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CompUSA is closing for good. Good.

By | December 8, 2007, 12:48am PST

Summary: Out of Dallas comes word that CompUSA, the 103-store chain that has been struggling in recent years, will cease operations after this Holiday season. While I genuinely feel sad for store employees who will have to look for another job, that’s the only reason for regret I can muster. I haven’t shopped there in years.  Why? [...]

Out of Dallas comes word that CompUSA, comp_logo_wgwg.gif the 103-store chain that has been struggling in recent years, will cease operations after this Holiday season.

While I genuinely feel sad for store employees who will have to look for another job, that’s the only reason for regret I can muster.

I haven’t shopped there in years.  Why? Because I haven’t had a reason to.

Face it. CompUSA has been outgunned by nimbler operations. You have Best Buy, with their quite capable in-store and house-call Geek Squad service, Staples, Office Depot and Office Max for their greater penetration into neighborhoods where many of us live; Fry’s Electronics for those of us who like to shop for everything from PDAs to refrigerators and HD televisions in an almost festive, big box environment.

And did I mention the Internet, for those quick purchases?

CompUSA never offered a comprehensive solution for today’s multi-gadget, multi-platform, multi-machine  digital lifestyle.   Devices were available,  but not so much the parts to make them work. I mean, go into Fry’s and you’ll see more electronic gear SKUs than this side of Graybar Electric.

And when it comes to customer support, CompUSA has always struck me with their bored, inattentive, relatively informed and underpopulated floor staff. Compare that to Best Buy and Fry’s, where I have always found the sales and support folks eager and attentive.

And on the enteprise side of the equation? Although I’ve never used CompUSA Tech Pro, I could see how a business owner or exec would snicker at the notion of using retail-based help rather than the better skilled and frequently certified (Microsoft, Cisco, etc.) solution providers available to them than representatives of a computer chain that is behind the times in terms of inventory, expertise and basically being with it.

Or make that was behind the times. Sounds like a month from now, CompUSA will only be a memory.

And not a good one.

Will you miss CompUSA?

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Topics

CompUSA Inc., PDAs, Internet, Sales Strategy, Handhelds, Hardware, Sales, Russell Shaw

Disclosure

Russell Shaw

http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?page_id=1879

Biography

Russell Shaw

Russell Shaw passed away in March 2008. He was an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. A specialist in open source architectures and strategies, Microsoft applications, wireless networking, and multimedia content creation, Russell covered these fields regularly for several IT, business and consumer publications, including Investor's Business Daily and the syndicated IT news site NewsFactor.com.

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It's still The Bomb!
hevans@... 23rd Dec 2007
Because the owners are very smart, conservative, businessmen.

MicroCenter was started by two ex-Radio Shack employees, John Baker and Bill Bayne, opening a 900 square foot storefront operation in a "mini-mall" on Lane Avenue in Columbus, Ohio. Within a year they had expanded into a nearby abandoned G.C.Murphy department store in the same Lane Avenue shopping center, which is nearby to Ohio State University, a huge potential source of revenue.

These two guys must be terrific business men to have seen the opportunity in the new location: it was layed out like a department store... so, they created a Personal Computer Department Stoe! Sort of like a Sears or JC Penny for PC users.

The Lane Avenue store was wildly successful. I went there for the first time in the early 80s and was blown away by how well it was organized and the quality of staff they hired. Hacker heaven! But the store didn't just cater to computer geeks. Your grandmother would feel comfortable shopping there.

The Internet and on-line shopping was virtually non-existant at that time. This was the era of 1200 bps modems (if you could afford them) and BBS dial-in sites. I "upgraded" from a 300 bps modem to 1200 and eventually 9600 at that store before signing up (for a short time) with Compuserv. That was a wonderful decade for personal computing. A real wild west environment with Micro Center providing an oasis of sanity.

Mom and Pop "computer stores" sprang up all over the place (most are gone today), fueled by cheap Taiwan parts. Custom built was the only way to buy anything if you couldn't afford IBM. MicroCenter did/does sell imported stuff, but their main thing was quality and service.

