UPDATE: CompUSA has sent a $300 gift certificate to Terry. Read more.
Many of us swap CompUSA service horror stories, but here’s an especially horrifying one. My AR&D partner Terry Heaton purchased a digital camera for $269 at a CompUSA liquidation sale. Terry bought the camera for his step-daughter amid a $3,500 purchase. One problem: they sold him an empty box. There was no camera inside. When Terry went to a nearby CompUSA, the manager there told him that, since a liquidation company technically sold him the camera, CompUSA wouldn’t give him a refund. So, Terry wrote a note to Roman Ross, CompUSA president and CEO. Ross passed it along to a staffer who had the nerve to blame Terry: “The return policy for all merchandise, as printed on your receipt and posted throughout the store, clearly stated ALL SALES FINAL…. if the camera you purchased was a clearance item, you should have inspected its content prior to purchase.” And there you have it. Terry is to blame for not inspecting the box to make sure he wasn’t being defrauded. All sales of empty boxes are, apparently, final. It doesn’t matter the technicality – in CompUSA’s name, on a CompUSA receipt, $269 was stolen from Terry and CompUSA won’t give it back. It’s not just “buyer beware,” it’s “don’t be a buyer.”
Update from Cory: This story has been linked all over the place and is getting tons of traffic. CompUSA, you listening yet?
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Sorry Guys- after he tried to insult me I had to retaliate. It was a little bit rough and I certainly dont like to offend people…
WHen I worked at two different it companies I was constantly hit on by guys would would give me sick notes that said some of the things #248 would say. You know sexual harassement and all that rot. I had in one years time a collection of sick notes I tossed in the trash that could have filled a spiral binder. I went to HR for just one of those notes and a man grabbing me in a bad area and instead fo them punishing him. THey promoted him…(they basically said they moved him to a different dept but he basically got bumped up to managerial and higher pay)
This is why more women dont stand up at work, because men like this stick together. So given the chance to put one down. I sorta pounced. Sorry if that hurt anyones feelings…
As for the camera. I think thats is a rather odd question. Because video cameras are small nowadays. The unit that I own is small enough to fit in one of the side pocketsof my purse (about the width of a razor phone and thickness of my palm life drive +2cm) It uses sd memory. and has a 5 mega pixel resolution. It is also a voice recorder and mp3 player.it Has a fold out view finder that is one inch… its very tiny yet it you can do a lot with it. I tried to use it at the Styx concert early this year but its not good in low light.
If you must know. THe reason I keep a video camera in my purse is for documentation purposes. I document pretty much everything. I Have a video on youtube I took while sitting in the passenger side of my friend’s car of a man driving and reading the news paper. for instance. I have lots of stuff like that. Once I was in a resturaunt- in florida. This guy came in very upset and was getting ready to crawl over the counter to hurt
my friend who worked their. I was the only one there besides one other person who was in the back. THis man was so mad and he was threatining to come in with a gun and everyting because he thought he got food poisoning…Well to make a long story short the cops got him because I took video of his plates him threatining and comming over the counter. ( he had tried to drive away and thought he would not be caught)…
I plan to link a front an rear camera to my car so I can record video of when I drive. As soon as I turn the key. I live in Dallas now and the traffic out here is horrible. People are rude and dont use turn signals. IN accidents having video and photo documentation to back you up is very usefull.
In the case of compusa. I senced that the manager “mr clean” was going to try to pull something on us. SO I took video of his man testing the set. Which he did inproperly and since I am an electronics tech my word in court would count for more than his sells person’s IN addition. when I took the set home I took video of me connecting the set to the hdmi port( the reason he would not return the set was due to the hdmi not working he said) and testing my personal computer on it. And it worked. Which backed me up even further. Any time you do a high dollar transaction you should video it. Its not a nice thing to do. But the trust has gone out of the dealer-buyer relationship.
Back when I did editing on my amiga with 3/4 video tape the cameras were huge and the resolution was not good even for broadcast qaulity at the time.( a little history)
The camera I have is a dv4500 look it up in google. I purchased it from walmart for $100 and it takes ok photos. Although I need a good camera to take more pro stuff. For training videos and photos it works well.
