Thoughts on Fry's Brick and Mortar Store

[pradeep1]

I was always jealous of hearing west coasties brag about having Fry's stores in their states and when one opened up on the east coast in Atlanta, I drove up to visit. I was impressed. It is like being in a Sam's Club or Costco, but it is filled with everything a geek could love, and at reasonable prices. Very cool.

However, I found the employees at the Fry's stores to be some of the most nitwit people I have ever met. I remember I had once walked into the Atlanta Fry's store when they had those Core2Duo / ECS motherboard combos, and it was a day after the special sale or whatever had expired. I walked over to the section where they keep all the mobos, cpus, ram, etc. and started browsing. There were about ten customer service guys in white shirts and ties walking around. I spoke to one guy who was standing in front of the impressive selection of mobos. He said he'd be with me soon, and then he just ignored me and was there chatting about mobo specs to some guy who was arguing about the benefits of DDR2 vs. DDR RAM. I waited approximately 15 minutes to get someone's attention because they seemed to helping other people, but they weren't really, they were more standing around BSing with customer/friends. In any case, I finally got the manager to help me and I asked him if I could buy the C2D/mobo combo as advertised in the sales flyer. He said no. I told him that I had driven 2.5 hours from another city to check out the store and also to buy this deal, and he said no again. He said that he cannot authorize this sale because it comes from headquarters. He then proceeded to tell me that they were going to have this same combo or a very similar one on sale the following Tuesday, and that if I came back then, he could give me the deal. I think I was there on like a Saturday afternoon, or maybe it was a Sunday, don't recall. I asked him why he could not authorize this since it was on sale the previous day and it would be back on sale the following Tuesday, and he said he couldn't help me.

The funny thing was that I had about $275 worth of other things that I was going to buy - I had a mixer, a few games, a cheap Logitech speaker system, a Streamlight flashlight, and a 2.4 GHz cordless phone.

I was so frustrated at this idiot that I just walked away from the store without buying anything.

I own a business, and if a new customer willing to pay walks in and asked me to honor a deal that had expired the prior day, I would do it, in hopes of having that customer for life. That's the reason they have deals right? To get people to come to their stores.

I was very unimpressed with the customer service at this store, and even though I have gone back once or twice afterwards, I just don't spend money there like I'd like to.

That is unfortunate. Best Buy and CompUSA were also very cool when they first opened up, but it seemed like a herd of buttheads took over and their customer service reputation when to hell. Fry's seems to be coming out of the gates with crappy service.

Anyone else had experiences like this at Fry's, or is the Atlanta Fry's unique?

 

[herkulease]

this is normal. the stupid employees part, ignoring you or not knowing there stuff. not that much different from best buy/circuit city etc.

as for mobo/cpu issue. What do you expect? You wanted to buy an item that was no longer on sale. Yes occasionally they will run the exactly same item a few days later for their usual weekend sale or a one day sale. but that doesn't always happen.

Imo the idiot here is you not the manager. You wanted something that is no longer on sale. I cannot think of any major retailer that will honor an expired sale price unless they screwed up and left the tag with old price on the shelf. They are not a small business either and there will plenty of other people who understand how having sales from x date to y date works and will make any profit they might've earned from you.

 

[s0ssos]

well, if you want to hear from us west coast folk:
of course! their employees are stupid. we make jokes about them all the time.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

First, I don't like their employees either.

Second, I'm not sure why people are so amazed at Fry's. Maybe I had already been exposed to everything there? An aisle of flashlights, cases, etc. does not impress me and honestly leaves me wondering why they don't have a larger selection. Yes, it's local, it's one step up from other places, but for a person like me, that doesn't matter 95% of the time. I can usually wait for something to be shipped to me.

Their salesmen are stupid too and a lot of times they just stand around with the damn manager joking about something. Some of them actually walk around and offer help, but many don't. Also, when I ask for help finding a product, or if they have something, I'd like them to already know what's on the shelves. I wouldn't have called them over if I just wanted a partner to search the aisles with me, I can do that on my own.