The founders conserved their profits and expanded cautiously and slowly, always being profitable and not leveraging too much. It seemed forever (to me) before they opened a store in Cincinnati, which is somewhat closer to Dayton. Same experience shopping there, same "department store" layout and friendly, knowledgable sales people.

The company is still privately owned today with only 21 stores nationwide. That takes real marketing savvy and a certain lack of greed to accomplish. I haven't visited any other MicroCenter stores, but I would bet they are all the same. CompUSA never came close. I just wish MicroCenter would open a store in Dayton so I wouldn't have to drive so far.
View in thread
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We don't have Fry's on the east coast
Michael Kelly 8th Dec 2007
otherwise I might agree. Now I am even more limited in the number of places I can pick up parts I need that day. I usually shop via internet if it is not an emergency, but if there is an emergency Best Buy and Staples do not have a lot of parts I might need.
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Consider yourself extremely fortunate...
Wolfie2K3 9th Dec 2007
Fry's or Fried Electronics as those of us on the west coast call it is a place where the phrase "caveat emptor" has new meaning. You have to be VERY careful buying anything from them - those with a little sticker saying it's discounted because a "customer opened the box" is generally an excellent reason to drop the box and run for your life and sanity. Fried tends to sell stuff cheaply enough otherwise, but most of their stock tends to be of lesser quality and judging by the line at the returns desk, is a real indication as to what's being sold there.

I could talk about some real horror stories but it would take up a LOT of space. Suffice it to say, Fried is not the panacea for buying electronics the author makes it out to be.

Their support department, while they may seem "cheerful" enough tend to be... Well... What kind of support can you expect from someone getting paid minimum wage or thereabouts? Don't expect it to be top quality.

Merchandise with the aforementioned little tag tends to have, indeed, been opened by someone - and returned for some unspecified reason. But instead of a.) checking to see if the package is complete, or b.) checking to see if the merchandise is in fact, defective, those cheerful little devils simply put the box through a shrink wrap machine and slap a discount tag on the box - and stick it back on the shelf.

Fried is nothing to write home about...
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Fry's Unfriendliness
pwabbit@... 10th Dec 2007
Fry's staff is generally very unfriendly. They usually act like they are being disturbed when asked for location of a product. When they finally do give an answer, half the time it is incorrect. Their prices are very competitive though.
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Fry's is good for me ...
OButterball 10th Dec 2007
... but only because the ONLY thing I ask any worker in the store is where something is. And if he/she doesn't know, I kindly show them how to find it on their store computer.

As far as ANY of them go --- Fry's, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. --- the in store "technical" help is worthless to the point of being dangerous.
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All of these store's help is FUBAR.
osreinstall 11th Dec 2007
That is like comparing the quality of help between KMart, Walmart, Sams and Target. They all hire kids that are clueless. It is CompUSA that had the highest prices and paid the price. Last time I went in there it was dead.
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fry's - better'n it was at first
jmmailin 10th Dec 2007
Frankly it's a slight pain to shop at my nearest (11 miles) Fry's in Phoenix, but as opposed to when the store first opened, I find the staff quite friendly and helpful and much more knowledgeable than a few years ago. I too have accidently purchased re-packaged goods - and nearly always find some missing part, piece or component, necessitating an irritating drive back - and given the rather limited return period, have at least on one occasion been "stuck" with the deficient goods. On a repeat similar experience however, I asked to speak with a manager, who gave me store credit for same, with which I was completely satisfied. I also cannot complain about some of the great deals I've gotten on manufacturer refurbs at Fry's. Now if they could just get those young'uns to pull up their unprofessional lookin' saggy diaper pants!
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Re Fry's
jns_45K@... 10th Dec 2007
I too have found Ffy's electronics to suffer from the choices of merchandise. I can only wonder why Fry's would continue to buy and resell components from manufacturers whose items are returned in high numbers. Considering the supposed advantages of buying foreign electronics, I believe I am seeing more items shipped to Fry's that have not had any sort of quality control.

One motherboard brand which seems to be routinely bundled with their AMD and Intel CPU's has consistently failed within one year or less. Full failures have occured within one week of installation. While I was at fault with the first such mb, I did learn from the mistake. I soon found that these motherboards would partially work, ie no USB, no sound, etc., or as above fail soon afterward.

