Costco membership can offer great value for families looking to buy in bulk. But if you ever decide that paying to shop at the warehouse is no longer worthwhile, you may have to jump through a few hoops to cancel your membership.
Take it from me — I was recently billed $60 for another year of Costco’s Gold Star membership without my knowledge. I never received an email stating that I was up for auto-renewal or that Costco had already billed me. Instead, I found out because I regularly monitor my credit card accounts and noticed the charge posted.
With most subscription memberships, especially annual ones like Costco, it can be easy to incur charges for services you no longer want. That said, I was able to successfully cancel my Costco membership after a little work. Read on to learn how you can cancel yours, too, if you decide you don't need it anymore.
How to cancel your Costco membership
If you want to cancel your Costco membership, you have two options:
- Visit a Costco warehouse and speak with a team member at the membership counter.
- Call Costco member services at 1-800-774-2678.
If you live near a Costco warehouse, speaking to a team member in-store is a quick way to cancel your membership. But if you moved and are no longer near a Costco or simply rather call, you may be subject to long wait times.
When I called to cancel my membership, an automated phone line stated that members need to call after the third of the month to cancel so that the membership fee shows as posted on your account. Thankfully, mine already posted so I could proceed with the refund. If your fee is still pending, wait a day or two for it to post, then call.
In order to get my refund, I had to provide the account number of the credit card I used to pay my bill and confirm the amount I was billed. There was an error in Costco’s system that had the wrong bill total, so the rep had to hang up to speak with a manager. I received a call back within the hour and was issued the refund. Moments later, I also received an email detailing the refund amount and date.
While my experience wasn’t seamless, the overall process wasn’t too bad. But if you know that you want to cancel your Costco membership, I recommend doing it the month before you’re up for renewal, since you may be auto-renewed without notification. You may be able to check if you're signed up for auto-renewal on your online account, though that option wasn't available to me (potentially because I signed up with a Groupon code).
Don't worry if you think it's too late to cancel your membership. Costco has no restrictions on when you can cancel and states on its site: "We are committed to providing quality and value on the products we sell with a risk-free 100% satisfaction guarantee on both your membership and merchandise."
Keep in mind that if you cancel your membership and have the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi (see rates and fees), your credit card will also be canceled. This could have some impact on your credit score. It's not a big deal, as it will bounce back after a couple of months. The only big concern is if you're in the middle of applying for a mortgage and you want to keep your credit score high. In that case, it might just be worth it to hold on to your Costco membership and credit card until after you close.
