YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES

Global Search
Thursday February 9, 2012
« Luxury handbag sale in time for Mother’s Day (expired)
Ten-inch hanging flowerbaskets for $5.99 »

Am I taking advantage of Costco?

Posted on April 29th, 2009 – 4:31 PM
By John Ewoldt

It’s the time of year when the humidity in my basement creeps up to 60 percent, and if I don’t turn on the dehumidifier, silverfish and other creepie crawlies move in. Last fall, my LG dehumidifier from Costco quit removing water from the air, even though the air temp was still fairly warm and the humidity was over 50 percent. (The fan still worked.) I thought maybe the hose to the drain was clogged ,so I made sure the line was clear. When it still didn’t work, I returned the five-month old appliance for a full refund.

Confession: It was the second time I had returned an LG humidifier to Costco. The prior one lasted about eight months before it developed the same flaw.  I returned that one as well. Feeling that buying and possibly returning a third one was taking advantage, I checked Consumer Reports’ ratings. They recommended a model by Danby, which I discovered Costco sells online only.

I’m sure that some readers or business owners will feel I took advantage of Costco’s generous return policy, but in my defense, it’s my way of letting Costco know they are selling an inferior product. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the LG dehumidifer is problematic because one local retailer that sells Costco’s returns had several of the same LG models for sale last week.

Readers, let me know your thoughts. Was I sending Costco a message about a bad product or a message that I’m a serial returner? Also, has anyone else had trouble with dehumidifiers petering out after one season? My Sears model, which I bought used, worked for five years. Â

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 4:31 pm and is filed under Appliances. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

11 Responses to "Am I taking advantage of Costco?"

Kiley says:

April 30th, 2009 at 12:37 pm

I don’t think you were taking advantage of their return policy. You were truthful and told them the reason for the return (faulty product) and they should take it back. Costco did the right thing, now, if only Target would stand by their products and distributers that way. I have had a few faulty products from Target and if it is past 90 days with a receipt, they won’t do anything to help. They refer me to the manufacter and the manufacter refers me to Target. I applaud Costco for caring that the customer is satisfied.

Jason says:

April 30th, 2009 at 1:38 pm

So what is the local retailer that sells Costco returns?

And I agree with the previous poster - I’ve had the same experience with Target telling me to go to the manufacturer and the manufacturer telling me to go to Target. Costco is definitely interested in customer satisfaction, which is nice!

Jeanne says:

April 30th, 2009 at 2:29 pm

My new dehumidifier didn’t work the following season either until I washed the filter. Now I do that every spring and it works like a charm.

chuck says:

May 1st, 2009 at 5:50 am

Target’s return policy sucks!!!! Walmart
will take things back.I only shop at Walmart!

Diana says:

May 1st, 2009 at 11:13 am

I’m a strong believer of returning items with which you are not satisfied. Why keep something if it doesn’t work as you want it to work?

Susan says:

May 2nd, 2009 at 8:04 am

I don’t think that you took advantage of Costco’s return policy. I find it appalling that an appliance has an end of life after just 5 years ending up in a landfill. We bought an LG refrigerator 2 years ago. The first one lasted 1 week. I made LG pay for all of my lost food and replace it. This new one makes a ton of noise and we have tried to make LG fix it. They have sent out 6 repair people who have not been able to fix it. I will never buy an LG product again. The major retailers keep track of complaints and returns. Costco is keeping track of your LG humidifier returns…..

Linda Rust says:

May 2nd, 2009 at 11:29 am

You were playing by the rules Costco has laid out. Period. There is no limit about what you buy to replace a returned item. Buying a second one was not taking advantage of Costco. You’re the one who has the grief of a second unit that broke so soon and the work of a second return. You can keep buying a new one every time and still be within the rules as Costco has written them.

You might consider that buying the Consumer Reports recommended product from the Costco.com website is not usually much hassle compared to buying from their stores and the store will still take any return if you’re not satisfied. The grief you save will be your own. I also have a Kenmore dehumidifier, which I bought well-used at a garage sale 18 years ago. I just had it thoroughly cleaned (because I don’t own a strong enough air compressor) and it continues to run like charm. The appliance service guy said it has lots of good years left.

Karen says:

May 4th, 2009 at 3:01 pm

As long as the return policy lets you return it, go for it.

But I have to share that our experience with LG products in general has been HORRIBLE and would never advise anyone to purchase LG.

We had 3 LG product, all only 2 - 3 years ond and all have pooped out already. The refrigerators fan motor burns out causing the whole thing to seize up. We lost our food much like a previous commenter. Its like LG is saying we should spend $1500 on a new refrigerator every 3 years because that’s all the longer they’ll last. We had a window unit air conditioner that didn’t cool even a tiny 10×10 bedroom. We had a front loading washing machine that leaked at the water inlet connection, flooding our laundry area, no matter how many times the repair person tried to repair and replace the part.
I am completely discusted with LG that their products have such a short life, especially now hearing they’ve got another substandard product out there in the dehumidifier.

I will never buy LG again, regardless of who the retailer is.

And by the way people, why blame a return policy for a faulty product when it is the manufacturer giving you the shaft with shody products. We bought our LG products at a range of retailers from Home Depot to Best Buy. Non of them did anything about the faulty product either, and referred us to LG for service. Go straight to the source of the problem to make sure they get the message about the design defects of their products.

Sara says:

May 6th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

I, too, am curious. What local retailer sells Costco return items? I can keep a secret.

disappointed says:

May 7th, 2009 at 5:09 pm

I think that dehumidifiers as a category are fundamentally flawed. I have gone through two and neither lasted more than 1 season. I tried some online research and story after story basically confirmed that dehumidifiers are only built to last 6 months. Despite return policies by some good retailers, the manufacturers must count on consumers not wanting to take the time to return them. They are cheaply built and designed, in China no doubt. I would love to hear about someone that had a dehumidifier lasted 5 years.

Cathy says:

June 1st, 2009 at 3:54 pm

wow, we have a dehumidifier which my husband put together from two used ones, that has lasted at least 15 years. before that, we had a used one for at least 10 years. i think one was GE and one Kenmore. we purchase small used appliances in Hopkins at Rogness on Shady Oak Road.
BTW, the ONLY appliance of ANY type i ever buy new is Kenmore. they last FOREVER and are top quality.

Subscribe to Deal Spotter

Learn more about RSS

Categories