Fry's Job Application

These are letters that were written to me by other people who were screwed by Fry's Electronics. I take no responsibility for the contents fo these letters.

Bill,

Like you didn't already have enough fuel to start a fire at fry's, I bought a Scanport scanner from them, at an outragously low price of $60. It was advertized for $30, they had a $30 rebate coupon. Ok, I said, a couple of weeks is worth the wait for $30. 4 weeks later Scanport sends me a letter stating they stopped honoring those rebates a year ago. My price = $60 and a bruised head for banging it against a wall. Why don't I listen to you?

Love your site,
NASA aka Nick Souris
nsinc@earthlink.net

I was upgrading my P90 to another motherboard for a BIOS Upgrade and better compatibility. I also brought a couple of friends and my dad along.

Well we get to the store and YES this place had the worst parking arrangement ever. It was a nightmare just to get around. (This is the new store in Fremont). Well we went to the Motherboard section and starting looking at the motherboards. To say the least a headache started just trying to sort through the motherboard piles. These people place the motherboards in plastic wraps that don't work very well. To say the least we found the appropriate motherboard. My friend also was interested in a hard drive that had been advertised. He found the one he was looking for (After getting assitance from the Oh So Helpfull Employees -Heavy Sarcasm Here-) Well we stood in the half mile long line and finally purchase our stuff. Well at least I did, my friend wasn't so lucky. The hard drive he had gotten had one of those replacement warranties that made the price higher than my friend could afford, he didn't want the warranty but the employee had put it in the box. SO he had to go back and get it removed then stand in line to pay for it. While this was taking place my dad and I were waiting in our car and we noticed the Motherboard didn't have the proper instructions, so my dad went and got that after dealing with the unintelligent service clerk. The guy said they were out of those manuals and dad being smarter saw the one we needed and got it!

Ah but my story doesn't end there! When we tried the motherboard it was cracked and didn't work, my dad took it back and the moron behind the desk asked the reason he was returning it. My Dad answered because it's broken and the employee wrote down "not satisfied with product". Needless to say we got a motherboard and an upgrade to a P200 from another computer store and vowed never to shop at Fry's EVER AGAIN!

I hate going there for the exact same reasons you stated.

The first time I went there, Fry’s was new to Texas, and I was helping my friend refurbish my mother’s old 486(this was a few years ago don’t laugh). Anyway, after searching out the RAM counter and waiting 5 minutes (15 minutes in my Type A personality time) I told them what I needed I had it written down and everything, but the guy proceeded to tell me that he could not help me without the manual from the computer. I asked if we could go call my friend, and he pointed me to the line at the Return Center just to use the phone (30 minutes I waited). I had to drive 30 minutes to get there, and they were supposed to have good prices, so I rationalized it in my mind that it was worth the wait. Well, my friend clarified what I needed and I went back to the same guy, and he told me he still didn’t understand, so I walked over to talk to someone else and he shouted, he won’t be able to help you either. He SHOUTED this where everyone could hear him. Anyway, feeling like a moron and completely embarrassed I went to CompUSA. Just to see if I was way off my mark, I told the person at the counter exactly what I told the guy at Fry’s the first time. I didn’t bother with the information that I had to wait 30 minutes to get from my friend. Of course, the person at CompUSA, said, oh sure, here ya go. I am sure I paid $50 more than I would have at Fry’s, but I was treated with Respect.

(A copy of this message has also been posted to the following newsgroups: ba.consumers)

"Your best buys are always at Fry's. Guaranteed"

"Lowest prices. Guaranteed"

Well, not really.

Fry's was the first store I could find that carried the Olympus C2000Z digital camera. The first attempt to purchase it was a waste of time because there was only one person in the crowd of salesdroids there that could sell the camera, and he was missing. On the second try I bought it for $999.99, which is not a low price but full retail. I didn't worry about it much because of their "Low Price Guarantee." Now the camera is showing up online for $799 to $879! I went in for my "Low Price Guarantee" and was told that it's not valid for online sales.

I brought the camera in for a refund since they would not honor their low price guarantee. They pointed to a small scruff on the edge of the LCD screen and said it can not be returned. I said I would have it professionally polished but they said they will still not accept it.

Now I'm stuck either trying to find a store that qualifies for their "Low Price Guarantee" or I have telephone a "manager" to work out a deal. I was told I could call the manager tomorrow but I'm guessing that, somehow, my phone call will never make it. I've made many phone calls to various Fry's stores in the past and they usually pick up the phone then hang it up to make the annoying ringing go away.

