Never Buying a Mac From CompUSA Again

[irishvic]

Well I go in Sunday to purchase a 12 inch powerbook. The dude goes to the back and says they can't find them but he says they havea big shipment coming in tuesday and he's gonna putin an order for an extra one for myself. well today being tuesday i call to check avaialability and they say yup 3 in stock so i shyt then hi tail it over there. my dad and i go in want the mac and again they say they can't find them. around this time im wondering WTF. so we tlak to the managers and shes pretty stupid so that went nowhere and im here wondering where 3 macs went in less than 30 minutes. i decided to just have them ship my mac to my house rather have to deal with the store and missing products. moral of the story is screw compusa.

[BakedBeans]

its unfourtunate... that one store and its idiots can give it there bad reputation... if i were you i would write a letter to compusa and tell them of that stores inadiqucy and how you wont be buying from them because of that one store (its a chain right not one store?)

[Abstract]

they say yup 3 in stock so i shyt then hi tail it over there.

Nice. ;)

[Coolvirus007]

I went to a compusa just outside boston and they were completely disorganized. I had to talk to the manager there but he was more ignorent than the rest of the staff I had talked to. Some compusas need to retrain their staff.

[wPod]

heh. . . now you can see where the nicknamne compScrewSA came from.they just want to screw you up and waste your time! id order off of apples web site assuming there is no apple store near you.

[Josh]

I went to CompUSA once, talked to a guy about when the new imacs would be arriving and how the "same as cash" program they have works. He was very friendly and informative.

A few days later, I call CompUSA to ask if its possible to reserve and imac once they arrive, so I can be sure to get one before they sell out. The first person has no idea, so they tell me they will get a manager. The "manager", who sounds 10 years younger than the first girl (couldnvt been over 18) tells me its not possible, but recommends another method:

"You could ask a salesman to "hide" one for you on the floor."

...as if that is a more professional and organized way than formally reserving one with my name :rolleyes:

I'll probably buy from there though, because their 0% financing sure beats apple's 26% financing :)

[asphalt-proof]

When I was shopping around for a Mac, I call CompUSA. I really didn't like the answers I got. Some were fairly outrageous, others I felt like he was jsut stupid. I decided to drive the extra 1 hour to the Apple Store.

[bousozoku]

CompUSA has long been known for their style and grace. They have no sales people, only order takers. It's good that they've been challenged by so many other groups, including Apple.

I've never been able to get anyone on the phone because the phone menus are set up in a circle to avoid letting you talk to anyone, except when you know the extension.

The company has Apple equipment but rarely gives it reasonable space. The two stores here have Apple employees and yet, things are still minimised. I know that there are many more games available, including hybrid titles but they go out of their way to make sure you can't get them. When the 4th generation iPod arrived, it was shown around page 4 of their flyer with no note that it was new. When the HP version of the iPod arrived, it was on the front page with no mention of Apple.

I'm also surprised that many things are overpriced. iLife is $49.00, they charge $49.99. The Adobe upgrades are $169, they charge $199.99. Of course, they have instant rebates to bring the things back down to the price other stores charge and people are glad to get such a bargain. :rolleyes:

Still, I've bought a bunch of hardware at CompUSA, simply because it was unavailable elsewhere or cheaper there. It looks like my next floor model won't come from there because they no longer seem to offer 50 percent discounts.

If you go to CompUSA, be prepared to figure out things for yourself since they don't know and don't get paid enough to care.

[morkintosh]

i decided to just have them ship my mac to my house rather have to deal with the store and missing products. moral of the story is screw compusa.

why not just buy it from the apple online store then? after reading this thread I have to ask why any mac users would buy from compuusa at all.

[wdlove]

why not just buy it from the apple online store then? after reading this thread I have to ask why any mac users would buy from compuusa at all.

From what I have observed at CompUSA, wouldn't have purchased such as important item as a Mac before this thread. I would be afraid that they would have the latest Mac available. Prefer to have a relationship with a knowledgeable staff member at my local Apple Store.

[mowogg]

It's not just CompUSA. Pretty much everywhere you go, the retail experience is shoddy. The problem is margins. Most companies have cut out training, incentives and employee recognition efforts in order to cut costs. There are some exceptions (In & Out Burger is one) but for the most part the overall shopping experience is a poor one. I'm sure everyone has even heard complaints about the service at the Apple Store.
I think that most folks accept this in return for what they (erroneously) believe are lower prices. There is an acceptance that NO customer service is OK (ATMs, pay at the pump, self-serve check out at Home Depot). It has gotten to the point where it is preferable to have no human interaction rather than poor customer service.
Overall, it sucks. The Wallmart model of pushing price over service doesn't do it for me. I'd much rather spend a few penniess more and shop at Target where the stores are clean and the service is better rather than WM. If you want REALLY iffy customer service, you should try shopping at Fry's!

