CompUSA anniversary sale?!?!

[YngwieJM]

Hey everybody! I got the e-mail of the pre anniversary sale ad today and there's some OK stuff in it but I was wondering if anyone out there could tell me where to find the sale that starts Sunday (the real anniversary sale). Any leaked ads out on the web yet? Any CompUSA employees with the inside scoop? TIA!

[lordsmurf]

All the CompUSA near me are going out of business.

[YngwieJM]

Yeah, I know what you mean. We had a few in MI and now there's only 1 left and it's 100 miles away from me! I'll be going anyway though. They have had really good deals in the past. Almost like black Friday...

[Ron B]

All the CompUSA near me are going out of business.

Same here in San Diego County. No Comp USA stores in a high tech area of So Cal, kind of surprising. The stores are not even listed on the Comp USA website any more, but I talked to a guy in Circuit City who used to work at the Comp USA down the street who says eventually everything will be 90% off.

[AlecWest]

I think a lot of computer stores like CompUSA "overbuilt," not considering the competition they'd receive from both online catalog entities and from direct sellers like Dell & Gateway. Anyhoo, I did my part (grin). I went to CompUSA today and the sale signs (and offers) appear to be already valid (at least in Portland, OR). I walked away with a new 17" HP Intel 1.73 GHZ duo-core notebook, 2GB DDR with (thank God) Windows XP, not Vista, installed. The price on the unit was $979. They dropped it down to $929 at the register (in-house rebate) and told me there was a $50 mail-in rebate, too. Just got home from the store so I haven't had time to fart around with it yet. But I was mightily impressed with the monitor clarity. A lot of crap software I'll never use was pre-installed ... so my recycle bin is going to be busy over the next week or so (grin).

FWIW, for people who still want XP machines, my local CompUSA is still selling 4 different notebooks with XP onboard. And if my local store still carries XP machines, one in your area might, too. Everything else has been Vista-fied.

[lordsmurf]

CompUSA screwed itself with shitty customer service. While Best Buy cheerfully refunded/exchanged, or Walmart gave a 90-day no-questions-asked return, CompUSA was bending you over and ramming you with a 15% restocking fee or outright refusing returns. Going out of business is what happens when your store sucks.

They apparently changed the policy last year or so, but it was too little, too late.

[AlecWest]

CompUSA screwed itself with shitty customer service. While Best Buy cheerfully refunded/exchanged, or Walmart gave a 90-day no-questions-asked return, CompUSA was bending you over and ramming you with a 15% restocking fee or outright refusing returns. Going out of business is what happens when your store sucks.

They apparently changed the policy last year or so, but it was too little, too late.

The 15% restocking fee is still posted boldly near their service area ... and still applies unless the returned item is defective. For me, the turn-off at computer stores are confronting salespersons who know less about computers than I do. A few years ago, I'd go to CompUSA just to talk to some of the techs there because their acumen-level was very high. But the salesman I confronted today seemed pretty much a salesman - eager to show me more expensive Vista models after I'd told him I was specifically looking for an XP machine if one existed. The only reason I didn't leave the store is because I found the machine I wanted to buy, with XP ... and decided I'd probably not find a better deal elsewhere. In fact, the notebook I bought was the only notebook with a 17" screen that was under $1,000. I need the big screen due to my eye problems (my desktop has a 19" monitor).

There was one thing that perhaps only I could appreciate, though. The price on the unit was clearly marked $979. I did not find out about the $50 in-house instant rebate until I got to the register ... nor did I find out about the additional $50 mail-in rebate until after the sale. I took that moment to "compliment" the clerk, telling him I appreciated finding out about rebate scenarios that "lowball" the shelf price, not the other way around. If I'd seen a notebook marked $979 ... and was presented a $1,079 bill at the register, then told of a $100 mail-in rebate, I'd have probably walked out of the store.

[Ron B]

Same deal on the restocking fee at Circuit City. I took an LCD monitor back three times and told them "enough is enough", I want a refund. They told me sorry, 15% restocking fee. I pointed out a shipping label on the side of the box. The monitor had been purchased online, delivered to a residence and that person returned it to the store. They retaped the box and sold it to me as new. Pretty clear case of consumer fraud; selling returned, refurbished or used products as new. What do you know? No restocking fee.
Think I won't be going back there anymore.

