Costco Wholesale — Attraction in Danvers

SUMMARY: Do not sign up for a wedding registry with Costco unless you want to get grilled, have the guest who bought it notified that you're returning it, or accept whatever random amount they decide to refund you based on the product's price in their system.

I had a horrible experience at Customer Service here last Saturday (7/11) when I came in to return a wedding gift off of my Costco wedding registry. I brought the item in the original packaging, which hadn't been opened at all, and it included the shipping box/label with the information of our family member who purchased it for us.

After waiting 15 minutes in line, we finally made it to the front to MARIE, a customer service associate. I explained that we had received a wedding gift from our registry online and wanted to return because it was too big for our kitchen space. Before I could even finish the sentence, she was barking at us with "OKAY...DO YOU HAVE THE PERSON'S INFORMATION WHO BOUGHT YOU THE GIFT?!" And I pointed to the shipping label with all of the information. After barely looking at the label, she snapped back that the label didn't have the information she needed. She kept insisting that there wasn't enough information and there was nothing she could do. I insisted that she take another look at the label, which had customer number, order number, etc. on it. She still said she couldn't do anything with it. I asked if a manager could help us instead since she clearly couldn't.

The manager came over and although she said "congratulations" to us, which was nice and more than Marie had done, she wasn't much help either in finding the product in the system. It blows my mind that Costco has a gift registry, but for some reason you can't bring the gift in and just return it for store credit without being grilled by customer service. After spending almost 25 minutes total trying to return the gift, they ended up looking up the price in the system and offered me that price, saying it was the best they could do, which was disappointing since they sold it online for $10 more but wouldn't honor that price.

In the end, we got our money back (after Marie lectured us on how Costco typically "doesn't do cash back in these circumstances")... and we immediately left.

MORAL OF THE STORY: This store is the absolute WORST Costco I've ever been to and it's a true shame they treat customers they way they do. I won't ever recommend anyone signing up for a gift registry with Costco ever.

PREVIOUS REVIEW (2 Years Ago): Was 2 stars--now demoted to 1. I'm honestly not sure how there are such good reviews on this location. I'm from Texas and we have Costco there and it doesn't even compare to this location. The refrigerated produce section is absolutely tiny and rarely has organic produce.

Based on the numerous times I've visited, this location doesn't replenish their produce nearly enough, and multiple times I've had rotten pineapples, packaged lettuce that was brown, etc.

People here don't smile and they seem like they truly dislike their jobs, and I don't feel at all appreciated for my business. Every time I come here I tell myself I'm going to stop. If it wasn't for the select few favorite items that I can only find here (Almond Butter, frozen organic foods, etc) I would cancel my membership.

Don't even get me started on the gasoline area. There is an attendant there that scolded me for getting back into my car while pumping gas because I didn't want to breathe in the fumes. He told me it's "against the rules" to sit in your car because of the static electricity, which might be a recommendation, but should not be a "rule."...

Update: After the newest set of tires were installed, we continued to have the slow leak issue with one wheel/tire. After several visits to get this issue fixed, we again just gave up out of frustration. When the tire got low again I took it to a local tire shop. They found corrosion under the valve stem, so the area was cleaned and the valve stem replaced. This cost me $100, but it has been more than a month and we have had zero problems with low pressure. Costco completely failed us, and as a result has lost us as future customers. The Costco tire shop seems to be understaffed and poorly trained (at least some of the staff). The whole experience was VERY un-Costco like.

This review only applies to the Danvers Costco Tire Center. In the interest of making this review valuable, I'll be brief...

I bought a set of tires to replace the OEM tires on a Honda Accord. From the day Costco installed the tires, all four had issues with holding air pressure. Every two weeks or so one or more of the tires required air to be added. Costco checked the tires and found no issues. We were left to deal with the problem, and just adapted to having to constantly monitor the tire pressures.

During the first tire rotation, the tech lost the "key" for our lug nuts. It took a few weeks of back and forth, but Costco did reimburse us eventually.

A few months ago, I picked up a screw in one of the tires. I took the wheel off the car and brought it in for repair. Costco repaired the hole quickly, and I returned home. When I put the wheel back on the car it was apparent that the tire was installed backward (rotation wise). Back to Costco, where I had to argue with the Service Advisor to get the tire repaired that day. I watched the tech remove the tire, and his surprised reaction to seeing that none of the prep work typically done when installing a tire had been completed. He scrubbed the corrosion off the bead seating surface, applied some liquid and reinstalled the tire. He apologized for the inconvenience and sent me on my way. Lo and behold, that tire now holds air like it should, while the others continued their slow leaks. Was poor prep the reason for our constantly leaking tires? I can't be sure but the evidence sure points to that being the issue.

Fast forward to today. The tires are nearing the wear limits and we ordered new ones. An appointment was made for installation, and when we arrived we were told that the wrong tires were ordered. No call was made to us in advance, we found out when we arrived. We are busy like everyone else, and this is very inconvenient/irritating. Mistakes happen for sure, but this Costco had been a not funny comedy of errors. We will not return to the Danvers Costco for any tire related work in the future, and wanted to make others aware of the issues...

So for the most part I like Costco products, there services and product prices are on par with BJ's and other warehouse type clubs, so why one star it's not for the products.

What's up with that small parking lot????? (And it is not just at this location either, I have been to several of them in and out of the state) For a place that is so busy you would have thought that they would have at least had an adequate parking lot, guess it's not important enough for them to think of their customers safety.

Attacking your customers or future customers at the front door looking for a membership card is just ridiculous and counterproductive, (I'm paying them for this stupid policy of harassing me on the way in and again on the way out looking for a receipt). Also, let's not forget the high pressure upselling of the membership and the unrelenting pushing of there Visa branded credit card....really great way to start a customer relationship.

But, I guess I can, and have overlooked the stupid and ridiculous policies that Costco has in place as we do have a membership...they are very irritating but for the most part not a deal killer. We wanted to see if the prices were really worth all of the hype and aggravation of getting in and out of the store.(it's not)

I however CAN NOT over look or accept there refusal to accept any other credit cards but Visa......WTF Costco???? I don't have a choice of what my bank issues for a bank card!!!! I have never seen any retailer ever refusing a Mastercard ever!!!! I have seen refusals to take an American Express and I do know it is due to the fees AmEx charges. Refusing to accept a Mastercard, that is a ridiculous and unacceptable business practice in today's day of electronic money.

Well Costco.....you have lost me as a customer for the most part....I'll use up what's left of my over priced membership, and not be renewing or returning.

It's too bad too, I liked a lot of the products you had but I refuse to bow to some ridiculous policy that descrimates against me for not having a Visa branded Credit Card. I will be spending my family's and businesses monies somewhere else where there is not...