The Resolution
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Within eight (8) days of the letter being sent out to BJ's Wholesale Club, a call was received by the complainant at 8:42 AM by the new manager of the BJ's in question. He was very apologetic for the situation, and expressed his gratitude that the Advocate had brought this to his attention, because he would not have known otherwise. He also commended the Advocate for taking the time to write the complaint, citing the fact that most people would never take the time to do that.

He went on to explain that BJ's uses analysis of consumer shopping patterns to determine how to staff each warehouse club. Should the consumers dare to deviate from their "established patterns," such a back-up could very well happen if management did not ancitipate the rush. In this instance, the incident happened two Saturdays after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and there was a (false) threat against the city of Boston, and people had come to BJ's to stockpile water, batteries, and other necessities. Since BJ's relied only on statistical data and not the reality of a shocked society, they were completely caught off-guard by the crowds that night.

The manager offered to renew, at no cost, the complaining member's membership card, and provide a free additional supplemental membership to another patron who was with this member at the time.

Although the wait in the customer service line to take advantage of these items lasted 25-minutes, the end result was quite satisfactory, and management was more than happy to see the complainant all the way through to the end.