🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3756b7e4.13405616@news>, shootmeanote@hotmail.com.nospam wrote:
>There have been reports that at some CompUSA stores, shrinkwrapping
>returned merchandise and putting them back on the shelves is the norm.
>There's always a possibility that some jerk returned the package with
>an old drive substituted on purpose.  The customer return staff
>doesn't take but a quick look inside of the box most of the time,
>without really verifying what the exact contents are.  Fry's
>Electronics does it all the time, but they usually put a sticker on
>the reshrinkwrapped merchandise stating that it had previously been
>returned by a customer.  At least Fry's provides some sort of warning.

I don't think I look more or less trustworthy than the next guy, but I cannot 
recall the last time I returned something and saw the clerk open the package 
and verify the contents of the box.  I don't mean just open the box, I mean 
take out the contents and actually identify the product by model number. You 
can't do that for, say, an I/O card unless you actually take the card out of 
the wrapper and check the markings, but I have never seen this level of 
inspection.

It has occurred to me how easy it would be for a thief to substitute something 
else and not have it detected on the return.  It's one reason that I won't buy 
an opened box item (from Fry's or anywhere else) unless I can personally 
inspect all the contents before I purchase it (or decide that it's cheap 
enough to waste my money on).  If the item is shrink-wrapped, I try to figure 
out whether it could have been re-wrapped by the store by examining the fit & 
finish of the wrapping.  If it's different from all the other wrapped 
packages, I'll choose another box just to be safe.

Am I the only one who is surprised that stores don't inspect returns more 
thoroughly?

--
email: mikew 99 @ my-dejanews.com
phone: 650 857-6939
WWW: www.bigfoot.com/~mikew99

Michael Williams <mikew99@my-dejanews.com> wrote in message
news:7j73fs$8cm$4@ocean.cup.hp.com...
> Am I the only one who is surprised that stores don't inspect returns more
> thoroughly?

Yes.  If you knew some individuals I know, you'd know about something called
"fair share."  That's a scam where a crooked person will buy an article,
substitute something else for it, and return it.  Then, he or she can sell
or otherwise barter what they've ripped off.

Some underpaid stock clerk in the store may return it to a rack and, voila!
Somebody gets burned.

I personally know of a person who would do that sort of thing with audio
CD's, even going to the trouble of carefully breaking the seal in a way that
would not betray what was done.  Incidentally, one person I know got busted
by Mervy's or Macy's and had to pay a significant fine amounting to several
thousand dollars + jail time.

Charlie

In article <37569810.7A767D11@inter.net.il>,
  Dan Aloni <danaloni@inter.net.il> wrote:
>
> --------------64276D639D02E8FF6E1BB6E0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> Hello everyone.
>
> 2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me.
>
> In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the store
and
> bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the second
> floor.
>
> When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard drive
in
> the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I
realized
> what has been done to me.
>
> Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do nothing
> about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the world.
> The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything.
> Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.
>
> Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il
>
> --------------64276D639D02E8FF6E1BB6E0
> Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
This is called fraud and is against the law in the US. There must be
something you can do about it. I don't know who can give you the best
advice on this. Hopefully you have notified CompUSA. If they refused to
do anything, you should talk to someone higher up and probably also call
the better business bureau. Is there an American Embassy where you live?
Maybe they can direct you to the correct agencies to help investigate
this fraudulent practice. Please don't take this sitting down. $400 is
quite a bit of money and they have committed a criminal offense. I am
not a lawyer and have not had to deal with such an issue myself but I
know there must be a solution that would give you recompense.

I hope someone who knows specifically how you can successfully deal with
this will post to you and give you guidance.

I never thought CompUSA was a particularly good company, but I didn't
know they would stoop to this.

And if the drive was a supposed "return" in which a customer bought one
product and then put the lesser product in the box and returned it, I
still think it falls on CompUSA to make sure the correct product and
parts are in the box before they put it on the shelf again.

I wish you very much good luck in this matter and am sorry for your bad
experience here in the US.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;-)
Moss
MossAgate gathers no rolling stones


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

In article <37569810.7A767D11@inter.net.il>,
  Dan Aloni <danaloni@inter.net.il> wrote:
>
> --------------64276D639D02E8FF6E1BB6E0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> Hello everyone.
>
> 2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me.
>
> In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the store
and
> bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the second
> floor.
>
> When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard drive
in
> the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I
realized
> what has been done to me.
>
> Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do nothing
> about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the world.
> The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything.
> Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.
>
> Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il
>


I have seen this alot. What happens is a customer comes in and purchases
a new drive. thay take it home, put the new drive in their machine, then
take the old one out and put it in the box. then they tell the store
their computer could not handle the drive and get a refund.

Here is where Compusa is at fault. they are supposed to open the box and
verify the contents on return, but at least before they re-wrap it and
put it on the floor. This store didn't. call the store and tell them
what happened, and they will probably arrange a replacement. call
Western Digital and let them know what happened. they might help you
pressure the store. WD is usually good about satisfying the customer.


>
> --------------64276D639D02E8FF6E1BB6E0--
>
>

--
---             ---               ---
error: default.sig not found, please replace user
and hit any key.


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[POSTED TO comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage]
Dan Aloni <danaloni@inter.net.il> wrote:

>Hello everyone.
>
>2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me.
>
>In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the store and
>bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the second
>floor.
>
>When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard drive in
>the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I realized
>what has been done to me.
>
>Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do nothing
>about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the world.
>The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything.
>Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.
>
>Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il


What probably happened is that some customer ripped off the CompUSA store by
buying a new drive, and then returning an old drive.  CompUSA is of course
at fault for (1) not checking the return and (2) selling unchecked return
merchandize.  But this is probably a result of negligence rather than fraud
(theft).  If you contact CompUSA by email or fax I think you have a
reasonable chance of getting some restitution -- it's a reputable company.

