Costco Executive Reward Program

Calling Costco's customer service is a simple and straight-forward process for anyone seeking help with current or new memberships. Since I'm not an active member of Costco and have been on the fence about joining, I called to find out more about its membership benefits. 

The automated system immediately greets you with a menu of options to get started. Press 1 for memberships, executive rewards and Costco services; press 2 for Costco Visa and payment options; press 3 for the status on orders and returns; press 4 for warehouse products or local store details; press 5 for Costco travel; and use the * key to repeat the menu options. 

I selected the first choice since I wanted to speak with someone about a membership, but was prompted to enter a membership number. Since I don't have one, I pressed 0 to see if that would take me to a customer service rep, but nothing happened. After this, I said the words '"customer service" when I wasn't given any other options for proceeding without a membership number.

The automated recording said my call was being transferred and confirmed that my wait would be approximately 4 minutes. This turned out to be the case, as a customer service rep answered in about 3 minutes and began asking how he could help me. I briefly explained that I was trying to weigh the benefits of joining Costco so the rep jumped into the specific details while allowing me to ask some questions.

He shared that Costco offers two membership levels at different costs: the Gold level is $60 per year and provides access to all stores and two membership cards while the Executive tier is pricier at $120 per year but also includes perks such as cash-back rewards and numerous discounts on gas, pharmacies and car rentals. There's also a business-level membership, but it doesn't apply to my circumstances so we didn't discuss that further. The rep also explained that Costco has stores all over the country and outside of the US, making it convenient to shop while traveling abroad. 

I was curious to know if the membership fee ever increases and the rep said the fee may increase but it's very infrequent, with the most recent increase occurring in 2017. However, he indicated that the increase would be minimal and could easily be recouped through discounted products. Costco also allows online purchases along with same-day grocery delivery. In addition, he said that Costco allows guests to visit the store a few times without a membership to explore and get a first-hand experience before making a decision. This sounded like a great idea, so I said I'd give it a try.

Overall, the call was productive and effective as the rep was helpful, patient and knowledgeable without pressuring me to make an immediate decision. He said memberships can be purchased online at Costco's website or by calling customer service again.