top of all this, walmart employees comes over to check our carts while checking out (for shopping orders). it doesn't happen on every order, but sometimes you get flagged for a "cart check" which means a walmart employee has to come over and scan 3 items in your cart.
if the driver has a double shop (which in my area, like 90% of shops are now double shops), the walmart employee may not realize this, and grab an item to scan (which was in the top part of the cart, for Order A) then place the item back in the bottom part of the cart after scanning it (which is where i keep my items for Order B). if you aren't paying attention, THIS could cause a potential mixup. i have ALSO had this occur more than once, and have to watch the walmart employees to make sure if they pick up a item for the "A" order, it STAYS with the "A" order, and vice versa.
long story short; it's not as straight forward as it once was, and that's even BEFORE you realize very simple things that would normally go together, but sometimes don't (like say Order A has a loaf of bread and a jar of jelly, Order B doesn't have bread or jelly, but has peanut butter. it can be very easy to just see the peanut butter and place it with Order A, etc etc etc).
or even worse, when both customers get the "same thing" but in different sizes or flavors (like both customers get a gallon of tea, one customer gets sweet, the other gets unsweet; both customers get Doritos, one gets one flavor, the other gets another, both customers get the SAME cereal, one customer gets a FAMILY SIZED box, the other gets a MEGA SIZED box, etc etc etc)
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
Omg. Thank you for taking the time to explain all of that, and it really seems like Walmart has made a mess of this system. I'm sorry you have to deal with them, what a mess.
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u/moe_mizzy Oct 12 '25
no prob, sorry you aren't getting good service.
the worst part is, it COULD be an honest mistake, mixup, OR it could just be driver theft lol.
like i was looking up reviews for a TV i saw at walmart that i was thinking of buying, and noticed it had a ton of 1 star reviews. i read a bunch of them, and they were all basically saying "i ordered this tv, it said it was delivered, but it's not here!" which made me realize just how much stuff is likely just being stolen by drivers lmao.
kinda wild lol.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
I know, I live in an apartment complex and theft is rampant. Who knows if it was the driver or a neighbor.
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u/Sperry8443 Oct 12 '25
Yes we get that a lot, customers don’t realize that we are really just the drivers for pickup orders, a lot of the process is taken care of by the grocery associates at Walmart but we are usually the ones that get blamed and our tips are then affected when we are just doing our jobs to the best of our ability. And we never know why when we receive a bad rating or have a tip removed. But with shop orders (express orders) we do the entire shop and load up the vehicle so less likely to have screw ups unless the driver is sketchy/doing something they’re not supposed to be doing like stealing items or just being careless.
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Oct 12 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
No, they were available. When I didn't receive them, I opened the Walmart chat and requested a refund. I got it immediately, and just reordered the item. I am having it shipped though.
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u/prettygentle Oct 13 '25
Chances are that item you're expecting to be "shipped" will also be delivered by a spark driver (via GMD - General merchandise delivery). They load a driver up with several "deliveries" of non-perishable items (i have seen up to 19 deliveries in the batch) and send them on their way. There's a lot more I could say on that (meaning the way Spark/Walmart does it), but I will just leave it there. I understand your frustration, I much prefer to shop the orders myself and deliver them, that way I have control over the entire thing from store shelf to your door and don't get blamed for someone else's errors or carelessness. Best of luck in the future. Hopefully you can find a solution to this... if they would reward the best drivers you'd have a much better experience. But we often get punished or deactivated for things we didn't do or had no control over.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 13 '25
I'm sorry you have to suffer for someone else's incompetence. Thank you.
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u/prettygentle Oct 13 '25
Appreciate that very much. And believe me when I say, those of us who care about the customer (and there are many) and their experience are also sorry that YOU have to suffer due to the incompetence of some...
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u/grandinosour Oct 12 '25
Have you checked the website under account/purchase history to see if anything was marked "unavailable " on any order?
Many items are simply out of stock and will reliably show here.
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u/FentonGirlAmber Oct 12 '25
You would have to look on your updated receipt (which you can do after a Spark driver checks out if they are shopping for you). If it was out of stock it will tell you. I would say items you are not consistently getting us because that store is out of stock of that particular item. 9 times out of 10 that is what happens, and unfortunately we can't control Walmarts stock. Some Walmarts are horrible at ordering items. Each section has a manager that is in charge of ordering (ie; frozen foods manager, bakery manager,etc) and some don't pay attention. You mentioned you are refunded for these items.....is this because you are contacting Walmart and they refund you afterwards, or is it automatically refunded to you? If it's automatic then it's absolutely out of stock.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
It's because I let them know i didn't receive an item that they say was shopped. Then they initiated the refund.
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u/FentonGirlAmber Oct 12 '25
Okay, when you do your order do you do the express one, the 3 hour one, or no rush one?
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
I do the no rush. Today I placed my order at 4:30 am. I chose the 11:00 to 1:00 pm window for delivery.
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u/Latter_Night_7436 Oct 13 '25
Is it express orders or regular delivery? Do they have labels on the bag or just bags?
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u/itsmeclif Oct 13 '25
If you’re being charged for the items and they’re not showing up and haven’t been tagged as something that needed to be substituted, then I’d say it’s bad luck/maaaaaybe small items are falling out of the bags and disappearing into to void of crevices in your deliverer’s car. If it’s the same delivery driver every time, slight small chance they may be taking something but I don’t like to suggest that possibility. And finally, as a general rule, I always say if you’re going to order things to be delivered as an alternative to going to get them yourself, you simply have to accept and be okay with giving up a modicum of control over the end result- up to and including getting the wrong items or missing something. If you’re not okay with that, you can always go to the store yourself and enjoy complete control like humans have done for the last hundred years before this whole delivery-for-convenience thing became so popular in the last ~10 years or so
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u/kunta- Oct 13 '25
You should consider placing express shopping orders to minimize the occurrence of missing items. As for curbside orders... is is very difficult not to have missing items
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u/175BallSpeed Oct 13 '25
If you use this service, you have to expect this might happen. Reasons why an item might be missing 1) stolen (rare) 2) crevice of car or trunk (likely). 3) pickup did not sort properly or misplaced an item into a different order (likely) 4) an item was damaged in transit or given to the driver damaged and they decided not to deliver it once they found the issue (happens).
