Costco Wholesale — Local services in New Orleans

I purchased a set of four tires from Costco for my vehicle. This was the first set of tires since I bought the vehicle new. Sitting outside the service area I heard a lot of banging. They were hammering the air power wrench off of each lug. I noticed all of the technicians were watching the tech working on my car. My vehicle was the center of attention even though there were other cars in the bays. They noticed me watching them. No one came out to tell me there was a problem. I asked was there problem . They said they were having a problem getting the lugs on. After the tires were finally installed I was told by the installer they had a problem with securing the lugs back on. I asked if the were securely on, "he said let me show you." Again he had to hammer the torque wrench off. I asked if I was to get a flat would I be able to get the tire off he said "PROBABLY NOT." I called the manager of the store and he said that all he could do was replace the lugs. I took my car to another tire center because after the abuse my new vehicle took I refused to let them work on it. The tire center who replaced the lugs said all the STUDS/STEMS were stripped. I reported this to the Costco store manager and he said he could not do anything and that I would have to come into the store to file a complaint and corporate would contact me. Corporate contacted me and told me to get an estimate for replacing the STUDS/STEMS. I got an estimated from the dealership who I purchased the vehicle from and submitted it to the representative of Costco corporate office who contacted me. She said the estimate was too much. She requested that the dealership take off the tires and send pictures of the damage. The dealership could not honor that request because if they remove the tires and they would not got back on the vehicle they had no room at their facility to store my vehicle until Costco made a decision on the repair. The dealership stated that driving with stripped studs is dangerous. I informed the Costco representative of this. She followed up with a call to the dealership and was told the same thing. She stated that without pictures of the damage Costco will NOT REPAIR MY DAMAGED VEHICLE. The only option offered was she wanted me to bring my vehicle back to Costco for them to repair. Dealership is who I trust at this point. After the damage done by them this was not an option for me. Now I am stuck with stripped studs and a vehicle that is unsafe to drive. Costco could have simply told the dealership to go ahead with removing the the tires, take pictures, send them in, and repair the vehicle after seeing the pictures. This could have been done the same day. No compassion for the customer. The fault was Costcos'. I will be cancelling...

This evening, en route to one child's sporting event and with another child waiting for me to pick them up from school, I realized I had a flat tire.

That launched a series of events that a few hours later, led me to ask the tow truck driver who arrived to take me and my car to the New Orleans Costco's Tire Center. The tire folks there always do a good job and are super helpful, so it seemed the best option over the dealership.

I thought I would just leave my car in Costco's lot overnight and make arrangements in the morning to have the tire replaced. When we pulled up to the warehouse at 8:15 p.m. in the dark and rain, Costco was still open, with 15 minutes left until closing.

I hustled to the tire center counter to ask where might be the best place to leave the car so that they could work on it in the morning. But the employees I interacted with surprised me by saying they could just look at it now, even though I could tell they were tired and had been preparing to end their work day.

Chris McNeal rolled up the garage door and stepped out in the rain, crossed the parking lot to look at my car as it was being unloaded from the tow truck.

The tire was unsalvageable and had been separated from the rim. My efforts to repair it with the car manufacturer's tire repair kit left it dripping with white liquid goo.

"I think we have that tire in stock," McNeal told me.

"And you think you can change it tonight?" I asked, completely blindsided by a possibility that 10 seconds before I didn’t even consider might be an option.

"Yeah," he said, like it was no big deal.

He and Darrick Martinez removed and replaced my tire. After I got in the car, McNeal made sure my tire pressure measurement was recalibrated in the car settings, even though he had to stand in the rain outside my window to do it. I drove away from the Costco around 8:45 p.m.

It might sound like hyperbole to say customer service was extraordinary, but honestly, for me, it was. It meant I would not have to juggle alternate ways to get my kids to school in the morning. It meant I would not have to break away from work the next day to deal with the tire when they opened at 10 a.m. I would not have to call an Uber or ask my mom for a ride. It lifted a load that – at that moment, on this day — was feeling pretty heavy in a week in which I was single parenting and working full time.

I just want to acknowledge and thank McNeal and Martinez for their kindness and for going out of their way to help me. It means so much more than just a changed tire.

Sincerely, Rebecca...

Spent about an hour in Costco this morning and loaded up about $200 worth of items including a bunch of steak and wine for a dinner I planned to cook tonight. When I went to checkout, the cashier called over the manager b/c my driver's license had clear scotch tape on it. (I tape my small gym membership card to the back of my driver's license so I don't lose it.) I am 38 years old, bald, with a beard that has good deal of grey. The manager stated my license had been "altered" and thus, it was no longer "relevant" as an ID. As such, he would not allow me to purchase the wine. Of course, I challenged him on it, as his position was ridiculous. The DOB portion of the license was not covered nor did it have any tape on it. In fact, only the bottom half of the back of the ID was covered (and that with the gym membership). The manager was insistent that he had taken a course, and that he learned that my ID was no longer any good, and advised that I could be taken to jail if I was pulled over by the police, and that he and his cashier could be arrested and fined if they sold me the wine. The guy was a total jerk and ruined my day. FYI, I am a lawyer in this state and know for a fact that the manager was totally wrong. I went to customer service and explained that they would not accept my license. The customer service guy looked at my license and was like "What??! Who wouldn't take this??!" He clearly thought it was ridiculous. But Mr. Manager came strutting over and reasserted himself. I let him know he'd lost a customer thanks to his utter failure to employ any common sense. On the way out, a employee who had witnessed the event let me know that the manager is question had a reputation among the employees as being an a**hole....