Based on the situation and the continuation of the failures, I must presume there is either a problem with the merchandise or I am consistently making mistakes. Motherboards from MSI, Asus, and others have not given the problems of the bundled motherboard.

There appears to be a lack of understanding at the Purchasing side of Fry's that buying and selling this type of merchandise is in reality not good business. It encourages manufacturers to not perform the needed Quality Assurance steps. By extention the return lines in Fry's are long and this erodes profit. It would be good business to keep the return statistics on these lines to determine the pattern.
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Sounds like you had a bad experience
BroGnorik 11th Dec 2007
I have bought many Opend box items from, and they all worked just as the sales rep said. When my mom first thought about getting a Max we went to Fry's and had a wonderful sales rep then too. Two weeks after my mom bought the laptop it would not charge, so we took it back to the store and they replaced the laptop and copied all of my moms information to the new hard drive the same day. Since then no problems and the laptop is at least four years old.

While Fry;s is pretty far from where we live it is still an excellent place.
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region...
Clewin 10th Dec 2007
no Fry's in the Midwest, either. Best Buy is good for assembled stuff, but if I need, say, a new power supply, they have one option and it's the most expensive one on the market. CompUSA moved out of here last year when they pulled out of underperforming markets, but it left a rift for some types of stuff. Fortunately for me, there is a Microcenter reasonably near.

I think CompUSA diversified to the wrong markets - when you think "big screen TV" it certainly isn't the first place I'd think of, but they had a good selection of them. They should have targeted enthusiasts and not try to go head-to-head with Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.
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Mico Center is the bomb!
dmecolorado 10th Dec 2007
Out here in Denver we are lucky to have Mico Center and it's right on the way home for me (which is extremely dangerou$). They are fantastic for a BYOPC or a pre-made system. I'm not sure why they don't have more stores.
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It's still The Bomb!
hevans@... 23rd Dec 2007
Because the owners are very smart, conservative, businessmen.

MicroCenter was started by two ex-Radio Shack employees, John Baker and Bill Bayne, opening a 900 square foot storefront operation in a "mini-mall" on Lane Avenue in Columbus, Ohio. Within a year they had expanded into a nearby abandoned G.C.Murphy department store in the same Lane Avenue shopping center, which is nearby to Ohio State University, a huge potential source of revenue.

These two guys must be terrific business men to have seen the opportunity in the new location: it was layed out like a department store... so, they created a Personal Computer Department Stoe! Sort of like a Sears or JC Penny for PC users.

The Lane Avenue store was wildly successful. I went there for the first time in the early 80s and was blown away by how well it was organized and the quality of staff they hired. Hacker heaven! But the store didn't just cater to computer geeks. Your grandmother would feel comfortable shopping there.

The Internet and on-line shopping was virtually non-existant at that time. This was the era of 1200 bps modems (if you could afford them) and BBS dial-in sites. I "upgraded" from a 300 bps modem to 1200 and eventually 9600 at that store before signing up (for a short time) with Compuserv. That was a wonderful decade for personal computing. A real wild west environment with Micro Center providing an oasis of sanity.

Mom and Pop "computer stores" sprang up all over the place (most are gone today), fueled by cheap Taiwan parts. Custom built was the only way to buy anything if you couldn't afford IBM. MicroCenter did/does sell imported stuff, but their main thing was quality and service.

The founders conserved their profits and expanded cautiously and slowly, always being profitable and not leveraging too much. It seemed forever (to me) before they opened a store in Cincinnati, which is somewhat closer to Dayton. Same experience shopping there, same "department store" layout and friendly, knowledgable sales people.

The company is still privately owned today with only 21 stores nationwide. That takes real marketing savvy and a certain lack of greed to accomplish. I haven't visited any other MicroCenter stores, but I would bet they are all the same. CompUSA never came close. I just wish MicroCenter would open a store in Dayton so I wouldn't have to drive so far.
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RE: CompUSA is closing for good. Good.
mjgraves 8th Dec 2007
One thing you missed noting about retail in general, and Fry's specifically...floor staff that is completely clueless. Unless you're going to buy that major music system for your low-rider you will not find them knowledgeable. They do have an amazing amount of inventory, including some truly unexpected things (15krpm SCSI disks!).

