Bobby has found that Radio Shack’s Gigaware wireless mouse to be shoddily made and breakdown-prone, but is happy that the company seems happily eager to replace it as many times as necessary.

He writes:

Never thought I’d be writing in to say good things about the Shack, but I am.

A few months ago, my mouse died suddenly. I do a ton of stuff with spreadsheets and I’m useless with a mouse pad, so I needed a new one RIGHT NOW, and the only option was Radio Shack. I bought a Gigaware (their house brand, it turns out, but I didn’t know that) wireless mouse for ~$20.

It’s a decent mouse – the one thing that’s annoying is that it doesn’t have a dedicated off switch – it turns itself off after it’s been idle for a minute or two, then turns back on when any button is pressed. I guess that’s fine for desktop use, but I use it with my laptop, which means it bounces around in the computer bag, so I need to take out the batteries every time I pack it away, which is a pain in the neck. My own fault probably; should have thought of that. (I also have the same problem with cheap Bluetooth headsets, but that’s an entirely other story.)

Anyway, maybe a month after I bought it, I flew to Minneapolis. When I unpacked the mouse, it wouldn’t sync with the USB part that connects to the computer. Useless. When I got home to Chicago I stopped at a RS on the way home from the airport to see if anything can be done. The woman behind the counter tries the mouse in her computer, confirms that it isn’t working in exactly the way I say it isn’t, changes the batteries, and, when that doesn’t fix it, pulls a brand-new one out of the box and gives it to me. Just like that.

I was pretty psyched, but I figured it was probably a very isolated incident.

I’m on the road again in Denver. Last night I took the mouse out of my bag, and the buttons work, but the laser light that actually moves the mouse is dead. I take it to the nearest RS here, and same thing – the first person I talk to plugs the mouse into a computer, confirms that it isn’t working, swaps the batteries to make sure that’s not it, pulls a new mouse out of the package and gives it to me. Just like that.

So, boo to RS for making a mouse that has totally broken down twice in less than 4 months. But maybe a little bit of boo to me for buying something inappropriate to my needs. And much props to them for stepping up and doing the right thing twice.

If Bobby’s story is typical, I guess the lesson here is to steer away from the Gigaware mouse unless you live next door to a Radio Shack. And if you happen to get one as a gift, look into moving next door to a Radio Shack.

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