When it comes to cars, I just want one that works. I am not at all handy with fixing up cars. It’s not one of my interests or talents. But a lot of people feel differently.

The term car guy exists for a reason. Some people actually prefer older cars that need to be fixed up and repaired. They take pride in taking care of their vehicle and keeping it running.

The guy in this story is one of those guys. He has an older Jeep, and he loves it. It takes a lot of work to keep it in working condition, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

What he does mind is a store owner not letting him return something that he didn’t even use all because of a little scuff mark. Really? Yes, really. Keep reading to see how this teenage car guy gets revenge that’s so extreme he ends up putting the store owner out of business.

Steal my money? I ruin your business.

Many, many years ago I had an old Jeep.

I loved my Jeep. I took care of it, and it took care of me.

Which means I had to work on her to keep her going.

He guessed wrong.

I needed two brake drums. I went to a local brake supply company to get them.

They asked if I had 9″ or 10″ drums.

Since I hadn’t pulled them, I guessed. My bad. Turns out I don’t have the 9 inchers.

So I tried to slip them on, and surprise!, they don’t fit. Damn.

Returning them didn’t go how he expected.

So I go back and tell them that I need to return these for the correct ones.

The owner looks at them and says “I won’t accept these returns”.

I go “Why not? They haven’t even been installed”.

And he points to a blemish where I rested the drum on the top of the shoes as I was trying to center them. “These are marked up. Can’t resell them. No refund for you.”

He was ready for revenge.

This is nonsense of the highest order. He is pointing to a scuff-mark, not any real damage. It is clear that this guy is a jerk, and doesn’t give a care about a poor high school student and his ancient Jeep.

OK, Jerk-face. You will come to feel my wrath.

A little history.

The building that his business was in had once sold gas from pumps in the parking lot. Think of a WWII version of a convenience store. By the mid to late 50’s the underground steel tanks had been leaking for who knows how long. So the pumps were pulled, and gravel was spread around.

He knew just what to do.

Several decades go by. Everyone forgets about the leaking tanks. Except for me………..

Fast forward to several months after he screwed me. I see that he has just had the parking lot resurfaced. And I know that he intends for those old corroded tanks to remained entombed forever. Bawahaha………

You know what is really annoying if you have leaking underground storage tanks? The EPA is really annoying. They will make you tear out your freshly laid parking lot, excavate those tanks, test the soil, and require that ALL the contaminated soil be shipped to an approved hazardous waste disposal site.

It can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It cost him everything.

And it did.

After all the work was done, he had a going-out-of-business sale. He was basically bankrupt.

All his vendors had placed him on the C.O.D. list.

During all of his EPA troubles, not one but two large automotive chain stores had moved into this town. Even more bad luck for him. He could not hope to beat their prices. And his once loyal customer base vanished, as the new guys brought in inventory and lower prices.

But he still took care of his Jeep.

All because he screwed a poor teenager out of about $30.

Karma’s a witch, right?

One last dig. At his last day or so of business, I went in and bought all new brakes, drums, wheel cylinders, and the master for about $15.

The Jeep lasted much longer than he did.

Wow. That’s a lot of revenge for not letting him do a return.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a cashier who gave her phone number to be friendly to a guest, but immediately wished she could take it back.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

I’m confused by this part of the story too.

An employee at a car dealership weighs in.

It wasn’t exactly stealing.

Nobody was on OP’s side.

Wow. I don’t think the comments section went the way OP had expected. He probably expected a lot of people thinking he did the right thing and what awesome revenge. Instead, everyone thought he went too far and didn’t actually have any reason to complain about anything.

I can see why OP was annoyed. Yes, he messed up and bought the wrong part, but it’s not like it was used. Sometimes you don’t know for sure that something is not going to work until you buy it.

It was his fault for not understanding the return policy though. If all sales are final, that’s on him. The store owner doesn’t have to take the products back just to be nice. Although, in this case, considering the revenge, I bet the store owner wishes he had taken the part back just to be nice. That is, if he even knows who reported him.