HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Jennifer Lilly, a nurse fighting COVID-19 while also homeschooling her children chose Walmart for a convenient, safe, and quick grocery order of $163. The driver never showed up and now Lilly can’t seem to get her money back or her order refilled without having to pay what she already paid for.
“I’ve used this all year because my daughter is immunocompromised. I didn’t want to go shopping and expose her to COVID,” said Lilly who is also fighting COVID-19. “I had a fever of close to 103. So I was pretty much in bed all weekend.”
Lilly placed her grocery order Tuesday. The order says it was supposed to arrive just before 6:30 p.m. There was no indication the delivery would not arrive as a driver, Hailey was assigned according to Lilly’s order.
Time passed and Hailey never arrived. Lilly spent about an hour being passed around Walmart’s phone system.
“The lady put me on hold again and she walked over to the grocery pick up area and she goes, sorry, they’ve already gone for the night. I can’t do anything to help you,” said Lilly.
Shortly after that exchange Lilly says the Walmart employee offered to reorder the items for Wednesday, but Lilly still had to pay $163, again. Walmart later offered to wave the delivery fee. Still, Lilly would have to pay for the groceries, just not the delivery fee.
Lilly says the employee refused to give her any information about Walmart’s 3rd-party delivery system.
“If they’re going [to] use people to deliver, they should know who they are. Have their proper ID. I’m sure that’s not her real name,” said Lilly who may not be alone in her ordeal. Various “What’s Happening In” Facebook groups indicate other people have lost their grocery order to a “Hailey”.
NEWS 19 reached out to Walmart through their corporate public relations team. We never heard back after asking several questions. As it stands, if Walmart and their 3rd-party delivery service fails to deliver to you, they may not refund or refill your order if it is stolen.
Lilly filed a police report. Lilly told NEWS 19 the Walmart employee she spoke to, seemed to acknowledge the theft of grocery deliveries happens more than one might think.