"Customer Service" at CompUSA.....

The BBQ Pit
1

We had driven to 3 stores in search of a Handspring Visor Prism, and found it out of stock. We did see two software titles for Dominic on the $9.99 rack, though, and I grabbed a Twix. We went up to the registers, where there was one lane open and no one waiting. The clerk was chatting with his buddy. He turned to us and said “I’ll be with you in a minute” and kept talking to his buddy!

blink

It wasn’t work related, it wasn’t a customer, they were just socializing. Now, just about everyone else on the planet would have asked the friend to wait for a second, and rung up our 3 items. Or even rung us up while still talking to the guy. But to tell the customer to wait so he can gab with his buddy… sheesh. We put our stuff back and left the store.

We finally found what we were looking for at the Best Buy in Reston.

2

Well, you got what you deserved for not going to Best Buy in the first place. :wink:

3

Actually we DID go to the Best Buy in Fair Lakes first, then the CompUSA by Fair Oaks, then the CompUSA in Tyson’s Corner, then the Best Buy in Reston. Everyone was sold out!

4

and i’m the wierdo…

i’ve always had shit luck trying to find stuff at Best Buy, so i always go to CompUSA!

funny world, funny world…

5

I used to work at the coporate HQ for CompUSA in Dallas. When I was there one of the biggest problems we had was customer service. Typically the problem was having salespeople on the floor helping customers out. I’ve never had a clerk at CompUSA, or anywhere else for that matter, blow me off so he could talk to a pal.

Marc

6

If you’ve ever worked retail, you’d know that it’s not worth it. All the customers think their 30 seconds is worth more than yours. But you can bet when they sit at a cushy desk job they find time to call home, and no one can call in at the same time. How is that different?

7

You actually put it back on the shelf? I would have left it lay there, said “Never mind, we will go somewhere that wants our money.” and walked out.

completely-knackered,

I have worked retail (I hated it, not cut out for it and the pay is lousy.) and since it was my job I stopped what I was doing and helped the customer. By definition, the customer’s time is worth more than mine.

8

Because it is. That’s why.

9

Because they have money which they will give to the place that gives you money.

10

At least at the store, the person actually got in their car, drove to the store, and walked into the store. This takes a lot more time, and effort than just picking up the phone. So I think the clerks can manage to delay their chat for 30 seconds to take care of a customer who actually drove in to the store.

When someone can’t call in for a few moments, they’ll call back. Doesn’t make it right that an employee would tie up the line like that, but at least the people calling in are not being put out quite as much.

On a related note, I cannot say how much it irritates me to be waiting in a line at a store, and to have the clerk be delayed by answering the damned phone. I’d get better service if I just stayed at home and called in.

(And this is probably an UL, but my dad liked to tell the story of a guy who was waiting in line to get reservations at a motel. But he was worried all the rooms would be taken, because the clerk kept on taking phone-in reservations, and ignoring the people who were actually in the motel lobby. So the guy left the motel, got to a pay phone, and phoned in his reservation. Voilà! He got a room. Even though it probably is an UL, I’ll bet such a thing has happened…)

11

That sucks Opal, everyone at the closest CompUSA here knows me and knows I will make a big stink if I am not treated well.

BTW, the local CompUSA didn’t have the CDRW that I wanted and they don’t transfer from stores anymore so I ended up getting it from Best Buy.

I was ticked, I know all the people at CompUSA and I had a $50 gift card to buy the damn thing and they no longer transfer from stores…how fucked up is that? I told the guy on the 800 number that they lost a sale if they couldn’t get the CDRW I wanted down to the C Springs store from the one in south metro Denver. He just shrugged.

I guess these big chain stores just don’t give a fuck.

That’s a load of shit. I was in sales for several years, the customer’s time is more important than YOUR time. That’s sad to see that people don’t give a rat’s ass about the customers. As I said I know all the people at the closest CompUSA and they normally give me top service.

Even if the customer isn’t right, the customer is ALWAYS right. Customers come first in my eyes. If you or your company want my money I better be treated like a goddamned queen. There is no leeway (sp) in that manner at all. I worked hard for that money, don’t sit there and be a dick because you make minimum wage, you wont go far on that attitude.

Bullshit.

12

WHOA! Techchick has a videophone! Kick ass!
[sub]sorry…[/sub]

13

I don’t care if he wants to talk to his friend. If he had rung us up, chatting to his buddy the whole while, I wouldn’t have even batted an eye. But to tell me to wait… wtf?

14

My friend Monica and I once went to the local CompUSA to check out their selection of monitors for her brother. Her brother had made a short list of questions, so once we found a couple models we liked, we looked around for help.

