Another Reason I Hate CompUsa

Z

Z(+)DIAC

2[H]4U
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Messages
3,231
Yes, so as you may know I loathe and despise CompUsa with a passion. It's not so much their prices, but their employees. Anyone else think they just hire anyone with no real knowledge of the designated area they are put in? Maybe it's just been the few experiences I have, but tonight's topped it all. I decided to pick up a 6600gt Bfg vid card. I asked one of the employees (looked like he was stoned) for it and ended up having to get a manager to unlock it from the back. He ended up having to ask me twice what it was called and how much memory it had. He then follows me to the front and waits with me in line, further discussing that I should get a service plan for it, seeing as I was installing it myself I might fry it or some shit like that. I politely said no, and he kept badgering me. I finally got pissed and pointed out that the card came with a lifetime warranty, and I didn't need to pay an extra $40 for some shit ass CompUsa one...anyways yeah, that's my story and I figured I would tell it.

Anyone else pick up this card and has had luck with it?
 
I made the mistake of buying a 550-watt Mad Dog(CompUsa in house brand) PSU from them awhlie back. That piece of garbage wouldn't let me get over 2.72ghz on my rig. I've got a dual 120mm rad setup with a DangerDen RBX waterblock. 272ghz is an air cooling figure not WC. I got a Neopower today and I'm burning at a nice stable 2.75ghz. I should be at 2.8ish in a few days.

I'm with you, CompUsa sucks...........though I did get my pre-ordreed X800XT PE from them a few days before the official release.............
 
I actually work there part time. (Makes my Firehawk payment) I have to say with the exception of other guys on the tech staff. They are all retarded. Although we do have a ex-hooters girl working at customer service now. Which is a nice plus.
 
got a cd-rw/dvd-rom drive there once... it crapped... so i got another one.

fraid i'll have to spoil your party guys... i'm gonna have to say i was satisfied and will go back... the people at the raleigh, nc compusa (and the chapel hill, nc store) seem knowledgeable in their area.

but if i have a bad experience i will definitely tell ;)

i'm hoping to get an aerocool jetengine or whatever that thing with a boeing intake is... it's $80 there and looks hella cool. who knows, i might get bad service and have to report it...

:cool:
 
he's a nutjob all right...

i would like to see some constructive criticism of compusa to help balance out the shameless uber-pwnage in that hyperlink.
 
I have never had any problems there. Yes, the employees have no fucking idea what they are doing, but if you knwo what you want and just go snag it..no big deal. THey are also great with returns, at least on my part.
 
that's what i've experienced... tho the employee i talked to was quite knowledgeable in his field (dvd recorders for tv's)
 
Z(+)DIAC said:
Yes, so as you may know I loathe and despise CompUsa with a passion. It's not so much their prices, but their employees. Anyone else think they just hire anyone with no real knowledge of the designated area they are put in? Maybe it's just been the few experiences I have, but tonight's topped it all. I decided to pick up a 6600gt Bfg vid card. I asked one of the employees (looked like he was stoned) for it and ended up having to get a manager to unlock it from the back. He ended up having to ask me twice what it was called and how much memory it had. He then follows me to the front and waits with me in line, further discussing that I should get a service plan for it, seeing as I was installing it myself I might fry it or some shit like that. I politely said no, and he kept badgering me. I finally got pissed and pointed out that the card came with a lifetime warranty, and I didn't need to pay an extra $40 for some shit ass CompUsa one...anyways yeah, that's my story and I figured I would tell it.

Anyone else pick up this card and has had luck with it?
Click to expand...


So what if he didn't know the exact card you wanted? Hate to break it to you, but very very few people know the ins and outs of the latest video card offerings. By asking you more than once, he was just making sure he got you the correct product. Would you rather he only ask once and get the wrong card, or insist you don't "need that card for your application?" As far as the service plan goes, it's not a bad deal for those that get it, and employees are evaluated on how many service plans they sell, he's just doing his job. If you hate them so much, why do you go back? I would rather see pics of the card installed and benches instead of reading whining.
 
Oh yeah tough guy, I never asked for your opinion, just seeing if people have had similar experiences. Well I figured he should probably know his shit if he is working in the computer hardware section, that's like sticking a footless person into a shoe salesman job, I mean come on. I am sure he wasn't making sure, he asked me a total of three times, makes ya wonder. And yeah, he was doing his job asking about the plans, but if he knows he shit he would understand that BFG has their own lifetime warranty, and the fact that they only carry three card companies: ATI, BFG, PNY
 
isn't it a good thing some of those guys are retarded? you can like trick them and stuff into getting some better things than what you've paid for heheh
 
I fucking hate compusa. I had to wait 20 minutes in line a few weeks ago when I bought my MX1000. there were like 15 people in line, and only one checkout lane open, with employees fucking walking around the store doing nothing!! jesus, talk about customer service, or the lack of...
 
