Complaint Review: COSTCO WHOLESALE - ISSAQUAH Washington

What are you even talking about? First there is only one gas line line in any given area that supplies all the stations in that area with the same gas. There are specific additives that make that gas unique to a paticular station(chevron with techron etc). Your car may not like the additives in the gas you buy from Costco. My Saturn for example does excellent on Costco gas. I get better mileage than if I purchase it elsewhere and it's cheaper too:) On my Dodge however I get better mileage with Shell. Shell is also higher priced so it makes it about even. It all depends on the type engine your car has. Costco most certainly does not put water in the gas. That would be illegal and our gas is tested regularly. Costco has always been found to be in complete compliance with all regulations.

Your dispute about raising the prices on items or making them smaller is absurd. Costco marks up the items enough to cover the cost to make that item available. Costco does not mark up any item more than 11 percent and if Costco with that markup cannot offer the customer the best possible price then we will not carry it.Retailers will mark up an item 35 to 70 percent and sometimes more. That being said Costco can truly call itself a wholesale club. Costco's profit comes from the sale of memberships. Don't be fooled by Walmart. They might have a better price on a new release DVD but the mark up on items such as TVs and popcorn goes up drastically. Their intent is to draw you to thier store to purchase the DVD that they are not making a profit on in the hopes you will purchase a ton of other overpriced items. It usually works to. Costco might not always offer the best price on one paticular item but is consistent with all the pricing therefore producing an overall savings per cart. They offer the best value in the industry.

I don't even know what to say about your coupon claim. I see the same things on coupon all the time. The prices do not go up and packages don't get smaller. A lot of the time a new item that we just started carrying will be on coupon. These are discounts given by the vendor to increase sales. Costco pays the same for the items than they did before the item goes on coupon and its only reimbursed the amount of the coupon when an item is sold. Since the vendor limits the amount of time they will reimburse for and item(coupon expires) Costco often finds themselves with members who bought the item two weeks after the coupon expired but still want the discount. Costco will issue a refund to the member at thier own expense because the vendor will no longer reimburse it. Costco is all about the members. They also have the best return policy of any store I have ever shopped.

 I work for Costco(if you could not tell). The claim about rats is equally absurd. We have a pest control service mandated by corporate and done by an outside company that does a monthly pest inspection. In all my years at Costco I have yet to see any report that did not report a complete pest free inspection. Our food courts etc. are the cleanest I have ever experienced.

The freezer food you claim is left out for hours is another bogus claim. In the am when the employees are stocking they call all stockers to the freezer at a paticular time to stock it quickly. It is done within a few minutes. The only freezer food that might get left out is the food that is being thrown out. It is kept on a seperate cart.

Since I am a long term employee at Costco I can tell you for sure that I am well compensated for my years of service. I am at the top of the pay scale and as such get a bonus every six months. The longer you are there the higher your bonus. I make more than any new employee and I have done my duty as cart pusher and now they have to do it. I don't consider cart pushing to be a paticulary easy or fun job. Ask any new hire if he gets a higher wage or has an easier job than that of a long term employee and they will laugh at you. Everyone knows that Costco prides itself on it's senior people and it's exceptionally low rate of turn over . If what you were saying was true than why would people stick around so long at Costco? Why would they lead the industry in long term employees?

Lastly Executive members do not pay different prices for merchandise. What an executive member gets is 2 percent back on purchases. They also receive better discounts on other services such as travel or on our auto buying program. These are usually in the form of extras like upgraded hotel rooms or a costco cash card. Gold star members get the same great prices but might not be eligable for that upgrade or they might get $100 cash card and an executive would get $150.

In a nutshell Costco rocks and you have no idea what you are talking about.

My own mom works at a Washinton state costco, has for a long time, and tells me all about all the rules and reasons for things. For one- You aren't understanding why there is a membership that costs anything. They are selling things for the best prices they can possibly give to the public, and won't make any profit at all if they don't charge for membership. You also seem to think the employees know where every little thing comes from. They can't possibly. I personally thought your report was pointless and/or confusing. You didn't tie anything together, so I have no idea what your complaint is about. Its just a bunch of random capital letters (lay off the caps lock). The coupon specials are actual deals. They are the BEST prices costco can give! Also, Costco's gas station is not giving you mostly water. Our cars run just fine on the gas from there, which is what we always buy. I don't know where you heard this but I'm positive it isn't true. And the thing about the rats is ridiculous. They wouldn't have passed a health inspection if they really have rats, none of the costcos I've been to had these, but I'm willing to bet it's a precaution, because it's hard to keep pests out. I bet you sometimes get a fly in your house and don't know where it came from, and you probably have a fly swatter somewhere to kill it with. It's basically the same thing. You're wrong about the stocking thing, too. If that happened, it was a crappy employee, and NOT costco's fault. My mom does stocking twice each year, and shes never seen that happen, so you can't claim it to be true. All the fridge items are cold at each costco I've been to, also. Now, I can really talk about the pay thing and employee care. To say that they pay minimum is unfair. My mom was very excited about the pay there! She gets $14.50 an hour, which is fantastic for not going to college. I know for a fact that the older employees don't have to do the harder work. They can choose what they do, actually. They get trained in various sections, (all employees do), like front door receipt and membership checking, carts, clothes folding, getting boxes, and security. They can choose. Another thing- Folding clothes isnt easy. My mom had to do all the jobs I listed above, and that one is actually fatiguing. Imagine untangling a big mess of clothes, sorting, and folding them. Terrible! You can't say young people arent true employees, also. My mom started when she was young. She's been there for years! She is dependable, and that goes to show you cant judge what kind of person they are, young or old. To finish my response, I'll have you know that their tv's aren't a rip off, we bought our tv there for the cheapest price we'd seen around, and it's a fantastic tv. The hd is awesome, the sound quality is too. Please get your facts straight BEFORE you write the complaint.