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April 10, 2007

business

It’s hard to feel bad for CompUSA when this scenario has happened so often

Posted Apr. 10, ’07, 11:30 AM PT by Kate Marshall
Category | Business

compusa1.jpgKicking CompUSA while it’s down may not be nice but it is therapeutic. Perhaps feeling bored, The New York Times columnist David Pogue recently agreed to strap on a concealed microphone, check out a CompUSA store and report back to NPR’s “Morning Edition” on what he found. When NPR couldn’t use the resulting footage because of time constraints, Pogue posted some excerpts at his NYT blog.

After it took 10 minutes to find a sales clerk, Pogue cornered the lone employee for a chat about the alphabet soup that is wireless network standards: how an 802.11n network is better than an 802.11g one; how does mixing equipment for “n” and “g” standards affect network speed; and what’s Power Over Ethernet, anyway? Unfortunately, the hapless CompUSA drone incorrectly answered 3 out of 4 questions in blazingly-wrong ways.

With more charity than I might muster (unless I’m having a good day; then I love everyone), Pogue restricts his CompUSA-bashing to two main mistakes:

One is CompUSA’s, in its decision to staff an entire store with only a single employee, rather than training specialists in each department. The second was the clerk’s. He was literally tossing out bogus answers, making them up on the spot, rather than just saying, “I don’t know.” Like I said before: The miracle is that CompUSA stayed alive as long as it did.

Well, tell us how you really feel, Mr. Pogue (note: I kid because I love. Pogue’s experience isn’t all that different from several I’ve had at CompUSA, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.)


9 Comments

Jeff said:

Some years ago, shortly after the Mac Store section of our local CompUSA opened, I had the displeasure of listening to two store clerks elsewhere in the store talk loudly and openly to each other, with customers in plain sight, about how Windows 98 was clearly a superior operating system to anything Apple had ever produced.

My better nature kept me from saying, "If not for Macintosh, Windows itself would not exist, you MORONS." But oh, how I wanted to...

I haven't bought anything there since.

April 10, 2007 12:22 PM
Steve Sill said:

Well we get what we pay for:( I remember a time where there were many computer/electronic stores where you could always find informed advice. Unfortunately in our drive to get the lowest price we went to places like Comp USA, Best Buy etc. where the employees got paid less, service stunk, and it was all about volume baby. Those computer/electronics stores who paid a good salary to their learned employees, could not compete on price, and went the way of the Dinosaur. RIP quality service, as we complain about poor service that we have made the conscious decision to pay for;(

April 10, 2007 12:53 PM
Erik said:

Maybe the reason they have survived so long, is because the others aren't that much better.

April 10, 2007 2:08 PM
Mark 2000 said:

Compusa also gets what it pays for. I'm sure the wages are too low to expect a floor person to know much. I don't blame them for being ignorant of all their products.

April 10, 2007 7:03 PM
Reginald W said:

I am a long time computer geek, my first computer being an Apple ][+ with a 4-digit serial number back in 1979. I started working at an Apple dealership in 1984 and bought a Mac in 1984. I've worked at three dealers, 4 schools/school boards and been an independent service tech servicing Apple and Windows/PC product. I am no longer a tech for anyone but myself, a few family and friends and the company I run.

People are cheap. Plain and simple. They want everything for nothing, especially tech support. I don't mean everyone, but a majority of them.

Running a business is expensive, the costs for space, advertising, staff, equipment and everything else can be overwhelming for the business owner. The big box stores sell huge volumes of stuff at better margins than the little shop selling much less volume, but people seldom buy from the little shop since they can save a few bucks.

But, when they want service, they expect any dealer to offer them service because they are a customer of "X" product or "Y" company that you might also represent.

So where did you buy it from? Oh, our competitor? So why don't you go ask them for help? You did, but they are morons. I see. So you call us. Okay, if I help you, will you buy things from us in the future? Sure you say.. but if you were to look at such promises, you'd find they lied through their teeth. They go for convenience and price, not necessarily in that order.