You'd be correct if you guessed that I'll never make another purchase there again.

I might as well e-mail this to the collector of Fry's Electronics horror stories at http://www.billzhouse.com.

About a month ago, or maybe longer, it seems like a year because of the stress of the whole ordeal, I was in the market for a new motherboard since mine had just died. My boyfriend grabbed the latest Fry's ad and said hey, we could get you a whole new system for $179!!! So we left right away, since these systems were 350mhz processors, we decided we could both use an upgrade over our old 200's. We got the components guy to get us these 2 identicle packages which included: 1 micro-ATX case, 1 Soyo mainboard, 1 AMD K-6 processor, and 1 cpu fan. At this point we told him to throw in 2 of their RAM of the week, 64mg for $50 (or around that price). Each system totaled $246, needless to say we were thrilled. We got home and pulled my dysfunctional computer apart first, figuring that if it didn't work for some reason, at least we would have the other as a backup. This wasn't the first computer I've assembled, but I'm not a "professional" like the customer service techs at Fry's are apparently, so I didn't use the little brass mounting blocks or whatever they're called to attached the motherboard to the case, i just used the only screws that fit. Well, i get the whole thing put together and turn it on, nothing happens, no beeps, no picture, no cpu fan, nothing at all. So, we figure something is shorting out. I call Fry's the next morning and talk to a technical support technician, I explain the symptoms and the guy says, "What kind of video card are you using?" I explain that the main problem is not that my monitor isn't getting anything but that there is no power and he starts asking questions about the cpu voltage so i get off the phone with him and decide to wait til monday when i can call the mainboard manufacturer. By sunday though, my boyfriend is too frustrated to leave the problem alone, so he puts together the second system, same problem as the first one though. Monday I call Soyo as soon as they open, this guy has me take the motherboard out of the case and try the power with no RAM and no cpu attached. The power turns on now, so I ask him what to do to get it to work in the case, he says, "You have to figure that out for yourself, how would I know?" So, finally I get the guy to say that it is probably one of the screws. I figure the way to find out which one is to add the screws one by one and see which one keeps it from powering up. After finding two screws causing problems, I get sick of all the work of actually turning off the computer every time i put a new screw in, so I leave it turned on and start a screw in, as soon as it touches the case, the lower of the two ISA slots bursts into flames, I put out the fire and grab everything and head back to Fry's. I explain what happened and they say they have to run diagnostics on them before they can do an exchange for a non-flammable motherboard. So, I leave both systems there with the assurance they will be done that evening. Our service ticket has a note that says Red Carpet Per Paul Carillo. Of course they aren't done that night, so the next morning I call and hear they will be done by 8pm. I call back a couple of hours later and say this is supposed to be "red carpet" service, it better be done by 4pm when my boyfriend gets home. They call back at 1pm and say that they finally discovered the problem, we hadn't used those little brass mounting blocks, it's all our fault, we're not professionals, no refund. I say that's bullshit, the motherboard manufacturer hadn't mentioned anything about using those little brass things and I have two computers here, one of which works fine that doesn't have those little brass things in the case, so this guy says he will see what he can do, but he doubts we will get a refund and he will call when we can pick them up. I call everyone I know that has ever put a computer together, none of them used the little brass things, none of them had ever had a motherboard burst into flames either. I then call the motherboard manufacturer and get them to say that all motherboards are supposed to be mounted directly to the case. Anyways, when my boyfriend got home we went straight to Fry's, even though they hadn't called yet. We were both ready to strangle anyone that gave us any sort of a hassle, the guy that handed us our systems was extremely rude, he said, "Boy, you guys really fried those good haw haw haw" then walked away while my boyfriend started his speech that is supposed to end with him grabbing this guy by his tie and saying, "I'll give you something to laugh about asshole". When the tech/customer service guy came back he warned us that all computer equipment should be professionally installed and that basically his 8 hours or 2 weeks or whatever it is of training qualified him more than my 20 years of creating and repairing electronic equipment and my 10+ years of messing around with computers. I find it particularly interesting that this package was titled "Build It Yourself", while in reality what they meant was "Buy the pieces yourself, Pay us to put it together for you". But lucky for them, they had installed our "new" motherboards and we left happy. When we got home, we realized that these were not the cases we had given Fry's, obvious because the wrong slots for the pci cards and drives were punched out, but we assembled them anyways. This time, the power worked only problem was, they would not boot up, no memory check or anything, just a black screen and a constant beep from the pc speaker. So, next morning I call Fry's and they say, "Oh, you must need a higher grade RAM, the lifetime warranty one" So, I take them in and a tech support guy tests the RAM and then tests a bunch of different kinds of RAM in our systems and discovers that only the lifetime warranty one will work, $26 more per system. I get them home and try them out, problem is neither one will detect a harddrive, I call the manufacturer again, he tells me the motherboards are defective and to exchange them. Once again my boyfriend and I go to Fry's and tell them we want to exchange the motherboards for a different brand, they say we can't since we bought them as a package deal. We made a big scene and told everyone else in the return line the whole story and finally they gave in and gave us a refund on the boards. We head to components and look for another board only to find out that the Soyo ones we had are the only ones that fit in the cases we have, but this guy says he can give us a whole new package with a celeron 333 and IWill motherboards for only $50 more than what we originally bought. So, we go home and get all the other stuff and return it and get our new stuff. These systems still aren't working completely, the on-board sound on one hasn't worked since it was installed, the manufacturer told us to return it, we disabled it and installed the sound card off an old system instead, anything to avoid another trip to Fry's. The other system reboots spontaneously sometimes which may be a problem with the bios or just a conflict with win98 and our network cards, still not sure, but since the bios on that system refuses to be updated, the manufacturer sent us a new rom chip, it still doesn't work though. I can't actually blame the current problems on Fry's, but I have a feeling that the store's name is not because it's owned by the Fry Family, but actually named that because everything for sale there has been fried prior to being put on the shelf. I won't ever buy anything computer related from Fry's again, the only thing I've gotten there that hasn't had a problem was a VCR and a bag of candy.

