Costco Wholesale — Local services in College Station

WOWA!! My 1st visit to Costco. Got everything on my list and then some. Placing membership was so easy, even for a non tech person. Got my picture and off I went.

I've had a Sam's Club card since 1983. They never offered a Veteran's Discount for signing up. Costco offers a yearly membership discount to Veterans.

After some shopping I needed to eat so I went to the snack bar. Costco doesn't have help for this and my sugar was crashing. Hadn't ate all day. No employees on this side to order, and the self help kiosk looks simple, but doesn't take temporary cards for new members. Another customer tried to help me and a half dozen times later, people behind me were getting angry I wouldn't wrap up paying so they can get in line. A nice lady named Alice paid for my hot dog and wished me Merry Christmas and gave me a hug. So sweet, passing customer care from a stranger, but big FAIL for COSTCO for new customers.

COSTCO did have the same setup as Sam's Club but different items I've never seen at Sam's. So my basket got upgraded to a push cart in automotive before I crossed over to the second half of the store. By the time I finished, they were closing and I was teetering a balancing act with items falling off before I could reach checkout.

Employees were friendly and helpful telling me where things were so I could find them on my list before they close. Customers were equally courteous in the isles.

Checking out was a breeze. The strong young man and his assistant young woman worked swiftly ringing me up. My back was killing me having recent back surgery, so they did all the heavy lifting. I do wish for those needing help loading the car they would help you at checkout. Sam's Club does the same. You have to push the heavy cart to the door and wait. No one showed up outside to help me. So I struggled to my car and unloaded half before I saw a strong young man collecting baskets. He came over and helped me finish, earning my respect and a cash tip to boot. By then I was screaming in pain and so appreciative for his help.

Compare Sam's Club to Costco cash back benefits, Sam's is better hands down. They DO offer a Veteran Discount if you ask for it. So does Costco but Sam's only gives it once a lifetime and Costco yearly. According to Costco pamphlet, Costco only gives you cash back for gas for 1 year (4%) and after the first year only gives you 1% on gas. Sam's Club gives 5% on cash back in gas every year! Also, in store purchases Costco offers 2% cash back, but Sam's Club offers 3% in store. Both Sam's and Costco offers 3% back on restaurants, and both offer 1% back on everything else. Sam's Club offers MasterCard and Costco offers Visa. Sam's Club serves Coca-Cola and Costco serves Pepsi-Cola.

When I got home I noticed from Costco there were at least 3 items I was charged full price for that was on sale. About $38. overcharge to me + tax, so I'm left wondering if there's more overcharges? So when I go back, I will walk the isles for 47 items sold to verify what I was charged was what the price tag shows on the items.

Loved Costco, loved the products, love the people and it is closer to my house. But paying 5% on gas and 3% on in store purchases at Sam's Club is far better that Costco 4% and 2% cash back. And you get your cash every month at Sam's Club but only once a year at Costco by a mailed check. I'd rather have cash in hand and not wonder if Costco shorted you on cash back as they overcharged on purchases. With Sam's your purchase is recent and easy to verify the monthly amount cash back due to you. Costco expects you to trust them they are giving you the correct amount once a year paid by check. Sorry Costco, Sam's Club beats you hands down on this one too.

Otherwise, the stores are mainly the same. I like some of Costco products better, can get a yearly military discount. But Sam's Club offers better cash back discounts for life. (Unlike Costco 4% on up to $7,000 in gas, then 1% every year after). So you decide. I want cash back now and higher cash back rewards with Sam's Club. The rest is...