[JLaFrance]

The Apple Rep at my local compUSA (South Town plaza, rochester NY) is excellent, probably because he works for Apple. He has always been able to find anything that I need. Where is yours?

It is unfortuate though.

[FuzzyBallz]

WTF, people buy stuff from CrapUSA?

[EminenceGrise]

heh. . . now you can see where the nicknamne compScrewSA came from.they just want to screw you up and waste your time! id order off of apples web site assuming there is no apple store near you.

I was always kind of partial to "CompUSSR" myself. However, the store I usually go to seems to be pretty good overall, but I don't tend to have special requests. I know what I'm looking for before I ever get to the front door - just in and out, Mission Impossible style. If they don't have it, I leave - although when I went in for Panther, they didn't have it on the shelf and I asked about that. Didn't have any trouble, they grabbed it from the back, or wherever they had a stack and that was it.

[Cooknn]

Does CompUSA have a "no questions asked" return policy like Best Buy? I am still on the fence about a new 23" Cinema Display and would like to make sure it doesn't have stuck pixels, etc before I lay down that much cash without the ability to return it...

[jackieonasses]

at my store...they have this guy thats right, ONE guy at all times his name is steve (go figure) and he is very informative. But when he is not there. there is no-one to assist you at all. but if you accidentally step foot in the adjacent peecee laptop arena 3 guys swarm you with gay questions like...
"you need any help?" "how is your day so far" and i tell them i need help with some mac related item, and the go there is some sweet pc stuff over there... forget them...

[BRM]

The Apple Rep at my local compUSA (South Town plaza, rochester NY) is excellent, probably because he works for Apple. He has always been able to find anything that I need. Where is yours?

It is unfortuate though.

When I got my iMac at CompUSA, it was only because of the Apple Rep at the store. Now that an Apple store has opened up in my city, I have never been back to CompUSA. I could live in that Apple store if they let me. :D

[Mac2004]

The sales clerks at Comp USA are paid comission so beware.... They will push certain brands and products (especially Epson). I never can trust people on commission because you have no idea what their ulterior motive is.

[FunkyPurple]

Their prices are often outrageous and most of the employees don't have a clue about anything...that's been my experience with them. I go elsewhere for what I need. :rolleyes:

[Phat_Pat]

http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=compusa_sucks
:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Koodauw]

Does CompUSA have a "no questions asked" return policy like Best Buy? I am still on the fence about a new 23" Cinema Display and would like to make sure it doesn't have stuck pixels, etc before I lay down that much cash without the ability to return it...

I would like to say that I too refer to it as CompUSSR.


As for the question, CompUSSR, will gladly return you your cinema display no questions asked, however they will be charging you a nice restocking fee to do so. 10-15% sounds about right. So if you have a spare $200 dollars to give them feel free.

Note: cinema displays can be purchased from bestbuy.com, and returned to any local store, free of restockin charges. although they do charge for shipping now, which makes "renting" a display costly, man the days of free shipping, you could rent anything....

[puckhead193]

I went to a compusa just outside boston and they were completely disorganized. I had to talk to the manager there but he was more ignorent than the rest of the staff I had talked to. Some compusas need to retrain their staff.

which one did u go to, the one where there is a bestbuy kmart, petco.....

[minkis]

i as many others have also had trouble with them, i got lucky and bought my ibook from apple's website but i went in one right outside nashville to look for mini ipods and i didn't see any so i asked the guy if they had any in stock and he showed me to a 3rd gen regular ipod and i mentioned again the i wanted a "mini ipod" so he showed me to the other side of the store and showed me a 4th gen 20g ipod and i asked him once more and he wasn't sure so he disappeared into the back to ask someone then came back and said" oh i'm not sure if we have any mini ipods but if we do their in the back but i can go look for you if you want" this was also right after he wasted tnearly thirty minutes of my time in a tiny store trying to find a mini ipods so i said no thanks and just truned around and left. the moral of the story is avoid compusa at all costs.

