Fry's Sucks
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Disclaimer: These are my own anecdotes and do not represent a statistically significant sample of user experiences. However, one of the great things with the Internet is its ability to let people to share individual experiences. All of the stuff below happened to one person: me.
In the Western part of the United States, there's a chain of computer supply shops - what I refer to as computer grocery stores - called Fry's Electronics (or just plain "Fry's"). Almost everyone who works in high tech in Silicon Valley has gone to Fry's at least one time or another. I think people should receive a Purple Heart with their first Fry's purchase, but that's just me.
This little article explains why I loathe shopping at Fry's.
Myth: Fry's is cheap
Fact: Fry's used to be cheap many years ago. Then one day, they jacked up their prices to be more or less on par with everyone else. They advertise sales items in the local newspapers, typically a full page ad in the back of one of the technology or maybe business sections.
Usually, these sale items are rather cheap. However, their goal is to get you into the store so while you're picking up the sale item, you'll browse the aisles and grab some stuff that's not for sale. I would never buy things like hard drives or memory from Fry's.
Many very similar items will be priced differently through the store, depending on which section and aisle you walk down. Some good examples are A/V cables and connectors as well as video components and parts. If you're buying in quantity, it's good to wander around.
Myth: They have a good inventory
Fact: The Fry's Electronics stores have enormous inventory, but it seems like every time I have go to one of their stores with a grocery list, they are out of something, whether it be tools, cables, connectors, you name it. Occasionally, this means that I need to visit two Fry's Electronics stores in one day. Ugh.
They are crummy at restocking. They also seem to sell out of rather common items all the time (particularly the sale items). On the plus side, occasionally you'll see the same item priced a couple of ways, so it's good to dig around the rows and see if some have a cheap price tag.
The product selection is very uneven and often curious stunted. For example, they don't stock Asus motherboards - one of the most reputable brands. They carry a wide variety of stuff, some of it good, some of it not too good. If you go to the household appliances area, you'll find mostly lousy, low-end models.
Myth: Fry's Electronics is a good place to buy golf equipment
Fact: That's a different Fry's, the venerable Fry's Warehouse Sports. These golf specialists have enjoyed almost eight decades of business. There's one in South City (a.k.a. South San Francisco) right off of Highway 101. It's been a few years since I've been there (I went shopping with someone else), so I don't have any comments on Fry's Golf (plus the fact that I don't golf).
Fry's Electronics is a closely-held family business founded in the mid-Eighties. They're different companies.
Fact: Fry's sales associates don't know their product
Scenario: When I first got introduced to PC hardware a few years ago, I was trying to build my own NT workstation. After a couple of hours of unsuccessfully trying to get the WinNT installer to recognize a couple of moldy old SCSI CD-ROM drives, I caved in and decided to buy an IDE CD-ROM. So, I drove down to Fry's and looked at the wall of CD-ROM drives in all ranges and prices.
I pointed to a cheap $50 IDE CD-ROM drive, and asked one of the salesguys, "Will this one work with Windows NT?" He shrugged and said, "I don't know. But that one will," pointing at a $199 SCSI CD-ROM. I figured that this guy was pulling the wool over my eyes and decided to buy the cheapo ATAPI drive. When I got home, I found that the drive was damaged and had to return Fry's to exchange it. In the end, the cheapo CD-ROM drive worked fine, and I decided never to ask another Fry's salesperson for any information ever again.
Fact: The book section at Fry's sucks
Fry's now sells books, mostly technical guides, programming references, etc. There are better places to buy computer books. Sadly, my favorite store, the University Avenue (Palo Alto) branch of Stacey's Professional Bookstore has shuttered its doors. Computer Literacy bookstores used to be okay.
Fact: There's a really lame entertainment section
Fry's also sells CDs, DVDs, etc. but the selection is horribly lame unless you're looking for Top 40 crap. Utterly laughable.
Fact: Avoid anything with a Fry's white tag
Fry's puts their own little white sticker on boxes that have been opened and returned back to the store. This stickers are often dated and initialed, "I'm okay. I was checked by a genuine Fry's employee."
Don't buy white stickered boxes! Those are things that are probably broken or missing things like cables, etc. The Fry's people don't check the returns. You will probably get screwed. The worst part is that you have to go back to Fry's and undergo the misery that is their returns process.
