# "Customer Service" at CompUSA..... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 11, 2001, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794 "2001-11-11T20:20:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SpaceGhostofArrakis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@SpaceGhostofArrakis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceGhostofArrakis)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/21 "2001-11-12T03:42:56Z")
> [@](#): > > “Customer Service” at CompUSA… ::Wakes up:: What? You expect _me_ to help you? Just because I’m wearing this damn shirt and button that says “Customer service rep” doesn’t mean I want to give customer service. ::falls back asleep:: ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/22 "2001-11-12T04:31:52Z")
You think that was bad, try getting “service” at CompUSA if you’re shopping for Mac stuff… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/23 "2001-11-12T04:33:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by completely-knackered \* > \*\*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? \*\* I work retail. I even moderate at a site called Customers Suck. But I still say that was pretty shitty service. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/24 "2001-11-12T04:52:28Z")
I thought it was a pretty simple equation for people living in a Capitalist county… the company pays them just enough money to keep them from quitting, and in return they agree to work just hard enough to avoid getting fired. The work ethic Laffer curve, even. I don’t care who I’m working for, my time is my time all the time. Giving me seven bucks an hour won’t change that. Life’s too short. -fh ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/25 "2001-11-12T05:37:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*You think that was bad, try getting “service” at CompUSA if you’re shopping for Mac stuff… \*\* Funny thing is for a year or two I-Macs were one of the best selling computers we had. In fact it might have been the single best selling computer we sold. When I was with the company I went to a meeting and one of the VPs said that he walked into a store to buy a PC and a laptop and he couldn’t find anyone to help him. Had he not worked for CompUSA he said he would have gone elsewhere for a computer. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Defense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Civil\_Defense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Defense)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/26 "2001-11-12T06:57:06Z")
I, too, find that odd… in the CompUSA around here, the Mac section is just as large - if not larger - than the PC section. It’s hard to find someone NOT offering me another iMac. ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/27 "2001-11-12T07:56:35Z")
> [@](#): > > So saith **Some Guy** > > independent retailers - they’re out there, but because they’re not monlithic, most people don’t realize that they exist. We used to have one independent ‘Software Warehouse’ which sold mostly old aged software (but some good buys) and some hardware (mouse, speakers, keyboards, cables, etc.). The owner was really nice, pleasant and would tell you up front whether they had such and such. Had a guy who worked for him who was a Mac Bigot (I guess that’s what you call them), anyway the guy was so obnoxious toward any Windows user, that he pissed off a lot of people, I guess. The place is now OOB. Kinda sad, 'cause I really liked the owner. Musta been that **completely knackered! 😃** It was an old guy, scraggley grey beard, sorta looked like [Gabby Hayes](http://www.surfnetinc.com/chuck/pal-gab.jpg)! Izzat You, knackered??? ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/28 "2001-11-12T11:51:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MGibson \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by OpalCat \* > > \*\*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! > > > > \*\* > > 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 \*\* I worked there too a few years ago, as an expediter. Let’s see…I think that was in 1996 or 1997, it was through a temp agency. ---
**Author:** ![Phlip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Phlip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlip)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/29 "2001-11-12T13:40:28Z")
techchick, I live about 3 blocks from the CompUsa in C.Springs and that place has the worst service, worst prices, and worst price matching policies of any store in the city. Even if you know what you want to buy they still act like they dont know what the hell your talking about. Ill take BBuy any day of the week over that shit hole. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/30 "2001-11-12T14:49:33Z")
First, are those your only choices? Crap. You should buy in on the internet then. Those two stores are horrible. Second, I would have asked “What are we waiting for?” There’s an outside chance the cash register wasn’t working. Slim, but still. Also, if you say it with just the right sarcasm, they get the idea you might be pissed and go to a manager. Third, what would Opal do? Fourth, never do any reshelving, and if there’s anything else you can mess up at the counter, do it. Move things around, take things off the counter and put them on the floor - don’t damage anything, but… At least that way they will have to do a little extra work for their “effort” in helping you. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/31 "2001-11-12T15:30:04Z")
I typically do buy on the internet, but I didn’t want to wait on this, since I want to have it with me when we go out of town this week. The register was working. When we started to walk away, he said “oh I can take you now!” but my husband said “No, that’s ok, you’ve shown us what your priorities are.” As for reshelving, the $9.99 rack was right by the register, it was just a matter of plopping the disks back in their slots. Not a biggie. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/32 "2001-11-12T16:07:56Z")
Matt, I dunno. That would weird me out, calling out my own name during sex. Anyway, I’ve never ever ever asked my parents about this. But my dad has the same name as my mom’s brother. I dunno if I could do that either. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/33 "2001-11-12T16:09:58Z")