I guess I have an issue buying any kind of electronic equipment in person and so maybe that's my issue? The fact that they don't show any flexibility at all when it comes to pricing also bothers me, that's the kind of consumer I am and certain places will cater to that, even Best Buy, Dell, whatever. If you want a discount, there has to be a reason other than you drove 2.5 hours for it.

Edit: Not to talk against you, but when you say, "I told him that I had driven 2.5 hours from another city to check out the store and also to buy this deal, and he said no again," I have to wonder why you didn't call in ahead about that. 2 1/2 hours each way is 5 hours of driving total, factor in gas, effort, etc. and I'm not sure why it would be worth it. I don't think you should expect a discount, that's the wrong mentality for approaching this, especially because it was expired. Remember, the newspaper ad or whatever is legally only an invitation to come, not a paper saying they will honor the deal on it. This is why if there's a typo, they don't have to be held responsible to honor the deal.

 

[Sdiver2489]

So you wanted the sale after it was over...

interesting that you think you are entitled to this

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

nvm

 

[Sdiver2489]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
nvm

damn right nvm!

OP. when I worked retail, you are the customer we would all laugh at after you left. You somehow think you deserve to bend the rules. Sales are put on certain days to draw people into the store to generate traffic on slow days or to try to spur a ton of sales(christmas)...not because your sorry ass drove 2.5 hours.

You sure taught them a lesson by not buying their products for the sale price! Think of that 5% profit they could have made!

 

[Synomenon]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
First, I don't like their employees either.

Second, I'm not sure why people are so amazed at Fry's. Maybe I had already been exposed to everything there? An aisle of flashlights, cases, etc. does not impress me and honestly leaves me wondering why they don't have a larger selection. Yes, it's local, it's one step up from other places, but for a person like me, that doesn't matter 95% of the time. I can usually wait for something to be shipped to me.

Their salesmen are stupid too and a lot of times they just stand around with the damn manager joking about something. Some of them actually walk around and offer help, but many don't. Also, when I ask for help finding a product, or if they have something, I'd like them to already know what's on the shelves. I wouldn't have called them over if I just wanted a partner to search the aisles with me, I can do that on my own.

I guess I have an issue buying any kind of electronic equipment in person and so maybe that's my issue? The fact that they don't show any flexibility at all when it comes to pricing also bothers me, that's the kind of consumer I am and certain places will cater to that, even Best Buy, Dell, whatever. If you want a discount, there has to be a reason other than you drove 2.5 hours for it.

Edit: Not to talk against you, but when you say, "I told him that I had driven 2.5 hours from another city to check out the store and also to buy this deal, and he said no again," I have to wonder why you didn't call in ahead about that. 2 1/2 hours each way is 5 hours of driving total, factor in gas, effort, etc. and I'm not sure why it would be worth it. I don't think you should expect a discount, that's the wrong mentality for approaching this, especially because it was expired. Remember, the newspaper ad or whatever is legally only an invitation to come, not a paper saying they will honor the deal on it. This is why if there's a typo, they don't have to be held responsible to honor the deal.

It's a nice place to have nearby when you forget to order that one little part of a new build and you need it right away.. They have stuff that no other local place has.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Sdiver2489

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
nvm

damn right nvm!

OP. when I worked retail, you are the customer we would all laugh at after you left. You somehow think you deserve to bend the rules. Sales are put on certain days to draw people into the store to generate traffic on slow days or to try to spur a ton of sales(christmas)...not because your sorry ass drove 2.5 hours.

You sure taught them a lesson by not buying their products for the sale price! Think of that 5% profit they could have made!

Pretty much. Loss leaders are advertised to increase traffic, typically resulting in sales of higher margin products. That's why they're willing to sell items at a loss or those that aren't as profitable.

And sure he may have been able to give it to you. You shouldn't have gone into the store expecting them to honor an expired deal.

 

[aka1nas]

OP, when at Fry's never ask an employee about anything technical, they either won't know, or more often, will lie. However, other customers shopping at Fry's can often be very helpful.

I remember when I was 18 or so and I was looking at gamepads at Fry's, another customer practically shoved the Gravis Exterminator Digital in my face and pretty much sold me on it right there. Now, the guy was pretty creepy and probably a pedophile or something, but the important point is that it was the best damn gamepad ever.

