Less of a rant than an annoyance.

Wife's car (2013 Ford Flex) was cranking slowly & refused to start this morning.

Luckily, I was already working from home today.

She took my car to work (which would be the plan anyway, since our carseats are in hers).

Had to jump the Flex & headed straight to the dealer where we bought the battery.
It has a 3 year 100% coverage replacement warranty, so I knew I'd be good there.

Guy at the parts counter can't find any record of the sale, and can't do a warranty replacement without a receipt.
Same spiel I got when I ended up buying the battery in the first place, even though it was a Ford Motorcraft battery in the car.

Checked everywhere in the car & couldn't find the receipt.
Ended up scanning through 2 years of bank statements (2 accounts) on my phone to find the purchase.
He was able to look it up via the date & purchase amount & reprint the receipt.

Go to swap the batteries & had brought a socket to remove the dead battery, but forgot to account for needing a deep socket to remove the battery tie down.
Walked over to the quick service center & got lucky that one of the techs was willing to loan me a deep 10mm.

Over an hour to get a warranty replacement battery, but it only cost me $3 for the disposal fee & an hour of my time.

Parts counter guy printed me 2 receipts for the new battery. One went in a plastic pouch attached to the battery & the other went in with the owner's manual.

That’s a good feeling. You got it done & tomorrow everything back to normal.

Take a picture of the receipt, especially if it's a thermal printed one.

Got in the car today and it didn't crank. For a moment, I was at a loss. The car has never not started in 18 years. Battery was almost 6 years old. Went to Costco. Starts fine now. Toyota's may have the appeal of toasters, but mine has been trouble free.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Take a picture of the receipt, especially if it's a thermal printed one.

Definitely. I learned that one the hard way. Thee's nothing like digging out the old receipt you need, only to find a nearly blank piece of paper.

Now I scan my important receipts.

quote:

nothing like digging out the old receipt you need, only to find a nearly blank piece of paper.

IRS auditors clap with glee. Ever told an IRS auditor "It's here on my phone"!

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Take a picture of the receipt, especially if it's a thermal printed one.

Definitely. I learned that one the hard way. Thee's nothing like digging out the old receipt you need, only to find a nearly blank piece of paper.

Now I scan my important receipts.

+1. I also scan important receipts and have a folder in my computer of receipts.

Has anybody ever noticed that while those computer systems keep track of every bit of information for marketing purposes, they mysteriously lack it when something is warranty related?

Heck, they could go back to the specific date and time to reprint it, but gee...that computer has no idea who it was sold to (even though the first thing they ask for is your phone number).

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

Has anybody ever noticed that while those computer systems keep track of every bit of information for marketing purposes, they mysteriously lack it when something is warranty related?

Nope, I have not noticed that. I went to Costco with a battery problem. They asked for my Costco card, scanned it, looked at the computer screen, and said, "We don't carry that particular model battery any more, so we're going to upgrade you. No charge." They installed the new battery and I was in and out of there in less than fifteen minutes.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

Has anybody ever noticed that while those computer systems keep track of every bit of information for marketing purposes, they mysteriously lack it when something is warranty related?

Nope, I have not noticed that. I went to Costco with a battery problem. They asked for my Costco card, scanned it, looked at the computer screen, and said, "We don't carry that particular model battery any more, so we're going to upgrade you. No charge." They installed the new battery and I was in and out of there in less than fifteen minutes.

I've seen both sides.
In this case, even though it was under the right number, it didn't pull up.

Not sure if it was because he was trying to look it up in the records for the Flex (which we didn't necessarily buy it under, as the prior battery wouldn't even jump-start). Or the fact that my last name was spelled incorrectly.

In any event, I doubt we'll still have the Flex when this battery dies, so at least the next owner will have the invoice for the warranty.

quote:

Originally posted by Anush:

quote:

nothing like digging out the old receipt you need, only to find a nearly blank piece of paper.

IRS auditors clap with glee. Ever told an IRS auditor "It's here on my phone"!

Hopefully you didn't hand the agent your phone. Would be best to email it from your phone to the auditor. Give them the phone and they might find something you don't want them to see.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
Has anybody ever noticed that while those computer systems keep track of every bit of information for marketing purposes, they mysteriously lack it when something is warranty related?

Good observation.

Only exception has been Cabelas for items I purchased on the Cabela's card. But that might change now that they sold the Cabela's bank.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

Has anybody ever noticed that while those computer systems keep track of every bit of information for marketing purposes, they mysteriously lack it when something is warranty related?

Nope, I have not noticed that. I went to Costco with a battery problem. They asked for my Costco card, scanned it, looked at the computer screen, and said, "We don't carry that particular model battery any more, so we're going to upgrade you. No charge." They installed the new battery and I was in and out of there in less than fifteen minutes.

I’ve been told by 2 Costco’s that they no longer install batteries. Sucks.
.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

Has anybody ever noticed that while those computer systems keep track of every bit of information for marketing purposes, they mysteriously lack it when something is warranty related?

Nope, I have not noticed that. I went to Costco with a battery problem. They asked for my Costco card, scanned it, looked at the computer screen, and said, "We don't carry that particular model battery any more, so we're going to upgrade you. No charge." They installed the new battery and I was in and out of there in less than fifteen minutes.

I’ve been told by 2 Costco’s that they no longer install batteries. Sucks.
.

This was my delivery truck. Plenty of room under the hood, easy access, nothing in the way. Actually, I started to do it myself, truck parked right outside the tire / battery department. The Costco guy took one look at the 82 year old Geezer with the cane and said, "Here, let me get that for you." I wasn't going to argue with him, he was a big guy! Took him about a minute and a half.

It's why I use Autozone a lot.
They keep everything I've purchased on file by phone number on their computer.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
It's why I use Autozone a lot.
They keep everything I've purchased on file by phone number on their computer.

Oreillys does also.

quote:

Originally posted by Anush:

quote:

nothing like digging out the old receipt you need, only to find a nearly blank piece of paper.

IRS auditors clap with glee. Ever told an IRS auditor "It's here on my phone"!

I see no reason that a digital copy of a receipt wouldn't hold up to an IRS audit.

Even these days, most retailers don't even need an original receipt to accept a return. They can use your copy to look up the purchase history to verify authenticity and to ensure that the receipt has not already been used in a return.