April 9, 2003

I moved to California 2 years ago, and the rest of my life I spent in areas that did not have a Fry's. I'd never heard of the place until I got here. Unfortunately, I was introduced to the store as soon as I got here.

The first time I went I remember having bad service, but it only got worse, until this last time I went (yes, the LAST time).

I walked into the store looking to pick up some memory. I made a simple grammatical mistake and it cost me the scorn of the employees on staff. Here's my quick story...

I was looking to update my friend's old computer by adding some new EDO memory to it. I searched other stores and found that Fry's was the only one in the area with EDO memory. This in itself was maddening because I had a few months prior proclaimed that I would never enter a Fry's again for anything.

I gave it one last chance. I walked into the computer section and found 2 employees at terminals across from each other. I walked up to one and asked if they still carried "IDE" memory (notice the mistake I made). The guy looked puzzled and said "What?". So I asked again, do you carry "IDE" memory? Again a puzzled look, and then he said with a disdain in his voice, "Um, you'll have to ask one of the salesmen over there.", pointing to another two employees and turned back to his terminal. I looked at him for a second and just sighed and walked away.

So I go up to one of the other 2 employees and ask do you carry "IDE" memory? Again another puzzled look, and he asked "IDE memory?" At this point, one of the other salesmen, an overweight sloppy long brown-haired monster, standing across from the original salesman I spoke to, said "You mean EDO memory?". I said oh yeah thats right EDO, thanks. At this point, he turns back to his computer screen giving an obvious smirk, a shake of his head, and a roll of his eyes to the other salesmen. I stared at him a few seconds intensely debating whether to smash this guy's huge face (who starkingly reminded me of the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons) into his little 1980 vintage green-black monitor, laughing as his head is reduced to shreds and bits of skull fly off smacking the other loathsome salesmen in their faces, leaving red stains and bone fragments to congeal and harden like little symbolic zits of hatred for mankind.

Luckily, for Comic Book Guy, I merely turned around and said, yea EDO memory leaving him to never understand the horror that actually faced him. As the "helpful" salesmen printed out my little ticket to give to the cattle herd of cashiers in front, I decided that I would not buy the memory here and merely tear up the ticket and spend my hard-earned important money where it's appreciated.

That's it, sorry for the bits of creativity I interjected, but you have to understand how I felt knowing full well that when I entered the store I would have a bad experience as always, and then having it all come true. Thanks for listening!!

- Neil
neilNOSPAM@packtsardines.com

Do you have a horror story about Fry's that you would like to share with the world? Contact me and I will post it for the world to see!

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