 

[0roo0roo]

Second, I'm not sure why people are so amazed at Fry's. Maybe I had already been exposed to everything there? An aisle of flashlights, cases, etc. does not impress me and honestly leaves me wondering why they don't have a larger selection. Yes, it's local, it's one step up from other places, but for a person like me, that doesn't matter 95% of the time. I can usually wait for something to be shipped to me.

well its better than best buy. its more like super radio shack + circuit city. much bigger selection of stuff that best buy. sure the employees are nitwits, but thats what you are paying for with minimum wage. people talk of knowledgeable service but they aren't willing to pay for it. its a good place to get stuff if you can't wait, and well sometimes you can't when a comp goes down or you just want it now. ever check out the cpu cooler/fan selection at best buy? never mind ram and that kind of stuff...totally pathetic.

 

[PottedMeat]

heh - The employees are almost always idiots, know exactly what you want.

Make sure you check your purchases before you leave the lot - I bought some ram a few years back only to find the contacts were completely burned. At least the returns guy diddnt give me any crap about it. another thing I noticed was that the returns line was about as long as the checkout line. Oh and never buy anything off the shelf with that 'returns' sticker on it.

At the Arlington store in TX there are ~10 employees always standing around the laptop/desktop section doing nothing chatting each other up. Maybe 3+ are in the harddrive/motherboard area staring off into space.

Fry's though is the best for those unusual or hard to get items - they're the quickest place around here for surface mount passives/resistors/caps/connectors - although sometimes their stock looks like it was there when the store first opened.

 

[pradeep1]

Originally posted by: herkulease

Imo the idiot here is you not the manager. You wanted something that is no longer on sale. I cannot think of any major retailer that will honor an expired sale price unless they screwed up and left the tag with old price on the shelf. They are not a small business either and there will plenty of other people who understand how having sales from x date to y date works and will make any profit they might've earned from you.

Thank you herkulease for calling me an idiot. That obviously lifts the value of your observations more and contributes to the nature and value of this forum.

I can name at least five major retailers who have honored expired sales (sometimes 1-2 weeks after expiration). Nordstroms, Macy's, Circuit City, Amazon.com, Newegg, and also Walmart. That is from personal experience. Most of the time, just asking a manager nicely that this was on sale and if they would honor that same price was sufficient to get the deal.

I was not asking for too much. The previous sale had ended, they were going to put it on sale again a few days later. Same deal. I was caught between sales. I am not a pimply faced teenage kid there slumming for deals and always buying only the loss-leaders. As I said, I had plenty of other purchases in my shopping list. My request was not so substantial that they should have refused if they had any business smarts.

They can run their business any way they want. They are entitled to that. But these small customer service quirks will eventually drive them down like the rest of the pack. Case in point, CompUSA. At one time, they were the sh*t for computer enthusiasts. Now, they are struggling to stay alive, and I am sure it is mainly because of their poor service and disregard for the customer that drove customers away. I know that is what drove me away.

Cheers.

 

[Lumathix]

Same for both stores in Houston.

 

[pradeep1]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo

Second, I'm not sure why people are so amazed at Fry's. Maybe I had already been exposed to everything there? An aisle of flashlights, cases, etc. does not impress me and honestly leaves me wondering why they don't have a larger selection. Yes, it's local, it's one step up from other places, but for a person like me, that doesn't matter 95% of the time. I can usually wait for something to be shipped to me.

I guess I have an issue buying any kind of electronic equipment in person and so maybe that's my issue? The fact that they don't show any flexibility at all when it comes to pricing also bothers me, that's the kind of consumer I am and certain places will cater to that, even Best Buy, Dell, whatever. If you want a discount, there has to be a reason other than you drove 2.5 hours for it.

Edit: Not to talk against you, but when you say, "I told him that I had driven 2.5 hours from another city to check out the store and also to buy this deal, and he said no again," I have to wonder why you didn't call in ahead about that. 2 1/2 hours each way is 5 hours of driving total, factor in gas, effort, etc. and I'm not sure why it would be worth it. I don't think you should expect a discount, that's the wrong mentality for approaching this, especially because it was expired. Remember, the newspaper ad or whatever is legally only an invitation to come, not a paper saying they will honor the deal on it. This is why if there's a typo, they don't have to be held responsible to honor the deal.

