AUTOZONE I work for Autozone and they are asking us to scam the customer or we will get a write up. ripoff Alsip Illinois

Realize what the laws are in your state for pulling such a stunt as scanning an item and dropping them in a bag without the customer knowing. realize also that brake calipers DO need heatproof grease on caliper guides and pad backing to operate more freely and cooler and with less noise. new belts should not need dressing. bulbs need lube for help to prevent electrolysis and corrosion. batteries need corrosion protection too. the dielectric grease and felt pads work great, but do not last forever. there was a time when the do it yourselfer had to buy a whole tub of heatproof grease for break pads. when the only solution to corrosion on bulbs was just to change the pigtail after it burned out, and corrosion on batteries was dealt with after the fact. if you have the right size belt with good pulleys,and tension, it should not have a squeal. these grease packs are available in small packs for the consumer to purchase at will, although most are helpful with what they are intended for, they should be merily offered to the customer at best. autozone makes this a competition between dm's and it falls on the counter salesman's back to make it happen. they cannot lawfully write you up or fire you if you don't offer their add-on sales, but they will cut your hours and make your schedule miserable if you do not follow their wittdjr guidelines to a tee. wanna go above and beyond with your witt hits? cheat & beat the system! ring up your witt hit items with whatever product you are selling, about three times a day. follow their home run guidelines all the way...take the transaction number and CREDIT it back at the end of the day. it still counts for your daily wittdjr scoreboard. many managers do this! if you cant join em, beat em! : )

Let's be clear, this isn't a matter of up-selling...the AutoZone employee charged me for the item and added it to my total without asking if I needed/wanted this product.

12/10/2011 went to AutoZone #2710 in Phoenix, Arizona to purchase 4
spark plugs. Clerk asked me if I needed anything else, my
response..."Nope, just the four plugs". I get home and remove the four
plugs from the bag and there is a tiny packet of lube...insert your
funny pun here;)  Next, I then pulled out my receipt and sure enough,
these jokers at AutoZone charged me $1.39 for product I had NO INTENTION
nor did I opt to purchase. This employee just added it to my bill to
increase the sale without my permission or knowledge. It felt like a
small amount and hardly worth driving back to the shop for but when I
thought about this...it felt like that is EXACTLY what these jokers are
most likely counting on...

Upon changing out my spark plugs, I returned to the store and requested
the manager. Assistant Manager was on duty and I explained what had
occurred and Asst Manager asked me, who helped me, I mentioned the
employee who's cashier number was on the receipt in his hands(how would i
know the guys name?)...manager then asked me, "was it our new guy or
the Mexican guy who doesn't speak English well?" My reply, "I have no
idea if the guy was new and there wasn't anything odd about the guy or
his pronunciation of English...?" The manager mentioned the lube was
complimentary, I stopped him and again pointed to the receipt and stated
there was NOTHING complimentary about the item as there was a $1.39
charge on the receipt that was quite contradictory to this explanation.
Asst Manager then adjusted his response and said, 'this item compliments
the items you purchased'.

The product was unnecessary and I just wanted my money they absconded
off with back. They refunded my money but it was really lame to have to
go through this...seriously, ALWAYS check your receipt and bag prior to
leaving AutoZone.

I resented being charged by AutoZone for the additional item without
being asked, it absolutely was an intentional act, it is illegal
practice and needs to be immediately stopped. How many of these illegal
$1.39 charges is AutoZone pulling off per hour, day, month year?

This type of cheating of their customers must stop, I couldn't be more of a dissatisfied customer. Vote with my feet and my dollars are going to their competition from here on.

In typing this up AutoZone Ripoff Report up, I remember purchasing brake
pads from them a couple of years ago and this same type of thing
happening but I didn't return the item.

(from reading additional posts, I see this is unfortunately common
practice for this company) In two additional Ripoff Report posts,
employees have shared they are told to do this very thing...smells like a
class action...count me in!

WITTDTJR "What It Takes To Do The Job Right" items are part of YOUR job. They are part of our culture and part of our pledge. The first line of our pledge, (which you have forgotten!) is "The customer is always first!" Do us all a favor. QUIT.
'nuf said

At my store we are being threatened to sell a certain percentage of the curent checkout challenge or be written up. We have to call the DM hourly to let him know customer count and checkout challenges sold.

Your store must suck at upsells and the manager is feeling pressure so he is cheating. Report him to the corporate office.

Upsell the product like normal. With stuff like this your upsell rate should be like 90% or more so I doubt they will find a way to write you up without showing their own hand to HR.

Hey Anonymous the only reason you back up Auto Zone is because you work in their Corporate office you are part of their system yea I would sell it but I would ask the costumer if they needed it. Im not a ripoff and I wont run Camon Dowell dirty system. Auto Zone Sucks they are all going to Hell

Why are you posting this again?

