There’s clearly no love lost between D. and D’s former employer, RadioShack. A little over a year ago, D. sent us some insider tips on what to watch out for when you shop at RS. Now here comes a follow-up, with more information on cell phone sales tricks, warranty pitches, and used merchandise.
If you recall, I wrote a confessions regarding RadioShack’s sales practices back in 2008. I feel an update is now in order. It may also have something to do with me going to college soon and no longer needing a job that requires deceiving the customer daily to pay the bills—but I digress.
Should you go to RadioShack for a purchase, here’s some tips to remember.
#1 — ALWAYS, ALWAYS, open the box and check the merchandise in store if possible.
RadioShack stores sell returned merchandise all the time. Sometimes it’s cordless phones that have sold and come back to the store 4 times, or it’s an antenna that’s missing a remote (not that the staff will tell you), or it’s a cell phone that a manager wants sold.
The main reason RadioShack hocks used merchandise as new is due to how the returned merchandise is sent to the RS refurb center. The returning store receives no credit if the product is damaged or missing an included part. Sending in distressed merchandise results in the loss being charged against the manager’s quarterly bonus—so a situation exists where store management has incentive to resell used products as new.
So, open the box and test the product in store before leaving. Be sure to check the bubble-packed product for taped corners or stapled ends.
#2 — Cell phone deals.
RadioShack has a price match policy for its corporate stores. Here’s the fine print, so when the manager/salesman tries to dodge the rebate you’ll be ready.
The actual ad must be present,and on paper. No photocopies or duplicates.
No mail in rebates can apply, although instant ones do.
Don’t be afraid to bring in several favorable ads. You can only use one per phone, but this way if one flier is disqualified you can still use “the backup.”
The way modern phone programming works, there’s no reason why the cell phone you just bought shouldn’t be making calls before you leave the store. While it’s normal for data programs to take longer to work, if your new phone isn’t making calls before you leave, ask why. Don’t buy the salesman’s stock line of 1-4 hours provisioning time. Phones I sold that didn’t work the day I sold them generally stayed broken until the customers returned them the next day.
Sometimes there are network outages, but confirm this by asking for the store’s Sprint/ATT demo to see.
#3 — Keep the receipt.
RS’s customer research system sucks. Plain and simple. Unless you bought a service plan (and I sure hope you didn’t fall for that hustle) or agreed to sign up for email registry with a name and address, the ticket is essentially lost after 90 days. Plan accordingly when filing the receipt.
And here’s some new sales hustles to watch for:
RSAP card
You don’t want a credit card with a 23% APR, do ya? And no, it’s really not free for 90 days or a year with purchase-that lovely APR is still charged against the balance,and if you’re one millisecond past 90 days or a year all that accrued interest charged over that timeframe is added to the balance.
Personal Data
A lot of stores are catching heat for not meeting credit metrics, so any request for your name, drivers license, or SS# should be qeuried immediately. Some stores have lied and ran customers credit info illegally to keep corporate off their back,so be aware.
E-mail capture
Pretty harmless, just make sure you use a spam box so you can get the occasional coupon for $10 off a purchase over $40.
Wireless Pitches
DO NOT HAND OVER YOUR PHONE. Headquarters was getting real crafty teaching psychology via a method about asking a question about your cell phone battery, and using that to twist the conversation into a cell phone discussion. If an associate asks about how your cordless phone,or cell phone battery works make it clear right there you’re not buying a phone from them. That’ll kill the pitch, and the look on the salesman’s face will be well worth the trip to the Rat Shack.
Service Plans
Very simple. MFR warranty on everything in the store usually lasts a year except on Apple products. It’s not smart to pay RadioShack an extra $3.99+ for something that came with the product. Even headphones are better off replaced at the mfr level than at RadioShack, because all the store does is send the broken product to.. drum roll please… the MFR! All the service plan pays for is the right to use RS’s glacially slow repair process.
DTV Antennas
Before going into the shack to buy an antenna, verify whether your old antenna works well first with the box. I’ve found that the indoor antennae sold by the shack with ‘amplifiers’ and ‘multi-gain’ switches suck so badly a set of 1982 era rabbit ears get better reception. Steer clear of indoor antennae period, and search elsewhere if your current set are broken. Outdoor antennae have worked a lot better, but again make sure to have your current set re-aimed to your DTV broadcast antennae in whatever major city is near you before spending $$ on new equipment.
