Frys.com customer service...

[CleanSlate]

I have had a rather lacking customer service experience with frys.com and I would like to share it with you.

I bought a 24" ultra slim asus monitor and it came to me DOA.

I contacted them the day after I received it and they said they'd send me a shipping label to send it back to them.

My first email to them was thus:

This monitor that I ordered is bad, unfortunately. It isn't working right. It turns on and off randomly and flickers randomly. I tried multiple inputs and different computers (HDMI/DVI/etc).

I would like to return it for a complete refund, ASAP.

Please email me the details for shipping return and anything else.

Thanks,
Adam

I was sure to highlight the important part of my first message, that I was in a big hurry to get this refund completed.

I called their customer service/return line, I was told they would send me a shipping label free of charge (I was low on cash when this first started, so this was a big perk) but I needed to provide them with an Asus customer service number showing that I had actually done some trouble shooting.

I provided this number and was told many times that I was supposed to receive this shipping label of which I have never received.

This played itself out over the next two months. I would email them, saying I haven't received a shipping label yet and they would give me the same apology and say they would forward this to their manager for the manager to send me a shipping label.

At first I thought it was my email just not receiving/kicking back these phantom label attachments. However, we tried my Yahoo email and then my Gmail email and supposedly neither email is receiving these phantom emails. Even though their regular emails were working just fine and I had nothing in my spam boxes on either email systems. Searches within my emails brings nothing up.

So, I figured out that they must be just saying they're sending out these phantom labels to appease me in the hopes that I'll just go away because NOW they haven't even bothered responding to some of my emails.

As it sits it's about two months later and I must have sent over a dozen emails just simply asking politely for a shipping label.

I was also told that I couldn't return something I bought online in their stores. This was one of the main reasons I even bought from their web site because I assumed (like an idiot?) that I could return something in their store which I bought on their web site.

I even asked for them to make an exception for me to go into their store and do it because it has been two months. They never responded to my email.

Well, I wish I had gone into the store. And I hope my experience will help you guys know who to not buy from. Get off your lazy butts and go to their store because their web site customer service leaves much to be desired for.

My new plan is to show up at the store and try to force them to take it back in-store.

Edit: I guess I could have put this in a better forum location but this is the sub forum I frequent.

 

[LigTasm]

I would bring it to the store and talk to the manager. Most likely they will hook you up or at least try to help, their phone/email CS is horrific.

 

[Hagrid]

I have had a rather lacking customer service experience with frys.com and I would like to share it with you.

I bought a 24" ultra slim asus monitor and it came to me DOA.

I contacted them the day after I received it and they said they'd send me a shipping label to send it back to them.

My first email to them was thus:



I was sure to highlight the important part of my first message, that I was in a big hurry to get this refund completed.

I called their customer service/return line, I was told they would send me a shipping label free of charge (I was low on cash when this first started, so this was a big perk) but I needed to provide them with an Asus customer service number showing that I had actually done some trouble shooting.

I provided this number and was told many times that I was supposed to receive this shipping label of which I have never received.

This played itself out over the next two months. I would email them, saying I haven't received a shipping label yet and they would give me the same apology and say they would forward this to their manager for the manager to send me a shipping label.

At first I thought it was my email just not receiving/kicking back these phantom label attachments. However, we tried my Yahoo email and then my Gmail email and supposedly neither email is receiving these phantom emails. Even though their regular emails were working just fine and I had nothing in my spam boxes on either email systems. Searches within my emails brings nothing up.

So, I figured out that they must be just saying they're sending out these phantom labels to appease me in the hopes that I'll just go away because NOW they haven't even bothered responding to some of my emails.

As it sits it's about two months later and I must have sent over a dozen emails just simply asking politely for a shipping label.

I was also told that I couldn't return something I bought online in their stores. This was one of the main reasons I even bought from their web site because I assumed (like an idiot?) that I could return something in their store which I bought on their web site.

