Costco
reviews and complaints

Do not use/purchase Costco debit machines it is the worst mistake I have made so far in my business. We had one installed a few months ago and signed a 3 year contract and now we find out they cannot take more than a 5 number pin and cannot take a chip as of yet "but they are working on it". 70% of our customers have 6-7 numbers in their pin and 90% have chip cards. The bank doesn't issue non chip cards anymore and now we have to inconvenience our customers and tell them to go use a atm... I tried to speak with them and was very rudely told I can wait until they feel like updating or cancel contract for a $250 fee. So now I have to pay a fee for something that doesn't have a use unless my customer wishes to use visa which is more expensive for me but makes Elavon more money! A $250 fee to cancel... $250.00 worth of advertising isn't going to fix the campaign I am about to embark!

On Wednesday, January 19, 2011 we did some shopping at the Lakewood COSTCO store. Among our grocery list was Pork Loin as we had a $4.00 off coupon. At checkout, all the other coupons were listed on the receipt except for the Pork
On the following day, 01/20/2011, we went to the return desk to get credit for the coupon. However we were told the coupon was not good for the item number we bought (73616). The receptionist at the desk pointed out the item numbers that would be applicable.
Where? On the coupon. Where on the coupon?
The item numbers (33956, 16141, 37401 & 37402) were printed in a very light gray and basically unreadible without a magnifying glass. As a matter of fact, a magnifying glass HAD to be used to read the item numbers for this complaint.
As you can see by the attached scan, the almost impossible to read restrictions could be considered deceptive advertising. Your advertising department obviously selected an almost unreadable color so a more expensive item would be purchased instead.

Do not buy anything online form costco! They use third party vendors and then do not follow up. Over a month after my husband ordered a wine fridge for a christmas present for me we still had heard nothng. After doing a lot of legwork ourselves and then spending 40 mins on hold and trying to deal with a super lame customer service person this is what we got: fridge was dmaged and sent back by cargo carrier (Who knows if we ever would have been notified as that was 4 weeks before we called) they had not "processed the return". They could place a brand new order but it was a min of 10 business days and they could not guarantee that item would be ok but they would refund it if it was not. Lovely. Barely an apology. Instead it was basically our fault for ordering - here are some quotes:“well – these things happen”, “we cannot guarantee shipment when it is a 3rd party”, “we don’t control their cargo carrier” etc. Practically blamed us for buying it and kept going on about it being from new york and “well, I need to understand this was being shipped across the country so this could happen again”. She told me the best they could do is estimate 10 business days and they could only find out if any discount would be offered after we received the item. Beyond ridiculous. I pointed out that none of this information about the obvious risk she was refrring to about where it was being shipped form, 3rd party etc as pon their site when you ordered the item and the consumer just thought they were ordering from costco. "well we will refund any item you are not satisfied with though". Great. How about working on satisfying the customer in the 1st place!

I want to file a complaint against a manager at this location, she is a filipino femail, I was humiliated she is so rude the way she handle a personal matter a had, when I needed to communicate with my now exfuture husband becouse of her, he is also a manager at costco mr williams, she wanted to get an employee terminated for helping me. I will press charges againts her conduct. She gets my partnert involve his a manager an has violated my relationship that has couse our temination I feel harras and I will get an attorney and press charges.