Also, their merchandising sucks. If I were a manufacturer I would insist that my staff setup and maintain the displays. I recently saw and end-aisle display for Toshiba HD-DVD gear, but the lovely Toshiba LCD TV was showing a poor quality SD off-air display of Judge Judy...even as there were three HD-DVD players in the display! And a select of disks. Such idiocy!

I've repeatedly asked them why they can't simply ensure that HD material is being shown on the HD TVs. This is a city (Houston) where the cable system has >40 HD channels. They simply don't care. They have the best price. Do you want that product? Or Not?

Michael
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RE: CompUSA is closing for good. Good.
amslact 8th Dec 2007
Wow! As an employee of Comp I would like to ask if you have ever left your house to shop. Go into Fry's and good luck finding anyone who knows anything about what they are selling. Let me not forget Best Buy where the only thing most of the associates are concerned with is when Lost Season 3 will come out or what club they are going to that night. These retailers have a strong advantage over Comp in that they advertise on TV which last time I checked is a great strategy for increasing sales. The associates in my store are not only customer friendly but they also are as up to date as anyone I have met in recent years. One more note about Best Buy. You mentioned their great geek squad as an advantage. Call them up and see what kind of real service you get. CompUSA TechPro is probably the best in the bunch due to their demand for certified techs. Good luck getting anything certified from our competitors. While you have the right to bash the company maybe you should have exercised the right to shop there first and find out first hand how good we were. It is people like you that have caused our sales to drop.
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CompUSA
tomcam 9th Dec 2007
You're right. I will sorely miss my CompUSA in Santa Barbara.
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We lost all the stores in Pa, except for one in
GuidingLight 10th Dec 2007
Pittsburg, (seven hours away) months ago.
CompUSA may not have been everything, but the major reason I would shop there was selection.

Where the above mentioned stores may carry 3 types of video cards, 2 style sound sound cards, a coulpe of hard drive or CD drives, the one thing CompUSA had was that they had a much, much larger selection of items from which to choose.
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Prefer Frys
davidconrad@... 10th Dec 2007
OK, I like Frys because I know what I want and they have anything I need. I can also return anything for almost any reason without penalty. I have bought items from Compusa that did not work and had to pay restocking fees. More than once after trying to get the item to work and finding it was defective the Comp still tried to charge me. I had to dispute the credit card charge.
Yes, Frys has few people who know what they are trying to sell (Especially Audio) and they push Monster cables, I would still prefer them, or OfficeMax or even Office Depot to CompUSA.
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RE: CompUSA is closing for good. Good.
jafucci@... 10th Dec 2007
The experiences you describe at Fry's and BestBuy describe my experiences at CompUSA. While I do agree with your description of what to expect at BestBuy and Fry's, CompUSA was no better. And the experience held true in both CompUSA stores in my area. In fact, it was usually worse, as the selection of products was far less than the competition had available. I did exercise the right to shop at CompUSA, and it was the service that caused the sales to drop.
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CompUSA
alberthebert 10th Dec 2007
I too feel the same as you. My experiences with CompUSA were good. I have a Sony VaioW30 and I wanted to increase my ram. CompUSA was the only source that investigated and followed up with me. They gave me a manufacturer and SKU with a competitive price. I ordered it and everything worked out fine. I always included CompUSA in my searches for merchandise.

I'm sorry to see a customer oriented store go out of business. I know the feeling. I worked for a national company for over 26 years and they folded also.

Sorry guys!

Al Hebert
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CompUSA will be missed
dtregay 8th Dec 2007
CompUSA was the last major retailer that carried a wide selection of computer equipment. The selection at the office supply stores is pitiful; Best Buy is slightly better, but the CompUSA stores where I've shopped are the same size as Best Buy -- completely filled with computer products.

I have to admit that I shopped at Best Buy more than CompUSA, but that's only because of location. If they had a store as close as Best Buy, CompUSA would be my first choice. They carry brands and products that I never see at Best Buy. The last time I was there, I was like a kid in a candy store.

