iPhone discrimination Radio Shack style

[kdarling]

Decades ago, I worked at a Radio Shack to help feed my electronic parts habit at a discount.

Pretty soon, you figured out that you should never sell some people expensive amplifiers, mikes, stands, keyboards, speakers and other band gear on Fridays... because it never stayed sold.

Startup bands with no cash would come in, buy a ton of gear on credit (making you think that you were going to get a nice sales commission), and then return it all on Monday.

To them it was just a way to get free weekend band gear rental. For the salesperson, it was a pain in the butt.

No doubt nowadays a lot of people try out phones for a while in the same manner. (I notice lots of posters here who talk about getting phones on 30 day trial, even though they "know" they'll take it back because they prefer their current phone.)

So I don't blame RS employees a bit if they get really cautious at times.

 

[ericrwalker]

Startup bands with no cash would come in, buy a ton of gear on credit (making you think that you were going to get a nice sales commission), and then return it all on Monday.

To them it was just a way to get free weekend band gear rental. For the salesperson, it was a pain in the butt.

This is why people have a restock fee, sucks about the commission though.

 

[Pipper99]

RS is based here in Fort Worth, and I'd hate to see them go out of business, but I don't understand how they keep going. I see very few people in the stores, and personally as an electronics nut, I find most of their merchandise to be uninteresting. It would annoy me when they'd ask for my address as if they needed it to make the sale for even the smallest of cash purchases.

 

[chakraj]

When they ask for your address just give them the address of the RS you are at

 

[Pipper99]

When they ask for your address just give them the address of the RS you are at

I like that idea. I may go back to RS to do just that.

 

[Constantine1337]

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.

Glad to hear that your case made at least someone at RadioShack thinks about what they have done. Hope this makes them change their policy

 

[gto1988]

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.
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...

Now I take that with offense, I work at Radio Shack, and I am far from stupid. My customers always come back to me, because I don't screw them over, lie to them, and I know what I'm talking about. Not every employee is un-knowledgeable. Oh, and I treat every customer as if they have a million bucks. If they walk out buying nothing, oh well I know I've made a customer that will come back to me when they are ready to buy.

To make that judgement is to say that every McDonalds is crappy, yes some of them are, but every once in a while, you find one that provides consistent fast service, and good food.

 

[Indecisi0n]

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/

I wouldn't sell to you.

 

[rslikeitornot]

Radio shack sells the phones cheaper than the actual carrier stores, also apple policy is we can't sell the iphones un activated. What else do you guys have?
For the guy who worked for radio shack....if you could do your job there would be no complaints.

 

[willmtaylor]

Radio shack sells the phones cheaper than the actual carrier stores, also apple policy is we can't sell the iphones un activated. What else do you guys have?
For the guy who worked for radio shack....if you could do your job there would be no complaints.

So you started an account just to post in a thread that died 8 months ago? Excellent work, Newbie.

 

[myditka]

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.

I had a 40 min conversation with the Verizon Reps at the mall about Apple vs Android lol..... They dont quit, I told them I just prefer Apple and they kept trying to change my mind!

 

[solidsnake32292]

I wouldn't shop at RadioShack even if someone paid me... Read that entire story and damn that's ridiculous! If it ever happened to me I would take them to court no questions asked.