AutoZone rant

I need to vent and explain why AutoZone just lost me as a customer.

The driver's side headlight on my XJ went out tonight. I stopped by the
nearest car parts place to pick up a pair of Sylvania SilverStars. The
closest place turned out to be AutoZone.

I didn't have $40+ in cash on me, so I decided to write a check. While I
was writing the check, the sales droid said something about electronics. I
was busy writing the check and ignored him. He took my check and proceeded
to demand that I sign another slip of paper allowing them to electronically
take the money out of my account immediately. If I had wanted to do that, I
would have used my debit card! He refused to give me my check back and
wouldn't give me a receipt, so I left sans lights. Tomorrow I will be
stopping payment on that check. I won't be back to AutoZone.

The Checker store just down the road was much nicer to deal with. They took
my check and AutoZone's loss with be Checker's gain.

BTW, the SilverStars are a big improvement over stock halogen headlights!

Walmart does the same thing. Its good business IMHO. There's too many bad
checks being written these days so the retailers need to do something. I
would do the same thing if I were a business owner.

Scott
"Red Jeep" > wrote in message
...
>I need to vent and explain why AutoZone just lost me as a customer.
>
> The driver's side headlight on my XJ went out tonight. I stopped by the
> nearest car parts place to pick up a pair of Sylvania SilverStars. The
> closest place turned out to be AutoZone.
>
> I didn't have $40+ in cash on me, so I decided to write a check. While I
> was writing the check, the sales droid said something about electronics. I
> was busy writing the check and ignored him. He took my check and proceeded
> to demand that I sign another slip of paper allowing them to
> electronically
> take the money out of my account immediately. If I had wanted to do that,
> I
> would have used my debit card! He refused to give me my check back and
> wouldn't give me a receipt, so I left sans lights. Tomorrow I will be
> stopping payment on that check. I won't be back to AutoZone.
>
> The Checker store just down the road was much nicer to deal with. They
> took
> my check and AutoZone's loss with be Checker's gain.
>
> BTW, the SilverStars are a big improvement over stock halogen headlights!

Was your check not immediately good? Evidently not, since you would not use
your debit card. Several merchants (including the big one, Wal-Mart) are
processing personal checks immediately. Soon, personal checks will be a
thing of the past. No longer will you be able to hedge a bit of cash till
you can make a deposit. Can you blame the merchant for wanting a fair
exchange for their goods?

JimG
80' CJ-7 258 CID, HEI
4.56 Gears, Lock-Right F&R
35" BFG MT on 15x10 Centerlines
D44 Rear, D30 Front. SOA
Dana 300 w/4:1 & Currie twin sticks
Warn X8000i w/ dual batteries

00' TJ Sport 4.0L, 5sp
4.56 Gears, TrueTrac rear
33" BFG AT on 15x8 Eagle Alloys
D35 Rear, D30 Front. 3" Suspension Lift
Warn X8000i

"Red Jeep" wrote in message ...
>I need to vent and explain why AutoZone just lost me as a customer.
>
> The driver's side headlight on my XJ went out tonight. I stopped by the
> nearest car parts place to pick up a pair of Sylvania SilverStars. The
> closest place turned out to be AutoZone.
>
> I didn't have $40+ in cash on me, so I decided to write a check. While I
> was writing the check, the sales droid said something about electronics. I
> was busy writing the check and ignored him. He took my check and proceeded
> to demand that I sign another slip of paper allowing them to
> electronically
> take the money out of my account immediately. If I had wanted to do that,
> I
> would have used my debit card! He refused to give me my check back and
> wouldn't give me a receipt, so I left sans lights. Tomorrow I will be
> stopping payment on that check. I won't be back to AutoZone.
>
> The Checker store just down the road was much nicer to deal with. They
> took
> my check and AutoZone's loss with be Checker's gain.
>
> BTW, the SilverStars are a big improvement over stock halogen headlights!

NSF protection is a good reason why a lot of retailers do this, but it's not
the only one. It's cheaper for retailers and banks to do an EFT than to
process a paper check nowadays, and retailers just scan your check and debit
the account the next day instead of waiting three days for your money. At my
store, we still take paper checks, but we only have about 60% of the check
volume we did two years ago...more people use credit cards and debit cards
now. And where we got a bad check about once every three weeks, we now only
get one maybe once every two months.