On the subject of the gentleman from Glendale, who had poor service from Mr. Lopez, I just think the whole recent idea of best tires on the back is a real hoot. So, this is not "hearsay", as Eucommia so eloquently suggests. Also, it's not about buying four tires if the person can only afford two at a time. How about considering the individual here, for once, and not trying to speak for them. The economy is poor-and has been-for many of us. Such a line as Eucommia's "buy 4 tires and there won't be any issues" is of no consideration, therefore, and
neither, then, is his opinion. I worked in tire & auto services for years. That was in the "ancient" times when we actually thought that the best tires should go on the front, since the front takes all the wear and tear, curves, and the average everyday front-wheel drive being the center of control. How crazy we really must have been, huh? Another gentleman here mentions hydroplaning and how placing the best tires on the back controls this-and traction. True, however, by doing such happens not to control the hydroplane and traction of the front, which is where your power, again, is located. If I'm sliding on ice or snow, do I want the better tires on the front or back? Ask yourself such a question. A little fish-tailing in the back is hardly going to cause an accident. By placing the best on the back, we're putting the sled before the dogs ... literally. If you look up the statistics, such reported accidents have risen nationally SINCE this "regulatory" measure. Another thing about this is how the companies are relating the whole thing to government regulating. This is not true. The government only suggests such, this isn't a law. The reason why so many tire dealers are copping out on it is because, well ... it sells more tires. The front tires always receive the most wear, so if you find new reasons not to replace them, the wear will only increase, of course. However,
so does the danger of driving on them. However, even when we were placing the best on the front, the customer had the right to decline. This tactic is just another one of those being used to push the consumer into purchasing. The only problem is that this is exactly what doesn't work, when it comes to winning over customers. I recently stopped in our local Omaha Costco. I've only had good service from this store. In fact, I've had better service in this location than
any other Costco in any city I've frequented and the staff is very courteous. So, here's the story: I have a used Chevy Impala and knew it was going to need tires when I recently purchased it. I hadn't
noticed the really poor shape of the rear ones, though, which were actually worse than the front. My bad. So, when I asked if I could have a rotation, since I'd noticed the fronts weren't in the greatest of shape, they declined, due the shape of the rears. Just call me Mr. Myopic. They told me that they could only rotate these if I replaced the rear, as they should have said. So, this is completely justified. Again, my bad. The car is front-wheel drive, of course, and I wanted good tires on the front. Due to budgeting, I was going to have to wait a bit to replace the the other set. So, they replaced the rears ... and then told me that the best tires have to stay on the rear-? Wait, but you just said ... . Confusing? Yes, a bit. So, I was being misinformed. They sold the tires to me, but were less than straight about how they'd be handling this situation, giving me the idea that I was going to rotate after replacement. So, I had to take this, now being stuck (yes, to all you non-believers - stuck!) I had great tires on the back and, still, the less than so on the front. Back to square one. Costco - 1 Me-0 A snow hit right after this, though, and what do you think happpened? Well, I had no traction, was hydroplaning, couldn't get through at all, cars passing me, my car sliding all over. After twice getting caught in the snow on a side street, I was able to pull out but had to back up about a block, which was okay, since there was no traffic. The back tires
handled this reverse fantastically well! Too bad I just can't drive in reverse everywhere-and it's not even a rear-wheel drive! Costco still says it did the right thing and won't switch them. Blah! Blah! Blah! Oh, the tangled web we weave. I used to get angry with such things. Now, I just get back, which is why I'm writing this, in the first place. Since I am economically challenged at the moment, I'm driving my old Honda, which has old tires, all still working better than the Impala's mix of old and new. Oh, and I'm not shopping at the Omaha Costco anymore. As much as I'm NOT a Sears fan, by any means, I may need to use 'em a bit more ... at least for tires. That is where I'll be
buying the second pair, in case Eucommia would like to know.

Ordered a laptop from Costco on line. Unit sent in oversized box (at least 4 times unit volume) with virtually no packing allowing the unit to freely move around in box. When asking for replacement I was advised they no longer offered the laptop and suggested turning it in for rebate. Item was intended as a gift and am now without at this late date. Also it took an additional email to arouse them into responding to my request. I shall never purchase an item from Costco on line, recognizing the manner in which they handle their products and terse servicing.

I went to Costco on December 10, 2010 and utilized my EBT card. I share a household with my adult relative. She has a Costco card and when we used my EBT card to pay for the food they would not allow us to utilize her card. However, before we got EBT prior to the economy Costco had no problem using my debit card and her Costco Card. This is unfair and discriminating towards low income individuals. How do you allow one policy to be different because of your income status/payment capabilities and not violate New York Consumer Protection Laws.

Bad customer service at Costco Tires in San Juan Capistrano? Yes, definitely. I had purchased tires there and needed them to rebalance a flat I had. The tires manager had an attitude and it got worse. An hour later I complained to a manager Lianne, which went with me to talk to the guy (Ian?) He excused himself telling her that etc, etc, ...Well, another half hour and nothing happens, so I ask for my keys and then suddenly they are free to do it at that moment !?! (they were two to three guys working on one tire?)Maybe it is better when you buy the tires, but when it is a warranty situation NO GO!

I Spent $ 345.00 at San Leandro costco. I like shopping at Costco. After I bought my stuff there was a chinese lady in front of me the lady who is supposed to check to see your receipts just put a line across her receipt but when it came time to check mine stuff her went through very thing is this justice it is not. If I am shopping there everyone should be treated the same. She never checked the other person's stuff. I am very upset. the time was 4:30pm. I am Indian.

i use to work for this company i had applied again after 8 yrs
i call them to get updates of seasonal work of 3 locations
i do have another job however after taxes etc not enough for home coming
plus i want to retire and work for them w/o any hassle from current employer
i'm 56 yrs old and they want 20 yr old
corp hq say we do not discriminate..but guess again
these people lie and avoid issues the assist mgr could have told me their that we have nothing for the hrs i ask for instead saying we are working on it
today i called and they called back and said i got a dear john letter
I FEEL SORRY FOR THIS COMPANY THEY ARE JUST GETTING LIKE OTHER COMPANIES

Sequim costco customer service works like a "club" - if they recognize you as being rich or one of their buddies they refund you anything even without a receipt! If you don't fall in that class, you are subject to racial descrimination, sarcasm and ridicule. Costco cares only about money, they could care less about "just being human" - corporate managers do nothing, zero, to help, unless again if you are rich! Sad that a company like this is allowed to stay in business - washington state needs an ombudsman to keep bad companies like costco in check! They spend millions to try to buy an election that allows them to profit even more selling hard liquor but care zero about "the little guy"

I had been long time Costco Executive Business member, but for last three years, Costco's 2% check never comes on time. Every time you call they give you run abouts.

for last 6 weeks been calling them, but no response. Went to the Costco Store on manchester road, St.Louis county informed member services, manager on duty NO response.

