That's cheaper than in my area. Where I live an average shop charges $75 just for the bench fee. At least that is what I've heard.
High, but not a 'rape-job' for electronics repair. I'd say $30-50 is probably average for this type of diagnosis (and some places will let you apply this fee to the cost of repairs if you have them done there).
It's like this when you make *any* sort of large/complex purchase -- if you don't know what you want/need, you're likely to end up with the wrong thing, or get jerked around by a stupid/unethical salesperson. I wish it didn't work this way, but if you want to get a good deal on a major purchase, you HAVE to do enough research that you know what you're doing. Computers are complex -- but they're not so complex that the average person couldn't figure the basics out if they did some research (or at least find a technically competent friend to get some advice from).
The Romans had it right: Caveat Emptor.
- Aug 23, 2003
- 25,375
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- 116
Originally posted by: lavagirl669
Originally posted by: txxxx
HP actually have good build quality, which is the more important factor in a laptop given that some of the components arent as interchangable. Oh well your loss for your naivety
actually my experiences with HP have been bad.
It's not naivety, it's a matter of preference you might say.
p.s.
I got a Sony Vaio for Bday so I'm happy and I know not everybody likes those either.
Guess I fell in love with that big beautiful 17" widescreen
Yeah you've been pimping that laptop quite hard, its embarrassing.
Well, all these stories are definately not an american only phenomenon.
Here is South Africa the only big PC chain store is Incredible Connection, (also known as Incredible Corruption or Incredible Confusion Or Incredible Cash-eater by those in the know). I normally went there to buy games.
Anyway, back in the year 2000 I went in there, while looking at some games, i notice they have some ATi Rage Fury MAXX's on sale and i walk over to check what their asking for them. I had got one the week before at supplier cost price (because I worked as a technician at a shop) and it was like $50. Now these ones were going for $200.
I was standing there just imagining their profit ratio when this sales guy sees me and walks up and asks me if he can help me. I remark that I was just looking at the price. He asks me if i play games since its a gamers card, for fun and curiosity as to his reason for asking, i say yes. He then steers me to the Voodoo 5500 right next to the ATi Rage Fury's. They are like going for $300. and he tells me that its much better than the Rage Fury (which was true, to an extent) because its had 3 graphics chips onboard unlike the Rage's 2 graphics chips.
I had by that time read up on the Voodoo 5500, on AnandTech no less, and knew over my dead body it had only 2 graphics accelerating chips. After 20 mins of arguing I was not having fun anymore, so told him he must open the box and show me. He said sure but that I would then have to pay for it since i wanted it opened. I said sure I would, except if it only had 2 chips, then HE would have to pay for it, and then you could suddenly see his hesitation and the doubt that maybe he wasn't right, after a minute of oh'ing and ah'ing he said thought of something to say, which was, "thats not how we work". So i said thats not how I work either, and promptly walked out.
Haven't been there, even to buy games in almost 3 years.
Hope someone found this at least interesting, this thread made be laugh quite a bit.
Thanks to nick1985 for starting it
Here is South Africa the only big PC chain store is Incredible Connection, (also known as Incredible Corruption or Incredible Confusion Or Incredible Cash-eater by those in the know). I normally went there to buy games.
Anyway, back in the year 2000 I went in there, while looking at some games, i notice they have some ATi Rage Fury MAXX's on sale and i walk over to check what their asking for them. I had got one the week before at supplier cost price (because I worked as a technician at a shop) and it was like $50. Now these ones were going for $200.
I was standing there just imagining their profit ratio when this sales guy sees me and walks up and asks me if he can help me. I remark that I was just looking at the price. He asks me if i play games since its a gamers card, for fun and curiosity as to his reason for asking, i say yes. He then steers me to the Voodoo 5500 right next to the ATi Rage Fury's. They are like going for $300. and he tells me that its much better than the Rage Fury (which was true, to an extent) because its had 3 graphics chips onboard unlike the Rage's 2 graphics chips.
I had by that time read up on the Voodoo 5500, on AnandTech no less, and knew over my dead body it had only 2 graphics accelerating chips. After 20 mins of arguing I was not having fun anymore, so told him he must open the box and show me. He said sure but that I would then have to pay for it since i wanted it opened. I said sure I would, except if it only had 2 chips, then HE would have to pay for it, and then you could suddenly see his hesitation and the doubt that maybe he wasn't right, after a minute of oh'ing and ah'ing he said thought of something to say, which was, "thats not how we work". So i said thats not how I work either, and promptly walked out.