Fry's impresses me because in my little town, all we have is Best Buy, Circuit City, and a decrepit CompUSA. Being able to pick up obscure parts (mobos, case fans, RAM), video games, and other stuff quickly and cheaply is what impresses me about Fry's. I also like their flashlights.

I had driven 2.5 hours to that store as part of another business trip. I did not go there expressly to get that deal. I didn't even know about it until I saw the deal sheet taped to the cashier's desk in the mobo/cpu section. That is when I asked the salesperson about it and then talked to the "manager" about the deal.

I understand contracts and what they are legally bound to do in this situation. I was just amazed that a manager would turn away a sincere, well dressed, clean cut, 32 year old person for asking for what maybe was an actual loss of $15-25, forgoing future sales to that person.

In business, you have to know how to size up a customer - to know if they are just there to milk you, or if there is some value to that relationship. If you can't do that, then your long term prospects are not that great.

 

[Enig101]

Fry's is good compared to other "brick and mortar" stores, but most of the time they don't come anywhere near Newegg. I'd rather wait 3 days for the stuff to ship and save a bunch of money.

 

[pradeep1]

Originally posted by: Sdiver2489

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
nvm

damn right nvm!

OP. when I worked retail, you are the customer we would all laugh at after you left. You somehow think you deserve to bend the rules. Sales are put on certain days to draw people into the store to generate traffic on slow days or to try to spur a ton of sales(christmas)...not because your sorry ass drove 2.5 hours.

You sure taught them a lesson by not buying their products for the sale price! Think of that 5% profit they could have made!

Another poster who thinks insulting people makes their observations more valid. I can see that you worked in retail, your condescending and rude attitude would probably qualify you as a manager at Fry's.

Thank you for your input.

 

[0roo0roo]

they also have another advantage against tiny pc stores, they stay open till 10, cept for sunday when its 9.

 

[pradeep1]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
they also have another advantage against tiny pc stores, they stay open till 10, cept for sunday when its 9.

Really, I didn't know that. A late night run for PC parts is the epitome of geekiness. Count me in.

 

[GeneValgene]

Originally posted by: Sdiver2489
So you wanted the sale after it was over...

interesting that you think you are entitled to this

QFT

lol at the OP

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: pradeep1

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
they also have another advantage against tiny pc stores, they stay open till 10, cept for sunday when its 9.

Really, I didn't know that. A late night run for PC parts is the epitome of geekiness. Count me in.

hah yea they have stuff other major stores don't carry, like bulk batteries and stuff, 100aa for 19 bucks.... niteize accessories for magiltes, target and walmart only sell the led upgrade bulbs, not the holsters and stuff. and for decent prices too, online with shipping it woulnd't be worth bothering with.

 

[waggy]

Hold on. you knew the sale was over. yet drove 2.5 hours to see ifyou could get in on it?


hahahahahhahahah damn.

 

[pradeep1]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: pradeep1

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
they also have another advantage against tiny pc stores, they stay open till 10, cept for sunday when its 9.

Really, I didn't know that. A late night run for PC parts is the epitome of geekiness. Count me in.

hah yea they have stuff other major stores don't carry, like bulk batteries and stuff, 100aa for 19 bucks.... niteize accessories for magiltes, target and walmart only sell the led upgrade bulbs, not the holsters and stuff. and for decent prices too, online with shipping it woulnd't be worth bothering with.

In addition to being a computer geek, I am also into photography and flashlights. So, yeah, their flashlight selection is nice. I like that they carry Streamlight and Pelican lights. That is not too common in non-specialized stores. But did you notice they don't carry Surefires. I wonder why?

 

[pradeep1]

Originally posted by: waggy
Hold on. you knew the sale was over. yet drove 2.5 hours to see ifyou could get in on it?


hahahahahhahahah damn.

Please read my third post in this thread for clarification.

Wow, I am surprised at the immaturity of this forum.

 

[zerocool84]

I love Fry's, I don't shop there for the customer service but when I do shop there, I make sure I go during non-peak times just in case I might need them to get something from the back for me. Can't beat their prices or selection though.