Costco Wholesale — Local services in Irvine

I’ve been coming to this location for years since its the closest to my house, but yesterday would be the last time. I must share my experience. I come here with my girlfriend probably every week, we came in around 6:15 PM on Monday may 18. We have a costco card under her name, we wanted to add my name to it but they wanted rental agreements papers or utility bills so we just kept it under her name since we always just go together. So at the entrance we realized that her mask wasn’t with her, so she decided to stay in the car and I’ll grab what we want. I took the card showed it to the employee at the door and went in. I just wanted to buy a cake, so I had 1 item. I went to the cashier showed her the Membership card, she asked “ is she here?” I said yes but she’s at the entrance because she doesn’t have a mask. So the cashier asked me to bring her in to continue the transaction, “she said they’ll give her a mask at the door”I told her to keep my item as I’ll go quickly and come back. We came in without them giving her a mask even when we asked for one, we went to the cashier and imagine what she’s asking my girlfriend “ where’s your mask?” I told her they didn’t give us one, then I was like where’s my item? Another employee grabbed it to take it back. So they took 5 minutes to bring it back. We showed her the membership, I was about to pay, the cashier tells me you can’t pay if your name is isn’t on the membership. I forgot the female employee name, but I remember the guy’s name which was Jim. Jim was very rude and abusive in the way he was talking to us. I told him that we come here all the time and I always pay, like 100s of times. I asked him if its a new policy, he said no the system wouldn’t let your payment go through anyways. I was like how come I did it before? He said that’s because no one caught it! As if we wear stealing in the past that no one caught us. The way he was talking was very bad, that’s my point in here, I respect any policy but I don’t accept this rudeness and treating us badly. I honestly asked to choose the right wordings and speak properly. Thanked him and left without buying anything. This is my first negative review to anyone, I used to see s lot of incidents between employees and customers but I used to understand the pressure those employees has. But it’s totally unacceptable to treat anyone like this. I just feel sorry for him. I’m not coming back to this location, I prefer driving to jamboree rather than having such experience in which I saw many people...

Walking into Costco Wholesale is like stepping into a masterclass in efficiency, value, and real-world usefulness. There’s no fluff, no academic nonsense, no overthinking. It’s straightforward: you pay a membership fee, and in return, you get quality goods in bulk, fair prices, and a level of customer respect that most institutions can’t even fake. The layout is predictable, the staff are helpful without being fake-friendly, and returns are hassle-free. Need five pounds of almonds, a new mattress, a laptop, and a rotisserie chicken that slaps? Done. No drama. Costco respects your time and your intelligence — which is more than I can say for UC Davis.

That place is a shrine to overhyped mediocrity. It masquerades as a hub of innovation while churning out groupthink, bureaucracy, and status-chasing nonsense. Want to waste your prime years in endless admin loops, performative meetings, and soul-sucking academic politics? UC Davis is the place. You’ll pay tens of thousands for the privilege of being lectured by people who care more about their LinkedIn profiles than teaching you anything useful. Most students graduate with debt, burnout, and degrees that sound good on paper but do jack all in the real world.

Contrast that with Costco — where you leave with actual value in your cart and zero illusions. There’s no pretending, no inflated ego, and no elitist gatekeeping. Costco isn’t trying to impress you with branding or jargon. It just delivers. Whether you’re a family on a budget or a small business owner stocking up, you walk out with real goods and real savings — not vague credentials and institutional gaslighting.

Costco doesn’t need to prove anything because it earns trust with results. Meanwhile, UC Davis lives off reputation, coasting on name recognition while milking tuition and pumping out bureaucrats and box-checkers. It’s an overpriced, slow-moving, self-important machine that hasn’t earned the loyalty it demands.

At the end of the day, Costco gives you what you need — and UC Davis gives you what they think you should want. One is grounded in the real world. The other is a fantasy that charges you rent.

Costco wins...

They need to train their employees better and provide BETTER customer service. Just experienced the worst customer service. My mother in-law and husband are on the Costco account. Per company policy there can only be 2 people on the account. I called ahead of time to ask how can I shop at Costco since I’m not on the account. We just moved to CA and right now it is IMPOSSIBLE for my husband to come with me or for him to shop at Costco because of his new work schedule which is only temporarily. Plus we can’t remove anyone from the account because we have credit cards linked to it. Sooo when I called they told me that my husband had to buy a Costco cash card for me to use. After waiting in line, I was “helped” by the rudest cashier ever named MARIA. Even her supervisor named Jim was not helpful at all. I tried to pay with my husbands credit card even showed them my ID to show that we have the same last name but said I couldn’t use it. I have used his card in the past without any issue. So I tried to use my discover card (Costco only accepts Visa) so then I was like “ok I will just pay with Apple Pay but I have to go outside to charge my phone.” They voided the transaction but the cashier Maria never gave me my Costco cash card which had a balance of $30. Came back and was helped by Diane (sweetest most wonderful manager ever). It was so upsetting to find out I could have used my husbands credit card she even told JIM the supervisor that he needed to train his girls better and that they SHOULD have let me used my husbands cc. I spent 30 mins trying to freaking pay because people don’t know how to do...