-- 
Best regards,
John  mailto:jnavas@aimnet.com  http://www.aimnet.com/~jnavas/

Dan Aloni wrote:

> Hello everyone.
>
> 2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me.
>
> In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the store and
> bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the second
> floor.
>
> When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard drive in
> the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I realized
> what has been done to me.
>
> Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do nothing
> about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the world.
> The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything.
> Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.

  Odds are, somebody bought the new drive, put an old drive in the box,
and then returned it. Whoever checks returns probably didn't double-check
the drive properly. With fraud so commonplace, it's a good idea to really
check the box closely for broken or unoriginal seals. If you are
suspicious, see if they will let you open it up with an employee watching.
You may have to actually pay for it first, but if something is wrong, it
can be corrected immediately, and with no suspicion on you.

  I once bought the original Diamond Voodoo card from Best Buy. Inside was
some I/O card. I had a hell of a time convincing them to let me exchange
it. That box was simply shrink wrapped. A 'good' box was shrink wrapped
with Diamonds logo on the shrinkwrap.

--
If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying!
All junk mail senders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law!!
http://www.ntsource.com/~andyross

Gerry <shootmeanote@hotmail.com.nospam> wrote in message
news:3756b7e4.13405616@news...
> On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 15:19:49 GMT, zzz@b.com (zzz) wrote:
>
> >If you bought a brand new hard drive, it should have come in a package
> >that was factory sealed. If it was factory sealed, then the problem
> >probably originated at the manufacturer and not at COMP USA. If it was
> >not factory sealed, then I think you were very foolish to leave the
> >store without inspecting the contents of the package.
>
> There have been reports that at some CompUSA stores, shrinkwrapping
> returned merchandise and putting them back on the shelves is the norm.


I heard of people who shrink wrap boxes at home and return them back to the
store. Who knows what is placed in those re-sealed boxes...

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Write a letter to CompUSA explaining what happened. If necessary, go to =
the American embassy in your country.
  Dan Aloni <danaloni@inter.net.il> wrote in message =
news:37569810.7A767D11@inter.net.il...
  Hello everyone.=20
  2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me.=20

  In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the store =
and bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the second =
floor.=20

  When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard drive =
in the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I =
realized what has been done to me.=20

  Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do nothing =
about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the world. =
The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything. =
Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.=20

  Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il=20


------=_NextPart_000_0016_01BEADCD.B0B140E0
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	charset="iso-8859-1"
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2014.210" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Write a letter to CompUSA explaining what happened. =
If=20
necessary, go to the American embassy in your country.</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE=20
style=3D"BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: =
0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
  <DIV>Dan Aloni &lt;<A=20
  href=3D"mailto:danaloni@inter.net.il">danaloni@inter.net.il</A>&gt; =
wrote in=20
  message <A=20
  =
href=3D"news:37569810.7A767D11@inter.net.il">news:37569810.7A767D11@inter=
.net.il</A>...</DIV>Hello=20
  everyone.=20
  <P>2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me. =

  <P>In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the =
store and=20
  bought a brand new <B>Westren Digital 20.4GB</B> hard drive, at the =
second=20
  floor.=20
  <P>When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard =
drive in the=20
  box, was an old <B>270MB Quantum</B>!!! My face turned red when I =
realized=20
  what has been done to me.=20
  <P>Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do =
nothing=20
  about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the world. =
The only=20
  thing I can do, is to warn you <B>not to buy there anything</B>. =
Please don't=20
  repeat the same mistake I did.=20
  <P>Dan Aloni,&nbsp; danaloni@inter.net.il =
</P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0016_01BEADCD.B0B140E0--

So what (apart from morals) is there to stop anyone buying a drive and
within 10 mins swapping it for a drive wized bit of junk and then demanding
a new drive...?

Seems crazy....mmm always wanted two drives for the price of one...?

Rich

In article <45B53.1916$0c5.1397@nntp0.chicago.il.ameritech.net>,
  "Robby K." <robkem@mailbag.net> wrote:
>
> Gerry <shootmeanote@hotmail.com.nospam> wrote in message
> news:3756b7e4.13405616@news...
> > On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 15:19:49 GMT, zzz@b.com (zzz) wrote:
> >
> > >If you bought a brand new hard drive, it should have come in a
package
> > >that was factory sealed. If it was factory sealed, then the problem
> > >probably originated at the manufacturer and not at COMP USA. If it
was
> > >not factory sealed, then I think you were very foolish to leave the
> > >store without inspecting the contents of the package.
> >
> > There have been reports that at some CompUSA stores, shrinkwrapping
> > returned merchandise and putting them back on the shelves is the
norm.
>
> I heard of people who shrink wrap boxes at home and return them back
to the
> store. Who knows what is placed in those re-sealed boxes...
>
>
Any store that shrink wraps returns should be obligated to check the
mechandise before putting  it on the shelf.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;-)
Moss
MossAgate gathers no rolling stones


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

This post sounds like that of someone who is short CompUSA stock.
Notice how this event supposedly happened two months ago, and yet he 
waited until today(when CompUSA stock is higher than its been in 2.5
months)to make this statement public. 

