EURE, N.C. — A North Carolina man ordered what he thought would be the perfect Christmas gift for his grandchildren from Walmart — but what arrived was far from what he paid for.
Bill Emigh, a resident of Eure, North Carolina, ordered the NEX Playground, an interactive gaming system, from Walmart for his grandkids. After weeks of waiting, he received a small anime-style doll instead.
"This.... this..... little thing," Emigh said.
"It was not an NEX Playground. It was some kind of anime generic Labubu looking thing," Emigh said.
The active game system cost a few hundred dollars, leaving Emigh out both the money and the gift — which also didn't arrive in time for Christmas.
When he contacted Walmart, the company told him he needed to reach out to the third-party seller he had purchased from.
"I did not know that Walmart dealt with third party vendors. I was not aware of that. I am now," Emigh said.
Kevin Brasler, executive editor for Consumers' Checkbook — a nonprofit that helps consumers save money — said this type of situation is not uncommon.
"This is a common problem with third party sellers," Brasler said.
Brasler said some large companies struggle to monitor all outside sellers on their platforms.
"You as a consumer really need to pay attention to ‘OK, who am I dealing with here and if there's a problem, how can I get resolution for it?’ And if the company that handled the transaction no longer has your money, they might be less likely to help you or it may take longer to get to get a resolution to get your money back," Brasler said.
When Emigh wasn't getting much help from the seller, he reached out to me. I contacted Walmart, and a representative said they would look into his case.
"I don't know what -- 2 weeks later we got the actual game system. So, thank you for that. The grandkids thank you for that," Emigh said.
Walmart apologized to Emigh for the experience, shipped the correct item, and shared the information with an internal team for review.
A Walmart representative told me that after reviewing the seller, they were removed from the platform due to "quality concerns."
"I'm glad they did that, but it should have never come to that," Emigh said.
Now, as his grandkids enjoy the game, Emigh said he plans to change his buying habits — and he thinks others should too.
"I'll scroll down, you know, I'll see the item. I'll read the description. I'll brief over the reviews, but I'll also look at seller name or sold by," Emigh said.
"You've got to do your due diligence," he said.
Walmart is one of many companies that uses marketplace sellers. Click here to see an article the company published online outlining its policies and restrictions on these products.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
