On the heels of one of the best customer experiences I’ve ever had is one of the worst.   So it is with our luck these days as one can’t expect a good thing to last.  The culprit is CostCo.  The recipient of one of the worst customer experiences: my wife and mother-in-law. 

They both have been big fans of CostCo up until this experience.  They regularly shop at the warehouse to stock up on food and supplies.  This week was different.     After doing their shopping they stood in a long line to checkout.  Normally the wait is around 20 minutes so they were content to kill time catching up on each other’s activities. 

Soon after they got up to the cashier however, the Anti-WOW forces crept in.   In turns out my wife’s CostCo card had expired days earlier and her mother forgot her card back at the house.  After verifying that she was a current member, the cashier unpleasantly said they’d have to sign up for a temporary card which meant standing in another 30 minute line.  The cashier should have been able to process the order right on the spot (WOW) but either company policy or the cashier decided a 30 minute wait for a temporary card was the customer service answer (Anti-WOW) .

My wife and mother-in-law then stood in line for a temporary card.  Meanwhile, the frozen food was thawing and the temperatures of the two women were rising.  They finally got their temporary card and stood back in the cashier’s line to pay for the food.  When my wife attempted to pay for the food with her credit card and her mother’s CostCo card, low and behold, CostCo has a rule against such schemes (Anti-WOW).  Apparently, the owner of the card must pay for the food (even if it’s a spouse I might add). 

After a few words with the cashier’s manager and still no luck, the two walked out of the store in frustration sans food.   I remember a famous rule about customer service where a customer will tell 3 people about good customer service and 20 people about bad customer service.  I think the latter number was low in this instance. 

CostCo may want to consider taking a digital page out of the Apple handbook.