A FRUSTRATED Costco customer has has raged at the chain retail store, calling the store’s policies an “absolute nightmare”.
The former Costco shopper took to social media site Reddit to vent his frustration.
The shopper was left frustrated by the long checkout wait and rude employee[/caption]
The user, ItsNJry, wrote: “I signed up for a membership at the recommendation of family and friends.
“Decided to go and some essentials. Parking was an absolute nightmare with people aggressively cutting me off to get spots and waiting for people to back out.
“I found a spot after 10 minutes and went in.
I was bumped into multiple times. If I needed to look at something people were rudely right next me to breathing down my neck.
“I went to checkout and the line was 20 minutes long. I finally got to checkout and all 5 of my cards were declined.”
The shopper went on the explain that they had discovered Costco didn’t accept anything but a Visa or Mastercard debit.
They added: “Two of my five cards met that criteria.
“No balance on any of them and plenty of money in my bank.
“The employee rudely told me to get out of line and call my bank. I just decided to leave.
“Couldn’t even get a hotdog because none of my cards worked.
“I got into my car and tried to find directions to the nearest grocery store.
“Not even 2 minutes into my search a large dude aggressively started pounding on my window telling me they needed the spot and to hurry up.”
The irate shopper later added that after a brief conversation with the bank, they discovered that the card decline was on on Costco’s side and hand nothing to do with them.
The shopper added that shopping at Costco felt like a “capitalist dystopian hellscape.”
The rant comes after Costco recently introduced two new policies, frustrating customers.
Many Costco shoppers have taken to social media to slam the retailer’s long lines and have called for a more efficient checkout process to be introduced.
In most Costco stores, shoppers are not allowed to scan their own items, which results in these long checkout lines.
Customers appeared to be fed up with the system and have called for change.
Costco has also recently introduced a new rule at some of its stores in response to ID sharing.
Costco has now required people at some locations to scan their ID cards as they enter the store.
This rule has proved to be controversial among some shoppers but the chain’s CEO Ron Vachris defended the move.
He said: “They’re speeding up our registers significantly when we get all the scanning and memberships verified at the front door.”
Meanwhile, Costco fans were left fuming after the chain introduced an increase in its membership fees for the first time in seven years on September 1.
Fees rose from $60 to $65 with the Executive Membership also increasing from $120 to $130 a year.
CFO and Executive Vice President Millerchip defended the price hike when asked about it at the end of last month on an earnings call.
He said: “We were very deliberate in delaying the increase until we felt that we started to see inflation dissipate and our members were spending more in nonfood categories seeing that they were coming through the inflationary period.
Costco membership sharing guidelines
Costco has strict rules for membership use that shoppers must follow and they’ve been cracking down on offenders in recent years.
- Primary Member Use: Only the primary cardholder can use this Costco membership card. Sharing it for purchases is not allowed as the photo on the card must match the person using it.
- Household Card: Each primary member can add one free household cardholder who lives at the same address. This person will receive their own membership card and can shop at Costco independently.
- Guest Policy: Members can bring up to two guests per visit to Costco. However, only the member can make purchases. Guests must be accompanied by the member.
- Authorized Cardholder: For an additional fee, you can add an authorized cardholder, such as a family member or friend, who doesn’t reside at your address. They will receive their own card and can shop independently.