Dan Aloni wrote:
> 
> Hello everyone.
> 
> 2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me.
> 
> In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the store
> and bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the
> second floor.
> 
> When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard drive
> in the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I
> realized what has been done to me.
> 
> Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do nothing
> about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the world.
> The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything.
> Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.
> 
> Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

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First, you mention nothing about using the telephone to talk to CompUsa. =
 Call them and try to work something out.

One good thing about Maxtor hard drives is that when you open a new =
sealed box, it tears right across the middle of the box ruining it from =
being used for any resold product.


  Dan Aloni <danaloni@inter.net.il> wrote in message =
news:37569810.7A767D11@inter.net.il...
  Hello everyone.=20
  2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me.=20

  In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the store =
and bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the second =
floor.=20

  When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard drive =
in the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I =
realized what has been done to me.=20

  Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do nothing =
about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the world. =
The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything. =
Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.=20

  Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il=20


------=_NextPart_000_0091_01BEAEB2.CF131AA0
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	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2614.3401" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#d8d0c8>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>First, you mention nothing about using the telephone =
to talk=20
to CompUsa.&nbsp; Call them and try to work something out.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>One good thing about Maxtor hard drives is that when =
you open=20
a new sealed box, it tears right across the middle of the box ruining it =
from=20
being used for any resold product.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE=20
style=3D"BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: =
0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
  <DIV>Dan Aloni &lt;<A=20
  href=3D"mailto:danaloni@inter.net.il">danaloni@inter.net.il</A>&gt; =
wrote in=20
  message <A=20
  =
href=3D"news:37569810.7A767D11@inter.net.il">news:37569810.7A767D11@inter=
.net.il</A>...</DIV>Hello=20
  everyone.=20
  <P>2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me. =

  <P>In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the =
store and=20
  bought a brand new <B>Westren Digital 20.4GB</B> hard drive, at the =
second=20
  floor.=20
  <P>When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard =
drive in the=20
  box, was an old <B>270MB Quantum</B>!!! My face turned red when I =
realized=20
  what has been done to me.=20
  <P>Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do =
nothing=20
  about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the world. =
The only=20
  thing I can do, is to warn you <B>not to buy there anything</B>. =
Please don't=20
  repeat the same mistake I did.=20
  <P>Dan Aloni,&nbsp; danaloni@inter.net.il =
</P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0091_01BEAEB2.CF131AA0--

When EggHead was still in the retail store business, they would
re-shrink-wrap returned software and place it back on the shelves until it
burned them. The people returning the software had viruses and infected the
returned disks. There were big warning signs an apologies at my local store
at that time....


zzz wrote in message <3758ce81.18489929@news.erols.com>...
>Good point. I think you probably nailed down what happened in this
>case. I have heard of that happening, but I didn't think of it.
>
>There must be a huge amount of used, returned merchandise that is sold
>as new in this business. If COMP USA can do it, imagine what the small
>retail and mail order vendors get away with! It's one thing to get a
>completely different product than the one you paid for, but it is
>quite another to get a used product that is sold as new rather than
>"refurbished." But it undoubtedly happens regularly in the computer
>industry.
>
>
>

On Thu, 3 Jun 1999 21:32:14 -0700, "Charlie Channel"
<cchannel@earthlink.net> wrote:
 > 
    [snip]
 > 
 > Yes.  If you knew some individuals I know, you'd know about something
 > called
 > "fair share."  That's a scam where a crooked person will buy an article,
 > substitute something else for it, and return it.  Then, he or she can
    [snip]

 > I personally know of a person who would do that sort of thing with audio
 > CD's, even going to the trouble of carefully breaking the seal in a way
    [snip]

Some real nice people you hang around with... <~>

-- Jay T. Blocksom
   Appropriate Technology, Inc.
   ----------------------------
   approtek[at]rcn.com
   76657.3375[at]CompuServe.COM

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NOTE: E-Mail address in "From:" line is INVALID!  Use address in signature.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Unsolicited advertising sent to this E-Mail address is expressly prohibited 
under USC Title 47, Section 227.  Violators are subject to charge of up to 
$1,500 per incident or treble actual costs, whichever is greater.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This original post is not worth the effort that people give it. Any
reasonable person would have made this known to the public a lot sooner that
two months later, would have been to the BBB, to a newspaper, to a lawyer.
  Notice how much effort the person made to get CompUSA to realize the
mistake. None from what I've read.

Jan Alter
bearpuf@netreach.net

Jan Alter <bearpuf@netreach.net> wrote in message news:7jdm4i$s3i$1@tikehau.netreach.net...
> This original post is not worth the effort that people give it. Any
> reasonable person would have made this known to the public a lot sooner that
> two months later, would have been to the BBB, to a newspaper, to a lawyer.
>   Notice how much effort the person made to get CompUSA to realize the
> mistake. None from what I've read.
> 
> Jan Alter
> bearpuf@netreach.net


And was YOUR effort to provide to the common good worthy in any way? I think not.

more than likely what happened is that some idiot in their returns took
back that 270 meg drive and they repackaged it...

i heard of a group of kids (and adults) who would purchase 8-10 gb
drives and replace them with similiar looking 500 meg ones and then
return them...   Best Buy now askes for a drivers license and has one
of the techs check the model numbers on the box to the hard drive
itselcf..  i found this out after returning a 4.5gb drive a year or so
ago when i realized i did not need it...

or...  it could also be the manf of the drive or ANYONE down the
distrubution channel doing it...



