Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone discrimination Radio Shack style

M

mysterioustko

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 7, 2011
423
0
So according the Radio Shack district administrator in my area, Radio Shack can sell you an iPhone without service if you pay full cost, but only if they feel like it's a "good risk", and that you won't dispute the charge later on. How do they look at a person and determine who will or will not dispute a charge? Well I went into a store to make my purchase and apparently they felt I was a "bad risk" and refused to sell me the phone. Bear in mind that Radio Shack's policy does not preclude them from selling phones at full cost with no service. So basically they just look at you and decide if you are going to rip them off or not...all based on looks. Discrimination at its finest.

http://thesmartphonechamp.com/radioshackdiscrimination/
 
mysterioustko said:
So according the Radio Shack district administrator in my area, Radio Shack can sell you an iPhone without service if you pay full cost, but only if they feel like it's a "good risk", and that you won't dispute the charge later on. How do they look at a person and determine who will or will not dispute a charge? Well I went into a store to make my purchase and apparently they felt I was a "bad risk" and refused to sell me the phone. Bear in mind that Radio Shack's policy does not preclude them from selling phones at full cost with no service. So basically they just look at you and decide if you are going to rip them off or not...all based on looks. Discrimination at its finest.

http://thesmartphonechamp.com/radioshackdiscrimination/
Click to expand...

If you don't like the way Radio Shack conducts their business, why don't you just buy it from Apple Store where it's factory unlocked?

Not only will you be able to buy online which is quick (sans shipping time), but nobody will judge you for who you are.
 
a friend of mine is a manager at a radio shack. she knew nothing about iPhones. She kept saying "oh it can't do multitasking" and all this other false crap and I showed her it was all false and she kept saying that she is told to push every other phone over the iphone because they dont make money on the iPhone. I know verizon is the same way.
 
mysterioustko said:
So according the Radio Shack district administrator in my area, Radio Shack can sell you an iPhone without service if you pay full cost, but only if they feel like it's a "good risk", and that you won't dispute the charge later on. How do they look at a person and determine who will or will not dispute a charge? Well I went into a store to make my purchase and apparently they felt I was a "bad risk" and refused to sell me the phone. Bear in mind that Radio Shack's policy does not preclude them from selling phones at full cost with no service. So basically they just look at you and decide if you are going to rip them off or not...all based on looks. Discrimination at its finest.

http://thesmartphonechamp.com/radioshackdiscrimination/
Click to expand...

I don't like Radioshack.
 
Last edited:
cainnovacaine said:
Did you try to pay cash?
Click to expand...
No I was using my bank card and had my driver's license with me also to prove it is my card.
chrf097 said:
I would take it up with the BBB. Didn't we eliminate profiling already?
Click to expand...
I intend to. Apparently Radio Shack feels profiling is acceptable and that credit card fraud has a particular look...which apparently looks like me. :rolleyes:

RocketRed said:
If you don't like the way Radio Shack conducts their business, why don't you just buy it from Apple Store where it's factory unlocked?

Not only will you be able to buy online which is quick (sans shipping time), but nobody will judge you for who you are.
Click to expand...
For me it's a matter of supporting stores in my community and convenience. I try to make it a point to do business in my community to help keep stores in the community open. If they close down due to lack of business it brings the area down, which is not a good thing. The Apple store is on the opposite side of town, so it's also more convenient to go to stores on my side of town like Best Buy, Radio Shack, etc.

braddick said:
Lots of chargebacks on full priced iPhones would lead any business owner to take precautions.
Click to expand...
Well according to their corporate office that's not their policy to disallow sales based on how they feel about a customer. Their policy is that they do sell phones at full cost without service, so it isn't for the store manager to override that and decided who can and can't buy a phone. Furthermore, how does one decide who will or will not rip them off. What does a person who will rip you off look like? What does a person who won't rip you off look like? Credit card fraud doesn't have a look, and for them to suggest otherwise is wrong.
 
Gaelic2 said:
Do p:confused:eople actually buy anything at a Radio Shack?????
Click to expand...

lol yeah really. I don't see how they are still in business. Have you ever seen a line at the checkout in Radio Shack? I personally haven't. The most I've ever seen is one or two people buying something at one time. You'd think they'd be begging people to buy something.
 