oh man, oh man, oh man… This is the first time I’ve ever done that. That was meant for another thread. Ender slaps himself and tries to keep his windows straight. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/34 "2001-11-12T18:15:38Z")
Oooh! I just thought of something else to say to the cashier. Ask (in a very sincere tone) “Is there someone else waiting on customers?” while looking around for another register. (There is something very odd about posting Opal in the third item of a list and then realizing that you are responding to Opal herself 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Oblong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c0e974/32.png) [@Oblong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblong)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/35 "2001-11-12T18:45:20Z")
Just a minor pet peeve on general customer service bitching. Blaming the people who work there because they are enforcing store policy is silly. They don’t make the rules. They don’t decide what to stock. They don’t decide what they can accept as returns. They are people making $7.00 an hour at a job they don’t want to be at. They have probably been working there for 3 weeks and will be gone in another 2 weeks. You can’t expect them to know as much as you do about what you are looking for because if they did, then they’d probably be working somewhere else because they could make more money. However, the guy who didn’t wait on you is an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/36 "2001-11-12T21:27:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Civil Defense \* > in the CompUSA around here, the Mac section is just as large - if not larger - than the PC section. It’s hard to find someone NOT offering me another iMac. You’ve got one of the rare ones, then. For a typical Mac user, going shopping at CompUSA entails: - Dodging around the stepladders blocking the aisles. - Dealing with salespeople who wonder why you want a Mac. - Dealing with salespeople who tell you Apple is out of business. - Dealing with salespeople who tell you a 1GHz Celeron PC is more powerful than a 500 MHz PowerBook. - Dealing with salespeople who tell you there’s no software for the Mac. “You can’t get Office for the Mac, dude.” - Browsing through the shelves of Windows software because all the Windows/Macintosh hybrid CDs are stored there. - Browsing through the shelves of PC peripherals because all the USB hubs/keyboard/mice are stored there. If you need more proof, just swing by any Mac web site, go to the forum, and ask folks for their CompUSA stories. **OpalCat’s** experiences were a walk in the park compared to what you’ll get. 🙂 Granted, some CompUSAs are now getting better in handling their Mac areas, but that’s only because Apple is now hiring _their own salespeople_ to work those areas. I guess the in-store help wasn’t good enough. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/37 "2001-11-13T05:33:05Z")
I was going to post this as a separate thread, but my experience was so similar to Opal’s that I thought I might as well put it in here. I went to Office Depot to buy boxes the other day. First of all, the damn boxes were overpriced, but I was on my lunch hour from work, so I didn’t want to screw around going to other places to get a competitive price. “Fuck it,” thought I, “I’ll just pay the extra money this time.” So I grab my eight boxes and roll of tape and head up to the cashier area. There are five lanes. Four appear to be abandoned. The fifth is actually the “customer service” desk. There is a saleslady working that desk, but she is currently on the phone with a customer. I scan around to see if there’s anyone coming to wait on me. There are about three managerial-looking types clustered in a herd over by the front door. I attempt to make eye contact with one of them, and he sort of gives the lady on the phone a meaningful look and then shiftily looks away. Hmm, think I. Just then, I hear the lady on the phone say, “Thanks for holding! Office Depot, can I help you?” I realize that she has just decided to take another call rather than help out the actual customer who has taken time out of her workday to actually physically show up at the store and buy something. The three manager types are still chatting merrily by the front door and ignoring me. It has now been approximately a minute since I first arrived at the cashier area. “Fuck this,” I think. I threw my boxes and tape on a counter and stalked out the door. As I was leaving, a manager scurried over and somewhat ingratiatingly said, “Ma’am, I can help you over here!” “Too late,” I said, and walked away. Office Depot will not have my business, ever again, and corporate HQ will receive a letter detailing my reasons why. Later that evening MrWhatsit and I drove over to a mini-storage place not far from our house and bought the boxes we needed. Service in a smile, cheap prices, and we were in and out in less than five minutes. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/38 "2001-11-13T14:04:35Z")
FYI: A wheel mouse makes a perfectly good three button mouse, as the wheel is clickable, making it a third button. Just to save you searching time. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794/39 "2001-11-13T17:18:24Z")
Fry’s is a ~5-9 store chain around L.A., but they’re a big player nonetheless, because the stores are so big, and they do have good prices and lots of stuff. But their attitude is just THE WORST. I’ve heard local radio morning shows (Kevin and Bean) devote 5 minutes to just complaining about their service. Their attitude is, “Where else do you plan on going and finding that item right now, at anything close to this price? If you don’t like it, get lost.” I’ve gotten the worst explanations of things there. Just try finding out the merits of TV tuner cards there. I think they grew out of catering to the geek segment, which knew what it wanted, walked in, grabbed it, and left money. Now they don’t know how to handle other people. So, if you need that item now, or don’t know where else to go that might know about this item, you’re stuck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-at-compusa/92794.md?page=1)