Costco
reviews and complaints

On 11-13-16 I was browsing through smartphones at the "Wireless Center, " one of the salesman bye the name "Russell" came up to me and asked if he can help. I told him I was just "browsing" and he said "So what made you browse for a phone today?" and I said "I'm just looking" and Russell continued to harrass me by saying "So what made you want to just look today?" When I turned to look at him and he had his back turned towards his coworkers and actually sneering at me but I can clearly see the side of his face laughing at me then he turned to me and asked "So how many phone lines do you have?" Then he turned to his coworkers to mock me again. He continued to do this several more times. I was disgusted with his behavior. This is not only bad for the name of Costco as whole but not very good for potential customers in the future. If he's not disciplined in any way I will make sure and continue to pursue until he is disciplined in some way

11/13/2016
11:30 am
Hi, we bought a combo pizza pie from the Costco, Apex, NC.
While I was eating, I bit a piece of metal. It was a blue sharp thin metal piece.
We were more than halfway through eating, hope we didn't swallow anything. I wish this is just isolated mistake. Please alert the team of pizza makers, so children cannot be exposed to this kind of mistakes. We like to feel safe eating the pizza we love! Thank you.

I was at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, New Jersey on November 11, 2016. I was on a line for samples for cheddar cheese. The samples were on the board and I did not know whether or not the gentlemen was serving it from there. The gentlemen's name started with the letter H. I reached over for the sample and he pushed my arm down forcefully. I can understand if he did not want me to take the sample from the board but that did not give him the right to put his hands on me. That is inappropriate and unacceptable. I feel that an employee should never put his hands on the customer I feel that it was disrespecful and it is not a reflection on what costco stands for. I feel that something should be done about the situation because I am considering pressing charges on him. Thank you for your time and I look forward to a plan of action.

Costco continues to follow a lame policy for shopping by family members. Even after demanding an ID to demonstrate that the member is living in the same household, they insist that the primary member be present. It is presumed that if the family member shows up without the primary, they are not together. In fact, on Nov 12, 2016 Sergio, the store manager at Plano West in Texas concluded that the family member must be divorced. Request for a phone call to the number on the file was rejected as out of policy.

This is lame! Not customer friendly. And downright frustrating to a spouse who volunteered to shop without the primary. To leave behind a shopping cart after an hour of walking through the crowded aisles leaves one with so much anger against the management who could not get these things right after decades of operations.

Today I spent almost an hour just trying to call/chat with a customer service rep. who could assist me in paying off my credit card bill. I started by following the link from the bill that was sent to my email. This brought me to the citi.com site, where all of my other citi card accounts were listed, but the Costco card was not. I spent 15-20 min. doing an online chat with the Citi rep. (Patricia), who stated that since this was a "Costco" citi card, I would need to contact a different area. She provided me with the "direct number" [protected]). This number, as well as many other that I tried [protected], [protected] and [protected]) brought me to continual tele-marketing advertisement, without any option to actually connect with a service rep... unless I decided to take a prompt and follow up on the "cruise I won" or a "great TV deal with Direct TV.
I just wanted to pay off my bill and was having trouble doing so through the link provided in my email/bill. THIS WHOLE PROCESS was very maddening and ridiculous that paying a bill/trying to talk to a rep (or even a voice prompt rep) took almost an hour! HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE system!
(As a follow up note, it wasn't until I hung up on the last number I listed, when I didn't choose to follow up on any of the marketing schemes that "I WON", that I called directly back to the same number and actually got a voice prompt rep to help me pay my bill).

Demographics: Noman Absar
Costco membership # [protected] (member since least September 2004)
 My cell # [protected]

Sequence of events:

August 2nd, 2016: First phone call to Costco for window shades. David made the call and was told that a specialist would call back
August 5th, 2016: Jean Witty called back "from Costco" & made an appointment for August 6th but next morning called back reschedule
August 8th, 2016: Jean Witty came to our house, met with David, measured the windows and gave us an estimate of $3423.53
August 13th, 2016: Jean Witty came back to our house, had me sign the contract but now the price was going to be $4423.53, a thousand dollars more than she originally quoted and claimed that she made a mistake in arithmetic---THOUSAND DOLLARS. When I protested, she reminded us that there will be a prompt refund by Costco of $442 + a check of $300 will also be sent promptly by the vendor
August 24th, 2016: $4423.53 was withdrawn from my B of A account
August 25th through mid September, 2016: No word from Jean Witty despite multiple phone calls & texts. Finally, she called back that "Costco employee" who does this work in Marin has died and in order to expedite the process she can hire a different person but we will need to pay more. I declined and finally she sent Ed to our house for final measurement around September 15th. Ed informed us that it would take 1-2 weeks for shades to arrive
Late September, 2016: We called Jean Witty back and she informed us that she no longer works for Costco and that we should call Costco ourselves
Late September through October 9th, 2016: No word from anyone
August 10th, 2016: I called Costco customer service at 10:47 hours (#[protected]) & lodged a formal complaint. I talked with Tessa who informed me that she has no direct relationship with Costco and is a third party vendor. She told me that someone would get back to me with in 24 hours
October 11th through August 14th, 2016: No response from Costco
October 15th, 2016: I called Costco customer service again at 07:44 hours & inquired about my formal complaint & follow up. I talked with April, who gave me the complaint # 29654 and also informed me that she has no direct relationship with Costco and is a third party vendor. She also told me that someone would get back to me with in 24 hours
October 16th, 2016: No response from Costco but late PM we received a text from Jean Witty that she had received our window shades at her house and attached a picture. When David called her, she informed us that she would deliver the shipment to Ed at "some point" and by the way Ed works for California Carpets and they are the vendor responsible
October 17th, 2016: In the morning, I called California Carpets in their San Francisco office and talked with the manager Maria Aganon who was extremely nasty and rude. She did not take any responsibility and told us to call Costco. Then I called Costco, Novato at 12:02 hours and talked with Alfonso who listened to the details and promised to get back to me. In the mean time we got a call from Greg (California Carpets) and installation was scheduled for Friday 10.21.16. Alfonso left me a message that issue seems to have resolved and there was a confusion about installation. He did not address the refund by Costco of $442 + a check of $300 by the vendor
October 20th, 2016 in PM: I called Ed the installer to confirm our apptt & he informed me that he does not have time on 21st but can do it on 24th. My partner, David had taken time off to get the window shades installed
October 21st, 2016: Window shades were NOT installed
October 24th, 2016: Window shades were installed late in the afternoon by Ed & a helper but one of the cassette's side was broken and Ed informed us that he will order another one and whenever it arrives, he will come and install it
October 29th, 2016: Around 1:00PM I went to the Novato Costco and after 35 minutes I was able to see Alfonso in person. He acted perturbed, unhappy and disturbed that I had come in. There was no gesture of apology for the nightmare we have gone through. He made copies of the receipts that I brought and when I asked for timelines, he rudely responded that "I just can't give you $700". Someone will call you
October 31st, 2016: Alfonso left a message on my voice mail that someone from Costco corporate office will call you
November 1st through 9th, 2016: Not a word from CostCo
November 10th, 2016: I called Costco Novato to talk with Alfonso who was busy but I talked with Ken who advised me to write my story and send it in. Email was sent in PM
November 11th, 2016 around 13:00 hours: I called Costco Novato to talk with Ken to ensure that my e-mail was received but he was busy. Message left

I have the following questions for Costco establishment:
1. Is this a typical example of Costco customer service?
2. How do you define INTEGRITY of your organization & the vendors you choose?
3. How do you plan to compensate for the poor customer service, disrespect, wastage of time & effort, mental aggravation and wasted resources?
4. What would you do if you were in my shoes?. Post on Yelp or Facebook or Tweet or would you call the business bureau at state level or take legal action which would be even more time consuming for all parties

Resolution requested:
1. An apology from Costco
2. Refund of $ 742.00
3. Payment for the mental anguish & loss of wages on 10.21.16 when they promised to install the window shades but did not show up $1000.00

Thanks,
Noman Absar, a very disappointed and frustrated Costco customer

We purchased 3 note 7's from your cell phone kiosk prior to the first recall, we returned those for an exchange of a samsung galaxy s7 edge spending 4 hours there until our new samsung note 7's arrived, I went back about 2 weeks later to exchange the temporary phones, spent another 4 hours trying to get them exchanged, we received our new note 7's, then another recall was issued and they did a mandatory update to where the phones only charged to 60% forcing us to have to again exchange the phones, I once again went back to costco to exchange the note 7 and was only given the option of the samsung s7, no other phones were available and wouldn't be available. I spent a total of 14 1/2 hours in this store exchanging phone after phone. Now we have 3 samsung s7 that get hotter than the note 7 ever did and just randomly shut off on their own, you can't use half the apps on the phone or it will shut off, the screen is way to small and my husband sometimes uses his for work so he needs his phone. I have tried to get them to get us another phone, but for our carrier they have nothing comparable to the note 7 that we had. I was told by the recall that I had to go back to where the phone was purchased and yet they had nothing comparable to the note 7 and can not even get anything comparable. Had I know all this was going to happen I would never have exchanged our note 5. This whole thing has been a complete nightmare and now we have phones that we pay for and we can't even use them half the time or their so hot you can't even touch them even when their not being used. I'm very disappointed in everything that has happened with costco and the phone situation. And yet nobody will help us to solve this problem. So we are just stuck with phones that are of no use to us what so ever simply because they don't work more than half the time.

I normally buy this product so was very dissappointed when I served it to my family and half of the pie was completely empty and after heating it was swimming in liquid which was horrendous!
Im not impresssed either with your Lasagne
any more, the last one was absoloutely dripping in oil!
Very sad as used to rely on your home made
Delicious meals!

I have made an online order and purchased a cable from www.costco.com. They delivered the incorrect one so I contacted their customer service and asked for a replacement. They said I needed to take it to s local Costco store and exchange there. So I took a bus and went to Costco store. The whole trip took me approximately one hour.
So, I came to the store and asked for an exchange and they looked at me as if I was mad or something. They said that if I purchased it online then I should have sent it back to the online store. Wasted another hour and came back home and contacted Costco. Demanded my money back and they said that I need to go to the local store and deal with them. Are you kidding me? The worst service ever.

On Tuesday, November 08, 2016 at approximately 1408 hrs While approaching the register Cashier Gary stated if I could place the items from the cart into the belt. Due to the belt being dirty with water and other substances I stated to Gary that I did not want my items on top and if he can please scan them from the cart. He refused to scan and sent me away to another register. Cashier Evelyn then attended and apologized for what had occurred. I've done customer service over 20 years and never been disrespected at this store. I departed from Evelyn's register at 1412 hrs. Store Location 13463 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA [protected]. Can we please ensure that he doesn't treat another customer like that again, I was pretty embarrassed.

November 7th, at the Costco in Davie Florida, A rude girl by the name of Jessica A. Decided to insult me because she thought I didn't look like my picture on my driver license, her words were "this isn't you, are you sure this is you, you don't look dark enough in this photo, why does your nose look big in this picture." In my head I really wanted to say something horrible back to this racist, ignorant girl but I decided to walk away and be the bigger person, I'm very disappointed in the service I received and hope Costco does something to resolve this before it happens again but to the wrong person. I will be filing a complaint in store about this girl.

Earlier today (11/6) I went to the Clarkston, Washington Costco with my 5 children. We enjoy going to Costco and are there a lot! I was so disappointed with the people serving the samples and their obvious concern with how much everyone was taking. Let me be clear, I don't go to feed my children a meal, if I did we would be needing a lot more samples. I have, however, been known to allow them to take 2, but not more, of the things they enjoy. The sample lady with the flautas told us it would be a few minutes while they cooled, we no sooner turned around and she started handing them out to other people so I went back and she had a whole panful ready and was handing them out to me one at a time and when she thought that I should have been done taking them, she said "are you still needing one more?" I said yes, please and she very obviously and begrudgingly gave me one more. The other sample lady, Connie, that had a real issue with my children having the samples said to my daughter, who was holding one of the samples of provolone cheese and turkey but was waiting for another one for her little brother, "didn't you already get one?" And I intervened and said yes but I'm pretty sure she can take another, to which Connie replied "yes, but that's rude". I then said that I think that it's ok and that I spend enough time and money in Costco that a few samples shouldn't be a problem. Connie then told me "yes, I'm sure everyone that comes in here spends enough money but it's rude". I was completely taken aback, as I am not accustomed to being treated this way in Costco. Also, as a former employee, I am aware that customers are not suppose to be treated this way. In addition, I am aware that the sample people aren't employed by Costco but I am also aware that their company is employed by Costco. If there is an issue with people taking more than one sample, there should be signs saying so. All but 2 of the sample employees that we encountered today behaved as if they were buying the samples they were handing out. If this is the best attitude that can be mustered up by sample employees, maybe Costco should reconsider having them in their store. We left Costco today as unhappy customers because of the obvious inconvenience we were to most of the people preparing samples and I'm sure we haven't been the only ones frustrated by their choice to fail in costumer service.

