Those who are unfamiliar should think of it as a Radio Shack the size of a grocery store. For electronic parts without mail ordering, there was no place else to go. The number of times during my PhD work where I needed a NAND gate and oscillator in a hurry were beyond count. I still find myself needing such things, but if Radio Shack doesn’t have it, I spend $10 on shipping for $2 of parts.
My theory was never buy anything that costs more than $20. And don’t bother asking the employees questions. And never return anything. There are great websites devoted to the challenges of returning something to Fry’s.
If it helps, think of it as a win-win situation. You didn’t want him to go to Fry’s (and it’s not Frye’s) since it was such a hassle both previous times. They don’t want him to return to the store.
That’s frightening. I’ve always found the Bay Area Fry’s stores to be just this side of complete chaos with stock on the shelves all mixed up and they have a talent for being out of whatever it is you need. If you need help, yo may as well ask another customer - they probably know more about things than the employees. When you do find an employee, they will push the service plans and extended warrantees so hard you’d think they’ll be killed at the end of the day for not selling 40 warranty plans before lunch.
Laws vary from jurisdictin to jurisdiction, but I can not imagine it being anything but illegal for a cop to wear his uniform while working for someone other than the city. It;s not even likely that they can use their service revolvres while off duty.
Depends on the contract negotiated by the police union with the municipality. Pittsburgh city police routinely moonlight in uniform as bouncers, event security, and store security.
I love Fry’s. Their selection and prices of computer stuff (hardware and software) are better than any other brick and mortar electronics store. Shopping there is a blast – they just have so much cool stuff! I’ve also made dozens of returns/exchanges without a problem.
However, the staff are usually only a bit more knowledgeable than your average Best Buy sales drone, and I have heard enough complaints about their customer service to know that it’s probably sub-average. I still love Fry’s, though. They have so much cool stuff!
I’ve hired off-duty sheriff deputies to provide traffic control at a bike race before, and not only did they show up in uniform and armed, they brought the squad cars with them.
It’s really nice to have police at your disposal.
[OT]
At another bike race, the race promoter had hired off-duty deputies to provide traffic control at a time trial. All one deputy had to do was stop traffic as the racer approached the turn around point. Most cars were stopped for about 10 to 15 seconds, and then allowed to proceed once the rider was out of the way. One driver thought that was too long to wait, so he started to drive off before the officer told him to. It was a big mistake, especially considering the driver didn’t have a licence and the van he was driving didn’t belong to him and didn’t have valid plates or insurance. His effort to save 15 seconds cost him 30 minutes and a couple of tickets.
I understand that with a missing label, there are manufacturer concerns, and that the policy exists for a reason – good on the clerk for knowing the policy. But even a clerk can use NurseCarmen’s strategy of comparing a returned item to a known-good item to determine if it’s a fake. If the serial numbers match, then the clerk knows that the customer isn’t trying to rip them off, and he can call the manufacturer in good faith and see what can be done. Maybe nothing… but it’s an easy check.
I don’t care what you do to defraud someone, you’re going to lose more than you make if you’re altering the serial numbers on RAM chips. I guess I can see someone really clever pulling the paper label off of a hard drive, but even then, the hardware controller on the bottom has… serial numbers! You’re not going to be able to fake those up very easily.
Besides, when 40GB hard drives were common, I don’t think I could have told you where to find a 40MB hard drive. I had a hard time finding a 340MB drive for my i386, and that was four years ago!
Just word of mouth – FOAF, if you will – but yes. I’ve also heard geeks say that “their” store, where they are regulars, treats them better. I have a feeling you have to establish your geek cred with Fry’s employees.
Even though it was their mistake in the first place? We paid for one type of RAM, and they gave us a different type. He went back to correct that error.
Since I wasn’t with him I can’t say for sure, but from what hubby told me, the manager brought the correct RAM (matched to the receipt) to prove he had the right product. When it was obvious it was different, he focused on the sticker.
He handed the correct item for Hubby to compare. I don’t think he demanded he buy it, it was more he demanded he pay for the merchandise in his hand. Hubby was sorta shell shocked by then and just paid for it.
The reason they took him to the office and the reason the police officer stayed was because he said the “F” word.
He did try to convince the manager that the error was their’s, but he never raised his voice or postured. He’s just not that sort.
