Costco Wholesale — Attraction in San Antonio

Back in September of this year, my son took me to the Costco Wholesale store at 1201 N Loop 1604 E, San Antonio, TX, to pick up one grocery item that my wife (who wasn't with my son and me and is the other cardholder on our Costco account) was in need of. At the time, I was in the middle of chemotherapy cancer treatment, and as a consequence, had a severely compromised immune system, and therefore was under doctor's orders to stay as far away from other people as I possibly could, and to wear a surgical mask whenever I had to go out in public.

When my son and I got to the front entrance of Costco after parking, I scanned my Costco membership card and showed my photo on the back of the card to the employee "guarding" the door, to prove that I was the official owner of the Costco card. I then informed that employee of my not-so-unique medical predicament, and I asked him very nicely if I could let my son, who lives at the same address as I do, temporarily take my card and act as my proxy to go buy the single grocery item that I referred to earlier. And I explained to the employee "guard" that that would allow me to wait outside the front of the store, to physically distance myself from other shoppers.

The employee "guard" at the front door did not bother consulting with one of his managers about my special health situation. Instead, he proceeded to inform me that there were NO EXCEPTIONS to the new ID rules and policies that Costco had implemented, and that I would have to personally endanger my already-fragile health to enter the store, work my way through lots of other shoppers, to eventually meet my son at the checkout lane, because my son would not be able to check out and pay for the single grocery item that he had located and put into his cart, thanks to the same ID security check at the door having also been implemented at the checkout lanes, as well. So, my son and I were basically left with no other safe choice, but to leave the store empty-handed.

Please keep in mind that I had already spent three days in the hospital back in July, because I basically caught a cold from some person during one of my chemotherapy doctor visits, and I didn't have enough of an immune system left to be able to fight off the upper respiratory virus, and keep the resulting bacterial infection from spreading throughout my body. So, I had good reason to be paranoid about being around the crowds of people who in the past have typically flocked to Costco.

My wife and I are long-time Costco members, but we have not entered a Costco store since that last terrible experience back in September--nor do we have any intention of ever doing so, in the future. The only reason we have not canceled our Costco membership is because there are still a couple of items that we like that we can only find and order online at costco.com. And we are required to have a current Costco membership to place those few-and-far-between online orders.

But as far as our brick-and-mortar warehouse club buying goes, we have moved all of our previous Costco purchasing over to the Sam's Club warehouse at Marshall Rd. and Hwy 281--and we're damn glad we did. At least, we can actually find open handicapped parking spaces to park in at Sam's.  And, unlike at Costco, Sam's Club employees know how to properly accommodate legally handicapped and special needs customers, like me.

Apparently, some "good Idea fairy" at the very top echelon of Costco Corporation decided that it would be a great idea to check people's membership cards twice, just in case those "criminal" customers managed to get past the employee "door guard," and actually make it to the checkout lanes to pay Costco our hard-earned money to help keep their business open. The "good idea fairy" who made that decision really should be fired.

It's all about customer service, people! And with that one ID check policy, Costco went from being one of the top customer-oriented establishments in this town, straight down to the bottom of the barrel. And I suspect, as time goes by, these reviews will...

Don’t go to this Costco unless you feel like being treated like a child.

I love Costco, had a membership for it for years and have been going to costcos since I was a kid. This particular Costco is unlike anything I have ever experienced before. I’ve had so many bad experiences with staff members that here I am wasting my time to write a review. Rude, aggressive, disrespectful, and confrontational describes likely half the staff at this location.

Just moments ago today, I walked in with a bag of H‑E‑B coffee beans to get them ground with the courtesy grinder on my way out after I was done shopping and I’m Confronted by an employee stating I can’t use the grinder if it’s not Costco bought coffee beans. I find that extremely stingy considering I pay a membership and spend lots every time I shop there, but no big deal, their store their rules. So why even after saying “that’s fine I won’t use it” do I find this employee running in front of my cart stopping me from entering and putting their hand out demanding I hand them the coffee beans? “You’ll have to give me those before you shop, you can pick them back up when you are done.” Is the next thing out of her mouth. Really? This lady is blocking me and a now formed line of people from entering Costco because she is so concerned that I may secretly go and grind the coffee beans even after I said I’m just going to carry on with my shopping? Absurd. This lady continued to cause a scene and block entrance to me and everyone else until I handed it over, I decided to leave instead. There’s many more bad experiences extremely similar including a time my wife and I were stopped from entering because we had a service dog with us and instead of arguing we just decided to leave, but we’re followed by an additional employee continuing to scold us….

I find myself wondering why I spend my money here or on a membership when each time I shop here I find myself being harassed, talked down to, or needlessly confronted. I always heard Costco gave their employees good benefits, but I wouldn’t have guessed a powertrip was one of them. Management needs to reform how employees treat the customers, it’s embarrassing on behalf of their company.

If it weren’t for how much I am obsessed with Costco pizza I would have ended my membership not because I dislike Costco, but because of this Costco in particular.

Other gripes about this specific Costco: not enough parking, way too crowded, longest checkout lines I’ve come across, pointless self checkout that takes forever and 9/10 an employee ends up doing it instead of a true self check out. And they won’t let you use their...

Disappointed in the returns process!! It has nothing to do with the long wait (which I expected) or the kindness of the cashier. Rather it was that my character was questioned. I was told my return “wasn’t in the spirit of the return policy”. Even though they begrudgingly honored the return they basically shamed me.

We bought 4 Seagrass Woven Chaise Lounge with Wheels less than two years ago as lounge chairs for our pool area. After about 1 year we noticed the wicker slats splitting apart. Within the last 6 months the tears developed throughout every chair exposing the foam.

After standing in the return line I approached the cashier. She was friendly and said she needed manager approval. I was asked to stand to the side as the manager was contacted. After about 10 minutes Melanie (the supervisor in returns) indicated that her manager (who I believe was Stephanie) would approve the return but “it wasn’t in the spirit of the return policy”. What? I was thankful they reimbursed me. But I felt I was being shamed and being accused of taking advantage of the return policy. She claimed that they typically only accept defective merchandise for returns. I disagreed and said the chairs WERE defective. She said we should have covered the wicker furniture. When I disagreed she explained that she was just relaying the managers message.

So I double checked the return policy. I couldn’t find anything that supported the “not in the spirit of the return policy” statement.

Next I reviewed the item description on the Costco website. Here is a part of the description - “Powder-coated aluminum frames and all-weather resin wicker is resistant to whatever Mother Nature throws your way including salt air, chlorine, intense sun, and rain”. There was nothing in the description that claimed it was only designed for covered areas. If that had been in the description we wouldn’t have chosen them.

We have returned very few things we have purchased at Costco. But the return policy is one of the primary reasons we shop there first - they stand behind their products! I guess in one sense they did stand behind the product. But the shaming was unnecessary and not indicative of my overall experiences and...