Fry's= refurbished parts?

[shiznut123]

I heard that they sell used computer parts. Is it true? I bought a mobo from them once and the box was messed up and the inside packaging was bad.

 

[GoldenBear]

If it's not sealed then it's likely been used.

 

[rhinox99]

Well sometimes it's true. Most of their video cards are return items and you can usually tell because they have a white sticker stating it is a returned item. I guess they do that for their motherboards and other non-retail items as well. The most challenging thing at frys is to find an item that hasn't been returned

 

[shiznut123]

I hate when people return their stuff:|

 

[AlphaIVT]

i once wanted to buy just one cheap 56k modem, when i got there, there was nearly 200 of this one generic type. I was looking through ALL of them, and they ALL had return stickers on them, now wtf is that? cheap ass store, I only go there mostly to buy cables and look at the refurbished, oops, i meant new stuff

 

[rhinox99]

You should take a look at the video card section, about 8 out of 10 cards have been opened and returned. Most of them lack parts such as manuals and stuff. It's a good place to go if you want to "sample" your items before you make a decision I suppose... They're like one of the last handful of stores that don't charge a restocking fee...

 

[John]

<< I bought a mobo from them once and the box was messed up and the inside packaging was bad. >>



It was probably USED....

 

[shiznut123]

I knew that it was used

 

[jsm]

I have heard from multiple people that they use Fry's to rent hardware. For instance, you have a LAN party coming up and want every advantage you can get. So, you go down to your local Fry's and &quot;buy&quot; a GeForce Ultra and new, fast 1ghz CPU and then bring it back the next day. Lots of people do this ALL THE TIME and Fry's does not seem to care.

 

[shiznut123]

Fry's should care. Some of the computer parts might be broken.

 

[rhinox99]

For the big ticket items they test it before giving you your money back, so they do care to an extent. On smaller items they just open it and do a quick check for the important things.

 

[Dan]

A major rule of thumb when shopping at Fry's: never buy hardware that has been returned. You have absolutely no idea what condition it is in and neither do they.

 

[shiznut123]

My friend just bought a Prophet 2 ultra from Fry's. The box was crapped up. It was used but it still worked. I just came back from installing it at his house.

 

[Hamburgerpimp]

Yeah, I saw about 100 MSI KT7Pro (original) mobos that had boxes all smashed up. They were $79 and the guy said they were returns and reduced prices. But, some of them had missing manuals, cables and CDs. That place sucks bad!! Bought one thing from there once and never again. Their prices are not even the greatest, either!

 

[Dameon]

They do not test fully. If a problem isn't BLATANT with a motherboard - IE doesn't post, they will slap it back on the shelf bigger than day. They do not test accurately at all. Ugh.

People who &quot;rent&quot; hardware are azzholez. they are the ones who make the Fry's near me absolutely and totally RUDE about returning merchandise. You have to go through hell and high water to get things replaced there. It's crazy.

 

[Zucchini]

well i'm sure many ppl on anandtech don't have a right to complain unless they never abuse frys, or have friends that do so.

 

[trmiv]

It's tough to find anything at Fry's that hasn't been returned at least once. At little while back I was trying to find an Abit KT7-RAID motherboard at the San Jose Fry's, and all I could find was two of them that had both been returned twice! I was almost ready to just leave when I saw three Abit boxes sitting on the counter by that podium they always have in the sections. Luckily they were all brand new, never opened KT7-RAID's, so I bought one.

Funny thing was, when I went to buy it, their computer system was down AGAIN(this was the second time I've seen this), and they were writing all the people up old style with a pen and a those tear-off invoice sheets, and using calculators to do the tax and totals. They even had to run my credit card through one of those old credit card things with the carbon. Big company like Fry's, and they can't even keep their accounting system online.