Costco VS Sam's Club

[Brian Runau]

I have been a member of both over the years. Been with Costco last 5 years or so. Some of the items I purchase have some issues and no one to communicate with. Oven roasted turkey breast is so moist and compressed together you can't peel of a slice without it coming out in crumbles. They've know of the problem by others posts for over a year. Stuff like this....

Curious how Sam's is doing for you or similar problems with Costco.

Brian

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Sure there is. Take your complaints to the service desk where you would take your returns. We have had satisfactory results with any issue we had by taking the problems there. Though, we haven't had a lot of issues with Costco over the 20 or so years we have been members.

Go to their website and chat with their customer service department.

[Brian Runau]

Sure there is. Take your complaints to the service desk where you would take your returns. We have had satisfactory results with any issue we had by taking the problems there. Though, we haven't had a lot of issues with Costco over the 20 or so years we have been members.

Go to their website and chat with their customer service department.

Not just with an individual package, happens more often than not. I have done both so have others, no change. Thanks Brian

[Patty Hann]

Not just with an individual package, happens more often than not. I have done both so have others, no change. Thanks Brian
Kind of like the Pinto "Exploding Gas Tank" situation.
Ford decided it was cheaper to leave things the way there were and just pay the "wrongful death" lawsuits rather than spend money to change anything (recall/redesign/scrap future models).
Costco has obviously deemed it cheaper to maintain the status quo and just refund customers who aren't happy (even if the complaints are legitimate).
You and those other customers are like the dead in the Ford Pinto Fiasco.. you are a small minority of their customers.
Does that sound cynical?,... It was meant to.

[Brian Runau]

Kind of like the Pinto "Exploding Gas Tank" situation.
Ford decided it was cheaper to leave things the way there were and just pay the "wrongful death" lawsuits rather than spend money to change anything (recall/redesign/scrap future models).
Costco has obviously deemed it cheaper to maintain the status quo and just refund customers who aren't happy (even if the complaints are legitimate).
You and those other customers are like the dead in the Ford Pinto Fiasco.. you are a small minority of their customers.
Does that sound cynical?,... It was meant to.

Yes and that is how it feels it feels to me. Brian

[glenn bradley]

Not just with an individual package, happens more often than not. I have done both so have others, no change. Thanks Brian

We have no trouble returning the balance of a multi-item package if one or more prove to be bad even after we have used / consumed some. We use Costco for most items and use Sam's enough to make it pay. The points plans change or have periods of "specials". Currently we use the Costco card for all Costco stuff and the Sam's card for as much of everything else as we can. This can change as the plans or offerings change. One of the benefits is that we have never had a problem with any return, ever. We go often enough that any returns just wait till the next trip so, minimal additional effort to return problem items.

We have stopped buying any clearance items at one of our Costco stores as the manager seems to have no problem selling things that are just plain bad. The other Costco has been fine on discontinued or clearance stuff. As in so many cases, most problems are the fault of sub-optimal management. Stores with good managers have good employees. Good employees mean happy customers.

[Jim Becker]

I've had zero issues with getting satisfaction at Costco...if something is amiss, they take care of it "no questions asked" at the service desk. They go out of their way to keep folks happy. Heck, I got a refund a few weeks ago on an opened bag of dog food that, for some reason, Oliver couldn't keep in his stomach. (A different flavor than we normally buy) Full refund without blinking an eye.

It's been a few decades since I've been in a Sam's club simply because I have a thing about not doing business with Wally World. But I suspect they also take care of their customers which is an expectation of this type of business.

[Brian Runau]

I've had zero issues with getting satisfaction at Costco...if something is amiss, they take care of it "no questions asked" at the service desk. They go out of their way to keep folks happy. Heck, I got a refund a few weeks ago on an opened bag of dog food that, for some reason, Oliver couldn't keep in his stomach. (A different flavor than we normally buy) Full refund without blinking an eye.

It's been a few decades since I've been in a Sam's club simply because I have a thing about not doing business with Wally World. But I suspect they also take care of their customers which is an expectation of this type of business.

Wally world is my one reason for hesitating. They would take it back, but they don't fix the consistent problem. Being type 2 diabetic it is easier for me to manage my blood sugar by eating same stuff, so a lot of sandwiches for lunch, hence turkey being a daily pain for me. Brian

[Patty Hann]

I think (correct me if I'm wrong) Brian's complaint is that nothing changes. I.e., you return something that is sub par, you tell Costco it's sub par, and then next time you buy it it's still sub par.
I suppose the answer is "don't buy that item anymore, or at least don't buy the brand of that item."
But it begs the question: if an item is sub par, why is it being stocked?
Ans: most people are OK with it, maybe not super happy with it if it is sub par, but not enough to stop buying it or even file a complaint about it.

The same thing happened at Trader Joe's (TJ's), but with a different outcome: I went there to buy the to-die-for Key Lime Pie (KLP) and there weren't any.
No problem... it's a super popular item and the freezer is often devoid of it for a week.
Except this went on all summer, and so I asked about it.