Actually, you're probably better off avoiding the stuff that isn't shrink wrapped, too. My guess is that Fry's employees would probably run out of white stickers at some moment and just put unmarked boxes back on the shelves. Remember, it's less work not having to put a sticker on a box and find a pen!
Fact: The lines are long and slow
I've never figured out if there's a "good" time to shop at Fry's. Only a couple times have I gotten lucky with short lines. The cashiers work at the same speed whether it's crowded or not, though.
Generally speaking, the weekday lunch hour is not a good time to go. That's when the stores are packed with engineers and IT folks making their weekly Fry's run.
Fact: Fry's cashiers are inefficient morons
Scenario: One day, I bought maybe thirty of one component and twenty of another. I put them in separate piles and said, "I have thirty of those and twenty of these" One would think that the person would scan one, then change the quantity to thirty. But, noooooooooo.... Not at Fry's. The person spent the next few minutes scanning each and every one of the thirty components, then proceeded to the pile of twenty components.
Always, always, always check your receipt. Make sure you get your credit card back (they seem to forget quite frequently to hand back mine).
Fact: Hold onto that receipt
If you're expensing your purchases back to your company, you often need to fill out a petty cash or expense report and attach the original receipt. Wait a few days: there's a decent chance that something you bought will need to be returned or exchanged.
Fact: Some people use Fry's as a free 30-day equipment "rental" place
There are folks who use Fry's 30-day money-back customer satisfaction guarantee for their own convenience (last time I checked, there was no restocking fee). Basically, you buy a bunch of stuff, use it for an event like a tradeshow or conference, return it to Fry's before your 30 days are up, and get a full refund on your credit card. I will refrain from making any judgments about the people who do this.
The worst part about this is that the bashed up stuff ends up getting white stickered and tossed back up onto the shelves.
Fact: Returning merchandise is excruciating
I've had to return merchandise several times to Fry's because I've bought items that were mislabeled or just plain broken. Standing in those lines, then explaining five or six times, "No, it's broken. It doesn't work. Yes, I read the instructions. Can't you hear the rattling inside? No, the bag says that this is a one hundred foot cable, but the actual length is fifty feet." Going through the whole hassle of filling out forms, approvals, waiting around for the easily distracted employees to finish chatting is one of the worst customer service nightmares.
The return area is usually separate from the cashier, forcing a couple of trips between the two. Cross your fingers that the people can understand what you're doing (trying to get a credit back on your charge card, exchanging the item with an identical one, replacing the item with a different model, etc.).
| This is actually the single most important reason why I hate shopping at Fry's. There's a high chance you will buy something that's missing components, damaged, or just doesn't work right. That forces you to drive back and endure the torture that is returning merchandise at Fry's: the Holy Inquisition of Computer Retailing (but by slow and lame retards rather than cunning and sadistic Dominicans). |
The absolutely weirdest thing about Fry's Electronics
Fry's Electronics is an ISP.
Their web site used to offer DSL accounts, but maybe the recent closures of NorthPoint Communications and Rhythms NetConnections has halted their DSL service.
Interestingly, they sell no merchandise on their web site. Having sampled the quality of their in-store customer service, it will be a Cold Day In HellTM before I ever subscribe to their ISP service.
| Note: I am constantly updating a list of my very own ISPs Who Suck. Take a peek for yourself and see how Internet "Service" Providers continue to make Internet connectivity miserable for me. |
The Saga Continues
August 18, 2001 update - Fry's acquires some of Egghead.com's assets
Fry's Electronics is acquiring some of the assets of bankrupt Egghead.com (NASDAQ: EGGS). The latter started out in 1983 as a bricks-and-mortar computer store, Egghead Discount Software and unsuccessfully tried to jump to e-tailing.
Egghead was always a rather lame computer store (well, at least the one I was patronizing in the early Nineties in downtown San Francisco's Financial District was lame) so I guess it's possible to go from lame to lamer.
September 6, 2001 update - Fry's is acquiring Outpost.com
There are news reports that Fry's Electronics is going to buy Cyberian Outpost (NASDAQ: COOL), the failing online retailer that runs Outpost.com. Fry's tried to buy Outpost once before in a hostile cash-and-carry takeover bid, but Outpost freaked out and attempted to sell itself to PC Connection. PC Connection waffled around and finally decided that Outpost was overvalued in the terms of the proposed deal and pulled back. Cyberian, now flailing helplessly, ran back to Fry's and let it back into the house.