Last tip—if you’re buying a big-ticket item, be sure to ask for the store’s district office direct line. If something goes sideways and the manager won’t fix the situation, asking for it then will tip the manager off that you mean business, so they’ll obviously play damage control—which won’t be in your favor. So request the number at the counter before there’s a problem, and if you run into problems call it directly. This will catch the moronic store staff off-guard, so there will be no time for lies or damage control on the part of the store staff.
This should help save some Consumerist readers any headaches on dealing with the rat shack. I’m glad that after more than a year I’m finally free of the joint.
We asked D. how you can identify whether a store is corporate owned or not:
Check the top of the receipt. A corporate store will have a store number printed at the top in 01-6XXX format,although the 6 can be a different number too. Products sold from corporate stores can be returned/exchanged at franchise side locations,and vice versa.
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“6 Confessions Of A Former RadioShack Employee”
(Photo: strangelv)
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“Products sold from corporate stores can be returned/exchanged at franchise side locations,and vice versa.”
As another former RS employee, this isn’t totally accurate. Franchise stores only have to sell a certain % of RS merchandise, the rest can be whatever they choose. If you buy something from a franchise store and return/swap at a corporate, the product must specifically by RS. Otherwise you could return a fishing lure from Joe’s Bait and Electronics to a corp. store and they’d be stuck with it.
Just a minor detail.
I almost went to work for RS when I was a teen. Mom drove me down to the Detroit-area regional HQ for a test. I scored poorly because I didn’t get the sales mentality of the ABCs: Always Be Closing!
One question was something like if a customer couldn’t decide between two clock radios what should you do? The correct answer is to sell them both, and offer a return on the unwanted one…in hopes they’ll never bother returning, and gift it or something.
I really wanted to work there because at the time they were flush with electronic kits and a large parts inventory.
But now, for sure, they are worse than Best Buy, and more than retail pricing. A frickin’ watch battery is a minimum of $6, but a grocery store will sell it for $3. They really gouge you, and it’s always a negative experience.
Hear hear.
Audio or video cables, HDMI anything, wires, plugs, some small parts, video game cables and controllers and any kind of accessory for anything, Monoprice is the place. Go there first for anything. If Monoprice doesn’t have it, THEN go elsewhere. Yes the prices are real.
For actual electronic devices -try Newegg or Amazon or maybe Buy.com Be aware that Amazon and Buy both offer items sold by independent stores or shops.
eBay is also a good resource. I have noticed an increasing number of the Amazon and Buy “shops” are also running eBay stores and many of the emails or invoices I get now have preprinted store IDs for each. Same stuff being sold three different places. So buy from the one with the least hassle or fees.
Lastly, check out your neighborhood dollar stores. Sometimes some of them have the odd audio or video item or small accessory. Cellphone holders, speaker wire, telephone jacks and wires, some other things. It may not be top tier stuff but it might be what you need.
I purchased a computer from RS several years ago in Delaware. I had a reason to open the computer case to do some trouble shooting, and I noticed the fan blades were covered with dust. I called the store to complain, and sales rep said to bring it back. The interesting thing was that they didn’t even ask me a question at the store. They just accepted the computer.
I work in Sprint’s Advanced Tech department, and this right here is why I get so many customers who have Blackberries that won’t provision for the life of me.
I’m over there thinking. OMG. These are brand new phones. What the hell is wrong! Whenever, in fact that aren’t brand new. They are refurbs that are effed up to begin with and the customer is just not informed about it.
Ridiculous. luckily, a wipe and reprogram is usually enough to fix them. But still. The customer shouldn’t have to pay full price for a phone that has to have numerous troubleshooting steps performed on it *to* make it work.
I was shocked that the Blackberry I got from Radio Shack works as good as it does. Provisioned in 5 mins (did it myself, in my car) Apparently, I did get a new one.
An earlier post misrepresented RadioShack’s policies and procedures.
RadioShack does not resell merchandise that is customizable, such as wireless phones. If an activated handset is returned to RadioShack, that handset is returned to the wireless carrier . . . not to the shelf.
