The Beauty of Costco’s Return Policy
Not often can you find a retail store that is actually honest and wants to do right thing for its customers. Notable examples include Best Buy, Circuit City, among others. However, one exception to this is Costco Wholesale.
Last year I got an Xbox 360 on launch day thanks to Grant waking up at 5 AM and waiting in line for one. However, like many other people, my 360 crapped out; the three rings of death (overheating). Now, being the upstanding retail shopper I am, I decided to do the right thing and call up Microsoft to get it repaired. After giving them my serial number and address, 15 miuntes later on the phone, they tell me my warranty expired 3 weeks ago and that I would have to shell out $130 for repairs. After a few words, I hung up the phone and debated my alternatives. With my serial number registered to me, I couldn’t resort to unorthodox measures and I probably couldn’t fetch much on eBay. But then I remembered reading about Costco’s amazing return policy.
I started doing a little more research and found that apparently they’ll take any merchandise back for any reason if it break. I even came across an article of some woman returning flowers 2 weeks after she bought them because they were dead. So figured it’s worth a shot. I start looking through the files for my receipt (note that this is a few weeks after tax day), and with my luck, there’s no receipt to be found. I went to Costco anyway to try to return it.
I get to Costco, they scan the member card, print out a new receipt, check the items and the box, and refund the money entirely. INCREDIBLE! I considered just taking the cash and buying one for cheaper on OneCall, but with that return policy, I might as well just get another one from Costco. Sure enough, the 2nd one crapped out with the same problems 1 month later. They took it back, no questions asked and gave me a giant wad of cash back. Now I’m on my 3rd and I haven’t had any problem yet.
This whole matter helped me enstill some faith back into retail. In a time where internet sales are increasing exponentially and retail sales are on the decline, policies like Costco’s give reason to return to retail. I plan to buy all my electronics from Costco from this point on simply because they are willing to stand behind anything they sell, even when the manufacturer is not.
Hey, my niece had the same experience when she bought her iPod. She bought the Photo, then a few months later, it broke. My brother took it back to Costco. They refunded the money. This time, the Video iPod was out, and she got that one. BASICALLY A FREE UPGRADE! Not even apple could beat that.
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Wow, good to know. I’ve got a gift certficate to Costco.com waiting for the Zune to come out. Even better, their prices on the iPods and Zunes are cheaper than anywhere else.
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WoW…. now I know where to by PS3…….
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I loved you article, too bad there are no Cost Co. in my area. Do you know of any other stores with similiar return policies? BTW, only the dickless buy from Sony.
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I work for Costco, it’s true, don’t even need a receipt, or a membership! if you got something for a gift, we’ll take it back! as long as it’s on the computer, we’ll give you the money back, there’s not even a time slot for it, only on computers it’s six months, but still, I returned my ipod 2 times, my digital camera, 3 times (even though there’s nothing wrng with it, just for a little upgrade!)
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What do you mean it has to be on the computer? What if a family relative bought the item from another city? Then again, how could Costco even recognize whether you bought that product from them, couldn’t anyone just bring in a random piece of merchandice and get a free refund even when they hadn’t bought it from the store?
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Costco keeps a record of all member’s purchases that can be accessed with a simple swipe of their Costco Membership card. Therefore, if you try to return something that isn’t in your purchase history, then you’re probably going to have a harder time.
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I’m curious whether they’d have a record of a purchase out of the state. Lets say a relative bought me an ipod in Seattle, and I live in San Diego; would they have the data in the San Diego Costco when it was bought in Washington? If they didn’t have the data, would I still be able to recieve a refund? I appreciate your help. Thanks.
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Jordan, while I can’t say for certain, I believe that every purchase, whether in Seattle or San Diego, can be accessed at any Costco Warehouse. I would think that their computers all work off the same database. However, like most stores, if the iPod was a gift and you don’t have the membership card of the person who bought it, you will probably only get a gift card for your purchase if they take it back at all. I’m not 100% sure about their policy on gift returns.
Hope I helped.
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I’m glad it’s worked out for you. But that’s not what I’ve experienced so far. I tried to return a defective 7 month old TV to my local warehouse yesterday, and I was flat out rejected. The return manager told me that there’s been a new policy in effect for the last 2 month: they’ll reject all TV returns past 30 days unless I can prove that I’ve exhausted all possible options in repairing the TV. And even then, it’s up to the return manager’s discretion.
