Grrrr... Aggressive salesman at Costco

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ChrisK

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2009
Messages
1,376
Location
Ottawa, Canada
I`m so pissed off. My husband and I decided to renew our membership at Costco after it`d lapsed for a number of years. We walked up to the counter and said we wanted the regular gold membership.. supposed to be $55/year. Salesman starts talking really fast and says there are all these great options if you get the executive ($110/year) membership. I said oh that's nice.. and next thing I know, he's charging me $110!

So I cancelled that transaction, and reiterated that I just wanted the gold membership. We were then correctly charged, but he kept talking and then gave us another application. This one asked for where I worked, and I said, "Why do you need that information?" He said "because it's on the application" -- WTF??

Then, after signing the form, I started reading over more of the info, and I realized he'd given us a credit card form!! I was SUPER pissed off. I told him we don't want the costco credit card, and I took both forms and ripped them up in front of him. He was NOT apologetic. He told me that I said I wanted the credit card!! And then he said, don't get pissed off, it was just a misunderstanding.

So after that, he gave us our membership cards, and I said to him that I wanted to verify that in fact, all we have just done here is gotten the gold membership that we came in for, and not credit cards, etc. And instead of answering me straight, he went on jabbering again about all the benefits of the credit card. I asked him again to verify, and finally I *think* he did.. or maybe I just gave up.

I was so pissed off after that, that I wanted to return my membership, but felt that would be cutting off my nose despite my face. I'm finding myself now still upset about the whole thing, and concerned that, with so little information as he took, he was able to open a credit card for us... so I'm concerned about identity theft, and intend to call when they open in the morning to speak with a manager, and ask him/her to verify there is no credit card against our account AND complain about the aggressive sales pitch.

Has anyone else had such aggressive sales from Costco? I am quite taken aback by this... and NOT pleased!!! I'm wondering if they work on commission... grrrrr

edit: Correction -- I had read some of the credit card form before signing it, but not all, as we were being rushed by a salesman who kept talking fast. I don't normally sign forms without reading them, but was having a bad day, and the salesman talked so fast that he caught me off guard. This is very disconcerting!
 
report him to the district manager not the store manager demand a telephone call or letter as a follow up after an investigation they do this to sucker the elderly! I don't know your age or any of that so please don't take offense I was a full time caregiver&saw it happen at other clubs like that&numerious other places. imagine what he did then imagine being hard of hearing...bet he smiled a lot too. that is a predatory sales technique&he must be reported
 
I don't think they work on commission at Costco. In fact, Costco is known to be a very good employer for their employees, better than most department stores.
The pushing of the cards, that is crazy but unfortunately, not limited to Costco. Each day I go to Superstore, the lady who works at the PC bank is always trying to push me to open a band account with them.
Everything is about money. It's horrible.
You are right to be concerned about the credit card though because even a check on your rating is a knock against you and worse yet is when there's a check and then a dismissal. That works against your credit rating. People don't understand that even the simple act of filling out a form and submitting goes against you for good credit. It's best to have one or two credit cards and nothing more.
 
Yes, it's just come to my attention how important it is to order a free credit check on myself each year. Apparently if done thru mail/fax this check does not count against me in my credit rating, and it should help prevent identity theft. As to the check done yesterday followed by my withdrawal, well, I suppose what's done is done there. I'm happy at least to say it's a rarity.

Mostly though, this ordeal has left me feeling very vulnerable, and objectified -- i.e. this salesman saw me as an easy target and his behavior was dismissive of me. I knew I wasn't feeling well yesterday, but didn't think it was dangerous for me to go to the counter and say 'I want to purchase a standard membership.'

And I feel embarrassed.

In any event, I am planning to call the store today and request to speak with a manager.. And I also plan to call their headquarters office on Monday (they're not open today) to ask for a regional manager or someone higher up to complain.

I will update with results.. thanks for listening! I was so upset about this.. it's good to write about and to hear your input.
 
Crap! I just called and the store manager is not in today. So I asked if there's someone stepping in for him in his absence, and they gave me the very same guy who pulled those aggressive sales tactics on me yesterday!
Wow! What does this say about the store, that this guy is second in charge?? After the way he dealt with me yesterday, I was sure there would be no value in addressing him directly, so I hung up when I heard his name. I will call headquarters tomorrow morning and ask for the regional manager instead.
 
