Costco Goon Squad

I guess misery does love company. I feel much better knowing that I am not alone in surviving the "goon squad" tactics employed by Costco Stores. In my case, the "Goons" happened to be the "Butte County District Attorney's Office" acting "on behalf" of Costco.

I recently mailed my yearly membership to Costco. I had just recently began paying my bills with Quicken. I was to find out later, that the check I sent for my membership renewal contained a printing error. I made that discovery when I received a letter in the mail from the Chico Costco advising me that the membership check had "bounced". I called my bank and checked my statements. There was no indication of insufficient funds, no bank charges or returned checks. When I called Costco to inquire about the matter it turned out that the bank had returned the check to Costco because of a "routing error". Apparently the printer was misaligned when that check was printed and was missing a portion of the account number needed to process payment. My bank returned the check to Costco asking that the missing number be supplied.

Costco labeled the check "bounced" and started a campaign of harrassment aimed at 'recovering' the membership fee and ever-growing "associated fees." Costco's representatives began to call me every week demanding that I hand-deliver the membership fee (w/"other" fees included) in person and in cash, immediately. I had clarified the routing error vs. "bounced" check issue with Costco in our initial conversation (and every conversation thereafter). The Chico Costco would not allow me to provide the "missing" routing numbers so that the check could be reprocessed. They would not allow me to reissue the payment over the phone or online.

I live almost an hour away from the store (one way) and advised Costco that I could deliver the Membership fee (sans additional fees) on my next trip to Chico (scheduled later that month). Imagine my surprise when I received a letter from the Butte County District Attorney's office demanding that I pay my membership fee with Costco (plus ever-increasing "other" fees) or face a criminal investigation. I called Butte County, explained that failure to renew a Costco Membership did not constitute a violation of law.

I then called Costco Corporation Headquarters. They had the manager of the Chico Costco call me. He promised to "take care" of this unfortunate incident. He would call me when he was able to get the check back from the D.A.'s office and discuss my feelings about renewal at that time. A couple of weeks later I heard from my bank. A Butte County Investigator had recently contacted them and made "inquiries about" my account. The investigators made mention of "possible fraud" etc.. The bank was concerned about the allegations and wanted me to know about the inquiry.

I was livid. That very same day I received a letter from the District Attorney's Office telling me that I had "one last opportunity to avoid criminal prosecution by completing the following": 1. Call them, 2. Pay them (Membership fees plus check charges plus bank fees plus Administrative fees) on behalf of Costco and then 3. pay Butte Co. $50.00 for the privilege of attending a class on Financial Management.

The letter found me "guilty of passing a bad check with intent to defraud, a crime punishable by imprisonment in county jail or state prison." I was told that "FAILURE TO ATTEND this class would also cause a complaint to be filed and a warrant issued for my arrest." You can bet I called them. After refusing to submit to this latest, most blatant extortion attempt I had a few words to say to the District Attorneys office about due process, presumption of innocence, constitutional rights, civil vs. criminal litigation, and defamation of character.

When I called Costco that same day, I was informed that the manager had requested the matter be dropped just that week and was waiting for Butte County to return the "misrouted paperwork". Butte County says otherwise. Suffice it to say that noone admitted contacting my bank or defaming my character. The Costco manager finally agreed to write a short letter (making vague references to my "good standing" with their company and apologies for past misunderstandings). To the best of my knowledge, noone has contacted my bank to clear up the "misunderstanding".

The District Attorney's office could (or would not) explain why they were so actively pursuing this matter on behalf of Costco. Andrew Merchant from the D.A.'s office did finally respond to my complaints by informing me that he considered me to be a liar and a criminal regardless of the facts surrounding this case. He would, however, close the matter at the request of Costco, if or when Costco chose to make that request. I am pursuing my complaints against Butte County with the appropiate authorities.

Defamation of character is an offense that can never be rectified, even if monetary damages are paid. It is not possible to put the "toothpaste back into the tube". They can't "unsay" their false accusations.

If Laura has not already graduated from law school, she should do so forthwith so she can run against the Butte County D.A. in the next election.

I was exiting out of Costco with my mother after paying for our items, as I was stopped by a security person. He said that he needed to talk to me about something, so he grabbed my arm and took me to the back room. I guess it was what they call the camera room. I didn't know what he was talking about. All I did was accompany my mom to the store to get something and all of sudden it turned out to be the worst experience of my life. I felt like a criminal, everybody at the store was looking at me as if I was a shoplifter or worse.

So when I got to the room he told me that now is the time to get clean, and I responded by telling him what are you talking about? He probably thought that I was going to admit it that I took something. Someone said that they saw me take something and put it in my pockets. I asked them if they had evidence that I actually did on camera, they said that they didn't. There was also a lady there in the room also. She told me to empty out my pockets, and so I did. I took everything out and to prove them wrong they didn't find anything on me that belonged to their store.

My mom was so mad, she wanted to know who the person was to told on me that I stole something, they said that they can't do that. In my 18 years of life on this earth I've never been more humilated until now.

That thought being in my mind accused of taking something will stay with me for a long time. I couldn't sleep at all, the same role would come back and play over and over again in my head. And going to the markets or to the mall I would feel like it might happen again to me. Worst part is I don't know if going to the stores is going to be the same experince I had before, like trying out new things and so on. But now its going to be more about someone stopping me at the front door asking me, "Can I see you for a minute, we need to talk". I just don't want that to happen again. Raymond should retain an attorney and sue the store for false arrest.

If you are ever in a similar situation, you are within your rights to refuse to accompany store personnel inside and to refuse to make any statement. You are not obligated to submit to a search. Instead, ask if you are under arrest. If the security officer says no, you may leave. If he or she says yes, you should ask that local police be called. Assuming you are innocent and the store has detained you against your will, you should inform the police upon their arrival that you want to press charges of false arrest against the store and its security personnel.

If the police are not cooperative, you should ask for an attorney and refuse to make any statements until your attorney arrives or one is provided for you.