Hope this helps.
V
I bought a 2 year warranty from CompUSA on a printer. It failed within the first year and was replaced. The replacement failed. I was told to bring it into the store. When I did, nobody there acknowledged they spoke with me. They said I’d have to call their ‘exchange’ people. I called them and they said since it was replaced once, the warranty wasn’t in effect anymore. I said ‘what does two years mean to you?” What a rip off. The scenario is that if I’d bought something with a ninety day warranty and it needed replacing after ninety days, and THEN the replacement failed within 120 days, you are out a lot of money and have a worthless warranty. I’ll never do business with them EVER again!
The above scenario is exactly why CompUSA went out of
business in Southern California. Total illiterate abusive
management with all the answers to aid the company and nothing for the customer. If I was this customer, I would
name the CompUSA president in small claims court and
sue.
I just would like to point out that everyone who was fooled by CompUsa should simply just sue it! Guys, wake up: you live in USA! You are not in Brazil as me, where your personal rights are often disrespected (refer to the last aircraft accident ocurred in Sao Paulo due to the terrible situation of our air traffic control and airports operating over their capacities and in poor conditions).
So please, let us know when this situation you´ve mentioned is completely and fairly resolved!
#254 I do have an attorney and if they hadn’t made it right I would have sued them blue…
Once again. VIDEO ALL HIGH DOLLAR TRANSACTIONS. Right down to them loading the TV or item in your vehicle. Use a micro-camera. There are lots of these that video to an sd mem card. they are cheap, very small and a good investment..
Test computers in the store- check for missing pixels- check boxes and make sure you keep receipts and all invoices. I have invoices that date back to 1986 that I have kept. You don’t have to be that meticulous. But it pays to hang on to those just in case.
Give ya some idea. – I get gas from this one station back in Florida where I used to live.
Well the attendant didn’t realize I paid with my card at the pump and apparently he didn’t check his register or he was just utterly stupid. He calls the police. They pull me over a day later and I pull the receipt from my overhead compartment and show the cops…They apologized to me and I went to the gas station and asked for the manager. I told that manager what had happened and she fired him on the spot….Now don’t get me wrong. A mistake is mistake. But not only did he call the cops but when he looked at the register he tried to CYA by messing with the computers and he was stupid enough to try and put the charge of the fuel back on my card prob thinking he could make it look as though I had in fact tried to steal the gas. What didn’t make since to me was that he thought he could adjust the till to fool his boss. And she would only look at the days sales. When something like this happens- You go through stuff a bit more thoroughly than that. So he was cornfed stupid…. I contacted my bank and got a new card right away. He on the other hand got into a heap of trouble…
Get a scanner. Make copies of your invoices and other paper work. Store in 3 separate locations and in soft and hard copy.
Retail is becoming more and more untrustworthy.
Mr. Clean was so freaked out when I showed him video of his man messing up that he about dirtied himself. The very next day he apologized and made things right.
The same thing happened to me with a car dealer. Till I sat across the street and put up a big sign that said “get your lemon at a1 auto sales” and he lost thousands per day- Since at my former job I had a 3 day weekend I could sit out there in the bank parking lot and draw customers away for half his week.
IN addition I used to do a cable access show- I made a video of him and put it on cable “The bad deal” and I discussed all the facts of where to get the bad deal who to see and what happened. Nowadays you can do that on youtube.
Putting up a web page takes no time at all.
Don’t be derogatory- be factual. IF you do that. be sure and tell the truth. nothing more.
Believe me people don’t like to be on video. and bad news travels faster than good. Also back in Florida we had a TV station- they did a consumer thing called” 8 on your side”
and they world do news stories on exactly this kind of rip off(S)
Video and the Internet are powerful tools.
V
You can’t count on the Goverment or press to help you with anything. Get about 25 of your friends together, and raid a one of the stores, they won’t be able to stop a large group.
i purchased a monitor for 211.99 with 80 rebates
the monitor was defective. they sent me a second monitor and charged me 211.99 again and said that they would refund it when they received 1st monitor. they only refunded 101.99
they said because i have the upc barcode is why. i have since disputed it with my credit card company. i will never do business with them again. if anybody knows of any lawsuits let me know jenzweiler@yahoo.com. if anybody wants to protest in front of the store let me know. any other ideas let me know.
