Walmart Bans Man for Life for Taking Advantage of Store Policy
An extremely loyal Walmart customer has been banned from every Walmart store on the planet for life after taking advantage of the store's price-matching policy one too many times.
Walmart prides itself on its promise to match the lowest price of any item in the store if a customer finds it being sold for less somewhere else.
But Joe Cantrell of Arizona says he wound up in handcuffs for trying to ad match some ornaments for his family's Christmas tree.
Cantrell, a disabled former pro wrestler, doesn't make a lot, so he has to make what he has count.
It's for that reason, Cantrell says, that he started flipping through circulars in an effort to find cheap items he could price match at his local Walmart.
Cantrell was on one of his twice-daily visits to the San Tan Valley Walmart — "I just love Walmart and that's why I go," he told KNXV — when a store employee rejected his ad match.
Cantrell complained to store management and was on his way out when the employee decided to phone the Pinal County Sheriff's Office to report that he was being intimidated.
"I was upset, but never once did I say anything to the gentleman," Cantrell insists.
Returning to the store four days later, Cantrell encountered three deputies who promptly handcuffed him before handing him a court summons and a notice informing him he was banned from Walmart for life.
Cantrell began to cry and the deputies agreed to let him go, but he is still required to appear in court to face charges of threatening, intimidation and disorderly conduct.
And his Walmart perma-ban remains in place as well.
Walmart declined ABC15's request for comment.
Update 3:30 p.m.: Walmart spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan told Gawker the company banned Cantrell for life after he allegedly "threatened the associate's life" and wrote a Facebook post indicating he would "kick the associate's butt."
Buchanan declined to provide documentation to back up these claims, citing the "ongoing investigation." However, she did provide Gawker with the following statement:
This situation was about the safety of our associate and not our ad match policy. We make every effort to make sure our customers have a good experience in our stores. Unfortunately, in this situation, our associate felt threatened and local law enforcement was contacted. We are continuing to cooperate with law enforcement on their investigation.
Buchanan noted that it was the associate who was pressing charges against Cantrell, not Walmart.
We've reached out to the Pinal County Sheriff's Office for comment, but have yet to hear back.
