yea, this sucks. i had great faith in buying stuff there before.

[QUOTE=X]I just don't see that a store should have that liability, and I certainly don't see how they can do it while having the lowest prices. Especially when an item just being old can be equivalent to breaking to a number of abusers of their policies.
QUOTE]

I think everybody agrees that it was a crazy policy and apparently Costco felt that so many people took advantage of it that it wasn't worth continuing it - which is totally their right. And maybe, after discontinuing it, they can lower their prices even more and make them more competitive in the electronics business.

I'm not sure why you call returning an old item "abuse" when it was well within the policy that they implemented. Abuse, IMO, is more the people who bought a wide-screen TV for a superbowl party and retuned it the next week.

You consider returning an item merely because it's old, not to be abuse? Just because they had a hassle-free return policy in order to keep their members happy?

But the thing is, they really don't have the best prices. If you're a smart shopper (coupons, B1G1F, etc) almost everything they have can be found cheaper elsewhere.

I'm a member, and I buy a lot of stuff, but little of it from Costco.

It was their choice to have this long return policy, just like Sears and other places.

I can see you not wanting to have it if it was your business, I wouldn't do it either if I was a business, but if they choose to have the policy I will factor it into my decision making.

I didn't say they did, I said perhaps in the future they will due to this new policy.

Sorry, I was in a hurry when I wrote that. I was still talking about wear-and-tear - specifically about things that broke because they were old.

I hadn't thought about just returning something because it got old but it still works perfectly. I wouldn't fault somebody for doing that, but I wouldn't.

I sure would be a good way to insulate yourself from the High Def DVD wars. What, HD lost? Oh well, time to return my HD player.

I thought their official policy was 30 days (Posted in returns area) and it was widely know that they will take anything back. Doubt they need to "notify" anyone or grandfather in anyone since what they do (90 days) is longer than what is posted...

I don't think so. I thought I saw special mention of returns for PC's and that they were 6 months.

It's called requiring the manufacturer to offer a 2 year warranty. If there are any issues with the item after the 90 days you will have to go through the manufacturer for repairs. After 90 days Costco has nothing to do with any service or work for a TV.

So they won't stock items unless they can strong-arm the manufactorer to extend the warranty?

I will still try to return something after 90 days if I need to.
And if they deny me, I will stop shopping there.

Although I never needed to return anything yet in several
years, it is still really the only reason I shop there.

Exactly my point. I know Wal-mart is famous (infamous) for basically telling manufacturers what they will pay for certain items, but I doubt Costco has that kind of leverage. Not to mention even if the manufacturer, for some reason, agreed, how are they going to keep these purchases separate from people who purchased the same item at a different store? I am aware that many of the electronic items Costco carries have different model numbers (but similar features) as those sold at other stores, but it seems like big headache for the manufacturer to have to cross reference the location of purchase just to appease one company that has less than 400 stores in the US.

They wouldn't be doing this if they didn't already have them agree to it.

Costco is the #5 retailer in the country, they already have manufacturers package items specifically for them and require food items to be at a higher quality to be carried in the warehouses.

Hmmm I wonder if the fact that I brought in a 2 year old 4:3 19" lcd tv in november, got cash back, and then bought a brand new 16:9 27" lcd tv the same day has anything to do with this. Hey, I gave the money right back to them (plus 100 bucks). They were pretty stupid to not have a policy before. They were asking for abuse. It was the first and only time I had done such a thing, though since I bought my tv before this happened I funny intend to do it again at some point.

I just bought a 360 there today. I asked one guy if it counted since its not a tv, computer, laptop, or iPod, and he said it did. Then I asked someone behind the customer service counter and he said it didn't. We'll see what happens when I bring it back when microsoft releases a better one. I guess you could always just bring back your electronic every 90 days. "Well its been 3 months. Time for a new tv."

This is exactly why I did not renew my membership a few days ago. Bye Bye Costco.

Part of the reason why I bought most of my major electronics there was because of the horror stories I have had at BB, Sams Club, CC, and even Fry's. I would come on the 30 or 31 day after finally getting some time to install whatever it was I bought and it wouldn't work so I'd ocme the next day and they'd always find some reason to deny me. Costco has been a darling in terms of returns and I have never once abused their policy. This is just one more reason i will be factoring other places to purchase now. Now I have hardly enough reason to go there.

I don't understand this. 30 or 31 days would be fine with Costco's new policy.

You wait right until the 30 day return period is up to install what you buy at BB, Sams Club, CC, and Fry's, so you plan on waiting until 3 times that long, 90 days is up to install something you buy from Costco?

I think you are taking hiccup a little to literally. The point is: whatever the deadline is, there still is a deadline. There never used to be - and that was attractive.

I'm not sure why you're still having trouble understanding this.

PS. I had a 160G hard-drive that I bought from Circuit City that I didn't open for 16 months. It was a PATA drive and I ended up buying a SATA machine a month or two after buying it. I finally bought an external enclosure and started using it.

It was probably stupid of me to wait that long, but I had no use for it until then. Had I bought it at Costco, I may have just returned it unopened. It's a nice option to have. Would that have been abusing their policy? Not in my mind.

So Costco, or the manufacturer, should have to eat the cost for outdated equipment that you choose not to open for 16 months?

No offense, but IMO that is definitely abusing the policy.

That hard drive was not out-dated nor was it opened. They sell the same one today at Best Buy.

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.

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That still seems to be better than any other store out there. Also no restocking fee.

Picked up a new iPod yesterday and the big "90 day" sticker was on it. I don't have any problem with the new policy. Actually surprised they didn't do anything sooner.

The good thing is that it states that it is 90 days for a full refund. It doesn't mention anything to exchanging the electronic equipment for another one. Recently I exchanged an 8 GB jumpdrive that I purchased 6 month ago for $129.99. One of the cables in the drive broke, so I went back to Costco and they exchanged it for a new one.

Well, that purchase was likely "grandfathered in" under the old policy, which would be good news.