Costco Wholesale — Local services in Rancho Cordova

Well, let me tell you about the time I had the privilege of encountering a Costco employee who seemed to have mistaken himself for a policy enforcer on a mission. Picture this: an older gentleman, with glasses perched precariously on his nose, suddenly charged at us like a raging bull out of nowhere. We were simply minding our own business, innocently shopping for some bulk toilet paper, when—BOOM!—he was upon us.

This guy, who had already processed my return earlier that day, suddenly got up in our faces, absolutely livid, as if we were personally responsible for breaking the sacred laws of return policy. He started aggressively pointing his finger at me, exclaiming in front of everyone that I was in the wrong, claiming that he had explained everything to me perfectly (which, spoiler alert, he had not). His voice was escalating, and his tone was as if I had personally violated some unspoken Costco code. I half-expected him to start calling for backup and make a public announcement on the PA system, “Attention shoppers: a sock return violation is in progress!”

Needless to say, my wife and I were absolutely stunned. We were just trying to grab some snacks, and instead, we got hit with an unprovoked, full-on lecture about socks and return policies in front of a crowd of people. It was so unnecessary, so aggressive, and quite frankly, frightening. We quickly sought out management, hoping for some sanity, but the response was as cold as the frozen food section.

I’m not saying he should be fired, but it would probably be a good idea to give him some "anger management" courses before he starts offering customers free therapy sessions in the middle of the aisles. That guy could’ve turned a normal sock return into a crime scene investigation. Absolutely absurd, and definitely a Costco experience we won’t forget...

Nearly sent me to the hospital at the end of my visit. Was allowed entry with no mask due to medical condition. Got to register and was told to leave. I told them that I was allowed in and was able to shop with no problem. They berated me. Told be to leave. Then wouldn’t allow my masked partner to complete the transaction. As I was leaving I was approached by another few employees harassing me on my way out, one of whom was a 6’+ male who thought it would be prudent to get within a foot of me, harassing me and trying to further intimidate me because, as a 5’ tall female, I probably seemed like an easy person to help him feel like a big man. All of this while I was leaving! It ended up causing me to not be able to breathe effectively, having to try and take long, deep breaths to try and get air. At some point, while watching me try to breathe, they made sure my transaction was allowed to proceed, the 6’ guy backed off, and the manager began apologizing for the poor handling of the situation and was trying to help me breathe normal again. I have never been treated so poorly and haven’t had as much trouble breathing like this since my breathing difficulties first started years ago. Employees seem to think that it’s ok now to surround, intimidate and harass customers to solve perceived problems rather than inquire and treat people like they’d like to be treated. Never in my life have I seen humans devolve so quickly.

Basically now I’m cancelling my membership. I can’t even order delivery because they charge a fee PER ITEM, on average, about 15%. Right now I don’t have that extra money floating around. So now, can’t shop online or in store. It’s funny, the risk for me isn’t covid, it’s poor employee behavior/training causing me to not breathe. What a world. Costco...

There are a thousand things I love about Costco but I wanted to especially express my sincerest appreciation to the Rancho Cordova store manager, Andrew, and Jackie in the optical department for their wonderful service today. Briefly, I had purchased two pair of prescription glasses from the Roseville Costco a few week's back and regretted my decision because they were much too heavy for all-day wear. To be clear this was my mistake, not Costco's. I went to return the frames for a partial refund at the Rancho Cordova Costco because it is closer to my home. During my conversation with Jackie, she indicated that it might be possible to get the manager to make an exception to their return policy and allow me to return my frames and lenses for two new sets of glasses that were lighter weight. It should be noted that Costco's return policy normally does not allow for return of customized merchandise, such as prescription lenses, but they do allow returning the frames. As you can imagine, I was blown away by the possibility of being able to get a new pair of glasses even though this was not something they had to do or normally did. Andrew did grant the exception to the policy resulting in me being one very satisfied customer. Thank you Andrew and Jackie for setting the standard for great customer service and for having empathy for customers who don't always make...