Beware of Radio Shack

[Jon Danniken]

"yak" wrote:

Heh, the ONLY things I buy at radio shack are little electronics
components (fuses, diodes, transistors, switches, etc.). That's all the
store is good for.

Yep, same here, although the selection of discrete components has vastly diminished over the last twenty
or so odd years.

Jon

 

[Jon Danniken]

"DevilsPGD" wrote:

They usually have business cards on the desk (the ones around here do,
anyway) -- Just read off the name, phone number and address from there.

I used to get a kick out of telling them my name, "Jon", and then when they asked for the last name I
would say, "Doe". Most of the time they would write down the last name before they figured it out.

Jon

 

[Fuzzie Dice]

Wes Groleau wrote:

But I agree about Radio Shack in general. Not a great place to buy.

They *used* to be. Back in the 80s I had a Tandy Color Computer 3 and also
bought stereo equipment from them and other computer stuff (including a PC
once). They used to make good on things, packaging or not. I have noticed
recently that they have went downhill over the years though. Such a shame.
My problems were that the staff weren't as well informed about their
products as the staff they used to have in the 80s.

 

[Wes Groleau]

Fuzzie Dice wrote:

Wes Groleau wrote:
But I agree about Radio Shack in general. Not a great place to buy.

They *used* to be. Back in the 80s I had a Tandy Color Computer 3 and also

!?! Back in the 80's, I bought TRS-80 model I
I also bought the schematics and dumped it
as soon as I discovered how incompetent the designers were.

Back in the 1980s was also the time when I asked for
a BNC connector, and the guy pointed at a wall that
I had already been looking at for a while. After
a little discussion, he finally pulled something
else off the hook, handed it to me, and said
"THIS is a CB connector!"

CoCo was later--and I have no clue whether it was
any good, because by then I was thoroughly prejudiced
against RS.

--
Wes Groleau

Measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk, and cut with an axe.

 

[MCheu]

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 03:05:49 GMT, kony <spam@spam.com> wrote:

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 18:28:27 -0500, Wes Groleau
groleau+news@freeshell.org> wrote:

Gnarlodious wrote:
I bought a small item at Radio Shack several months ago, and the clerk asked
the man in front of me for his social security number. He began reciting it
in public but I interrupted him, telling him she didn't need his SS# and he
should never publicly announce it. A loud argument ensued with the clerk
bringing out the manager. The manager assured me it was official RS policy

Every time I try to buy something there, even if I pay cash,
they try to get my address and phone number. I always have
to argue with them. "You don't need my phone number to send
your stupid catalog, and I don't want the catalog anyway."

But they still argue they need it. Eventually I win or
I walk out with my money and no product.

How long since your last visit?

I recall they often asked me, but heard that their official
policy had changed, that all stores specifically do _NOT_ require
any info whatsoever for cash purchases.

It varies by the store, but according to one store manager at a local
store a month ago, it's official policy and their point of sale system
requires the clerk to enter a customer's personal information (no
matter how payment is done, or what is bought). The excuse given to
me is that it's for warrranty purposes, though that's BS, because they
don't warranty batteries or electronic components.

However, at other stores where the staff seems to have gotten an IQ,
they've figured out that while the information needs to be entered, it
doesn't need to be accurate. RS Corporate HQ's database probably
shows that Anne Nonymous, Jean Cretien, and Paul Martin buy an
inordinate amount of RS crap from stores all over Canada.


---------------------------------------------

MCheu

 

[Obfus Kataa]

Thu, 15 Jul 2004 (18:28 -0500 UTC) Wes Groleau wrote:

Gnarlodious wrote:
I bought a small item at Radio Shack several months ago, and the clerk
asked
the man in front of me for his social security number. He began reciting
it
in public but I interrupted him, telling him she didn't need his SS# and
he
should never publicly announce it. A loud argument ensued with the clerk
bringing out the manager. The manager assured me it was official RS
policy

Every time I try to buy something there, even if I pay cash,
they try to get my address and phone number. I always have
to argue with them. "You don't need my phone number to send
your stupid catalog, and I don't want the catalog anyway."

But they still argue they need it. Eventually I win or
I walk out with my money and no product.

RS or Tandy is an arm of the secret government. If you use RS parts in your
next explosive device, the parts can be traced to your address. Tandy also
used to ask some very invasive questions in their job interviews which took
place while the interviewee was attached to a polygraph.

