A COSTCO shopper has called it quits with the bulk retailer after it failed to honor one of its new promotions.
After being denied her promised gift card, the shopper vowed to boycott the store and shop at rival BJ’s.
Costco offers discounts on membership costs to encourage shoppers to become members of the warehouse club.
The retailer is currently hosting a promotion where customers can receive a Costco Digital Shop Card.
The card is essentially a digital gift card sent to customers via email and can be redeemed from your phone or by bringing a printed copy of the card in-store.
Those who sign up for an Executive Membership can receive a $40 Costco Shop Card while customers who sign up for a Gold Star Membership get a $20 card.
Costco fan Denise Asfar was eager to receive her $20 Shop Card when she was denied by the retailer.
She explained the situation in an Xpost, sharing how she had signed up for a Costco membership just two weeks before her previous membership expired.
However, Asfar couldn’t receive the $20 gift card because of a membership rule.
Customers must join as new members and enroll in auto-renewal to get the cash card.
To qualify as a new member, shoppers either must have never had a membership or have a membership that has expired for over 18 months.
Asfar was fed up with the bulk retailer’s rules and took her business to a rival store.
“According to Costco, I was not eligible for a $20 cash card. Really??! Canceled my Costco membership. Hello BJ’s Wholesale,” she wrote.
POLICY PUSHBACK
Costco’s stringent rules have other customers ditching the retailer as well.
Shopper Alif Artimer canceled his membership over a new card membership policy.
In a Facebook post, Artimer explained how he was at self-checkout when a Costco employee approached him and asked to see the back of his membership card.
“’Why? I have to scan it to pay and I had to show it to get in and I have to show a receipt and wait in line just to get out with my purchases,’” responded the shopper.
He was informed he had to present his card to verify that the photo on the back of the card matched his face.
Artimer was fed up with the retailer’s policies and decided to cancel his membership right then.
Costco membership tiers
Costco customers can choose between three membership cards.
Gold Star Membership:
- $60 annual fee
- Includes a free household card
- Valid at all Costco locations worldwide
Executive Membership:
- $120 annual fee
- Includes a free household card
- Valid at all Costco locations worldwide
- Annual 2% reward on qualifying Costco purchases
Business Membership:
- $60 annual fee
- Includes a free household card
- Add affiliate cardholders for $60 each
- Valid at all Costco locations worldwide
- Purchase for resale
He left behind his cart of groceries and headed to customer service to get his membership fees reimbursed.
“I have to wait in long lines just to leave and show receipts, I have to show a card upon entry and I have to show it when I purchase anything and now I am asked to show my photo on my card just to get in line,” he explained to the Costco employee when asked why he wanted to cancel.
“Your business creates these situations, these human traffic jams just to entice folks to make impulse buys. Time is money they say and my time is all I have and I am tired of you wasting it, I just want my money back and I will shop elsewhere.
“All those free samples, yeah, traffic jams and impulse triggers. Oversized everything, mindless consumption and forced excess. Constantly relocating items, again is just a tactic to increase your shopping/impulse buying time,” Artimer concluded.
In related news, a shopper was frustrated after repeatedly being “shocked” by Costco carts – others offered a solution.
Plus, Costco shoppers were disappointed over a little-known membership rule that charges “full price for only 10 months.”