Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone discrimination Radio Shack style
- Thread starter mysterioustko
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
My mistake, I apologize. There still is a 50 dollar difference, but that's not too bad considering everything else that you had to go thru, if you would have come to my store, I would have not denied you the sale, I figure it this way who should I be to deny you something, if the card goes thru then you have the money right? lol
Last edited:
My sentiments exactly. For them to feel that they can look at someone and tell who will and won't rip them off is ridiculous. Aside from what does a criminal look like, I'd like to know what they think a person who won't rip them off looks like.
I'm not gonna go based on how the person looks, but I know if someone is trying to come in, making a bunch of impulse buys and not caring about the price, then want to write a check for say $1000 dollars, then something there is wrong. What you were doing was a pretty simple task that SHOULD have not been blown out of per-portion my the store employees nor the manager or DA. It disappoints me that some employees don't even wanna take care of a customer based on how they look. I've made good money off of them turning away those kind of people.
I honestly don't see what the outrage is honestly...
I shop at my local radio shack all the time and they are beyond helpful. They also know exactly what I need and where it is in the store, absolutely do NOT nag me about buying all this extra crap, and have certainly never added warranties without my knowledge.
I think you guys need to calm down...
I shop at my local radio shack all the time and they are beyond helpful. They also know exactly what I need and where it is in the store, absolutely do NOT nag me about buying all this extra crap, and have certainly never added warranties without my knowledge.
I think you guys need to calm down...
Yeah and not only do they lose out on the business on that day, they lose out on any future business from me. I buy tablets, tv's, and other electronics all the time (I'm a tech junkie) and I will not be purchasing any from them.
I just read this entire thread. I won't be shopping at Radio Shack anymore. The only thing I ever bought from them was a cable I spent 3 times more on (instead of monoprice) I usually do most of my shopping at Best Buy and Target/Wal-Mart.
Thanks for the heads up!
Thanks for the heads up!
What an ignorant thing to say. I guess making uninformed comments is more important to you than 40,000 people being unemployed and 7,150 empty retail stores.
Profiling and discrimination is one thing; A business deciding what's best for itself is another.
Get over it.
Get over it.
In our area, they put out a weekly newspaper (remember them?) ad which sometimes has a good special or two. But, other posts saying you see only a couple of people in the store at a time is true here.
You don't seem to understand what happened. Allow me to break it down for you. They didn't decide what was best for them. Radio Shack doesn't have a policy that precludes them from selling phones without service. They decided to determine who is or isn't a person who will commit fraud by looking at them. News Flash, you can't look at someone and tell who's going to commit fraud. Criminals don't have a certain look, they come in all shapes and sizes. For you to suggest that picking and choosing who they sell to based on looking at a person is deciding what's best for them is asinine. My question to you then is, what does a person who commits fraud look like? Also, what does a person who will not commit fraud look like? If you can answer that definitively then they were protecting their business, if you can't give a definitive answer then obviously they were not.
A RadioShack Detective team. tsk tsk. I bet they're taught to look for people who look like the hamburgler. Not in this day and age HELLO!
I buy stuff at Radio Shack. Batteries for my home landline phones, cables for iPhone and Mac, LandLine phones, etc. The local store is pretty helpful if you need something.
I'm also thinking you're probably white, correct? The OP, if I read correctly, is black (and if you think that didn't play into this, you're crazy). Unfortunately, racism is alive and well in this country.
OP, I'm sorry you had to put up with this crap. Radio Shack's best days are in the past and they're on their way out. It sucks that they apparently profiled you (which is unfair whenever it's done). You can't judge a book by it's cover...people should know that by now!
LMAO! If only it were that easy lol. I just found it quite interesting that when I asked them how they determine who they will or will not sell a phone to, they could not give me an answer more than it's at their discretion.
