Consumerist
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bait and switch
NY Attorney General Fines, Closes Down Infamously Scammy Camera Stores
If you bought cameras or electronics from any of these stores recently you were probably scammed: Best Price Camera, Foto Connection, 1 Way Photo, 86th Street Photo, Broadway Photo, Camera Whiz, and Sonic Photo. Or perhaps you bought something online from one of their astonishing array of alter egos and websites (see full list). More » -
insiders
More Insider Tips When Buying From Radioshack
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. More » -
oh snap
Rumble In The Strip Mall: Best Buy Calls Out Walmart
Sure, Best Buy emerged victorious over Circuit City in the Battle of the Big-Box Electronics Stores, but they still have to compete with general discounters like Walmart. Which is why in a new ad campaign, Best Buy calls out Walmart specifically, attacking their employees' presumed lack of product knowledge compared to Best Buy employees. More » -
confusion
Best Buy Tries To Convince You To Buy The Wrong Memory Card
Reader Phil is annoyed. He called Best Buy to see if they carried MiniSD memory cards. He was told that they did, but when he got to the store — all they had was MicroSD. Instead of just apologizing and letting Phil get on with his day — they tried to convince him that he was wrong, and his camera took MicroSD. It doesn't. More » -
obvious
Former Best Buy Salesperson Says: Electronics Salespeople Are Useless
Over on CNET, blogger and former Best Buy salesperson Sharon Vaknin shares her acquired wisdom with the Internet, putting together a list of the "7 things electronics salespeople won't tell you." What are they? More » -
iphone
Meet The New iPhone, Not Quite The Same As The Old iPhone
Another year, another iPhone. Next up to drive early adopters furious is the newly announced iPhone 3G S, which opens applications faster, goes easier on the battery, packs a sharper camera, records video, includes voice control and adds a compass that points to the inevitable reality that Apple will announce a fourth iPhone next year. More » -
extended warranties
Texas Electronics Retailer Sued For Deceptive Sales Practices
The Texas Attorney General filed suit against aptly named electronics retailer Conn's, accusing the store of aggressively marketing extended warranties to customers, then doing everything in its power to avoid honoring those warranties. More » -
where's my money
RadioShack Electronics Trade-In Program Not The Fastest Way To Get Cash
A Dallas Morning News blogger decided to test out RadioShack's new trade-in program, where you mail them your unwanted cellphone, for example, and they mail you a gift card, which you can then turn around and use to buy 7,000 house brand AAA batteries. As you might expect, RadioShack didn't offer him as much money for his Blackberry Storm as he saw them going for on eBay, but the real problem came from the missed deadlines and delays in getting his gift card: what they said would take one week ended up taking 5 1/2 weeks, and might have taken longer had he not emailed them.
"DMN reporter tests RadioShack's gadget trade-in program; RadioShack tests reporter's patience" [Dallas Morning News] (Thanks to Trevor!)
(Photo: Robbert van der Steeg) -
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rebates
Creative Labs Charges "Maintenance Fee" For Rebate
Creative Labs has found a great new way to minimize the risk that a customer will actually benefit from a rebate offer. In Rick's case, they sent him the rebate in the form of a $10 debit card that was supposed to be good until July 2009, but when he went to a Best Buy to use it last month, it was denied. The reason? He'd been charged a $3 "maintenance fee" every month since January. More » -
customer service
Did Bad Customer Service Doom Circuit City?
Best-practices guru Joel Spolsky thinks Circuit City imploded because of their terrible customer service, not any "recession" or "macroeconomic conditions" nonsense. To prove his point, he looks at thriving New York electronics retailer B&H, which succeeds because they understand that stellar service leads to healthy profit margins. More » -
apple
Will Apple Gobble Up Electronic Arts?
CNBC's Guy Adami said on CNBC's Fast Money TV show that there's talk that Apple may try to take over video game goliath Electronic Arts. More » -
electronics
Panasonic Won't Replace Defective DVD/VCR Combo
David in Massachusetts bought a Panasonic combination VCR/DVD player about a year ago. It came with a special feature none of his previous Panasonic VCRs had: it randomly freezes. A lot. More » -
crime
Radio Shack Punches Customer In Face
Instead of getting his money back, one Radio Shack customer got a sock in the jaw when he tried to return something. According to the police report, the employee wouldn't let the customer return the item. When the customer asked to speak to a manager - kapow! And you thought the worst thing you had to worry about was if you kept your receipt!
Radio Shack Employee Arrested for Punching Customer [WEAU] (Thanks to lilboisleepy!)
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bad deals
Meritline Using Misleading "Free HDMI" Cable To Sell Digital TV Converter With No HDMI Output?
Matthew emailed us with an interesting link to a Meritline offer that he says is making the rounds on deal sites. The Airlink digital-to-analog converter box is a fairly generic offer, but Meritline is offering a free HDMI cable with it. The only problem is, there's no place on the box to use the cable. If you just see "free HDMI cable" and don't read the specs closely, you'll be in for a rotten surprise when the box arrives. But hey, free cable. More » -
ebay
"New" Phone Bought Off EBay Turns Out To Be Used, Porny
Lillian bought what she thought was a new phone from an eBay seller with a lot of great feedback. The longer she has it, though, the more evidence she finds that it's probably not new. Sometimes buying electronics off of eBay is like slowly peeling an onion. More » -
best buy
Report: Best Buy Demoting 8,000 Senior Sales Associates
A report from New York investment firm Sanford Bernstein says that Best Buy will be eliminating 1,000 assistant manager positions and demoting 8,000 senior sales associates to regular sales positions that would pay 25 percent to 50 percent less than their current salary — causing some to compare them to Circuit City. More » -
zombie retailers
Systemax Wants To Buy Circuit City Website For $6.5 Million
Systemax, the company behind Tiger Direct (and the buyer of CompUSA's remains when it went out of business over a year ago) has announced it plans to buy the Circuit City e-commerce business for $6.5 million cash plus a share of the revenue over a 30 month period. More » -
circuit city death watch
CircuitCity.com Threatens To Rise From The Ashes
A mysterious message can be found at the website of recently-defunct retailer Circuit City. More »
electronics
New York, 7:28 PM
Sun Jul 5
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