Comp USA has several problems. Maddox has it right to a point. The real problem is the inept management of the place. I work there part time as I said so I have the unique perspective of knowing how screwed up the place is.

Problems Comp USA has with it's products and pricing.

First problem is the buyers who buy products for Comp USA, buy the wrong products and too much of shit that doesn't sell and not enough of what does. They need to get back to thier roots and cater to the business crowd.

You may have noticed they've started carrying cases and components to build your own machine. Which is great. However you may have also noticed that the prices on thier motherboards and CPU's are insane. The reason is, Comp USA buys them from a site called pcconnect which rapes Comp USA then Comp's genious marketting idiots think that they can charge a 35% markup for the parts because that's how non-warranty parts in the tech shop get billed out. If you've ever worked in a service center you'd know that out of warranty parts are actually good business and are expensive.

Next problem is that Comp USA never looks at market pricing for anything but hard drives, and ram. Everything else pretty much goes for MSRP or thier retarded 35% markup. Comp USA could make money if they didn't sell stuff at such high prices and bought their parts and products from vendors who didn't rape them in the first place. They need to buy everything from a distributor and not a reseller. When a company like Intel or AMD makes across the board price cuts, Comp USA doesn't make the adjustment. Some times in our system our cost goes down, but retail cost doesn't.

Another problem is that when stuff goes on clearance they never get rid of it. They take 5% off every 30 days until it's gone. They are getting better about this, but no kidding we've got a 9800Pro in stock they think they can get $400 for.

Products are another problem. They don't need to sell 50 different CD wallets. You just need a handfull of different types and your set. They have too many brands of some things and not enough of others. Again the buyers are idiots.

Marketting is another area they fail at. They got TV's and Camcorders and Digital Cameras in the stores now because they are high margin items. Essentially they want to copy Best Buy. Problem is they don't market these things. So how can they sell them?

Next up is their staffing. Used to be years ago they required some general computer knowledge for you to work there. They don't anymore. Second they pay their computer sales people commision which is a bad idea. It's made them lazy ass vultures who are worthless. The turnover rate is also insanely high.

They also don't hire enough people and schedule them appropriatley to staff the store. Problem is none of the different departments communicate with each other on schedules so as a result gaps get left in the schedule and you've got the wrong people working the wrong department to cover for it.

There is also No product training outside of what a vendor might do directly and there are no requirements as I said before for computer knowledge. Case in point, our sales staff can't answer a simple question like " Do you carry LGA 775 heatsinks and fans?" They can't answer that. So they have to ask the techs. Who don't work the sales floor and honestly don't know what's out there.

Employees are also not disciplined for bad behavior and not showing up.

Extended Warranties. They now basically underwrite their own warranties. This is a bad idea. It's not proffitable in computer equipment. I won't get into why. Just trust me. They have to rape people for $500 on Laptop service plans just to break even on the costs.

Relationships with other companies is another issue. They need to dump their exclusive contracts with Belkin and Pre-owned electronics. The tech shops pay too much money and furthermore customers pay too much money for parts because of this retarded contract. This is the main reason the warranties can't make any money is Comp USA pays $1000 for a laptop motherboard that costs $500. And it's refurbished on top of that.

They have contracts in place keeping them from getting much needed products into the store because those items would compete with another company they have a contract with. IE Belkin cables. If Belkin doesn't make the calbe, Comp USA can't carry it under contract. Stupid.

Finally the last thing they need to correct is this. They need to stop taking shit from customers. Seriously. You go into Best Buy and blatantly try and rip you off buy returning something in a box that didn't originally come in the box, and wasn't even sold in that store, they will tell you no and ask you to leave. Comp USA takes it in the ass and returns the item anyway knowing full well that they can't return a 6 year old PCI video card returned in a Geforce 6800GT box. Yet they do it anyway. BAM $319.99 lost (cost pricing) because some loser decided to rip them off.

Management needs to have a spine and stop letting the stores get ripped off.

Managers actually get bonuses based on the number of complaints they do or do not get per month. Even if the store loses money because of it.