--
oK+++
If art has died, or the audience has withered away, then we find ourselves
free of two dead weights.
-Hakim Bey
15:02 up 37 days, 16:46, 1 user, load averages: 0.10 0.11 0.16

 

[EdC]

Gnarlodious wrote:

I bought a small item at Radio Shack several months ago, and the clerk asked
the man in front of me for his social security number. He began reciting it
in public but I interrupted him, telling him she didn't need his SS# and he
should never publicly announce it. A loud argument ensued with the clerk
bringing out the manager. The manager assured me it was official RS policy
to take SS# during a checkout, even for cash. He also told me I had no right
to tell customers not to publicly announce their SS# while in line. The
argument escalated and the manager called the police.
I have worked at a RS for over 5 years and it has NEVER been RS policy

to ask for a
SSN on a sale. If it is for a credit application, that is different.
What The database
doesn't even have a space for that info. It has a place for your phone
number and yr name.
And yr email if you want to give it. For the past 6-8 mionth it has also
been RS policy not to ask for and info unless it is for a warranty type
item. (phone, stereo, TV, scanner) This way it is easier to find the
receipt. We have had many customers come in with a unit that they claim
was under warranty, but didn't have a receipt. And they refused to give
their name when it was purchased. So did they buy it last month, or 6
months ago or 13 months ago. No way to prove anything. They are out of
luck unless the associate remembers selling it to them.

I got out of there real quick.
Why did you leave 'real quick'? Nothing you had done was against the law.
I then wrote a series of emails to Radio Shack corporate management
complaining about this "Official Policy" and the treatment this manager had
given me. The Customer Relations executive apologized and promised to clean
up the mess. I went back to the store 3 months later and that manager was
gone and the policy had been changed.

The point is, if you have a gripe get active! Radio Shack was responsive in
my case and they certainly can be in your case too.
Sorry but I am having a hard time believing this letter.

 

[gothika]

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 22:43:13 -0700, EdC <kc7mwp@cybertrails.com>
wrote:

Gnarlodious wrote:
I bought a small item at Radio Shack several months ago, and the clerk asked
the man in front of me for his social security number. He began reciting it
in public but I interrupted him, telling him she didn't need his SS# and he
should never publicly announce it. A loud argument ensued with the clerk
bringing out the manager. The manager assured me it was official RS policy
to take SS# during a checkout, even for cash. He also told me I had no right
to tell customers not to publicly announce their SS# while in line. The
argument escalated and the manager called the police.
I have worked at a RS for over 5 years and it has NEVER been RS policy
to ask for a
SSN on a sale. If it is for a credit application, that is different.
What The database
doesn't even have a space for that info. It has a place for your phone
number and yr name.
And yr email if you want to give it. For the past 6-8 mionth it has also
been RS policy not to ask for and info unless it is for a warranty type
item. (phone, stereo, TV, scanner) This way it is easier to find the
receipt. We have had many customers come in with a unit that they claim
was under warranty, but didn't have a receipt. And they refused to give
their name when it was purchased. So did they buy it last month, or 6
months ago or 13 months ago. No way to prove anything. They are out of
luck unless the associate remembers selling it to them.
I got out of there real quick.
Why did you leave 'real quick'? Nothing you had done was against the law.
I then wrote a series of emails to Radio Shack corporate management
complaining about this "Official Policy" and the treatment this manager had
given me. The Customer Relations executive apologized and promised to clean
up the mess. I went back to the store 3 months later and that manager was
gone and the policy had been changed.

The point is, if you have a gripe get active! Radio Shack was responsive in
my case and they certainly can be in your case too.
Sorry but I am having a hard time believing this letter.

Please! Radio Shack is guilty as sin about collecting as much personal
info on their customers as they can get away with.
Has everyone forgotten the cuecat fiasco?
I hooked one of these invasive pieces of crap up to my computer years
back just to see what it'd do.
Had my firewall software set to it's highest settings.
The minute I connected to the net the cuecat started trying to send
all the data it could harvest off my HD to the cuecat's manufacturer's
website.
After I opened it up and applied the hardware hack to kill this
function it did work as a passable barcode reader.
Just do a google or dogpile search of "Cuecat" to read all the legal
crap that fell on the heads at Radio Shack over that one.

