SS
Steven J Smith
Aug 10, 2026
Is it corporate policy to blame the store's computer system, or the customer, when an employee clearly made the mistake? That's my experience with the store on Burgoyne Ave in Hudson Falls NY. On Wednesday August 5 I stopped at this store to pick up a set of new headlight bulbs for my truck (2009 GMC Canyon). The employee looked it up, went to the shelf and came back with a 2-pack of headlight bulbs, part # H11. I paid with a card, and the employee asked me if I wanted my receipt, and I said no because I trusted that your employee could handle something as simple as picking a part off the shelf correctly. The next day, while changing the defective bulb, I discovered that I had been sold the incorrect part. So I returned to the store and tried to exchange the incorrect bulbs for the correct ones. Well, turns out that the first employee not only picked the incorrect part number off the shelf, but he entered my phone number incorrectly in the computer system, so now the system is unable to locate/verify the sale, and without a receipt, I'm screwed! So, I wasn't able to exchange or return the incorrect bulbs, and I had to PURCHASE the correct ones. On Monday August 10, I returned to the store again to try and return the incorrect bulbs and have the purchase amount credited back to my card. Nope...not happening. Not without the receipt. And then, when I started that it doesn't seem right that I'm stuck with a set of bulbs I can't use, and which I paid for, the employee became rude and stated that "sometimes our computer gives us the wrong part numbers". Then he stated "you should've kept your receipt, no sense getting upset, I can't help you".
Now, let me point out a few things here...one, I am not the one who picked the WRONG part number off the shelf. The store employee did. Two, I am not the one who entered the WRONG phone number in the computer system. The store employee did. And three, if it's so important that the customer keep the receipt from a sale just in case of a mistake, then why did the employee ASK me if I wanted the receipt instead of just handing it to me? Like I said, I trusted that the employee could properly handle such a simple task as picking the correct item off the shelf. So my mistake for not knowing the proper part number before I visited the store, and my mistake for not taking my receipt. But the fact is, I was forced to make a double purchase because your employee screwed up, not once but twice! And the store was given two more opportunities to make it right, but failed. So, 3 strikes, and you're out. I won't be back. Not after being blamed for what was clearly an employee mistake. And for returns the computer system is only set up to search by phone number, therefore relying on an employee's ability to correctly enter 10 numbers in a row. When I asked if they could search by part number, he stated that "we sell hundreds of these"....maybe so, but how many of that part number did that store sell on the day I made my purchase? So, from now on I'll make my automotive parts purchases elsewhere. I will not return to a store where the employees dodge responsibility for their mistakes by blaming a computer or worse yet, the customer. Too bad too, because this store is convenient, less than a mile from my home. And, I should add, its pretty sad when a retired person on a fixed income is refused a $40 refund by a company that did over $8 billion in sales in 2025. I will be contacting corporate about, this as well as spreading this bad review by word of mouth.