Oh well, I guess I'll become a purely online shopper...
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I Haven't Been To Compusa in Years
bmore_bro69@... 11th Dec 2007
All my computer related purchases are done on New Egg. I was in Best Buy yesterday and for what they charge for a GIG of ram I can get 2 on New Egg
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RE: CompUSA is closing for good. Good.
George Bass 8th Dec 2007
The downfall picked up speed in the late nineties. The folks that grew the business were cast aside. The slick marketing and IT grads with little proven experience implemented text book ideas. A different business plan every week is not sales and marketing. SAP solution for a cool $120 million never worked. They should have separated business sales and retail. I was there until 1999. It breaks my heart.
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RE: CompUSA is closing for good. Good.
Ingo R 8th Dec 2007
Am I surprised? No. The nearest Comp USA to me now is 90 miles away. Last year I
had five of them within 20 miles of me. Maybe you're right for the 'regular' retail
shopper. If it wasn't for Comp USA I wouldn't have bought my excellent Xerox 7750
DN Printer. Think I would find that Anyware else? Customer service was also good. Of
course, what happens now with my COMP USA extended warranty on this $7k
machine?
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RE: CompUSA is closing for good. Good.
wabes2k@... 8th Dec 2007
As a Mac user (converted from life-long PC user a year and a half ago), I will miss CompUSA dearly! One of their stores is 30 minutes away from my home, and I go there for all my Macintosh needs. The nearest Apple store takes three times as long to get to -- that's a 3-hour round-trip!! I love Apple stores, but there aren't nearly enough in my area to make them remotely convenient for me. Whatever flaws the CompUSA chain may have had, their store was my Mac home away from home, so-to-speak. sad
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RE: CompUSA is closing for good. Not so Good.
bobjones68@... 8th Dec 2007
While other retail shops have a fair supply of home/SOHO computer equipment, I have found that the sales staff left a lot to be desired (basically they were idiots who, with only a couple of exceptions, knew only what was printed on the description cards). This was never the case of the CompUSA staff.

And GeekSquad?? Give me a break, I can't tell you how many of my clients have been burned by the total lack of service by the GeekSquad. I am an indepentent service tech who competes with Geeksquad for residential, SOHO, and small business service and support, am MSCA and Linux+ certified (my A+ expired almost a decade ago), and know enough Mac to be able to help most of my clients over the phone. Frankly, I have had to fix too many screwups caused by GeekSquad and similar big-chain support staff. The exception was the support staff at the Schaumburg, IL CompUSA before they closed last year .. they consistently gave the same level of service and advice that I give to my clients and they had many satisfied customers in this area.

Sadly, one of my long time favorite places for parts, TigerDirect (I have been shopping with them since '90), opened a warehouse and small showroom about 30 minutes away a number of years ago, and another thats less than 10 min away last month. Gotta love TigerDirect both for selection on the shelf or back-room/warehouse, and prices. CompUSA rarely was able to compete on the prices, so most of my business has gone to TigerDirect (and CDW for most server and business-class hardware for my SMB clients). But I miss the knowledgeable sales staff of CompUSA.

All of that being said, I for one am sad to see CompUSA go. I see this as more of what I call the WalMart/Target mentality -- cheap is always better than quality.

Bob J.
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Fry's is hands down the worst...
matt_salvano 8th Dec 2007
...customer service of any retail store I've ever seen. It's a near riot every day at the returns counter as they refuse to honor basically anything and make it a complete nightmare to get a completely legitimate return.

I will never set foot in one again. It makes my blood boil just thinking about them.
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Haven't had a problem with their returns department.
OButterball 10th Dec 2007
But then I've got all the documentation and receipts and have mastered the "Are you REALLY that DUMB?" stare taught to me by my Dad.
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No Problems with Fry's Here
rkuhn040172@... 11th Dec 2007
But then again, they are the cheapest. You get what you pay for.

When I go to Walmart I don't expect excellent customer service either.
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RE: CompUSA is closing for good. Good.
noisecraft 8th Dec 2007
I won't weep for the loss, but the one in my area was the only place I could get certain parts immediately. The prices weren't great, and the staff wouldn't bend over backwards to find someone who needed help...but when you got one they were legitimately helpful. Not like my experiences in home improvement big box stores (now THOSE are satan).

