Costco Wholesale — Local services in New York

I have been a regular at this Costco for a while, but I've decided to stop going there and leave a 1-star review due to my recent experiences. While this store has a decent variety of products and well-organized shelves compared to other Costcos, the inconsistent customer service has left a particularly negative impression, especially from the employees with poor attitudes, which has deterred me and other customers from returning.

Let me provide a few examples. Firstly, in recent months, I've frequently been approached by more than one Costco employee asking if I want to upgrade to an Executive Membership. While some employees politely walk away when I decline, others are overly aggressive in their sales tactics, significantly impacting my shopping experience.

Secondly, the return counter often has only 1-2 windows open, resulting in long wait times, while other customer service windows are exclusively for new membership sign-ups and can't assist with returns. If some service windows are only for new memberships, they should be labeled as such—perhaps as 'New Customer Acquisition Window'—rather than misleadingly as 'Customer Service Window.' In my opinion, the best way to attract more members is to improve service quality, not by employing aggressive sales tactics or prioritizing potential members.

Thirdly, while some Costco employees are knowledgeable about the location of common items like seafood and are willing to help you find them, others are completely uninformed and unwilling to ask their colleagues for assistance, which is unhelpful.

Lastly, the attitude of the security staff at the entrance and exit varies greatly. As the first and last impression customers have while shopping, their behavior is crucial. On one occasion after returning items, I was accused by the security staff of potentially stealing my own belongings simply because Costco happens to sell similar items. Even after explaining that the items were mine, they didn't trust me like other stores might but instead called a supervisor to follow a formal procedure. This made me feel distrusted and caused delays at the exit, inconveniencing other customers.

I can't understand why the staff at the door would be so suspicious of customers, insisting on cumbersome procedures that might reduce theft but ultimately harm the shopping experience and the company's brand image. It's truly...

In my journey to find the best grocery store rotisserie chicken, by FAR the most requested place has been Costco. Costco this, Costco that.

I used to live off Costco chicken when I was a kid, as my dad would buy 2 and cut them up for the week, but I havent had one in YEARS. It’s been priced at $4.99 for a whole bird since 2009, which is crazy. Shoutout to Costco for never backing down from inflation.

My comments were flooded with some variation of “oh this isn’t even a competition Costco is gonna win.” I always kind of questioned these individuals, because I remembered it being a solid chicken but just bland. The way I judge is purely off taste, taking out the pricing of chickens to the best of my ability. This journey is not “best bang for your buck chicken,” it’s a journey of best chicken.

Nonetheless, I walked into this PACKED Costco in Long Island City with my mind as open as can be. I had a great feeling when I walked up and seen the full section for “Kirkland Rotisserie,” where they had 2 legit rotisserie ovens working overtime.

I grabbed one of the “Seasoned Rotisserie Chickens,” paid the $4.99, and walked to the bank of the East River to find a seat to rip into it. When I pulled the Tissi out the bag, it looked just as I remembered. Bland. Rule #1 in life though: Don’t knock it till you try it.

The breast was extremely tender, no water needed, but just lacked flavor. Just a bit uninspired. The leg was middle of the pack for a leg, and the skin was not great. I just can’t get the word bland out of my mind.

They call this a “Seasoned” Rotisserie Chicken, but it simply was not seasoned. I would have been less mad if they didn’t put the word seasoned on the packaging. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad chicken, but I want you to try a Sprouts or Wegmans Tissi and tell me this is better.

Costco’s chicken is just a starter pack chicken. It’s great if you want to add other ingredients or make a stir fry, but just as a chicken itself, it's a starter pack chicken. I gave it a 7.5/10, which ranks it 5 out of 11 on my current rankings.

I wanted it to be great. I wanted it to be in the 8s. The people would rejoice. But at the end of the day I have to stay true to myself, because if I don’t, who will? The easiest thing to do in the world is to sell your soul, it’s much harder to keep it.

IG...

Very helpful staff. This was my first time there and I kid you not the people I ran into have the same names at least the first name as my family members so I felt right at home. I met Mr david, dennis, Lea and had I met Miss Susie that would have completed my family. David and Lea help me beyond and back. Kudos to the staff and if the manager is reading this perhaps you need to give those staff members and extra hour off they deserve it. So this place is huge not as huge as I seen somewhere else. However they seem to have everything in the store and when so many people are there it seems extra crowded and congested like it was today. I managed to find my way through the maze of people and isles quick enough to beat the traffic home. They had everything I needed. Although I didn't need a lot of things but they still had it. The one thing I I don't like which I saw twice someone opening up the container of grapes putting their hands and taking a field grapes and closing it back up. They got to be a way to make the produce and anything else that is easily accessible non accessible. Even if that means place and security on the floor to patrol I don't know what is going to take but this is really unsanitary. I also noticed someone picking up a bag of apples and placing in more apples from another bag into the bag they had opened. People are just rude. I gather one can say how much can a staff do when this happens and the place is very busy I understand. But something has to be done. So all the aisles were filled to the ceiling. It appeared as though they restocked 2 months ago just for this month of thanksgiving. I so enjoyed coming here and upon my first trip here I have to give this place a solid 3 star. Not five because the parking was horrendous trying to get out this parking lot is like trying to get out of a barrel if you're a crab with other crabs holding you back. Can you not open up other entrances or exits so that it'll make it a little easier for people to leave out and not be on top of one another cursing one another out in the parking lot? If you get here early enough you can get a parking space quite easily that's the good part about it. Can guarantee you'll get out as easily as you came in though lol. Nonetheless great place to be for shopping I...