Pros And Cons Of Buying A Refrigerator At Costco

You can buy nearly anything at Costco, including refrigerators, but you'll want to look at the pros and cons before deciding. After reviewing customer experiences of buying a Costco refrigerator, we ended up with an even number of pros and cons. In the end, you'll have to decide if our selection of cons is a deal-breaker. Or perhaps the pros might be strong enough arguments to go with Costco instead of another store.

So, is Costco a good place to buy major kitchen appliances like refrigerators? Well, that's up for debate. No place is perfect, but we do think there are some good reasons to go with Costco for your fridge, especially considering the refund, warranty, support, rewards, and discount offerings. Most of the cons relate to availability and delivery, which may or may not matter depending on your expectations and needs. In fact, a con on this list could be a pro, based on your viewpoint. Before you decide whether buying a fridge from Costco is for you, take a look at our analysis.

Unfortunately, you won't find a whole lot of refrigerator models in a Costco warehouse. This eliminates the opportunity to experience it in person to see just how well it will fit your needs. As a result, you may end up going to other stores that carry appliances to see how the one you want looks in person. It also means you may not be able to walk out with the refrigerator the moment you're ready to purchase. So, you'll be stuck either buying it elsewhere or waiting for delivery after ordering online.

Before you go in person, it might be worthwhile to call to find out what is actually available to see in the warehouse setting. It may turn out that the one you want won't be available at all. And if you were planning to walk out with a refrigerator that day, you might be out of luck and have to order online instead. Even if you order online, it might take longer to get the product if it's stocked with a supplier rather than a bestselling option that's kept in inventory.

Some customers on social media have mentioned that their local Costco only has small, compact refrigerators in stock. Meanwhile, others have disclosed finding all sorts of fridges, ranging from 4.4-cubic-foot compact refrigerators to larger 22-cubic-foot Samsung refrigerators.

If you need to purchase several appliances at once, you'll probably come out with a better deal if you buy all of them at Costco. The company has several pre-configured appliance bundles that can help you save. You'll find the savings amount on the Kitchen Appliance Packages portion of the website. Most bundles with fridges include a dishwasher, a stove or cooktop, and an overhead microwave or double wall oven. 

However, there are some that include a fridge, a stove, and a stacked washer and dryer unit, or an all-in-one laundry machine. You can also get certain discounts if you buy multiple products from a specific brand. Then, the Spend & Save discount kicks in based on the cost of your total order, providing $200, $300, or $500 in savings. Finally, the Costco Direct Savings program allows you to save $200 on buying three items together or $300 when buying four items together. Thus, the total savings we saw for different bundles ranged from $650 to $3,900.

There are a few things to keep in mind. The bundles are available online only. You'll also want to grab the deal while you can because the prices you see on the site tend to have a short validity date. Also, all the appliances must have the same delivery address; some savings are only available once or twice per Costco member, and others can't be combined with other deals.

If you're looking for a wide variety of choices, Costco is not the best place to buy a refrigerator. Granted, not having too many choices can help you narrow your options down a lot easier and help combat decision fatigue. However, if you had one particular brand and model in mind, it may not be available.

When we checked the listing of the refrigerators Costco has online and compared it to other popular big-box stores, we found its offerings to be far more limited. Keep in mind that these numbers reflect inventory at the time of writing. There were 156 refrigerators across 14 brands. While Lowe's has fewer total fridges available (113), it has more brands than most (77), giving you a better choice selection. Sears only had 13 brands, but it made up for the limited brand offerings with its 338 total fridges. We found 447 refrigerators in the lineup at Best Buy from 33 brands. Home Depot had a whopping 877 fridges, with 60 brands represented.

Costco carries some good brands like Bosch, but it doesn't host all of the best refrigerator brands. Thus, if the brand and style you want isn't available and you're determined to buy at Costco, you may have to compromise. Although, depending on what you want, you may end up buying elsewhere instead.

If something breaks on your fridge, Costco offers a 90-day return policy, an extended warranty, and an opportunity to pay to extend the warranty further. Most fridges come with a one- or two-year manufacturer's warranty, and Costco automatically extends it an extra two years. Since the average fridge lasts 10 to 15 years, Costco also offers an option to purchase an Allstate Protection Plan for three more years of coverage. If your fridge breaks down while under the Costco warranty, the company will usually send someone out to repair it. However, in some instances, they may end up replacing it or refunding the original cost.

The Allstate plan tacks on an extra three years to the Costco extended warranty, giving you a total of five years. However, you only have 90 days to get on the Allstate plan after purchase, rather than thinking you can add it after the original extended warranty ends. The cost of the Allstate plan depends on the price of the fridge, starting at around $90 for fridges under $1,000 and going up for more expensive ones. If your fridge needs repair under the Allstate plan, you can get phone support or have a repair person to look at it for free. If you need a replacement, you can rest assured that you'll get a new one rather than a refurbished option.

If you're going to spend a lot of money on an appliance, you might as well do it somewhere where it counts toward a rewards program, which is the case at Costco. So, you'll be happy to know that you may be able to get 2% or 4% of the cost of your appliance back in rewards, depending on a few minor details about your membership type and how you make the purchase.