r


In article <7j68kr$io7$1@nnrp1.deja.com>,
  Moss Agate <mossagate@my-deja.com> wrote:
> In article <37569810.7A767D11@inter.net.il>,
>   Dan Aloni <danaloni@inter.net.il> wrote:
> >
> > --------------64276D639D02E8FF6E1BB6E0
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> >
> > Hello everyone.
> >
> > 2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me.
> >
> > In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the store
> and
> > bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the second
> > floor.
> >
> > When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard drive
> in
> > the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I
> realized
> > what has been done to me.
> >
> > Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do
nothing
> > about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the
world.
> > The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything.
> > Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.
> >
> > Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il
> >
> > --------------64276D639D02E8FF6E1BB6E0
> > Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
> > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> >
> This is called fraud and is against the law in the US. There must be
> something you can do about it. I don't know who can give you the best
> advice on this. Hopefully you have notified CompUSA. If they refused
to
> do anything, you should talk to someone higher up and probably also
call
> the better business bureau. Is there an American Embassy where you
live?
> Maybe they can direct you to the correct agencies to help investigate
> this fraudulent practice. Please don't take this sitting down. $400 is
> quite a bit of money and they have committed a criminal offense. I am
> not a lawyer and have not had to deal with such an issue myself but I
> know there must be a solution that would give you recompense.
>
> I hope someone who knows specifically how you can successfully deal
with
> this will post to you and give you guidance.
>
> I never thought CompUSA was a particularly good company, but I didn't
> know they would stoop to this.
>
> And if the drive was a supposed "return" in which a customer bought
one
> product and then put the lesser product in the box and returned it, I
> still think it falls on CompUSA to make sure the correct product and
> parts are in the box before they put it on the shelf again.
>
> I wish you very much good luck in this matter and am sorry for your
bad
> experience here in the US.
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;-)
> Moss
> MossAgate gathers no rolling stones
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
>


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

In article <7jgnnt$q15$1@nnrp1.deja.com>,
  mallyman@net-endeavors.com wrote:
> more than likely what happened is that some idiot in their returns
took
> back that 270 meg drive and they repackaged it...
>
> i heard of a group of kids (and adults) who would purchase 8-10 gb
> drives and replace them with similiar looking 500 meg ones and then
> return them...   Best Buy now askes for a drivers license and has one
> of the techs check the model numbers on the box to the hard drive
> itselcf..  i found this out after returning a 4.5gb drive a year or so
> ago when i realized i did not need it...
>
> or...  it could also be the manf of the drive or ANYONE down the
> distrubution channel doing it...
>
> r
>
> In article <7j68kr$io7$1@nnrp1.deja.com>,
>   Moss Agate <mossagate@my-deja.com> wrote:
> > In article <37569810.7A767D11@inter.net.il>,
> >   Dan Aloni <danaloni@inter.net.il> wrote:
> > >
> > > --------------64276D639D02E8FF6E1BB6E0
> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> > > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> > >
> > > Hello everyone.
> > >
> > > 2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from
me.
> > >
> > > In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the
store
> > and
> > > bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the
second
> > > floor.
> > >
> > > When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard
drive
> > in
> > > the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I
> > realized
> > > what has been done to me.
> > >
> > > Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do
> nothing
> > > about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the
> world.
> > > The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything.
> > > Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.
> > >
> > > Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il
> > >
> > > --------------64276D639D02E8FF6E1BB6E0
> > > Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
> > > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> > >
> > This is called fraud and is against the law in the US. There must be
> > something you can do about it. I don't know who can give you the
best
> > advice on this. Hopefully you have notified CompUSA. If they refused
> to
> > do anything, you should talk to someone higher up and probably also
> call
> > the better business bureau. Is there an American Embassy where you
> live?
> > Maybe they can direct you to the correct agencies to help
investigate
> > this fraudulent practice. Please don't take this sitting down. $400
is
> > quite a bit of money and they have committed a criminal offense. I
am
> > not a lawyer and have not had to deal with such an issue myself but
I
> > know there must be a solution that would give you recompense.
> >
> > I hope someone who knows specifically how you can successfully deal
> with
> > this will post to you and give you guidance.
> >
> > I never thought CompUSA was a particularly good company, but I
didn't
> > know they would stoop to this.
> >
> > And if the drive was a supposed "return" in which a customer bought
> one
> > product and then put the lesser product in the box and returned it,
I
> > still think it falls on CompUSA to make sure the correct product and
> > parts are in the box before they put it on the shelf again.
> >
> > I wish you very much good luck in this matter and am sorry for your
> bad
> > experience here in the US.


this reminds me of the old Miniscribe scandal. Many moons ago when
Miniscribe existed, the CEO and CFO saw that they were going to go
under. So the ramped up production and sent out outrageous sales
projections. when the stock got high enough, they sold all theirs. BUT:
the cost of production was so hight, to last long enough, they ordered
that the drive boxes be sent packaged with a brick instead of a drive.
They went to jail, of course, but fraud like that gets 5 years or so in
low security (Club Fed)

hehe, I still have one of those packaged bricks. quite a collector's
item... but an expensive one. no refunds on a bankruptcy...


> > --
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;-)
> > Moss
> > MossAgate gathers no rolling stones
> >
> > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> > Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
> >
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
>

--
---             ---               ---
error: default.sig not found, please replace user
and hit any key.


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

"Dark Jedi", spamtrap@a-jediknight.webaxxs.net writes:

>this reminds me of the old Miniscribe scandal. Many moons ago when
>Miniscribe existed, the CEO and CFO saw that they were going to go
>under. So the ramped up production and sent out outrageous sales
>projections. when the stock got high enough, they sold all theirs. BUT:
>the cost of production was so hight, to last long enough, they ordered
>that the drive boxes be sent packaged with a brick instead of a drive.
>They went to jail, of course, but fraud like that gets 5 years or so in
>low security (Club Fed)
>
>hehe, I still have one of those packaged bricks. quite a collector's
>item... but an expensive one. no refunds on a bankruptcy...