 

[gothika]

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 14:05:30 -0400, MCheu <mpcheu@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 03:05:49 GMT, kony <spam@spam.com> wrote:

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 18:28:27 -0500, Wes Groleau
groleau+news@freeshell.org> wrote:

Gnarlodious wrote:
I bought a small item at Radio Shack several months ago, and the clerk asked
the man in front of me for his social security number. He began reciting it
in public but I interrupted him, telling him she didn't need his SS# and he
should never publicly announce it. A loud argument ensued with the clerk
bringing out the manager. The manager assured me it was official RS policy

Every time I try to buy something there, even if I pay cash,
they try to get my address and phone number. I always have
to argue with them. "You don't need my phone number to send
your stupid catalog, and I don't want the catalog anyway."

But they still argue they need it. Eventually I win or
I walk out with my money and no product.

How long since your last visit?

I recall they often asked me, but heard that their official
policy had changed, that all stores specifically do _NOT_ require
any info whatsoever for cash purchases.

It varies by the store, but according to one store manager at a local
store a month ago, it's official policy and their point of sale system
requires the clerk to enter a customer's personal information (no
matter how payment is done, or what is bought). The excuse given to
me is that it's for warrranty purposes, though that's BS, because they
don't warranty batteries or electronic components.

However, at other stores where the staff seems to have gotten an IQ,
they've figured out that while the information needs to be entered, it
doesn't need to be accurate. RS Corporate HQ's database probably
shows that Anne Nonymous, Jean Cretien, and Paul Martin buy an
inordinate amount of RS crap from stores all over Canada.


---------------------------------------------

MCheu

The laws in the US are such that the customer Doesn't have to give any
info that could be used in an invasive manner.
Any store clerk or manager that says otherwise is full of crap.
All you have to do is stand your ground.
The clerk will then usually enter the stores address and number into
the register.

I've pretty much quit using their crap products anyhow.(Just bought
little things like connectors and jacks etc...)
In the past few months they've changed their inventory scheme where
you have to purchase 2-3 of the same item just to get one and their
unit prices have gone through the roof to boot.
It wouldn't be so bad if their products were of any measure of
quality, mostly very poor crap.(The last sub-mini stereo headphone
jack I purchased their lasted about 2 months then came apart at the
seams. A bad deal when you consider it cost me nearly 4 bucks US.)
Purchased a replacement jack at a local parts supply house for 1.49
and got a quality Switchcraft all metal crome and stainless jack
that'll probably outlast the cord it's soldered to.

 

[gothika]

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 12:39:10 -0500, Wes Groleau
<groleau+news@freeshell.org> wrote:

Fuzzie Dice wrote:

Wes Groleau wrote:
But I agree about Radio Shack in general. Not a great place to buy.

They *used* to be. Back in the 80s I had a Tandy Color Computer 3 and also

!?! Back in the 80's, I bought TRS-80 model I
I also bought the schematics and dumped it
as soon as I discovered how incompetent the designers were.

Back in the 1980s was also the time when I asked for
a BNC connector, and the guy pointed at a wall that
I had already been looking at for a while. After
a little discussion, he finally pulled something
else off the hook, handed it to me, and said
"THIS is a CB connector!"

CoCo was later--and I have no clue whether it was
any good, because by then I was thoroughly prejudiced
against RS.

Radio Shack started going down hill back in the early 70's when they
finally dumped all of the Archer line(British) of electronic
components.
Used to be able to get just about any Cap/Transistor/SCR or any other
electronic component there.
Hasen't been that way for nearly 3 decades.

 

[Peter A Forbes]

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 02:30:23 -0500, gothika <Vampyres@nettaxi.com> wrote:

Please! Radio Shack is guilty as sin about collecting as much personal
info on their customers as they can get away with.
Has everyone forgotten the cuecat fiasco?
I hooked one of these invasive pieces of crap up to my computer years
back just to see what it'd do.
Had my firewall software set to it's highest settings.
The minute I connected to the net the cuecat started trying to send
all the data it could harvest off my HD to the cuecat's manufacturer's
website.
After I opened it up and applied the hardware hack to kill this
function it did work as a passable barcode reader.
Just do a google or dogpile search of "Cuecat" to read all the legal
crap that fell on the heads at Radio Shack over that one.