What carrier do you intent to use this phone on?
If its on a GSM carrier like the posters above said you're better off getting a factory unlocked iphone from the Apple store. Its the only place that sells them unlocked in the US. Convinience or local support dont matter if you buy an iphone full price and its still locked to AT&T for example.
Doesnt make sense, you're paying the same amount and getting one offiically unlocked from Apple instead.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.4; en-us; DROID BIONIC Build/5.5.1_84_DBN-71) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Radio Shack is a horrible company. I used to work there and it was the worst place I ever worked for. First of all they pay minimum wage, not a dime over. The employee discounts are pathetic. The worst part of it though is they expect you to sell a cell phone contract to everybody that walks into the store, including somebody just looking for say batteries or something. Also they actually get upset with you for selling prepaid phones, and they push and push for you to brainwash those that want a prepaid phone into signing a contract even if they don't need or want one. And of course they want you to sell warranties on 10 dollar items like headphones. Also there was hardly any training and they expect you to be selling a bunch of phones immediately, even if the store is empty almost all the time like mine was. I felt so good when I quit working for these people.
 
Applejuiced said:
What carrier do you intent to use this phone on?
If its on a GSM carrier like the posters above said you're better off getting a factory unlocked iphone from the Apple store. Its the only place that sells them unlocked in the US. Convinience or local support dont matter if you buy an iphone full price and its still locked to AT&T for example.
Doesnt make sense, you're paying the same amount and getting one offiically unlocked from Apple instead.
Click to expand...

I don't intend to use the phone on any carrier. The person who the phone is for has AT&T and they would be using it on that carrier. As for buying unlocked at the Apple store, all they have is the 64gb model (not to mention they are on the other side of town) which is overkill.
 
mysterioustko said:
I don't intend to use the phone on any carrier. The person who the phone is for has AT&T and they would be using it on that carrier. As for buying unlocked at the Apple store, all they have is the 64gb model (not to mention they are on the other side of town) which is overkill.
Click to expand...

Yes, so buying it at Radioshack doesnt make much sense since you'll be paying full price for a locked AT&T iphone.
But up to you.
You can reserve one the night before and go pick it up or you can order one online and have it shipped to you for free from their website.
 
briand05 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.4; en-us; DROID BIONIC Build/5.5.1_84_DBN-71) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Radio Shack is a horrible company. I used to work there and it was the worst place I ever worked for. First of all they pay minimum wage, not a dime over. The employee discounts are pathetic. The worst part of it though is they expect you to sell a cell phone contract to everybody that walks into the store, including somebody just looking for say batteries or something. Also they actually get upset with you for selling prepaid phones, and they push and push for you to brainwash those that want a prepaid phone into signing a contract even if they don't need or want one. And of course they want you to sell warranties on 10 dollar items like headphones. Also there was hardly any training and they expect you to be selling a bunch of phones immediately, even if the store is empty almost all the time like mine was. I felt so good when I quit working for these people.
Click to expand...

Radio Shack will make themselves look like dicks if they push warranties on $10 items :eek:
 
mrsir2009 said:
Radio Shack will make themselves look like dicks if they push warranties on $10 items :eek:
Click to expand...

They do exactly that. The shopping experience is terrible, I have to go in there with a stern face.

My advice is, be prepared to say "NO."

They're sharks. All I wanted was an iPhone charger.
 
I used to work for Radioshack. That company will try to dry every customer who walks into that store.

We weren't supposed to sell phones w/o a contract unless the customer was either buying accessories or a warranty. Or pretty much both. We HAVE to sell every wireless phone with a warranty & a case. Therefore, if you don't want to buy a case or the warranty we would have to tell the customer the item wasn't in stock.

Oh and now every little cable at RS has a warranty. And careful, we were also asked to add the warranty w/o the customer knowing. So.. Check your receipt after buying a cable or whatnot. And no, the warranty isn't supposed to come with the item like we were taught to say to the customer. I'm glad I left.

Oh and yes, we were also taught about discrimination. if the customer seems fishy or whatnot, don't sell him/her anything. So we had to go by looks and guess if he/she was bad.
 
RotaryP7 said:
I used to work for Radioshack. That company will try to dry every customer who walks into that store.