Yes, I know these sort of stories are common in the world of corporate mergers and takeovers, but it still reminds me of a tawdry little trailer trash romance (Tonya Harding?).
October 10, 2001 update - This is getting weird
In an ever-increasinly bizarre turn of events, Fry's backs out on acquiring Egghead.com. The spurned e-tailer cries foul play. 191 FC points.
November 8, 2001 update
Fry's acquisition of Cyberian Outpost, at 25 cents a share, is complete.
May 2, 2006 update - See you in divorce court!
| Yay! See you in divorce court! |
Laurie E. Fry sues ex-husband William R. "Randy" Fry (one of the three brothers who co-own Fry's Electronics). Yes, he cheated on her and swindled and/or pressured her out of her share.
Where to Buy Computer Stuff in the SF Bay Area
I recommend two-and-a-half stores in the Silicon Valley/SF Peninsula area:
- Central Computer - smart people, admirable selection, good prices
- Pixel USA - okay people, small but good selection, good prices
- Best Buy - staffed by idiots, but some good prices (look for stuff with rebates)
and the partial recommendation,
Central Computer - Silicon Valley's best PC hardware shop
Central Computer is great for browsing since all the product is visible (either in its shrink-wrapped packaging or in glass cases); handy product comparison matrix tables (e.g, motherboard features and pricing) are conveniently posted). Happy customers are the ones that get what they want from the get go; unhappy ones don't get what they want and end up returning things.
They have three branches, but I always go to the Santa Clara store.
Central Computer has earned my highest esteem for buying PC components.
Pixel USA
Pixel USA has some pretty competitive prices, but you really need to do your homework first, call them up to set aside your components, drive there, pay, grab your goodies, and get the heck outta Dodge. Neither store is a particularly good place to buy software, although Central has a carefully selected catalog of nerd titles (e.g., various distributions of the Linux OS and FreeBSD, Windoze games, Adobe products).
Both Central Computer and Pixel USA have Good Stuff and Cheap Stuff That Doesn't Totally Suck. However, at Central Computer, there are a couple of knowledgable folks that can talk Intel stepping numbers and have their own honest recommendations about hardware. Also, the clientele at Central Computer knows its stuff; this is the sort of place where Sun, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, SGI, Cisco, etc. engineers buy components to build their home PCs. If the staff doesn't know the answer to your question, there's a good chance that another customer in the store does.
Best Buy - partial recommendation
Best Buy is not a good place to buy PC components like power supplies, cables, etc. However, it's a place that you should consider if you're buying a major brand-name product (like an HP printer or Sony monitor). If you know exactly which model you want to buy and Best Buy has a rebate or sale, then it's a good place to pick up a component. Otherwise it totally sucks. Don't ask for opinions/information from Best Buy sales people.
Shopping at Best Buy: go in, grab your stuff, and leave pronto. I've never had to return merchandise to Best Buy, so I can't comment on that procedure. The few times I've shopped at Best Buy, the lines have been mercifully short.
There's a Best Buy close to home (San Carlos), so saving myself an extra 45 minutes on the road just to save twenty dollars is always a consideration. Best Buy will sell products that suck whereas (generally speaking), Central Computer will not (because the latter's clientele won't buy stuff that sucks and returns stuff that does).
Summary and Helpful Resources
Fry's Electronics has mastered the concept of "Customer satisfaction is nothing, customer retention is everything." That is, they really don't care if you're a happy customer, they just want you to keep coming back and spend more money, even if you hate the place.
- Tom's Hardware - Need a PC hardware tutorial? Tom's is very helpful.
- Pricewatch - Want it cheap? This is the place to compare.
- Britney Spears' Guide to Semiconductor Physics - Want to get technical? Let mega popstar Britney Spears guide you through the fundamentals of semiconductors!
- Your Worst Buys Are Always At Fry's, Guaranteed - From doofus.org
- Why I Think Fry's Electronics Sucks Ass! - From billzhouse.com
Oh yes, I almost forgot...
- Fry's Electronics Employment Application - This amusing tidbit circulated on the e-mail joke lists several years ago, but it has rightfully found a home online. Isn't the Web great?
