The purpose of this thread is for Digital Home members to review and relay their experience with Costco and Costco.ca

This is NOT a discussion thread so please limit yourself to one post which includes your review.

We welcome the input and opinions of all members whether they are good or bad, however, please note that this thread is NOT for rants. Whether you had a good or bad experience with this vendor we want to hear about it but in an OBJECTIVE manner.

If you post a rant or childish comments like, these guys "suck" or they're all a "bunch of idiots", then your comments will be considered trolling and your post will be deleted.

When you post, please try to include the following information:


What product or service you purchased.
Approximate timeframe you ordered the product
What location you dealt with if it’s a company with many stores or service locations
Your overall level of satisfaction
If you had a positive experience, please explain what made it such a positive experience.
If you had a negative experience, please read our guidelines below.


Guidelines for Posting Negative Reviews

The truth is no retailer or service provider is perfect and occasionally even the best companies can disappoint. Our experience is that good companies have problems but they typically make every reasonable effort to resolve problems.

If you had a problem and are posting a negative review, then please note what efforts you made to resolve the problem and the feedback you received. If you think the efforts to resolve the problem were NOT reasonable then please explain why. Saying you phoned up and talked to some idiot, suggests the problem may lie with the consumer and NOT the company!

No posting URLS or Directs to Competitors will be deleted

Posts containing URL's to competitors or posts saying gee you should have shopped at this retailer will be considered spam and deleted.

We want opinions, NOT sales pitches or spam!

Ordered some jewelery from Costco.ca during the Christmas rush. They promised it would be sent out within 5-10 business days, it was sent out in 3. I was emailed when it left the store and was given a tracking number. It arrived a couple days later as it was coming from the states.

I was worried UPS would hit me with some sort of "brokerage fee" so I called Costco to confirm. They were helpfull and pleasent and told me there were no extra fees, only what you saw on the web site.

I'd buy from them again.

Only drawback is you have to be a paying member of Costco.

I've been using Costco for a long time now, and more recently with myself as the paying member. I've been very happy with the prices, however, the availability of products is the problem. What they get into stock is hit or miss, but usually they've got a good enough mix that it keeps me happy. I probably do 90% of my grocery shopping there, and often pick up other things as the prices shift over the year.

The membership fee doesn't bother me too much, it usually pays for itself after just a few trips (or even one trip depending on what you buy!). I think now that costco is available to everyone people should go in and check it out. Just not when I'm there so it's not so packed, hah!

Costco - simply the best electronics retailer you could ask for.....well, except for their limited selection. But if they have what you want, there's no place better.

The shipping is Xfast and they 100% guarantee your satisfaction with no ?s of any type. Like above noted the fee covers it self very fast.
For me the biggest thing is to know that could be returned/ exchanged at any time.

Even though there are only the two of us, I find that being a Costco member has its rewards. It is not a drawback for us as was stated by an above poster. Being able to buy at Costco is not without its shortcomings however. Selection in not overly impressive in electronics or even in groceries. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that you can get a certain product twice but seldom three times. The buyers are after the best wholesale price naturally and will drop product lines if the supplier will not bend. (sound like WalMart?). Not the place to shop if you are only after one or two items. Checkout lineups are long but cashiers are always friendly, never had a bad experience when time to pay. sailmaker

I'll echo most of the things that the other posters have mentioned.

- Good prices (although not always the lowest)
- Fantastic return policy
- Limited selection

I recently bought my Dell TV through Costco.ca and paid $50 more than on the Dell website, but for me, that was like a cheap extended warranty, with Costco's liberal return policy. My wife tested it out a year ago, when fed up with the 2 year old vacuum that her parents had purchased from Costco (it could hardly pick up anything), she returned it for a full refund and purchased a much better one.

I think we joined Costco knowing its limitations. So we are very satisfied. When something we really liked has disappeared, it is frustrating looking all over and asking. Even the staff seem to remember but it is nowhere to be found. We bought hot sauce that was being featured. Bought it once more. Now no longer stocked. Plus they have no hot sauce at all, not even Tobasco. So we are used to doing Costco then going to a real store to complete the shopping.

I am very satisfied with their electronics. I bought a fantastic MP3 boom box with 2 remote controls for $69. We use it outside on the patio. Also their Uniden cordless phone system is great, two for $82, four for $139, all mix and match.

Have been a Costco member for 20 years...all of what is said below is true...often have items not available elsewhere...fast stock turnover...if you want it get it now, else on seasonal they can completely clear stock in a day...have considered big electronics, TV's/computers but have not yet bought...but have bough many peripherals, external drives etc...always good value...and the few defects were completely refunded...costco is one of my 1st retailers in comparison shopping for any major item.
Only 2 of us at home....but still value the membership and with Executive actually am fully refunded because of high volume purchase

I will pay a bit more to shop at Costco. Their return policy is worth the extra cost. Generally, their prices on the low end of the sale prices around town. I can buy with confidence and I know full well that they will take it back if there is an issue.