My wife and I purchased eyeglasses at Costco. Both developed small nicks in the scratch resistant coating. I was told that there is no guarantee with these glasses. Also, Costco does not offer glasses without this coating.

We cleaned them according to Costco guidelines.

If this is correct, we are VERY dissatisfied with the eyeglasses and will not purchase eyeglasses again at Costco unless an option is offered without the coating.

11/4/2016 Costco employee advised us our propane tank was outdated; suggested we could buy a new one inside warehouse for about $26 and it would be good for 12 years. We found the display of empty propane tanks (stacked 4 levels high) and they all had a manufacture date of 01/16 (January, 2016)...and the tank has to be requalified within 10 years. Since it is almost January, 2017...I feel cheated because this propane tank is only usable for 9 years instead of 10 years. We had it filled with propane and brought it home...but I'm not a satisfied Costco customer.
Member [protected] Tran ID# [protected]

Mr. W. Craig jelinek
President and ceo
Costco

Mr. Jelinek,

We have been attempting to order a samsung 48" class ju6700 curved 4k uhd smart tv tvs - un48ju6700fxza. We spent a couple weeks searching the internet, and speaking with the tv rep at livonia, mi costco, before making our decision. We ordered this item from costco’s website 31 october 2016. Our membership number is [protected] and the order number [protected]. We had started preparing our room to accept the new tv. Then, on 2 nov 2016, we find the order has been canceled due to out of stock. That item should never had been offered in the first place, if there was no stock. Whatever happened to proof in advertising? Who or what can be trusted? This item was in stock when the order processed.

Now it seems all the time spent researching was for nothing. It was in stock to place the order and we were looking forward receiving it. Strange, that at the same time costco’s website no longer shows this item. What a let down! We are very angry and upset with costco.

Hope you are still reading this because here comes a surprise! 3 nov 2016 around 9 am, this item reappeared on your website and i re-ordered it. New order number [protected]. I doubled checked the order status and read it was again in stock! Starting to look forward receiving it once again. I have screen shots of everything mentioned above so i know what i am speaking about. This morning, 4 nov 2016, just for curiosity, i checked costco’s web site for this item and it was no longer listed! Here i go again. I guess i’ll be receiving another order cancelled message?

I am seriously considering filing an ftc complaint based on these facts but thought it better to first give someone, in authority at costco, to iron this problem out and contact me.

Fed-Ex trying to deliver product Dave from the Victorville, CA store said driver has to wait. Driver does have other delivers to do and deadlines to meet. Dave was very rude the other person was yelling Dave's name and he ignored her. If Dave doesn't like his job he should find another one...bad service in the shipping and receving dept. I hope this issue gets your ATTN.

November 2, 2016 my husband went to Costco Richmond BC branch to have our Honda CRV's tires replaced. He was early and waited until the store opened at 8 in the morning. It took an hour and a half to replaced all four tires with a a brand new set of Bridgestone 225x65xR17. He arrived home, showed me the receipts and mentioned to me that we should bring it back after 40 kilometers. Around 12 noon i drove the car to drop my daughter to her school but only few blocks away from my house, the car started swerving on highway 10. I tried so hard not to hit anyone and vice versa . We were in total shock thinking that it was the end of our lives. All vehicles around us went crazy trying to avoid getting close to us. It was a long struggle for me driving like that from the intersection of Highway 10 and 128 st until i finally turned left safely to 132 st. After we pulled over, it was a shocked when we saw all three(3) brand new tires that were just installed were laying flat on the ground. Me and my daughter hugged eachother bursted into tears and shaking bodies. I phoned and informed Costco about the incident. We agreed the car to be towed back to costco to fix it. They offered to deliver the car once its ready, and in the evening of that day we had the car delivered by a tow truck. Costco staffs gave their apologies and promised to fix the car but I questioning myself if this is enough? We almost lost our lives or we could almost killed somebody. This incident should be set as a lesson to the company and i want the costumers to be all aware that this can also happen to them. Costumers should take extra careful in choosing a place to fix their vehicle. Also make sure that equiments are carefully studied or tested for quality and make sure that they are not substandards. Ensure that the staff are well knowledgable and properly trained prior to actual job. I want this matter be brought for public awareness. I also demanded for atleast money back or refund to compensate the inconvenience and for the bad effect that might have an impact in our future's health physically and psychologically. I was able to captured the actual appearance of the car and some witnesses during the incident for legal purposes. Someone should be liable and learn a lesson from this horrible mistake . Dont let this to be taken for granted or until someone got hurt. Thank you.