When I get home from Fry's, the first thing I do is jump in the shower and toss my clothes in the laundry hamper! That pretty much sums up what I feel about the Fry's shopping experience.
If you'd like, you can read about some ISPs who suck now.
Reader Responses
I love feedback! Here are some of the more interesting things that have landed in my inbox.
sweetlachey2@aol.com
From sweetlachey2@aol.com Sun Dec 29 18:57:59 2002
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From: sweetlachey2@aol.com
Message-ID: <19f.e26b01d.2b401b25@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 04:32:21 EST
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To: tarahertz@yahoo.com
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get a fucking life you moron, you might well write a book, than complain
about a store that makes more money in one day than you'll ever see in your
life, at least you'll get paid for it. You may not like the store 2 million
dollars a week per store doesn't agree with you. so do something more
constructive with your time you fucking geek.
sincerely,
everyone who's been on your sight!
Just need to vent a little
That's what this page is all about. Plus, it's supposed to be informative. Anecdotally, of course... :-)
Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2003 17:13:46 -0500 From: "Steve" To: tarahertz@yahoo.com X-EXP32-SerialNo: 50000141 Subject: Just need to vent a little Message-ID: <3E3176A9@smaug.ocis.temple.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: InterChange (Hydra) SMTP v3.61.08 Hi Tara, My buddy took me to Fry's after Xmas because he was assembling a computer for one of his relatives. He carefully selected the "guts" for the computer (motherboard/processor/something or other?) and got a piece of paper that he could turn in at the front of the store for the item (which was in "the cage"). I headed off to look at CDs while he assembled the components. About 90 minutes later we got into line. He presented the written quote (with an 10:59:59 p.m. expiration time) to the clerk shortly before 8 p.m. and was told the item had been sold. Given that my understanding of California contract law is a little hazy, I asked a law student about it. She noted that she is not qualified to offer advice, but that her class in contract law made clear that Fry's was in violation of it's own written contract. We spent 30 minutes being told by successive managers that they could not give us a rain-check, that we had screwed up by not going immediately to the cash register when we got the quote, and that "the system" does not allow them to offer us a similar item at a similar price. My buddy offered to accept a significantly worse item at the same price. They refused. The highest manager in the store that night, a Robert Evans, said that Fry's managers have no ability whatsoever to adjust prices ... not under any circumstances. Having worked several customer-service jobs prior to heading to graduate school, I feel fairly confident that Fry's is one of the few stores on the planet that does not allow its managers to remedy crappy customer service. I will never shop at Fry's again. Sincerely, "Steve"
William Grosso says Fry's sucks
On August 14, 2003, William Gross, VP of Engineering at Echopass, writes about his disappointment with Fry's at O'Reilly.net.
My Fry's peeves
Obviously, someone who been to Fry's on many occasions... Hello, fellow sufferer!
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From: "Andy"
To: "'tarahertz@yahoo.com'" <tarahertz@yahoo.com>
Subject: My Fry's peeves..
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 15:56:28 -0800
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My Fry's peeves;
#1 The fact that whenever you go in to buy the advertised special, the sales turd says, "Yes it's the advertised $59 64MB PC2100 memory, but it probably won't work and we get a lot of returns. You should buy this $129 64MB PC2100 memory and the extended warrantees."
#2 Advertised specials which are sold out on the same day the ad printed.
yo i work @ frys
An actual Fry's employee validates my observations. Thanks!
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Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 23:58:40 -0800 (PST)
From: "Work At Frys"
Subject: yo i work @ frys
To: tarahertz@yahoo.com
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hello, person that doesnt like frys
yeah frys is not the hottest company on the market
let adress some of your points
Frys is cheap... this is a give or take... yeah we do sell some cheap items.. there most likely on ad, everything else is proably at there nromal prices. Truthfully speaking just buy online, we can compete with those prices.
dude inventory sucks at frys, they either over stock us with stuff we dont need or under stock us with stuff we need
Frys the golf store...i think Randy fry does own a golf store.. because he got invited to a few golf events and putted with Tiger woods
They higher us right off the street and our knowledge is accumulated over time working there, they dont train us, and its best just to do your own research. Also look at the name tag and be sure that the associate you ask work in the deparment, because we get bother a billion time a day and truthfully speaking we dont want to want to answer especially if you ask us about an ad item because we get ask for that item to the point where hot iron pokers would be better then your quesitons.