[budz]

In hawaii restocking fees are illegal. I don't think any of the stores here will close but who knows.

[ZAPPER]

Eh, no real beef with Comp USA. I might even rate them a little better than some other places. They are not the closest place to me for some things but for the general computer big box type store, they are the cloest that I know about. Sales staff seems iffy at almost all stores but I would also have to add that the consumer has some responsibility in finding out the information that they are looking for and that goes for finding the best salesman in the store too. It is not like I shop for a computer every day, but I always thought that Comp USA had one of the widest selections in stock and if you bought any hardware from them they would install it free. (I let them do my ATI video card and fire wire port and they did a pretty good job of blowing all of the dust out of my old machine for free too) Comp USA was also pretty good at the rebate receipt part of things. They always printed the receipts out and handed them over explaining what each one was for.

I would hate to think that they were going under, because I liked knowing that there was a place that I could go to and get pretty much anything that I needed in one stop. And if they are in fact going under that doesn't always mean that they were beat out by better stores, just more profitable stores or better managed stores. When ever we loose a store like this we loose a little bit of the competition that helps keep prices down and we also loose out on some of the varity of selection too. Too bad, but such is life.

[AlecWest]

Playing Devil's Advocate here, I've never understood the problem people have with restocking fees ... assuming the item returned was not returned as defective. Wouldn't it be nice if I could buy a fancy car, for example, and take out a few ladies on dates ... then return the car asking for all my money back (even though I've put mileage and wear/tear on the vehicle)? There aren't too many four-figure or five-figure items that do allow returns without some financial sacrifice ... and I don't see how computers should be any different.

Now, if the computer WAS defective, that's a whole different ball game. I'm a big believer in lemon laws.

P.S. BTW, my new notebook is firing well on all thrusters so far. One thing, though. It came with a lot of pre-installed software I'll never use. And, I've been spending several hours uninstalling stuff I don't want and installing stuff I do want. I almost wish I'd paid the CompUSA tech person to just wipe out the hard drive - reinstalling only XP and letting me do the rest.

[lordsmurf]

AlecWest, the problem is due to puffy marketing and idiot salesmen. Product abilities and qualities are so often exaggerated or outright lied about, that folks will often go home and receive great disappointment at their purchase. They should be allowed to return their purchase with no penalty, especially since the store will re-sell the item for 100% and not 85% of the price to the next buyer.

When I bought my HP laptop, I spent a few days uninstalling, customizing settings, and installing my own software.

[AlecWest]

AlecWest, the problem is due to puffy marketing and idiot salesmen. Product abilities and qualities are so often exaggerated or outright lied about, that folks will often go home and receive great disappointment at their purchase. They should be allowed to return their purchase with no penalty, especially since the store will re-sell the item for 100% and not 85% of the price to the next buyer.

I agree there is a lot of deceptive advertising in the computer world. But, Caveat Emptor. Sellers should be brought to task for deceptive advertising (and have been - it's what put a really big store, Smith's, out of business in Portland). But while I'm not talking about you or anyone else on this forum, I think you'll agree with me that there are some incredibly stupid computer buyers out there ... who exaggerate their own expectations of a product based on silly assumptions or hearsay from other stupid buyers. Consumers have the right to be protected from deceptive business persons ... but retailers have the right to be protected from stupid customers.

When I bought my HP laptop, I spent a few days uninstalling, customizing settings, and installing my own software.

Ahhh, a kindred spirit (grin). Incidentally, I think this proves my point. The majority of computer customers expect "fully loaded" systems ... to be led down a garden path with software picked out for them by those who know the software they'd need. In short, the majority of buyers have chosen to abdicate their right to do their own thinking to the companies who sell to them.

To tell the truth, if I'd known of a decent laptop builder locally, I'd never have gone to CompUSA. Unfortunately, while my area has a plethora of desktop builders, most of them won't touch laptops with a 10-meter cattle-prod. Why, I don't know. In fact, last week, I went and saw such a builder. He and I went to high school together, too. When I told him what I was looking for, he first told me he didn't do laptops. But then, he said he would. He took my phone number and email address and said he'd get back to me in 24 hours. He never did (sigh).