What I don't understand is why commenting on this falls under Russell Shaw's perview - so I can't be surprised when his assesment is different from mine. I have never owner a pc I didn't build myself. I doubt Russ has made many homebrew VOIP appliances.
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Bargain Shoppers
rls0317 8th Dec 2007
I have to give credit for this blog actually taking in that there are several employees out there that just found out that they will soon be unemployed. I have worked for CompUSA for over 10 years and although I believe that the wisest decisions weren't always made it was a good company to work for overall. I have met so many wonderful people that have been employed there. Being a manager and havig to tell your team members that we have been bought out and we don't know any more than that is probably the most difficult thing that I have had to do. On top of that I and all of my team members have to endure all of you "bargain shoppers" basically celebrating the fact that we will soon all be in the unemployment line. To you all I say think about this, what would it be like if you supported a family and found out that you would no longer be taking home a paycheck. How do you tell your family that right before the holidays? Hey honey I'm out of a job but all those shoppers will get great prices on Christmas presents.
To those of you who work at CompUSA, keep your heads up!
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Thank you!!
Lp741 9th Dec 2007
I have been with Compusa for 2 1/2 years now and I can say that I will miss the staff and my customers. I worked in the business department and I have built strong relationships with my clients.I want to thank you for the warm words and I wish you the best.
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I have good and Bad experience with CompUSA
BroGnorik 11th Dec 2007
The strangestes is when I asked a Sales Rep if they had any Gigabit Network cards.

The response", We have wifi cards they are pretty fast"

Me, "I did not ask for WiFi whihc only has 54 megs per seconds speeds. I asked for a Network card that offers 1 gigabit per second speed"

The response", I play online games and never had a problem with this WiFi Card"

This went on for about thirty minutes before someone else came up and asked what I was looking for, and they were able to help find what I wanted, but by then for me it was too late.
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CompUSA was invisible.
Xwindowsjunkie 8th Dec 2007
When the original owners sold the business while it was still local to Dallas, the rumors were that the business was bought by a drug dealing gang in Columbia to launder money. I have no idea if that was true or not. The one thing I do know was that it appeared that the entire sales staff changed when the store changed hands. A large number of people I knew stayed away from the Dallas store because of it. The new sales staff at the Dallas store acted as if the customer had better know what he was buying. And most of the customers did since it was catering to the electronics and software geeks. Most of the new salespeople had little to no knowledge or interest about what they were selling. Their original customer base were as likely to be at the Dallas surplus electronics sidewalk sale held once a month as in any "computer" store. They were a lot more knowledgeable about electronics and computers than the typical computer buyer today. That and prices was why the store stayed open for business in Dallas longer than it probably should have.

Prices in the beginning were extremely low compared to other more mainstream stores. Warranties were non-existent. Stock was a combination of surplus and new with a heavy emphasis on hardware. You never knew what was going to be on sale or in-stock the next time you went to shop.

I don't know if the company ever grew past the beginnings or not. The current owner was obviously no better than any previous owners were. The chain never seemed to have a clear focus, a product category or market niche that it specialized in or could communicate with. Advertising from the chain was not distinctive enough for me to even remember if I've ever seen any from them.

I've been in their stores maybe 10 to 15 times since then and I can't remember what I've bought. But the one thing I do remember was that the board components were always either a CompUSA house brand or some unknown brand name. Hard drives were from a few top brands but there were always a few unknown brands and then a house brand drive that always seemed to be made by Samsung. Monitors ran the same way.

Will I miss CompUSA? Not much at all.
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One More Reason...
ken@... 8th Dec 2007
to move to California! There are two Frys stores within 15 miles of my house, and the smaller of the two is five times the size of any CompUSA store I've ever seen.

The last time I was in a CompUSA store - just before a Frys store moved in across the street from them and sealed their fate - the wide aisles and broad shelves were marked by having very few things ON those shelves. No book in the book section was newer than a year old, the tech gadgets were mostly obsolete, and the computers were more expensive than Dell or HP mail order boxes.

I agree; CompUSA won't be missed.
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Contributr
I'll miss the good old CompUSA
palmsolo (aka Matthew Miller) 8th Dec 2007
CompUSA was where I always went to buy my PDAs, mostly my Sony CLIE devices. I still remember the good old days of the CLIE NX70, NX80, and UX50 where CompUSA was the only retailer that had these devices in stock and at great prices. I prefer CompUSA over Best Buy because they have a much larger collection of computer gear, Apple products, and more knowledgeable staff IMHO. There was a CompUSA 10 minutes from my house that closed over a year ago and it will be sad to see the other one about 20 minutes from my house close its doors.

While I now do buy most of my gear online, I still like to go to a physical store and check things out. There also seems to be better sales at the retail stores.
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RE: CompUSA is closing for good. Good.
ruthchar@... 9th Dec 2007
Fry's N/A.CompUSA better on bits than ones listed.Shipping doubles price-Wait!
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RE: CompUSA is closing for good. Good.
BaltimoreBarry 9th Dec 2007
Too Bad.
Carlos Slim has and is overlooking a great opportunity. He just doesn't understand U.S. retailing, nor do the execs he has hired. There is a dominant postiton available for a Comp USA or similar retailer with a committment to market share through market leader pricing.
I know, I ran the market leader in pricing in consumer electronics in the '70's. In retail, wholesale, and Mail Order we were the leader, so much so, that we were sued for discounting by the brand leaders until Fair Trade was repealed in 1976.
Slim is too used to the type of monopoly control he enjoys in his Mexico businesses and is passing up a multi-billion dollar opportunity. No matter what Best Buy and Circuit City (who by the way should be the buyer) do, a revitalized and re-oriented Comp USA could be a world beater in this category.
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I see there are many good...
jerry@... 9th Dec 2007
...Stories and happy customers but I'm not one of them. My experiences and experiences of friends have been very bad. Not receiving rebates was always the #1 complaint but inexperienced sales people and poor service is right up there.

One disabled friend with a top of the line computer complete with 3 yr. service contract had to get his memory replaced at his own expense since they refused to come out and he had to pay someone to take it in where first they replaced the MOBO (they said), replaced then the HD (they said) when all along a free well known memory tester showed the memory was defective causing his Dragon Speak to not speak and crash the computer. We even left a boot to memory tester in the CD drive so that when they booted it up it would run the mem-check but they for some reason just ignored it. Out of desperation we just bought new memory and put it in and the computer worked fine. So much for the "in-home" service contract.

The store in my area closed a couple of years ago and a check with the BBB showed they had loads of complaints on defective products and rebates. So it was a relief to see them move on.
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RE: CompUSA is closing for good. Good.
bikk 10th Dec 2007
You haven't sohpped there in years...hmmm and you talk about them as you were there yesterday. I don't think I'll be reading your column anymore because now I see you are too opinionated to relate a story truthfully. Everything you say about CompUSA is based on years old experience. I want opinions based on up to date facts. No more Russell Shaw for good. Good
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I Liked CompUSA
jpr75_z 10th Dec 2007
They always had what I needed. I can't say that for any other electronics store I go to. I guess in a crowded field, someone had to get pushed out, but I really don't think the other stores are that much better. And the staff, at all the electronics stores - at 9 to 11 dollars an hour, you get what you pay for.
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quite capable in-store and house-call Geek Squad service?
nhudd 10th Dec 2007
What in the world have you been smoking? No one who has any depth of IT knowledge or who has had any exposure to the "quite capable" Geek Squad could make such a statement. Those guys are the absolute bottom of the barrel and only propagate the worst negative IT/geek stereotypes even further. I never thought I'd see the Geek Squad praised here!!!
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AMEN!
Syzygy01 10th Dec 2007
My daughter was having problems with her pc, so she took it to Best Buys to let the Geek Squad check it out--about $75. They diagnosed the problem as a bad mother board and replaced it for about $250. The problem didn't go away, so she took it back. More testing later, she was told that the old motherboard had "damaged the memory" and 2 gigs of Crucial replacements would cost about $100 plus installation. That was when she finally called me. She's a freshman in college, knows everything and is usually too busy saving the world to talk to me unless she really needs something. Anyway, a new $80 power supply from Tigerdirect and the pc is just fine.

