does it make sense to buy some parts locally for RMA convenience???

jkw

jkw

Gawd
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
608
when building a cutting edge pc, does it make sense to buy some of the more problematic parts locally so that RMAs are easier and quicker? for example, i am considering paying an extra 10-20% for my mobo locally so i can just drive down the street and exchange it if the first one is bad. does that make sense? last pc i bought had 4 bad mobos (gigabyte - they apparently had a bad batch of them), and RMAs were a pita. and if you would buy a mobo locally, what other parts would you consider compromising low cost on for the RMA convenience of local purchases? hard drives? memory? video cards?
 
To me it does. It actually depends on the part for stuff like motherboards and videocards i would really have to save a lot of money to tolerate waiting several weeks and neglect the convenience of being able to just drive down to Fry's and return/exhange it. I have been held up on just backorders so I really don't want to have to wait 2-6 weeks for RMAs, in that time I'd probably just go out and buy a replacement anyway due to being impatient. I guess it also depends on my mood and how lucky I am feeling. :D For the most part I would put trust in places like NewEgg but even they have issues sometimes so depending on how close the price difference is, like say if it is maybe $10-$15 I would just go local, but if it is closer to $30+ then I might just take my chances with the mail order, since I could probably send it back and pay shipping and still save money, as long as I received it in a reasonable amount of time.
 
The main thing I tell people to buy locally is a monitor. Mainly because of the weight and the cost of shipping. Whether it be the initial shipping or having to ship it back for an RMA. But, you do need to check the replacement/RMA policy of the store where you are buying stuff from. Not every place has a customer friendly return policy on some things.
 
No, not to me anyway. Buy from somewhere you can trust, like Newegg. Like mentioned above, monitors are good to buy local, but I've always bought the rest of my parts from Newegg and good online retailers like them. The only way I'd change is if I had a really trustworthy local store that had good deals. We have plenty of computer stores nearby, but they all suck, which is why Newegg gets all my upgrade lovin... ;)
 
I agree, parts I would just buy online. Moniters I would buy locally. But I just recently bought a HP L2335 23" Widescreen, I bought it online for $1500, CompUSA sells it for $2000. So that was a $500 dollars savings or a 25% savings. So I guess it depends on what you are looking for.....
 
The problem I have is that most local outlets not only have a crap selection of parts, but the prices are painful as well. I'd really prefer to buy from a local guy, but constant out of stock status on popular items and really shitty counter help attitudes have chased me away for good. The honest truth is that I just can't in good faith support the local PC parts folks anymore; I'm tired of being treated like it's some big honor to be waited on, and then dissed when I ask technical questions. More than once, I've been BS'd by someone that didn't know what the hell they were talking about. Basically.....I'm over it.

Anymore, I buy 99.97% of my stuff from the Egg. RMA's are almost painless and can be done on line. I've RMA'd more than one stick of RAM that would "work" but wouldn't pass Memtest86. No hassles, no issues.

My $00.02.....worth what you paid for it.....:cool:

Regards - B.B.S.
 
BBS...you took the words right out of my mouth.

Local shops treat their customers like crap. If any other type business did that, they would be gone in less than a year. Those guys think that since they own the shop, they are experts and we consumers are just dumb PC hicks. Another thing is that alot of crap they have are based on hyped specs, not quality. PSU's for example...never heard of JG brand of PSU's but they are stocked in our local shop. I bought one in a pinch, what a piece of crap it was. Returned it and went down to best buy and picked up a $26 overpriced Antec one. At least best buy sells name brand parts.

My rule for myself is buy all my parts from NewEgg. After my latest problem with getting RAM from NewEgg and melting my A7N8X-Deluxe's DIMM socket, NewEgg showed their true colors. I had new RAM in just under a week. Too bad I bought my board localy. The NewEgg guy said they would take card of that too..if I would have bought it from the Egg. In the end, I had to deal with ASUS. Two weeks later, I am still waiting to have my board back.
 
Local shops treat their customers like crap
Click to expand...

I disagree, To say there ALL bad is a mistake. Using your analogy I could say the same for ALL internet stores due to one bad experience..

I've had good luck with a local shop. I think a combination of net and local shopping is a good thing. I built a good rappore with the owner of this store over the years and he caters to me a lot now. Actually he knows I go to the net...because he does for the same things and we compare results. Fur emergencies and advice its a good idea. We need all the resources we can get. I've helped him many times and he returns the favor.

