Costco Wholesale — Local services in Eden Prairie

My kids and I headed over to Costco in Eden Prairie to pick up some groceries and look for the newest Squishmallows that had just come out. Upon not finding them, I asked a nearby Costco employee (Don) if he knew if they had any. He said he didn't think so - and since we had already looked all over - my kids and I thanked him and headed to the registers.

Don caught us about 5 minutes later, just as we were about to check out, and told us their inventory did indeed indicate they had some. We followed him to the various places he thought they may be, but we couldn't find them anywhere. He asked a couple other employees, but nobody had seen them either. I asked if it might be something that had come in but not yet been put out on the floor. That is when Don went into the back and began searching the pallets upon pallets of inbound merchandise. A few minutes later he pulled the unopened pallet of Squishmallows out and let my kids look through them and it made my daughter's night - she got the big Boba Tea one.

Had Don not done this my kids would have been a bit grumpy with me (since I assured them there were some there before we went) but ultimately it would not have affected anything - I would still be going to Costco my usual once per week. Even after going above and beyond, my pattern will remain the same. But I am writing this review because Don impressed me.

I didn't know Don was the General Manager or that he had been with Costco since 1990 (at least I believe that is what his badge said) when I approached him while he was doing some product facing on an endcap. He didn't have to do that extra work to see if they did in fact have any in stock - we wouldn't have known otherwise. He could have handed us off to a number of other employees at many different points - he didn't. He didn't have to have someone check us out at a special register since we left our spot in line earlier - I did decline this offer and we waited in the regular line since we had already received so much special treatment already. He didn't have to go over and above, because nowadays nobody expects that.

Almost every GM I've ever known would not have been humble enough to be facing products or walking customers around the store. I don't know very many people who have been with a company as long as Don has and have not become jaded or at least dialed back their effort. I don't write reviews, but I felt I should this...

The lines are ok, if you can get there early enough and not dawdle.

The main issue I have is the customer service at this location. I got in line to check out and the person in front of me had been covering the entire check-out area with two very large items. I didn't have time to unload my cart until he picked them up. However, the check out people scolded me and said, "you are really supposed to unload your cart, this is not our job" because everything was not ready to go as soon as he picked his things up. Normally I do put my things on the belt, but when the person in front of you is covering the entire check-out area it's kind of difficult to move that fast. It didn't take us that long to place my items up there, so I didn't think that was necessary. Also, I went very early, as soon as they opened so that I wouldn't have to deal with the lines... I've never had anyone in Cub Foods or any other grocery store yell at me like that, and I thought costco was supposed to be known for its superior customer service. As I said, this wasn't even a busy time but their annoyance was made loud and clear.

I also went to the pharmacy and asked for something to be ordered. They told me it would probably be a day or so, and took down my information and said they would call. A week and a half later, I was still waiting. Finally I called and inquired about the product. "Yes, we have it. What's your name?" I told them and they said, "Oh yes, we didn't have a phone number to go with your name."

I said that that was strange because I specifically remembered giving it to the young lady behind the desk and he said, "Oh. huh." and hung up. No apology, not even telling me that it was unusual for his department, and completely dismissive of me.

I have been a very good Costco customer in the past (Brooklyn Park) but the people at this location act like they are so much busier than they really are, and the pharmacy people are clearly irresponsible. Who would want them in charge of their medications? Not me.

I will be canceling my membership very shortly. Why should I make special plans to go to Costco to be treated like the gum on someone's shoe?

I think that whoever does the hiring does not expect the employees to stick...

Have been coming to this Costco for 3 years now, but in the past few months it has gone rapidly downhill, especially on the self-checkout. On 3 of the last 4 visits when I've used self-checkout, it has slowed me down so much with issues with the machinery that I would have been faster lining up for regular checkout. I get it, stuff breaks down, so the occasional inconvenience is understandable, but this is almost every time now. Yesterday was definitely the worst experience though, and it was entirely due to the staff member overseeing the self-checkouts. I scanned an item and placed it in the area where it should be placed, but the machine did not recognize it had been placed there. The only option for me to be able to continue scanning was for me to select the 'request assistance' button, so I did that. The woman who was overseeing this area was busy cleaning a checkout nearby but did not look up until I had been waiting a while. I caught her eye and she shouted across to me: 'You need to scan it.' I told her I had scanned it already but it wouldn't accept it. Then she said I had to place it in the area where scanned items go, so I told her I had done that too. She remained over the other side of the checkouts so her final shout was: 'Don't you want the item then'? I responded that yes, I did want the item, and yes, I had scanned it and placed it where it should go. Only then did she put down her cleaning materials and walk over to me. Her entire attitude was very unhelpful and this seems to be representative of the attitude of many of the staff on the self-checkouts. I have had some speak to me as if it's my fault that something doesn't have a bar code that will scan, and that they are fed up with dealing with all these issues. I have started to shop in other Costcos recently, but it's frustrating as this one had been my preferred store. I come back occasionally to see if things have improved but they haven't. No idea what has happened as before the past few months I had never had a single issue with self-checkout at this store. Please improve your staff training, especially on the...