In response to a consumer counterfeit Duracell® purchase complaint, The Counterfeit Report®, a counterfeit researcher and popular consumer website, made an independent purchase of 30 Duracell® AA and 10 Duracell® AAA batteries from Walmart.com. Duracell confirmed the Duracell® branded batteries received were counterfeit.
Could you identify a fake Duracell battery?
Shown: Authentic Duracell® AA Battery (top), Counterfeit AA Battery (bottom). The label can be easily peeled off the counterfeit Duracell Battery.(Image: The Counterfeit Report®)
How can counterfeit Duracell batteries be sold on Walmart.com?
Walmart is an authorized Duracell retailer, likely one of the largest in the world. However, consumers shopping on Walmart.com may be surprised to learn that Walmart lends its online venue to third party merchants (“Marketplace Vendors”) that sell under the Walmart.com umbrella. If you look closely at the Walmart.com listing below, you will see the reference to the third party merchant who is actually supplying the counterfeit Duracell product. Marketplace items are not returnable to Walmart.com or Walmart stores.
After The Counterfeit Report's purchase, Walmart distanced itself from the dispute and referred The Counterfeit Report to the Marketplace Vendor for resolution. Walmart simply had no process in place known to customer service to report the counterfeit items.After five calls and two-and-a-half hours on the phone, The Counterfeit Report reached Nicholas Waldmann, Director of Trust and Safety at Walmart, who offered some clarification. Mr. Waldmann confirmed that counterfeits are “something we are not used to, or expect. Walmart has a prohibited items policy, and merchants, third parties are to comply with that policy.”
Mr. Waldmann added “we do not allow consumers to sell - you can’t just come in and sell whatever you want. Walmart is famous for vetting its 3rd party suppliers.” But, that statement doesn’t bear out for this seller, with a Walmart consumer satisfaction rating of just 67% in 1,615 reviews. Yet, despite the poor ratings and counterfeit sales, the Marketplace Vendor remains.
Waldmann added, “Its true, Walmart doesn’t have a counterfeit web form to report fakes. We just don’t call it out - we have almost never seen counterfeits on the Marketplace.” An interesting paradox, as Walmart does not provide a “Report Item” feature on the item listing page to submit or capture counterfeit complaints, and customer service wouldn’t accept any information from The Counterfeit Report on the identified counterfeit. How does a consumer notify Walmart of a counterfeit item?e-Commerce websites including Alibaba/AliExpress®, Amazon®, eBay®, and Facebook® have become ideal and successful platforms for counterfeiters and dishonest sellers to distribute $1.7 trillion in counterfeit products in the US and globally. Lending a globally recognized retailer brand name to these dishonest sellers may benefit the retailer’s short term profits, but downstream consequences and loss of consumer confidence can be severe.
Website: www.TheCounterfeitReport.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Counterfeit-Report/131568053660579
READER COMMENTS
Burned Customer
on
– the sound was beyond horrible
– the weight and feel of the item was wrong
– the cord was not a soft rubber like the real ones
– the plastic seams don’t match the real ones
– something inside rattles when shaken
– even the size and font used in the L/R labels printed on them don’t match
So I contacted Walmart.com via their chat feature, explained the details, and requested that this fraudster be removed from their site. I offered to supply pictures and everything. They didn’t care. While they did offer to refund my money, I told them I was more interested in having them pursue this fraudulent seller to make sure he doesn’t continue to screw more of Walmart’s customers. The rep’s response? Send and email to help@walmart.com and have a nice day.
They basically don’t give a rats ass about the problem. They didn’t open a ticket, give me a case number, and could not even provide me with legitimate contact information to their corporate fraud department. They should have the power to open up fraud cases, but instead they tell their customers who just got screwed under their Walmart corporate brand to send an email to the most generic email address possible, and “start over”. Or, more likely, “talk to the hand”.
I will NEVER buy another item off of Walmart.com!
John Pearson
on
Walmart have ignored our request to remove our products from Walmart.com.
Instead, they are now using Google Shopping to spread the counterfeit products far and wide.
We really should have a solid case against these guys, but I don;t know what to do from here...
John Pearson
on
Cease and desist communications have been made to Walmart, so we are now waiting for the products to be removed from the website.
It's pretty disgusting. We'll be claiming damages if they don't react quickly.