Costco Wholesale — Local services in Austin

I rarely write reviews, but I felt compelled to leave a zero-star review every time I exited this warehouse. What on earth is going on in this place? Everyone I've interacted with at the customer service desk and on the floor has been rude and disrespectful. This isn't just an occasional incidence; it seems to have become the culture of this company since the pandemic, and I assume it's due to a labor shortage. All the companies are putting the work on a pedestal, so they won't have a labor shortage. The workers' unwillingness to help and their rudeness are unbelievable. One time, I was second in line at customer service for a return. The two female customer service representatives were talking to each other about their personal stuff during and after the customer left. They just kept talking, not even acknowledging the next person in line for at least three minutes. The guy in front of me turned around looked at me & mouthed "WTH." I nodded at him in agreement. There are always at least two, sometimes three, workers standing at the end of the self-checkout. I don't know why they are there. I assume they are monitoring if a customer is stealing. They are always loudly chatting, completely unaware that they are at work and that there are customers around. Once, I had to say "excuse me" for them to move away so I could get my cart past them. When there's a long line at the self-checkout, there's always a worker standing by the first customer in line, shouting "NEXT" to get the line moving. I don't understand why the worker is shouting. The worker could simply let the next person in line know that a checkout is available, instead of shouting loudly to everyone. Once, I was the first in line, and the worker standing by me waved his arm and yelled "NEXT." I didn't move because the lady who finished scanning was still putting things in her cart and taking her time to put her cards back in her purse. So, I didn't move forward, and the worker waved his arm and yelled at me a second time, "NEXT." I said to him, "Stop shouting. I am right here waiting. Can't you see she is still there? Where do you want me to go?!" They confiscated the self-scanning guns, claiming they were stolen, and refused to assist with scanning while holding the device. They just stood there, watching us unload and reload. How would it save anyone's time? When I asked a worker why they weren't helping to scan the items, since they were shouting at the customers and wanted us to leave the store quickly, and they were holding the scanning gun, she responded loudly, "THIS IS SELF-CHECKOUT," and walked away. If those people there just monitor customer stealing, they should wear "security" uniforms instead of customer service uniforms. I had a terrible experience with customer service at a store today. I couldn't find the item I was looking for, so I asked a female worker for help. She told me "I don't know, we move things daily. do we even have it" so I called the front desk to ask about the item, the person said it was in stock and there were lots of them. However, when I asked where to find them, she responded with the same unhelpful answer. Another employee I asked also gave me the same unhelpful response. Eventually, one of them went to talk to the other person, and the person walked by and handed me the item without saying a word and kept walking away. It was the item I was looking for, but not the brand I wanted, and I didn't even get a chance to find out where the item was located. This store's staffs are unhelpful, rude, and disrespectful. It seems like they believe that low prices excuse poor service. They have the lowest customer service quality, and it's evident in the kind of people they are hiring to compensate for the lower prices. I don't know if the company owner was aware of the situation or simply didn't care, as it has been like...

A supervisor named Elizabeth (short with black hair) at the Williams Cannon Costco in South Austin was unhelpful, lied about not being able to look up my international membership, and actively blocked another employee from processing a valid exception. Her behavior was petty, unprofessional, and inconsistent with Costco’s customer service standards.

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Full Review – Unprofessional Supervisor “Elizabeth” at Williams Cannon Location

I’ve been a loyal Costco member since 2011 and have always appreciated the service—until a frustrating and frankly baffling experience at the Williams Cannon Drive location in South Austin on July 17 around 8:15pm.

When I went to check out, the system showed that my international membership had just expired. The first person I spoke to at the register was a supervisor named Elizabeth (short, with black hair). Rather than offering help or exploring options, she immediately claimed—falsely—that she couldn’t look up international memberships and told me there was nothing she could do. She then directed me to Member Services for a new membership.

Thankfully, a team member at Member Services was incredibly helpful (Broomes). After understanding the situation, he offered a one-time exception so I could pay for my items that evening while my membership was renewed by the primary card holder in Mexico the next day. I was grateful for his understanding and effort to resolve the issue.

However, when we returned to the registers so he could process the exception, Elizabeth took an unprofessional turn. She began hiding behind a register and doing hand motions to him not to go through with the exception—not because it wasn’t allowed, but simply because she didn’t want to. He spoke to her and returned looking embarrassed and informed me he would no longer be able to help, despite his earlier assurance because she needed to swipe her card for the approval and she was refusing to do so.

Rather than communicating directly or acting in a leadership capacity, Elizabeth continued to hide and avoid responsibility while creating unnecessary roadblocks. Because of her behavior, other employees had to stay past closing to help me open a NEW membership just to complete my purchase which I would then have to cancel the next day once my original membership was activated again.

Elizabeth’s actions were not only petty but completely unaligned with the service values I’ve come to expect from Costco. I hope management reviews this incident and ensures that customer-facing supervisors are empowered to support—not sabotage—solutions that their own team is offering in good faith.

—A longtime member disappointed by one supervisor’s astonishing lack of...

If they treat an Executive member this bad, I can only imagine how the other members that left negative reviews were treated. This is the worst Costco Tire Center I have visited in my 15+ years of being a member. Incredibly rude customer service from the Costco tire center. One time, I was already waiting in line with my daughter to return a car battery, but had a quick question to ask on whether I should return the battery at the Tire Center or at the Customer Service Returns desk. I left my daughter and the battery where we were waiting in line to go ask my question. Sam, at the tire center desk, was very irritable seeing me approach him. He completely ignored my presence and then when I politely drew his attention he rudely said there is a line. I told him I’m already waiting in line but had a quick question so I could decide if it made sense to continue waiting in line or leave. He was able to quickly answer my simple question; however this could have been done without the unnecessary rude attitude. Thankfully Sams Club carries a well known brand and installs it as well, unlike Costco’s generic car batteries with no installation service. Recently, I had another very unpleasant experience. This was with Josh. I was a flat tire walk-in. My vehicle does not have a spare, so I didn’t mind waiting 2-4 hours for the tire repair and rotation service. I came in at 1pm and at 5pm, after so many hours waiting, I asked for an update. There was another person at the desk (Josie) and when I told her I had been waiting since 1pm, she seemed genuinely shocked and taken aback. Josie told me that she did not understand why they did not use one of the available appointments to work on my car sooner. I think she felt bad I was waiting for so long so she checked for an available appointment and found one for me immediately for the same day. This would have been helpful if Josh would have suggested and made that appointment right from the start, especially if they had them available. But then again, now even with the confirmed appointment time that Costco texted me, my vehicle was not worked on. Surprisingly, even after an hour passed after the confirmed appointment it was still not worked on. Overall, I ended up waiting 7 hours. I had to return the milk I had purchased because it was sitting out of the cooler for so long. When they finally serviced my vehicle around closing time 08.07pm, I was not even called to be informed that it was completed. Costco needs to fire or retrain the tire center management and hire associates with proper work ethics. What is the point of buying tires at Costco with warranty if they treat you like an afterthought when you...