Treated Poorly After Injury at Wal-Mart

Quickest way to get a response from Walmart: contact a personal injury
attorney. Most attorneys will set you up with a doctor who will get
paid only after you settle your claim.

Also, some injuries can take a long time to manifest themselves; what
are you going to do in 3 months when you have a major problem ( God
forbid )?

Walmart can close any case they want, makes no difference. Call a
lawyer, get the compensation you need before you end up in a nursing
home where you will be fed meatloaf and stewed beets until you croak.

This next statement is fyi only: My mom's friend had a huge pile of
dogfood bags fall on her at some store; settled for $125K.

The OP is not asking for any monetary compensation. He/She is
suggesting that employees should have been more helpful, understanding
and apologetic.

It appears that the whole situation was handled very clumsily and I am
sorry that you had to be treated in this manner.


I hope they respond to your letter.

Not trying to sound demeaning but if you are truly injured, you need
to call 911 and get transported to the hospital. I understand you are
like the millions of American citizens who don't have health
insurance, but if you are really injured or sick, it doesn't matter.
Law states you must be treated and stabilized, regardless of your
ability to pay. (maybe one day we'll have basic health care for
everyone when we stop taking care of everyone else but that's another
story for another day).

In the meantime, your health is more important than money. If they
were negligent it is their obligation to reimburse you for your
medical expenses (including an ER visit, follow-up, X-rays, whatever).
Keep in mind the longer you wait to seek care your injuries could
worsen, costing more down the road and WalMart isn't responsible if
you choose not to go to the ER or a doctor.

They should have treated you better, at least apologized! One reason
I hate Walmart. I hope you feel better and sorry for what happened!
Shame on them!

It is definitely possible to be caring and show compassion without
saying or doing anything that could be construed as an admission of
guilt. I have dealt with accidents in my store and although we also
will not verbally apologize, we absolutely make the injured person
comfortable, and assist in any way we can.


To bring up a different point here, although the store should have
responded to the spill as quickly as possible once they were made
aware of it, most often spills or breakage are caused by customers,
and the decent thing to do is to let an employee know instead of
walking away and leaving it there. I have watched customers walk away
from something they have broken or spilled without a second thought
many times. A major pet peeve of mine.

Go to the emergency room.They do not charge up front in most cases and
all you have to say is you don't hve insurance and they will bill
you.Then speak to a lawyer who requires no upfront costs unless you
win.

I am sorry you were injured. You are right - dishsoap is really
slippery stuff.

The remarks down below are pretty accurate. You need to be able to
document your injuries otherwise you have no out of pocket damages. I
hope you took pictures of your bruises to document the extent of your
injuries.

You really should see the doctor to make sure you don't have any
permanent injuries.

Good luck to you.

Why is it the fault of Wal-Mart if you don't look where you are
walking? Most every one in the country doesn't want to take
responsibility for their own actions anymore. It has to be the fault
of someone so lets call a lawyer. Take responsibility pay your own
doctor bill, and get over it.

Tell their "lawyer" they can close what ever documents they so choose
to close. But that does not mean the issue is closed. Go and see a
doctor asap. I understand that you don't have insurance. I was in your
boat once too. But you need to go. If there is something seriously
wrong (which you might not realize right now) you want them to treat
it as soon as possible before causing long term problems. Then, send
the bill to the "lawyer" return receipt. Most likely, they will just
pay it. If you do not hear from them within 10 business days, speak
with a lawyer. Once the lawyer sends them a letter, I HIGHLY doubt
they will fight it. But if they do, your last resort is court.

Susan C.,
Sorry to hear about the slip and fall.
If you have not already done so you need to have a doc take a look at
you for your own well being as well as for support of any possible
litigation that might ensue.
I would hope that the doc would be understanding after you explain to
them your situation.
My guess is that you will probably need legal council.
If it were me I would check with family and friends for a referral of
an attorney that works in that field.
Good luck and do stop back and let us know how this shakes out.
BillR.

I will agree that it sucks you weren't treated better. However, I'm
not really understanding why you "walked all over the store" looking
for an employee. There are always employees at the cash registers, at
the customer service desk, and usually in the changing rooms and
electronics. You also could have waited for a passerby and asked them
to go get help for you. (I have to think that there was SOMEONE who
had passed by if you were indeed on the floor for 5 minutes). When
you did leave the scene to go get help, you left it there for the next
person to slip on. As others have stated too, Walmart is not allowed
to admit fault, even by saying they are sorry.

If your hip hurt so bad, you would go to the ER regardless of
insurance or not. I spilled one time, I think it was water or
something on the floor. There was a middle aged lady near me, she
CLEARLY saw me.. and ignored me. Apparently people who also shop at
walmart don't give two craps about others. If I saw someone fall, I'd
ask if they were ok. I was so mad I got what i needed then left. I
didn't even smile at the cashier. They are never friendly anyways, why
should I be?

Smart thing to have done (and of course hindsight is always 20/20)
would have been to stay where you were and YELL for help. Another
alternative would have been if you had a cell phone to call 911 for
the police to come out.

This way you would have had proof/supporting documentation.

Like previous posters said - if they asked how you were or apologized
or did anything to inquire about your condition after the fall, it
would be an admission of guilt.

So sorry you had the spill and hope you are doing better.

It appears you filled out the accident form as a lawyer for Walmart
wouldn't have called to inform you they were closing the case if you
hadn't. Unfortunately they are not going to apologize for anything as
if they do then it is an admission of guilt on their part (in one form
or another). And what good would an apology do you, anyway?

In order to have a case against Walmart (or anyone else) you have to
provide a physicians statement that you were injured, how long you
will experience pain and limitations and whether or not there is any
permanent damage. Without that statement your case dies and
unfortunately it is your responsibility to pay for the treatment and
doctor's statement and be reimbused by Walmart's insurance company if
they are found to be at fault.

This situation is not one of "poor customer service" - - it is a
matter that Walmart doesn't properly maintain their stores and doesn't
give a hoot about their customers other than how much money they leave
behind.

I agree that the employees should have responded MUCH faster to your
accident. I will tell you this: where I work, we are not allowed to
apologize to a customer if they have an accident, as that could be
construed as admitting fault. Can you say "lawsuit"? Had you gone to a
doctor, they would most likely have covered the bill, because they
don't want to be sued, but since you did not go to a doctor....they
are not liable for anything. I agree they should have more employees
on the floor, but that is the trade off: You want the low prices, you
pay for that in a lot of other ways (as in dirty stores, and very
little customer service).