Costco Wholesale

Food court 👎🏼 Typically absolutely love Costco pizza, today’s experience was horrible. The staff at the food court were extremely rude when asking about our order (which they admitted the lost). Finally after 40min we got our pizza but it was probably the worst pizza I have ever gotten from any Costco location.

The Costco in Carlsbad is usually my preferred shopping destination because the employees are friendly, helpful, and even during peak hours, there are plenty of registers or self-checkouts available to expedite the checkout process. However, today’s experience was quite different. I went in to purchase four items and headed to the self-checkout. To my surprise, I had to wait to be scanned, even though there were four registers available. There was a sign indicating that self-checkout was only for items with 15 or fewer items, but a few people ahead of me had more than that. An employee was scanning carts by cart, which is not the usual process. Once they were scanning the person in front of me, I moved to the side and approached the next associate since he was almost done. The employee said, "Ma’am! You have to wait to be scanned. It’s company policy." "I said for self-checkout! They (the customer in front of me) have so many items, it’s going to take so long," I replied. The employee insisted that it was the policy. Literally three seconds later, the next associate freed up, and I asked if I could go forward. He said, "Sure!" But now that associate wouldn’t even look at me and told the guy behind me to just ring me up. Bryan called me over, rang me up, and I paid. He said, "This is company policy, so this is how it has to be done." I said, "Okay, but it doesn’t seem very convenient, and it’s self-checkout after all." He then said, "Well, that’s feedback that you can provide, but not to me." Basically, he didn’t want to hear what I had to say. Mind you, I never raised my voice or was rude. I said, "Okay, thank you, Bryan. I will definitely let the store manager know." I got my receipt and walked over to a register to ask for a manager. I explained what had happened and gave my feedback, mentioning that the "company policy was not very efficient and also inconvenient." He apologized and said, "Today is the first day we do this, so we are still working through it!" If that had been mentioned to me at any point in time, I would have understood and probably asked if it was possible for us customers to provide feedback on this new process. Instead, I felt as if this was something I should be aware of, and it had been happening for a while. Another way this new system could work would be if they see someone with more than 15 items and ask them to step aside while they get scanned. Then, the line would move to another associate who can scan the guest with 15 or fewer items. Alternatively, we could simply opt for self-checkout, which is the process I chose.

Love/hate relationship with this location. Conveniently close to the 5 and have a great selection. But the checkout process is always horrible. I try to come midday, midweek to avoid the crowds but sometimes I’m not lucky. Lines disorganized because there’s not enough registers open and there’s not enough space to organize proper lanes. Today I went and it wasn’t busy for once so I decided to go to the self checkout. They now limit 15 items which I’m not complaining about but the staff is counting each cart and then scanning the items only if you have 15 items or less. Only after they scan your items do they escort you to the self checkout to pay. Very inefficient. Worst part they forgot to scan an item. I had to wait in line to exit just for them to tell me their staff forgot an item, had to wait for another employee to escort me back to the registers to pay. Wasted 5 mins of my life, please fix your cashier/checkout issues.

This store just changed their self-checkout procedure. It’s useless and horrible. It now has to be 15 items or less, one order to a membership, plus they pre-scan your items. I went in on a Friday morning at 10am. They had maybe two people in line at the self checkout. The cashier checkout had at least eight people in each line (I think they had three registers open). I had a total of 17 items in my cart, four of them were the same item. They made me go wait in the cashier line because the four of the same item didn’t count as one. So I had to go from a line that had two people in line, that would get me out in less than five minutes to a line that would be at least a 20 minute wait. Ridiculous!! We have never had an issue at self checkout and it was convenient to get in and out quicker when we go with our two young kids. This change is definitely going to limit our shopping there.

Popped in to look at bottom ice chest refrigerators. There are only three to choose from, so I'm still looking....also checked out tall safes... Opportunity grab to purchase some flasks and toothpaste. Also goofed around a bit...

I usually love this place but the service I got from the optical department was so far under standard that I had to write about it. I've been getting progressive glasses there for about 10 years in a row and the new glasses I ordered just didn't work for me. They made me see double etc. I brought them in and the clerk said I'd have to pay for new lenses but they would refund the frames for $70. It's so funny because they'll take back a $2,000 couch back but not my $259 glasses? Anyway I ended up talking to the Optical dept manager and she said the same the the clerk said. I said no way am I paying for new lenses. She said she was also going to erase my eye prescription because it didn't work. This meant I would have to get another appointment for an eye exam that I had just done 2 weeks prior. It also meant I couldn't get glasses at any Costco until I did so. I said, so you're telling me I need to go right back to the optometrist that is 10 feet away, pay another $125 for them to give you the same prescription? She said yes and just walked away from me to help another customer. Literally in the middle of our conversation. I looked at the clerk, Kaii, and asked "Is she just done with this conversation?" He replied "I just work here." I couldn't believe it. So I tried to get the manager's attention to let her know I wasn't just going to go away. I guess I got the attention of the floor manager and he came over to ask what was going on. I told him and he told her to give me my money back. Then I told him she was going to erase my current prescription and he told her to not do that. When I told him the clerk said "I just work here", he said, did you actually say that to this customer? The manager also tried to explain to me that new progressive glasses just might not work for me since they change from year to year. I wish I had thought to tell her I had ordered and received new progressives in Sept of 2025 but ha dlost them. They worked fine for me. You'd think the money was coming out of her pocket but she had to make a big deal of it. Now I have to go to a different Costco because of all of that. Lame.

I entered the store with visible Adidas and Nike shopping bags from the outlets across the street and was repeatedly questioned by Sandra about whether they were returns while trying to check in at the tire center. When I returned, the same employee dogged me about entering through the exit to retrieve my car from the tire center. I did not observe other customers being questioned in the same way. The tone felt accusatory, racially charged and made me uncomfortable. I understand loss prevention policies, but the interaction felt unnecessary and left a negative impression of this location.