Walmart Begins Home Installation Program
By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 10/22/2009
Bentonville, Ark. - Walmart has begun offering home installation services for TVs, home theaters and PCs through a partnership with NEW.
The services, which start at $99 for a basic TV installation and $129 for a basic PC setup, will be sold via prepaid cards displayed on descriptive merchandisers and within the home-theater and computer aisles.
The offering follows a major assortment and display upgrade within Walmart's CE departments, and represents a major step toward filling the service vacuum that separates full-line discount stores from specialty CE dealers.
The install program has already been introduced in some stores, and is expected to be rolled out nationwide by month's end, a Wal-Mart spokesperson told TWICE.
"It's an affordable and simple solution, and a real benefit to our customers," the spokesperson said.
Unlike a similar NEW program that will debut at Wal-Mart's Sam's Club division on Nov. 1, the Walmart offering does not include home delivery.
The in-home visits will be made by NEW's nationwide network of about 11,000 certified and insured installers. Basic TV services include a pre-installation consultation, TV placement, hook-ups to two A/V components, remote control configuration, packaging clean-up, and a follow-up visit and tutorial.
Walmart's premium TV service, for $339, also provides wall mounting, concealed in-wall wiring and two additional A/V component hook-ups.
PC services range from $129 to $199 and include software installation, peripheral hook-ups, data transfer, hard-drive defragmentation and tutorials.
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I was contracted by Walmart, Mastek and HD Experts to do the installations for the N.E.W. program. After doing quite a few jobs for them and NOT BEING PAID after 6 weeks I cut my losses and moved on to more honest and competent contracts. SCAM SCAM SCAM DO NOT UTILIZE THESE SERVICES.
BILL GUBINSKY - 2010-11-2 12:48:24 EST -
Sounds like our hospital manager Mr. Blouse had a bad experience with his installer. Any reputable installer should provide any programming to the home owner if asked to do so as part of the installation agreement. I know that this is not usually done and many home owners have been SOL when their A/V dealer went out of business. Mr. Blouse, sorry you got screwed.
salesman - 2009-31-10 18:11:28 EDT -
As we all may be mad at Walmart for lower the bar. We should look at this in a different light. 1st if you are worried about this remember this is for those people who do not know or care about quality... visio/ or what ever brand Walmart decides to show next week. Yes they are offering lower service... but do you really want that type of client anyway. I do not even go to clients house to look at what they need for less than $125.00 unless its a referral. If you are concerned about Walmart then you are officially a trunk slammer. I love the comment about Crestron.. Walmart is only trying to maximize their sales
Rush - 2009-27-10 16:06:27 EDT -
i'm hoping the level of installer exceeds the level of product knowledge @ the sales floor.
although, it could be a boon for REAL installers - cleaning up the mess mall wart created
morey g - 2009-27-10 09:45:09 EDT -
IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!!
Yes, it is about time that all of us that have been training and perfecting a craft get to work for $8.75 per hour and can't afford to feed our kid's. It's about time a bunch of hacks make the entire industry look like a bunch of idiots. There was a time when satellite installers were professionals as well. Those days are gone too.
David Dusseau - 2009-27-10 09:02:38 EDT
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