If people don't want to pay more consider that good service does cost something if it gives a benefit.
 
Your right. I'm sure there are some that don't. The one I goto does, but I have found out about another local shop here in town, that I'm going to go check out on my next purchase. Sounds promissing, since the owner is involved in the local LAN scene and is a pretty good shit from what I read on his forum. Real Nice guy, and he does know his stuff.

I am still going to buy most if not all my stuff from NewEgg. Once a company treats me right, I am loyal to them. Chasing the buck only get's you so far....and since the Egg is already on top of that, they signed my up for life with the great RMA support they offer.

Treat me wrong, and I will hate you forever.....OCZ......Sears.....to name a couple.
 
msny said:
If people don't want to pay more consider that good service does cost something if it gives a benefit.
Click to expand...
....provided you actually get good service.

Like I said - I'd PREFER to buy my stuff from a local guy, and no kidding, I'd pay a little extra for it (like I do with several of my other "hobbies"). But, when I'm greeted with "...uh, yeah, like, wow, we haven't had one of those in weeks..." and "...uh, like, no, dude - we can't call you when we get one in because it's first come, first served..." even when I offer to pay for the stuff IN ADVANCE AND WAIT and the egg has, oh, a few hundred in stock....well.....the egg wins. *&&$^%$#$#@&*^#%$(*^(&!!!!!!!.......:D

Don't misunderstand me for a second - If you have a really good local shop......SUPPORT THEM...!!!!! Problem for me is....I don't have a good local shop.

Regards - B.B.S.
 
I dont think theres any local PC stores in my part of the world, none that i have noticed anyways. I always thought it would be cool to run your own PC store, but i can see why most dont - so many people view cost as the #1 concern that a small store just wont be able to compete with newegg, especially if you take taxes into consideration.

I would for sure support a local store if they had good service though, in fact id probably pay 15-20% over neweggs price just to pick something up in person and get advice from someone face to face. Best Buy etc are ok in a pinch, but the selection for a DIY builder is poor at best.
 
If you can buy a monitor, especially an LCD, locally for a comparable or near-comparable price, it's probably worth it. That way you can take it back if it has an unacceptable number of dead pixels, wheras with NewEgg it would have to have at least 8 or whatever their number is now.
 
Craftish said:
If you can buy a monitor, especially an LCD, locally for a comparable or near-comparable price, it's probably worth it. That way you can take it back if it has an unacceptable number of dead pixels, wheras with NewEgg it would have to have at least 8 or whatever their number is now.
Click to expand...

Yep, I agree with you on that. Also, it pays to buy monitors locally, since you don't have to worry about shipping costs. Shipping a 19" CRT can get expensive. I also buy cases localy..that is if I can find any I like.
 
No online shop beats my customer service... And I have a lot of customers that know they can get it for $5 cheaper on newegg -- but still come to me.

how much is it worth to be able to call someone on the phone who knows who you are, can help you, can get you products same-day, doesn't have to ship, and can otherwise do things that online shops don't want to do.

places like newegg are nice, but for $5, it's worth it to buy locally.
 
potroast said:
No online shop beats my customer service... And I have a lot of customers that know they can get it for $5 cheaper on newegg -- but still come to me.

how much is it worth to be able to call someone on the phone who knows who you are, can help you, can get you products same-day, doesn't have to ship, and can otherwise do things that online shops don't want to do.

places like newegg are nice, but for $5, it's worth it to buy locally.
Click to expand...

That's great, if there's someone like you around. The local shops in my neck of the woods don't often carry what I want and when they do, it's more like 25%+ higher then what I could get on the Egg. Best deal I have is a guy who buys and resells equipment coming off leases. Just got a nice 22" mitsubishi CRT for less then $120. Sure it's 3 years old, but at the price, who cares... :D
 
I live in Canada so my prices a bit high. I live in Toronto Missisauga and one store called Liata has taken care of my pretty well. They don't speek great english but they can help me find that they have. They are the only place that had the A64 3000 754 for 230after tax. The lowest I can find it on the net is 230 + tax + shipping.

And I can get the convenience of getting it localy.
 
....provided you actually get good service.
Click to expand...

You get what you pay for...service does cost. But if it's lousy then
everyone has a choice to make. My point is that given the right
hookup, alocal shop can be a good thing to have around.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top