beat the bookstore

OK, so I'm going to go on a bit of a rant. If you are looking for a happy post, then stop reading this one and go on to another post.


We all know this economy is kinda tough, that's not news anymore. Well a little over a month ago, I gathered all my old text books and brought them to Beat the Bookstore in Orem. They offered me more money for my books than UVU would have, and I didn't really have the time to try and sell them privately. I figured this would be a good way to get some cash back for books that I had no use for. But their policy seemed a little weird to me - you give them your books, then a month later you can collect your money. Weird, but I get it. They need time to try and sell them. OK, fine.

So today, more than a month later, I went back to collect. The guy behind the counter asked what he could help me with, so I told him that I was there to pick up my money that they owed me. Then he asked if he could tell me his "sob story." He actually used those words. Apparently they don't have any money. What? He told me the reason why they are out of money is because they were just involved in a lawsuit and just had to pay out $50,000. Then he says that he is so sorry, he knows they owe a lot of people money, but it's not their fault. Then I said, well I'm sorry, but if you were sued, then obviously you did something wrong. Then he said, no, no, we are the ones who did the suing, and we just had to pay $50,000 in fees. What?! I don't know much about lawsuits, but I'm pretty sure that if you sue someone and then you are out of money, you probably shouldn't have sued anyone. I'm pretty sure he lied to me, which makes it hard to be sympathetic.

He said that he could have given me a check, but that it wouldn't be worth more than the piece of paper itself. They are in the hole. Then I told him that it would have been nice to know before I drove all the way over there during my lunch break. I tried calling them 4 or 5 times without any answer. I told him that. He said that he just hasn't had a chance to get to the phone today. What? Obviously he wasn't busy with swarms of customers or anything! Oh well. So who knows if I will ever get paid for the 20-25 books of mine they took. He wouldn't give me an exact date. I will probably just keep checking back every week or so, but eventually I guess I just have to accept that I was cheated and will probably never get paid.

Bummer.