About CompUSA.: If daylight robbery is the state of conspicuous act of blatant thievery, CompUSA is engaged in, what I would relate to as, highway robbery.
I no longer recall the items I purchased with my “CompUSA” card. The long and short of it, I may have returned an item which brought the original total under $399.00 (six months no interest). To my surprise, I noticed that I was being charged interest on the item of approx $127 – 140, plus ‘Late Assement Charges”. I paid $151 and odd cents, rejecting the rest. I informed CompUSA that if they feel entiled the usury, they ought to take me to a court of law. I asked them to close my account, fried the card in the microwave and sent it to them. They kept the harassment tactics by increasing the “debt” monthly by about $30. I do not intend to pay them one copper cent; how do I get rid of them?
thnke youuuuuuuuuuuu
Does that mean that Terry could have put a 3,000$ camera in the box, during his ‘customer inspection,’ and committed a final sale?
I used to refer to CompUSA as CrampUSA as it was always a total pain to shop there is you needed *any* assistance.
It was also way too easy to play “Stump The Salescritter” any day of the week.
A great example of the ID10Ts employed by CrampUSA is one salescritter I asked to direct me to where the “PS/2 keyboard connector/convertors” were…..took me to the PlayStation 2 (PS2) game consoles!
He insisted that the only PS2 stuph in the store was the Game Consoles.
As being a closing store employee and seeing everything, this is one of those things that doesnt surprise me at all. Im amazed at the customers inability to at least INSPECT the product and or at least have a hint that it is a bit light? And althought this maybe one sided as i was employed during the closing I still side with the customer everytime. The problem lies with the store INABILITY to actually do any refund, not only b/c it was stated as so, but the fact that the return feature had been removed from closing stores.
As being an AVID Electronic consumer my self I realize that some stores (Employees) are different than others. But when somone bashes a whole company for somones overlook and or an expierence with a person from a store, my perception for that person is very low. IM MERELY SAYING, people cannot base opinions for a whole company from one expierence. You are basically putting a bad rap on all employees which work there… and quite frankly i my self (As a technician and salesman as well) had returning customer and people that came to me for all there advice and to be cared for…. not a single unhappy customer and that is all that needs to be said.
Hey penfold,
I’m not sure if you’re aware but “CrampUSA” is an equal opportunity employer that employs not only your run of the mill ordinary but handicapped and mentally challenged “salescritters” from all walks/makes of life. The folks that are on the floor are given specific jobs within their “qualifications” such as merchandising, customer service, sales, etc… However, shame on an unsuspecting “salescritter” (whom I commonly refer to as a human frigging being and ussually by name) for trying, all be it in their uniquely inept way, to help you. Is it possible that they held a position that does not require tech savy? Maybe they had a brain fart… It’s happened to all of us and I’ll be the first to say that it happens to me almost every morning in some way shape or form. Let’s shift the paradigm before we pass judgement shall we.
You’re inability to refer to other people as people speaks loudly about your character penfold and you should be ashamed of yourself. Oh… And CompUSA doesn’t carry PS/2 convertors in their stores anymore… You know how I found that out? I looked it up. Could have saved yourself a trip there genius.
As for the gentleman that had a problem with his camera. Horrible incident and I hope that he was taken care of in the end. It is a unique and awkward situation on both ends I’m sure. How is he to know that there’s no camera in the box and how is CompUSA to know that he didn’t take it out before he tried to return the empty box. Tough call but a pretty brainless one for both parties. I don’t think anyone can be considered a “winner” in that scenario.
Lets talk about rebates and the warranties. I bought my dsl modem from Comp and there was a $60 rebate on the modem if I activated my dsl in the store and there was a $100 Compusa gift card as well. I activated my dsl in the store, the store got paid $20 for signing me up, the fat ass dummy at the register did not scan my receipt that I signed up in the store and 6 weeks later when I went looking for my rebate that is what the rebate center told me. Although I had a receipt that I purchased the dsl modem from them, that wasn’t enough to show that I signed up in the store. I never saw my $100 compusa gift card, so they made $120 off of me. I later, stupidly, bought a discontinued PC off of them that was pretty cheap but I just needed it for my kids 9 months later the hard drive when out. I bought there TAP plan as well. They sucked that out of me, the tech manager said the tap group would not replace my hard drive because the computer was not worth it, and get this the damn computer set in the store as discontinued for over a year. The mfg warranty was out on it as well. I have only had the computer for 10 months.
