Tell me about Costco

I stopped shopping at Fry's Electronics because of their liberal return policy. I got fed up with buying stuff only to get home and find out it was used, repackaged and put back on the shelf. I won't go there again. If Costco has a similar return policy, I'll never go their either.

Costco had to modify their return policy because so many unscrupulous people were buying cameras...using them for nearly two years and then returning them so they could trade up to the latest and greatest for free.

Woolburr wrote in post #6137296
You guess wrong.

Dang -- my spidey-sense (much like my monitor) needs calibration.....:o


I get what you are saying about cameras -- I have a TV I bought there that was giving me an intermittent problem -- I bought it back before the change in policy occurred.

When I spoke to them at the return desk they urged me to bring it back and that they would refund my original purchase price (which, because of price decreases was now enough to buy the next size up.) I sort of argued with them, because it just didn't seem right.

Still haven't decided whether I'm taking it back or having it fixed.

Can't imagine doing this with the forethought of using something and then returning it for an upgrade.

And now, back to the original point.....yes, I still like shopping at Costco -- it just makes me feel good that a store cares about its customers.

Atfulldraw wrote in post #6138823
Can't imagine doing this with the forethought of using something and then returning it for an upgrade.

I don't believe it was the camera "upgrade" program that some people were using so much as the HDTV "upgrade" program that finally pushed CostCo into limiting the return of electronics.

Corporate survival would be my take on it. They were getting financially pummeled by people abusing a very liberal return policy.

I've even seen more than a couple threads in the EOS forum (prior to the policy change) where people floated the idea or outright bragged about their "upgrade". Returning a fully functional camera (or anything IMHO) under the policy was wrong, even if within the letter of the policy.

And thanks to those amoral people, now anyone who has a genuine problem past the 90 days has to deal with the manufacturer.

But for the honest guy (me) they are super. We bought set of pots and pans, and on night # 2 of usage, burned milk in the smallest pot.

I took it in to ask if if could buy another small pot from the set.

They told me to put them all back in the box and return them. I protested saying it was my fault and I only needed the small pot.

They said it was part of making regular customers happy. So I returned it, got the gift card for the value, went into the store and purchased a whole new set of the same stuff. Incredible.

Before Costco changed the policy on TV and Electronics purchased to 90-days, I saw a guy wheeled a 52" Plasma, no box, just the screen a the remote, some scratches on the side. He wanted to return after 8 months of use and th reason...the color doesn't look good. hahaha After freaking 8 months and now you noticed it.