Costco Wholesale — Local services in Lawrence Township

Hands down one of the absolute worst retail (or wholesale) experiences, EVER!

This is a warehouse that Costco corporate needs to visit undercover to witness the shakedown that is happening at the membership desk. Holy Hell, it is bad!

My husband and I have an executive membership where we currently live in PA. I was back home in NJ visiting my son who did not have a membership. We decided to go load up on stuff at Costco and get him a basic membership while we were there. Right from the get go it was as if the people at the customer service desk were trying to offload a lemon of a car at a sketchy used car lot. The first associate began pushing us to get the executive membership. We tried explaining it is only for my son and he won't be using it enough to make it worthwhile. She would not let up. When I started being more firm and pushing back saying, no, we only want the basic and that is that, the associate next to her got involved and started touting the executive membership.

At this point my son was so ticked off he just wanted to leave and put Costco in the rearview mirror. It was incredible. It was so rude, so pushy. I mean, I'm from NJ and know how to handle attitude but this was honestly the craziest experience I ever had in any store. My son's girlfriend is Spanish speaking and was giving us the play by play of associates putting the hard squeeze, in Spanish, to two men standing at the desk next to us. It was relentless.

Just when I thought our initial associate had finally caught on and was honoring the fact that we only wanted a basic membership, she brought in another associate, the manager perhaps, who must have been seen as "the big gun." She was a woman with a bigger attitude asking why don't we want the executive membership. As if there was something wrong with us. As if anyone who buys the basic membership is crap and has no business in Costco. Don't flatter yourselves, Costco! It was exactly like a car dealership when they go to get the manager to try to negotiate the deal and wear you down. It didn't work on me.

I told them it's a basic membership or we are leaving, that's it. They finally relented, filled out the needed info and sent me on my way without a thank you.

On another note, the original associate also got annoyed when she informed me that she was going to leave my credit card info on my son's membership. I told her no, I am only buying the membership and after that he is on his own. She kept pushing, I resisted, and she did not like that one bit. For some reason she really wanted my credit card info connected to the membership.

Despite my son getting ticked and wanting to leave several times, I told him he wouldn't have to deal with the people at the desk after this so let's bite the bullet and just do it, which we did.

A horrible experience. Seriously corporate Costco ...get in there and clean house! Those associates were all very poor representatives of your brand (unless pushy, disrespectful, and rude is the...

Terrible customer service. I’ve worked in retail for 9 years so I understand you’re supposed to promote/sell store credit cards or similar services. In this case, it’s the Costco Black Card vs the Gold Star. Went in to get a Gold Star card and the lady told me three times about the other card after I repeatedly told her no. She finally started the process only to bring it up 2 more times. I raised my voice to let her know that I heard her and that I don’t want it and then she finally stopped. If she had common sense she would’ve stopped after the first 3 times. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Looking back however , I think she was stalling because she didn’t know how to sign me up. She called another person over, “Leslie”, only for her to once again repeatedly urge, not ask, but urge me to sign up for the other card that is twice the amount. Again I had to raise my voice (I guess that’s what they like?) and though she seemed surprised within seconds she switched to interrogating me about what I buy at Costco. I was about to ask her why the hell that’s any of her business but my dad jumped in and started making things up. 😂 After all they had wasted our time why not waste theirs? After letting her, “Leslie”, to believe we would sign up we told her no again. During this process she explained it poorly and even took out her phone calculator to do basic math which she still got wrong.😅😭Eventually she just told us that the Gold Star card was a waste of money. That was the only smart thing she said the entire time. After all of this they called another lady (shift lead? Manager?) and within seconds she said that my dad couldn’t be on the card because he was on my brothers. I would have just added my mom instead but after the terrible service and Leslie’s great revelation that the membership was a waste a money we simply decided to leave. Oh! One more thing! The first lady (didn’t catch her name) had asked me to put my Visa card on file when she initially started the process. I asked her why and she seemed shocked that I asked that she literally removed her mask and asked me again to which I responded “why” again. She hesitated to reply (again I don’t think she knew what she was doing) and after some stammering she explained that they have to put it on file initially for autopay, but that I could have it removed afterwards either at customer service or on the app. This Costco really needs to re-train (if they’ve even had training) their customer service. Although from the looks of the physical store and recent reviews, they need to re-train all of management or replace them. Overcrowding is definitely a consistent issue. Anyway I’m glad I won’t be wasting my money or time...

As a lifelong Costco member and shareholder, I’ve always trusted the company for its service, quality, and customer care. I’ve purchased two sets of tires from Costco over the years because of that trust. Unfortunately, my recent experience has been extremely disappointing.

The most recent set of tires I purchased developed an issue with the back left tire losing pressure. I scheduled an appointment and dropped off my car the day before. When I picked it up, the center staff couldn’t tell me what was done to my car or tires. According to the service sheet, they had installed all four new tires. Initially, the tire pressure looked fine—but it deflated again shortly after. Costco said they “ probably” installed 4 new tires. The tires also don’t appear to be new, and I have the same problem. This is pretty much in tune with other reviews.

I scheduled another appointment and attempted to drop off my keys the day before, but was told there’s no system in place to hold them overnight—which, while inconvenient, I accepted despite the fact that I have dropped it off multiple times the night before. However, when I later asked the closing manager for details about what was done, she first said she would check, then came back and told me there was no record of my previous appointment. She also claimed I had booked the wrong type of appointment.

This doesn’t add up. I have the receipt from that service, which clearly shows the date of service along with the original purchase paperwork. I also remember checking in using my membership. The manager mentioned they always take notes, but none could be found for my visit.

Overall, this has been a frustrating and unacceptable experience. I paid a considerable amount for these tires—which weren’t even my first choice, but the only option Costco offered at the time. I trusted Costco’s reputation and warranty. The team made a strong effort to upsell me on both the tires and the Executive Membership, promising that I’d receive top-tier service, benefits, and support.

Instead, I’ve received confusion, poor communication, and no resolution. I’m genuinely shocked at how poorly this has been handled, especially from a company I’ve supported...