Recomendations 
22 Comments Costco Refunds 5 Year Old Leather Chairs
My love and devotion to Costco is no secret, but recently, they have blown my mind. 5 plus years ago, I came accross an ad in thier coupon mailer for a two pack of leather chairs only available on Costco.com. They were a copy of the Pottery Barn Manhattan Club chair in dark chocolate.
Here is the Pottery Barn version for $1499!
(Costco no longer offers the ones I purchased)
The Costco deal was 2 chairs for about $700 including tax and shipping. AMAZING! I jumped on it. I loved these chairs. Unfortunatly a little too much. After a few years the seat in one of them tore and the back leg on the other chair never stayed in. I figured, that’s what you get for such a great price. My husband hired someone to “repair” the leather. It looked terrible and didn’t last. The tear continued to get larger (four little boys didn’t help that situation either). I was stratigicly placing a throw over the holes and attempting to stear guests to the sofa or the other leather chair so that no one had to sit on the hole in the seat.
That’s when my husband had had it! (The word Hero and Husband are interchangable for me from this point forward) He called up Costco.com and told them of our problem. They looked up our recipt based on my email address and noticed how long it had been (that’s when I would have crumbled and hung up…wait, I was too nervous to call in the first place). Costco didn’t flinch. They offered to have a repair person come to our home and fix them. When my Hero told them he had already paid someone to do this and it didn’t work, they offered us a refund since they couldn’t replace them. Can you BELIEVE that? REFUND chairs that were more than FIVE years old? The next day my Hero and I drove the two blocks to our local Costco and (while I sheepishly stayed in the car) my MAN returned the chairs and got the full refund.
We decided that that money should be set asside to purchase furniture only since we were down two seats now. It was the perfect storm because since it was just after Christmas, you know what Costco puts out…furniture! It didn’t take long to find another MUST have. These two grey “Colonial Chairs” would be a great replacement. I was ready for a change anyway. AND with all confidence restored in everything Costco, I was IN! These chairs now have a place of honor, right when you walk in my front door you can see thier clean lines welcomeing you into our home.
Thank you Costco. I can’t recommend them enough (OK, maybe I’d have more posts about them if they wanted to “sponsor” me, but I’m not that lucky…yet). So, go buy that sofa, that mattress, that leather sectional, and do it with confidence that they back up their products and their customers.
Linked Up: Tatertots & Jello, Whipper Berry, Funky Junk Interiors
I love Costco!!! I will happily drive the 30 miles just to go there!
That’s awesome! I bought a Flexsteel sofa and chair almost a year ago at a furniture store and I can already tell my chair isn’t holding up. I honestly don’t think they will care at all. I’m trying to decide what to do about it.
We have had some SUPER AMAZING Costco Returns… But none that Match this… We are COSTCO lovers also… They are Truly the Best!!! Love your new chairs..
http://shoprubyjean.com/2012/01/sew-crafty-tuesday-linky-4-and-giveaway/
So nice to know! Thats awesome!
That’s incredible that they let you return them! Amazing!
I have heard that you can return anything there, but this is amazing!
Costco rocks!!! Just last week I was talking about that… Love your blog!
Thanks for sharing your story! I used this as an example to my parents of exactly why Lowes should take a return back…with a receipt and an unused product. They pushed the issue and got their money back. Thanks!
I posted a link to your story on my blog yesterday. I was writing about how l loved Costco’s canvas photos…thought they could use the extra hype.
Thanks!
Heidi@HomemadeBeautiesByHeidi
Awesome story! We actually just returned a 3 1/2 year old MATTRESS to Costco! They didn’t even bat an eyelash about it! Awesome customer service! I mean, DI thrift stores won’t even accept a used mattress but Costco did!! Thanks for sharing this at {Junk in their Trunk}
Heidi,
That is amazing, a mattress? Costco Love.
