Your experience with Fry's

[root]

I have bought many motherboard-cpu combinations from
Fry's and, upon reflection, I realize I have had problems
with *every* one of them. Sometimes I have to return
them, but if the problem is not too serious I just live
with it. I wonder if I am the only one who has such
problems. Most recent example is a MB whose sound level
was way too low. I just stuck in a pci card.


What is your experience?

 

[Jamie]

root wrote:

I have bought many motherboard-cpu combinations from
Fry's and, upon reflection, I realize I have had problems
with *every* one of them. Sometimes I have to return
them, but if the problem is not too serious I just live
with it. I wonder if I am the only one who has such
problems. Most recent example is a MB whose sound level
was way too low. I just stuck in a pci card.


What is your experience?
Are you implying that they maybe sending you returned garbage?

No, can it be?

Do you honestly believe that a merchant would do that to you?

Ha , Ha.

 

[Jamie]

stratus46@yahoo.com wrote:

On Sep 13, 11:43 am, root <NoEM...@home.org> wrote:
I have bought many motherboard-cpu combinations from
Fry's and, upon reflection, I realize I have had problems
with *every* one of them. Sometimes I have to return
them, but if the problem is not too serious I just live
with it. I wonder if I am the only one who has such
problems. Most recent example is a MB whose sound level
was way too low. I just stuck in a pci card.

What is your experience?

I've bought at least 6 board / processor sets and have had problems
with one of them and looking back on the one, it's entirely possible I
was doing something dumb and the board itself was fine. I'm not going
to buy another Maxtor drive though. Gee, I should go over today as
they have a 1500 gig Segate drive for $105.

Keep in mind the only questions you should ever ask a Fry's guy is
"what aisle is ??? on? " or "do you have more of these?".

G˛
You must remember, he comments on the onboard sound being low, I hope he

does realize that most integrated MB sound, requires amplified speakers.

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:43:39 +0000 (UTC), root <NoEMail@home.org>
wrote:

I have bought many motherboard-cpu combinations from
Fry's and, upon reflection, I realize I have had problems
with *every* one of them. Sometimes I have to return
them, but if the problem is not too serious I just live
with it. I wonder if I am the only one who has such
problems. Most recent example is a MB whose sound level
was way too low. I just stuck in a pci card.

What is your experience?

Fry's was selling ECS motherboards up until about Feb 2009. They've
switched to Biostar, which I guess is an improvement if you like
bottom of the line motheboards. I have various friends, and friends
of friends, who buy these kits at Fry's, and then come to me asking
for help with various issues. Oddly, it's not the same problem every
time. The usual are blown ports, broken connectrs, bogus drivers,
slow performance, and static damaged processors. I've seen several
boards that were not identified on the manufacturer's site because
they were surplus from OEM system builders. I haven't seen any of the
Biostar motherboards. My guess is that Fry's hasn't had enough time
to recycle the returns back onto the shelves.

I guess you've seen this:
<http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=13794>
It's no coincidence that Fry's switched from ECS to Biostar. This
person also had setup a shell company, that acted as a middle man on
wholesale motherboard purchases. They marked up ECS board prices and
pocketed the difference. He may have possibly recycled returns but
that's not certain. Since he also authorized the purchases for Fry's,
it was easy to do.

Find a better source for your boards.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Dave Platt]

In article <32jqa5t8e2i93uqf1n450e9kjrjk6o7dpm@4ax.com>,
Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:

Find a better source for your boards.

Or, at least, be reasonably cautious about what brand and model you
are buying.

My guess is that Frys (like most mass-market merchants) puts together
"deal" combo packages to hit specific low-price points, knowing that
consumers are often very price-sensitive. As a result of this
approach, the components in these "deal" packages tend to be cheaply
built, and not terribly robust. Even if Fry's weren't recycling
consumer-returned components (which they do - they're usually marked
as such with a small discount, but I imagine that some aren't properly
marked) the reliability of the combo packages isn't great.

Cheap is often very expensive.

I think you're better off selecting specific models and components
from the higher-tier manufacturers *before* you go into the store...
build your own system design rather than depending on whatever package
Fry's is tossing together this week. If Fry's happens to have them
(and I wouldn't bet on it) and you're willing to trust that the
specific one you pick off the shelf is actually new and not a return,
it's probably OK to buy from them... you know you can return 'em if
you aren't happy.

I tend to prefer to mail-order the components I want (I've used
NewEgg.com several times with good results) - the chances seem better
that I can actually find what I want in-stock, rather than having to
call around to six different Fry's stores and get put on hold for eons
before being allowed to talk to a salesdroid to find out whether their
computer says it's in-stock and whether there's actually one on the
shelf.