Thanks. You'd think in 2012 that would be a thing of the past. It's crazy to me because I purchase phones all the time and have never had a problem until attempting to do business with them. Heck at this very moment I have a Galaxy Note, Galaxy Nexus, iPhone 4S, and Galaxy S2. I buy phones very frequently, and they just missed an opportunity to get a regular customer (bear in mind I buy other things too, like I just purchased this ultrabook). So their closed mindedness has cost them a customer. Also, I've posted this on facebook and my site, and there have been a few hundred people who have also stated they refuse to do business with Radio Shack as a result of this. So the impact of their actions can be larger than what they may have anticipated.
You need to let Radio Shack close!
I have not been in one in MANY years and would have to wear a bag over my head so no one saw me.
Something are best to let die
The reality is... to sell an unlocked phone to someone with a transaction that is other than cash risks them being boned with a chargeback, and then they're out the money (or wrapped up in disputes) and there's an unlocked phone floating around out there.
Heck, they might not even do it with cash. Or if they did, they would probably check every bill.
I agree, it sucks to be determined untrustworthy at a glance. I recently had this happen to me, and I'm as clean-cut as they get (homeowner, no debts aside from mortgage, 760+ credit rating, well dressed and groomed). I felt insulted that someone would just "think" I'm out to screw them. Then I realized... there are plenty of confidence men out there who have the express intent to gain one's trust and screw them over, plus scads of identity thieves and stolen credit cards.
Heck, they might not even do it with cash. Or if they did, they would probably check every bill.
I agree, it sucks to be determined untrustworthy at a glance. I recently had this happen to me, and I'm as clean-cut as they get (homeowner, no debts aside from mortgage, 760+ credit rating, well dressed and groomed). I felt insulted that someone would just "think" I'm out to screw them. Then I realized... there are plenty of confidence men out there who have the express intent to gain one's trust and screw them over, plus scads of identity thieves and stolen credit cards.
Sorry to hear that. I work at an ASP in Germany and we certainly do not treat our customers in such way. However, I do believe that there is no law that states that a company must sell you a product, therefore I would not call it discriminatory. I agree - it is very unprofessional and not customer-friendly - but imho they did not discriminate you. If I were you, I'd simply quit shopping there.
*EDIT*
And usually some companies have some sort of "Feedback" page on their website. Fill that out and tell them how unhappy you are and that you made your purchase elsewhere. At least in my (pretty big) company the management reads every feedback and then distributes it to the store in question so that the store managers can improve (or get shouted at for not selling an item
)
I agree, I only buy things there if I am in a pinch. Over priced items, under knowledge employees. It used to be a decent place to pick up electronics components (ie, resistors, capacitors, diodes, etc...), with knowledgeable employees...Times have changed.
lol yeah, something like that. BRB, I am headed to china to keep some some items for my next project.
It is discriminatory as they acted contrary to their policy, and the course of action they take was not a standardized practice. If it were their policy that they did not sell the devices without service, that would be one thing. But to state that you may or may not sell a product to someone based on looking at them and making a determination of their risk level is quite discriminatory as they have nothing more to go on than your physical. It isn't something they do to every customer, it's something they choose to do to a customer if they feel like doing it. So yes that would be discriminatory. That is why companies have set policies, to avoid situations like this.Sorry to hear that. I work at an ASP in Germany and we certainly do not treat our customers in such way. However, I do believe that there is no law that states that a company must sell you a product, therefore I would not call it discriminatory. I agree - it is very unprofessional and not customer-friendly - but imho they did not discriminate you. If I were you, I'd simply quit shopping there.
*EDIT*
And usually some companies have some sort of "Feedback" page on their website. Fill that out and tell them how unhappy you are and that you made your purchase elsewhere. At least in my (pretty big) company the management reads every feedback and then distributes it to the store in question so that the store managers can improve (or get shouted at for not selling an item
Also, I have been in contact with Radio Shack since then. They called me yesterday to do damage control. A woman from their corporate office called me to get more information and to tell me that she would look into the situation and that I don't need to post anything online
. I informed her that while I appreciate her investigating what happened, I still intend on letting people know what happened, and that neither I, my family, or friends have any intention of doing business with them in the future.Yeah I remember those days. You could go in one and the salespeople knew their stuff. Nowadays, they barely know anything. Once I went in one and the woman was trying to tell me that VOIP was a corded headset for the landline phone...