Walmart and Visa debit card create big time fail

I generally like Walmart and have done much business with them.  I haven't been caught up in all the chatter about how 'Walmart is evil' which seems to be mostly a hate story merely because of their size.  You can find good and bad policy in almost every corporation in this modern day, it is mostly a matter of what you like to look for.

Bust some days, a mistake is made.  A mistake that lessons the company in the eyes of its customer's.  In this case, an attempt to purchase a couple of gift cards as birthday gifts.  Rather than getting a store specific card it was decided to get them something that could be used at any place they pleased with a Visa debit card that could be used anywhere.  How easy, how simple, how convenient.  Why not?

A transaction fee that amounted to an extra 10%, that is why not.  I was under the gun so agreed to this outrageous and inconcievable excess and am still having extreme buyers remorse for agreeing to this abusive practice.  As I sit here revealing my regrets, I realize that I could have given the original all purpose, all merchant accepted gift card that never has additional fees (hidden or otherwise) attached, never expires, and only loses value over time the same way that all currency does...and that gift card would be cash.

Will I return to Walmart?  Sure, there is still a lot of good found at Walmart, but I feel like something dear was lost...trust.  I will be skeptical about dealing with them.  I will scrutinize anything that appears to be a deal, or even any transaction that I would assume would work one way only expecting to find the fine print hiding somewhere that makes it feel like the proverbial internet scam rather than trusting it too be a straight up deal.  Things change, companies change, people change, relationships change and when they do we go back to square one and have to rebuild from scratch the things that are lost.

Business that works is business that is mutually beneficial to all parties involved.  When business becomes one sided it can quickly diminish into none existence and that is a shame of the highest order.  It happens to the big boys and it can happen to the little ones as well.  Be sure your integrity and those who represent you is of the highest order in all you do and you will have little to worry about.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.