The Craziest Things People Have Returned To Costco

Costco is known for having just about the most lenient return policy on the planet. Don't believe it? You've undoubtedly heard those outlandish tales of broken, half-eaten, neglected, and/or ancient merchandise being successfully returned to the warehouse store — but they couldn't possibly be true, could they? Oh, but they could. A 10-year-old refrigerator that stopped working? Returned. One of three jars from a pack of honey? Returned. A used toilet? You guessed it... returned.

The company promotes a "risk-free 100 percent satisfaction guarantee" when it comes to their merchandise, though the return policy does note a few exceptions to that satisfaction guarantee, like electronics (after 90 days), diamonds (over one carat), cigarettes and alcohol (depending on state law), and "products with a limited useful life expectancy, such as tires and batteries." As you'll see though, those rules are apparently made to be broken.

From moldy strawberries to Christmas trees in January, these are the craziest things people have returned to Costco.

We've all been there — you have a product you need to return, but you lost the receipt. Thankfully, Costco can easily look up the purchase via your membership card, and do the return in a breeze. But what if you don't have the actual package the product came in? What if that product is dry cat food, and all you have is loose kibbles? Will Costco really take that back? 

This ballsy Redditor explained her predicament, saying, "A few weeks ago, I bought a huge bag of Kirkland dry cat food for $15. After I started feeding it to my cat, she began to eat less and less to the point where she will not touch it anymore... I plan on trying to return the opened dry cat food to Costco later today, but here's the kicker: I threw out the bag it came in! I have an airtight cat food storage bin that I put all the food in, so I had no reason to save the bag. Does anyone think Costco will accept the return if I bring them loose cat food?" 

The answer? Yes, Costco will, astoundingly, accept loose cat food. OP updated the thread, saying, "I was able to return the cat food with no problems at all. I told them I was sorry for returning the product under such strange circumstances, and they said it isn't even close to the strangest things people have returned."

You know that part of the Costco return policy that excludes "products with a limited useful life expectancy"? Apparently that does not always extend to dead Christmas trees in January, and one woman in Southern California took full advantage of the store's lax rules.

The story went viral in January 2018 when a Costco shopper angrily ranted on his Facebook page about the situation he saw unfold. "I can't make this stuff up," Scott Bentley posted. "Woman in line at Costco, totally nonchalant, to return her Christmas tree 'because it is dead' on January 4." Bentley recapped the whole transaction, saying that the woman was given a full refund, though "not happily," and was "shamed to a small degree." 

Before you get any big ideas about saving a few bucks on your holiday decorations next year though, take heed of the advice from this Redditor who apparently works at Costco. "Don't count on [returning a dead tree in January]. We receive a memo every year explicitly instructing us not to accept returns on live trees after Christmas. We've posted signs every year for years now, and we still get at least one schmuck who tries, gets bent out of shape about being denied, then goes on a pity parade every...single...year." In other words, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. 

Once upon a time, before the dawn of the digital camera, you actually had to get your film developed. Opening that envelope of prints was always nerve-racking — would the images be blurry, was your fat finger accidentally covering the lens, would everyone have their eyes closed? Whether or not every picture was destined for the garbage didn't matter, you had already paid for them. If you got them developed at Costco though, it turns out that you could have saved a whole lot of money on all those bad prints.

That's what one former Costco employee said, anyway. Apparently photo returns really were a thing. "Use to work the return line... Worst I've seen is photo, people would return photo that was printed that they took and didn't like them," they explained on Reddit. "This is all when they still had the drop box for film. Some would return hundred of black, out of focus, red eye, and best yet doesn't fit their frame cause they choose 5x7 instead of the 4x6." Thankfully, these days our smartphones relieve us of having to make that embarrassing return.

As a Costco customer, you probably feel a little bit embarrassed walking up to the return counter with an ancient product that no longer works, but hey, money is money, so you swallow your pride and request the return anyway. Imagine if you actually worked at the warehouse store, though. Could you make that return? One employee accidentally did, and felt the shame.

"We bought a window unit air conditioner toward the end of the season one year, and something went wrong with it at the very beginning of the next season (so technically only got a month or two use out of it)," the Costco worker explained on Reddit. "So, my husband takes it in to return it... we didn't have the receipt anymore so they looked it up... turns out this AC was actually like 4 years old, and I guess we just got mixed up about when we had bought which units. They gave him cash back though, haha. I work there, and after he told me the story I refused to make eye contact with anyone in membership during my next week of shifts."

Returning a 4-year-old air conditioner is pretty crazy, but at least this turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. The even crazier thing is, Costco still took the unit back.

Anyone with cats knows that they can be the most finicky animals on the face of the earth. They can go from happily eating the same food for years to one day deciding that there's nothing they hate more. Or maybe they decide they're just not going to use a particular litter box anymore. Yes, it definitely happens. But would you cut your losses, or would you return used pet products?

These customers made the returns...

One Costco employee on Reddit described the worst return they'd ever seen, saying, "[It was a] cat litter box. With cat litter in it. They didn't even have the decency to clean it before returning and it stank up the baler area for days afterwards." Seriously, people?

Then there's this customer, who actually admitted that they returned "a can of cat food (she decided by the last can it wasn't her taste)." Now, if the cat turned up her nose at can number one, fine, make the return. But this is Costco, and presumably this case of cat food was sizable, so you got your money's worth on... what, 11 cans? This one might take the cake when it comes to unbelievable returns.

Three-year-old rugs, 4-year-old air conditioners, and even 11-year-old pillows have nothing on this unbelievable return, which was unearthed from the depths of a woman's freezer.

Now, to be fair, we've all lost control of our freezers. At some point, you come across a package of mystery meat that's covered in so much ice you can't even begin to guess what it actually is. Even if it still had a label, and even if there was an outside chance that you could get your money back, 99 percent of us would simply throw that mystery meat in the garbage. But this customer, says one Costco employee on Reddit who described the worst return they'd ever seen, decided to go for broke instead. "13-year-old fish. Lady left it in her freezer and forgot about it. Wanted to return it and when we said no she threatened calling corporate and all that jazz. If I remember correctly they let her return it." Now that takes guts.