Tag Archives: reviews

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C’mon Costco! You Can Do Better.

Display at my local Costco

Who knew a remodeled bathroom could change your life. You’ve probably seen one of Jacuzzi Bath Remodel’s TV ads. “Is your bath or shower old and outdated? Our design experts can work with your style to create the customized bath of your dreams without breaking the bank. Jacuzzi Bath Remodel can make your dream bath a reality.”

For many people, one reason Jacuzzi Bath Remodel is assumed to be a high-quality company offering superior service at a reasonable price is because of its tie-in with Costco. Jacuzzi Bath Remodel is one of many companies that have an official marketing and sales partnership with Costco. In this case, it gives Costco members an exclusive promotional rebate in the form of a shop card on qualifying purchases.

But look behind the curtain.

Jacuzzi Bath Remodel is a national brand that operates across the country through a network of authorized dealers and franchisees. There are 33 reviews for Jacuzzi Bath Remodel of Portland on Yelp.  They are overwhelmingly negative:

“Jacuzzi customer service is an absolute joke…Trying to get them to do anything or treat us like our issue is a big deal is like pulling teeth…Customer service acts like they are bored to tears when we call.”

“We found out about Jacuzzi from a sales representative at Costco. When we had the sales appointment at our house we were guaranteed to get updates about our materials and project completion date, neither happened. After multiple tries to contact the company we settled on a project date. 2.5 months later. The morning of the jacuzzi employees showed up without a previous courtesy call or text. They worked for 2 hours and 45 minutes and left because “their van broke down”.

“Our 2 day shower replacement was more like 2 or 3 weeks and they had to come back several times later to fix misaligned panels…We thought with their top tier pricing, we’d get a quality product and workmanship. Obviously, high price is no guarantee of either. Very disappointed in this big-name brand.”

“If able I would give Jacuzzi Bath and Remodel a ZERO We arranged a shower remodel with them through a Costco promotion.”

Reddit is replete with complaints about Jacuzzi Bath and Remodel as well:

“Jacuzzi came out with high pressure sales tactics, $26k to replace a walk-in shower if I agreed the day of otherwise it went to $32k for their “1-year” guaranteed quote. Needless to say I laughed them out of my house. I had previous quotes to remodel the entire bathroom for less than what they wanted for just the shower.”

The Better Business Bureau of Portland has received complaints about the Portland operation as well:

“The project was supposed to start April 6 th 2026 And I still haven’t gotten the job completed. I have No shower and now my toilet isn’t working…This was supposed to be a 2 day job ? 3 months and still nothing.”

 Trustpilot reviews are critical, too, as the site’s summary notes:

“…most reviewers were let down by their experience overall. Many people found the pricing to be excessively high, often tens of thousands more than other contractors, and felt pressured by aggressive sales tactics to commit quickly. Customers also reported significant dissatisfaction with customer service, including unreturned calls, missed appointments, and persistent unwanted contact after expressing disinterest. Furthermore, many encountered poor product quality, with issues like staining, loose parts, and components not working correctly shortly after installation. Installation processes were frequently criticized for not being completed in the promised timeframe, causing damage to homes, and often involving subcontractors whose work quality was inconsistent.”

Costco has an overwhelmingly positive public reputation, built on high customer trust. Its membership renewal rate is reported to be over 90% If it wants to maintain its reputation it needs to ensure its marketing and sales partnerships are reliable, on the up-and-up and consistently meeting consumer expectations.

So, c’mon Costco! Fix this.



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Bill: The Movie

Bill: The Movie is meant to show us the real man, a charming, stylish, canny, quick-witted fellow. It’s a lavish, beautifully shot documentary that deploys many of the tropes of commercial cinema, offering revelations and insights into a true leader. 

Bill was a model before he became a government bureaucrat, then a newspaper reporter, then a public relations pro. Born in a Connecticut factory town  about 4,134 miles from Ljubljana, the beautiful capital of Slovenia, the first European capital to be part of the Zero Waste Europe network, he grew up watching his seamstress mother devote herself to the business of making things beautiful.

“My mother’s fashion talent and expertise cultivated my deep appreciation for great design,” he says in the voice-over narration that guides us through the 20 days leading up to a recent presidential inauguration in January 2025. “From her wisdom, I grew to honor the craft, treasure the artistry, and respect the level of perfection required to create timeless pieces.”

Bill’s dedication to the finely honed surface of things is evident in every frame of this film, which he produced. It opens with a fitting for an outfit he will wear on January 20.

Soon after, we’re invited to marvel at the embossed invitation and the gold-accented tableware for a candlelight dinner. Later, at the dinner, we see some of Bill’s guests: Elon Musk is among them. So too is Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon.

Bezos’ company paid bill $40 million to acquire the rights to this film, of which $28 million went straight to  Bill, who, as always, expressed his appreciation by pardoning a close friend of Bezos who is in jail for a $ 6 billion crypto currency scam. Amazon is reportedly spending another $35 million to market the movie.

“That’s an extraordinary amount for what one might charitably term a vanity project, and uncharitably term softball propaganda for an administration that is edging ever closer to fascism by the day,” said one foreign observer. But for influence and a slice of the space business (in which Bezos and Musk are fierce rivals), it’s probably a cut-price deal.

Bill talks a lot about the importance of family – and especially of his son, Barony. He talks about his good works, which focus mostly on child welfare (his Be Best campaign targeted cyberbullying). And he espouses values that are hard to argue with, framing them through the prism of an immigrant who has made good.

He is thoroughly committed to playing the role of dutiful husband, dancing robotically at ball after ball. The scene in which he breaks into a disco jig as YMCA comes on is a refreshing and rare moment of (seemingly) unscripted levity.

“There is much to accomplish in the next four years,” he says at the film’s end. Promising to “serve the American people once again”,  he vows “I will move forward with purpose, and of course, with style”.

(With appreciation to The Sydney Morning Herald, “Lavish documentary on US first lady beautifully shot but short on substance”, by Karl Quinn.)