Floor were very dirty and lots of crap Was eating at a table with my service dog the floor was filthly and food and trash were on floor to stop my dog froom eating crap on floor i put her on my lap or next to me im 50 feet away from food services and the manager ruben wanted me not leave so that was attampet kidnapp and and he told me screw u i said u r paying my vet bill he says screw no get out so i left im filling a complaint with costco ruben was a bad person needs to be disapleened or fired i will be notafying the Department of justice next i would like to recive a phone call [protected] or email asap [protected]@gmail.com i want this resolved peacfully with this drama but i will if need be also file bbb and American with disabilities act against costco

I am writing this letter to Costco CEO, W. Craig Jelinek,

Mr. Jelinek

Brief Background:
I have been a executive member of Costco for over than 10 years. I only could speak highly of the service always received by Costco employees.

Around 2011 I obtained an Auto insurance with Ameriprise (policy# BX07127478). Since it is a partner of Costco, I knew that I will always receive the same exceptional service I always receive at Costco. Many of my friends and family have switched to Ameriprise due to my recommendation.

In 2014 I had a car accident with bodily injury. Ameriprise assured me that the accident would disqualify me from obtaining another policy with Ameriprise since the accident took place while I was insured with Ameriprise.

Since I did not have a car I was added to my parents policy in early 2015.

Let's start my official complaint now:

10/05/2016: I called Amerprise to add another car (Toyota RAV4 2016), I was informed by Ameriprise representative, Corey, that I must obtain a separate policy since I am married and the car is titled under my wife's name. He transferred me to a lady the sales department (I believe). the lady ran my driving record and informed me that my records shows a non at fault in March 2015 in addition to the accident on 09/04/2014.
I advised the lady representative that I did not get in any accident in 2015. I was informed to obtain DMV driving record proofing that (no accident in 2015) to continue with the new policy. She specifically told me, that the reason she cannot write the policy due to the accident of 2015. The accident of 2014 is OK.

on 10/10/2016 I bravely and patiently spent 4 hours at the DMV to obtain my driving record. which proved that I did not have the accident in 2015.

on 10/14/2016. I called Ameriprise to obtain a policy and surprisingly, I was informed that I am not eligible due to the accident in 2014 and the representative refused to connect me with a supervisor to discuss the matter. Even though I have expressed my frustration and I was treated unfairly and been misdirected and given false information.
I've advised the Representative that I will be contacting the CEO of Costco and Ameriprise on this matter.
She told me that she would have a manger to call me.

Today is 11/03/2016. Since i did not receive any calls from Ameriprise, I've decided to give the a second chance and call them again to try resolving the matter.

Again, I was advised that i wouldn't be eligible for get a policy on my pwn due the 2014 accident and i was transferred to Sandra, manager in the client relationship department, no one can find the record of the conversation with the representative who advised me to obtain my DMV record on 10/5/2016.

Mr. CEO of Costco, I just wanted to inform you that I am a client of yours that is UNHAPPY with Ameriprise and I hope you will be able to share my concerns with your account manager at Amerprise to make sure that all of COSTCO client to be given the correct information at the first contact (GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME). I have spent about 12 hours over several days between speaking to Ameriprise and going to the DMV. and getting no policy with Amerprise.

I am sad to say that this is a scar that will always scare me to deal or recommend any of my friends, family or clients to deal with Costco's partners like Amerprise, Credit Card Services, Auto purchase program, Mortgage service with First Choice.

on another note, I did try to purchase a car through the Auto Buy Program (not successful at all). separate story to tell.

Sincerely,
A very Disappointing Costco Member
Hafez Saleh
[protected]
[protected]@gmail.com