BJ’s members boycott and head to Sam’s Club after the chain charges them $55 without permission

A BJ’s Club member said he would never shop there again after being charged $55 without authorization.

He said he was going to Sam’s Club after BJ’s automatically renewed his membership without permission.

Rod Manges explained the situation in a post on BJ’s Wholesale Club’s Facebook page.

He said he only shopped at the store two or three times over the course of a year and was never notified about his membership renewal.

“They had nothing to offer me, so I just wanted to let it expire,” he wrote.

Then he saw that his PayPal account was charged $55 for another year of membership, even though he “did not authorize” it.

“They know they suck because they have already set up a customer complaint hotline to handle refund complaints, but that won’t happen for seven to 10 days,” he wrote.

“Do yourself a favor and go to Sam’s Club.”

Rod said he would call BJ’s and demand a refund, but he wasn’t the only one with this problem.

“My card was also renewed without permission. I just had to go to BJ’s and hand over my card and they immediately canceled it and refunded me. No problem,” one person commented.

Another shopper said members can turn off auto-renewal in the app to avoid these automatic charges.

“You just weren’t paying attention,” they joked.

SHOPPER SURPRISE

While Rod may shop at Sam’s Club, many members are turning away from the store as well following a recent policy change.

Starting next month, Sam’s will charge a flat shipping fee of $8 for orders under $50.

Currently, Sam’s Club Plus members receive free shipping on all online orders.

The change will take effect on August 19, but shoppers are already saying they will cancel their memberships because of it.

“Sam’s Club, you claim you ‘really appreciate’ our memberships, but if that were true you wouldn’t eliminate free shipping – so why did we ALL switch to Plus?” wrote one member on X.

“Since I live more than an hour away from a club, I can hardly see the value of membership.”

“I’m going to switch to a Costco membership. You messed up this time, Sam’s Club!” commented another shopper.

Sam’s Club told US Sun that as part of this delivery change, fees for certain items would also be eliminated.

“With this change, we are offering our members access to different shopping options and making it easier for them to get the products they want, when and how they want them – all designed to help them get more out of their membership,” a spokesperson said.

Customers heading to Costco should note that the company is raising its membership fees for the first time in seven years.

Shoppers argued that Costco lagged far behind Sam’s Club when it came to a member benefit.