Our book selection do suck... what do we look like a barnes and noble get your ass too a resputable book store.
yeah avoid the white tags, unless your a cheap bastard then maybe you can argue the price lower. But you get what you pay for whne you try to bargain the price.
*side note if you buy a demo its as is, so there virus on it from a customer, not our problem, and i scoff in your face if you think we check those piece of craps*
returns lines are long and slow, the cashier lines are fast because they make commision based on how much they ring up
cashier are effeicent but they are so in a rush to get you in and out (to make more commision) they make mistakes.
the reciept is your life line for a return
yeah its gay that we dont charge a 15% repackaging fee, but that frys gimmiks so no 15 restocking = white tags every where
returns associate commision is based on how much they dont return and how much you people actually use those Gift certs. so they dont really want to return your crap. Plus if you really want to return somthing fast just come early in the morning on any day, and eary is when we open.
Love your Fry's filet
Someone's been burned by the rebate scam!
Received: (qmail 27678 invoked from network); 27 Jul 2004 17:58:46 -0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C47403.5CA51295" Subject: Love your Fry's filet Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 10:58:46 -0700 Message-ID: <747C24DFBD92A745A7388B6F27442DFA677DB6@exchange.domain.local> From: "Jill" To: tarahertz Content-Length: 266613
What about mail-in rebates can there possibly be a more evil scam perpetrated on consumers? Check out their rebate form where it clearly states that products cannot be returned if the UPC is removed, however you can't get the rebate if you don't clip off the UPC. If you wait until the Fry's return period is expired, (and if you remember where you put your receipt), you run the risk of submitting your rebate request after the expiration of the rebate and having it rejected (I know that happened to me with some CD-R blanks).
"Jill"
They had lied to me
Sadly, par for the course. New and improved: includes spyware and adware!
Subject: Fry's Sucks To: tarahertz X-Mailer: Lotus Notes Release 6.5 September 26, 2003 Message-ID: <OFFC5C8A8B.5CA99CB8-ON88256EE0.0057F601-88256EE0.00583676@someplace.org> From: "Dave" Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 09:06:28 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Length: 999 May I add my two cents? I purchased a Fry's system four months ago. Last week the hard drive died and the restorer didn't work. I had it checked and the drive was dead. Fry's tech support also told me it was a bad drive and to take it back to the Palo Alto store, which I did. Next day, Fry's told me it had been a software error, not hardware. That it was not covered by warranty. That they had restored the software with no problem. I paid $110 to get it back. When I fired it up, my sound card was not working and nor was a slave hard drive I had installed. The cables had been loosened. So, Fry's techs had opened the machine, despite what they had told me. They had lied to me. When I fired the machine up, I found it was packed with adware and spyware and searchpages. com was loaded into IE. I will never, ever shop at Fry's again. I have learned a hard but valuable lesson. "Dave"
But it gets worse for Dave. A few days later...
Subject: Re: Fry's Sucks To: tarahertz X-Mailer: Lotus Notes Release 6.5 September 26, 2003 From: "Dave" Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2004 08:31:16 -0700 It gets worse. Casino Palazzo was loaded into my computer. 'Searchmeup' also got into IE. When I did some deep scans, I found 66 adware/spyware programs and 49 different viruses! It took a tech over two hours to clean it up. It's amazing to me that Fry's is still in business! I guess there is a sucker born every minute... Best, "Dave"
Let me tell you
Ouch, three dead phones and attitude? That sucks!
