Costco’s return policy for computers

[Curt Harms]

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Costco is truly customer oriented and they do stand up to return flexibility. The 90 day for computers is generous, but it's virtually unlimited for most things. I recently returned an HP printer to them that was purchased over two years ago because of it refusing to print 'cause it couldn't talk to HP's servers. Two minutes and the money was back on the CC.

Which to me begs the question why would a printer have to check with the mothership before printing something? I just joined Costco because I wanted to buy an Interstate battery and even with the membership the price was good. I also didn't know Costco had gas stations. The one near me is about .$20 less than other nearby stations.

[mike stenson]

Which to me begs the question why would a printer have to check with the mothership before printing something? I just joined Costco because I wanted to buy an Interstate battery and even with the membership the price was good. I also didn't know Costco had gas stations. The one near me is about .$20 less than other nearby stations.

This is a great question. I suspect it's the same reason that there are companies advertising for jobs that don't exist. Collection of information.

[Bill Howatt]

I'm sure Jim will provide the details. The only similar case I'm personally aware of is printing from my Android phone which sends the print job to a server and then it sends it back to the printer - the phone doesn't print directly to the printer.

[Jerome Stanek]

Which to me begs the question why would a printer have to check with the mothership before printing something? I just joined Costco because I wanted to buy an Interstate battery and even with the membership the price was good. I also didn't know Costco had gas stations. The one near me is about .$20 less than other nearby stations.

I used to have an HP color all in one that had chipped cartridges that would expire even if they were not in the printer and never used.

[Brian Elfert]

This has not been the case for many years now. Right clicking is fully supported both on Apple pointing devices as well as non-Apple pointing devices. It's a simple check box in the system configurations to turn the feature on. The Magic Mouse understand right and left and for the Trackpad, it's a simple press (gesture) with two fingers simultaneously to get the context sensitive menu that a right click brings forth. There is a lot of flexibility in how one can configure their pointing devices to match how they like to work.

It isn't that Mac doesn't support right click. The older single button mice had no way to easily do a right click like with a two button mouse. You had to so something special to do a right click. I haven't used a Macbook with a track pad. If you regularly use a Mac I'm certain it is no big deal. For someone who hasn't used a Mac since the Mac SE days to have to suddenly use a Mac with no notice or help it is a royal pain. The training class expected the attendees to be Mac savvy since the product in question is for managing Macs, iPads, and iPhones.

[mike stenson]

It isn't that Mac doesn't support right click. The older single button mice had no way to easily do a right click like with a two button mouse. You had to so something special to do a right click. I haven't used a Macbook with a track pad. If you regularly use a Mac I'm certain it is no big deal. For someone who hasn't used a Mac since the Mac SE days to have to suddenly use a Mac with no notice or help it is a royal pain. The training class expected the attendees to be Mac savvy since the product in question is for managing Macs, iPads, and iPhones.

It's been a long time since the single button mouse. A couple decades, as I recall.

[Jim Becker]

Which to me begs the question why would a printer have to check with the mothership before printing something? I just joined Costco because I wanted to buy an Interstate battery and even with the membership the price was good. I also didn't know Costco had gas stations. The one near me is about .$20 less than other nearby stations.

Curt, I buy nearly 100% of our gasoline from Costco, either in Montgomeryville or Warminster. (We do our Costco shopping in Warminster, even though is more of a pain to get to, because they carry a couple of items we use daily that are not at the other store) Costco gas is Top Tier and yes, it's about twenty cents a gallon less than the cheapest local stations, some of which I'd be dubious about the quality. From where we live now near DelVal, gas at Montgomeryville is about a ten minute trip right up Upper State Road.

On the printer question...it's apparently an HP thing. They couldn't help us fix the problem, so back it went to Costco for a full refund, no questions asked.

[Lee DeRaud]

Not sure how it works for Macs, but you need to be careful comparing Costco PC prices to the "outer world".

