interesting Walmart online experience with being charged sales tax.

SeaMaiden · ‎03-10-2010

I placed an order today. It was for grocery items. I noticed after I placed the order that they charged me sales tax. In my state( Washington) we are not charged sales tax on groceries.... It was $8.00 and I was not going to pay taxes that I do not owe.

So I called to talk to someone in CS about this and they did take off the $8.00 I was taxed. I asked her how I could order next time without being taxed so I did not have to call to correct the problem. She said that the system was just set up to tax...) in otherwords, she had no clue....)

She did say she would bring it up to be looked into... I told her it was very important that they fix this error.

I wonder how they get away with this with all people in washington state ordering groceries.... where is that money being taken out for taxes going... into Walmarts pockets?

Next order I will call it in and see how they deal with it. Maybe it will be fixed... I hope so.

furbabylover · ‎08-24-2011

@SeaMaiden You have done a real, substantial public service by posting this information. I have been paying sales tax to Walmart not even realizing that they do not have the right to do it in my state- which I just learned by checking my state's website that they don't. First, You and I both know customer service is NOT going to do anything about relaying your message. The only way to do something is to contact their corporate lawyers, which is almost impossible. Perhaps going to their Facebook page and posting your experience will catch the attention of their moderators. Usually when you nail a company on Facebook they respond quickly. Thank you again for posting your experience!

ScrapHappy · ‎03-28-2010

@SeaMaiden wrote:
I placed an order today. It was for grocery items. I noticed after I placed the order that they charged me sales tax. In my state( Washington) we are not charged sales tax on groceries.... It was $8.00 and I was not going to pay taxes that I do not owe.

So I called to talk to someone in CS about this and they did take off the $8.00 I was taxed. I asked her how I could order next time without being taxed so I did not have to call to correct the problem. She said that the system was just set up to tax...) in otherwords, she had no clue....)

She did say she would bring it up to be looked into... I told her it was very important that they fix this error.

I wonder how they get away with this with all people in washington state ordering groceries.... where is that money being taken out for taxes going... into Walmarts pockets?

Next order I will call it in and see how they deal with it. Maybe it will be fixed... I hope so.

My husband has worked in IT for nearly 40 years. He had to know which states charged sales tax and how much in order to write and code a program to sell items on line.

suzyQ3 · ‎03-09-2010

@SeaMaiden wrote:
I placed an order today. It was for grocery items. I noticed after I placed the order that they charged me sales tax. In my state( Washington) we are not charged sales tax on groceries.... It was $8.00 and I was not going to pay taxes that I do not owe.

So I called to talk to someone in CS about this and they did take off the $8.00 I was taxed. I asked her how I could order next time without being taxed so I did not have to call to correct the problem. She said that the system was just set up to tax...) in otherwords, she had no clue....)

She did say she would bring it up to be looked into... I told her it was very important that they fix this error.

I wonder how they get away with this with all people in washington state ordering groceries.... where is that money being taken out for taxes going... into Walmarts pockets?

Next order I will call it in and see how they deal with it. Maybe it will be fixed... I hope so.

Just to make sure, @SeaMaiden, did your order include any non-food items?

~Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

froggy · ‎03-10-2010

@suzyQ3 wrote:
@SeaMaiden wrote:
I placed an order today. It was for grocery items. I noticed after I placed the order that they charged me sales tax. In my state( Washington) we are not charged sales tax on groceries.... It was $8.00 and I was not going to pay taxes that I do not owe.

So I called to talk to someone in CS about this and they did take off the $8.00 I was taxed. I asked her how I could order next time without being taxed so I did not have to call to correct the problem. She said that the system was just set up to tax...) in otherwords, she had no clue....)

She did say she would bring it up to be looked into... I told her it was very important that they fix this error.

I wonder how they get away with this with all people in washington state ordering groceries.... where is that money being taken out for taxes going... into Walmarts pockets?

Next order I will call it in and see how they deal with it. Maybe it will be fixed... I hope so.
Just to make sure, @SeaMaiden, did your order include any non-food items?

@suzyQ3 That was my first thought also, but even in a high sales tax state she would have had to buy a heck of a lot of items to be charged $8 sales tax.

I've never had any problem with WM orders.

patbz · ‎03-10-2010

@SeaMaiden : Probably surest way to get this issue resolved is to contact your local T.V. consumer advocate; Corporate will respond to them or they will be eventually looking at a class action suit!

SuhseK · ‎08-19-2018

I also live in Washington State, have placed a number of grocery orders, with Walmart, and never been charged tax.

Out of curiosity, I went back and looked at my old orders, no tax!

I'll repeat, what another poster asked, did you, possibly, have any non food items, in your order?

Etoile308 · ‎01-04-2014

I also live in a state that does not tax food, unless it's prepared items. In my current order I'm only to be charged for the toothpaste.

It's good that you started this thread as a reminder for people to always check their orders carefully.

ValuSkr · ‎03-15-2014

Could some of your grocery items have been taxable in WA? Or maybe one, or some, of your items were miscoded as taxable?

Sales tax collection is complicated for multi-state retailers like Walmart (and QVC). Taxable items vary state-to-state and tax rates can vary locale-by-locale. I can understand errors here and there, but it's hard to believe a big company like Walmart would get it wrong on a large scale.