Bought many things from Costco, been a member for about 13 years. Have done lots of grocery shopping though I never buy vegetables from there.
The return policy and customer service is top notch, I had bought cash registers and one failed and when I called them to direct me to a service center and how do I go about getting a copy of my receipt they told me not to bother and return to the store. They refunded me the money and thanked me. Was absolutly floored, since then we have bought our beds, pillows, meat, TV's, clothes, books, movies, toys and christmas trickets etc. Sometimes they are not the cheapest but they give me 100% peace of mind and that is worth the membership fees and the fact they have no sales.
Parking and line ups suck but I shop on off peak times to avoid the aggravation.

Brother printer inks LC-41 in colours magenta, cyan, yellow and black.
Ordered online at 3 a.m. WEDNESDAY.... received 6:30 p.m. THURS. March 29, 2007.
Delivered to Brampton via UPS from Costco.ca warehouse Etobicoke.

Extremely Satisfied... as you might imagine, 39 hour delivery, fair price, no shipping charges.

I was looking for a new computer for the family this week. I went into my local Costco as they seem to have some really nice deals on Dell's and HP. Unfortunately my knowledge on computers is not that strong. I spent 45 minutes looking at all my options on the shelf and could not find anyone to help answer any questions. I went across the street to a computer store and picked out an
$ 1800.00 HP computer. Costco is ok if you know what you want... but if you need advise or help... forget it... I'll pay more for that service...

CamG

Ordered the Wii bundle from costco.ca yesterday. Will post how that goes.
Been a costco member for many years - I actually like a lot of the stuff there. Only ever had to return something once (forget what it was now) - no hassle at all.

At the beginning of August we purchased a small 3.6 cu. ft. Danby freezer from Costco. When we took it out of the box, we noticed several large scratches on the top and the insert on the bottom, that housed the control switch, was very loose and was half hanging out of the freezer.
We took it back to Costco the same day and replaced it with another one. After waiting the twelve hours that everybody said is required for the components and freezing gas to settle, we plugged it in. (BTW there is nothing in the skimpy Danby manual about doing this.)
I noticed right off the bat, that the freezer was quite noisy and was clicking on and off every few minutes and it made a hissing sound every time you raised the lid. Then, the other day, I went to the freezer to get some bacon and found that the ice cream had all melted and a lot of other stuff had started to thaw. The freezer wasn't running yet the green LED was on so I knew it was getting power. I checked the electric motor and found it to be very hot. So, back to Costco we went and exchanged it for Danby #3. It appears that since most Danby products are now made in China, their quality has really gone down!
I've been reading in the forums that Costco has tightened up their return policy due to people returning stuff for no good reason (e.g. I personally know of two cases where people have returned a perfectly good Viewsonic 32" HD set for a 37" Viewsonic) So I was a little worried that Costco would not take it back but I was delighted that they exchanged it with absolutely no hassle!:D

COSTCO ! What more can I add except to say that most every time my wife and/or I visit the Victoria (or anywhere) warehouse we breath a sigh of relieve when we enter their doors. It is so friendly with staff or just running into friends and neighbours there.

The prices can be a tad higher than competitors at times (just wait awhile if in no hurry) but with their liberal returns policy I feel the comfort level more than balances out most other retailer's "extended warranty$" ..plus no hassle! Couple that with getting their AMex card (with nifty cash-back options included) and most manufacturer's warranties are doubled (max 1 year extra) on that CC.

That makes sense if a repair is desired rather than taking it back only to find out the product is no longer available. It could also cover the limited returns policy for comps and laptops.

Beefs? - - limited selection and little display longevity (snooze or lose), online selection can be quite different than a warehouse and they will not send or bring in merchandise from other warehouses.

However, they will tell you if an article is due for a price drop and changeout. And as for online ordering, absolutely great delivery service.

Yup, to us it's been well worth the membership fees!

I was looking to buy a Pioneer 50” Plasma. The Costco price was massively below what everyone else had the same TV for. Ultimately we found one dealer who took the time to point out that Costco was actually selling the 2006 model and that they were selling the 2007 model; he then dropped the price on his 2007 model until it was only $ 120 above the Costco price. Even if you are not buying at Costco; their prices can still be useful. Not to mention you can always grab a cheap bite to eat afterwards.

Thing to watch out for at Costco is they are not an authorized dealer for the sale of many electronics (ie: flat panels). As such warranties are many times not covered by the manufacturers. However, most items are warrantied by Costco and repairs can be covered under their Amex card. Coupled with their liberal returns policy it can imply a good sense of security.

I've bought computers & laptops here before and their return policy can't be beat!

Only caution would be to know what you want BEFORE going there because they are severely understaffed in the computer dept.

Costco is an excellent store. I haven't had any problems and their in-store customer service is friendly. The St. John's store could use some organization but that's another story.