Hey,
I am not on here to take sides. I work at Sam's Club and understand their company policies. The reason that people cannot have memberships unless they are 18 is because of legal and government regulations. Trust me, if Sam's could of taken your money, they would have. Everyone throwing a fit has to understand that the reason you could not join is because as you know, Sam's Club is a membership based store, and minors cannot sign a legal document allowing them to be members. Also since Sam's Club is classified as a warehouse, legally the people that insure Sam's do not allow minors in the store unless they are with a guardian. This is also the reason that Sam's does not like to hire associates under the age of 18. There is a lot more paper work and they really are only allowed to be in the parking lot as a cart associate. If you think of what another store's warehouse that they hold merchindise looks like, if is a very busy dangerous place, that kids are not allowed in. Now, even though Sam's and other warehouse retailer are set up to some extent as normal retailers, they are still classified by the government as a warehouse. This is the reason for the strict 18 year old or older policy.