Costco Shopper's Email to CEO About 'Disgusting' Product Got a Wild Response
Costco shoppers are far from shy about complaining when products don't meet their standards for taste and quality. But when a customer recently reached out to Costco to sound off against a problem-plagued item, the shopper received a rare response from the warehouse club's top executive.
A Costco member posted on Reddit this week about an email exchange with Costco President and CEO Ron Vachris, who assumed the role at the start of 2024. The shopper said they've been eating a chicken breast daily for nearly two years as part of a body-building diet. They've been buying the meat exclusively from Costco for the past six months, opting for either the Kirkland Signature Fresh Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or Kirkland Signature Air Chilled Fresh Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts depending on what's available.
While the shopper's experience with the chicken was "great" for the first couple of months, they said in an email to Vachris that the quality has taken a downturn recently. Specifically, the Redditor complained of a "woody" (i.e. tough, fibrous, and slightly crunchy) texture that's especially common in larger chicken breasts.
"The amount of jello crunchy woody chicken breasts per package has increased dramatically, to the point where I dread eating any breast over eight ounces," wrote the Redditor, whose handle is @thesaxmaniac. "The big ones are almost always disgusting at this point. I'm on night shift and eating a 12.7-ounce breast right at this moment, and finishing it is merely an exercise in training myself to ignore my gag reflex."
The shopper continued: "I don't really have any goal with this email, but I just wanted you to know that I'm disappointed in the drop in quality of the chicken breasts at Costco, and I hope you can find a supplier that can provide chicken that isn't crunchy and disgusting. Please pray for me as I attempt to finish this breast now."
This isn't the first time that Costco's chicken quality has come under scrutiny. Scores of other shoppers also complained about a woody chicken breast texture in another Reddit discussion earlier this year. But unlike other critics, @thesaxmaniac received a direct response and apology from Vachris about the issue.
"Thank you for the email and we will look into it right away," Vachris wrote. "I apologize and you are entitled to a refund on any below quality product that you have purchased."
While we'll have to wait if Costco's chicken quality improves in light of the email exchange, some shoppers were pleased that the pervasive chicken breast issue had at least been acknowledged.
"That's definitely more of a response than I would expect from most CEOs!" a Redditor commented on the post.
"Thank you for reaching out to Ron and trying to get better product quality for us all!" another wrote.
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