Honestly Comp USA is losing money left and right. I think it only stays in business because that Mexican that owns the place is laundering drug money through it.

Here's an idea how badly managed the place is, In the tech shop (where I work) we have an idiot regional who sets foot in the store once a month if that. He's decided that we shouldn't tell customers how long it takes to look at thier computer or repair it. We should tell them that we'll get right on it as soon as it's checked in. Problem with that is due to the extended warranty processing and parts ordering time, it's NOT feasable at all. Not remotely possible to do an instant repair.

Also customers can now come to the back and watch us WORK!!! How special is that? They are worried about theft, so to compound the problem they are going to let customers come back there and bother the tech while he works so his job takes longer and the customer can see how he gets ripped off paying whatever he's being charged for something simple as reseating a cable. And while he's watching he can help him or herslef to whatever might be back there laying all over the benches in various stages of repair. This is even better because when the customer steals from another customer in the shop, we've got to deal with an angry customer who lost something in the shop and Comp has to pay for it. Also cusotomers get extra value in thier repairs by asking all the dumbass tech support questions they want while they wait. Not to mention the customers aren't ESD protected so they can fry whatever is laying around should they decide to touch anything.

I worked at Comp USA back in 1998-1999 full time. I came back recently part time to give me some extra spending cash and to help make my car payment easier. It's amazing how much more retarded the company has gotten. There's more problems than this but that's all I care to type about right now.

I used to work at Best Buy too. I can tell you why they suck later if it comes up. :D
 
Bugalaman said:
I fucking hate compusa. I had to wait 20 minutes in line a few weeks ago when I bought my MX1000. there were like 15 people in line, and only one checkout lane open, with employees fucking walking around the store doing nothing!! jesus, talk about customer service, or the lack of...
Click to expand...

Don't worry, I cannot count how many times that has happened while at CompUsa. Anyone ever have problems at Microcenter. They have some good prices with some great products, I just have found their employees to be kinda snobby, like they are too good to help you...I think I am just getting more paranoid :rolleyes:
 
Best Buy and CompUSA work as advertising for newegg. They let people who know nothing about computers sell stuff to people who know nothing about computers or hardware. Call its technological darwinism. Then they offer the irresistable deal to lure in a few people who know their shit to remind them exactly why never to shop there. :D

but I still dont think you can beat Best Buy's DVD prices...
 
Microcenter occasionally has really good prices on some stuff. I hate thier sales people. They are smarter than your average Comp USA or Best Buy employee, but not by much. They are snobs too. I think it's the way the neck tie cuts off blood circulation to the brain.

Fry's employeee's are even better. They don't speak any english. So they can't possibly offend you or say the wrong thing!!!! Awesome huh? :rolleyes:
 
maddox usually has good stuff, but his rant on compusa is retarded.

he got suckered into buying something at its retail price because he didn't bother reading the "AFTER REBATES" notice on the ad. he should be writing an article about how a company should be blamed for the fact that he's too stupid to read.
 
Shit, Maddox is actually right. The mail in rebate thing is a crock. Do you know how many customer service issues come up per day because no one got their rebates? What's especially great is people leave the store pissed off when we tell them they have to contact the manufacturer of the item that has the rebate on it in order to resolve the problem.

Rebates suck.
 
Z(+)DIAC said:
Oh yeah tough guy, I never asked for your opinion, just seeing if people have had similar experiences. Well I figured he should probably know his shit if he is working in the computer hardware section, that's like sticking a footless person into a shoe salesman job, I mean come on. I am sure he wasn't making sure, he asked me a total of three times, makes ya wonder. And yeah, he was doing his job asking about the plans, but if he knows he shit he would understand that BFG has their own lifetime warranty, and the fact that they only carry three card companies: ATI, BFG, PNY
Click to expand...


You ask for opinions when you post. People that "know their shit" in computer hardware probably have found a better job than a dead-end low pay retail job. My wife worked there for years, and they treat their employees badly. Low pay + no respect for your help = loser employees cause you can't keep anyone decent. If compusa's employees are too dumb, and Micocenter's are too snobby, maybe you should shop online. You don't have to deal with people there, unless they mess up your order and you have to get on the phone.
 
I'm still trying to figure out how they call themselves a computer superstore when they do not even carry the latest in hardware.

They still do not even have a socket 939 AMD yet.

Socket 754 anyone???

AMD Processors at Compusa

That is sad.

Plus like mentioned earlier, the employees really are clueless many times.
 