I called their customer center this morning at 800-744-2678 and was told that there’s no such thing as unlimited return period. They’ll accept returns up to 30 days from the date of purchase, then it’s on a case-by-case basis. Basically each store can have its own return policy – there’s absolutely no guarantee that you can return anything after 30 days.
The bottom line is that the unlimited return is highly YMMV; it varies greatly from store to store.
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Same here – at the urging of a friend, we just tried to return an HP inkjet all-in-one and they wouldn’t accept it. Granted we got it 3.5 years ago, so we really should have returned in 2.5 years ago when it stopped being able to print nicely. (I don’t think I’ll be buying any HP inkjets from anywhere from now on).
I was told that the return policy was three months for that printer. But there was no mention of three months on the Costco website or at the store.
I think it’s fine to not accept a 3.5-year old printer, but they need to make the return policy consistent and clear. It’s ridiculous if it varies from store to store or even worse how the return manager is feeling that day.
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Bad news, it seems that too many people were taking advantage of CostCo’s return policy. You now have 90 days to return any electronic goods, which will go into effect February/March. Sorry folks, its was fun while it lasted.
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Yeah, it’s official now. See http://www.costco.com/Images/Content/Misc/PDF/concierge.PDF
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I’m a costco employee. The return policy, although great was a bad business concept. We would get members that would simply return all their furniture they bought for their home because they were moving out of state. When they would get to their new home they would go back to costco and re-furnish their new home. Meanwhile the furniture that is returned is salvaged for less that 30% of the original value.
As an employee and a stockholder i applaud this decision.
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The 90 day return at Costco has been a long time coming. I read a few post back by the costco employee who returned stuff to upgrade. It’s that very reason that the new policy is in place. Would any of you like to sell tvs for a living? Sell a tv to a person, then have them return it after several years because they want a bigger and better tv for superbowl?
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BUT .. the list does not say games consoles. So does the 90 days still apply to that item ??
I am in need of a new 360 since mine crapped out only 1.5 years after I bought it and wish I had some sort of backup (ie Costco return policy)
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I am curious about costco’s return policy. I bought an ipod about a week ago that isn’t working- although I can’t find the box. I still have the receipt. Do you think they will offer and exchange or return without the box it came in?
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Erin, you shouldn’t have a problem. If only a week has passed and you have all the things that came with the iPod, you should be alright.
Might I recommend the Zune?
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hello i have a question because i actually have returned stuff after a year and it worked… this time i have an iPod video that i bought for christmas… i heard that zune has a ZUNE PASS… i was wondering if i would get my money back…
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Mike, My 360 died after about 8 months and I talked to Customer Service at a Costco two weeks ago to see if I could still return it and they told me that the XBOX 360 was not on the restricted list and could be returned at any time for any reason…Though they did tell me that without a receipt I’d get a Costco Cash Card…But you might want to wait until they get a bundle deal on the Elite…just an idea, since yours is already broken.
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Costco has now resorted to other tactics when you return something broke, after you had it awhile. I’ve been told by store manager I was being unfair to return something after they had told me I could return it anytime, for any reason, and I didn’t need to keep the box. Then on top of that they now look for one little thing missing so they can reject the return.
Lately Costco has been keeping track of all your returns in their computer so now they tell you any more returns and you will be barred from the store. Is this an isolated store situation or is this happening to other customers in other areas at Costo?
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Just as an update, my 360 gave up the two flashing lights after 11 months. I had purchased it at Costco, and had no difficulty returning it. They were able to look up the receipt, give a refund, and I was able to buy a new 360 as a replacement. Costco has great service!!
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Here’s their official, no questions return policy on merchandise:
“We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell with a full refund. Exceptions: Televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, iPOD / MP3 players and cellular phones must be returned within 90 days of purchase for a refund.”
If you have a PS3, Xbox360 or whatever, anything electronic-related at all that’s not mentioned in the paragraph above, you can return it at anytime—even years later—for a full refund. You even get your shipping refunded if you purchased the item at costco.com and had it delivered to your door.
I live in CA. I’ve returned 3 Xbox 360s that gave me problems and one 40GB PS3 to upgrade to a 80GB one. FREE.
No problems, no hassles. Plain and simple. It’s not that complicated, folks.