Amanda
I wish we had a Costco here in Maine. Found you through Vintage Revivals Blog Crush link party…I like finding blogs that acknowledge limited budgets and have fun with that. We’re a one income family, two boys one of who has autism and I’m a stay at home artist mom selling things online. I’m adding you to my blog list.
Dixie
A family member works at Costco and sees all the stuff that people borrow and return, question, when do you own something? After 2 years, after the mfg warranty is up, when you get tired of something? Wish I had bought my car from there.
Michel, I sense some frustration. I think it is OK to return something when it didn’t hold up to the store’s reputation. I would have accepted the leather tearing and the leg never staying in place if I had purchased it from Walmart, but I didn’t, I bought it from Costco. And because I returned them, I turned around and purchased new chairs from them the same day. I trust that those chairs were a fluke and they are happy to have me as a customer still. Win Win.
That’s awesome! Me and my hubby were planning to buy a living room set and came across this wonderful set from Costco. I have heard a lot about their great return policy but was not sure if it still existed. Your blog confirms this and gives me more confidence to shop at Costco. Even, I believe that its fair to return a product after few years if purchased from a reputed store like Costco. I got a mattress from Jordan’s last year and its losing its firmness already and seems like Jordans doesnt care once you are out of warranty! I love Costco- it gives peace of mind esp when you buy expensive products.
Do not expect this to occur with every purchase from Costco. My wife and I bought a pair of loveseats from Costco a little over two years ago. They had problems from the beginning. The steel in the recliners in thin and twisted almost immediately. I had to start bending it back after 3 months of owning it to even allow them to recline. The leather began to peel after 9 months and is now a motled color. We began talking about returning them a year ago, but procrastinated because we felt we had as long as we needed. Today we went to return them and they would not accept it since it had been over two years. In hind-sight we should not have expected Costco’s return policy to be as fantastic as we were told. We have been members for nearly five years, and our first attept at returning merchandise has been very dissapointing.
Bummer! Did you order them online? If so, try calling the 1-800 #. Otherwise, I’d take them to a different Costco and try a different CS rep.
I just wanted to add my own story. I purchased an Oster toaster from Costco back in 2007. I found out around the end of last year (2011) that the toaster had a lot of problems and people were reporting that they would catch on fire. Some people even had their kitchen’s destroyed. Oster would not recall the product. Anyway, hearing about how great Costco’s return policy is, I decided to call and talk to them. The manager told me that since I had owned it for 4 years that I had already gotten my money’s worth and they would not accept it. I was appalled. How could they not take something like that back? What if it had burned down my house- would I have gotten my money’s worth then? I’m glad you were able to return your chairs but I agree with the person above- others shouldn’t expect this to happen for them.
I found you by googling (I have a hard time with that being a verb), “Costco selling loveseats.” I’ve been trying to convince my husba….ahem…Hero, that we need leather furniture, but he’s not buying it (literally or figuratively.) He says if it tears, breaks etc… we are stuck with it. I’m trolling the Internet looking for proof that even with our own 4 kid demolition squad (complete with a 100 pound German Shepard as the foreman) Costco would be a great place to buy leather furniture. Thank you for being the blog I needed to back up my argument! Love, love, love your story!
Dawn, Another great place to buy leather is Macey’s Home. They have a warranty you can buy for leather that fixes or replaces it. Great deal. Good luck with your new purchase!
Thanks for all the posts. I have 3 leather dining room chairs from a set of 6 that we purchased 4 years ago. They are not used frequently and they are in a home with 2 adults. The springs have gone on 3 of these chairs and I am going to contact them for replacement as the chairs are still available and not cheap, $220 each. Will let you know how it goes! Looks like a mixed bag on their return policy…
Good luck Karen! I’d love to hear your experience.
Congratulations you are in the 1% of Costco members who abuse the generous return policy and make all of us pay slightly higher prices to make up for it. I’m sure Costco would LOVE to “sponsor” you! No telling how many people you could convince to go return items they wore out. There is a reason you sat in the car while your husband went in it called your conscience.