Message-ID: <000901c477f9$a6171870$12896d44@zz331ar09xi2km> From: Disgruntled Hispanic To: th Subject: Let me tell you. Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2004 11:59:18 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0006_01C477BE.F98151F0" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1409 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 Content-Length: 2112 Let me tell you how much I despise the place and why. I a word Yuck! Do I hate the place. I'd rather go to a junk yard and pay top dollar for it than go to Fry's Why? Once upon a time I needed a new phone. Not much to ask for. I couldn't find a salesperson (man?) to save my life. The were around walking amongst themselves or you were an attractive young lady they help you. Once went and drafted one to help, He didn't know one thing about the items I asked about. In fact I knew more about them just from reading the boxes. Once I did I purchase one of the phones and got it home I discovered It wasn't new, it was remanufactured. In fact all the phones in this tale from Fry's were remanufactured. Well I thought that would account for the (so-called) low price. In a weekend it was on the fritz. I took it back only wanting to get a replacement. With all the hassle they wouldn't give me a replacement, I had to get another phone which wasn't the same or the equivalent. And in less than a week phone no. two died a justified death. Again the trek to Fry's. One thing to remember dear reader, I live a good distance from the north Phoenix, AZ store and each time I had to go, it was a major undertaking. The trek was undertaken three times with out the satisfaction of a phone that was the equivalent of the original or would work and at the time at my local Wal-mart I found the original phone, brand new for $10 less that the so called "special sale" price at Fry's. I finally tried one more time to get satisfaction returned the offending "new" phone to Fry's and spoke to the Manager to explained the problems I'd been having. As he towered over me (I 5'6", he 6'8" ) he glared at me and acted as if my voice wasn't reaching his lofty ears. He explained in a superior tone of voice, how there wasn't any thing he could do and referred me back to customer service and as I approached, The manger in charge was on the phone. I was refunded my money and told in so many words to get my phone else and to please comeback. Wal-mart not only had a superior phone the suited me more, it cost less and it's still working to this day. So they lost a customer and I still warn all I know and know the grim truth of Fry's Electronics. Don't go unless your an attractive young lady or are non-Hispanic. Disgruntled Hispanic
Ok former Fry's employee here. Here is some new stuff.
We love hearing from Fry's employees! (past and present)
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 00:14:45 EDT
Subject: Ok former Fry's employee here. Here is some new stuff.
From: Bart
Fry's is a comapny with a long history of poor customer service. I worked in the Arlington, Tx. store for over two years. In that time I witnessed several not illegal but very unethical things there. One episode was a customer who bought a Fry's PC their signature product. He was told that it was the best on the market by no fewer than three salesman and the dept mgr.(it was difficult for the customer to understand any of them due to thier national origin) When the customer got his new prized PC home he noticed a white sticker on it, and that it was missing several key components. So he packed up his computer and trucked it back up to the store. While at the store the poor victim had to wait 30 minutes in a return line only to be treated rudely and basically called a liar by the assistant store manager.
But after several more minutes he was sent to another line in the"service dept." where he waited another 30 minutes. Only after waiting all that time did the customer discover that his "new computer" was a model three builds out and the parts were unavailable. He said he wanted to return the unit and was basically told to wait in the return line again. So (it gets really horrible but I witnessed this) after another exremely long wait in the returns area he was told that yes they would return it, but they would charge him for the missing parts. They said that surely since the computer dept mgr had signed off on the computer it was complete and that he was just confused. This customer was basically called a thief and a liar by the assistant store manager. The thing that makes it worse is that the customer is an 82 year old former Babtist minister.
Fry's run by idiots...
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 01:17:49 -0800
From: Some UCLA Bruin
Subject: Fry's run by idiots...
