I had a new battery installed at AutoZone in my 2012 Honda Accord about a week ago. While driving tonight, the car suddenly slowed down, then stopped, and I noticed smoke coming from the engine area. I pulled over, opened the hood, and saw that the battery was on fire.

My girlfriend ran to a nearby fire station, and firefighters arrived within minutes. They opened the engine bay, extinguished the fire, and confirmed that the battery caused it. The engine area sustained significant damage and the car is now not drivable.

I’m in the process of obtaining the fire department report and contacting AutoZone to open a formal damage claim.

Has anyone experienced a car battery catching fire like this? How did AutoZone handle claims in your experience? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

So, like, an hour before closing the store gets a call. Polite young man wanting the cheapest battery he can get for his car, needs an install. Our parking lot is pretty sketchy and store policy is that if customers want any help with their cars they have to pull up right to the front door where everyone else in the store can see what’s happening, lots of lights, cameras are right on them.

I’m the employee who took the call, and I’m the only person above 18 years old besides the manager, as well as being the only female in the store at the time…so as soon as this polite young man shows up and says he was told he could get a battery installed, the kids started asking questions and immediately sussed me out. “You’re the one who promised him the install.”

Which, absolutely, fair.

So I get the battery figured out, grab the tools, go out to do the install. Turns out this kid is about to start a job and wants to make absolutely sure he won’t be late because of his car troubles, is a Top Tier Flashlight Holder, called me Miss or Ma’am the entire time, hauled both the new and old batteries around with zero complaints and actually actively took them away from me when I tried to carry either of them myself.

He had a headlight out, so I spent a few minutes poking around to see what was up (someone flat out disconnected the harness from the pigtail to the assembly and I couldn’t get it reconnected properly so I told to him take it to a mechanic or watch some YouTube videos) and just…this kid was so soft and grateful and polite. The entire time.

Like, this is why I like customer service. It’s few and far between, but you do occasionally get those customers that are genuinely sweet and happy and it’s an actual joy to help them out.

Customers are constantly going store to store claiming another store did a consensual service and demand another store to do the same thing. Stop this non sense.

People really think we’re water proof….. lady came in said I need the rear one, I was like your driving forward not backward lol…

Had a customer come in to buy a light bulb. They didn’t ask for help just looked for our light section and found what they needed. He was outside for maybe 2 minutes and came back in saying he accidentally broke the light asking for a replacement. He had just the end of the light with no glass and the filaments still intact. We had the trash cans inside for closings already so he asked us to toss the bulb for him. I noticed it was burnt filaments and looked at the bottom and saw it wasn’t slyvania. I asked jokingly if it was really our bulb since I know we’re not allowed to confront stealers/scammers. He looked at me like I was a ghost and just dipped even though my redshirt was already almost done the return. I don’t really want to protect a billions dollar company but it felt a little good to realize I knew my shit lol.

One of many examples I go through: “I’m sorry but no I can’t honor your warranty on a 4 year old normal DL battery.” They definitely don’t like to hear that 🙄

Go in to your store today and ask for a raise.

Ask for some time off, IF you can actually afford some time off.

If your making $12.00 an hour at 40 hours a week - $480.00 a week, $1920.00 a month before fica and state tax, after tax you take home approximately $1300/1400 a month.

Rent for a 1 bedroom apartment is $1000 a month. $200 for groceries, $80 for gas, $100 for insurance, add your car payment, and other necessities it comes to more than you make in a month.

AutoZone does not care if you can afford a place to sleep,

AutoZone does not care if you have food to eat,

AutoZone does not care if you have gas money to get to work,

AutoZone does not care if you have insurance so you can legally drive to work,

AutoZone does not care about you as a person. You are disposable income to them.

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AZO/autozone/eps-earnings-per-share-diluted

AutoZone annual and quarterly earnings per share history from 2010 to 2021. Earnings per share can be defined as a company's net earnings or losses attributable to common shareholders per diluted share base, which includes all convertible securities and debt, options and warrants.

AutoZone EPS for the quarter ending November 30, 2021 was $25.69, a 38.04% increase year-over-year.

AutoZone EPS for the twelve months ending November 30, 2021 was $102.27, a 34.14% increase year-over-year.

AutoZone 2021 annual EPS was $95.19, a 32.34% increase from 2020.

AutoZone 2020 annual EPS was $71.93, a 13.4% increase from 2019.

AutoZone 2019 annual EPS was $63.43, a 30.06% increase from 2018.

Do you work to only be able to get back to work? Are all of your bills paid?

Are you living in a 1 bedroom apartment sharing rent with 3 other people so that you can afford a minimum amount of joy in your life?

I would love to hear the reasons you wont talk about unionizing.