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Broken iMac G5's at CompUSA?

I

iMetalG5

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 13, 2005
786
0
i was just at a CompUSA in upstate NY and well I don't understand why they would display a broken iMac G5. The screen looked like snow with crazy colors flickering and well the iMac did not work. They had a sign on it that said Manager's Special $999 but geez, no one in their right mind would purchase something like this! When the salesman came over I asked him about the iMac and he just said, "This is not my area sorry..." and walked away to the PeeCees and promptly went online to do his browsing. I don't know but I would think twice about buying a mac from CompUSA...

They have PM's on Manager Special as well at some good prices but i tell ya, when the PM display model has a kernal panic from just trying to click on "About this Mac" you gotta wonder.
 
CompUSA used to be one of the better Apple resellers BEFORE The
Apple Stores opened.

Unfortunately, things have changed and now their support for Apple products
is not much better than Best Buy.

Many of the products they now stock are older versions and the store displays
are poorly maintained.

Lately it seems that CompUSA uses the Apple products they do carry
to push their Wintel products.

I would notify both Apple and CompUSA management about your experience at this particular store.

I doubt that either of the defective products you saw failed on their own.
It's much more likely that some destructive Wintel Troll deliberately damaged these displays.
 
Were you at Carousel Mall? I was just there! I saw an iMac, but didn't look at it close enough to see if the screen was broken. However, the iBook was missing half it's keys :( :mad: :( :mad:
 
I'm betting it was the one in Latham, NY. They used to have a broken Titanium PB as a Manager's Special, until like.. 7 months ago. :eek: The screen was shattered and most of the paint had sratched off.

And the "Manager's Special" is always some completely ridiculous price.

CompUSA is like some bizarre Mac torture place. It's like they give computers to 3 year-olds for a couple weeks then put them up on display chained down into those brace things and go "This is what you get for being different!".
 
I've bought all my Apple products (except for one iPod mini) from my local CompUSA (There are no Apple Stores around here). I've gotten to know the Apple rep and he's always pushing new products and is very knowledgeable, even with the Xserve line which he does not have on display. A couple of months ago Sony set up what seems to be a small, dedicated Sony store like Apple did. As soon as he noticed it he set up a G5 with a 30" Cinema Display where it could be seen from the Sony shop. :p
All the machines are always in top shape, I've never seen a broken Mac there. They were even willing to ship my PowerBook next-day-air from another store so I could get a newly-updated PowerBook right when it was announced because they were scheduled to get them a couple of days later.
There are two or three CompUSA employees around who are willing to help people interested in Macs even though it is not their assigned area if for some reason the Apple rep isn't there.

Of course Apple Stores are nicer, but there aren't any around here and CompUSA is doing a good job.
 
Huezo said:
I've bought all my Apple products (except for one iPod mini) from my local CompUSA (There are no Apple Stores around here). I've gotten to know the Apple rep and he's always pushing new products and is very knowledgeable, even with the Xserve line which he does not have on display. A couple of months ago Sony set up what seems to be a small, dedicated Sony store like Apple did. As soon as he noticed it he set up a G5 with a 30" Cinema Display where it could be seen from the Sony shop. :p
All the machines are always in top shape, I've never seen a broken Mac there. They were even willing to ship my PowerBook next-day-air from another store so I could get a newly-updated PowerBook right when it was announced because they were scheduled to get them a couple of days later.
There are two or three CompUSA employees around who are willing to help people interested in Macs even though it is not their assigned area if for some reason the Apple rep isn't there.

Of course Apple Stores are nicer, but there aren't any around here and CompUSA is doing a good job.
Click to expand...

Your store is a definite exception to the rule.

Our store here in Glen Burnie is HORRIBLE.

I wouldn't buy a mouse pad from them.
 
The lady in Carousel Mall's CompUSA is really into Macs and is really nice. She answered a ton of my questions and even brought me a CD so I could try out some of the drives in the computers. I still see broken things there all the time. I mean an iBook with 12 keys missing? Forget about trying it out.
 
CompUSA Sucks and needs to learn how to repair stuff

COMP USA’s “repair” department sucks. Hitting it with a brick would do more good.

I went to buy a power book, G4 w super drive.
Originally they were going to offer it at a price $150 lower then what they put on the tag. I decided not to accept this offer and purchase a warrantee (the manager was NOT willing to offer the lower price and a warranty at the lower price.) I am working on my apple tech certification and therefore, I was able to easily replace the damage component I was told about with some parts I had around the house using the Apple procedure. However, additional hardware replacements I was not informed of were required. Logically, I did not want to pay for these. I decided to use the warranty I had purchased for $150 (plus the additional $200 for the actual warranty) to have these repairs made.

Anyhow, they needed to repair the computer 6 SIX times. Each time, I told them EXACTLY what needed to be repaired. When they called me (if they called me) and said they “repaired it” they replaced something that was unnecessary and damaged something else. (For example, I didn’t know a bad power adaptor could cause a computer to have kernel errors. Especially when it is on battery power. :) ) This simple repair took six months. CompUSA has incompetent technicians and is unable to diagnose and perform a simple repair even when told exactly what to do. When I got the computer back 2 weeks ago and decided I had enough. I paid for the necessary replacement parts and performed the repair myself. But, the time and effort I needed to put in order to get CompUSA to attempt a repair was outrageous. (Oh, and the BBB did not help, nor did their CEO, customer service or corporate headquarters.