[irishvic]

and i had to purchase one at compusa because i live in el paso texas which is still in 1984 and my parents seem to bet here tooa s they refuse to put their credit card online, so ya im stuck between a rock and a hard place. but on a lighter note i recieved my mac today and by god im in love

[bousozoku]

When I got my iMac at CompUSA, it was only because of the Apple Rep at the store. Now that an Apple store has opened up in my city, I have never been back to CompUSA. I could live in that Apple store if they let me. :D

I dislike saying it, but the people at the Apple store seem pretty useless compared to the Apple reps. at each of the CompUSA stores here.

Thank goodness for competition.

[Abstract]

If you're going to buy an Apple product from a chain store like CompUSA, make sure the sales people don't get commission because they said, "Hi".

Make sure you know more about Macs than they do. I always test my salesmen out first by asking a rookie question and listening to the accuracy of the response.

At Futureshop (largest electronics retailer in Canada, and bought by Best Buy a few years ago :rolleyes: ), one guy tried to sell me a 14" iBook even though I wanted the 12". I was set on a 12" iBook or PB. I knew more than him, and knew the screen size wasn't a problem. He said that I should buy the 14" model because the price difference was only $400 Cdn. He also said that the 14" model (possibly the G3 900MHz model?) was as fast as a P4 3GHz (fastest PC at the time). Then he got the box and walked towards the cashier, as if I told him I was going to buy it. All I asked was whether they had a 12", and the guy is already asking me for my credit card with a 14" iBook in his hand. 'tard. :rolleyes:

[stillwater]

I went in to CompUSA last week looking for a USB2 hub. They had a Belkin model in the Apple section that had the Apple style packaging priced at $70.

I the looked in the PC section and found the same exact piece in what I guess is their standard packaging priced at $60.

That still seemed steep for hub, so I went to the Apple Store and found it priced at $50.

I had wrongly assumed that the Apple store would be more expensive.

From now on I'll not bother shopping at CompUSA, at least not for mac stuff.

[t300]

I go to CompUSA to LOOK at Mac stuff, never really buy from there, because as I say, you cannot get ANYTHING cheaper on the internet. Keep this is mind...They must be doing something right if Apple is still letting them sell their products.

On a lighter note, I actually had a little thing with them about 2 months ago and am now sitting on $400 of giftcards to CompUSA.

[USC_Gamecock]

I go to CompUSA to LOOK at Mac stuff, never really buy from there, because as I say, you cannot get ANYTHING cheaper on the internet. Keep this is mind...They must be doing something right if Apple is still letting them sell their products.

On a lighter note, I actually had a little thing with them about 2 months ago and am now sitting on $400 of giftcards to CompUSA.

I couldn't even go look properly. I was stuck between a 15" and 17" PB, CompUSA is 30 mins away, and the Apple store is 1.75 hours away. So I go to CompUSA, thinking, like all their PC Laptops, you could play around on them, turn them on, pick them up, see how the weight is on them, see if there is a lot of flex. But NO!! These things have the batteries removes, no power cord going to them, and are almost bolted down to the display. I am thinking, "how in the hell do they think they will sell a lot of Macs, then they have them basically in a prison." So, then I go FIND a sales person, and ask him, but he knows nothing, and tries to take me over the the 17" HP laptop. So I ask to speak to the sales manager. Instead, he sends out the Apple rep for the store, Mr. Ware. I am happy, because I wrongly think, that this guy will be more helpful. But he gives me some lecture about how too many people just play on the Macs for them to be able to power them up, and that he doesn't have the keys to unbolt them. So then, I am furious, but I ask him some questions, for fun. Told him I wanted one with 128 MB Vid. memory, and he had the nerve to tell me that apple doesn't make it with that, so I told him he needs to go back to Apple Training, and that I will file a complaint about him (which I never did), and I leave. So, I drive on 1.25 hours more and hit the apple store, and get all the info I need, and go home and order the 17" with 128 video mem.

CompUSA truly does suck, wasted 40 mins. there for nothing!!!! :mad:

[rueyeet]

The Apple Rep at my local compUSA (South Town plaza, rochester NY) is excellent, probably because he works for Apple. He has always been able to find anything that I need. Where is yours?An Apple Rep doesn't always make for a good experience. I remember my last visit to a CompUSA to look at Apple gear: There was a guy asking for buying advice (the classic "Powerbook now, or wait?" question) I happened to mention that the rumormill expected Aluminum Powerbooks in a few months. Which, at the time, was true. And the Apple Rep looked at me like I was the biggest idiot on the planet and in a tone dripping with the sarcasm of those who must tread among the unwashed intellectual masses, scathingly informed me that there was no such thing as an Aluminum Powerbook.

