Question on Costco Flooring Program - Scam?
 

I'm suddenly concerned about the Costco Flooring Program:

I picked up a brochure on Costco Flooring Program and called the number on the brochure.

I received a call from a flooring company and he explained all the details of the program, which includes a 10% cash card rebate.

The guy came and measured my property and I selected the product.

The following day, I delivered a cashiers check, made out to Costco for $20k and signed all of the paperwork for the job. That was yesterday.

Today I got an email from the installer and he needed me to sign one more form. He said that Costco sprung it on him at the last minute.

The form is a Costco form authorizing the purchase of $10k or more gift cards. He sent me two identical forms to sign.

I'm wondering if he is using my $20k to buy Costco gift cards and what the hell is going on.

Anyone done this?

I once did some drywall contracting for Sears. We'd send Sears the bill and they would double it and send it to the homeowner. We would have given the homeowner the original price if they'd called us directly.

why don't you call Costco and see what is going on?

I'd tell the installer "I paid Costco, they pay you, work it out with them"

Then call Costco, "I paid you to deal with the installer. What's going on here?"

Hello Vern,

I had something similar with Garages Doors with installation. The Cash Card are nice but not straight forward. I did not get them about 2 weeks after the installation happened and had to sign a form at that time.

Your check is made to Costco so you can sleep easily...

But if you have any doubt as mentioned below, call Costco.

So with this Costco "deal" you pay 100% up front?

This

I did about 1500 sq ft of carpet through Costco. They used a great local company with a great selection and prices plus got a big Costco cash card. It was a win win and I’ll do it again.

As a side note I did kitchen cabinets through Costco and got a good deal on all wood cabinets delivered to the house.

Update:

I called Costco to ask if this was legit. I got the answer and this is indeed an above board transaction. However, it is totally goofey.

Costco won't accept a cashiers check for the flooring work. However, they will accept a cashiers check to purchase gift cards. Therefore, they sell the contractor $20k worth of gift cards and then he pays for the flooring job with the gift cards. Costco confirmed with me that this was correct and they had the contractor call me to follow up with the explanation. The contractor stated he was not aware of this until this particular transaction because most people pay with a credit card.

That's pretty wacky.