I even asked for them to make an exception for me to go into their store and do it because it has been two months. They never responded to my email.

Well, I wish I had gone into the store. And I hope my experience will help you guys know who to not buy from. Get off your lazy butts and go to their store because their web site customer service leaves much to be desired for.

My new plan is to show up at the store and try to force them to take it back in-store.

Frys is fun to walk through and look, but never have bought computer stuff unless its just something simple like a cable, etc.
I remember wayyyy back when they opened, walking through and seeing boxes of motherboards, video cards, etc all bound with straps. They re-packaged their own stuff, it was then that I said hell no to buying anything substantial there.

EDIT: I wish there was a microcenter near me though...... Droooool

 

[CleanSlate]

Frys is fun to walk through and look, but never have bought computer stuff unless its just something simple like a cable, etc.
I remember wayyyy back when they opened, walking through and seeing boxes of motherboards, video cards, etc all bound with straps. They re-packaged their own stuff, it was then that I said hell no to buying anything substantial there.

EDIT: I wish there was a microcenter near me though...... Droooool

I have had many good experiences with Frys in the regular store here in the DFW area, specifically Arlington.

You have the choice of buying repackaged or brand new. I just choose brand new. Their cpu/mobo warranties are great and the warranties are taken care of in-store which is awesome.

Edit: And some times their prices are so good they beat online prices. I've bought whole systems in parts directly from Fry's stores and hardly ever had a problem.

 

[Hagrid]

I have had many good experiences with Frys in the regular store here in the DFW area, specifically Arlington.

You have the choice of buying repackaged or brand new. I just choose brand new. Their cpu/mobo warranties are great and the warranties are taken care of in-store which is awesome.

Edit: And some times their prices are so good they beat online prices. I've bought whole systems in parts directly from Fry's stores and hardly ever had a problem.

The one by me has a crappy selection, not much stocked on the shelves, crappy brands, and ....really no selection(twice cause its really bad)

I think online retailers have really hurt it.

 

[CleanSlate]

The one by me has a crappy selection, not much stocked on the shelves, crappy brands, and ....really no selection(twice cause its really bad)

I think online retailers have really hurt it.

Are we talking small town, low sales type business? Because that's what usually happens in that scenario. They can't keep everything in-store in smaller towns/low volume stores. :/

 

[terrybogard21]

Frys is fun to walk through and look, but never have bought computer stuff unless its just something simple like a cable, etc.
I remember wayyyy back when they opened, walking through and seeing boxes of motherboards, video cards, etc all bound with straps. They re-packaged their own stuff, it was then that I said hell no to buying anything substantial there.

EDIT: I wish there was a microcenter near me though...... Droooool

Every Fry's Electronics is different. The one that is 30 minutes from my house has been nothing, but great. They take back every return I have done, helped me with Rebates - recent one currently is MSI's. Not only that, they honor and price-match every item I buy. I took $30 from them alone on my PE 670GTX. The clerk gave me an 8GB corsair kit for $20, since he pricematch the wrong kit, I wasn't going to argue with that.

OP, did you get names & ID#'s if possible? I would also suggest the store, so that maybe management can assist at least. Most businesses nowadays with online/retail store departments are usually separate altogether.

 

[Hagrid]

Are we talking small town, low sales type business? Because that's what usually happens in that scenario. They can't keep everything in-store in smaller towns/low volume stores. :/

Its in Tempe(Phoenix metro area) so mass city, its just doesnt have much selection. I went there with a friend last week and they had maybe about 10 motherboards total.
They also carry too many off brand stuff for me. I dont mind waiting a few days for shipping.

 

[fightingfi]

Ive shopped frys electronics since day 1 pretty much here in Houston and have never really had any trouble returning or exchanging anything ever. Then again i do spend thousands when i do go in LULZ money talks?

 

[Klrgoten]

I've had relatively good deals with Frys over the years but that has all been in store, never online

 

[mrtheshaggy]

I hate Frys so much. Their pricematch policy is bullshit. Their customer support is crap. I have had some experiences with them that would make you cringe.