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Eric Reply:
January 8th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
My friend here just returned (1st week of Jan.09) a 42″ TV they bought 4 years ago that died. It was $4,000 at the time of purchase. They took it back with the receipt and got all of their money back on a Costco gift card. They bought a 45″ LCD for $1,500 and have a gift card for $2,500 now. WOW. This may be because the policy wasn’t in effect when they bought it. But who knows.
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Also good for GPS’s too
My friend wanted one and I mentioned Costco and their return policy, so I bought it for him and he paid me back. It is the way to go though. even the new 90 day return on TV’s and 2 year warranty is a great deal, I’ll be getting a Plasma from them soon. I’ll be buying a new Grill next year and Costco is on top of my list for me to make the purchase at…that way in 5 years I’ll just roll it into my Costco and swap to a new one (my cousin did that), I mean how long do they expect Grills to last…LOL My Uncle took up a part time job at his local Costco and he says people return seasonal equipment all the time, get a lawn mower, and return in fall for a snow blower, and return that in spring for a lawn mower. Not sure why Costco has such a return Policy. From a business standpoint it is stupid, but I guess most people don’t take advantage of it or know it is that easy going there.
As for other stores LL Bean has a no questions asked return policy. I returned a leather $300 Jacket I had got from my father during my High School (92-95) years and this past spring (2008) I boxed it up and mailed it to LL Bean…no questions asked, and they called me saying they did not have the one I wanted and if I would like the other one (yes they still had the same style jacket)….it is FREE so I said no problem I’ll be okay with the other colored one…LOL They even paid for shipping to LL Bean and back to me…great company and people are amazed they did that. I tell you what it makes me want to buy more from them even if their prices are higher.
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Costco indeed has an outstanding return policy and will probably continue to have one until abuses reach an intolerable level, as was the case with their electronics. With that said, I have recently learned that Costco WILL at times cancel a person’s membership if he uses the no-questions-asked-return-anytime policy too frequently. While I have no patience with those who abuse Costco’s great policy on returns, I think Costco is wrong to penalize people who play within their own rules. At the very least, Costco should make it very clear that is “unconditional” return policy actually has some hidden “conditions,” i.e., if you use it too often we’ll kick you out.
Rather than have a sneaky underhanded policy of canceling memberships of those who abuse the Costco return policy, I would much prefer that Costco impose sensible, transparent restraints. For example, a member’s ability to return an item that has mechanical moving parts, such as a vaccum cleaner, might be unreturnable after a set period of, say, 2 years. Or maybe a years after the warranty expires. After all, things with moving parts do wear out, in some cases by design.
Frankly, I would imagine that Costco’s return policy goes a long way toward reinforcing the excellent company’s sterling reputation, so the gains probably outweigh the losses by a wide margin. Costco is, after all, the nation’s best retailer, so it knows what it is doing. I for one have sold several friends on joining Costco and the company’s return policy has been a key selling point. Furthermore, I seriously doubt that the return policy costs Costco very much money. My guess is that the vast majority of the items go back to the vendor. I mean, what vendor in its right mind wants to piss off an account as vast and lucrative as Costco?
But the overarching point is that Costco can’t have it both ways. If it wants to brag about its amazing return policy and promote it aggressively, it needs to be completely honest and open about it. I think the company just needs to accept the fact, without applying punitive measures, that some folks will abuse the policy. Such is life.
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So heres a serious question for this community of Costco return policy abusers (haha)…
I have a PS3 that I bought over 1 year ago that has begun having some serious problems, essentially the red blinking lights of death. Unfortunately I bought this console from Circuit City which is now out of business. Do you guys think I could buy a PS3 from Costco and in 2 months return my OLD PS3 from circuit city? I know the serial numbers will not match, but I have returned other items to costco and it does not seem to me that they check for matching serial numbers, other than scanning the outside box… Maybe I can even consider manipulating the cases of the consoles….
Someone please give me your feeedback especially a costco employee maybe. Thanks all
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i bought my ps3 in 2007 and it just died. since it has been 3 years i cant find the box. do you think i will have a problem returning it?
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So, I am going to try and return my GPS that I bought at Costco in June, 2009. It works fine, but I need the money. Do you think they will take it back? I also do not have the box, so I am worried about that? Anyone know?
Thanks!
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Bought a GPS 2 Months ago…Magellan 1700 7inch one. Fell down and screen broke on one of the trips yesterday. Costco gladly took it back and gave my money back to get a new one. Awesome……Costco is the best place to buy GPS for sure
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