I've bought from compusa a couple times, everytime I did it put me in a foul mood. Damn know-it-all teenagers that don't actually know anything. If you ask for some help they seem annoyed that you asked them and not the other guy. Adding warranties that you don't want, and mail-in rebate BS.
 
I've had good and bad with compusa. They did allow me to return a viewsonic lcd that had a bad pixel and then open one in the store to see if the replacement had one too.

The bad is the sales staff. On a few occasions I have helped people find items in the store since a salesperson was nowhere to be found.

I have to use compusa since I don't really have any other options locally when I need a cable or other small component to build a system. I regard them the same as radio shack, convenient, but I'll mail order parts first.
 
My local CompUSA is still selling the Radeon 9550's :eek:


Oh well, I sent in my job application there. Hopefully if I get the job, I can punch the manager in the face and tell him to get some better hardware if they want customers.
 
Yeah, try the 9200 ;) The only reason I go there is if I need something quickly, such was the case with the card. It was only $20 more then if I would have gotten it off line, so I figured what the hell. Usually I get all of my hardware from Newegg, but when it comes to cheap stuff that I can easily go pick up (cables, cd-rs, etc.) I will, but I won't like it
 
I don't "hate" CompUSA, but to this day they hold the record for all time comedy gold.

It was years upon years ago. I'm talking when SoundBlaster first started putting out mainstream sound cards. We had purchased a kit with a CD-ROM and Sound Card and so forth. Unfortunately the HP computer we had needed to have some drive rails to mount the CD-ROM which we didn't have. Not a problem, head down to CompUSA and snag some up.

So I talk to a guy. Hello there, I need some CD-ROM mounting brackets for an HP brand computer. He instantly says no problem and goes back on a shelf, looks and shuffles around to get what he wants, and tosses some drive rails to me. Nothing more than little rails in a baggy. Sweet, got what I need, blah blah, I go home. Just as I sat down to take them out of the baggy and install them I read the baggy "For all computers except HP".

It was a combination of hilarity and sadness. He probably just saw the letters "HP" and thought good to go, and I assumed too much to not just take a look at'em prior.

But in regards to the original post. It's CompUSA, what do you expect? They're not all avid hardware enthusiasts.

-Venthos
 
CompUSA and Best Buy are handy for one thing: Recordable media. If I need some DVD or CD blanks, I'll hit them up. If I need actual computer hardware, I'd rather buy it online. It's cheaper, no taxes, and even with shipping you still pay less than the retail prices of their mediocre inventory. Hell, even the local computer stores here run by AD&D nerds sell processors and various other hardware 20% more than online vendors.

CompUSA and Best Buy thrive the same way Dell, HP, and Gateway do: stupid people buy their crap.

To this day I have never encountered a CompUSA or Best Buy employee adequately knowledgable or intelligent in the field of computer technology. As long as you'll buy SOMETHING from them, the product your eyes are focused on is awesome, hands down the best, they've got two and they run great, and so on and so forth.


jusluv2play said:
AMD Processors at Compusa

That is sad.

Plus like mentioned earlier, the employees really are clueless many times.
Click to expand...

A Duron for $70?! God damn. And their XP and 64 prices are more expensive than when these chips starting cooling off from their debut OVER A YEAR AGO.
 
Z(+)DIAC said:
Yes, so as you may know I loathe and despise CompUsa with a passion.

Snip

Maybe it's just been the few experiences I have, but tonight's topped it all.

Snip
Click to expand...


Maybe you would feel better if you DID NOT SHOP THERE? www.chumbo.com ;)
 
Z(+)DIAC said:
Yeah, try the 9200 ;) The only reason I go there is if I need something quickly, such was the case with the card. It was only $20 more then if I would have gotten it off line, so I figured what the hell. Usually I get all of my hardware from Newegg, but when it comes to cheap stuff that I can easily go pick up (cables, cd-rs, etc.) I will, but I won't like it
Click to expand...

People like you really do amaze me. You have this immediate need, and the fact is that CompUSA fulfilled it for you. And for doing that you post a bunch of shitty threads about them? Sort of makes you a hypocrite in my book.
 
Jonsey said:
So what if he didn't know the exact card you wanted? Hate to break it to you, but very very few people know the ins and outs of the latest video card offerings. By asking you more than once, he was just making sure he got you the correct product. Would you rather he only ask once and get the wrong card, or insist you don't "need that card for your application?" As far as the service plan goes, it's not a bad deal for those that get it, and employees are evaluated on how many service plans they sell, he's just doing his job. If you hate them so much, why do you go back? I would rather see pics of the card installed and benches instead of reading whining.
Click to expand...


