10 Jun
2003
10 Jun
'03
3:37 a.m.
I must address...
Some item by item below, but Fry's is no different than any store
in NYC I've dealt with. It's just that californians, because
of the weather, are soft and weak and don't like their mellows
to be harshed.
J&R music was across the st. from my office, once upon a. In
January, one of our programmers broke a leg or something. Work
from home, he needed a modem (pre-DSL or even common
ISPs). I got
petty cash (4 $50 bills) and walked over with my morning coffee.
"Sir! you can't bring that in here."
Ok, so I checked my coffee and got a ticket. The counter girl
sort of laughed and rolled her eyes.
Went to the Mac area. All the sales guys were clustered,talking
about their weekends. I waited. Some. Then I fanned out the
$50's over my head and shouted,
"Hey, I need to spend this money; anyone want to help?"
I took the *second* guy who came over.
Then I dealt with the game of "pay at the counter and wait
10 minutes for the item to come up from the bowels."
Instead, I gave them money and left (checking out my coffee
to the bemusement of the new guy there) and got it before lunch.
"where were you sir? this has been waiting."
"I had better things to do that stand around for a handsized
device you could have on the shelf."
We can chat about 47th St Photo and that the only time I saw
good customer service not in the model of "mock the customer
but he'll come to you because you're the cheapest" was when
they were in Chap 11. Bought a Nikon from a Woman(!) who
was Iraqi and (most imp), was a professional photographer.
We had fun going through cameras and I ended up going to
an exhibit she had going. Quite the change from "You stupid
american, here is the camera you should buy" that I got from
the Israeli who usually ran the counter.
I enjoy Fry's for some of that. But yes, it is the 7th circle.
Quoting Erik S. Klein (classiccmp(a)vintage-computer.com):
Why do you
suggest that Fry's is "effectively stealing from the general
public."
Fry's has several "policies" in place (or used to, I haven't been in
that crap-hole for years) that fall under that category.
They have shrink-wrap machines at every location and often re-wrap
returns to re-sell as new - even those reported as defective by the
customer returning them! (Hearsay from an ex-employee followed up by
observing stacks of items that, to me anyway, were obviously re-wrapped) They deliberately make returns difficult so that
people who buy recycled
junk often won't bother to try getting their money back.
...
Well, they understaff for weekends. Find me a store that's not
understaffed. Return on a tuesday at 4PM and you stroll through.
You also get people who haven't been yelled at all day.
I remember purchasing RAM for an old P-III there once.
The first SIMMS
...
I asked if I could do an exchange and test the
replacements before
I left and was told that store policy prohibited that. . . !!!
I consider those things to be theft.
I consider those to be poor management and bad customer service.
Those "in the know" know to look for the restock tag (a big white
sticker). Somethings have several. After returning a DOA power
supply (with 3! stickers), I insisted that it not be restocked
and the mgr concurred enthusiastically. It went into a DOA bin.
I'm believing it stayed there. (ironically an Antec PS - company
based not 5 miles from them (and Antec is the only PC PS I'll buy)).
The fact that I haven't met a Fry's employee
who wasn't a drooling idiot
(my friend was obviously too bright for the place! :) and the fact that
the store always seemed to be out of the single thing you came in for
always bothered me as well.
Actually, esp of late, I found some good geeks there. I pulled out
my Zaurus to look up a note and a sales guy jumped over to see and
asked me smart questions (do you have ssh for it, how's it with
blue tooth, etc). I was looking for a 64MB thumbdrive that was
$5 after rebate (I *hate* rebates). We couldn't find any. He
went behind the cashier counter and found me one where someone
had perhaps picked up more than the per-person limit and the
cashiers put extra stuff in the restock carts.
But keep in mind the talent you get for sales floor at $7 +
commissions on certain items. That's every where.
One fun thing to try, by the way: When the Fry's
bonehead at the guarded
exit tries to search your bag, just walk on by. As it turns out they
can't legally search your property (which the bag is the moment you pay
for it) unless they have some reasonable belief that you are stealing.
If they don't have this and detain you it is the equivalent of false
arrest.
The California Commercial Code declares that you own it when you
give them money. CompUseLessA, Home Depot, Staples, Blood Bath & Beyond
all have the door guards... Your locally owned merchants often
disguise them as nice folks standing there to say "thanks" and
"come again." I don't open my bag.
We all miss Canal St in NY (finding 1pF capacitors and cheap
'scopes and RAM for my Apple ][ in '88 made me happy).
We all miss when the US was competitive in manufacturing, design
and even when calls to customer services went to US workers.
But face it, we get jobs designing software and we get to work
at counters (want Fry's with that?). This is the future. At
*least* they are locally owned (bay area).
So keep shopping at merchants whose offices are 4000 miles from
your local economy. Enjoy your Home Depot with knockoff quality
items from Milwaukee and Hunter, made especially for HD to meet
their low price needs. Go to Starbucks and make sure your money
doesn't stay with someone nearby who might do business with you.
Save your coupons for frozen vegetables - those farmers markets
are so inconvenient.
< 40% of Walmart employees have benefits (the largest employer in the US)
Next time you call in a mail order, ask if they have benefits.
Starbucks charges your $4 for a drink whose ingredients cost $0.10.
Coke costs less than $0.07/can to make.
You want service? Spend that 20% more for your item at the
guy down the street. It may be too late, the spiral means
that my local Mac store has been whacked by an Apple Corp. store.
(where I sent them running around looking for a CP/M card for
my "Apple 2" - the local store guy didn't fall for it).
Welcome to the new economy. Fry's with that?