I am not a Radio Shack user so cannot comment on the ongoing discussion about
Social Security numbers etc etc., but the CueCat saga was very interesting, and
I found the following page in particular to be very revealing:

http://airsoldier.com/~cuecat/

Peter

--
Peter & Rita Forbes
diesel@easynet.co.uk
Engine pages for preservation info:
http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel

 

[Peter A Forbes]

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 02:45:08 -0500, gothika <Vampyres@nettaxi.com> wrote:

Radio Shack started going down hill back in the early 70's when they
finally dumped all of the Archer line(British) of electronic
components.
Used to be able to get just about any Cap/Transistor/SCR or any other
electronic component there.
Hasen't been that way for nearly 3 decades.

Seems strange that they should have depended on a UK sourced range, but we do
still have that kind of product range over here at other retailers (Maplins for
example) and the amateur constructor still lives here too.

Peter

--
Peter & Rita Forbes
diesel@easynet.co.uk
Engine pages for preservation info:
http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <gelhf092e5rbf9bo9hc7g1pg5o72c74amc@4ax.com> gothika
<Vampyres@nettaxi.com> wrote:

The laws in the US are such that the customer Doesn't have to give any
info that could be used in an invasive manner.

Sure, but the company isn't forced to do business with you either. You
both have a choice.


--
Just sit through this NRA meeting Marge, and if you still
don't think guns are great then we'll argue some more.

 

[jim]

In article <%tfKc.19882710$Id.3289269@news.easynews.com>,
DevilsPGD <UseTheReplyToField@crazyhat.net> wrote:

The laws in the US are such that the customer Doesn't have to give any
info that could be used in an invasive manner.

Sure, but the company isn't forced to do business with you either. You
both have a choice.

Yes they both have a choice but a customer does not have to give ANY
information if the transaction is a cash transaction. RS has asked me
for the usual and I simply tell them no, nothing else other than no. If
the cashier strats to question it i simply tell him no once more a
little louder and that usually takes care of the matter. When they bring
up the warranty spiel I tell them simply thats what the receipt is and
they don;t need anyting else from me.

As for SS#, a customer never has to give out their social security
number on anything other than a government situation, banking, credit.
anyone else that asks for it you can refuse. If it is used for an
identification # like a local supermarket was doing for their frequent
shoppers club, that is simply illegal as the SS# can not be used for
identification numbers for anyone othert than the government. I simply
refuse to give it to anyone.

I know they can get it by a simple credit report but I like giving them
a hard time when they have no business asking for the information.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <dontthinkso-A7CB2E.22312117072004@isp.dca.giganews.com> jim
<dontthinkso@nuhuh.org> wrote:

The laws in the US are such that the customer Doesn't have to give any
info that could be used in an invasive manner.

Sure, but the company isn't forced to do business with you either. You
both have a choice.

Yes they both have a choice but a customer does not have to give ANY
information if the transaction is a cash transaction.

You don't have to give any information for any type of transaction, cash
or not.

If you choose to not provide any information, the store can refuse to
sell you their product. Cash or not, you can't force them to sell you
their product.

The cash element is completely irrelevant.

--
In Jolt We Trust

 

[Cindy Murray]

Fuzzie Dice wrote:

Wes Groleau wrote:

But I agree about Radio Shack in general. Not a great place to buy.


They *used* to be. Back in the 80s I had a Tandy Color Computer 3 and also
bought stereo equipment from them and other computer stuff (including a PC
once). They used to make good on things, packaging or not. I have noticed
recently that they have went downhill over the years though. Such a shame.
My problems were that the staff weren't as well informed about their
products as the staff they used to have in the 80s.



My biggest problem with Radio Shack is that I happen to be female, so

they automatically assume that I don't know what I'm talking about. I
happen to have a degree in Sound Technology (audio engineering), and I
know more about computers and electronics than a lot of men. Yet every
time I go in there, they act like they don't know what I'm talking about
and then they try to talk me into buying something else. Recent
example: I needed an RF converter to hook an old game system up to an
old tv that wasn't cable ready. I figured I could get a simple A/B
switch type converter for a couple of bucks at Radio Shaft. WRONG! The
guy had NO IDEA what I was talking about (I'm thinking, "this guy is a
moron!), so I explained the usage, and he tried to sell me this $60
converter that has inputs for Cable TV, Satellite dish, and video games,
etc., but STILL won't hook-up to the antenna. I suppose he was too
young (he was EARLY 20's), so maybe he doesn't remember that TVs used to
have antennas or that video games ever used anything besides an A/V
connector. At any rate, he couldn't seem to figure it out, and I
couldn't find what I was looking for in the store, so I drove 30 minutes
to the local True Value Hardware Store and found exactly what I needed
for approximately $2.