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/332/RipOff0332275.htm
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/332/RipOff0332336.htm
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/334/RipOff0334987.htm


By the way how is your book going?

you are not ripping them off. you are upselling. you need pad grease to install the new pads or they squeak. you need boot grease for the plug wires or they can fuse on the coil not to mention it keeps moisture from corroding the contact. and you need bulb grease again to keep moisture from corroding the connection and causing the bulb to fail prematurely. you make these suggestions to the customer to ensure they have everything they need to complete the job. the customer does not have to buy them. you need to provide the excellent customer service and offer it to them. you would suggest a can of brake clean when they buy new rotors to remove the oil film correct? how is this any different? if a customer comes in with a corroded battery, your not going to suggest a teminal cleaning and protectant kit so they new battery they buy will function correctly. sounds to me your just to lazy to do your job. you might want to go in the back and read the mission statement again and se if you still feel the same as you did when you first took the job. if not quit. your wasting your time and the companies time.

sorry so late to this, but i'd like to see you get written up for it. they had a time where said you would get written up if you didn't sell a measly 10 witts in 3 weeks during the winter witt competitions. it's your JOB to sell these parts, they are needed, you are in SALES, hint, you get paid to sell these witts and parts. i do agree on buying a bottle of it vs the packets, but thats how they make money. you can get fired for poor sales, not from ringing up witts without customers knowing which is ridiculous due to it shows up on receipts and customer could easily see what you just did. i think you took it too far, grow up. if you can't sell 10 witts in 3 weeks, yet alone 10 a day, you don't deserve to work there, it's the easiest thing in the world to sell.

It is part of your job to sell those packets. But the thing is, those packets HELP the customers. When you sell a customer brake pads and you suggest brake lubricant and he declines, it usually means he doesn't care about his car or he already has some at home. It might just be a problem with your management. Report them to your DM and they should take care of it. Also, AutoZones warranty on brakes pads are GREAT. With the warranty you can just keep exchanging them as they wear out; no questions asked.

I have a solution to your problem. Just sell the supp packs.

The store management is not going to write you up for ringing up the supp packs without the customer knowing about it, they are going to write you up for not selling the supp packs at all. I work for the competition, and we have similar things. In 3 weeks I have sold 30 of these, the Assistant Manager has sold 19, and the top part time salesman has 19 too. Everyone else has only 1 or 2 if any, in the entire 3 week period. If you cant "sell" these packs, your in the wrong business. If you can sell a full tube of this stuff to most customers, then your Customer Average will go through the roof and no one will have anything bad to say about you.

I think if your actually selling these, you will be just fine. If you don't move but one or two a month, you documentation will be justified.

in a rebuttal I wrote that hasn't posted yet as of writing this one, I stated the original, drunken, frivolous report by Glen/Sunny/insert random transexual name here was deleted. I was incorrect. It is here:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/221/ripoff0221947.htm

We shall let the readers judge for themselves.

When doing a brake job you need to lubricate the slides and pins because the caliper needs to be able to slide freely,ask any qualified mechanic and they will verify this,If not lubricated the pads will wear prematurely.

If you go to other auto retailers their lifetime warrentee is for cracks or defects, otherwise you must prove there is a defect in the product to warrentee them.

Autozones lifetime warrentee is just that, when they wear out you bring them in and get a new set. With a warrentee like that you need to inform the customer they need to lube the slides because the company would obviously like the pads to last as long as they should,minimizing premature warrentees saving the company money and the customer time,it is actually a win for both parties.

I am a store manager for autozone and I can assure you there is no instruction to sneak packages to customers or anything like that,yes we do suggest it because it's important to do the repair correctly. Also I have never given an employee a write up for not selling it. To be honest I think you are either just uncomfortable
making the suggestions or you may be disgruntled with your job and just lashing out at autozone

Lookie here its john ,so you painted tires and sold them as new. You have the nerve to post on GLENNS problem of being sold tires that wore out and being sold things like BALLJOINTS that he did not need . You are a real low life. So tell all the people how many bad tires you sold and how many people you MAY have killed. So you quit because you could not rip people off! WHY DID YOU GET BUSTED? I can not believe you would have the BALLS TO WRITE WHAT YOU DID ON GLENS ROR. I think we will start a ROR on you john .Sounds like you are a RIPOFF LOW LIFE JERK

I had problems in Auto Zone for DISCRIMINATION because I Helped the costumers when they were being discriminated I reported it to E.E.O.C and everything came back on me They make me work alot by my self, I take care of registers parts counter and phones and costumers fight for their turn they told me to stop talking my s**+* in front of them that would be my language they cut my hours , My lunches , Treaten to fire me if I talked , Terminated my Insurance, I ended up in the Hospital quite a few times from stress I had to much blood going to my brain now I have problems when im talking sometimes my right side falls asleep they loved writing me up but other people never got written up. they had told a costumer to go back to his F country and come back when he learned English. I need someones advise should I settle out of court or go all they way.

they were also changing my chedules so I could get there late so I can get a write up. to get me fired they keep telling me that I cant do nothing to this company because they are a multi million co. and they make the court drom my case just like that.