Oh, the "bad" Abit NF7 motherboard? I put in her brother's pc when he and I were building it as a father/son activity and he's had no problems. Keep CompUSA and dump the Geek Squad.
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Geek Squad
ParrotHeadFL 10th Dec 2007
http://consumerist.com/consumer/geek-squad/geek-squad-insider-speaks-out-243154.php
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Exactly....
mail@... 11th Dec 2007
I was about to post the same comment, when I saw yours. I have had several experiences with the Geek Squad, and none were good. They have non-IT, definitely non-degreed people working there, that probably barely top minimum, and know nothing about computers.

I had a friend that brought his computer to them (don't know why he didn't let me take a look at it first, but I digress) and they diagnosed a bad HDD, and then later, a bad motherboard. I had him get it back from them, and let me have a look. Well, they had set the jumper on the HDD wrong, and it would not boot up. I set the jumper correctly, and it booted. How the bad HDD, or bad MB diagnosis was arrived at, I have no idea. Seems to me it was just guesses on their part. Turns out his original problem was just a glut of spyware. Took me all of a couple of hours to get everything back into working order.

This story, and others, have led me to belive Geek Squad is absolutely the bottom of the barrel knowledge-wise, and top of the heap cost-wise. Trust me folks, find a reputable, local computer shop, and give them a chance. You will enjoy much better service, and much cheaper fees.
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Oh Comp is going InCOMP...gEE what took so look
tekmike@... 10th Dec 2007
Norfolk Virginia store the worse in customer service. I don't think they know what that means. Remind me to never hire anyone that worked for them.
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Certified - or certifiable?
oldskooldj 10th Dec 2007
Just for the record - the newest round of A+ tests were put together by a committee that consisted of no less than seven Best Buy execs. While this doesn't insure quality technicians, it will insure quality customer service people, which is what the A+ exams now include a lot of.

I believe BB does require techs to be A+ c ertified, but again, that's no guarantee of quality
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Glad I can't work there then
itguy08 10th Dec 2007
No A+, No MCSx for me. Just 15 years of Honest to Goodness Experience. Certification is nice, but usually only serves to push the agenda of the company who you are certified in.

Will an MCSE even look at Linux or OS X? Of course not - they are tied to MS.

Will a CCNE look at other Routers, Switches, etc.? Of course not, they are tied to Cisco.

However, people like me with real world experience (and lots of it) will evaluate all options and provide my customers with the best, lowest cost solution that works for them.
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Certification is only one of many factors
DigitalFrog 10th Dec 2007
that should be considered when hiring a tech. Experience and past performance are vitally important. There are way too many paper certified people out there.

Personally, I find it disturbing that 7 of the people involved in creating the A+ certification test were Best Buy execs. To me, that completely undermines confidence that the exams would not be skewed in some fashion. General certifications such as A+ should be determined by neutral/independent parties, not by those with a vested interest in the outcome.
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Good riddance
John L. Ries 10th Dec 2007
Haven't set foot in a CompUSA in many years, largely because of how ignorant the floor personnel were. Mind you, I don't expect professional programmers out there, but I do expect people manning the various departments to know at least as much about what they're selling as do people walking the floor in the typical department store (that's not a very high standard).
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I am going to Miss CompUSA
mKind 10th Dec 2007
I am going to miss CompUSA. I have always liked shopping in their store which was filled with only (or mostly) computer related items. I have always got what I wanted in their stores. That specific graphics card, or a specific TV tuner card that I am looking for ...

Rest in peace CompUSA ... you will be missed !
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Me Too
carlino 10th Dec 2007
Unlike Best Buy I never had to put up with the rebate that was uncollectable or the 200 Gig Maxxor hard drive that wasn't the 200 Gig Maxxor hard drive that was on sale, but a different Maxxor 200 Gig hard rive that cost $50 more. Not to mention the sales people who will tell you anything to get a sale so their manager doesn't come down on them.
No Frys here. Just Circuit City which is worse than Best Buy or the big box office stores, who have really clueless sales people and very little real computer equipment.
No where to buy cases or power supplies or motherboards or cpus around here now.
I'm sorry to see them go.

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