Well, no kidding, Sherlock, I did mention that it was a "rumor".

I don't have an issue with the guy trying to stamp out a rumor that might influence his customer's purchasing decision, but I DO have an issue with his unprofessional tone, and at being treated like an idiot.

I'd actually never go to CompUSA to buy either a PC or a Mac. The salespeople are too often teenage ignoramuses, ignorant gits, or snotty tech snobs.

[virividox]

i know when rumors are brought up sales people get annoyed because they are trying to sell based on hard facts, while the rumors may be true later on, its kind hard to tell a customer to wait based on rumors

imnot defending him; i mean if he was disrepsectful he was disrespectful; but you gotta see that a salesperson shouldnt be relying on rumors

[gear02]

I never ask employees at bestbuy and compusa for information or advice, other than where is this exact product (i've been lucky since the stores I've been to know where the item is kept).

The times I buy stuff from compusa are the times when i need it nowish (computer died, etc.) Those places don't have training, so do some research yourself, and only use the store to buy, not to get information.

[t300]

How many of you really need a sales associate? I'd say most members here are pretty much in the know about computers, and everyone is just crazed. When I go in, I know what does what, etc. I never rely on the sales guys simply (and I don't want to sound full of myself, but's true) because I know that I know a lot more than them.

It is fun to sometimes quiz them on difficult questions that they cannot answer, though. :D

[edesignuk]

http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=compusa_sucks
:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Damn you! I was just about to post that! Good job I had a quick skip through the thread first! :D

[slooksterPSV]

Well my family isn't going to deal with CompUSA ever again. We go in and my brother buys an iPod (the first Apple product in our house(and I thought it was awesome)) and it just all of the sudden stopped working. Well, the next day they took it back and it just started working again. Well, the store charged my brother 15% stocking fee and made him spend $20 so he could get $250 back out of like 329.99 or that.

[Macmaniac]

The CompUSA in my area is ok, they keep things up to date and there is usually a knowledgeable mac guy around. Although when it comes to repairs I would not touch CompUSA with a 50 foot pole :eek:

[jenniff]

Well, the next day they took it back and it just started working again. Well, the store charged my brother 15% stocking fee and made him spend $20 so he could get $250 back out of like 329.99 or that.

Hehe. I used to work there. What's even worse, is that since it works, they'll take it into the warehouse and re-shrinkwrap it. I've done it myself. Then it goes back on the floor or in the lockup rom to be sold again, as though it had never been purchased at all.

An employee once purchased a 5 disc DVD player. When he took it home, he found PapaJohn's coupons and this really weird brochure discussing Bush written in an Asian language inside of the box. Good thing a customer didn't purchase that!

CompUSA has never catered to Mac customers. Really, (as mentioned earlier), what retail store has? None of those retail chains train their employees sufficiently. CompUSA had "CyberScholar" every month, which was basically a series of online tests designed to educate you on new products. Everyone was forced to do it, but you retook it until you got a hundred percent. Skip the reading and guess until you get them all right.

In truth, stores like that cannot afford to give decent training due to the high turnover rate of retail. Spend $$$ training a 19 year old kid how to sell and what the product is, and then he turns around and gets a "real" job. Can't blame them for not wanting to waste their money.

I agree with the others in this thread: don't buy anything in a store. The benefits of online purchases far outweigh dealing with sales or management. I remember once, a customer of mine refused to buy AppleCare on the 12" PB that he was purchasing. In the back office, as the manager was handing me the PB, he tossed the box on the ground, embittered because the customer wouldn't buy AppleCare. I'm sure the PB was fine, but do you really want to shop at a store where stuff like that is going on behind closed doors? I think not.

[jenniff]

The CompUSA in my area is ok, they keep things up to date and there is usually a knowledgeable mac guy around. Although when it comes to repairs I would not touch CompUSA with a 50 foot pole :eek:

That's not an understatement to say the least. Tech in CompUSA can be so incredibly incompetent. Pretty much anyone with A+ can get in.

Think about taking your PB to CompUSA to get repaired. You trust that the tech will take care of it, know how to fix it, etc. When I was working, after the customer left, an unhealthy portion of time I was called back to tech to help with repairs. So, customer thinks that a certified tech is repairing his machine, when in reality it's the sales on the floor who technically shouldn't even be in the tech area.

Despite this, it totally depends on where you are located. Sure, maybe my store was lame, but another one 200 miles away could be better than the local Apple store. Unlikely, as who would choose to work in CompUSA over an Apple store. However, it's all about the individuals in management and in tech.