Today spoke with Mr.Dough Summers, Manager at Costco after run abouts with member services on phone for over 49 minutes. Their supervisor on duty Mr.Travis was most un professional guy, inconsistent with Costco's reputation.

Bottomline, rebate check for 2% is still missing? They have no response, or remedy and expect customers to keep calling them. This is going for atleast for last three years, every year keep calling for check.

Hope BBB, Attorney General's in various states look into this scam. Personally, it's most unrewarding experience to waste time following up for 2% check with those unprofessional persons. is it worth all the time and effort?

Anyone with similar experience ?

After checking out all my groceries at the cashier and since I handed out my husband's card, they cashier woman has no hospitality at all in approching the customer by telling me that I supppose to get my husband by the cashier since it was his card. Another supervisor approched had no different with that woman at the cashier. Is this the way Costco aproaching the customer, only in rough way?
Then from the day on I will spend my groceries money at BJ's instead.

I'm 17 years old and I had my eyes on a certain item from Costco for my parents for Christmas. This item was about $300 with tax, and me and my younger brother were going split the price so that we could surprise them on Christmas day (it's a pretty expensive item, but we really wanted to show them some appreciation!) Anyway, my mom is the Costco card owner in our household, so I had to borrow it from her to get in there. I drove there (about 45 minutes, a pretty big drive) And got in successfully with my mothers card. I picked up the item and went straight to the till. The cashier asked if it was my mother's card, and I fessed up :P. Then she informed me that not only could buy anything without my mother being present, but she even had to PAY FOR IT, if I wanted to buy something. I explained that it was a present, the cashier said, re-emberce her after she pays!
Hmm, lets think... "Hey mom, can you pay for your christmas present now? oh hey surprise 3 months in advance. That'll be $300, Ill pay you back later mom!"
Jeeze! I offered to call my mom so she could speak to them and okay the transaction, fax them her ID to confirm it was her on the phone, I had my ID out to prove that I had her last name, whatever I could do to accomodate them, but nope. I also explained that I was 17, so it's not like they would even let me have my OWN card, what am I supposed to do? Finally I told them they just lost a $300 sale and walked out (I guess I wan't even supposed to be in there in the first place, without my own card!)

It makes me angry that first of all you have to pay to have a stupid card to even walk inside their store, otherwise you are not good enough to see the "wonders of Costco." Furthermore, I can't even be a cardholder my self if I WANTED TO, because I'm not old enough! Kind of a no wim situation (Not that i would want to pay $50 for a piece of plastic i'm going to use once!)
Too bad Costco, you just lost a sale, I'm going somewhere else for sure, where the public is allowed into the store without an exspensive piece of plastic!

For years I have been purchasing products for my work, on my personal Costco card. I have the Executive Membership so I get rewards, and I share with my card with my mom. I usually ask for two receipts so I can get reimbursed at work.

A few weeks ago, I was told that I cannot do this anymore, it is against Corporate Policy to give two receipts, and they made a really big deal about it. I said I would just go through the line twice, and be done with it. They said they would do it for me "this time" but it would be the last. I said, fine, next time I need two receipts I will just go through twice.

Tonight when I went to Costco, there was a hold on my account. I had to be taken aside and told about the policy again. Give me a break! How ridiculous can you be Costco. We have a membership at my work, so it is not like I am using the membership and your not getting the money. I have my executive membership - which is 100.00 and a work Membership - which is another 50.00 - We spend literally 2, 000 - 5, 000.00 per year at your stores, some years more...and your going to stop me and scold me about wanting two receipts occasionally! How ridiculous can you be...I am not stealing from you, and I don't appreciate being treated like a thief and a child.

Unfortunately, you do have good prices and products, so I will still shop at your store, HOWEVER, I will do my best to get as much as possible from Cash & Carry, and local stores - I am really tired of your "policies"!

They send you inserts in the bill whereby you pay a nominal shipping fee and you get an item shipped you as a reward.

I got charged for a Food and Wine magazine for $36.00. The way this fraud works is - they charge this amount knowing most people won't detect the charge or ask for a refund. I am suprised that a well known company like Costco is a party to this.

Small print: There may be some small print in the material I got in the m ail that may show that is consumer at fault. This complaint may not pertain to Costco - rather American Express or some third party.

We subscribed merchant service from Costco for our business because we like Costco and we buy everything from Costco.

At the beginning, the Merchant Service is called Nova, later it changed to Elavon. This Elavon is so lousy, they will do everything to rip off their customers.

See my other complaint ~ http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/inappropriate-charges-c364838.html

We really don't think a reputable company such as Costco should have any business relationship with a lousy company like Elavon.

Optical department refused to replace glass that fractured all along the stress points of the frame and eventually fractured through the entire glass rendering the glasses useless.