CompUSA could turn it around if they close another 50 stores and fired every single person in most of the stores and started all freaking over. The store in OKC has the worst mgmt you could ever imagine. Lets start with the BSM(Business sales Manager) he came from a freaking car lot and doesn’t even know that you can’t put pc memory in a laptop, what a deuch. The retails sales manager is on so many over the counter steroids he thinks he is new govnr. and the customer service manager has such bad customer service skills it is unbelievable she couldn’t be nice to her own kids..
I was just told recently that all of the business customers they have are now on a tier of discounting, after all it is the business customer that have made compusa stay in business and now they have to re-evaluate how much the customer has spent just to get a discount. why now buy the stuff on the web. It amazes me the stupidity level you have to be at to be hired to work there. my 12 year old could do a better job.
I bought an iMac in 2001 with a rebate for a Lexmark printer.
It still hasn’t arrived.
Those few of you that back ConUSA and their deceptive liquidation policies are flat wrong on this issue. The power of the people is the only way to see this. Open you eyes and look at what is happening. Alot of regular folks have gotten ripped off. They got me for about $80 on a bunk PCI wireless network adapter.
The sucker based ponzy scheme ConUSA has engaged in is now in the final stages. Their reputation and brand is toast and their business collapsing. It reminds me of Enron but in a power to people kinda way. Pissing off to many good old Americans on rebates landed them in court. ConUSA lost and and the people got Justice. So at this point are you going to believe a thief or a regular guy?
Fast forward…… More recently store are being liquidated left and right. Death is almost done devouring the con artists at CompUSA. It won’t be long before the average schmo is protected. All the CompUSA will be closed.
I hate it when fockers buy American brands that took years to build and then use them to rip off the American people. I’m sure another company will fill the vacuum. Let hope they have more heart than the owner and management at CompUSA did.
Small claims court is the answer. Bit of a pain, but you can charge Compusa for all your costs. At least you’ll get some sorry ass executive to court and you don’t need to pay a lawyer. By the way, most states don’t allow them to bring a lawyer. You need to get the state license number of the store to file against. Call your state capitol or go on line. All national companies have to have a state address to operate in the state.
I did this to Isuzu. Got $600 back on a repair they said wasn’t covered by the warrantee.
1. Summary:
o CompUSA has in the past or continues to misrepresent its TAP printer express replacement warranties. Sales people encourage consumers to purchase such TAP plans, explicitly stating that the product can be returned to the store for a new replacement, or a gift card within the original purchase price limit. In reality:
- After a 21 day return period the store has no role. All TAP service requests (via phone or online) are communicated to a TAP subcontractor having nothing to do with stores or sales.
- Upon certifying a valid TAP claim, and making a decision to replace rather than repair, the TAP subcontractor has no further role. Actual replacement choices and delivery is delegated to yet another subcontractor, ANEW Business Solutions. That subcontractor has no customer contact, and no new printers – all are refurbished and shipped in flimsy brown boxes with no accessories. Paper trays, ink, etc. must be scavenged from the original printer to make the replacement fully functional. The replacement has a 90 day warranty, after which all TAP liabilities are considered to be fulfilled.
- In comparison, original manufacturers (HP, Epson, etc.) also sell refurbished printers. They refurbish them to their standards, ship in original retail cartons complete with all new ink, software and manuals. They also provide a manufacturer’s warranty of 12 months – the same as their new printers.
o Here is what I’ve been told by CompUSA people about such misrepresentation:
- “We are retraining our staff not to do that anymore.†– Store Ass’t. Manager
- “I’ve worked in HQ for five years and that is still going on.†Corporate Customer Service representative
- “We get lots of complaints about what sales people say about TAP versus how it actually works.†ANEW Business Solutions representative – subcontractor for TAP replacements.