Don't know if you are still keeping up your site, but I have a few rants on the topic: Why is it that they have the exact same products, made by two different companies, stocked in two different aisles, and sold at two very different prices???!!! Why do I help more customers find what they are looking for than the associates do?? The people who work at Fry's are the dumbest people on the planet. I am constantly amazed at how much they don't know!!! So far they are 0/10 on answering ANY question correctly. THEY ARE WORTHLESS!!. If Fry's wants to make some more money, fire all the dept. empoyees!!! They only serve to confuse and are more clueless than the customers! -Tired of Stupid People
A note from Service Technician, a fan of Fry's
Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 13:27:35 -0800 (PST)
From: Someone from yahoo.com
I was reading your posting on how much you loath Fry's. I just wanted to let you know that I am a regular Fry's shopper and I have bought many an item at Fry's, open box or not. Granted there are open box items that I would never buy such as a harddrive or something (depending on how the harddrive looked on the inside of the box, if it was still in the static bag, I'd consider it) and I have never had a problem. I have had to return a couple items, but they were all my own fault for buying the wrong item in the first place. After being a shopper at Fry's for many years, I decided to work for them in the Service Department. I, as well as the people I worked with, gave all the customers the same courteousness, be they white, black, hispanic, male or female and still I got the same treatment back as though I did something wrong, such as the customer I will never forget who wanted to take the computer he brought back to us, take it outside and set fire to it. Yes, sales people are driven by commission and yes, that is not always the best for the customer, but look at it this way - you get customers coming back yelling and screaming that someone who previously worked at Fry's who has since been fired and replaced by someone more competent and they get blamed. Why do you think that this is fair? Why do you think that every single Fry's is the same based on your experience at a couple? Perhaps it is the location that they a
re located in, which you live in/near which explains your attitude in the first place, it's the same attitude they have! I had a customer come in not too long ago in fact who bought a computer that failed on them. We didn't have any more in stock in our store and I was just about to refund their money though they said they wanted an even exchange when I saw that another store had 15 in stock brand new never been opened. I gave them the option of either getting their money back and putting it toward a new computer (or just getting their money back because they bought a lemon computer anyway) or going to this other store to get a replacement and they chose to go to the other store. I don't see how this is my fault by sending them to another store if they chose to do it. Yes, we ran out, it was two days after Thanksgiving and it was the $100 computer and we were sold completely out of them for two weeks after so tell me again how that's my fault. I think you need to take a general census of all the people who shop at Fry's, not just a few disgruntled individuals. I am personally tired of the minority of people making all of the changes here in this country. Please, if you want to trash talk Fry's, do it with research under your belt. All you have to go on is what you think and maybe one or two, maybe a dozen other people say but that is significantly outweighed by the thousands of other satisfied customers so please, do your research and come back again once you have thousands of people behind you.
Service Technician
Fry's Etcetera etcetera etc
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 22:01:09 -0500
From: Charles
Subject: Fry's Etcetera etcetera etc
Terahertz:
What you have described is a major problem in America today. Just for kicks I googled FRY'S SUCKS and found your dissertation on Fry's. Nearly anyone who has been to Fry's twice did so because a return was required. Fry's hooks you on the ad. Why do we allow ourselves to go trough this aggravation? The same reason people buy lottery tickets. This is very simple. When you buy a paper throw away the Fry's ad. You won't be tempted to go there.
I think you forgot to mention rebates. This is another national scandal. The next time you're in the computer department pick up a ECS motherboard with the WHITE RETURN TAG. Go to an associate (probably a former IT professional) getting paid minimum wage plus a commission that amounts to 50 cents on a hundred and ask to check the number of ECS mobo's in stock that have been returned. He can tell you for all the stores in the district. The numbers will amaze you
Today I went to Fry's to purchase a special. Intel Pentium 4 Processor 640 & ECS P4M800-M7 mATX MOTHERBOARD AT $179.99. Since the P4 is 3.2 ghz retail box w/ fan and heatsink 2 mb cache 775 form factor, this was a deal. I'll either throw away the ECS board or hope some brainiack on Ebay will buy it for $25.00 I have learned to use GIGABYTE, ASUS and ABIT because they work reliably after one install...maybe a bios download. I can almost guarantee the ECS board will fail..maybe not right away.
So how does Fry's make their money? One is on the float of overnight deposits. On all rebates they get full price and the vendor sets up either Mexicans or Indians to process rebates whose first job is to deny a rebate even if you can make it through the complicated process of filling the forms out correctly. Finally they make money in the service dept for all of the hundreds of people each week whose bring their shit back to the store. Mostly Fry's has frustrated computer apprentices working the service dept so don't expect miracles at less than $75.00 per pop.
And in spite of all of these things hundreds of lambs are lead down the golden path each and every day. There is an endless supply of stupid people in the world today.
Last item; You know you're a geek if you're GIGA HURTS
Chuck
Another Fry's Disaster!!!
From: Laszlo
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2006 13:04:51 -0700
Subject: Another Fry's Disaster!!!
I'm getting SO SICK of this store it's unbelievable! For the third time in the last 90 days I’ve gotten a letter back from a manufacturer saying they won't honor the FRY's Friggin Rebate!
Fry's has had advertisements going for MONTHS now with a huge 'grab 'em' ad of an LCD monitor, and splashed across it the ad says buy any LCD flat panel display monitor and get the printer free ($50 w/$50 rebate). I did so, followed all directions and, guess what: I got an itty-little postcard from CANON saying they won't honor my Fry's Friggin rebate on their printer because it's only good if bought in conjunction with a laptop or desktop! BULLHARKY!!! See attached ad. This rebate fiasco with Fry's is getting criminal already! What part of "Free Canon Printer With Any Flat Panel Display" can be confused with "laptop or desktop"? Idiots!
