July 2013 by Ed C.
I'm a Costco member in the United States, and I have nothing but the best to say about the US stores; however, this particular store seems to suffer significantly from laziness, rudeness, or just plain bad customer service. On a recent visit, my partner and I took our purchases to a cashier. I showed my card, and my partner proceeded to pay. She flatly refused to take his payment. In the US, we have never experienced such discrimination against our family. Strike 1. So I paid, but Costco in Canada doesn't accept debit cards from the United States. Strike 2. We dropped by the service desk to find out about the debit issue, and the attendant offered to let us apply for a Costco AMEX card. After we went through the entire process, she found out that we could not apply as US residents! Strike 3. If we were true to baseball, we would have called the store an OUT and never returned... But we went back today. As we entered, the card checker made sure we knew they were closing in 10 minutes. How tacky. That IS NOT customer service! I wrote corporate Costco about my experiences. They apologized profusely, and the local manager promised to call me... on a Sunday... and then he didn't... Make of that what you will. I can say that the hot dog and soft drink deal is the best food value in Saint John. Just expect the folks there to act like warehouse workers. No one is willing to lift a finger to find out answers to questions or call a manager for assistance. They act as if it's a labor for them to even wait on you. Hope it gets better.