I've found that the Costco price will be comparable to BestBuy/Staples/etc, but the computer will be a much better configuration: double RAM, i7 vs i5, things like that. They don't offer the widest selection at any given moment, but the ones they have are typically loaded up. The Dell laptop I'm typing this on would have cost nearly 25% more anywhere else...including Dell's own site.

[mike stenson]

Costcos price for Macs is often better than my employers discount with apple. They're standard apple configurations.

[Jason Hennry]

Hi Dennis, that sounds like a smart move! Costco's 90-day return policy gives you plenty of time to explore and adapt to the Apple system. Best of luck with your learning journey!

[Curt Harms]

I used to have an HP color all in one that had chipped cartridges that would expire even if they were not in the printer and never used.

I think HP is living on a reputation earned in days gone bye. Based on what I've read I'd not consider an HP Inkjet. I don't know if their lasers have gone down hill yet or not.

[Brian Elfert]

It's been a long time since the single button mouse. A couple decades, as I recall.

The Apple mouse currently being sold could technically be considered a single button mouse. All I know is when I took the training class about a decade ago the Macs used did not have a way to right click with the supplied mice. The equipment did not appear to be particularly old. I have a Mac Mini I have used basically once since I bought it 18 months ago. I will use the same two button mouse I use with my Windows PC. (Long story on why I bought the Mac Mini.)

[mike stenson]

The Apple mouse currently being sold could technically be considered a single button mouse. All I know is when I took the training class about a decade ago the Macs used did not have a way to right click with the supplied mice. The equipment did not appear to be particularly old. I have a Mac Mini I have used basically once since I bought it 18 months ago. I will use the same two button mouse I use with my Windows PC. (Long story on why I bought the Mac Mini.)

I guess you could consider it a no-button mouse. Since there isn't a physically separate button. A decade ago, the Magic Mouse already existed. Your training was incorrect, it just needed to be configured.

I've been using a Mac since the 90s. I've been a two button mouse since shortly afterwards.

Furthermore, this is all really pointless as the mini doesn't come with a keyboard or a mouse anyway.

[Brian Elfert]

I guess you could consider it a no-button mouse. Since there isn't a physically separate button. A decade ago, the Magic Mouse already existed. Your training was incorrect, it just needed to be configured.

It wasn't a training class on how to use a Mac. It was a training class on a software product that can be run on Mac, PC, or a Linux server. They used Macs as the clients for the training class. They just expected the attendees would know how to use a Mac, which I did not.

[Jim Becker]

The Apple mouse currently being sold could technically be considered a single button mouse. All I know is when I took the training class about a decade ago the Macs used did not have a way to right click with the supplied mice. The equipment did not appear to be particularly old. I have a Mac Mini I have used basically once since I bought it 18 months ago. I will use the same two button mouse I use with my Windows PC. (Long story on why I bought the Mac Mini.)

Like Mike mentioned, I'd call it a "no button"...in the physical sense...rodent but because of the touch interface combined with clicking gestures, it doesn't matter. It "does all the things". For the Mini I just bought Professor Dr. SWMBO, I did put a simple Logitech 'two button plus scrolling roller' mouse with it because she likes to use this roller ball thing that I cannot operate for the life of me. When I sit down to do something for her, I use the mouse. She's actually using it more than she expected. On my own Mac, I use an Apple TrackPad most of the time, but also have a MagicMouse as well as the same Logitech mouse I just mentioned. I use the rodents when I need more precise control, such as for CAD/CAM. But for browsing, which is most of my use, the TrackPad is excellent and I can use it effectively with either hand. (that was important after my recent wrist surgery)

What's really nice here is that everyone can choose the pointing method(s) they prefer with any of these machines. And the Mini, being essentially a bare desktop computer, is certainly a "gateway drug" for folks moving from Windows to MacOS since they can often unplug the monitor, keyboard and rodent that they have been used to using on their old machine and just plug them in (or pair if wireless) with their new Mac Mini and get to work.