Last month they had another promotion to get a rebate on a 17" emprex LCD monitor. I just got a letter from emprex yesterday saying "rebate disqualified" because I supposedly 'missed the deadline'. BULL!!! I sent the rebate form and all the docs/upc etc THE SAME DAY I bought the monitor! What am I supposed to do hand carry it on a plane across the country to be sure they don't stiff me with some bogus 'missed deadline' crap??
I HATE FRY's. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE THEM!!!!!
Response to: inefficient morons
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2006 17:36:15 -0800
From: Some Gal from gmail.com
Subject: Response to: inefficient morons
"Scenario: One day, I bought maybe thirty of one component and twenty of another. I put them in separate piles and said, "I have thirty of those and twenty of these" One would think that the person would scan one, then change the quantity to thirty. But, noooooooooo.... Not at Fry's. The person spent the next few minutes scanning each and every one of the thirty components, then proceeded to the pile of twenty components. Always, always, always check your receipt. Make sure you get your credit card back (they seem to forget quite frequently to hand back mine)" I One Hundred Percent agree with you about Fry's. I hate Fry's and I'll never try going there unless its absolutely nessesary, which I believe will be a RARE case. The only disagreement I have to offer is about your "Scenario" The quantity botton doesnt exsist on alot of registers these days since UPC codes are required for inventory checks. There could accidently be a case where a customer may have the wrong UPC and they use the quantity botton and an Item with a different UPC goes through. Then say that a customer who comes back to return something doesnt have that item on their reciept and they can't take it back even though its the same price and everything (Do you know what I mean?). Its important for retail cashiers to scan EVERY item just in case that happens. And say a case of the missing UPC came up for you, then you'd be complaining about how stupid the person was for not scanning it. But hey, You're going to Fry's. You get the quality service from the quality you shop for there are better places for you.
LOL, that has happened to me!
I HATE FRYS' TOO
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 11:00:02 -0800 From: Some Guy from mac.com Subject: I HATE FRY'S TOO MY EXPERIENCE AT FRYS WAS BEEN ONE OF THE SUR-REALEST....... AFTER CONSULTING WITH ONE OF THE "EXPERTS" ON HOW TO MAKE MY COMPUTER PRINTER WIRELESS, THE "EXPERT" SOLD ME THE WRONG ITEM.....AND IT ONLY TOOK ME 4 HRS AND TWO PHONE CALLS TO FIGARE IT OUT. AND WE ALL KNOW HOW MUCH FUN THAT CAN BE. SO NOW MY EXPERIENCE AT FRYS.COM...OR OUTPOST.COM.....AFTER BUYING A $300.00 LASER PRINTER, THE ONE I WANTED TO MAKE WIRELESS, I WAS SETTING THE PRINTER UP AND FOUND THAT ONE OF THE FOUR TONERS WAS BROKEN. I TOOK THE TONER CARTRIDGE TO FRYS THE EXCHANGE IT FOR A NEW ONE.....BUT FOUND OUT THAT ANYTHING BOUGHT AT "OUTPOST.COM" HAS TO BE RETURNED THERE. NOT JUST THE TONER CARTRIDGE, BUT THE ENTIRE PRINTER, AND OUTPOST WILL SEND ME A NEW ONE. OK SOUND SIMPLE....BUT YOU ALL KNOW HOW MUCH FUN IT IS TO SEND SOMETHING BACK ...RE-BOX THE F-IN THING....GET IT TO A POSTAL SERVICE CENTER AND SO ON AND SO ON..... JUST A WARNING......DO NOT BUY FROM FRYS !!!!!!!!!!
Thank You
From: Some Guy from rr.com Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2007 21:14:48 -0800 Subject: Thank You Thanks for the info. Some of this happened to me recently , 3 1/2 hour wate for returns. Fry's "sucks"!!! Have a nice day.
Thanks for visiting!
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Fry's sucks, Fry's Electronics sucks, Frys sucks, Frys Electronics sucks, morons, Egghead, Cyberian Outpost