Sam’s Club

Just pumped gas at this location and your gas station attendant is going above and beyond. He is not just sitting inside the booth staying out of the cold; he is out in the 45 degree cold weather, greeting every customer, asking everyone if they need any help with the pump, and just genuinely making everyone feel welcome to this station. I didn’t catch his name and I didn’t speak to him because I was too cold to stand out in the cold while pumping gas but he looks to be in his 20 – 30’s; it’s very admirable what this young man is doing. He is the kind of associate you want on your payroll.

If I could rate a zero I would… Customer service doesn’t consist of sending a customer from one point of the store to another because you are too lazy to find the answer for a question. The membership department women that worked this evening clearly were ready to go home and weren’t interested in working the last 30 minutes of their shift to the fullest extent, just lazy. Why send a customer to the photo areas to print something at 7:55 pm when the phone area closes at 7pm? I’ll stick to the location in Houston. Pearland location is pretty but the employees I came into contact with suck.

This review is based off of the customer service over the phone only. I called 7 times in a row to just get transferred to the pharmacy department, however every time Maria answered the phone to transfere to the pharmacy department, It was answered in another department resulting in about 2 to 3 transfers before I was hung up on each time. Now Its been over 30 to 40 minutes on the phone with Sam’s Club just a try to get to the pharmacy department to ask you one simple question that way I don’t have to go there and then be turned away for something that could have been simply answered over the phone!

I can’t stand having to come to the snack bar here, because they are always at least one person short. The cashier has to restock the pizzas and run the register, which make the wait in line completely ridiculous. Over ten minutes for three people in front of me.

A little over a month ago, I purchased a home in this area. I decided that now that I had room to store bulk items again, I’d go ahead and sign up for a Sam’s Club membership. The evening I went, things were a bit chaotic and I had to wait in line for about 30 minutes. I chalked it up to being the holidays and let it go. I signed up for a Plus membership. I wasn’t informed of any of the benefits of the Plus membership, nor was a I given a membership brochure. For those that don’t know, Plus members get special perks like cash back and shopping during extended hours. I only happen to know this because a friend of mine works for the Wal-​Mart corporation.
I stopped by a couple of weeks later, but had a hard time finding anything to buy. A simple cost comparison made it evident that the prices at this Sam’s Club are not much cheaper than a regular grocery store. You are getting the convenience of buying items in bulk, but if you do the math, you are not receiving a discount for buying in buik. I actually left without buying anything except a hot dog. (I felt bad for the overworked people at the hot food area. There was a line a mile long and only two of the working.) The food area was not very clean and the soda was flat, so I had to request a refund for it. There is free wifi, so you can sit and work on your laptop like you would at McDonald’s, but it is quite noisy.
Fast forward to yesterday. I went in the store at 7:15 am (remember, there are extended hours for Plus members). I needed to buy two new television sets quickly. Even after asking, I could not get anyone to help me. There were 3 associates nearby, but they told me they «weren’t sure» if anyone was working in the television area.
I located a manager. Instead of helping me, she told me I had to wait for someone to come from the back of the store. Sam’s Club is a huge store. It can take about 5 minutes to walk from the back. Further, I had already been waiting for some time. The manager made no attempt to assess my needs or try to help me herself. Out of sheer frustration, I decided to cancel my membership. I was not willing to pay a $ 100 premium membership fee for a Plus membership to stand around and not receive service. At this point, it was 7:40 a.m. I had been trying to get help with a TV for 25 minutes.
The terrible experience did not end there. The member services lady did not know how to properly refund my membership. First of all, the manager should have helped me herself when I told her I wanted to cancel, but she did not. I asked the member services lady to call the manager to assist her. Now, I have NEVER had someone outright refuse to get a manager. This person did. She stood there and argued with me, claiming that she knew what she was doing; yet, she did not. She called me «boo» in a derogatory manner. She told me she didn’t know how to refund me because the computer didn’t tell her what my original form of payment was. What??? This is the MEMBER SERVICES person!!! I continued to ask for the manager.
Finally, an associate standing nearby came over and physically escorted the combative member services representative away and called the manager over. The manager did not ask me what was wrong, did not apologize, and did not provide the information for the general manager when requested. Instead, she told me the information was, «over by the door.» I was completely appalled. She did give my $ 100 Plus membership fee back in cash (this is standard Sam’s Club procedure when a person requests to cancel) and I promptly drove down the street to another retail location and purchased my television sets.
The people working at this Sam’s Club location clearly do not understand the business model. It is a membership club. People are paying to shop here for items that they could otherwise purchase at another store without a fee. The purpose of paying the fee is to receive the privileges of member services. Yet, here was the member services person YELLING at me at 7:40 in the morning. I sent my complaint to the corporate office so that they will be aware of the way this club is operating.
I can buy pretty much the same items at the Wal-​Mart down the street. That store has a few issues, but at least I won’t be PAYING a membership fee to be treated poorly. I’d prefer to just got to the closest Target, HEB, Kroger, or any other nearby store that has much better service without the membership fee.

Went there yesterday to get a membership and was waiting for one customer to be helped. Couple other store employees including the manager went behind the registers to ask the one rep some questions and to chat, but didn’t open another register. Had to wait approximately 15 – 20 minutes for that one rep to be finish with that one client so that other customer could be helped.

This is one of the better Sam’s in town… it’s normally a bit more tame than others and the wait time is not outrageous. Like all the other Sam’s in town, they have really great sales prices each day and great «seasonal» items (I bought lamps today… and we went over to Pier 1 right after and the same lamp was literally TWICE as much). Kudos to the managers and staff.

I was interested in Sam’s Club opening a Pearland location, but the hype did not meet the result. This store is fairly disorganized, which is slightly expected for a new store. I grant the cashiers to be new employees, but I would expect at least the managers would have experience at Sam’s Club.
Apart from that, which will undoubtedly improve once the employees get some experience under their belt, the prices and selection aren’t worth it. Having done an actual price comparison between Sam’s, their owner Walmart (which is right across the freeway) and Kroger, right down the street, Sam’s is consistently more expensive per unit. I suppose if you need a giant jar of mayonnaise, and don’t mind paying more per ounce for that mayonnaise, you will find this store convenient. A few items are actually cheaper here, but most (especially bulk items like big bags of toilet paper, sodas, etc) are simply less expensive at Walmart, the same company. Even the gas is more expensive than the Kroger right down the street.
On a positive note, the store is clean and well lit. There is plenty of parking. It does get an extra star for having the one thing that you won’t find at Walmart: a smiling employee.

Opening day is always such a big deal. All the goodies I got are not going to be available everyday but my Unilocal followers know I am a sucker for freebies.
Free coffee & travel mug, free sausage links, free health screening, all the free generous samples… on & on & on…
There was a pep rally-​type greeting when we all walked in, smiles on every single face– it felt like Christmas.
Store is 100% new, layout is similar to other Sam’s Clubs.