Never shopping at Advance Auto parts again

I was denied returning something with the receipt that I bought two days ago that is less than $20, I've done thousands of dollars worth of business with them over the last 10 years (I'm a mechanic) and I'm done because they use theretailequation.com to justify keeping someone's money for an unused on unopened product. I'm not going to shop at Home Depot now either or any of the stores that use theretailequation I'm even going to ask which is really sad that you have to do that even with a receipt with no criminal record. This excuse about the opioid epidemic is a crock of BS, they just want to keep people's money, plain and simple. I'm not going to give my information for any sort of customer rewards because it seems your reward is the finger. Theretailequation only gets paid and their contracts renewed if they are denying a substantial amount of returns justifying the cost of doing business with theretailequation which seems illegal and I will be contacting an attorney regarding this because it is the principle of the matter, someone's not going to keep my money and treat me like a criminal and get away with it.

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Why was the return denied? What does your return have to do with drugs?

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

Clickbait?

I think he's ranting. He won't be back.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

I'd never heard of this retail equation before but after doing a bit of research it appears ominous to honest people. It seems to be a company that tracks purchase and returns for retailers. Make too many returns and then your returns are no longer accepted, regardless of whether you have a receipt or not. Now admittedly, the comments I read were all from disgruntled customers but it doesn't seem like the friendliest situation.

I seem to recall that some regular forum members have, in scattered past posts, mentioned such a policy. However, I did not then know the name of the app that was being used by retailers.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

Their website says "The 1 percent of consumers who get warned or denied exhibit return behaviors that mimic fraud or abuse or exhibit habits that are inconsistent with the retailer’s return policy."
[www.theretailequation.com]
How does this work with all these purchase and return shops some people do? Could be a real pain in the....

Yes, MSaddict. That is what the older posts were all about.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

So. A mystery shopper could participate in a purchase/return shop without knowing that the scenario transactions could contribute to a nasty real-life situation for them. No wonder the OP is irate! Thanks for the heads up, OP.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

That's exactly why I don't do purchase/returns. There was some discussion here a few months ago about this. A perfect example of the value of this forum.

@Msaddict wrote:

How does this work with all these purchase and return shops some people do? Could be a real pain in the....

A shopper was banned from opening accounts at BofA. The MSC did nothing about it.

We perform a service for these retailers. When we get screwed, we have no recourse.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

I experienced that same issue with Toys R Us, as a regular shopper. I had to show my ID with each return, including the receipt, and then I couldn't make any more returns until X amount of time. The amount of time might have been 90 days, but I am not sure. That was never an issue with Target or WalMart, so I opted to make my purchases at the competitors. Less annoying harassment, the happier the customer!

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Never shopping at Advance Auto parts again

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