I strongly recommend you avoid.

 

[DrDoU]

I have had many good experiences with Frys in the regular store here in the DFW area, specifically Arlington.

You have the choice of buying repackaged or brand new. I just choose brand new. Their cpu/mobo warranties are great and the warranties are taken care of in-store which is awesome.

Edit: And some times their prices are so good they beat online prices. I've bought whole systems in parts directly from Fry's stores and hardly ever had a problem.

I have delted with the Fry's in Arlington before and have gotten good service with return products and exchanges

 

[Klrgoten]

I hate Frys so much. Their pricematch policy is bullshit. Their customer support is crap. I have had some experiences with them that would make you cringe.

I strongly recommend you avoid.

I love their pricematch... I just picked up a Corsair Vengence 2000 headset for $40 off store price due to pricematch... /+1

 

[mrtheshaggy]

When I say their pricematch policy is bullshit I mean they always give me an excuse not to price match despite it being within their policy.

The worst is when I went to pick up a new car stereo. I found one I liked. Showed them it cheaper at best buy to price match and they guy was like ok. Then a manager came and told they don't have any and to pick something else out. So I pointed to a whole bunch behind the glass and said I found them. They said they won't sell me one because they are saving them for black friday and forgot to pull them. I was look cool story bro, but there they are, sell me one. Flat out refused. I then drove to best buy and it wasn't even behind glass, just picked it up and checked out. So in my experience Best Buy is better than Fry's. Simply allowing Best Buy to one up you shows a horrible issue.

Fry's can seriously go fuck themselves.

 

[CleanSlate]

They said they won't sell me one because they are saving them for black friday and forgot to pull them.

This is something all retailers do.

They stock a lot of extra stuff for only black Friday.

Edit: And yea even the managers would get in big trouble for selling one ahead of time. I should know, I was a sales manager at a major retailer.

 

[xZee]

I have never set foot in a fry's, I prefer smaller companies in local areas.

 

[dremic]

I have never set foot in a fry's, I prefer smaller companies in local areas.

not everybody has that luxury. frys is the only retail store in my area that has a decent selection and i live in a city.

 

[Hagrid]

not everybody has that luxury. frys is the only retail store in my area that has a decent selection and i live in a city.

Newegg or Amazon has an even bigger selection.
I use stores for small parts if they are close.(Now if I had a Microcenter near me that would be different!)

 

[GotNoRice]

I went there with a friend to help buy her an HDTV. I was able to find one that had the features she needed for a decent price. The salesmen were unbelievable though... I would say that I wanted to buy this TV and they would do everything they could to have me buy a more expensive TV instead. They even argued with me about what each feature meant, and it's relative importance. When it was obvious that I wasn't going to bite they tried to go around me and talk to my friend directly like I didn't know what I was talking about. I asked for the manager, to which one of the idiots replied that he was the manager... So finally I started getting angry and rather loudly asked if they would simply "just sell me this fucking TV", after which they finally did... Those guys still give me the evil eye every time I go into the store. I guess they don't like selling TVs.

Thankfully all of my computer related purchases have gone much better, including in-store returns.

 

[Saabjock]

I've been somewhat fortunate and had good experiences with Fry's here in Fremont. Last deal a week ago being a GTX670 for $316 + tx.
I think they saw the writing on the wall as far as pricematches go. They were really arrogant at one time, refusing to match online stores. It seems somebody got the message 'some profit is better than no money'.

 

[cl-scott]

Its in Tempe(Phoenix metro area) so mass city, its just doesnt have much selection. I went there with a friend last week and they had maybe about 10 motherboards total.
They also carry too many off brand stuff for me. I dont mind waiting a few days for shipping.