In Canada we don't have CompUSA, but we have Best Buy and Future Shop. They are comparable big box stores whose emphasis is on pushing boxes out the door, usually based on price. As for technical support from either one of them? I'd get better responses talking to a turnip based upon my own experience and others I've talked to. They might have a tech buried in the back of the shop that might know, but the sales peeps on the floor know little and make up much of it as they go.

Do I go to Best Buy or Future Shop? Occasionally, but not too often. Sometimes they do have the best price. I am after all, ruled by the same cheapness and convenience atitude that most people have.

My advantage is that I know how to support what tech equipment I buy, or can learn how to support myself. The average Joe/Jane Public thinks they know more than they do, have a few friends that know a tiny bit and they will simply call anyone and everyone they can to find help when they need it, whether it is correct or not, whether it causes their stuff to blow up or fail completely.

I can't blame the sales peeps completely, since their job is not to be technicians, but to sell product and push it out the door. Sales spiffs, that can put extra dollars in your pocket can heavily influence you to sell a specific product, even it is not the best solution. The quantity of products out there can be overwhelming and trying to know the differences between one product and a competitors can be a test in futility as an update can come out to change the differences.

So, to wind down a long sermon, people are indeed cheap and people will try to sell product based on price, not on service. If you want best price, then shop for it and stop whining about service. If you want service, you'll find a place that provides top notch service and you'll pay for it when needed. Simple as that.

April 10, 2007 7:23 PM
etype series said:

I'm a macuser, i run a cgi studio...recently i went to a 'futureshop' (Canadian version of Bestbuy) and asked if they had any gigabit ethernet hubs...the sales clerk didn't know what it was...he went and got the manager..who comes out and without asking any questions...
'You don't need a gigabit hub'
'I don't?' i said, feeling a tempature rise.
'No, it won't make your games any faster...'
'Noone said anything about games..'
He goes on to blather about i don't know what untill i told him to shutup. Idiocy happens like this everytime you go into a computer store - I call it the 'Gates Effect' after a man who used this lie-through-your-teeth-straight-into your-face' style to become one of the worlds richest men.

April 10, 2007 7:28 PM
Nick said:

Unfortunately, CompUSA is a perfect example of modern companies that invade us with good prices by squeezing its under paid staff, who is more and more unknowledged so that the big boys upstairs still make a great profit.

Sorry, but it works less and less like that. I haven't shopped at CompUSA for the longest time. I go to Fry's, again not for their knowledge, they are equally clueless but for the bottom prices. At least there, there is no pretense.

So log CompUSA, you won;t be missed by me.

April 11, 2007 9:07 AM
Clair said:

I used to work for CompUseless about 12 years ago. It was my first job after moving from a small town into Atlanta. They hired me on the spot because I could actually recognize parts of a computer. Their other customer service reps couldn't. I thought that was pretty sad then. I worked my way "up" through the ranks -- I'd originally applied for a technician job, but they were all full -- and finally made it to the tech department. The sales guys knew next to nothing about what they were selling, but they could tell you all of the details regarding their extended warranty plan. I couldn't believe what would come out of their mouths. I was glad I was in the tech department, somewhat sheilded from them. I was working with some fairly sharp people. None of us stayed for very long. Imagine that.

April 11, 2007 11:42 AM
dmilton said:

Compusa's failings had nothing to do with customer experience. The business failed because of branding and marketing issues coupled with a poor executive management with no direction.

I managed a CompUSA for seveal years and can speak with experience concerning the capabilities of the chain and its competencies relative to Best Buy and Circuit City etc. My staff was far and away the most knowledgeable and our customer service rankings exceeded that of our competitors.

What killed the company was nothing other that a failure at the hightest levels of management to break the perception of higher prices and to create name recognition. I can remember many a night standing on the sales floor staring at the door with one customer milling about and being no where near the sales goals for the day.

Just yesterday I visited the store in which I once worked to check for any good deals on the clearanced out inventory. There were only two employees in the whole place, no one approached me and the place was filthy. But what should you expect from a store that will be closing its door in a month?

April 11, 2007 12:02 PM

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