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We had been members of BJ’s Wholesale Club in Sarasota, FL, since 2007. Until recently our relationship had always been good. The staff was friendly and the prices were decent. Returns were easily handled.

Our friendly relationship with BJ’s began to deteriorate in June, 2017.

We discovered BJ’s own store-branded “Berkley & Jensen” batteries in our television remote control had leaked or exploded and caused a deep, permanent acid burn in top of our media center.

We immediately contacted the store manager. At his request, we emailed him a statement explaining exactly what happened, along with photos of the damage and batteries, and a scan of the sales receipt for our media center. In addition, we included a photo of even more B&J batteries that we subsequently found were leaking inside their original packaging. All the batteries were well within their marked shelf life, and all had been properly used and stored.

BJ’s never bothered to contact us again.

Instead, we were contacted by a third-party negotiator, Sedgwick Claims Management in Pennsylvania. We again emailed all the details, plus a $600 repair estimate.

Sedgwick, however, seemed to have only one job: to get rid of us.

Instead of dealing with the issue directly, Sedgwick told us to contact the battery manufacturer in China—despite that BJ’s store-branded batteries did not list a manufacturer. As we discovered in our legal research, all parties—retailer, shipper, manufacturer—have potential liability regarding defective products.

But BJ’s and Sedgwick were not interested in any of that

.

We emailed Zhongyin Ningbo Battery & Electrical Appliance Co in China. They requested, once again, all the information on the incident, which we sent. Plus they wanted the actual leaking/exploded batteries shipped to them for “examination”.

The shipping company told us what we already expected: that hazardous materials such as this cannot be shipped. After explaining that to Ningbo, they eventually offered us $100 for our troubles. We countered their offer and have heard nothing from them since.

So there you have it: BJ’s does not stand by their products.

More and more of the products sold at BJ’s carry their own store brand, and you may have no idea what company actually makes the product. We also found, too late for us, that BJ’s batteries have a history of being defective.

In addition, BJ’s membership agreement contains an arbitration clause that severely limits a customer’s ability to recover damages for defective products that cause damage. Nice.

Botton line, If you are looking to join a wholesale club, check out their membership agreement and any complaints from members.

Wendy Hacker & Michael o’Donnell

Reason of review: Poor customer service.

Monetary Loss: $600.

Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution.

BJs Wholesale Club Cons: Result of a customer service.

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