Haven't been there, even to buy games in almost 3 years.
Hope someone found this at least interesting, this thread made be laugh quite a bit.
Thanks to nick1985 for starting it
VirtualLarry
No Lifer
- Aug 25, 2001
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I find that generally, some of the older computer salespeople/techs do seem to know what they're talking about. More than likely, they've done their stint in some IT-related capacity in the past. At least around here that is probably the case.
VirtualLarry
No Lifer
- Aug 25, 2001
- 56,570
- 10,205
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I've heard of that happening too. If you don't use the right type of transparency sheets specifically for lasers, they can melt inside the printer and ruin the (expensive) drum. Not good.
I can imagine that properly-printed laser transparencies are pretty pretty durable though, I've seen way too many inkjet printouts (even paper ones) start to bleed horribly if they get even a little wet, or "bloom" if they are exposed to excessive humidity.
lol a warrenty that costs as much as the mouse, although don't blame the salespeople on that, they have to ask.
AyashiKaibutsu
Diamond Member
- Jan 24, 2004
- 9,306
- 4
- 81
Sure BB employees don't get commission for sales, but they do get insurance that they will keep their job if they do.
These are mostly hilarious, but I also find it hilarious when someone walks away from a tech and brags about how stupid he was, only to find out the tech was right...
I worked at Staples in '99 and i tell ya, it opened up a whole new world for me. I was hired as a technician but when repairs were slow, they'd ask me to help on the sales floor. The guys on the sales floor would tell the customer ANYTHING to close a sale. And they, too, pushed the extended warantees like crazy because there were bonuses for them. I actually got in trouble several times for just blatantly telling the salesguys that they were talking out of their asses and to stop recommending inferior products because the prices are higher. Management said i was being "belligerant" and was hurting sales. I told them to stop telling their salespeople to upsell at all costs. A local university later offered me twice the salary to join their network admin team...
Some memorable paraphrases from Staples salesmen:
"don't buy the standard printer cables. You need this $55 gold-plated printer cable. It will make your printer print 5x as fast."
"higher megahertz ALWAYS means the computer is faster"
"Of course you can make your own CDs on CDROM drives."
Some memorable paraphrases from Staples salesmen:
"don't buy the standard printer cables. You need this $55 gold-plated printer cable. It will make your printer print 5x as fast."
"higher megahertz ALWAYS means the computer is faster"
"Of course you can make your own CDs on CDROM drives."
VirtualLarry
No Lifer
- Aug 25, 2001
- 56,570
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I thought that was just for stuff like non-standard "Super-G" wireless. (Basically non-standard wireless channel-bonding, seems every mfg does it a little differently.) Regular, standard, 'g' or 'b' should be interoperable, I hope. (Regular wired ethernet has been plug-and-play interoperable for decades, mostly.)
i've had to many encounters which will make me say= in a lot of cases they will say whatever it takes to make a sale, but depending on the salesperson, some are legit with you if you ask them to NOT bullshit you while your wasting your time to talk to them. Get a clue of whatever it is your looking into before you head out there and buy it.
I really feel that all the stores try to hire the cheapest labor they can, and then when customers get the wrong item drive them away with exhaustive lines and excessive cross-examining (Eg: FRY's, CC).
On a side note, I used to work at COMPUSA in 98 as a business sales associate and had 7 years off on-phone support for an internet pc-parts company, so I pretty much was a techhead, I went to FRY's to apply just for fun, and the manager who took my application plainly said " you are to overly qualified for us and would cost us sales by selling things people need rather that what we can get them for"
Oh well that was 1998, I still buy at Fry's but all the computer guys know me as do the customer service people, and they steer far away from me, why that is, is a story for another day
On a side note, I used to work at COMPUSA in 98 as a business sales associate and had 7 years off on-phone support for an internet pc-parts company, so I pretty much was a techhead, I went to FRY's to apply just for fun, and the manager who took my application plainly said " you are to overly qualified for us and would cost us sales by selling things people need rather that what we can get them for"
Oh well that was 1998, I still buy at Fry's but all the computer guys know me as do the customer service people, and they steer far away from me, why that is, is a story for another day
If anyone ever tries that BS on you, IMMEDIATELY pick up your phone, call the police, and have them come take a police report of exactly what happened. Employee lied to the customer in order to sell a product, you corrected his statement, you were threatened by his manager. Get that on the record and see how quickly that manager's supervisor will correct the manager, apologize to you, and let you go on your merry way.
