[ale] Another bites the dust

Thu Feb 25 15:02:07 EST 2021

I will note Best Buy had the best price on a pair of Chromebooks and a
Google Pixel 5 we purchased in the last few months. They beat Amazon by a
good margin. I didn't go in the store or try a refund, so I'm not arguing
with the other stories.

On Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 2:50 PM Calvin Harrigan via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:

> On 2/25/2021 14:43, Jim Kinney via Ale wrote:
>
> I had similar issue at the Best(worst)Buy in Tucker. Needed specific RAM
> for a thinkpad purchased at that store by my client. I called the store to
> verify stock. Drove over, found a clerk to help locate the package by sku.
> Verified sku and specs on ram label with their website claiming it was the
> part for the box. Paid and left with ram and receipt.
>
> Of course it didn't work. Box refused to boot with new ram installed.
>
> Went back for verification, swap for correct, or refund.
>
> Manager accused me of stealing the ram and argued no refunds allowed on
> opened items. I'm showing the receipt dated 1 hour earlier with serial
> numbers matching. I'm pointing out the clerk who helped. The clerk is
> corroborating my story with the correct research prior to sale. He calls
> police. So did I. My client was a police chief. Both arrived onsite about
> the same time. Police exchanged greetings, manager looked pale, I looked
> furious, refund occurred. Police agreed to notify corporate as this was a
> common thing at this store.
>
> I went back in a week later only to see if anything had happened from the
> police complaint to BB. All new manager and tech team.
>
> I still will only set foot in there if I'm morbidly curious as to why they
> still exist. I will never spend money in there again.
>
>
>
> On February 25, 2021 2:26:37 PM EST, Steve Litt via Ale <ale at ale.org>
> <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, 24 Feb 2021 09:35:10 -0500
>> Chuck Payne via Ale <ale at ale.org> <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Please take a moment and lower your heads, as we pay respect to
>>> Fry's. As of today, they have shut down.
>>
>>
>> The only Fry's I ever went to was the one in the San Fernando Valley
>> near Los Angeles. This Fry's routinely accused honest customers of
>> shoplifting, often with the police being called. I heard it happened so
>> much that the police drove the accused half way around the block and
>> let them out of the car.
>>
>> Here's my PERSONAL experience with Fry's in the San Fernando Valley:
>>
>> I needed a certain make/model of tape drive. They had many packages of
>> that make/model, and some of the packages had a tape inside the shrink
>> wrap. They appeared to be the same price as the ones without the tape.
>> I asked the salesman if there was any difference between the ones with
>> and without the tapes. He said "yeah, some have tapes."
>>
>> So I grabbed a package with the tape in the shrink wrap, checked out,
>> paid for it, and headed for the door. That's when things went bad...
>>
>> Their security guard took the package out of the bag, ripped the tape
>> out of the shrink wrap, shoved it in my face, and shouted "what's
>> this!!!!"
>>
>> For about 5 seconds, I reacted like I acted at 18 when the cops caught
>> me drunk bicycle riding with a pint of gin in my back pocket. My brain
>> said "damn, I'm in trouble now!"
>>
>> Then I remembered I was 47, not 18, and I'd paid full price for the
>> package, and it was THEM, not me, who put the tape in the package: I
>> hadn't stolen anything.
>>
>> I sized up the security guard. He was well built and 20 years younger,
>> but I think I could have taken him. I thought seriously slugging him
>> in the nose to wipe that judgmental look off his face, but then
>> remembered I had a wife and three kids and an excellent business, and I
>> didn't need a neverending series of court dates possibly followed by
>> incarceration.
>>
>> So instead, I got kissing distance from him and said "it's been a long
>> time since I've been accused of being a thief. You call your store
>> manager over here right now!
>>
>> So the store manager came over. He was a 19 year old pimply kid with
>> acne and a serious tic disorder. He said something like "sorry, but a
>> lot of our customers put stuff in their pockets and walk out."
>>
>> In other words, the store manager called me a thief again, even though
>> he knew THE STORE put the tapes in the shrink wrap.
>>
>> So they "let me go", with the attitude that they were doing me a favor.
>>
>> I felt so sorry for this kid and his acne and tic disorder that I
>> neither read him the riot act then, nor complained to corporate later.
>> But that day was pretty much the end of my shopping at Fry's. I don't
>> need that kind of noise.
>>
>> That kid would be 45 today. Hopefully his acne, his tic disorder, and
>> his customer relations ability have all improved.
>>
>> So anyway, my opinion on Fry's closing, based on my interaction with the
>> SF Valley Fry's, is "Good riddance to bad rubbish."
>>
>> SteveT
>>
>> Steve Litt
>> Autumn 2020 featured book: Thriving in Tough Timeshttp://www.troubleshooters.com/thrive
>> ------------------------------
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>>
> --
> Computers amplify human error
> Super computers are really cool
>
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>
> Best Buy is a hot mess.  They haven't quite figured out what they want to
> be.  The whole online thing has hit them hard and it shows.  Most places do
> not stock many items. About the only thing you can get for sure are
> sometimes TVs, but almost everything else is hit or miss.  I should note
> that they tend to have store specific models of popular brands so you can't
> directly compare prices.  Can't say that I'm a fan.
>
>
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