If the sales droid wouldn't give you your check back when you ultimately
didn't make the purchase, you should file a complaint with local law
enforcement, then tell the store manager that you filed the complaint.

Auto Zone is like the Guitar Center of auto parts. I only go in if I know
exactly what I need. Just last week they gave me the wrong rad hoses for a
TJ. From now on if I have to ask them to look up a part, I'll go to Napa.

"reconair" > wrote in message
...
> Walmart does the same thing. Its good business IMHO. There's too many
> bad checks being written these days so the retailers need to do something.
> I would do the same thing if I were a business owner.
>
> Scott
> "Red Jeep" > wrote in message
> ...
>>I need to vent and explain why AutoZone just lost me as a customer.
>>
>> The driver's side headlight on my XJ went out tonight. I stopped by the
>> nearest car parts place to pick up a pair of Sylvania SilverStars. The
>> closest place turned out to be AutoZone.
>>
>> I didn't have $40+ in cash on me, so I decided to write a check. While I
>> was writing the check, the sales droid said something about electronics.
>> I
>> was busy writing the check and ignored him. He took my check and
>> proceeded
>> to demand that I sign another slip of paper allowing them to
>> electronically
>> take the money out of my account immediately. If I had wanted to do that,
>> I
>> would have used my debit card! He refused to give me my check back and
>> wouldn't give me a receipt, so I left sans lights. Tomorrow I will be
>> stopping payment on that check. I won't be back to AutoZone.
>>
>> The Checker store just down the road was much nicer to deal with. They
>> took
>> my check and AutoZone's loss with be Checker's gain.
>>
>> BTW, the SilverStars are a big improvement over stock halogen headlights!
>
>

JimG wrote:
> Was your check not immediately good? Evidently not, since you would
> not use your debit card. Several merchants (including the big one,
> Wal-Mart) are processing personal checks immediately. Soon, personal
> checks will be a thing of the past. No longer will you be able to
> hedge a bit of cash till you can make a deposit. Can you blame the
> merchant for wanting a fair exchange for their goods?

Modern check processing is called "Check 21" and processes
checks within two buisness days. The days of "it takes a week"
no longer exist.

--
DougW

Red Jeep wrote:

> I need to vent and explain why AutoZone just lost me as a customer.

Autozone lost my business a long time ago, but not for the reason you
stated. In this one-horse town, they only hire illegals who don't speak
much English, and they give me a hard time whenever I want to drop off
waste oil. And frankly, 90% of the products they carry are crap anyway.

You might ask the Manager for the return of the check before you spend
bucks to stop the draft. Most are AH's but he may cut you a break. I
haven't written a paper check in 10 years because they are a PIA. Debit
card or more often, CASH is what happens to avoid hassles like this.

I don't understand that analogy... Are you saying they don't play your
tune?

"Matt Macchiarolo" wrote in message...
> Auto Zone is like the Guitar Center of auto parts.

If the kid had said something UP FRONT before I started writing the check,
things would have been much different. I could have walked or chosen to pay
with a debit card. I elected to use a check; they didn't have to take it.
If they don't want to take checks, that's OK. But this switcheroo midstream
in a transaction from check to electronic funds transfer leaves a bad taste
in my mouth.

I generally go to NAPA. Tonight it was dark and I had only one headlight,
so I went to the nearest place. I knew exactly what I wanted and didn't
need to rely on their 'expertise' to look anything up. I guess I learned a
lesson. Fortunately it will only cost me a stop payment fee.

> BTW, the SilverStars are a big improvement over stock halogen headlights!

I just installed Cibie H-4s in the wife's XJ with 55/100 watt bulbs.
Excellent lighting, far more than you would need for a city vehicle. They
cook the deer before they jump in front of you.
I have to jam the brakes at least once a day now, the deer are moving down
for the winter.
--
Stupendous Man,
Defender of Freedom, Advocate of Liberty

My check was good. It's been many years since I have needed to float a
check, LOL!

The fact is, I got neither lights nor my check back. I am not complaining
so much that they wanted to pull a fast one as much as I am complaining
that they wouldn't give me my check back.