--
Dave Platt <dplatt@radagast.org> AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

 

[William Sommerwerck]

I'm lucky. There's a "computer row" not far from Microsoft. I can go to
Northwest Hard Drives and know that I'll get knowledgable service at a
reasonable price. My current machine was purchased over eight years ago from
them, and it's still perking along fine.

Try to find a speciality shop. Fry's is nice for parts, and for components
if you know what you want, but I wouldn't depend on them for any "real"
assistance. (The other day I asked for wire-wrap wire, and the guy wanted to
sell me connectors.)

 

[iws]

"Jamie" <jamie_ka1lpa_not_valid_after_ka1lpa_@charter.net> wrote in message
news:_Jbrm.2518$tG1.761@newsfe22.iad...
| root wrote:
|
| > I have bought many motherboard-cpu combinations from
| > Fry's and, upon reflection, I realize I have had problems
| > with *every* one of them. Sometimes I have to return
| > them, but if the problem is not too serious I just live
| > with it. I wonder if I am the only one who has such
| > problems. Most recent example is a MB whose sound level
| > was way too low. I just stuck in a pci card.
| >
| >
| > What is your experience?
| Are you implying that they maybe sending you returned garbage?
|
| No, can it be?
|
| Do you honestly believe that a merchant would do that to you?
|
| Ha , Ha.

Well, with Fry's, whenever I've returned something, even unopened, they open
it, check that all the stuff is there and then slap a returned sticker on it
and that generally winds up back on the shelf at a discounted price. At
least you can tell if it's been returned. I recently returned a set of noise
cancelling earphones that were defective - they accepted what I said and put
a return to vendor sticker on the package.

 

On Sep 13, 11:43 am, root <NoEM...@home.org> wrote:

I have bought many motherboard-cpu combinations from
Fry's and, upon reflection, I realize I have had problems
with *every* one of them. Sometimes I have to return
them, but if the problem is not too serious I just live
with it. I wonder if I am the only one who has such
problems. Most recent example is a MB whose sound level
was way too low. I just stuck in a pci card.

What is your experience?

I've bought at least 6 board / processor sets and have had problems
with one of them and looking back on the one, it's entirely possible I
was doing something dumb and the board itself was fine. I'm not going
to buy another Maxtor drive though. Gee, I should go over today as
they have a 1500 gig Segate drive for $105.

Keep in mind the only questions you should ever ask a Fry's guy is
"what aisle is ??? on? " or "do you have more of these?".

G˛

 

[1PW]

root wrote:

I have bought many motherboard-cpu combinations from
Fry's and, upon reflection, I realize I have had problems
with *every* one of them. Sometimes I have to return
them, but if the problem is not too serious I just live
with it. I wonder if I am the only one who has such
problems. Most recent example is a MB whose sound level
was way too low. I just stuck in a pci card.


What is your experience?

<http://www.newegg.com/>

--
1PW

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:22:48 -0700, "iws" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:

Well, with Fry's, whenever I've returned something, even unopened, they open
it, check that all the stuff is there and then slap a returned sticker on it
and that generally winds up back on the shelf at a discounted price.

I once bought a rather pricey video card that had been returned. I
had no way to inspect the contents at the store. When I arrived home,
instead of the expensive video card, a cheap junk commodity video card
had been substituted. The previous buyer of the card had done the
swap, and the expert Fry's staff could not recognize the difference
between the pricey card and the cheap junk commodity card when it was
returned. Caveat Emptor.

I've also bought returns where something important was missing. For
example, an ATI All-in-Wonder card, that included a fancy cable the
connector box. The card was present and accounted for, but not the
cable. The Fry's employee that accepted the return could have looked
at the contents listed on the outside of the box, but I suspect that
would have been asking to much.

In both cases, complaining to Fry's produced sympathy, and nothing
else.

I have other Fry's horror stories, both first and 2nd hand, but you
can find those all over the web. The above are simply two problems
I've experienced with repackaged merchandise.

At
least you can tell if it's been returned. I recently returned a set of noise
cancelling earphones that were defective - they accepted what I said and put
a return to vendor sticker on the package.