Though, I am definitely not complaining about a new logic board and power adaptor. This whole situation is outrageous.

So, … in short … CompUSA sucks and they need to learn how to make a simple repair.
 
One time I saw the Marine Aquarium running as the desktop background at a CompUSA on a 23 inch display. It must have been done by a Mac customer because that looked way to cool and probably sold a few Macs. It was quickly removed within the next day.

To defend CompUSA, they probably make most of their profits from software and the Mac software selection isn't very good. Some of the best commercial software for the Mac has been from small developers too small for retail sales.
 
This was the Nyack, NY CompUSA. Palasades Mall or something like that. We were just stopping by and taking a break from a long road trip. Missing keys - on the PowerMac the keyboard had three missing keys. I don't know why they would let their inventory get like that! It was horrible.

The iMac's screen was just fuzzy and going nuts. I could make out a ? mark in the center but it just looked like the thing was shot. I don't think anyone maintains their Macs in that store!
 
The CompUSA at Dayton South is okay. The Mac Rep is a bit of a weirdo... but it comes with the territory. The patience it takes to put up with the Macfanatics is a rare quality indeed...

CompUSA is a pc store but they're easy to find and plentiful... they offer good warranties for fair prices, offer a lot of great rebates and they have a decent selection.

If I had the choice between driving an hour to my closest Apple store (cinci) or driving 5 minutes to CompUSA.... I'd choose not to save my time and skip the fanboy stuff. Their floor models are abused by Patrons, fellow mac-nerds, and the like.... if they offer good prices, deals, specials... I'd say buy a new, in box unit with AppleCare and be done with it.

:D
 
When I went to my Compusa store the last time, everything in the mac section was in tip top shape. But I have seen computers with missing keys and missing items there. All of the managers go there to talk or that cause there are only like 2 or 3 people who even remotely go towards the mac section. But when I went in there last time, I saw this guy go over to the iMac G5, he was looking at it and I walked over and told him this. "That is one of the best computer's out there, way better than any PC. Considering buying it?" he told me he was considering getting one, cause I guess his friend has one and his friend said it's never crashed, had a virus, etc. Needless to say I told him this was all true. We started talking and that and then he decided to buy the 17" iMac. I felt good about him making the purchase.
That reminds me of another time I was there. This person was trying to buy an iBook, he knew what he wanted and all that. Well, he went over and tried picking on up when the manager ran over to him and said that he had a better computer down about 2 isles. Needless to say the guy was not very happy, he told the manager he wanted an iBook, and the manager said it was his loss. I was so angry that day. I don't remember if he bought the iBook or not.
 
cr2sh said:
The CompUSA at Dayton South is okay. The Mac Rep is a bit of a weirdo... but it comes with the territory. The patience it takes to put up with the Macfanatics is a rare quality indeed...
Click to expand...


I'm from Centerville and check out the store every now and then when I'm back home to visit. I don't think it's too bad, but with a couple Apple stores close by I would never spend any substantial amount of money there. Luckily now I live in Indianapolis and the Keystone store is just a fifteen minute shot down the highway :) A nice store, I've had nothing but good experiences with the employees.


allison.
 
allisonv7 said:
I'm from Centerville and check out the store every now and then when I'm back home to visit. I don't think it's too bad, but with a couple Apple stores close by I would never spend any substantial amount of money there. Luckily now I live in Indianapolis and the Keystone store is just a fifteen minute shot down the highway :) A nice store, I've had nothing but good experiences with the employees.


allison.
Click to expand...


Wow, at your age... from Centerville... you probably graduated with Nugent. :)

I purchased my 17"PB from Dayton South... at the time no one had them in stock. They got one in, weeks before everyone else had them in stock, and I got it. Either way... I don't think the stores are as bad as everyone says, I think they just have exceptionally high standards.
 
CompUSA cost us a switcher:

My brother in law finally switched to Mac a few months ago after years of hearing me talk about it. He went to CompUSA in Franklin, TN and bought an iMac 17" with Superdrive. He had CompUSA install more RAM and took it home. He calls me later and asks why it is constantly crashing and freezing. It turns out they notice also that the machine had previously been registered with another person's name. They finally try all the fixes, but it still won't work right, so Apple has them return it. They go back to CompUSA and exchange it for a new one. They again get CompUSA to install a memory upgrade. The machine does a little better but still is constantly freezing and needing reboots. I tell them it is either a RAM or hardware issue. They get fed up and once again take the computer back to CompUSA this time to get a refund and forsake the Mac experience. The salesman at CompUSA confides in them that it is 100% certain that it is the RAM that CompUSA is installing. He says both they and Apple know it is not truly compatible with the iMac's logic board but that they are selling it anyhow. He offers to give them a new iMac but gives them a list of websites to buy RAM from. They are too burned to consider trying again. They call me. I convince them to get the single 1.8 Ghz PowerMac in exchange, promising them that they won't have these troubles. They decide to do it and we hang up. I find out later that the only 1.8 they had was a floor sample that they offered to them at a SMALL discount.

Final result: brother in law went back home, hooked back up his PC, and says he has no intention of going back to Mac.

Thanks CompUSA!
 
yeah CompUSA have been known to mess up a lot of things. not just macs. but i also heard that they "re-sell" returned merch "by accident". Their policy states they are not allowed to do this and that any computer returned has to go back to the MFG for inspection before it can be re-sold. But who knows.
 
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