- The above admissions have no impact on resolving customer issues. That is, misrepresentation is acknowledged to occur generally throughout the CompUSA system, but the actual wording of the TAP plan applies, no matter what the sales staff said. It’s like being told “Yeah, we lied to you, but we don’t care.â€
o CompUSA also constructs a number of barriers to appealing any TAP plan replacements, by:
- Delegating downstream to the above subcontractors, none of whom have actual customer service resolution authority.
- Directing complaints to two highly constrained websites (“in store†or “online purchaseâ€) for raising issues via fillable online forms each of which limits all complaints to a maximum of 1000 characters (inc. spaces and punctuation!) – totally inadequate to explain much of anything. Use of these sites to reference a TAP service number and request a return telephone call to discuss the details of a shoddy replacement issue trigger an automatic and anonymous email reply stating the matter to be closed as a replacement was shipped per TAP plan criteria. No one actually will talk to the customer.
- Failing to publish corporate customer service email addresses or telephone numbers.
- Hiding a difficult to discover option in the (800) CompUSA main number that does reach so-called “Corporate Customer Service†(a store manager spent some time figuring this out for us). At this contact point, the representative’s initial response focuses on redirecting customers back to stores and subcontractors (i. e. “this is a matter for you to take up with TAP staff, not us.†Persistent pressure by a customer, though, can establish a “formal case number and complaint notes, with a promise of a callback within 72 hours. We were persistent, but it was a lie anyway.
- After 72 hours, no response is received. Calling back and providing yet another rep. with the formal complaint reveals that a decision was made to close the case. They don’t call or email to tell you that – you have to pester them. Any attempt to query why the promised return call was not made, or why the revelation of the case being closed was not communicated by CompUSA to the customer, rather than being discovered by the customer, is cut off with “I’m transferring you to a TAP representative as the matter is now closed here.â€
o The entire customer service system, whether at the point of sale or the upper echelons of corporate “communicationsâ€) is founded on the principle of saying one thing and then doing something completely different, with any actual conversation that could be material to the complaint and its resolution being strictly prohibited. Stores and TAP say call corporate, and corporate refers everything back to a store or a TAP subcontractor that it knows has no authority to resolve the issue.
o This is actually a customer abuse system, carefully compartmentalized and bereft of any accountability for misrepresentation by staff and shoddy performance by segmented subcontractors.
2. The explanation that CompUSA Corporate Customer Service had no interest in hearing or reading:
o On June 2, 2006 we purchased an Epson Stylus Photo RX700 printer at CompUSA for $399.99. It was Epson’s highest-priced multifunction inkjet, providing flash card slots, flatbed color and b&w scanning, including 35mm film and slides, color and B&W printing, including non-computer dependent functions. The salesman convinced us to also purchase a $44.99 2 Year TAP Printer Express Exchange Replacement Plan, explicitly describing the plan and assuring us that if we had a covered problem within the extended warranty period, we could bring the printer to any CompUSA store for either exchange or a gift card of equal value.
o Within the last few months, the RX700 has generated enough failures to warrant our reliance on the TAP plan. Issues include incomplete scanning, partial page printing, and failing to read or scan to a number of flash cards otherwise readable in other peripherals. We also note that this model was quickly orphaned in the retail market due to a growing pattern of such problems, as well as performance limitations under Mac OS X. The special ink cartridges that were designed only for the RX700 model are now unavailable in any local stores since the printer was withdrawn from stores. CompUSA still carries them but is a 90 mile round trip. In withdrawing the product, there were no driver updates available either. Curiously, the RX700 has never been replaced by Epson with an upgraded model, and Epson now sells only cheaper models with fewer features, and more subdued hype.
o On Oct. 15, 2007 my company called the TAP service line and initiated a service request. We received an email providing a case number and telling us to check the TAP website to track progress on our claim. When the online status remained unchanged for more than a week, we called the TAP people again and found that the warranty had been verified and that “a decision was pendingâ€. We had to call again to find that a decision had been made to replace the printer. No one at TAP would or could tell us what we would receive, as that was up to a different subcontractor, whose name and telephone number was withheld.
