Costco: cancellation problem

Collect

• membership number
• date of cancellation
• card statement

Steps

1. Ask for a cancellation and a membership fee refund at a warehouse membership counter or through the Member Service Center.

   PhoneMembership and warehouse (Member Service Center) +1-800-774-2678

2. To stop auto-renewal, turn it off in your Costco account, at a membership counter, or through the Member Service Center at least 72 hours before the first day of the renewal month.

   PhoneMembership and warehouse (Member Service Center) +1-800-774-2678

3. Dispute any renewal charged after you cancelled with your card issuer.

More contacts for this issue

Facts you can cite

• Policy

  Costco will cancel and refund the membership fee at any time if the member is dissatisfied.

  Source: customerservice.costco.com, verified 2026-10-12

• Deadline

  You must cancel auto renewal at least 72 hours before the first day of your renewal month to avoid the charge.

  Source: costco.com, verified 2026-10-12

Rules in force

• Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA) negative option requirements
  15 U.S.C. 8401-8405

  A seller that charges consumers online through a negative option feature (for example an automatic renewal or a free trial that converts to paid) must clearly disclose all material terms before taking billing information, get the consumer's express informed consent before charging, and provide simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges. The FTC enforces ROSCA.

  Source: law.cornell.edu, verified 2026-10-12

  3 citable points

  • Policy

    Before obtaining the consumer's billing information, the seller must provide text that "clearly and conspicuously discloses all material terms of the transaction".

    Source: law.cornell.edu, verified 2026-10-12

  • Policy

    The seller must provide "simple mechanisms for a consumer to stop recurring charges" on the consumer's credit card, debit card, bank account or other financial account.

    Source: law.cornell.edu, verified 2026-10-12

  • Process

    A ROSCA violation is treated as a violation of an FTC rule on unfair or deceptive acts or practices, and the FTC enforces ROSCA with its FTC Act powers and penalties. Report violations to the FTC.

    Source: law.cornell.edu, verified 2026-10-12

Rules not in force (do not cite)

• FTC "Click-to-Cancel" amendments to the Negative Option Rule (2024) Vacated
  16 CFR part 425 (2024 amendments, published November 15, 2024)

  Vacated in full by the Eighth Circuit on July 8, 2025 (Custom Communications, Inc. v. FTC, 142 F.4th 1060). The FTC removed the 2024 text effective February 12, 2026 and restored the pre-2024 prenotification rule. A new rulemaking is only at the ANPRM stage (March 13, 2026), with no proposed text as of 2026-10-12. What remains in force: ROSCA (rules/rosca-negative-option), Section 5 of the FTC Act, and state automatic renewal laws (for example rules/ca-automatic-renewal-law, rules/ny-automatic-renewal-law).

  Not in force. Do not cite it as current law.

If that fails, escalate

Go up one step at a time. Keep the reference numbers and dates from each contact.

1. Customer service

   ChatCostco Customer Service contact page (phone and chat by topic)

2. Supervisor

   PhoneMembership and warehouse (Member Service Center) +1-800-774-2678

3. Written complaint

   FormCostco feedback form

4. Card or bank dispute

   Fair Credit Billing Act billing-error and purchase-dispute rights (Regulation Z)

   Electronic Fund Transfer Act error resolution and unauthorized-transfer liability (Regulation E)

5. State agency

   Your state’s attorney general. Find it in the list of state agencies (also as JSON: states/<code>.json, for example states/ny.json).

6. Public complaint

   RegulatorBetter Business Bureau

Watch out

Related

• Cancellation problem at other companies
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