From: RGude69567@aol.com
Received: from RGude69567@aol.com
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 00:39:40 EST
To: CyberPagan@OutoftheDark.com
Subject: Comp USA

I am writing this letter out of frustration with doing business with Comp USA. Frankly I am kind of embarrassed to be even writing this now, my problems pale in comparison to some of the horror stories that I have been reading about for the past hour.

Well here it goes. My Tale begins in november 1998, I saw a Comp USA add in the sunday paper for Canon BJC 4200 printer. So I drive down to my local Comp USA Store in Freehold NJ, I walk in see a stack of at least 20 of the printers I want front and center ready to go. But before I buy, I just want to see how the thing operates and check out print quality, etc. The display model they have does not work, I try to fix it myself as there is only two sales people and they are helping other customers. After 20 minutes of working on the demo to no avail. I figure "what the hell its Canon its got to be good" So I buy it. Everything is great with the printer, works great , prints great copies, no problems at all. But, when I bought the printer it came with a Photo cartridge That I Knew I was not going to use. Since I was using this printer for my business I was only going to be printing in black and white. So I figure it probably would be no problem to go back to Comp USA with the receipt and Swap a $42.99 Photo Cartridge in an unopened box for a $ 24.99 B/W cart.

Right? Wrong!!!! First stop the return counter. The person working the counter told me that under no circumstances would I be able to return my more expensive cart. for a cheaper B/W Cart. After discussing this with him for 15 minutes the people behind me in the return line were getting kind of antsy and
I have to say I cannot blame them for I thought this completely ridiculous myself. I asked the young clerk to get me the manager so that I could discuss the matter with him. The Store manager came over and i explained my situation to him figuring he would be more agreeable. Boy was I wrong. He was worse than the young clerk. After explaining all my reasons why he should exchange the Cartridge, He explained all his reasons for not. Not only was he adamant that he was not going to exchange my cartridge but he lied to me also. At one point in our conversation he said that the reason he could not exchange it was because it was too close to the expiration date on my carts. package. So I told him to pick up one of the same carts. as mine off the stand of printer Carts. behind him. He did and the cart. he picked off was three months closer to expiration than the one I pulled out of my printer box. Well this really set him off and made him even more entrenched that I was not leaving his store with the B/W cartridge that I wanted. Finally, I left the store Angry, upset and vowing to never buy from Comp USA Again.

Now mind you,  strictly from a business point of view this was a complete lay-up. The  economics of the trade justified the swap as I was not asking for the difference between the two cartridges and the manager had a golden opportunity to build some goodwill with a customer. The way he handled it, he pissed off a customer and killed any goodwill I had for CompUSA to begin with. By the way I ended by going to my local Walmart where they not only did the swap I was looking for but gave me back the difference too!!!!  No Questions Asked.

Fast Forward to 2/28/99. Yesterday I needed a Parallel cable for the new ZIP Drive I bought online. So I broke my Vow against shopping at CompUSA after the first incident and purchased a parallel cable. Since I was going to be using my new zip to back up my files from both work and home I needed to setup my home computer so that it was portable but I could still use my printer. I realized that the way I wanted to originally configure my setup was not going to work and that I was going to have to return to CompUSA to do an exchange.

The Flashbacks from my first experience kept flooding back on the drive over, and I was preparing for a confrontation. By the way I had thrown out my receipt, but I figured it would be no problem after all they do scan everything into a computer when you check out. So i get back to CompUSA and promptly see two lines Inside the "IN" door for people with returns.

While I am standing in a line about 8 people deep I notice one of my fellow consumers move from my line into the one Parallel to us. Figuring nothing of it I continue to wait in line. Finally I get to within one person of being at the counter, when the guy in front of me tells the clerk that he has an exchange. The clerk tells the guy,  that he's in the wrong line that exchanges is the other line. Mind you there are no signs telling which line is which or even that you are in the "returns" line. Me and the and my fellow shopper go to the back of the exchange line and swap stories of how bad CompUSA is for 15 minutes.

Anyway Back to my story. I have no receipt but do you think it would be easy to swap one parallel cable for an essentially identical one. At CompUSA hell no. The exchange person told me it could not be done. This was the same exact person who sold it to me the day before! I ask for the manager, who was a woman this time and she obviously has some sense because she let me swap with no questions asked.

What prompted me to write this, is my lack of satisfaction with compUSA's Return practices. I am not an overly demanding consumer but my experiences at Comp USA have been the worst by far in my entire consuming life. Their practices and services stink and I vow never to shop at Comp USA again!!!! The best way for us as consumers to punish bad businesses and bad business practices is by voting with our wallets. The moral of my experience in dealing with Comp USA is.....Don't. If you value your health and sanity stay away from comp usa. By the way, you can always find it cheaper and stress free buy buying off the net.