Costco Wholesale — Local services in Sunnyvale

At Costco during the Coronavirus pandemic!

Don't normally shop Costco except late weekday afternoons to get the $5 48 ounce rotisserie chicken for dinner. Have come here on weekends at 9am when they open with no problems with congestion. The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything.

930am Saturday morning drove completely around the huge block long warehouse looking for parking. Found some, but right by the Costco gas station, a place you will be trapped once the traffic lines build up for gas. No gas line today, as nobody is here for gas.

Got a shopping cart and joined the line of people entering, when someone tapped my shoulder, pointing to the end of the line 100 yards back. First time ever that I had to wait in a long line to enter Costco.

Got the usual stuff, 2 gallons of milk for $5.79, and the $4.99 48 ounce rotisserie chicken, along with lots of stuff on sale, including a 64 ounce of dried cranberries, normally $9, on sale for $5.

Saw some people have Clorox disinfecting wipes in 5 individual cylinders. Ask for directions, and navigated to the farthest reaches of the giant warehouse. Just like in stores where they store the milk and eggs farthest from the entrance, to make you walk through the entire store.

Everyone else doing the same thing, and I kick, shove my way through, stepping on toes. No, not really, but my ex wife would.

A forklift brought in a pallet of Clorox disinfecting wraps, five cylinders per package, limited to one package per customer. The pallet of several hundred packages were sold out in minutes! They had packages of a dozen paper towels, also limited one per customer, but I passed on that. Did see at least one guy in line with two big packages of paper towels.

Face masks, spray or liquid hand disinfectant? Sold out 6 weeks ago, no thanks to profiteers, who cleaned out the existing supplies, amassing stockpiles of hand sanitizer and crucial respirator masks, for resale on the internet at exorbitant prices. And I did not see any shopping carts with toilet paper.

Get out of there about 40 minutes after arriving. Meanwhile line to get into the store now stretches a good 300 yards around the building. Person in the checkout line told me that some people started lining up at 6am, 3 hours before they open. Panic buying in anticipation of product shortages, self-isolations, lockdowns and quarantines in the coronavirus pandemic.

Just heard that Costco will open 8am-10am Tuesdays and Thursdays for customers age 60+, starting March 24. Why isn't it 65+ like everywhere else? No wonder the lines are so long.

Santa Clara County with 302 coronavirus cases on March 22, compared to 14 on March 6, the epicenter of such cases in CA. 6 counties in the Bay Area- 7 million people- ordered shelter in place. All nonessential businesses closed. Supermarkets, including Costco exempted. Old farts like me risking their lives...

This Costco is perhaps the busiest one in the South Bay due to its convenient location, right at the corners of Lawrence Expressway & Kifer, right next to a Caltrain Station. Parking is a bit of hassle especially when cars backed up to get in line for gas fillups. Inside, it's pretty much standard just like any other Costco, except the Deli Counter is located outside - very convenient if you just want a hot dog or a slice of pizzas, you get in line & out rather quickly. With self-checkouts available, even more convenient.

Until now, I have no issues & previously gave this store a 4- star review. After today's terrible experience, it left a bad taste in my mouth 😡🤬🤬🤬🤬

I had bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1-inch tablet, after about a year & half, the screen somehow severs from the rest of the device! When I bought the device, my Costco membership wasn't current, so I used a Costco gift card given to me as a Christmas gift to buy it. When I brought the device back to this Costco warehouse where I made the purchase, they pushed me around and said it's past 90 days, nothing they can do. But, screens do get dropped and cracked screens happen all the time to smartphones, maybe tablets, but when has anyone heard of the screen severs from the rest of the device❓❓❓

When I lined up for my turn at Costco Returns, the woman that was supposed to help me, after learning that I had bought it using a gift card (my membership not active during COVID, as I tried to minimize going to crowds), she gave me the runaround. When I asked for her manager, not much better, she too pushed me around to another guy who was responsible for Item Pickup. When I went to him, he too pushed me around to another lady. I was so mad, when they wanted me to renew my membership (yes, I have renewed a few weeks ago, so I am an ACTIVE member ❗❗❗), they were so nice. Once that's a done deal, they wouldn't even help me😡🤬🤬😡🤬🤬

So bottom line: if you plan to buy any expensive electronics from Costco, be aware, they don't stand behind what they sell. They kept using the 90-day return window to brush you off. Hey Costco, my car manufacturer still asks me to take my car back to my dealership for free repairs, as there's a recall on bad ABS system or Air Bag System is faulty - even after the WARRANTY Period ❗Over the years, I have bought a dozen laptops, cellphones & tablets, screen severing never happened! When the tablet you sold me had severed from rest of the device, that's a major defect! C'mon - have the decency to stand behind what you sell...

I am writing to express my deep disappointment with the treatment I received during my recent visit to Costco Sunnyvale, CA. As a paying Costco member, I expect professionalism, fairness, and at the very least, basic courtesy from your staff and management. Unfortunately, this visit demonstrated the exact opposite.

I am a Costco member with my photo on the membership card. My wife does not have a secondary card. Due to a foot injury and bone friction, I am currently unable to walk without crutches. On this visit, I chose not to bring my crutches in order to leave space in the car for the bulk goods we planned to purchase. As a result, I had to remain in the car while my wife went inside to shop on my behalf.

At checkout, your employee Shuhua refused to process my wife's purchase with my membership card, insisting that only the cardholder could check out. When she escalated to Robert, he repeated the same refusal. To resolve this, I initiated a FaceTime call from the car, personally showing myself and even my injured foot to prove the situation. Despite this clear verification, Robert still insisted I physically come inside the store.

When we finally involved the manager, Francisco, his reaction was even more disappointing. Instead of listening with understanding, he simply repeated “policy” without consideration of my situation, showing zero empathy, zero flexibility, and no attempt to treat a loyal customer with respect.

The consistent pattern among Shuhua, Robert, and Francisco was clear:

They did not listen to the customer. They refused to acknowledge a genuine hardship. They hid behind policy instead of exercising judgment or compassion.

I understand and respect that Costco has policies. However, policies exist to guide staff, not to justify cold, robotic treatment of customers—especially when exceptions can be reasonably verified (as I did via FaceTime). Your staff showed no kindness, no problem-solving effort, and no respect for the customer’s voice.

This entire interaction left me with one question for Costco’s leadership: Do you believe it is acceptable for your staff and managers to treat loyal members with such indifference and lack of humanity?

If this is what Costco now considers “customer service,” it is profoundly disappointing and undermines the very trust and loyalty that built...