Oh wow. Then it's even more important that you call their head office. Putting a guy like that in charge is definitely not good business.
 
that's why you call district first now this guy has time to create a web of lies. ive caught&reported&gotten many predatory salespeople removed from numerious places&the first thing ,I learned is go to district first. ive had that same thing happer or a manager refuse to give out districts number, ive been assaulted by employees who knew one more complaint was the end etc. on an up note those who go above&beyond get great praise&oddly enough get promoted :) make a list of youe concerns now as you have to wait, it'll help you collect your thoughts&dont forget to tell them they stuck you on the phone w/the fellow who was the problem...this cant be the first time
 
ltukey said:
that's why you call district first now this guy has time to create a web of lies. ive caught&reported&gotten many predatory salespeople removed from numerious places&the first thing ,I learned is go to district first. ive had that same thing happer or a manager refuse to give out districts number, ive been assaulted by employees who knew one more complaint was the end etc. on an up note those who go above&beyond get great praise&oddly enough get promoted :) make a list of youe concerns now as you have to wait, it'll help you collect your thoughts&dont forget to tell them they stuck you on the phone w/the fellow who was the problem...this cant be the first time
Click to expand...

Wow! This is such a sad state of affairs! I don't know if the sales guy recognized my name or not when I called today. And I'm not going to call the store again tomorrow unless I've called Headquarters directly first. But it's true.. in the meantime, I will put my thoughts together to make my case. And you know the irony? My husband and I shopped today at a different Costco in town, and the employees there were all very very nice to us. And we found good prices on the items we typically would spend more for at groceries. Membership with Costco would otherwise have been a good experience, except for this obnoxious salesman... it wasn't necessary. I will update tomorrow after I call.. and again.. thanks for your support and listening ear!
 
Geech.. they don't make it easy! Or maybe it's just 'cause I'm all pissed off now...
I called Costco headquarters and there were no options on their phone machine to actually speak with a person. What a pain in the a** it is even to get thru to a person, let alone the correct one.

Ultimately I spoke to a supervisor at the call center, not a regional manager, but he said he would forward my complaint to three people.. the marketing manager, the assistant director, and the store manager. He gave me two people's names and said one of them will get back to me.

Interestingly enough, employees there give out only their first names. When I asked to verify who I was speaking with, even the supervisor would not give me his last name. I find that also insulting... they have my full name... why are they not giving me theirs? Or if not the last name, then an employee number. That's crazy stupid. So to track down the guy I'm complaining about, all they would normally have is his first name and store location. Fortunately, in this case, the salesman also mentioned he was a supervisor and had been there 8 years, so I figure that should narrow it down. But in other cases, this just makes more work for them.

So now it's wait and see 'till I hear back.

And in the meantime... I'm gonna take a walk and cool off...
 
Got a call back today from the manager of customer service. She was very nice and she apologized to me for the very bad behavior of the salesman. She told me he's been spoken to, and he claimed it was just a misunderstanding. And that she told him that he has to slow down when he's talking and listen to the customer. That's exactly what I was thinking, frankly. If he had stopped one moment to actually ask me what I wanted, or listened to me, this wouldn't have happened. She reassured me that the customer is right and comes first, and she's doing what she can to make sure this doesn't happen again. In the end, she said they are giving me an extra 3 months on our membership.

Honestly, I don't know if that will be enough to put the salesman in his place or not. But I'm glad I spoke up and that my complaint was heard and acted upon. With a little luck, perhaps the rest of my Costco experiences will be better!

In the meantime, I ran across an article on line which mentioned that although Costco employees do not get commissions, they do have quotas to meet, and that's why often at the cash, the cashier will ask if you want to upgrade your membership. In our case, it's not likely that it will ever be worth the more expensive membership, as we'd have to spend upwards of $5,000/year there to break even.. we're not that rich or that hungry! :giggle:
 
That's really good that someone bothered to call you and also that guy had a talking too. Even if he had a talking too in a light joking manner, it still planted the seed that you need to listen.

I got a call from my son living in Ottawa and he was approached by a very aggressive salesman for Just Energy. He portrayed himself as being part of Ottawa Hydro. Julien was so worked up about it, it really bothered him that he was being pressured into signing something he had no idea about. He felt scammed. Aggressive salesmen are everywhere and they don't do any service to their company. They also give other salesmen a bad rep.
 
We had that happen but the lady kind of and the lady pulled our account details and explained how the upgrade would benefit us as we do most of our shopping there however before I even knew it my husband agreed and $36 was added to our bill. It didn't seem like much so I let him off the hook however I doubt the next time we will do that unless we seer some sort of profit (highly doubt)
 

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