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...
Discussion on:
Message 2 of 1
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