Never let anyone push you around
I don't have any funny stories but I do remember walking around Fry's for awhile and I saw this Fry's associate walking down an aisle by himself, and I guess he didn't know we were looking at him because he let the loudest fart I have ever heard out right there. I mean this thing reverberated off the gigantic wharehouse ceiling and down the aisle, I really couldn't stop laughing for about 3 minutes. Then I bought a hard drive.
I was at Staples one day and this lady was all freaked out about her privacy and the government hacking into her computer and stuff :roll: so she was looking at firewalls. So she was looking at the pro version of Zone Alarm... The Staples employee started "helping her" and recommended she try out NORTON GHOST as it is a new and really good at security... I was like WTF??? she ended up not being interested in it other wise I was going ot have to step in and say somthing.
A Verizon telemarketer once called me to sign me up for DSL. I told him I had cable and I was happy with it. He then went on to say, "You know with Cable, the more users there are the more slower it becomes. However, DSL has integrated servers that enable us to give you a constant speed." I knew the dude was BSing me... so I said something along the lines of "No not at all, with cable you have automatic adjusting bandwidth that will increase the bandwidth when more users get on with Smart bandwidth technology. Smartbandwidth technology exponentially increases the bandwidth depending on the number of users on the line...." The guy was like, "ok ok... I understand, have a nice day..."
I held him on the line for a few more minutes and I finally let him go... heh, that made me feel good.
Totally unrelated but this reminds me of the time a telemarketer called about a credit card. I was playing Unreal Tournament 2003 and had my Z640s cranked up. I picked up the phone and the lady was like "Hi, my name is Megan and I'm calling on behalf of your Chase Credit Card..." Right then, out of the speakers came... "DIE B*TCH" (the bot just killed someone). The lady was like, "Oh, I'm sorry!" and hung up. I was wondering what happend and after a few seconds it hit me... I cracked up so hard.
I held him on the line for a few more minutes and I finally let him go... heh, that made me feel good.
Totally unrelated but this reminds me of the time a telemarketer called about a credit card. I was playing Unreal Tournament 2003 and had my Z640s cranked up. I picked up the phone and the lady was like "Hi, my name is Megan and I'm calling on behalf of your Chase Credit Card..." Right then, out of the speakers came... "DIE B*TCH" (the bot just killed someone). The lady was like, "Oh, I'm sorry!" and hung up. I was wondering what happend and after a few seconds it hit me... I cracked up so hard.
was getting my car fixed today and picked up one of those business magazines in the lobby. They had a pretty long article about how BestBuy is coping with new pressure from wallmart and dell in the areas BB usually speciallizes in. The tactics they're pushing are called CARE+ , an acronym that stands for (IIRC)Contact, Ask questions, Recomend, Encourage. Basically have the associate "blueshirts" come off as techno-friends that can be trusted to make good recomendations... pointing out that they don't work on comission, etc. (they do, however, get bonus goodies for a big sale...) and appearing very knowledgeable about their area. The goal is essentially convincing the customer that they need a complete solution (big $$) vs a single item (less $$). not just a digital camera but a digital camera and memory card and repair plan and new computer and lcd monitor and....in one example a couple walked in looking to spend $1000 on a digital video camera and digital still camera. They got talked into close to $5000 worth of crap they didn't need.
The article was pretty scary in terms of how BB is plotting to bilk customers for all they're worth, but the magizine (fortune, I think) made it out like BB is revolutionizing the practice of selling (and that it's a good thing). However, it will be pretty fun to mess with these jerk-offs now....
The article was pretty scary in terms of how BB is plotting to bilk customers for all they're worth, but the magizine (fortune, I think) made it out like BB is revolutionizing the practice of selling (and that it's a good thing). However, it will be pretty fun to mess with these jerk-offs now....
Originally posted by: txxxx
HP actually have good build quality, which is the more important factor in a laptop given that some of the components arent as interchangable. Oh well your loss for your naivety
HP and Compaq notebooks suck. The hardware is just horrible. They are making cheap products and selling them for cheap to gain market share. Our service department grumbles whenever we have to go near one. HP does make decent printers and PDA's. (Hp did also have a line of decent AMD towers with Asus MB's and proper ATX power supplies. They are discontinued now though.)
-Scott
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