Apparently the supplier had changed IT'S supplier and was delivering a sub par Key Lime Pie. TJ's was getting a lot of complaints--the clerk told me the complaints were non stop.
So TJ's stopped stocking it until it could find a supplier that provided a KLP that met it's "taste/texture" standards. It took over a year before the KLPs were stocked again.

I suppose that if it were only a minority of customers who complained that the KLP "was different and not as good", nothing would have changed... I don't know.
But I do know profit margins in the retail grocery business are razor thin, so a retail store is going be very careful about deciding when its worth cutting into profits even for the short term.

[roger wiegand]

Our Costco stocks several (like 4-5) kinds of sliced turkey. I've experienced the one that sticks together, it doesn't bother me so I'd probably buy it again anyway, but mainly because I can't remember which is which. The other kinds they stock don't do that. So of it bothers you there may be a choice. I'm guessing that there is some benefit that more discerning turkey buyers than me find with the sticky one that causes them to stock it and people to buy it. Stuff that people don't buy isn't carried for long.

[Stan Calow]

I've belonged to both Sam's & Costco, and don't expect customer service to be a high point of going to either place. It's all about cheap.

[Dave Fritz]

We buy this and slice it ourselves. https://www.costcobusinessdelivery.com/kirkland-signature-turkey-breast%2C-oven-browned%2C-4-lb-avg-wt.product.100343513.html We have a slicer because we also slice home made bread and other bulk meat products we purchase. We freeze in a food saver bag. I'm not sure we save but it works for us.

[Jim Becker]

I've belonged to both Sam's & Costco, and don't expect customer service to be a high point of going to either place. It's all about cheap.
These businesses make their money on memberships, not the products. Customer satisfaction is very high on their list because otherwise, folks would not renew their memberships.

[mike stenson]

I think I can actually count on no hands a bad customer experience at Costco. The employees have been pretty happy to help, and engaged in their jobs at everyone I've been to. I am in agreement with Jim on the other place. Haven't set foot in one in this millennium, and it's gonna stay that way.

It's a bummer about the turkey, I have to wonder what the complaint to purchase ratio is.

[Lee DeRaud]

I'm not at all certain there's any difference between the two...and I'm unlikely to find out as long as Costco is about one mile away and the nearest Sam's is over ten.

(The great bulk of my Costco spending is optical and electronics, very little food. But yeah, I've never gotten them confused with Trader Joes. :) )

[Jim Koepke]

Have you tried steaming or microwaving the stuck together turkey to see if that will separate it?

jtk

[Paul McGaha]

We're real big on Costco. Been using them for 20 years or so. We've always found their customer service to be really good. Especially their return policy.

PHM

[Brian Runau]

So I went to Sam's to check it out. Same drive either way for me. One north one south. Prices are the same. Costco is much cleaner and organized. Might have been just as clean, just looked cluttered to me. I've had good customer service experiences at both over the years. It really comes down to minor hassle of fighting the lunch meat, but it is an every day battle. Costco sells a three pack of rectangular turkey slices which I switched to for a while, but honestly don't care for. My wife and I like going in early to shop before it gets busy and we can only go at 10 to Costco. Some days it's like a blood sport getting a cart and getting through the store. Sam's was offering 50% off so we got their plus membership and we can go in early after 8 and before 10 so it's less crowded. Benefits are pretty much the same. Some items we purchase at Costco won't cross over, but we'll try to find a substitute. Egg frittatas, gluten free bread... may wind up keeping both Just buying larger quantities of stuff from the store we go to less often. Thanks. Brian

[Jim Becker]

One thing I appreciate about Costco is their employee retention. Folks tend to not leave and they pay well with good benefits. Further, nobody in the store is "above" doing all the tasks...all the managers regularly cycle through the mundane things like janitorial duties, door check out, checkout/cart handling, etc., and there's just no way anyone is going to get bored. The one of our two local stores opened in 2011 and nearly all of the original employees are there...their name tags show how long they have been employees.

[roger wiegand]

^^^^ This

They treat their employees well and it shows in pretty much every interaction. Very unusual in retail in general.

[Allan Dozier]

I used to have a Costco membership because I wanted to avoid the Walmart aspect. However, once I semi-retired I got rid of most of my credit cards and only kept two, both happened to be Mastercards. When I found out Costco only takes Visa I dropped my membership and now go to Sam's Club when I need the same type purchase. I haven't come across another store or business, large or small, that takes credit cards that doesn't take both Visa and MC.

[Jim Becker]

I used to have a Costco membership because I wanted to avoid the Walmart aspect. However, once I semi-retired I got rid of most of my credit cards and only kept two, both happened to be Mastercards. When I found out Costco only takes Visa I dropped my membership and now go to Sam's Club when I need the same type purchase. I haven't come across another store or business, large or small, that takes credit cards that doesn't take both Visa and MC.
They will take a MC labeled Debit Card, but they have an exclusive with VISA these days...it used to be AMEX. And many Costco members also have the Citi/Costco CC because of the rebates.

[mike stenson]

I write a cheque. They limit the cards to cut costs, I'm OK with that. All in all, I prefer cash anyway.