Final edit: also, they're so annoying to deal with if you're disabled at all. Meeting the bare minimum legal standard for spots and available disabled carts is not accessibility. Come on. Y'all should know by now that not all disabilities are visible and that it's better to have extra parking spots and accessible carts available... just in case. ~ I previously wrote a review a few months back (mid-August 2022) for the COLLEGE STATION Costco. Somehow it changed to a Cypress Costco review. Very odd. Oct. 28, 2022: This location is pretty annoying. They have associates at self-checkout, which is not inherently an issue to me. What is a problem is that there are associates who go ahead and start scanning your items for you. They scanned a $40 item TWICE and then couldn't remember what they had and had not scanned after removing the duplicate scan. Upon exit, the receipt was reviewed thoroughly along with the cart full of items. This is also okay; when you sign up and start shopping at wholesale stores, you know to expect this, but it becomes an issue when they start to question you and your experience and stop you for a ridiculous amount of time to pilfer through your cart. The lady was condescending and asked if self-checkout had been used; yes, it had, but we mentioned that we did not scan the items, but rather one of their own employees. After being led to a counter, we were asked if we still wanted an item that was found unscanned. Of course we did, but we didn't know it hadn't been scanned since we were not the one in charge of the scanning. When we brought up the frustation--including choosing self-checkout at the beginning to not deal with the annoying, overbearing employees as much as possible--we were told "well, everyone's human!" Cool. We are human, too, and have every right to be upset about this. Remove the self-checkout if you're not going to allow... the person themself... to check out.... there are other anti-theft measures that can be implemented that don't absolutely annoy the life out of well-paying customers. Poor execution from the beginning at this Costco.

Previous review (that somehow changed to the Cypress location?): The great: prices. Hard-to-find Pokémon products currently! Great selection. One specific employee who was folding clothes this evening from about 7:30-7:45. Helped us without us needing to ask. On top of her game. Another male associate who helped us lift a bunch of Pokémon card tins to grab the ones we wanted. Also helped us without asking. The good: speedy self checkout (unless there’s a line), wine selection, groceries The ugly: employees. Since opening day, I’ve only had a positive interaction with TWO employees-I wish I remembered her name; she’s a bit older than most of the other employees and was so eager to help me. HOWEVER, the others are incredibly condescending. Sure, it’s 15 minutes before close, but that doesn’t mean you have to be weird about carts being on one side and members on the other (we didn’t know; we’d never paid cash before? NOT TO MENTION, I, with two degrees in writing/english and studies in linguistics, could hardly make sense of the sign after looking at it for a good minute. I didn’t even know there was a sign.). It wasn’t a courteous “hey, just so you know!” Instead, it was a 🤨 MEMBERS ON THAT SIDE AND CARTS ON THE OTHERS. Bro, B/CS has not had a Costco before this. You’ve been open for a month. Calm down. We did self-checkout at first; one purchase with card and then the aforementioned cash transaction. The employee in self-checkout was rude and condescending as well. Stood in front of our cart and explained, in detail, that we needed to pay for the other, cash, transaction at the other lanes. This much, we knew. She also blocked the cart; we couldn’t even really turn it around. Made me want to go back to Sam’s. We didn’t meet them with that kind of...

My recent experience with Costco has been a mix of extreme frustration and rare exceptional service. Over the past month, I have had to contact customer service 7-8 times due to various issues with my first order, none of which were my fault. I had to repackage my purchase, use my own gas money to drive to Costco, wait in line to return the item, and wait additional time for the correct order to arrive. The misinformation and rudeness from customer service representatives, made me feel unvalued.

Even after they reviewed the call and admitted I was treated rudely, they remained unhelpful despite the significant hassle I endured.

To clarify, I never received the $30 gift card that was part of a promotion for signing up for Costco, and was misinformed multiple times about returning the golf club set I purchased.

Given the numerous challenges, I felt that the compensation offered was inadequate, and I was prepared to return my items and demand a refund of my membership.

However, the only redeeming factor in this entire ordeal was Darren, the Membership Manager at the new College Station location.

While he may not have been able to meet all my needs immediately, his tremendous effort to be fair and his empathy made a significant difference. Darren's respectful and understanding approach during this nightmare scenario was a stark contrast to my previous interactions.

In summary, while my overall experience with Costco's customer service was disappointing, Darren's exceptional service and dedication to resolving my issues prevented me from walking away from Costco entirely.

I sincerely hope that Costco can address the shortcomings in their customer service to prevent others from facing similar...