BAD Price match policy.

You are addressing the wrong audience here - we are all other users here and do not work for Apple. And, Apple does not participate here. Additionally, I have never heard of Apple matching the price anywhere; the pricing is set and only some dealers do sell items for a lower price. Costco always sells everything at a discount and $50 for a $2,000 item amounts to a small 2.5% discount. As well, Apple has an unusual and excellent return policy: you have 14 days to return anything for a refund, no questions asked. Finally, it is always recommended that you do research before making a decision: caveat emptor.

Apple does not price-match -- they never have.

When you buy direct from Apple, you have 14 days from receipt to return it for any reason, in the same country, through any Apple direct outlet or to the Online store. (except in some countries in the Far East).

If price is the most important factor to you, return the one you bought from Apple.

Resellers set their own prices, and also their own return policies. Hope there are no sample defects with your Costsco purchase in the first two weeks -- you own it once you get beyond the cashier.

I've actually never heard of Apple doing any sort of price match. Pretty sure that is not a thing for Apple.

I think the source of confusion is that Apple obviously has their retail stores and their online e-commerce ordering, but ultimately they are not just a retailer like Best Buy, Costco, etc., but are in fact the hardware manufacturer. If the factory is going to match prices with their retailers/distributors/resellers that effectively undercuts their own resellers. I think the whole point is that 3rd-party retailers (i.e. sellers other than Apple / Apple Stores) have a little bit of free space enabling them to sell Apple products without having to compete with the manufacturer.

I certainly understand being upset at being on hold for so long, getting the connection dropped, and being told incorrectly that they do price matching. Obviously, if the first person you talked to had the right information or was able to get it right away it would have saved you all this time, aggravation and frustration that didn't need to happen.