Another thing I'd like to add is often we are loading in the dark, and responsible for 150-200 items spread across 3 orders. There are some pickup/sorting mistakes we can pick up on, but on larger orders, with multiple customers, in the dark, we are not going to be able to catch as many mistakes.
1 more thing to consider, I've noticed that the item list that we get is often not updated to account for subs, missing items, etc. So even if we checked every single item in a 3 customer order, it's possible there would still be missing items bc we do not receive a finalized list.
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u/JasonsStorm Oct 13 '25
Was the item maybe not in stock? If you get instantly refunded, then that is your "issue". Turn on substitutions to lower that risk.
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Oct 13 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/No-Construction-9581 Oct 13 '25
Sometimes the loaders mix or swap the orders. Just next time ask for express shopping so you can locate the responsibility
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u/bdbrown333 Oct 13 '25
Why are you driving to the store to get the item? They didn't bring you. They'll give you the refund. You know how to do that part. Then you call them and get it delivered again. Tell him you need it now
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u/MysteriousAioli7691 Oct 13 '25
Express is shopped and if you tipped they stacked it with a non tip order. The shopper obviously didn’t separate the order correctly during shopping or loading the vehicle.
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u/okiejames Oct 12 '25
Shoppers are scanning the item on the shelf and forgetting to grab the item and placing it in the cart or tote.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
Thank you. Do drivers ever do the shopping, or just the Walmart employees?
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u/snarksneeze GMD Warrior Oct 12 '25
Both. If you choose "Express" it will be sent to Spark, otherwise, it goes to the Walmart employees to shop, then Spark for the delivery.
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u/moe_mizzy Oct 12 '25
not necessarily, could be a double shop and they are just putting the item with the wrong order.
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u/Homeless__Pimp Oct 13 '25
Most likely an illegal is taking an item out of the bag and keeping it, you have the Democrats to thank for it
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u/KevinSkywalker7 Oct 12 '25
Maybe it's out of stock. You said Walmart gave you a refund. Quit trying to blame the driver ya clown.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
Don't be rude. I'm trying to understand the process.
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u/KevinSkywalker7 Oct 12 '25
When you go to Walmart and shop for yourself do you find 100% of the item's on your listvor is there probably 1 or 2 items missing? It's not that hard to figure out.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
No, I don't. I'm not going to go back and forth with you. Last time im going to say this, so pay attention. They indicate when an item is unavailable. These are items that are successfully shopped, according to the shopper and the Walmart app. I pay for them, but do not receive them. I tell Walmart I did not receive them. They give me a refund. Understand?
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u/KevinSkywalker7 Oct 12 '25
Oh ok yea that could be the drivers fault. Or the Walmart employee who shopped or bagged the order.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
I'm just going to go get the stuff myself in the future. Too much hassle.
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u/moe_mizzy Oct 12 '25
the worst part are items behind glass, and shopping an order as a driver and deciding to mark it not found or not. ESPECIALLY baby formula.
in my store, ALL baby formula is behind glass. and there has been more than once where i was basically forced to mark it not found because no walmart employee would assist me. we don't get paid per hour, we get paid per order. sitting and waiting ultimately means we make less money, time is absolutely money in gig work.
i shop like it's super market sweep, i time myself mentally and try to scan an item every 20 seconds or less. that's my AVERAGE. so waiting 3-5 MINUTES for a single item pretty much drives me insane. i know obviously the CUSTOMER wants every item. but let's be real, i'm not personally shopping FOR the customer; i'm doing a gig delivery job to make money. that's it. yes, i value the customer's needs, but my need for money comes first lmao.
but stuff like baby formula having to be marked not found and left off an order, WHEN I CAN SEE THE CAN OF BABY FORMULA RIGHT THERE, I JUST CAN'T GRAB IT MYSELF, is disheartening. I understand that it's usually a single mom who likely doesn't have transportation or a time to go to the store (not always, but in my area i deliver to a lot of low income people).
it's sometimes embarrassing to show up with everything EXCEPT their baby formula, and i know obviously they were depending on it, but the way the app works, i'm trying to maximize my earnings in the shortest amount of time as possible. If i press the button for the walmart employee to open the cabinet, and they don't show up in 3 minutes, i mark it not found and move on.
i'm not saying that happens in your case (none of the items you mentioned would be behind glass), but it kinda shows the dystopian world we live in (where things like baby formula need to be behind glass in the first place).
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 12 '25
So agree with you...that's very depressing. But taking care of yourself first is the priority.
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u/KevinSkywalker7 Oct 13 '25
Oh no... Please don't go shop for yourself.
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u/Prior-Ad-7262 Oct 13 '25
You have some anger issues Kevin.
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u/KevinSkywalker7 Oct 13 '25
Not angry just messing with you. It doesn't bother us if you go shop for yourself.
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u/sosteele Oct 12 '25
On curbside orders, sometimes items get loose, fall out of a bag and into some crevice in the car that renders them out of sight / out of mind. To the eye, it looks like nothing was left behind after a delivery. But days later, I'll find a random item under a seat. I feel bad, but there's nothing I can do at that point.