How good are the prices at Fry's?

[Entity]

I'm thinking about picking up a new graphics card from Fry's. They built one in Renton (near Seattle) a few months ago, but I've yet to go. I've been playing Halo recently (I know, I'm behind the times) and I'm finding my Radeon 8500LE . . . lacking. Not only is it slow, but it doesn't render a whole lot of things properly.

Anyway, I'm debating between looking at a local BB/OM or driving down to Fry's. The g/f may want to pick up some stuff from Ikea, so Fry's might not be out of the way -- but I'm wondering what I should expect in terms of prices. If I don't see any sales on at Fry's Ads (www.frys-electronics-ads.com), can I expect to find a decent card (maybe a 9600) at a better price than everywhere else?

Rob

 

[Harvey]

Hi, Rob.

Frys is good for their specials. I've found that most of their regular stock for computer parts is overpriced, but it also depends on what other options you have in your area. They're good if you need something on a Sunday to get your business running by Monday morning, and there's nothing else open.

Many people have had complaints about their customer service. There have also been a number of reports that they have re-shrinkwrapped returned items, even if they were returned as defective.

 

[PoPPeR]

Fry's can be the best thing ever or your worst nightmare. The only things really worth buying are the stuff in their ads, but they always have so much stuff in their ads and it's updated everyday and they have some really really good deals.

I'm almost 100% positive they reshrinkwarp returned items. There's no way so many people can experience problems with the dreaded "may have been returned" stickers without Fry's pulling a quick one on everyone.

 

[GoSharks]

i thought it was common knowledge that they put returned items back on the shelf w/the white "returned item" sticker on the item...

 

[Kadarin]

I agree with the assessments in that both their customer service can be quite erratic (meaning that you should never, ever expect to obtain meaningful help from any Frys salesperson), and that you should never, ever buy any item that has one of those returned stickers on it.

A couple of rules I follow for buying computer equipment from Frys:

Never buy mobos or processors from them.
Only buy something if I specifically know what I want.

 

[Entity]

Sounds like the consensus is that it's only their specials that are worth it, and I don't even see any specials right now. I don't subscribe to the paper, so I can't find any of their advertisements/flyers up right now.

Rob

 

[Harvey]

Check the websites of your local papers. They often run their print ads on their site. Here's an example from the L.A. Times ads online.

 

[SmackD]

I was in Seattle not too long ago and some of the prices seemed really good, went to the one in Renton. The sales and specials is where the good deals were but also most of the big screen tvs were 100$ cheaper than at BB.

 

[ultimatebob]

From what I remember of Fry's, their retail prices were lousy but their sale flyers were amazing. I always made sure to buy a copy the San Jose Mercury News every week just for the sale flyer!

 

[DarkAssassin]

I don't know if anyone has said anything about the returned items but if you ever shop there, never get a returned item(it'll have a sticker on it). I used to have a friend that worked at Fry's and he said people tend to exclude items when they return at times or they broke it and say they dont like it when they return it.

Oh yeah, Fry's isn't bad, deals are ok to me at least. Only reason i actually shop there is because I get Associate Discount

 

[wyvrn]

This is my experience with Fry's in the Dallas area. Their hard drives are overpriced unless on sale. Their memory, cpu's, motherboards, et al are competitively priced with the likes of Best Buy and CompUSA. They do not compare to online vendors like Newegg, but what B&M does? They have a lot of return merchandise with white stickers on them, avoid those at all costs. Some of them have been damaged by computer-stupid people who do things like run their processors without attaching the HS/F. Their customer service is horrible, but selection is great. Think of it as the Walmart of the computer world.

 

[Vincent]

They sometimes have terrifc motherboard+CPU combos.

 

[Michael]

The best thing about Frys is that they have very deep inventories. You can find just about any odd part you need.

Their prices are competitive and they run good specials.

You can negotiate the price on electronics. Computer parts are pretty much as they're priced.

Michael