As someone who used MiniScribe drives, I can say that the performance
specs of the brick are only slighlty worse than a real drive.

 -=E

In article <37569810.7A767D11@inter.net.il>,
  Dan Aloni <danaloni@inter.net.il> wrote:
>
> --------------64276D639D02E8FF6E1BB6E0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> Hello everyone.
>
> 2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me.
>
> In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the store
and
> bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the second
> floor.
>
> When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard drive
in
> the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I
realized
> what has been done to me.
>
> Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do nothing
> about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the world.
> The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything.
> Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.
>
> Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il

It now occurs to me that we have not gotten any replies and/or further
information from Dan Anoli and that he didn't intend to read any of our
posts. It's probably time to hang it up.

I probably overreacted in my original response, but then I've found the
local CompUSA here to have some pretty lame help, with "used car
salesmen" mentalities.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;-)
Moss
MossAgate gathers no rolling stones


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

[POSTED TO comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage]
Dark Jedi <spamtrap@a-jediknight.webaxxs.net> wrote:

>this reminds me of the old Miniscribe scandal. Many moons ago when
>Miniscribe existed, the CEO and CFO saw that they were going to go
>under. So the ramped up production and sent out outrageous sales
>projections. when the stock got high enough, they sold all theirs. BUT:
>the cost of production was so hight, to last long enough, they ordered
>that the drive boxes be sent packaged with a brick instead of a drive.
>They went to jail, of course, but fraud like that gets 5 years or so in
>low security (Club Fed)

Your basic idea is correct, but the facts are a bit off the mark.  The
bricks were used for "channel stuffing" to inflate reported sales under the
assumption that they would be returned unopened as overstock after the end
of the quarter.  And there was never any real evidence of stock fraud.

-- 
Best regards,
John  mailto:jnavas@aimnet.com  http://www.aimnet.com/~jnavas/

My suggestion to you would be, assuming you still have the reciept,
write a letter to CompUSA (they have a web site, I dont know whom
really you should address it to) and explain your situation very
politely to them and offer to ship the drive to them and ask them for
a solution as to how they would like to deal with the problem and how
you should proceed at this point.

What has happened to you is not common but its not unbelievable.

I am sure they will be reasonable about it.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes. Also, next time you buy a
drive, open it and check it out. I know you are far from a facility to
test the drive, but at least open it and look at it.

Good Luck!
Vic




On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 15:19:49 GMT, zzz@b.com (zzz) wrote:

>I work in NY City. I have been buying computer supplies and parts from
>the COMP USA on 5th Avenue in Manhattan NYC for at least 4 years. I
>have always gotten exactly what I paid for and never had any problems
>with them.
>
>If you bought a brand new hard drive, it should have come in a package
>that was factory sealed. If it was factory sealed, then the problem
>probably originated at the manufacturer and not at COMP USA. If it was
>not factory sealed, then I think you were very foolish to leave the
>store without inspecting the contents of the package.
>
>COMP USA is a large corporation that trades publicly in the capital
>markets. It would be ridiculous to assume that they have any interest
>in switching hard drives in the manner you suggest to save a few
>dollars at the expense of potentially disastrous negative publicity.
>At worst, this could happen as the rare act of a rogue employee: an
>isolated incident that is not likely to happen, but could happen to
>anyone at any store.
>
>
>On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 16:58:24 +0200, Dan Aloni <danaloni@inter.net.il>
>wrote:
>
>>Hello everyone.
>>
>>2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me.
>>
>>In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the store and
>>bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the second
>>floor.
>>
>>When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard drive in
>>the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I realized
>>what has been done to me.
>>
>>Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do nothing
>>about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the world.
>>The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything.
>>Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.
>>
>>Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il
>

Perhaps this has happened a few times in the past, however now with 
the 15% restocking fee in place, there are much fewer returns, and
returns are examined much more closely. Events like this will now
be EXTREMELY rare.

-Ed- wrote:
> 
> Same thing happened to me at CompUSA.  I bought an Obsidian x-24 last
> summer, drove 20+ miles home, opened the shrink wrapped box and inside
> was an old Diamond  VooDoo1 board.  I was fit to be tied.  My blood
> pressure was so high that the person at the exchange counter never
> even dared to try to make me feel like I might have been the theif.
> 
> -Ed-
> 
> On Wed, 09 Jun 1999 03:26:58 GMT, philb@alink.net (philb) wrote:
> 
> //  On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 17:45:32 GMT, shootmeanote@hotmail.com.nospam
> //  (Gerry) wrote:
> //
> //  >On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 15:19:49 GMT, zzz@b.com (zzz) wrote:
> //  >
> //  >>If you bought a brand new hard drive, it should have come in a package
> //  >>that was factory sealed. If it was factory sealed, then the problem
> //  >>probably originated at the manufacturer and not at COMP USA. If it was
> //  >>not factory sealed, then I think you were very foolish to leave the
> //  >>store without inspecting the contents of the package.
> //  >
> //  >There have been reports that at some CompUSA stores, shrinkwrapping
> //  >returned merchandise and putting them back on the shelves is the norm.
> //  >There's always a possibility that some jerk returned the package with
> //  >an old drive substituted on purpose.  The customer return staff
> //  >doesn't take but a quick look inside of the box most of the time,
> //  >without really verifying what the exact contents are.  Fry's
> //  >Electronics does it all the time, but they usually put a sticker on
> //  >the reshrinkwrapped merchandise stating that it had previously been
> //  >returned by a customer.  At least Fry's provides some sort of warning.
> //
> //  I got a switcheroo from Fry's once about 3 years ago, with NO warning
> //  sticker.  Instead of a high end Turtle Beach sound card, there was on
> //  old 8-bit LAN card in the box.  I had to go through heaven and earth
> //  with the Fry's "customer service" just to get a replacement.  Bah!
> //
> //  Phil
> //  >
> //  >-Gerry
> //  >
> //  >>>Hello everyone.
> //  >>>
> //  >>>2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me.
> //  >>>
> //  >>>In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the store and
> //  >>>bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the second
> //  >>>floor.
> //  >>>
> //  >>>When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard drive in
> //  >>>the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I realized
> //  >>>what has been done to me.
> //  >>>
> //  >>>Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do nothing
> //  >>>about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the world.
> //  >>>The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything.
> //  >>>Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.
> //  >>>
> //  >>>Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il
> //
> //  Phil Burton - Palo Alto,CA USA