Most large electronics stores and online vendors have enough clout to
force the manufacturer to accept all returns. Costco and Best Buy
both do that. When something is returned by the customer, it goes
back to the manufacturer or distributor. However, this is only
functional with high priced hardware, where the exercise is
financially worth the effort. You can usually find the returns marked
as "remanufactured", "reconditioned", or "refurbished". Dealing with
and reselling the returns has turned into a rather substantial
industry. It's a large enough business that most computah
manufactories have their own online outlet stores:
<http://www.delloutlet.com>
<www.shopping.hp.com/outlet>
<http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/bstorelist.to?coid=-29405>
<http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchCatalog?outlet=true&langId=-1&storeId=10151&docname=ShoppingArea%2FCatalogSection%2FOutletSubsection%2FOutletDisplay_Generic3.jsp&N=4294961692&catalogId=10551&categoryId=16160>
etc.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[William Sommerwerck]

I once bought a rather pricey video card that had been returned.
I had no way to inspect the contents at the store. When I got
home, instead of the expensive video card, a cheap junk
commodity video card had been substituted. The previous buyer
had done the swap, and the expert Fry's staff could not recognize
the difference between the pricey card and the cheap junk
commodity card when it was returned. Caveat Emptor.

Wasn't he one of the worst Roman tyrants?

Had it been marked as returned?

I appreciate the warning. I generally buy only DVDs/BDs and parts at Fry's.
I'll keep this in mind if and when I buy anything "nice". Thanks.

 

[Jamie]

William Sommerwerck wrote:

I once bought a rather pricey video card that had been returned.
I had no way to inspect the contents at the store. When I got
home, instead of the expensive video card, a cheap junk
commodity video card had been substituted. The previous buyer
had done the swap, and the expert Fry's staff could not recognize
the difference between the pricey card and the cheap junk
commodity card when it was returned. Caveat Emptor.


Wasn't he one of the worst Roman tyrants?

Had it been marked as returned?

I appreciate the warning. I generally buy only DVDs/BDs and parts at Fry's.
I'll keep this in mind if and when I buy anything "nice". Thanks.


Kind of reminds me of when my son bought a wireless dual logitech

keyboard and mouse for $99 from Best Buy.

Got it home and open it..

There laid the contents.

Standard Key board with it's cord ripped out.

Standard Mouse (ball type), with it's cord ripped out.

On top of that, both these items looked brand new, as if some one
may have just bought a new computer and switched them. This store does
on sight upgrades so something tells me a salesman give some one a nice
mouse and keyboard for their cheap desktop they just purchased..

Taking it back was a horror show.. It was going to turn into a legal
battle because I was not going to allow Best Buy to take my kid's $99
from them. They tried like hell to just push me away after they already
told my kid to get lost when he present the package with the contents as
he received it.

I guess the call my wife made and me taking down names of the
managers of the store plus calling head quarters from that store kind of
told them I wasn't going to stop.

I was in the right, I knew it, I had them. I was going for it and
smelling as I was writing managers name down. She finally made a
phone call and then they decided it was in their best interest to give
me a new package. And I did open it at the store to make sure the
contents was there.
Strange thing about this though, I made a suggestion that I thought
this took place in the store since they do upgrades there. I notice one
employee was staying clear of this little gathering at the service desk..
All the others were looking at the contents and could not believe what
they saw how ever, the manager did notice this one employ kind of high
tailed it to the back of the store just as I said that as I look rite at
him!.

Before I left to go to the store, I had already Email head quarters
of the even because of what they did to my son, I was going to take care of
it, even if it meant legal battles.

I didn't get a response until I got back home, when I read it, all it
said was about this rock hard policy about customer returns..
Essentially, the way it was worded, its your tough shit if you get screwed!

I replied back indicating that their store manager did the right thing
by replacing the items and to never call me or reply back to me any
more and I was going do my shopping else where, where they took better
care of their customers and were a little more responsible for their own
dirty laundry with in instead of making the customers pay for it.

 

[iws]

"Jeff Liebermann" <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote in message
news:j0vqa5p0r11qa0sal7ttooqursln5lbebs@4ax.com...
| On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:22:48 -0700, "iws" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:
|
| >Well, with Fry's, whenever I've returned something, even unopened, they
open
| >it, check that all the stuff is there and then slap a returned sticker on
it
| >and that generally winds up back on the shelf at a discounted price.
|
| I once bought a rather pricey video card that had been returned.

Well, that's your first mistake isn't it? I never buy returned stuff from
Fry's unless it's all that's available and I'm desperate. The one time I can
recall doing that, I opened it up in the store to make sure the right items
were all there.
I
| had no way to inspect the contents at the store.

Sorry, I'd insist on doing it at the cash register on such an item.

When I arrived home,
| instead of the expensive video card, a cheap junk commodity video card
| had been substituted. The previous buyer of the card had done the
| swap, and the expert Fry's staff could not recognize the difference
| between the pricey card and the cheap junk commodity card when it was
| returned. Caveat Emptor.
|
| I've also bought returns where something important was missing. For
| example, an ATI All-in-Wonder card, that included a fancy cable the
| connector box. The card was present and accounted for, but not the
| cable. The Fry's employee that accepted the return could have looked
| at the contents listed on the outside of the box, but I suspect that
| would have been asking to much.
|
| In both cases, complaining to Fry's produced sympathy, and nothing
| else.

