This weekend Costco really justified its annual membership fee to me with its amazing return policy. Eight weeks ago my wife bought two four-packs of printer cartridges that cost $146. She didn’t realize they weren’t the type of cartridges for our printer before she’d not only opened the plastic clamshell prison in which they were encased, but a cartridge from each package.

So that was $146 lost, right? Or at best, the hassle of trying to recoup the lost cash by selling the cartridges on eBay.

Not so, thanks to Costco. They accepted the return with no questions asked, returning $146 in cash.

While it was probably a jerk move by me to even try such a return, given that there was no fault with the product and we had rendered some of the merchandise impossible to repackage, I think Costco will see a return on that particular investment. That’s the sort of customer service that earns lifetime loyalty, makes me want to shop at Costco over competitors and keeps me re-upping for $50 annual memberships.

(Photo: greenwenvy08)

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