I own some stock in CompUSA. I bought it recently at about $6 a share.
CPU is a great company, and should recover nicely. There are many 
rumors going around that CompUSA will be taken over soon(by Staples
or some other company).

Rob wrote:
> 
> do u work for compusa or something?
> 
> Jeffrey Karp <jeffkarp@erols.com> wrote in message
> news:376299A9.7EBCE330@erols.com...
> > Perhaps this has happened a few times in the past, however now with
> > the 15% restocking fee in place, there are much fewer returns, and
> > returns are examined much more closely. Events like this will now
> > be EXTREMELY rare.
> >
> > -Ed- wrote:
> > >
> > > Same thing happened to me at CompUSA.  I bought an Obsidian x-24 last
> > > summer, drove 20+ miles home, opened the shrink wrapped box and inside
> > > was an old Diamond  VooDoo1 board.  I was fit to be tied.  My blood
> > > pressure was so high that the person at the exchange counter never
> > > even dared to try to make me feel like I might have been the theif.
> > >
> > > -Ed-
> > >
> > > On Wed, 09 Jun 1999 03:26:58 GMT, philb@alink.net (philb) wrote:
> > >
> > > //  On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 17:45:32 GMT, shootmeanote@hotmail.com.nospam
> > > //  (Gerry) wrote:
> > > //
> > > //  >On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 15:19:49 GMT, zzz@b.com (zzz) wrote:
> > > //  >
> > > //  >>If you bought a brand new hard drive, it should have come in a
> package
> > > //  >>that was factory sealed. If it was factory sealed, then the
> problem
> > > //  >>probably originated at the manufacturer and not at COMP USA. If it
> was
> > > //  >>not factory sealed, then I think you were very foolish to leave
> the
> > > //  >>store without inspecting the contents of the package.
> > > //  >
> > > //  >There have been reports that at some CompUSA stores, shrinkwrapping
> > > //  >returned merchandise and putting them back on the shelves is the
> norm.
> > > //  >There's always a possibility that some jerk returned the package
> with
> > > //  >an old drive substituted on purpose.  The customer return staff
> > > //  >doesn't take but a quick look inside of the box most of the time,
> > > //  >without really verifying what the exact contents are.  Fry's
> > > //  >Electronics does it all the time, but they usually put a sticker on
> > > //  >the reshrinkwrapped merchandise stating that it had previously been
> > > //  >returned by a customer.  At least Fry's provides some sort of
> warning.
> > > //
> > > //  I got a switcheroo from Fry's once about 3 years ago, with NO
> warning
> > > //  sticker.  Instead of a high end Turtle Beach sound card, there was
> on
> > > //  old 8-bit LAN card in the box.  I had to go through heaven and earth
> > > //  with the Fry's "customer service" just to get a replacement.  Bah!
> > > //
> > > //  Phil
> > > //  >
> > > //  >-Gerry
> > > //  >
> > > //  >>>Hello everyone.
> > > //  >>>
> > > //  >>>2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from
> me.
> > > //  >>>
> > > //  >>>In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the
> store and
> > > //  >>>bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the
> second
> > > //  >>>floor.
> > > //  >>>
> > > //  >>>When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard
> drive in
> > > //  >>>the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I
> realized
> > > //  >>>what has been done to me.
> > > //  >>>
> > > //  >>>Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do
> nothing
> > > //  >>>about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the
> world.
> > > //  >>>The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there
> anything.
> > > //  >>>Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.
> > > //  >>>
> > > //  >>>Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il
> > > //
> > > //  Phil Burton - Palo Alto,CA USA

In article <3763291D.A64CE542@erols.com>,
  Jeffrey Karp <jeffkarp@erols.com> wrote:
> I own some stock in CompUSA. I bought it recently at about $6 a share.
> CPU is a great company, and should recover nicely. There are many
> rumors going around that CompUSA will be taken over soon(by Staples
> or some other company).
>
Of all the local stores here that stock computer supplies, CompUSA is
the worst. I can't stand the sales people there and getting help is
often impossible. There are nightmare stories about their upgrades (do
they even know enough to do upgrades - not from what I've seen)

Mainly they have more to choose from than Office Depot or Staples, but
if it is something I can get at Office Depot or Staples, that is where
I'll get it. I only buy at CompUSA if there is something I want I can't
get elsewhere. Now with the 15% restocking fee, I'll be less inclined.
I don't really like the store much, or the people they hire.

