Costco Vs Sam's Club — Which Has The Better Return Policy?

At some point, there will likely be a time when you have to return an item to the grocery store. It might be that you get home and discover you needed garlic powder instead of fresh garlic, or you find your item's packaging is slightly torn or that the ingredient is past its expiration. So you go to get a refund. Between two major bulk grocery giants, Sam's Club may have the best food court pizza, but it turns out that Costco wins on the returns front. 

Costco's returns policy simply allows more opportunities to get your money back. This is because at Costco, you can pretty much return anything regardless of timing, and without a receipt. Sam's Club, on the other hand, has a series of tiered returns periods ranging from any time, up to merely 14 days post-purchase. Your options, of course, depend upon the item and nature of the exchange. But the limitations of the Sam's Club policy can inevitably make getting your funds back a bit more complicated overall. 

Costco offers multiple ways to refund your items, be it in person at any returns counter, or by setting up a mail return through its website. Additionally, the company only tends to reject a few categories of refund attempts compared to Sam's Club. Some of these non-refundable items include shop cards, gift cards, and precious metals. This said, while companies of this size do their best to maintain uniformity, there are always exceptions to the rule. And as for those who've never shopped at this bulk store, there's a series of Chowhound recommended must-buy items for your first time at Costco.

Costco's return policy is generally considered very lenient as it is based on ensuring customer satisfaction, first and foremost. The same goes for its membership fee, which can be cancelled and refunded at any time. However, customers should know about the various types of returns, as these can affect your ability to get a refund. For example, there is a 90-day return policy in place for electronics. For diamond jewelry over 1.00 carat, customers must provide adequate paperwork to prove the product's authenticity upon refund attempt. Items like cigarettes and alcohol are not able to be returned if the law prevents this exchange in the store's location. 

The company's satisfaction guarantee ensures that nearly any item can be returned at the price of purchase; meanwhile, the timeframe for making a return seems to be quite open-ended. Some employees shared on Reddit that they've assisted guests who returned items which show up a year or more into their purchase histories. Though this may seem rather shocking, this is a built-in part of the returns policy; the store is aware and has put fail-safes in place to prevent overuse.

In cases where guests are deemed to be taking advantage of Costco's return policy (returning almost as much as they're purchasing), it turns out that you may risk a return ban, storewide. Or, at the very least, you'll find that limits may be placed on individual departments. Costco may be known for general leniency in the realm of returns, but your refund success can still come down to employee discretion.