RadioShack is moving toward instant rebates because it is more customer friendly. We have heard from our customers that they prefer instant rebates rather than mail-in rebates.
The activation of wireless handsets typically requires less than thirty minutes, however, it is dependent upon the wireless carrier’s activation system. Occasionally, activations can require several hours due to peak times of high demand on the carrier’s activation system or to authenticate an account in order to fulfill the customer’s request to port their existing telephone number from one carrier to another.
RadioShack associates strive to enhance the in-store shopping experience by listening to our customers, offering advice and helping them choose the best technology to meet their personal needs. Any suggestion that our associates would act in a way that disregards our customers’ best interests is disturbing to us because it does not accurately reflect our culture.
RadioShack Customer Care
@undefined: @RadioShackCustomerCare:
Wow, can you still not get it right? Wireless activation takes 30 seconds absolute maximum (we’re talking behind concrete walls with 1 bar of reception) and 50% signal loss. Not 30 minutes. Yes folks, less than 30 seconds. It takes just as long as it does to go from “no signal” to registered to a tower, if you go from one coverage area to the next. I have (and have friends who have previously or still work for) AT&T, Sprint, Tmobile, US cellular, and Verizon. There is no activation worldwide that has a time delay intentional or accidental in activating a phone.
The only reason there is a delay is because activation sends your IMEI and a bunch of data, and so if a ton of phones are activated at once you can saturate the note. Think of it like DDOS’ing the data of a node. As an example of how this can happen, look back on the Iphone activation fiasco where nodes went down and people couldn’t activate, etc.
@undefined: @RadioShackCustomerCare: I’m not sure about their current policy, but as of June 2005 this was not true. At the time Radio Shack was still selling Verizon and I was employed at a store in upstate SC. As the direction of my manger, i would regularly take Verizon (and Sprint) phones which had been returned within the 3 day policy and clean them up for resale. This included using the master-reset feature and clearing the phonebook and text messages. This was only done with phones in like-new condition, any damaged ones were sent to the repair center.
Whenever a customer would ask to purchase a phone we were required to pull any returned phones first before opening an un-opened new phone box. So that the customer would not notice, we would always open phone boxes in the back and start programming them as we walked back to the customer on the sales floor.
@RadioShackCustomerCare: You heard from your customers that they prefer instant rebates versus mail-in rebates? Your customers had to tell you they hate mail-in rebates in order for you to realize that? LOL, Einstein.
@RadioShackCustomerCare:
This, I can verify. Often times outgoing calls would start right away while incoming calls would ring to the old handset. Etc.
This is much less true with AT&T where the call is routed to the smart card and not the phone itself.
As a former Radio Shack employee, I can tell you that you had better retrain your managers (from regional down) about this. I was working for the Mentor, OH store (I believe it was 01-4242), and we routinely had items returned either from our store or from stores in the district because they were clearly used. The most ignoble case I can recall is when an MP3 player was sold loaded with songs. The store manager then asked me to take it home, clear the songs, and bring it back the next day. He okayed this with the regional manager before doing it.
@Cocoa Vanilla: Hey, jerk, how about you not lessen what RadioShackCustomerCare is here to do, assuming that they are here for more than just empty marketing speak. Way to make an impression.
What RadioShackCustomerCare said was 110% true!!!
Yes managers need to be retrained but the company policy is to send to RMAC (Manufacturer) or the repair center. I worked their for 7years and managed 2 stores before leaving.
Activations do take hours sometimes if the system is saturated. Although the norm is seconds it can take time. It does not come down to the signal on the phone as one person said above it is the activation system and can take longer if porting.
An experience at one store or one activation is not the norm.
@RadioShackCustomerCare: @WiglyWorm: Maybe because it is nothing more than just empty marketing speak. Let me, a customer who has purchased products from them, tell you: LOTS of merchandise goes straight back on the shelf. I don’t care what the policy is, or what corporate wants their stores to do, it is an undeniable fact (with my own experiences as proof) that a ton of merchandise that is returned CAN AND WILL end up back on that shelf, to go to the next suck-I mean, customer. I can’t tell you how many items I’ve purchased from them that had clear signs of previous use. Radioshack can say all they want, it’s what ACTUALLY HAPPENS that matters, and Radioshack doesn’t do anything besides talk.
RadioShack is not in chapter 13 yet?
@VvsK: And not once was there a denial of reselling returned items (a policy that is not at all exclusive to RS. I’ve had clearly used items sold to me from RS, Best Buy, Target, and many other places.
Let’s face facts, a good amount of returns (especially with tech items) are actually rentals, or the user just plain can’t figure it out. Nothing is wrong with the product, and there’s no good reason to send it back to the manufacturer.
What RS did say is that “customizable” items (presumedly items that have internal memory, etc) are supposed to be sent back. As a side note, I can tell you that RS policy is to *clearly* note with a sticker on the package that the item is open box, and has been taken out of the store. Further, when you see that sticker, it points out (on the sticker itself) that you are entitled to a free doubling of the duration of the manufacturer’s warranty.
Out of all the stores I can guarantee you use the practice of selling returns as new, radio shack is the only one I’ve ever seen that informs you of such.
So, rather than spit on the guy who comes and says “yeah, that sucks, but let me also clear some things up”, how about we tell him where their policies are falling short and need to be addressed?
Oh, that’s right, you’re not here to be constructive, you’re here to rage against some vague definition of “the man” with a lot of heady rhetoric and no real substance.
@WiglyWorm:
Their posts fly straight in the face of REALITY and LOGIC. I don’t like being lied to, especially by a company, and the disregard for truth is just complete bullshit. Do they think that lying to us about what happened, even though there is proof, will make things better? How about “Sorry, this is not our policy, and we’re talking to the manager at the store to correct the issue.” rather than “Umm, what? These are not the droids you’re looking for…”
To quote you “Not once was there a denial of reselling returned items” Umm, yes, they’re denying that this phone, a returned item, was resold. All evidence says that this item was returned. “Supposed to be sent back” well great… we all know that didn’t happen. Can we get some up front honesty rather than marketing run around?
That shit is downright insulting, so honestly, fuck Radio Shack. I don’t like being treated like I’m a fucking idiot.
@trujunglist: I dunno, maybe I’m not cynical enough to not give them a shot. Maybe I’m biased from having worked from them (a job i hated btw), but it seems to me if a company says “these are very much against our culture” maybe we should give ‘em a little bit and see if they retrain/let go of some employees.
Of course, part of the problem with Radioshack is that they put too much value into being a good sales person. Yes that’s valuable. But they only way to be a manager is to be a good salesperson. The only way to get regional is to be a good salesperson. There is nowhere for good leaders in the lower rungs of the organization, or good planners, or people who are knowledgable about the products. Only good sellers.
@RadioShackCustomerCare:
“RadioShack is moving toward instant rebates because it is more customer friendly. We have heard from our customers that they prefer instant rebates rather than mail-in rebates.”
You do know that this is a consumer website right? Not the typical customer sheeple your stores rely on to stay in business. You are a disingenuous FRAUD & your bullshit will get you called out here. What a stupid statement you make. Do you even believe the crap you spout? I hope RS implodes under the weight of its own crap after reading this: it will eventually, you can only pull this crap so much. I still remember being forced to provide a phone number years ago to buy a 9-volt battery, only to have RS violate my privacy by cross-referencing my phone # to my home address & assualting me with mailings. You all must be a thick-headed bunch, it only took a decade to figure out people hated RS for that, and RS is now just realizng people hate mail-in rebates. You need to find a better PR school.
@wvFrugan: Wow. Apparently every person who has had a bad experience at RS thinks the internet is the best place to register their complaints. How about just calling Customer Care? There is no “call center” anymore; call Customer Care and you will be directed to the District Office of the store you are calling about. Try doing that with any of the “big-box” retailers.
As for the whole “used product” debate, yes, RS does take returns; it’s a part of doing business. Some are because of “rent-a-shacks”, some are because people don’t understand how to read the manual and don’t want help trying to use the product, and sometimes it’s just not the right product for the consumer. If it’s broke RS sends it back or tosses it out. If it’s in working order it gets resold. Yes, there is supposed to be a “Premium Warranty” sticker put on each of those products. Does it happen every time? No, but it’s supposed to. I can’t speak for any store other than the ones I’ve run, but my staff and I use those disclaimers religiously.