I had problems in Auto Zone for DISCRIMINATION because I Helped the costumers when they were being discriminated I reported it to E.E.O.C and everything came back on me They make me work alot by my self, I take care of registers parts counter and phones and costumers fight for their turn they told me to stop talking my s**+* in front of them that would be my language they cut my hours , My lunches , Treaten to fire me if I talked , Terminated my Insurance, I ended up in the Hospital quite a few times from stress I had to much blood going to my brain now I have problems when im talking sometimes my right side falls asleep they loved writing me up but other people never got written up. they had told a costumer to go back to his F country and come back when he learned English. I need someones advise should I settle out of court or go all they way.

they were also changing my chedules so I could get there late so I can get a write up. to get me fired they keep telling me that I cant do nothing to this company because they are a multi million co. and they make the court drom my case just like that.

I had problems in Auto Zone for DISCRIMINATION because I Helped the costumers when they were being discriminated I reported it to E.E.O.C and everything came back on me They make me work alot by my self, I take care of registers parts counter and phones and costumers fight for their turn they told me to stop talking my s**+* in front of them that would be my language they cut my hours , My lunches , Treaten to fire me if I talked , Terminated my Insurance, I ended up in the Hospital quite a few times from stress I had to much blood going to my brain now I have problems when im talking sometimes my right side falls asleep they loved writing me up but other people never got written up. they had told a costumer to go back to his F country and come back when he learned English. I need someones advise should I settle out of court or go all they way.

they were also changing my chedules so I could get there late so I can get a write up. to get me fired they keep telling me that I cant do nothing to this company because they are a multi million co. and they make the court drom my case just like that.

I had problems in Auto Zone for DISCRIMINATION because I Helped the costumers when they were being discriminated I reported it to E.E.O.C and everything came back on me They make me work alot by my self, I take care of registers parts counter and phones and costumers fight for their turn they told me to stop talking my s**+* in front of them that would be my language they cut my hours , My lunches , Treaten to fire me if I talked , Terminated my Insurance, I ended up in the Hospital quite a few times from stress I had to much blood going to my brain now I have problems when im talking sometimes my right side falls asleep they loved writing me up but other people never got written up. they had told a costumer to go back to his F country and come back when he learned English. I need someones advise should I settle out of court or go all they way.

they were also changing my chedules so I could get there late so I can get a write up. to get me fired they keep telling me that I cant do nothing to this company because they are a multi million co. and they make the court drom my case just like that.

Well, I've never been told to ring them up "secretly", but they are definitely a scam. And I've been chewed out for not pushing them. Heres why:

Small packs cost 1.19 each plus tax

"Brake Lubricant", "Spark plug anti-seize".. both the same stuff.. whole bottle of it, 4.99, aisle 6.

"Spark plug boot protector", "battery terminal protector", "bulb grease".. whole bottle of it for 3.99

Rene,

Go seek a local union and ask for representation. If you just do a card signing you are protected from retaliation by federal law.

Organize! After all, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

YOU can do it.

I know what you mean now they are retailiating and messing with my schedule I was fulltime before now im part time

I am familiar with this type practice. I worked in a similar type of shop and we worked on 1 & 2% commissions. Not only that, but we were encouraged to kinda do the same things. Hell, the manager was taking used tires-most with little wear-repainting the tire and white wall (there is special paints to do this) and reselling them as new. He did eventually get caught and fired.

If a vehicle came in for tires, and you didn't "find" anything else wrong with the vehicle, you were asked why you didn't like you did something wrong. Hell, we had to make our commissions. I wasn't very good at it because I just can't rip people off. I was eventually laid off because of it.

I doubt in this case that AZ would actually "write up" someone-for fear that there would be hard evidence-but I'm sure would make it very uncomfortable for them to work there.

I think these things stated by the OP were percieved and exaggerated.

There may be pressure to upsell at the register as is common in most retail establishments, but actually being told to put unwanted items in customers bags and charge them? Like I said, refuse to do it and take the writeup. Then you have proof of the illegal activity in your hands.

I would like to see even 1 writeup for this. Please fax one to Ed to have it posted here.

I would file a police report and file a complaint with corporate if this ever happened to me. Then I would sue.

Furthermore, I have shopped at dozens of AutoZone stoes over the years and have never had a problem.

I think this may be the result of an overzealous new store manager to show good stats.

To the OP. If this actually happened. File the labor charges and a complaint to corporate. It does not matter if you like them or trust them or not. You need to document the illegal activity.

You do have policemen in your area, right? A fraud detective could walk in, buy some goods, and arrest them right away.

yea he works there too

I dont trust corporate. trust me I know why im saying this

If they write you up for this you have a major labor charge against them as well as a major lawsuit!

They are engaging in fraud, and larceny. If they force you to do it under threat of your job, it becomes extortion, and also a potential RICO case, depending on how many Autozone managers/employees are involved in defrauding the customer.

You might want to notify the Corporate Office in writing, by certified mail, return reciept requested.