So they claim you made the switch when you returned it?

| I have other Fry's horror stories, both first and 2nd hand, but you
| can find those all over the web. The above are simply two problems
| I've experienced with repackaged merchandise.

That's why you should avoid returned stuff. BTW, I've never had a problem
returning stuff to Fry's and I do it fairly frequently.
|
| >At
| >least you can tell if it's been returned. I recently returned a set of
noise
| >cancelling earphones that were defective - they accepted what I said and
put
| >a return to vendor sticker on the package.
|
| Most large electronics stores and online vendors have enough clout to
| force the manufacturer to accept all returns. Costco and Best Buy
| both do that. When something is returned by the customer, it goes
| back to the manufacturer or distributor. However, this is only
| functional with high priced hardware, where the exercise is
| financially worth the effort. You can usually find the returns marked
| as "remanufactured", "reconditioned", or "refurbished". Dealing with
| and reselling the returns has turned into a rather substantial
| industry. It's a large enough business that most computah
| manufactories have their own online outlet stores:
| <http://www.delloutlet.com>
| <www.shopping.hp.com/outlet>
| <http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/bstorelist.to?coid=-29405>
|
<http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchCatalog?outlet=true&langId=-1&storeId=10151&docname=ShoppingArea%2FCatalogSection%2FOutletSubsection%2FOutletDisplay_Generic3.jsp&N=4294961692&catalogId=10551&categoryId=16160>
| etc.
|
| --
| Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
| 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
| Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
| Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[iws]

"William Sommerwerck" <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:h8k0ru$et5$1@news.eternal-september.org...
|> I once bought a rather pricey video card that had been returned.
| > I had no way to inspect the contents at the store. When I got
| > home, instead of the expensive video card, a cheap junk
| > commodity video card had been substituted. The previous buyer
| > had done the swap, and the expert Fry's staff could not recognize
| > the difference between the pricey card and the cheap junk
| > commodity card when it was returned. Caveat Emptor.
|
| Wasn't he one of the worst Roman tyrants?
|
| Had it been marked as returned?

That's one of the nice things about Fry's - you can tell that something's
been returned because it has a sticker showing that and usually a discounted
price.

|
| I appreciate the warning. I generally buy only DVDs/BDs and parts at
Fry's.
| I'll keep this in mind if and when I buy anything "nice". Thanks.
|
I know it's fashionable to dump on Fry's but their sale prices are usually
pretty good and their personnel are no more clueless than what you'll find
at the competition (Best Buy, etc.) I bought my 61" TV there at a price
unmatched even online. Delivery and setup went without a hitch. Their price
match works too although I've only ever used it for stuff I've bought at
Fry's that subsequently went on sale. And their ads along with those of the
grocery chains, the daily crossword, and sodoku are the only reasons I
continue to get a daily newspaper!

 

[iws]

"1PW" <1PW@INVALID.com> wrote in message
news:h8jrl7$sku$1@news.eternal-september.org...
| root wrote:
| > I have bought many motherboard-cpu combinations from
| > Fry's and, upon reflection, I realize I have had problems
| > with *every* one of them. Sometimes I have to return
| > them, but if the problem is not too serious I just live
| > with it. I wonder if I am the only one who has such
| > problems. Most recent example is a MB whose sound level
| > was way too low. I just stuck in a pci card.
| >
| >
| > What is your experience?
|
| <http://www.newegg.com/>
|
Great but it's not a B&M store. Sometimes it's nice to be able to actually
go into a store and check things out in real life.
| 1PW

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:55:43 -0700, "William Sommerwerck"
<grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote:

I once bought a rather pricey video card that had been returned.
I had no way to inspect the contents at the store. When I got
home, instead of the expensive video card, a cheap junk
commodity video card had been substituted. The previous buyer
had done the swap, and the expert Fry's staff could not recognize
the difference between the pricey card and the cheap junk
commodity card when it was returned. Caveat Emptor.

Wasn't he one of the worst Roman tyrants?

There's a little more to Caveat Emptor than the usual "Let the Sucker
Beware". RTFP (read the fine print):
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caveat_emptor>

Had it been marked as returned?

Yep. Marked and sealed, so I couldn't look inside. I was tempted to
rip it open when I got to the cashier, but didn't.

I appreciate the warning. I generally buy only DVDs/BDs and parts at Fry's.
I'll keep this in mind if and when I buy anything "nice". Thanks.