 

[Chief Wild Eagle]

I was in Best Buy recently and they were asking all customers -- both
cash and credit card -- for their phone numbers at every sale.

Customers didn't seem to mind giving the info.





On Sun, 18 Jul 2004 06:05:11 GMT, DevilsPGD
<UseTheReplyToField@crazyhat.net> wrote:

In message <dontthinkso-A7CB2E.22312117072004@isp.dca.giganews.com> jim
dontthinkso@nuhuh.org> wrote:

The laws in the US are such that the customer Doesn't have to give any
info that could be used in an invasive manner.

Sure, but the company isn't forced to do business with you either. You
both have a choice.

Yes they both have a choice but a customer does not have to give ANY
information if the transaction is a cash transaction.

You don't have to give any information for any type of transaction, cash
or not.

If you choose to not provide any information, the store can refuse to
sell you their product. Cash or not, you can't force them to sell you
their product.

The cash element is completely irrelevant.

 

[John Miles]

In article <hgnhf0pdrl4890okrmrk30ofl36stlpvra@4ax.com>,
diesel@easynet.co.uk says...

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 02:45:08 -0500, gothika <Vampyres@nettaxi.com> wrote:

Radio Shack started going down hill back in the early 70's when they
finally dumped all of the Archer line(British) of electronic
components.
Used to be able to get just about any Cap/Transistor/SCR or any other
electronic component there.
Hasen't been that way for nearly 3 decades.

Seems strange that they should have depended on a UK sourced range, but we do
still have that kind of product range over here at other retailers (Maplins for
example) and the amateur constructor still lives here too.

Peter

There was absolutely no correlation between Archer components and any
particular country of origin, including the UK. "Archer" was just one
of countless RS store brands, like Micronta, Realistic, Optimus, etc.

-- jm

------------------------------------------------------
http://www.qsl.net/ke5fx
Note: My E-mail address has been altered to avoid spam
------------------------------------------------------

 

[D.F. Manno]

In article <lg3mf05af5t00f2ifdv9nk4j3fekcv064p@4ax.com>,
Chief Wild Eagle <steve@bob.net> wrote:

I was in Best Buy recently and they were asking all customers -- both
cash and credit card -- for their phone numbers at every sale.

Customers didn't seem to mind giving the info.

Maybe because they were giving them incorrect numbers. I might do that
if the merchant insisted a phone number was required.

Most times, though, when asked for my phone number, I ask why it's
needed. The merchant usually drops the request at that point.
--
I'm D.F. Manno, and I don't approve of George Bush's message.

 

[Keeper of the Purple Twil]

In article
<dfm2a3l0t2-45BB6E.02125119072004@corp-radius.supernews.com>, D.F.
Manno <dfm2a3l0t2@spymac.com> wrote:

In article <lg3mf05af5t00f2ifdv9nk4j3fekcv064p@4ax.com>,
Chief Wild Eagle <steve@bob.net> wrote:

I was in Best Buy recently and they were asking all customers -- both
cash and credit card -- for their phone numbers at every sale.

Customers didn't seem to mind giving the info.

Maybe because they were giving them incorrect numbers. I might do that
if the merchant insisted a phone number was required.

Most times, though, when asked for my phone number, I ask why it's
needed. The merchant usually drops the request at that point.

I never give any store my phone number. I don't know if they are even
allowed to demand it, but I'm sure as trout not obligated to give it.
I just say "I don't have a phone" and leave it at that. (Which is
technically true, since I have no landline, just a cell)

I remember once I walked into Radio Shack to buy a $2 cable and they
insisted on my name and address. I told them "James T. Kirk of the
Starship Enterprise". They wrote it down!!!!!!!!!

--
"No urban night is like the night [in NYC]...here is our poetry, for we have
pulled down the stars to our will."
- Ezra Pound, poet and critic, 9/18/1912, reflecting on New York City