CASEY: ‘Artificial stupidity’ cancels Christiansburg woman’s online orders at Walmart

Fran Delaney of Christiansburg doesn't know why Walmart won't allow her to complete online orders. From email exchanges I've had with her — and with Walmart — it seems the company doesn't know why, either.

For whatever reason, Walmart's computer has flagged Delaney. She is retired, in her early 70s and temporarily disabled while she recovers from lower back surgery Oct. 29.

Emphatically, Walmart's computer doesn't want Delaney to shop online at Walmart.com . It will accept her online orders, but within two hours the computer cancels each one.

Then, as if to rub it in, that digital devil sends Delaney an email notifying her of each cancellation. Those cite "an unexpected issue" it never identifies with detail, though the message obliquely suggests a credit-card matter. That's untrue, Delaney said. She's been through that rigmarole repeatedly in October and November.

There's a term for this kind of customer service — "artificial stupidity." You can find that all over the place these days, especially in politics.

Recall the ChatGPT-generated essay that described the Texas Tavern's distinctive counter as "horseshoe-shaped?" That's yet another example of artificial stupidity.

Thanks to so-called "artificial intelligence," we're living in an artificially stupid world. And things are only getting dumber.

"I would like to know if there are other people out there who are having problems ordering online from Walmart, too," Delaney told me.

Indeed, there are. You can find them online when you search Google using the phrase "Walmart banned me from online shopping."

Many Walmart customers have had their online accounts deactivated after repeatedly returning items ordered online. Consumer affairs journalists have covered that issue; so have umpteen posters on Reddit.com .

But Delaney's account hasn't been deactivated. She simply can't persuade the computer to not cancel her orders.

Delaney's the second of seven children in a family that grew up in Christiansburg. Her maiden name is Franklin. I got to know her a couple of years ago, when I wrote an account of the Franklin family's exploits with S&H Green Stamps , back when she was a child.

Retail trading stamps are a relic of the past. But artificial stupidity seems to be a harbinger of the future.

Delaney began ordering groceries and other items online from Walmart back in March — she picked up her orders herself back then. High prices at Kroger are what steered her away from this region's dominant grocer, she told me.

She's made only one online return. That was in September. She wanted to return a $26 heating pad with which she was dissatisfied. In that case, Walmart.com credited her account and told her to keep the pad rather than mail it back.

She first noticed something screwy Oct. 4. That was her very first computer-canceled order.

"Your delivery order was canceled, Frances. We're sorry, we had to cancel your delivery order because of an unexpected issue."

That order — and all the others — were pickup orders rather than deliveries, Delaney insisted. It's yet another way Walmart's computer seems artificially dumb.

On that occasion, Delaney called Walmart, and its personnel told her to resubmit the order after an hour. She did, and the store fulfilled it and her brother picked it up for her. (By then it was hard for her to get out of the house, because of her lower back problems.)

It happened again with an order Delaney made Oct. 18, another Friday, which was to be picked up by her brother the following afternoon, Oct. 19. That morning, she got an email from Walmart notifying her there was still time to add things to her order.

She added a handful of items. Subsequently, the Walmart computer canceled the order and sent her an email that said: "Your pickup order was canceled, Frances. We're sorry, we had to cancel your pickup order because of an unexpected issue."

It happened again on Oct. 21 and again on Nov. 6.

I got involved Oct. 24, when I sent an email to Cedric Clark, Walmart's executive vice-president for store operations.

He never replied, so on Oct. 29 I sent a near-identical email to John Furner, the company's president and CEO. That same day I cut-and-pasted the same information into a "media relations" form on Walmart's website.

Elizabeth DeLuca, a spokeswoman for Walmart, responded that night.

"I received the inquiry below," she wrote. "Are you able to provide the order number for this and I can have my team look into it? Thank you!"

I did, and DeLuca assigned an employee named "Abigail" to troubleshoot Delaney's issue.

Abigail phoned and emailed Delaney. At one point, Abigail also gave Delaney a $100 Walmart gift card for her trouble (which was nice). But Abigail was unable to fix the larger issue.

At another point DeLuca suggested to me that the problem might be with the bank that issued Delaney's credit card. Delaney checked with her bank and ascertained there are no "blocks" on her account. She has no trouble ordering online from anywhere, except Walmart.com .

Oddly, there were a handful of items Delaney ordered in those canceled transaction that she actually received. Each of those were items the Christiansburg store didn't stock, but would fulfill through third-part vendors, who sent them via the mail or Fedex.

The cancellations affected only the items Delaney ordered that the Christiansburg Walmart stocks. Weird.

On Nov. 2, DeLuca reached out again to me. "As a follow up to this, my team reconnected with the customer, the transactions should no longer be canceled," DeLuca wrote.

That was incorrect.

Abigail made a telephone appointment with Delaney for 11 a.m. this past Wednesday. Delaney was supposed to make an order online while they were on the phone together, so Abigail could watch it on Walmart's end and troubleshoot where things went wrong.

But Abigail was a no-show for that call. Delaney made another order anyway. You know the result: It was canceled.

On that occasion Delaney's daughter, Toni, was visiting from Stafford to help out her mom after the back surgery. So Toni went shopping at Walmart and purchased the items, using the $100 Walmart gift card.

But Toni had to leave Christiansburg on Thursday, and go back to tending to her own responsibilities.

What's Fran Delaney going to do the next time she needs groceries? She's not going back to Walmart, she told me.

"I'm tired of the expectations, of them saying, 'OK, you're good, go ahead and order,'" Delaney told me.

Friday afternoon, Abigail tried to call Delaney again. She was in too much pain to take the call.

"We are continuing to reach out to Ms. Delaney and work directly with her to resolve her concerns," DeLuca told me in an email Friday.

By then Delaney had found a Food Lion in Christiansburg at which she can make online orders, which he brother can pick up for her.

"It's not Walmart, it's a grocery store, but that's where I'm headed," Delaney said. "I'm just thoroughly disgusted and upset and disappointed."

Walmart "can't give me a reason," she said. "They can't tell me what is the problem. I'm just a little grain of sand in Walmart's world. I don't matter."

For that, you can thank artificial stupidity. It's making all of us a little bit dumber every day.

Dan Casey

(540) 981-3423