Complaint Review: COSTCO

My husband and I are builders. Buyers on a custom house wanted two particular fans that they saw at COSTCO. We never allow this - we typically have clients find their choices at our known vendors. Now, we will certainly NEVER allow it, nor will we ever order from COSTCO. I am a COSTCO member, so I went to their site and ordered the fans - no problem - and paid with our construction company card.

At the end of the purchase, that typical message came up - something along the lines of "Your order has been placed,"  with a cheery exclamation point. I waited over two weeks, and because our closing on the house was coming up, and we needed to install the fans ASAP, I went on-line to track my order.

Instead of being able to track my order, the word CANCELLED, in red letters was next to my order. I was baffled. What? Had I not entered something correctly? So I ordered the items again. Same cheery message about my order being placed. This time, I checked my order status the next day, and again, CANCELLED in red next to my order.

Now, I was not a happy camper. Ultimately, btw, this situation caused our house closing to be delayed, causing money and bad blood. I now called COSTCO customer service. Zero apologies as I explained what happened.

She looked up the order and came up with the understatement "It was cancelled." I knew THAT! "Why?" I asked. "And why was I not notifed that the order had indeed not gone through so that I wouldn't be waiting for the item?" "Because COSTCO doesn't do that." What (again)?

Even companies in China that I have ordered from have come back to me and told me that my order has been cancelled, delayed - fill in the blanks for yourself. OK - so COSTCO isn't concerned about their customers be left out to dry. But why was the order cancelled twice?

She checked and checked and finally came back and said the following:

"What name did you order it under?" Catrine McGregor, I responded. Not a trick question, that's my name. "Ooooh, she said. That's the problem. That's not what your membership name is under." My legal name is Catrine McGregor-Unger, but I am a film prodcuer, have been for years, and ONLY go by my maiden name except on legal docs. 

Also, she said, what was the name on the card? ULC Management - Robert Unger, my husband's name. "Oh, you can't use that" she said, the card has to be in the same name as the membership name (though my husband is also a member).

"So what do I do?" I asked? "You go into your account and change your profile name to McGregor, and I would have to use my personal card and not the company card. So we transferred the $402 from our business account to my personal account. I the went back in and ordered the fans. Again, same cheery message.

The next day - yes, you guessed it. CANCELLED. Now, I'm not angry, I'm flat out pissed. I call customer service and get a much nicer agent, though he will not put me through to a supervisor. He looked into it. I asked him what my name is on my original membership, and he says "McGregor." I asked where the other woman had gotten "Unger" and he had no idea.

After looking over the entire situation, he came back and said "Your order did not go through, because that item is NOT IN STOCK and shows no sign of ever being carried again." For the third time WHAT?

Want the clincher, ON TOP OF THE ABOVE? Payment went through for all four items - a total of $1600! Last last order was placed on Oct 17 - today is Oct, 22 and the cherges have not been reveresed!

Unbelievable.