We weren't supposed to sell phones w/o a contract unless the customer was either buying accessories or a warranty. Or pretty much both. We HAVE to sell every wireless phone with a warranty & a case. Therefore, if you don't want to buy a case or the warranty we would have to tell the customer the item wasn't in stock.

Oh and now every little cable at RS has a warranty. And careful, we were also asked to add the warranty w/o the customer knowing. So.. Check your receipt after buying a cable or whatnot. And no, the warranty isn't supposed to come with the item like we were taught to say to the customer. I'm glad I left.

Oh and yes, we were also taught about discrimination. if the customer seems fishy or whatnot, don't sell him/her anything. So we had to go by looks and guess if he/she was bad.
Click to expand...

That sounds awesome. Sign me up!







I hope they go bankrupt.
 
RotaryP7 said:
Oh and yes, we were also taught about discrimination. if the customer seems fishy or whatnot, don't sell him/her anything. So we had to go by looks and guess if he/she was bad.
Click to expand...

I'd like to know more about this lesson. What are you supposed to be looking for?
 
Applejuiced said:
What carrier do you intent to use this phone on?
If its on a GSM carrier like the posters above said you're better off getting a factory unlocked iphone from the Apple store. Its the only place that sells them unlocked in the US. Convinience or local support dont matter if you buy an iphone full price and its still locked to AT&T for example.
Doesnt make sense, you're paying the same amount and getting one offiically unlocked from Apple instead.
Click to expand...

Applejuiced said:
Yes, so buying it at Radioshack doesnt make much sense since you'll be paying full price for a locked AT&T iphone.
But up to you.
You can reserve one the night before and go pick it up or you can order one online and have it shipped to you for free from their website.
Click to expand...

It makes perfect sense. I don't want to buy an unlocked phone from the Apple Store. An unlocked phone has no benefit for me or the person I am purchasing it for. They don't intend on changing carriers nor will it be sold, so the an unlocked phone would have no more value than a carrier locked one for us. Next time I'll just go to Best Buy like I normally do. I most definitely will not be doing business with Radio Shack in the future.
 
RotaryP7 said:
I used to work for Radioshack. That company will try to dry every customer who walks into that store.

We weren't supposed to sell phones w/o a contract unless the customer was either buying accessories or a warranty. Or pretty much both. We HAVE to sell every wireless phone with a warranty & a case. Therefore, if you don't want to buy a case or the warranty we would have to tell the customer the item wasn't in stock.

Oh and now every little cable at RS has a warranty. And careful, we were also asked to add the warranty w/o the customer knowing. So.. Check your receipt after buying a cable or whatnot. And no, the warranty isn't supposed to come with the item like we were taught to say to the customer. I'm glad I left.

Oh and yes, we were also taught about discrimination. if the customer seems fishy or whatnot, don't sell him/her anything. So we had to go by looks and guess if he/she was bad.
Click to expand...
Yeah that's pretty much what I felt was communicated to me by the district administrator. He stated that the store manager could choose whether to sell it or not based on if he felt it was a "good risk". Considering that they know nothing about you, they have nothing more to go on than your appearance. That pissed me off, because them denying me the sale is basically the same as them saying they suspect me as being a person that will commit credit card fraud...this all from just looking at me. Then the question becomes what exactly was it that made you feel that way? Why sell to one person but not to me? THAT was a question they couldn't answer when I asked them...


motoleo said:
I'd like to know more about this lesson. What are you supposed to be looking for?
Click to expand...

As would I, because based on my experience with them yesterday, it would seem that the description would be young black male. So apparently they feel that I couldn't possibly afford to purchase an iphone without a discount and that I must be trying to rip them off. I don't need to steal or scam for anything, I do just fine. My earring alone is worth more than two of those iPhones, what heck do I need to commit credit card fraud for one for?....their treatment was beyond insulting.
 
They can afford to be discriminatory if they barely get any customers in the first place?
 
motoleo said:
They can afford to be discriminatory if they barely get any customers in the first place?
Click to expand...

Ha! Same thing I said too. lol They should be glad I even showed up in their store. Radio Shack is already struggling as it is, they don't need to be discriminating at all.
 
My real question is, why would you wanna buy it from Radio Shack, it is priced about 75-150 dollars over the Apple Store price. The 64GB 4S is priced at 849.99 from Apple, and is priced at 999.99 at Radio Shack, so WHY spend 150 more dollars to stay local?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back