I would never buy a computer there.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;-)
Moss
MossAgate gathers no rolling stones


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

why dont you take it to a local comp usa outlet. or isnt there one near you?


-Ed- <not@home.now> wrote in message
news:37622971.93204931@24.128.188.255...
> Same thing happened to me at CompUSA.  I bought an Obsidian x-24 last
> summer, drove 20+ miles home, opened the shrink wrapped box and inside
> was an old Diamond  VooDoo1 board.  I was fit to be tied.  My blood
> pressure was so high that the person at the exchange counter never
> even dared to try to make me feel like I might have been the theif.
>
> -Ed-
>
>
> On Wed, 09 Jun 1999 03:26:58 GMT, philb@alink.net (philb) wrote:
>
> //  On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 17:45:32 GMT, shootmeanote@hotmail.com.nospam
> //  (Gerry) wrote:
> //
> //  >On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 15:19:49 GMT, zzz@b.com (zzz) wrote:
> //  >
> //  >>If you bought a brand new hard drive, it should have come in a
package
> //  >>that was factory sealed. If it was factory sealed, then the problem
> //  >>probably originated at the manufacturer and not at COMP USA. If it
was
> //  >>not factory sealed, then I think you were very foolish to leave the
> //  >>store without inspecting the contents of the package.
> //  >
> //  >There have been reports that at some CompUSA stores, shrinkwrapping
> //  >returned merchandise and putting them back on the shelves is the
norm.
> //  >There's always a possibility that some jerk returned the package with
> //  >an old drive substituted on purpose.  The customer return staff
> //  >doesn't take but a quick look inside of the box most of the time,
> //  >without really verifying what the exact contents are.  Fry's
> //  >Electronics does it all the time, but they usually put a sticker on
> //  >the reshrinkwrapped merchandise stating that it had previously been
> //  >returned by a customer.  At least Fry's provides some sort of
warning.
> //
> //  I got a switcheroo from Fry's once about 3 years ago, with NO warning
> //  sticker.  Instead of a high end Turtle Beach sound card, there was on
> //  old 8-bit LAN card in the box.  I had to go through heaven and earth
> //  with the Fry's "customer service" just to get a replacement.  Bah!
> //
> //  Phil
> //  >
> //  >-Gerry
> //  >
> //  >>>Hello everyone.
> //  >>>
> //  >>>2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from me.
> //  >>>
> //  >>>In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the
store and
> //  >>>bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the second
> //  >>>floor.
> //  >>>
> //  >>>When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard
drive in
> //  >>>the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I
realized
> //  >>>what has been done to me.
> //  >>>
> //  >>>Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do
nothing
> //  >>>about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the
world.
> //  >>>The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there anything.
> //  >>>Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.
> //  >>>
> //  >>>Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il
> //
> //  Phil Burton - Palo Alto,CA USA
>

do u work for compusa or something?

Jeffrey Karp <jeffkarp@erols.com> wrote in message
news:376299A9.7EBCE330@erols.com...
> Perhaps this has happened a few times in the past, however now with
> the 15% restocking fee in place, there are much fewer returns, and
> returns are examined much more closely. Events like this will now
> be EXTREMELY rare.
>
> -Ed- wrote:
> >
> > Same thing happened to me at CompUSA.  I bought an Obsidian x-24 last
> > summer, drove 20+ miles home, opened the shrink wrapped box and inside
> > was an old Diamond  VooDoo1 board.  I was fit to be tied.  My blood
> > pressure was so high that the person at the exchange counter never
> > even dared to try to make me feel like I might have been the theif.
> >
> > -Ed-
> >
> > On Wed, 09 Jun 1999 03:26:58 GMT, philb@alink.net (philb) wrote:
> >
> > //  On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 17:45:32 GMT, shootmeanote@hotmail.com.nospam
> > //  (Gerry) wrote:
> > //
> > //  >On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 15:19:49 GMT, zzz@b.com (zzz) wrote:
> > //  >
> > //  >>If you bought a brand new hard drive, it should have come in a
package
> > //  >>that was factory sealed. If it was factory sealed, then the
problem
> > //  >>probably originated at the manufacturer and not at COMP USA. If it
was
> > //  >>not factory sealed, then I think you were very foolish to leave
the
> > //  >>store without inspecting the contents of the package.
> > //  >
> > //  >There have been reports that at some CompUSA stores, shrinkwrapping
> > //  >returned merchandise and putting them back on the shelves is the
norm.
> > //  >There's always a possibility that some jerk returned the package
with
> > //  >an old drive substituted on purpose.  The customer return staff
> > //  >doesn't take but a quick look inside of the box most of the time,
> > //  >without really verifying what the exact contents are.  Fry's
> > //  >Electronics does it all the time, but they usually put a sticker on
> > //  >the reshrinkwrapped merchandise stating that it had previously been
> > //  >returned by a customer.  At least Fry's provides some sort of
warning.
> > //
> > //  I got a switcheroo from Fry's once about 3 years ago, with NO
warning
> > //  sticker.  Instead of a high end Turtle Beach sound card, there was
on
> > //  old 8-bit LAN card in the box.  I had to go through heaven and earth
> > //  with the Fry's "customer service" just to get a replacement.  Bah!
> > //
> > //  Phil
> > //  >
> > //  >-Gerry
> > //  >
> > //  >>>Hello everyone.
> > //  >>>
> > //  >>>2 month ago, the CompUSA store at Broadway NYC, stole $407 from
me.
> > //  >>>
> > //  >>>In April 2nd, while I was touring New York City, I entered the
store and
> > //  >>>bought a brand new Westren Digital 20.4GB hard drive, at the
second
> > //  >>>floor.
> > //  >>>
> > //  >>>When I came back to my home country, I found out that the hard
drive in
> > //  >>>the box, was an old 270MB Quantum!!! My face turned red when I
realized
> > //  >>>what has been done to me.
> > //  >>>
> > //  >>>Well, it, of course ruined my lovely 3 weeks vacation.I can do
nothing
> > //  >>>about it. I am here, and the store is on the other side of the
world.
> > //  >>>The only thing I can do, is to warn you not to buy there
anything.
> > //  >>>Please don't repeat the same mistake I did.
> > //  >>>
> > //  >>>Dan Aloni,  danaloni@inter.net.il
> > //
> > //  Phil Burton - Palo Alto,CA USA