The sticker was on the RAM and was actually secure, but on the other end of the stick.
The sales people never see the RAM. They look it up in the computer, cross-reference to the specific model, then print out an order, which the customer takes to check-out. The check-out person then goes to the “cage” where a third person inside finds the item and hands it to the cashier. Somewhere between handing the order to the cashier and her handing us the box, a number got misread. the item we needed endein a 1 the one we got ended in a 7
Could Hubby have handled the situatuation differently? Sure, he could have pressed the sticker on more securely instead of taking it off before the attempt to install. We could have checked the number on the box to the number on the order sheet.
I will begin a letter today. I have the manager’s card. I will also find out what I need to do to get our money back from the manufacturer. That will be minus the tax we paid to Fry’s and whatever shipping will cost. :rolleyes:
Merchant’s privilege – if a merchant has probable cause to believe that a person is stealing something, they can sometimes detain that person within certain limitations, pending further investigation. I don’t know enough detail to opine on whether this was a proper or improper invocation.
This is wrong; as noted upthread, cops moonlighting like this is very common. The officer typically needs to get permission ahead of time, and then there are limits to what they can do – the cop can enforce the law, but cannot illegally detain or lay hands on someone if he would not have had right to do so while on duty. Again, I don’t know what side this case my fall on.
In addition to writing a letter to corporate, it might be worthwhile for the OP to call one of your local TV stations. They love stories like this where they can take on the guise of the knight in shining armor.
I just have trouble believing that a cop would treat a firefighter this way. Sure, there’s a rivalry between them, but when together in front of civilians, I’ve never seen them show anything but a unified front.
Sean, who has many family and friends that are cops and firemen.
I shop at Fry’s all the time (Palo Alto and Sunnyvale CA locations), and while it’s definitely a bit disorganized and sometimes difficult to find knowledgeable salespeople (to put it mildly), I’ve never experienced or even heard of anything anywhere NEAR the OP.
Maybe the Bay Area Fry’s are, in fact, better? I think the Sunnyvale one is the original one (although it’s moved several times from where it was back when I was a kid).
I also used to play poker with the manager of the Palo Alto Fry’s, and he was a perfectly decent guy (except for the time he got drunk and… but that’s another story).
I used to work as a Night Auditor at a hotel, and spent a lot of time with the security guards, who were all off-duty or former cops. One of them had got himself into trouble for using his service piece off-duty.
Of course, something like a road race or a bike race would have off-duty cops, but they would be contracted through the department, and would only be permitted to enforce the law, not the policies of the person contracting them. That means that the merchant may detain someone in the back room to investigate their actions, but a cop in uniform can only detain someone in the back of a squad car or in a precinct house.
I guess there are jurisdictions where that’s not the case. It seems like they’re just begging for some absurd incident like in the OP, though.
The cop had no choice. He was working for the manager who called him. He was very polite.
Besides, I doubt that Hubby’s ocupation came up in the conversation.
Cliffy, Hubby never actually entered the shopping area of the store. The customer service desk is as you walk in, seperated from the merchandise.
Hubby had all the documentation proving he purchased the item the day before on his debit card.
I understand the need to watch out for scams. But, not every person trying to return something is a scammer. I just think Hubby was treated poorly.
I go to Silicon Valley Fry’s all the time, and I’ve never noticed a no swearing sign. I’ve found them okay, but you have to be careful. Whenever I’m buying anything big, I wear the my sweatshirt from the computer manufacturer I work for, and do my best to intimidate the help.
My best experience was when I bought a Win 95 PC for my wife. Fry’s has a policy of refunding the difference if the price goes down within a few weeks, and there was an ad for the PC $100 cheaper. When I went in, asking for my money, the clerk said, “aha! It is only good for an open box model.” I went “Aha! This was an open box model.” She was not happy, but I got my money.
When they gave the wrong memory, they should really replace it without any crap. Memories are not the most reliable things anyway. Counterfeit memories are an issue - even the right ones can be a problem if they get sold untested. Let us know how the letter comes out.
I’d have raised a big loud stink, embarrassing myself, the store, the offduty cop, corporate headquarters, and all the rest of the customers.
Hell if they tried to detain me, I’d likely have gotten myself arrested.
The whole thing is total crap and IMNSHO FRYs owes you and your hubby a houseful of expensive electronics.