To know how much you can get back in rewards for your particular purchase, you'll need to use the Costco appliance rewards calculator. You basically input which membership type you have, what payment type you used, and how much you spent. When you feed the information into the calculator, you'll find that Gold Star members only get rewards money if they purchase the appliance with a Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi, and the reward rate is 2%.

However, if you're an Executive Member, you get a reward no matter how you pay. As an Executive member, you still get a 2% reward if you don't use a Costco credit card. But if you buy the fridge using the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi, you'll end up getting 4% back in rewards. While 2% and 4% may not sound like much, fridges are higher-priced items. So, on a $1,000 purchase, 2% would be $20, and 4% would be $40. So, it's still significant.

If you don't relish the idea of loading a heavy fridge into your vehicle, installing it, and figuring out what to do with the old appliance, then you're going to appreciate that Costco can handle all that for you in some instances. Plus, you'll be happy to know that it's a free service (learn more about Costco's delivery and installation services). However, you might be disappointed to discover that the means by which you purchased the product or your location can hinder you from getting these services.

So, what's the catch? Well, if you buy the fridge from the warehouse rather than online, you'll have to get it home and install it yourself, unless your Costco offers third-party delivery service. However, delivery, installation, and haul-away of your old fridge, as well as all the basic installation parts, are only included in the price of the fridge if you purchase it online.

The bad news is that all these services aren't available in every area. However, the good news is that once you add the product to your cart online, you'll see your location's eligibility. Be sure to pay attention to this information before ordering to know whether the delivery will include parts, installation, and haul-away. If doing it yourself or hiring someone to get it done is a dealbreaker, you can just walk away from the cart and get it elsewhere.

If you buy the fridge in person, you can bring it home the same day. However, if you decide to order online, you've got to play the waiting game. As we mentioned previously, if you're purchasing online, how quickly it's available depends on whether it's a bestseller that the company keeps in stock, which should be available in three to five days, or if it's sitting in a supplier's facility somewhere. If Costco has it on hand, it will have the Costco Direct tag on it. Otherwise, you're at the mercy of an off-site supplier.

The good news is that you can schedule a specific delivery date through the Costco Scheduling site. Entering your tracking or order number into the site allows you to choose a specific delivery date after the time when it should be available. However, many customers on social media have complained that sometimes, they'd get a robocall on the supposed day before delivery (or multiple calls) only to have the date changed without warning.

One person in the r/Costco subreddit said their delivery was rescheduled 11 times, with the final delivery not taking place until 9 weeks after they ordered it. While some people have had good luck with delivery being on time, it seems to be a gamble. Thus, if you don't have a working fridge to fall back on, a possible long wait for delivery may not be worth it.

Customers on social media have mentioned that they tend to get their fridges from a third-party delivery service rather than directly from Costco. Sometimes, it might be delivered by a manufacturer like Whirlpool or GE, while other times it might be a random delivery company. There have been numerous complaints about these third-party delivery, installation, and haul-away services. 

Some delivery companies have damaged the product while getting it into the kitchen. There have also been complaints of the delivery company refusing to hook up the water line for the ice. One person mentioned having the water line installed improperly, resulting in floor water damage. Another installer omitted a part in addition to doing a poor installation job. 

On Facebook, a customer said their delivery service refused to haul an old fridge away the same day because it smelled bad, requiring the owner to bleach it before they'd come to take it. Granted, there are plenty of people who've had nothing but good luck with delivery and installation services over the years. So, it might be worthwhile to research who delivers and installs for Costco in your area to find out whether they have good ratings.

If you've ever purchased something only to wish you'd waited because it went on sale, Costco has you covered for that. If the price changes on the refrigerator you bought at Costco, you can get a refund for the difference through a price match during the first 30 days after purchase. So, during the first 30 days after you buy your refrigerator, you'll want to watch the store and website to make sure the price doesn't change. 

For example, if you buy it in November and then there's a Holiday Savings Promotion when it goes on sale, you can come in to request the difference between the price you paid and the sales price. Don't sleep on it, though. If the item goes out of stock before you request the price match, you can't get the price adjustment, even if it's still within that 30-day window. We've seen people on social media say they've gotten two adjustments if the item was discounted twice in a month. Also, the price match applies only to Costco sales prices, not those from other stores.

Where you request the price match depends on how you purchased the product. If you bought it online, you need to request it through the price match portion of the Costco website. If you purchased it in-store, you'll need to request a match at the customer service desk where you bought the fridge.

One thing that is good about buying a refrigerator from Costco is that it comes with free technical support. If you can't figure out why some light is blinking or your ice maker isn't working, help could be at your fingertips without having to get a repair person out if it's something simple. To use the service, you'll simply need to go to the Costco Technical and Warranty Services page online. 

Choose appliance support, select refrigerators as the product type, choose your brand, and select your product. Once you get to the product page, you can ask a specific question, browse popular topics, look at how-to-guides, and engage with the trouble shooter. If none of the options on the page are helpful, you can click the button to contact Costco.

This action will take you to a page that lists a phone number for Costco Technical and Warranty Services, which is the same as for Costco Concierge: 1-866-861-0450. Since it's available every day of the week from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time, you should be able to get help when you need it. Just be sure to have your Costco membership info and details about when you bought the fridge, as well as the item name, model number, and serial number. Then, a customer service rep can help you troubleshoot your problems and give you some ideas about the next steps you might need to take if necessary.