Costco Wholesale — Attraction in Wharton

I really like costco. The 3 stars isn't against the company but this particular location. I want to give them higher because the staff here is great. Everyone is kind, knowledgeable, helpful & professional. It's just that this location has a lot of logistical problems. For one, it's too small. Actually most of the problems are because not only is the store too small, so is the property. Because the store is too small, the selection here is a little limited as compared to other locations, the store feels cramped because they do try to cram as many products as they can into the space they have, but it feels haphazard & piled on. They do not have a liquor store/dept, which is something I really miss from this location. This location is 50 minutes from me and the next closest location is another 45 minutes, so it's the closest costco to me or I would not go here. It's not just the store that feels cramped, the parking lot is a certified nightmare. The lot is too small & is often over crowded and full. Often, especially around holidays, so many people park across the street at shoprite & cross rt15 on foot that the police have to come to direct traffic. The police also have to turn people away & direct cars when the lot is over crowded & full. They do have a Costco gas station & auto center, but because the property is too small, they add to the parking lot issues. The gas station is always really busy, it's not unusual to see over 50-60 cars waiting & those cars are snaked through the parking lot, because the gas station is so close to the store. Since these cars are not moving for large chunks of time, they just block whole areas of the parking lot off, some parking spots you can't even get to unless you wait in the gas line. Then trying to pull out of one of these spots is a negotiation with someone waiting in the gas line. The auto center has some really good staff, but the number of service bays are limited, so the wait is awful, especially on weekends. My son was home from college and I wanted to get him a set of tires while he was home. We went early on Saturday & were told the wait was 6 hours, that it was better to come back during the week. I drive by this costco at least twice a day because I work 5 minutes from here so I took my son's car to work on a Tuesday. It was still a 3 hour wait. This auto center needs at least twice the service bays, the gas station needs at least twice the amount of gas pumps & the lot needs twice the parking, but this all adds to the fact that this location is just too small because the nightmare in the parking lot translates to serious over crowding in the store. I know it's a warehouse & it's ridiculous to say a warehouse is too small but when the lines to checkout stretch all the way back to the opposite side of the store blocking isles, something has to change. All the registers are open, they just need more registers but they don't have anywhere to put them. They removed 3 registers & put in 6 self checkout registers, but because costco requires an employee to check your membership before you can start scanning your items & then physically inspect your cart to insure you scanned everything, it does not speed things up at all. It's another bottle neck that completely blocks the isles by the pharmacy & snack section. The location being too small also causes another issue. They often run out of sale items. Charmin is on sale right now, but there is none in the store, I know, I just checked & I was there early Saturday. They don't have the space to store the extra supply they need for sale items. This store needs to move or do a major expansion to is current location. The sears at the rockaway mall went out of business & is bigger, plus they had an auto center with 3 times the service bays. There's plenty of parking with multiple points of entry. And they have the space to add a liquor store/dept. I really like costco but if I could I would avoid this location. **Update They moved the self checkout registers to the opposite side of the store & made it an express...

The only reason they have one star is the folks working the gas pumps. They're top notch. As for the rest of the store? Well, the reason we joined many years ago was consistent low prices, special deals on a regular basis and we came to appreciate the excellent customer service. So what happened? Not 100% sure but let's look.

From the pandemic, this location's customer service went south pretty fast. Recently, my wife went in for a return. Getting the attention of the people behind the Customer Service counter was a challenge. They did their best to ignore her (There wasn't a line either). At minimum the clerk was rude, but she was really surly. She did us a "big favor" and did her job, but she really didn't want to. Overall, the rest of the staff is hit or miss, mostly miss. When a Sam's Club was close by, Costco was much more attentive.

The parking lot experience is never fun at most Costco’s, but this one is ridiculous. One main entrance with a traffic signal which only allows 4-5 cars at time to go. The back entrance is OK, but it's not available to south-bounders on RT 15. The lot is too small for adequate parking or transit without getting into a road rage incident. Not fun. The Wharton Walmart, around the corner, is superior in parking and traffic management. Big whiff for Costco.

So how is the selection and are the prices anything special? Not much on either count. We do visit other Costco locations which all seem to have a superior selection, along with some interesting specials. Costco Wharton? It's definitely a second rate operation for them. Having a some hostile staff really makes it an unpleasant experience.

Again, one last shout out to the folks at the gas pumps, You guys are great.

We really wish there was a Sam's Club or BJ's close by. Where Costco competes with them in other locales, they are much better. With the recent management team concentrating on things that don't really matter, the basics of their success has been lost. We're getting ready to pull the plug on this long term...

What an atrocious experience with the GE warranty, Costco warranty, and Costco Concierge on repair for my GE Dryer (purchased 4/2020) that stopped working. I contacted Costco Concierge in which they contacted GE and scheduled an appointment for 10/27/2021. I am a nurse at a hospital and I have to request time off which goes through a process to get approved. On the day of the appointment 10/27 the repairman calls me, and states “oh I wanted to make sure you were home and how are you going to pay for this, check or credit card?” I said I am under 2 year warranty from the manufacturer and I also purchased a extra 3 year warranty from Costco, which I paid over $300 for. Repairman said, nope you have to pay because it’s a one year warranty. I said, no, my documents state 2 year warranty from manufacturer as per Costco. It would be false advertisement on behalf of Costco if what the repairman and GE representative are telling me is true, it would be grounds for a law suit. Called Costco Concierge and the Costco rep stated she does not understand why GE would say that. Costco rep called GE representative in which the GE rep said to the Costco rep, “GE warranty is one year.” I asked the Costco concierge representative that I would like to speak to the Costco concierge manager which was Marisa. Marisa again called GE representative and received the same information, which GE rep transfer to another rep. I will never buy any major appliance at Costco EVER!!! Costco and GE warranty staff are NOT on the same page. No one in GE & Costco knows the policies, protocols, nor do they provide the customer accurate information. I have been a Costco member for over 10 years and this was an atrocious and a nightmare to go through! I lost an entire day of work, and I was on the phone for over 3 hours without resolution. My dryer was...