As someone mentioned, a lot of it depends on the store manager. From my almost 2 years with Fry's, some stores you can generally trust, others will try and pull every single stunt they can think of. The Arizona stores are among the worst. I once fixed a store stock unit, shipped it back to the store... A couple weeks later it comes back with absolutely no new notes. I get suspicious, open the thing up, find out that they had gutted the unit to fix a bunch of other systems, or a customer gutted it and they accepted it as a return. Either way they sent it back, so I got the buyer to sign off on crushing it because repairs would have cost more than it was worth, which means the store eats the cost of that unit plus a $40 fee for my time writing up a repair estimate. Hope it was worth it for them. There were two units like that, so the second one I didn't even open, just sent it straight back.

Fry's has this odd system where all the stores are in competition with one another, and so basically everyone there is trying to stab everyone else in the back before they get stabbed in the back. Certainly not the way I would have run things, but they didn't ask me for my opinion. At least not on that. I did have Jeff Staat, who reported directly to the Fry brothers, coming by to ask me questions from time to time, not to mention his three underlings. I was handling several other things way above my pay grade for Tom Gaffney as well, but I digress.

Some stores are generally pretty good, and then there are plenty of other stores where I knew I had to give the unit a much more detailed going over. In general, it seems like the stores in the south that were the worst. So sorry for people who live in AZ, TX, and GA. CA stores are generally pretty good, especially those in the Bay Area, the WA store was apparently under new management when I left and my former supervisor more or less refused to talk to someone there, and for people in the Chicago area, had very few issues with that store either.

 

[Bone_Enterprise]

I went there with a friend to help buy her an HDTV. I was able to find one that had the features she needed for a decent price. The salesmen were unbelievable though... I would say that I wanted to buy this TV and they would do everything they could to have me buy a more expensive TV instead. They even argued with me about what each feature meant, and it's relative importance. When it was obvious that I wasn't going to bite they tried to go around me and talk to my friend directly like I didn't know what I was talking about. I asked for the manager, to which one of the idiots replied that he was the manager... So finally I started getting angry and rather loudly asked if they would simply "just sell me this fucking TV", after which they finally did... Those guys still give me the evil eye every time I go into the store. I guess they don't like selling TVs.

Thankfully all of my computer related purchases have gone much better, including in-store returns.

Did you at least buy the Monster Cables, Monster Power Conditioner, Monster, Monster, Monster?

 

[FaRKle0079]

I've been somewhat fortunate and had good experiences with Fry's here in Fremont. Last deal a week ago being a GTX670 for $316 + tx.
I think they saw the writing on the wall as far as pricematches go. They were really arrogant at one time, refusing to match online stores. It seems somebody got the message 'some profit is better than no money'.

Can't say I've been as fortunate as you with the Fremont store. Even though I'm just down the road from them I gladly made the trip to Mission College for Microcenter instead.

 

[x509]

Some stores are generally pretty good, and then there are plenty of other stores where I knew I had to give the unit a much more detailed going over. In general, it seems like the stores in the south that were the worst. So sorry for people who live in AZ, TX, and GA. CA stores are generally pretty good, especially those in the Bay Area, the WA store was apparently under new management when I left and my former supervisor more or less refused to talk to someone there, and for people in the Chicago area, had very few issues with that store either.

If you think that the stores in CA are "pretty good," then I hate to think about just how bad they are elsewhere.

I am/was a Frys customer from the time around 1985 when they opened their original store in Sunnyvale on Oakmead Parkway. Once upon a time, they were a good store. But these days I go their only for things like blank CDs or cables or "I need this right away!" Even with shipping, NewEgg's prices are competitive with Frys AND the customer service difference is like bright sunlight vs. a moonless night.

And at NewEgg (or Amazon) I get real value by reading the customer reviews, vs. the clueless, underpaid "help" at Frys. I know from someone who worked their briefly that they treat their employees like crap.

There is even a website somewhere devoted to just how lousy Frys has become these days.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

I've had a decent experience with the ones in north Texas- and prices and selection can be good, but I'll take a MicroCenter any day.