Woman Buys BJ’s Battery With ‘30-Month’ Warranty. Then She Tries To Exchange It: ‘Costco Would Never’

"Just give up."

Woman buys BJ’s battery with ‘30-month’ warranty. Then she tries to exchange it

Photo by: theehazeldomain & ALAN

JT Wilson

By: JT Wilson

Mar 8, at 6:00pm ET

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A BJ’s Wholesale Club member says the warehouse chain won’t honor the “30 months free replacement” warranty printed on the car battery she bought there. She also says that after weeks of emailing corporate, she still can’t get a straight answer about what the warranty actually covers.

Hazel Domain (@thehazeldomain) laid out the saga in a TikTok that has since drawn more than 1.5 million views. The video, made in response to a follower who suggested escalating to a district manager, walks through a chain of emails with BJ’s corporate that raises more questions than it answers.

“I Am a Content Gremlin”

According to Domain, the trouble started when she tried to exchange a bad battery at her local BJ’s. The store didn’t know how to handle it, so she emailed corporate.

“I said, hey, how come your batteries have got 30 months free replacement stickers on them if you don’t offer 30 months free replacement?” she says in the video.

BJ’s responded three days later asking if she had photos of the sticker on her old battery. “I think that they were expecting me to say no,” Domain says. “Obviously I turned in the old battery when I got the new battery. Why would I have photos of that? But unfortunately for them, I am a content gremlin, and I did in fact have photos of my old battery.”

Ten days after she sent the photos, BJ’s replied with an explanation. According to Hazel, they said that the sticker doesn’t mean 30 months of free replacement, but that there is a free replacement period followed by a prorated period where the customer gets only a partial refund. Domain asked the obvious follow-up question: Where are those terms actually written?

“Where is that on the website? Where is it on the website? Where is it on the website?” she says in the video. She had noticed that every battery on the display had a sticker advertising a free replacement period. None had any additional fine print, and nor did an advertising booklet near the display.

Domain checked the manufacturer’s website and found terms and conditions that say if a battery fails due to a defect within the free replacement period, the customer gets a free replacement—with no language suggesting the period is shorter than what’s printed on the sticker.

She emailed BJ’s again. Their response: “At this time, the replacement and prorated schedule is being handled directly by our concerned team.”

“So the exact nature of the terms and conditions is not what it says on the packaging, not what it says on the manufacturer website, but some secret third thing,” Domain says.

Round Two

Domain’s experience echoes a legal battle that already played out at another warehouse chain.

In 2021, a Florida consumer filed what became a class action against Costco alleging that the “free replacement” warranty advertised on Interstate-branded car batteries was deceptive, because customers who tried to redeem it were charged the price difference between their original purchase and the current retail price. The lawsuit cited more than 45 years of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidance on the use of the word “free” in advertising, and argued that consumers reasonably expected no out-of-pocket cost during the promised replacement period.

Costco settled the case in September 2023 for $2.4 million.

BJ’s sells its car batteries under the “IBX by Interstate” brand. Interstate is the same manufacturer at the center of the Costco lawsuit.

The FTC’s guidelines on warranty and guarantee advertising require that warranty terms be clearly disclosed to consumers before purchase. When a product is labeled with a specific warranty period, any limitations on that coverage must be conspicuous—not buried in internal policies that customer service representatives can’t produce on request.

Is It A Stall Tactic?

The video’s comment section drew viewers with direct experience in the auto parts industry.

ImmolateZios, who claimed 20 years as a parts counterman and parts manager, wrote, “You get a free replacement if it’s in that advertised time frame, and it could be pro-rated after that time. They are lying to you hoping you will just give up.”

The top comment from Sabrina Blackburry, with more than 18,000 likes, read, “Your state attorney general would LOVE to hear about this actually.” Domain replied that she had already filed a report.

Several commenters urged her to contact the FTC and Better Business Bureau.

“False advertisement and bait and switch antics by retailers are highly illegal in all 50 states and territories,” wrote Mathiuz DeJesus.

What do you think?

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Comments

Perhaps ironically, the comparison to Costco came up repeatedly. “Costco would never,” wrote Fidget.

Motor1 reached out to Domain via TikTok direct message for comment. We’ll be sure to update this if they respond.

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