- Dec 6, 2005
- 11
- 0
- 0
The fact that PC parts are cheaper online is not the only reason I shop for them there.
We have a handful of shops around my town that sell parts and service systems. A few of those are chains, like Best Buy and Radioshack; The rest are locally-owned and operated. It's the latter that concern me. I expect ineptitude and high prices from the chains because they're just places where kids need jobs and corporations need profits. I can even understand where the little guy needs to mark up parts to make a living.
But what I can't understand is how every local shop in every town in which I've lived can be this inept about the particular field in which they specialize. It actually makes me really mad when I need a part quickly and have to go online to get it because local shops are no help. I'm on this kick right now because I need some common parts for a new system and will be waiting another week to get the thing up and running, because I don't want to deal with them.
Off the top of my head I can think of a couple examples... In Fall 2004, my mom's Athlon XP system went down. The ABIT motherboard died. She was getting impatient with the downtime so I figured I could just give her the motherboard out of my secondary system and it would run the same - except that the replacement motherboard wouldn't support SATA, which was the interface of her HDD. So I go to this local place the same day... for anonymity's sake we'll call it Pierre's of Exchange... and ask about SATA add-on cards. The guy there - the assistant to the owner - gives me a puzzled look. I ask again, being very explicit about what I need. He furrows his brow and says, "Well Serial's kind've an old interface, don't think we can help you with that," and literally WALKS AWAY to talk to a different customer. I leave.
I walk several blocks to the next-closest place. I ask about the add-on card. The owner tells me they don't carry any at the moment. I call my mom and let her know it'll take a new motherboard, she says sure. Good, I'll just replace the motherboard. It'll cost her more but it'll be resolved. So I ask the guy about Socket A motherboards with SATA onboard. "I don't think we don't have anything like that. That's on the way out." I clarify: a motherboard that supports an Athlon XP 2500 and also has SATA. He becomes indignant, and responds, "Look, I don't think they MAKE anything like that... It's old tech." Well, I was replacing a Socket A motherboard with SATA that had been built within the last 8 months, but that part had eluded him. So I go to leave. Near the door I notice a display case, inside of which is a stack of 3 Asus A7N8Xs, which were the exact model I needed. The best part: They had one of those pink star stickers with "NEW!" written in marker. For the sake of time I had to buy it.
You'd think that if these guys run shops dedicated to computer technology, they'd at least keep up.
We have a handful of shops around my town that sell parts and service systems. A few of those are chains, like Best Buy and Radioshack; The rest are locally-owned and operated. It's the latter that concern me. I expect ineptitude and high prices from the chains because they're just places where kids need jobs and corporations need profits. I can even understand where the little guy needs to mark up parts to make a living.
But what I can't understand is how every local shop in every town in which I've lived can be this inept about the particular field in which they specialize. It actually makes me really mad when I need a part quickly and have to go online to get it because local shops are no help. I'm on this kick right now because I need some common parts for a new system and will be waiting another week to get the thing up and running, because I don't want to deal with them.
Off the top of my head I can think of a couple examples... In Fall 2004, my mom's Athlon XP system went down. The ABIT motherboard died. She was getting impatient with the downtime so I figured I could just give her the motherboard out of my secondary system and it would run the same - except that the replacement motherboard wouldn't support SATA, which was the interface of her HDD. So I go to this local place the same day... for anonymity's sake we'll call it Pierre's of Exchange... and ask about SATA add-on cards. The guy there - the assistant to the owner - gives me a puzzled look. I ask again, being very explicit about what I need. He furrows his brow and says, "Well Serial's kind've an old interface, don't think we can help you with that," and literally WALKS AWAY to talk to a different customer. I leave.
I walk several blocks to the next-closest place. I ask about the add-on card. The owner tells me they don't carry any at the moment. I call my mom and let her know it'll take a new motherboard, she says sure. Good, I'll just replace the motherboard. It'll cost her more but it'll be resolved. So I ask the guy about Socket A motherboards with SATA onboard. "I don't think we don't have anything like that. That's on the way out." I clarify: a motherboard that supports an Athlon XP 2500 and also has SATA. He becomes indignant, and responds, "Look, I don't think they MAKE anything like that... It's old tech." Well, I was replacing a Socket A motherboard with SATA that had been built within the last 8 months, but that part had eluded him. So I go to leave. Near the door I notice a display case, inside of which is a stack of 3 Asus A7N8Xs, which were the exact model I needed. The best part: They had one of those pink star stickers with "NEW!" written in marker. For the sake of time I had to buy it.
You'd think that if these guys run shops dedicated to computer technology, they'd at least keep up.