Costco Wholesale — Attraction in New York

This is by far the worst-managed Costco I have been to in my life. Gross negligence from employees, both in treatment towards customers and in explanation and enforcement of “policy.” I’m going to skim over some other issues first and then go over what killed my experience here and what warrants the 1-star review. To preface, I regularly ate at the food court and shopped at this Costco. I last went to the food court 3 days ago and shopped 2 days ago. My first issue was that yesterday I could not enter the store through the exit just to go to the food court. I was quickly told several times that it was policy. No explanation, no polite handling, nothing. There was no signage anywhere, and I was completely barred access through the exit. Showing my Costco membership and frustratingly explaining I had been here just 3 days ago doing the same, I was just told that it was “policy.” Meanwhile, I have done this for years, and many times at this location, to no issue prior. Second issue. Upon then going through the entrance, the staff didn’t even check the screens of the devices I scanned my card on. Why scrutinize the exit if the entrance isn’t even enforced? Third issue. Normally, with two people staggered at different points, they quickly check receipts and items, and the line moves. However, yesterday there were 3 people lined up side by side checking receipts and seemingly creating a purposely slower exit, as the exit was overly crowded. There was no way for food court people to quickly go by. 3rd issue, and the 1-star warrant: Only having a frozen coffee in my hand from the food court, and the exit being a disaster. I go to walk out through the front. Suddenly I am constantly yelled at and told that I can't go out this way ONLY as I am passing the people at the front, not even as I’m approaching. Why? Because I have a backpack on. This older white man, about 60 or so, just keeps yelling out, “Hey! Hey! HEY! You can’t leave this way!” And yes, I “problematically” ignored it as I know I just have a food court item in my hand as that’s all I got, but then this man starts walking out towards me. I still ignore him, but HE KEEPS following me out the door while yelling at me that I can’t do that. He has my attention now, and he is yelling at me that I need to come back in for them to check my backpack. This man is now near me, outside, over 20 feet away from the entrance side of the store. How far was this man going to follow me for an assumed theft? Although I didn’t steal a thing, I thought loss prevention prevented employees from stepping out and chasing people and explicitly states that in policy? Standing outside, he is still yelling at me and telling me I have to go back in so they can search my backpack. I yell back at him, telling him how I only went to the food court as I gesture to my frozen coffee, and he is still rudely telling me I have to go back in and proceeds to follow me FARTHER AWAY. I turn around then and go back in and place my backpack on the ground and tell him he can look. He then tells me to look through it and pull everything out, and I argue that I’m not going to. Why call me back in if you don’t even have the power to look through my backpack? I then have my girlfriend, who is next to me, open it up and pull stuff out, as I’m too frustrated, and I have a broken wrist with a cast on. This man made a comment saying how I couldn’t even open my own backpack. I retort to him and show him my cast and frustratingly say, “I have a broken wrist, dipshit.” He immediately retorts back and says, “Well, who puts items in and takes them out of your backpack then? Does she do everything for you?”. I don’t even respond to his comment towards my girlfriend and me, and I don’t engage him further. The worst part of all of this: not a single other employee said anything or chased me. No one else engaged me verbally or physically, just this single employee. If I can’t leave through the entrance with nothing in my hand to avoid an unnecessary pile-up at the exit without being harassed, this store isn’t...

To Costco leadership, I challenge you to significantly train/improve everyone on your team on customers service and communication skills.

To all customers, be careful with being over charged by checking the charges as they are scanned.

“On the afternoon of September 1st I did my grocery shopping at Costco. After arriving home and checking the receipt, I realized that I was charged $56.69 per lb of pecorino cheese, I was shocked. It had to be a mistake because I saw that the lb was at $9.99. For an elderly single mom who has worked hard all her life to retire but still needs government support to survive, being charged $56.69 per lbs for cheese hurts emotionally and puts me in a difficult financial situation. So on September 3rd, I went back to Costco to express my grievance and get a reimbursement. I was direct to a male floor supervisor who did not know Spanish, there was a female employee who was helping translate. This female employee was not cordial when talking to me, she spoke to me with an attitude because I didn’t smile, she blamed the supplier, and made me feel belittled. Why would I be smiling if I was overcharged! I don’t know if she translated everything to the supervisor but regardless I was not given an apology for the mistake overcharge and in my opinion the female employee was not professional. Before this encounter I spoke to an employee in the household appliance department (I think he was the supervisor) and expressed my grievance/situation. He knew Spanish and apologized/expressed empathy. That is the only reason I don’t give a 1 star rating. His type of service is what I expected from the female employee.”

This review is on behalf of a family member who asked me to translate (she only speaks Spanish) and submit a recap of her experience with Costcos poor...

So my wife and I go to Costco on a Sunday—which, right away, feels like a dare. I live about a half an hour away from my nearest Costco in Brooklyn and we’re like “Sunday’s are usually so pleasant and relaxing. Let’s try and mix it up a bit.” We get home and while I was packaging the chicken we bought to freeze I discover that the chicken tenders are BAD. There’s nothing tender about this smell. I tried reaching out online and they said I had to call the store. So I called the store, they said I had to bring back the chicken tenders. Bring them back! They smell awful. Keeping them would be stupid. But also, there’s the half hour getting back in the car, driving over, finding parking, all now with OPEN rancid meat. One Associate recommended that I take up freezer space and actually freeze bad chicken in order to return it. Really? I have kids. We have NO SPACE in our freezer. How much freezer space does this, I can only assume, childless cat lady have? I mean that isn’t taken by what I’m guessing are the corpses of her previous cats. Why do I need to take time and drive all the way back? Why do I have to prove to Costco that the chicken is bad. Like there’s some black market spoiled meat hustle I’m trying to run. Like I’m some Ocean’s Eleven-style poultry scammer, going from store to store returning rancid chicken for the sweet sweet payout of $25 a pop.

“Hey man, you got the goods?” “Yeah. Organic tenders. Rotten as hell. We’re gonna be rich.”

This is the dumbest system. It’s annoying and insulting. And it treats me like I’m a villain in a very low-stakes food crime. This store...