Now, before I get flamed instantly for being a “defensive employee”, I want to make something very clear; I’ve been around for over a decade with RS and have seen everything previously described in this thread. I’m actually on my way out the door, but not because I believe RS is a bad company, but because they have no clue how to treat, promote, pay, or reward their employees. Next time you go into a RS, keep this in mind;
The guy that greets you is there to sell you something. Chances are he’s probably had to take a couple dozen certifications just go get to the position of being able to help you (I’ve taken close to 100 myself). He doesn’t work for Walmart which means he wasn’t changing oil yesterday and today is trying to sell you a TV. While not all employees are created equal (which is a point that I think seems to be lost on some of you, claiming RS is a bad company because of one experience you had) but in general RS employees are much more knowledgable than the guy standing around playing video games all day at Walmart. However, RS employees are paid minimum wage plus small incentives to sell certain products. They don’t get raises EVER so they only way they make anything extra is by actually selling you something. If you don’t want to be sold something, go to Walmart. MOST people shop at RS because our associates in general are knowledgeable and friendly. They do however get a lot less friendly when they say “Hi” and the first words out of your mouth are “Just looking.” If someone says hello to you, the proper thing to do is return the greeting. Working retail has made me a better customer as well. I personally think everyone should be required to work a year of retail to learn how to be better customers.
When the associate tries to pitch you on something, it’s done for 1 of 2 reasons, or both; either they’ve been told to do it “or else” or they truly believe it’s something you’d like/need. I don’t care what consumer reports says about extended warranties; I buy them myself. RS’s are about the most awesome there are; in general if your product breaks you get a gift card for it to buy whatever you want. How awesome is that? Sure, you can utilize the manufacturer’s warranty, but in general you have to pay to ship the product to them and pay for them to ship you a replacement. The price of a RS Replacement Plan is usually less than that, plus if the first product broke, do you really want the same product again or would you like the chance to purchase something different?
Repeat after me: RADIO SHACK DOES NOT SELL “USED” WIRELESS PHONES. RS does offer Refurbished Sprint phones in some locations, but those are clearly marked and discounted as such.
Bottom line, RS is a good company and in general it’s employees’ hearts are in the right places. Just like you do every day you go to work; they’re there to make a buck. If half of the people on here complaining had even the slightest idea how much RS employees are required to know/learn they’d think twice before blasting them on the internet. Yes, there are some bad apples; every company has them. Unfortunately for RS the most rotten apples of them all are the ones that are the source of most of it’s problems; those who have offices in Ft. Worth.
beware if the seller when getting a product from the back comes walking out while opening the package claiming they are just “checking” to see if its ok.
i got sold a used product that way, i took it back, it didn’t feel right from the start.
@RadioShackCustomerCare I bought a “new” AT & T (may have been Verizon – can’t remember) phone at the Radio Shack on Montague St, Brooklyn Heights in late December, 2005. I soon realized it had a picture on it – saved in the photo album – of a couple standing in front of a brownstone in Brooklyn Heights. After I returned from my Christmas holiday, I went to return what was obviously a used phone and was told that Radio Shack no longer had a contract with whatever service provider it was (AT & T or Verizon) and that, essentially, I was screwed.
So yes, you do sell used phones. And yes, you have forever lost a customer in me and – hopefully – whomever I’ve told this story to over the past four years and whomever I will tell this story to until your sorry store is finally out of business.
Just a note, the “how to tell if a store is corporate or not” is wrong.
Corporate stores are 01-xxxx (any four digit number). Franchise stores have letters in the “store number” and start with 22- (such as 22-Bxxx or 22-Jxxx)
Corporate offices are 01-0xxx, so 01-0375 would be a district office, loss prevention office, or similar.40-xxxx locations are repair centers. The “sprint kiosks” in malls are radioshack owned (and are 01-xxxx stores), as are the cellphone stores in Sams Clubs (I don’t know what they are).
While most folks working at RS stores know that they own the SC kiosks and sprint kiosks, that’s usually the extent. There’s zero communication between the kiosks and the stores, and while technically possible to return a kiosk item to a RS store, they’re likely to simply refuse to do so.