I need to share an incredibly frustrating and disappointing experience I had today with Sam’s Club regarding an online order pickup. I placed an order online and added my mother as the pickup person, just like their website allows. The email confirmation stated she needed to check in via the app upon arrival, but she doesn’t have the app, and I couldn’t check in for her because the app requires location tracking. Despite my mother having the order number and a valid ID—exactly as their policy states—the store refused to give her the order. Instead, they told me I had to download the app and check in from 30 minutes away, which obviously wasn’t possible. When I called the store, the first employee put me on hold without even asking my name, and after nearly 10 minutes, the call was dropped. When I called back, another person answered with no introduction, so I politely asked for their name. Instead of answering, they became defensive and refused to tell me. Turns out, this was the store manager, who STILL wouldn’t give me their name and escalated the situation instead of resolving it. Meanwhile, my mother was stuck in the parking lot for almost an hour with a child in the car. When the manager finally came outside, she was rude, yelled at my mother instead of helping, and told her to move her car without even introducing herself or resolving the issue. Then she had the audacity to blame my mother for the delay, saying she should have known she needed the app—even though the ordering process never stated this. What made this situation even worse was that my young cousin, who was in the car with my mother, became so upset and scared by the manager’s aggressive behavior that he had to put his board game up to hide his face. No child should feel that level of distress just because of an order pickup. To top it off, when I tried reaching customer service, the wait times were ridiculous, and the chat support was completely unhelpful. Instead of addressing my concerns, they offered me a $6 credit, which is honestly insulting after everything we went through. Nowhere in their process does it say the app is REQUIRED for pickup. The confirmation email even states that if someone else is picking up, they should speak with a team member. So why was my mother treated so poorly and refused service? Because of this awful experience, I will NOT be renewing my Sam’s Club membership and will be switching to Costco. If this is how they choose to treat their paying members, then they don’t deserve my business. Something needs to change, and I hope they take accountability for their lack of professionalism, misleading policies, and terrible customer service.