o On Oct 26, 2007 we received a “refurbished†RX700 of claimed equal value from ANEW Business Solutions. According to its website, ANEW Business Solutions is committed to “Offering high quality low cost repair services and solutions to the retail, OEM and service communities.†Its customer in this case is CompUSA, not the end users.
o It does its own refurbishment, and keeps its costs down by falling well short of what the printer manufacturers themselves do. The replacement arrived in a flimsy brown carton that was splitting open at the seams on arrival. It was foamed in place, included no ink cartridges or other related materials, and was missing its output paper tray.
o ANEW directs follow-up support problems to http://www.supportmyitem.com. This website is nothing more than a link to the major original manufacturer’s websites. They of course do not support printers refurbished by third parties. A phone call to them revealed that they never send out anything new, and rarely anything different than the same model being replaced. They never include removable parts, ink, or anything else. They provide a 90 warranty, which will only trigger more of the same refurbished, substandard units arriving at the customer’s door.
We spent $400 for a supposedly durable, top-of-the-line printer, and another $45 for a misrepresented TAP, and have received something that is worth far less than what we bought, or even a manufacturer’s refurbished and guaranteed unit. We would have accepted a gift card, or another printer of similar capabilities within the original cost limit. And, we would have continued to buy at CompUSA.
Given the highly refined customer abuse system in place at CompUSA, including an arrogant, hostile corporate contact point, useless online complaint forms, and undisclosed use of subcontractors who ship sick-sounding, part-lacking rebuilts, we caution any company or consumer against doing business with CompUSA at all, and especially, falling for the verbal sales pitches extolling TAP plans.
Instead, consider Staples, Office Depot or OfficeMax. Here is a quote from the latter’s MaxAssurance Replacement Protection for Electronics under $400:
“Simply return the failed product to our replacement depot using the prepaid shipping label we provide. We will send you an OfficeMax Gift Card for the product’s full purchase price paid (plus tax if applicable).†Their warranty also covers accidental damage from handling, and begins at the end of the manufacturer’s warranty, not the beginning!
Guess where we bought our legitimate replacement printer. CompUSA made a corporate decision that being deceptive and saving itself a few bucks per TAP plan is of greater value than retaining customer loyalty.
The death of CompUSA is deserved, in my opinion.
The continuous relocation of merchandise lengthened my visits on numerous occasions. I knew exactly what I needed, and where it was; but the product was moved to another section of the store.
So here I am studying the contents of three rows of merchandise to find the product that I needed for about 15 minutes. Five store sales staff are about 25 feet from me, but are too busy joking with each other and generally having a good time to ask me if I needed any help.
I can’t blame the guys working at the store; the management has to set the standard expected from employees. The store management and corporate management didn’t care – so why should the workers? With the high turnover of employees that this CompUSA experienced, it is impossible for any sense of team spirit to take place.
Something went wrong, and I hope that future MBAs will study this event and learn from it.
I hear that CompUSA is closing all stores after the first of next year. Good riddance, poor customer service, high prices on parts & service and rebates that never come, who needs that.
I bought a refurbished PC from CompUSA’s auction website and then 6 months later they sold me an ext warranty. Now I need warranty work and they have no record of me purchasing the warranty. I have the org warranty receipt but that seems to be of no use. The company based in Dalls is not wanting to assist me either. Their Customer Support is more reluctant and rude that wanting to assist either. I even filed a compaint with the BBB and now the case is closed???? No answer yet there either. The company is also closing the last store in our city of 400K. Maybe the company will closing up in perm soon. We can only hope.
First I would’ve complained to the manager,then to the better business bureau,then the department of consumer protection,then the attorney generals office.The last two usually work pretty good…
That is awful! Good that they got bad publicity!
In November of 2007 I bought a Sony Laptop on Clearance. It seemed to have a problem from the start but after a major issue I sent it into Sony warranty. When it was returned to me there was a sorry note that it had to be repaired twice. I now find out that Comp USA sold me a computer that had already been sold sent to Sony for repair and put back on the shelf for me to buy. Thanks CompUSA.
Avoid the hassle-buy from Dell.