If you want a a change of pace from Frys or CompUSA, then give MicroCenter a
try.  I have found them to be consistently courteous, fair, and reasonably
knowledgeable about their product.  They also have an excellent book
section, and a huge selection of cheap oldware/shareware/freeware.

Their prices cannot compete with mail order and direct sales, but they
definitely are on the same level with the other local retail stores.

I have no relation to MicroCenter, other than being a satisfied customer.

SH


John Smith <no@spam.no> wrote in message
news:7k27ci$50qu$1@newssvr04-int.news.prodigy.com...
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> If you want a really crappy store, try Fry's.  Rude salespeople?  Ignorant
> staff?   Horrible technical support?
> Try your Compusa experience ^ 10.
>

Micro Center is a great chain of stores which I highly recommend for
those tired of the CompUSA/Circuit City/Best Buy "experience". Micro
Center is really a breath of fresh air, combining solid house brand
and national brand PCs, components, reference books, and a sizable Mac
section. You can go in and ask for an RJ-45 crimper and they don't
look at you like you just beamed down from a spaceship.

A typical Micro Center experience: My wife and I went in looking for a
flash RAM card for our new Kodak DC-50. The salesman looked over the
existing RAM selections, and when we expressed interest in a 15MB
Sandisk card, he said, "Hmm. What's the resolution on the DC-50?
706x504?", and he proceeded to calculate the uncompressed image size
to try and figure out how many pictures the card would hold. We
reminded him that it used JPEG compression, so he voluntarily located
a DC-50 box and tried to back-calculate the compression ratio of the
various quality settings based on the information on the outside of
the box.

Note that we never asked him for this information, as we could compute
it ourselves. He did it _because he didn't want us to buy something we
wouldn't be happy with_, and for his own personal satisfaction he
wanted to make sure we got a flash RAM card with enough memory for our
needs.

The only problems with Micro Center is that their software selection
is not that good (particularly with new titles) and they have few
locations. There are only 13 stores nationwide.

But thank goodness we have one in Houston!

Rick R. // peripherals.guide@about.com
        // http://peripherals.about.com

In article <7k2adq$2a1c$1@newssvr01-int.news.prodigy.com>, "Steve Heires" <HEIRES@prodigy.net> wrote:
>If you want a a change of pace from Frys or CompUSA, then give MicroCenter a
>try.  I have found them to be consistently courteous, fair, and reasonably
>knowledgeable about their product.  They also have an excellent book
>section, and a huge selection of cheap oldware/shareware/freeware.
>
>Their prices cannot compete with mail order and direct sales, but they
>definitely are on the same level with the other local retail stores.

I agree.   I have so far had nothing but positive experiences with 
MicroCenter, and I try to give as much of my business to them as possible.  
Note that when the color printer I wanted was on sale at Fry's, I brought in 
the ad to MicroCenter, and they matched the price.

--
email: mikew 99 @ my-dejanews.com
phone: 650 857-6939
WWW: www.bigfoot.com/~mikew99

20miles isnt very far away
definitly worth a trip for an x24


-Ed- <not@home.now> wrote in message
news:3765193f.351202182@24.128.188.255...
> Perhaps some day there will be.  But for now its a 20 mile trip and I
> "just had to have an x-24 right away or I would have died."  :?)
> Actually, it was during my vacation and I just wanted to buy a big
> bucks item.
>
> -Ed-
>
>
> On Sun, 13 Jun 1999 01:03:26 +0800, "Rob" <nolde@wantree.com.au>
> wrote:
>
> //  why dont you take it to a local comp usa outlet. or isnt there one
near you?
> //
> //
> //  -Ed- <not@home.now> wrote in message
> //  news:37622971.93204931@24.128.188.255...
> //  > Same thing happened to me at CompUSA.  I bought an Obsidian x-24
last
> //  > summer, drove 20+ miles home, opened the shrink wrapped box and
inside
> //  > was an old Diamond  VooDoo1 board.  I was fit to be tied.  My blood
> //  > pressure was so high that the person at the exchange counter never
> //  > even dared to try to make me feel like I might have been the theif.
> //  >
> //  > -Ed-
>

For the best price go to www.pricewatch.com ,  It's very unlikely to find a
store that beats the prices found here.
However,  choose the right company,  some of them overcharge on shipping.

As far as Best Buy,  Fry's or Microcenter,  I would say neither of them is
as good as some say here.
The only reason to go there is to find the ''Item on Special" and make sure
you got the right one.
I bought things from all three,  some of them overcharged me,  gave me a
hard time to get a replacement or let me in the dark with no info or
explanation available.

I give them a 'F' on all test.

Ruben

> 
> As someone who used MiniScribe drives, I can say that the performance
> specs of the brick are only slighlty worse than a real drive.
> 
>  -=E

ROTFLMAO

Under some conditions the bricks are faster.