Why We Don't Go to Costco

A couple weeks ago our Sam's Club membership expired, so we decided to give Costco a try. First of all, we got LOST getting there. They do not have a big sign saying "Costco, Turn Here!" and the parking lot is covered in trees making it hard to see what store it is. After driving past it once or twice, we finally figured out where it was and got inside. :)

Then we went up to the customer service desk and asked if we could get a membership for $50. They said we either had to pay with debit or American Express. Since we didn't have an AE card, we wrote them a check. They ran it through, twice, and each time they declined it! They wouldn't give us a reason-- probably that our money is not good enough for them. :) Now we knew we had money in the bank, so we decided to pay with our debit cards. It has been a long time since either Gabe or myself have paid with debit, so I guess we have forgotten our pin numbers. We tried every number we could think of, and nothing worked. By that time the man helping us really must have thought we had no money. We looked in our wallets for some cash, and we had a total of $42, not quite enough to get that stinkin membership.

So we decided to make a trip to the bank to see if there was a problem with our account, and maybe reset our pin numbers, too. We got there after hours, and only the drive-thru was open. They said there was no problem with the account, but that he couldn't reset the pins at that time, we had to wait til the lobby was open. He asked if we needed cash, but we said, "Oh no, we're fine." Because at that time, we had just had a brilliant thought, "Let's sign up for the American Express card AT Costco and pay with that!"

So we went BACK to Costco (barely making the turn this time) and this time there was a lady who was helping us. She recognized us from before, raised her eyebrows and said "Back again?" I'm sure she thought we had no money. We asked her if we could sign up for American Express, but then she explained to us (rudely) that before you can sign up for American Express, you MUST pay for the membership first. Argh! Why didn't we get that cash?

That was when we gave up. Instead we went straight over to Sam's Club and easily renewed our membership with a single swipe of a card. Costco lost our business that day. In the future we may consider switching again, but for now we are content with all that Sam's Club has got to offer.