If you work in retail as a sales associate, its your fing job to know at least the MOST expensive items you carry in stock or have some semblance of a clue when people mention them.

If not, you might as well just sack groceries.
 
SPARTAN VI said:
My local CompUSA is still selling the Radeon 9550's :eek:


Oh well, I sent in my job application there. Hopefully if I get the job, I can punch the manager in the face and tell him to get some better hardware if they want customers.
Click to expand...

The 9550 isn't that old man, it was a refresh card put out by ATi recently to fill the lower budget price point. Like the 5500 and 5700LE cards. Plus they are selling X700Pro's, X800Pro's X800XT's, 6800Ultra's, 6800NU, 6800GT's 6600GT's and some of the cards they have in both PCI-E and AGP.
 
Well I know it is bad with me, I usually go to a Compusa. When they ask for help, for some reason I am rude to them.....I do not know with, without talking to them I just assume they are all stupid and they just need to leave me alone.....I guess I am just a mean person...
 
Hey, thats where I got my Ultra from in August, atleast at my local store they honor thier advertisments. And also they have a good replacement plan, if it breaks within the insured time, you get the item of the same price range of when you originaly bought it.
 
i work at a compusa in nj and the staff at my store is surprisingly knowledgeable

there is a very small percentage of the staff that does not know anything about computers, although sadly some of that is the managers aswell. Since i started there a couple months ago i have really not seen many of the dirty-underhanded business practices i thought i would. Although the store does get ripped off almost as much as we rip people off.

And yes, we do get commission... "spif" for selling warrenty, training, tech to customers... i went from $7.75/hour to $8.90 with my spif

Sales people can get commission-commission aswell, one of our salespeople averages $26/hour on a base $7.75 salary

The thing is, these people DO know computer parts (for the most part, except for a few that are quite slow, or inept in certain areas), when we have free time we talk about new technology or random tech stuff alot, and we make fun of stupid tech crap customers have done(plus stupid returns/exchanges/warrenty buys)
 
those make for entertaining stories... especially when the customers are exceedingly dumb with what they do... dont' suppose you care to share a few ;)
 
obyj34 said:
Hey, thats where I got my Ultra from in August, atleast at my local store they honor thier advertisments. And also they have a good replacement plan, if it breaks within the insured time, you get the item of the same price range of when you originaly bought it.
Click to expand...
heh.... no, thats wrong:)

yes, we honor the ads(little tidbit, if something rings up wrong at our registers, and a sign thats out, with a matching sku/product code says a cheaper price, we have to lower the price)
however the warrenty info you said is wrong.... you will get an item of equal value to the item you have now,. or greater value.... not original retail value, but spec value
 
Kinda like when the tech guy at my compusa told me that it's always the very best to use a thermal pad AND thermal paste with my cpu. And that with windows xp SP 1 I would be completely immune to viruses, adware, malware, spyware and internet explore security hole....wait a second.... Well, that second story isnt mine really. First one all true.
 
paladin732 said:
i work at a compusa in nj and the staff at my store is surprisingly knowledgeable

there is a very small percentage of the staff that does not know anything about computers, although sadly some of that is the managers aswell. Since i started there a couple months ago i have really not seen many of the dirty-underhanded business practices i thought i would. Although the store does get ripped off almost as much as we rip people off.

And yes, we do get commission... "spif" for selling warrenty, training, tech to customers... i went from $7.75/hour to $8.90 with my spif

Sales people can get commission-commission aswell, one of our salespeople averages $26/hour on a base $7.75 salary

The thing is, these people DO know computer parts (for the most part, except for a few that are quite slow, or inept in certain areas), when we have free time we talk about new technology or random tech stuff alot, and we make fun of stupid tech crap customers have done(plus stupid returns/exchanges/warrenty buys)
Click to expand...

You're store is different. The one I work at is full of retards. No one knows their ass from a hole in the ground except the tech staff. Everyone else thinks the 5700LE is a good gaming card.
 
Sir-Fragalot said:
You're store is different. The one I work at is full of retards. No one knows their ass from a hole in the ground except the tech staff. Everyone else thinks the 5700LE is a good gaming card.
Click to expand...

now THAT'S hilarious... but it'd be even funnier if they thought that about the fx5800... you know, the hair dryer that plugs into your agp slot?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top