Unfortunately, that's the risk one takes when buying something that's
obviously been resealed and inspected by the dealer, rather than
having the same thing done by the manufacturer, who presumably will
retest the product and make sure the nothing is missing. Also, I
can't realy blame Fry's for the board swap, as they were as much the
victim as I was.




--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:44:16 -0700, "iws" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:

"Jeff Liebermann" <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote in message
| In both cases, complaining to Fry's produced sympathy, and nothing
| else.

So they claim you made the switch when you returned it?

There were multiple claims, all of which assumed that the contents
were complete and correct. There was no way I could prove that they
had been switched. I talked with various people allegedly in charge
at Fry's. They all claimed that "such a thing could never have
happened".

That's why you should avoid returned stuff. BTW, I've never had a problem
returning stuff to Fry's and I do it fairly frequently.

You were lucky. I had to deal with another horror story compliments
of Fry's. A customer bought a system from Fry's. When it screwed up,
she returned it for "service" under the Fry's 5 year warranty. The
machine was hanging erratically. It took about 5 weeks to get the
machine back. All the data had been wiped. (I had backup). Half the
RAM, a 2nd DVD drive, and a 5 port USB2 card were missing. They
claimed that the customer had removed them either before they received
the machine, or after it was returned to the customer. When I
indicated that I have digital photos of the machine and a Belarc
Advisor report of the contents, and that we were looking into
litigatory remedies, they relented and supplied a drive and some RAM
in a box. We elected to NOT let them install the parts.

Just when I thought we were done with this nightmare, the hard disk
drive died after about 2 months of continued crash and hangs. When I
checked the warranty status on the manufacturers web site, I discover
that it's an OEM drive and that the warranty would need to be
laundered by the OEM vendor. The customer dragged the drive to Fry's
with a printout from the web pile. They insisted on seeing the entire
machine in order to pass judgment on the drive. She soon determined
that the drive had been borrowed from another system, was 2 years old
(from the date code), and that there was no way the Fry's could handle
and OEM drive manufacturers warranty. She bought a new drive
elsewhere and gave up on Fry's.

More Fry's horror stories:
<http://airlessspraycenter.blogspot.com/2008/02/why-you-should-never-buy-from-fry.html>

Being in the repair biz, I probably see a disproportionate number of
such horror stories. I'm sure there are a substantial number of
satisfied Fry's customers, like yourself, or they would have long gone
out of business. However, I'm not terribly interested in their style
of customer service and support should something go wrong.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[William Sommerwerck]

Unfortunately, that's the risk one takes when buying something that's
obviously been resealed and inspected by the dealer, rather than
having the same thing done by the manufacturer, who presumably will
retest the product and make sure the nothing is missing. Also, I
can't realy blame Fry's for the board swap, as they were as much the
victim as I was.

If Fry's was a victim, it was its own victim. Any business that doesn't
carefully check returned items deserves what it gets. Unfortunately, what
they got was passed on to you.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

More Fry's horror stories:

http://airlessspraycenter.blogspot.com/2008/02/why-you-should-never-buy-fro

m-fry.html>

Being in the repair biz, I probably see a disproportionate number
of such horror stories. I'm sure there are a substantial number of
satisfied Fry's customers, like yourself, or they would have long
gone out of business. However, I'm not terribly interested in their
style of customer service and support should something go wrong.

I met the brothers Fry when their Renton store opened a few years ago. They
seemed like nice-enough people, not out "just to make a buck". But...

These problems are not caused by incompetent -- or even dishonest --
employees. They start at the top of the company. You have to decide how
customers should be treated, make sensible rules governing the way employees
handle returns, problems, etc -- then enforce them. At the very least, Fry's
is erratic in enforcing its policies.

Despite the "Your best buys are at Fry's" slogan, Fry's is not, overall, a
discount store. There are plenty of full-priced items that make up for the
discounts on stuff that sells for less than list. I think Fry's would be
better off hiring fewer but better-qualified people, and paying them more.

By the way, a department manager went out of her way to help me get an item
Fry's had only limited stock of. I was very pleased, and let her know.

 

[PeterD]

On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:38:53 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:

On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:22:48 -0700, "iws" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:

Well, with Fry's, whenever I've returned something, even unopened, they open
it, check that all the stuff is there and then slap a returned sticker on it
and that generally winds up back on the shelf at a discounted price.

I once bought a rather pricey video card that had been returned. I
had no way to inspect the contents at the store.

Did you ask? (a manager). I always do so, have not bee refused by any
store yet. It is both a reasonable and prudent thing to do.

When I arrived home,
instead of the expensive video card, a cheap junk commodity video card
had been substituted.