It took more than twenty minutes before we even spotted a salesperson. And then, while other customers (all guys) were being approached, we literally had to walk up to one and lead him over to where we were. If that wasn’t bad enough, the guy claimed to be busy helping someone else (he wasn’t; he’d just been standing around), and was distracted and short with his answers.

I don’t know if they assumed that because we were female we didn’t know shit about computers and weren’t worth their time, but that’s the only explanation I can come up with. I think Mon ended up getting a monitor elsewhere, and I buy online from other places whenever possible now.

15

My wife and I went to a local Comp USA to buy a new mouse. It was shortly after Sept. 11, and we were the only customers in the store. The salesmen were busy talking to each other. We had to beg them to show us where the mouses were. Before we had even made a selection, our salesman left us to return to his bull session.

16

I hate, hate, hate dealing with CompUSA. Then again, I hate dealing with just about any consumer electronics store, because I actually know what I am talking about, and generally exactly what I’m looking for. I have yet to see a (large, national chain) store that has a widespread understanding of this concept (sorry, mgibson, but you know that it’s true…) Don’t get me wrong, I run a retail store, and I’m not at all averse to salesmanship or, in the case of Circuit City commissions (which generally tend to guarantee that you’ll get the attention of some salesman, but I can’t stand being offered something “very similar” just because it’s on the same shelf - not after I’ve made it clear that I am, in fact looking for one specific thing, and that by continuing to “talk up” the other stuff, you’re wasting your, my, and the next customer’s time.

When I was looking for a nice three-button mouse, it took visiting three different CompUSA stores to comprehend that they didn’t carry them (one button, two button, or nineteen button mice they had, but No Three Button Mice Ever), and then only by induction - every salesperson I talked to said that they used to have three-button mice, or they sometimes did (bullshit!), and then tried to sell me a scroll wheel mouse or wireless mouse. I’m pretty sure that if I had tried to explain the X Windows system to them, they would have responded by trying to sell me Windows ME on top of everything else. They had no chance to make a sale (because the company has decided not to meet my specific requirements), but they had every chance to quit wasting time, and they blew it.

I’m not specifically bashing CompUSA, here - as I said, I’ve gotten the same thing in every national chain. By contrast, I’ve had much more luck with independent retailers - they’re out there, but because they’re not monlithic, most people don’t realize that they exist. It’s gotten to the point that I tend to drive for an hour in traffic, to visit a closet-sized store on the far end of a strip mall, simply because it’s run by someone who can a.) talk to me on a coequal basis (lots of knowledge, zero condescension), and b.) actually order specific things for me, which meet my requirements. He gets a steadily increasing amount of my business, despite the fact that there are four big chains stores within a mile of me.

If even one of them understood what I was saying, here, they might actually get some of my business back.

17

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by yosemitebabe *
**

Actually I have read and heard in various print and broadcast media articles on travel-survival techniques, that if you have to deal with rescheduling after a cancelled flight, you should phone in immediately so by the time you get to the head of the long line all you gotta do is pick up the new ticlets. Dunno how reliable the sources may be.

18

I’ve worked retail and I never would have left a customer hanging at the cash register. If I was helping a customer I would say “excuse me one moment” and check the person out at the register.

Marc

19

“All the customers think their 30 seconds is worth more than yours.”

News flash – if you’re working, it’s not your thirty seconds. You’re being paid; the company is buying your time.

Both of the jobs I’ve had have been retail, for big (inter)national chains. My lunch break, my ten minute breaks, those are my time. But while I’m on the clock my job is to get people what they need, and get money for my employers. Plus, your friend has a reason to stick around for a minute or so while you ring up a customer (I’m assuming s/he wants to continue talking to you). The customer, on the other hand, does not, unless this is a unique item they can only buy in this store, and they have plenty of time to spare.

Don’t get me wrong, I get tired of dealing with certain customers too. I’m currently serving coffee at a store that is not only in the heart of Yuppieland, behind the Orange Curtain, but right next to a big university. Would I rather talk to my roommate than make and sell Frappuccinos to vapid sorority girls and self-important gits? Hell yes! What do I do? Let my roommate wait while I help the customers. It sucks, but it pays the rent.

I ain’t even getting into the ConPUSA (that’s how I pronounce it at least) versus Best Buy versus (shudder) Fry’s versus Circuit City argument. I buy my computer components from CompuCheap.com :slight_smile:

20

Oh, and something I forgot to add (it’s been a long day) …

This is why whenever I’m in an electronics store, I pick up the biggest, fanciest, most expensive ergonomic mouse I can find and ask for a left-handed model. :smiley: