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  • Rage about the machine.

    Howdy all! Long time no post. I hear this place is under new management now?

    I bring you more tech tales of woe from the “wonderful” world of the computer superstore (although technically since this place has now been moved into the Electricals super store across the street maybe I should stop calling it that. I’ll get to that in another post maybe)

    So this happened a little while ago. I was tidying stuff away in the tech cupboards and I see this Asus ultrabook laying in a box with no label on it and no receipt. I turn to the other tech on duty that night and ask him if he knows anything about it.

    Simon simply tells me “You don’t want to know” … okay then. I left it at that.

    Like a day later Simon is dealing with this rather irate guy who is screaming the place down. He’s going on about how Computer superstores are a bunch of rip-off merchants, that the salesman had conned him and all that Jazz. He grabbed a box off the counter and stormed out.

    Simon comes into the back and when I asked him what the hell all that was about he explained it to me. The Asus I had seen the night before was his, he’s just stormed out with it. He was screaming the place down because it didn’t have an optical drive and rather than spending the £15 on an external drive he demanded that we return the computer…that he had owned for 6 months. I laughed. This is not the first time this kind of thing has happened so I could sympathise with Si for having to deal with it.

    A week later, I come back into the tech area after my lunch, I see the same guy standing by the TechDirect desk, pinching the bridge of his nose and his whole body is shaking. At this point the first aider in me kicked in and I ask him “Are you okay?”

    Si says “Flea!!” to grab my attention and waves at me with a motion that I took to mean “Don’t ask. Just walk away”. I was right. Later that evening, the same Asus ultrabook was sitting in our cupboards because he had left it on the counter. It disappeared a few days after that. I was told he had been in to collect it.

    A few days later and this same guy comes in. I’m the TechDirect tech on duty at that point. Well isn’t that just wonderful?

    He puts the computer on the desk and proceeds to mumble incoherently about it. I ask him to speak up and he immediately goes off like a firework. Same rant as before, there’s no optical drive and we’re all scam artists (by this point I was already well aware that one of our less reputable salespeople had sold him this machine but even he wouldn’t be so stupid as to try and sell an Ultrabook as having an optical drive). All the same Jazz as before.

    Poker face time.

    “I’m sorry you feel that way but I can’t offer you a refund on a machine that is 6 months old. If you were dissatisfied with it then we have a 21-day no quibble return policy which is more than enough time to fully inspect the product. You are way past that so I can’t return it”

    “Well I knew nothing about that policy! Where can I read that?!”

    “It’s printed on your receipt, its also on the wallet the receipt is currently stapled to and is on the 6ft high sign that is just over my left shoulder as well as being on a poster next to every single POS terminal in the store”

    He proceeds to pinch his nose and shake all over again. At this point I’m totally sick of the sight of him.

    He then tells me “Well, I’m not taking it home again!”

    “That’s your choice. However you should know that if you leave it on the counter again; I will leave it there. If that happens, it WILL get stolen, I will neither be able nor willing to prevent that from happening because of the TORTS act governing interference with goods, you will then be down a computer and however much you spent on it. It’s your choice.” At which point I walked off.

    He hung around for a few minutes, grabbed his computer and left. I expected to see him again a few days later but he never returned
    -The one, The Only, AdvancedFlea-

    Stick that in your blog and smoke it.

    A guide for customers about retail

  • #2
    Yay! More Flea! It has been a long time. Glad to see you are OK. Well, as OK as you can be when working in retail.

    I hate to say it, but you really need to train your coworkers on how to handle idiots. Very well done.
    Life is too short to not eat popcorn.
    Save the Ales!
    Toys for Tots at Rooster's Cafe

    Comment


    • #3
      Welcome back!

      Gotta love the guys who not only won't take "No" for an answer, but keep coming back and trying it on new people...What does he think, y'all don't pass warning around to one another?

      As for the new owner: Yup. Name's PrplPlEater. He's got us up and running on a new server. He's not around much lately due to IRL concerns at the moment, but he's an agreeable guy. Raps is still around in Big Mod on Campus capacity
      "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
      "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
      "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
      "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
      "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
      "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
      Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
      "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

      Comment


      • #4
        And of course, he's spent several magnitudes the cost of an optical drive to continue coming into the store to make his inane demands. But don't expect him to be cognizant of that.
        - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

        Comment


        • #5
          Wow... this much effort over £15... that's... If it was gonna be a big deal to have it when he bought it, he shoulda got one. If it's a big deal now, crikey, just buy the bloody thing.

          Always nice when the law is on your side, too.
          O God, thy sky is so vast and my plane is so small.

          Comment


          • #6
            Damn... just buy the *bleep*-ing drive already. It's not going to suddenly sprout one no matter how many trips you take.

            Comment


            • #7
              You know why he didn't notice it for six months? Because you hardly ever use an optical drive anymore. I bought one for my laptop, which also doesn't have one built in. I pretty much only use it if I'm installing an old game. Guy is using "I'm mad so give me what I want" SC logic, but it failed in the face of your "real world" logic.
              Replace anger management with stupidity management.

              Comment


              • #8
                Welcome and I agree with notalwaysright about why he didn't notice for so long. Who uses DVDs anymore?

                My 9 month old alienware gaming desktop has one, but I've never used it. The only reason I know it is there is because I looked after reading the opening post.

                None of our portable devices have an optical drive.

                Comment


                • #9
                  I have a USB CD drive. I use it to load CDs onto the laptop when I buy them...
                  “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
                  One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
                  The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth Slave to the Phone View Post
                    Who uses DVDs anymore?
                    Me. Imagine my shock when I found out that even laptops no longer play DVDs. However, if I can still find old-fashioned answering machines in stores (on a shelf at the back of the store, covered in dust and cobwebs ... ) I can probably find a gizmo that will play my DVDs. My Mac Mini originally played them ... but my cat one day decided to drape himself over the Mac Mini and the DVD that was poking out of the slot, and he snapped it in half. I have no idea what, if any, damage he did inside, and am reluctant to stuff another DVD in there to find out.

                    But seriously, if it's that important, why not ask about it when you buy the gizmo? AND check as soon as you get home to make sure it's actually got whatever it is you want.
                    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
                    ~ Mr Hero

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth Argabarga View Post
                      And of course, he's spent several magnitudes the cost of an optical drive to continue coming into the store to make his inane demands. But don't expect him to be cognizant of that.
                      If going back to the store (or shipping the item in question) will cost more in gas/S+H than what you'd receive in compensation, then you should just shrug it off and accept the loss.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth csquared View Post
                        I hate to say it, but you really need to train your coworkers on how to handle idiots. Very well done.
                        To Be fair I think Si handled it the same way I would have initially. Let the guy pace around and shake as much as he liked. It wasn't going to change anything.

                        Quoth notalwaysright View Post
                        You know why he didn't notice it for six months? Because you hardly ever use an optical drive anymore.
                        That much is true but personally I'm still an old skool IT guy. I still like to have drives on my computers. the last one I put together, which was in 2016, had a floppy disk drive in it. Hell, I'd still have 8" floppy disks if I could ;D

                        But yeah his logic....fails.

                        Quoth Slave to the Phone View Post
                        Who uses DVDs anymore?
                        Me

                        Quoth Monterey Jack View Post
                        If going back to the store (or shipping the item in question) will cost more in gas/S+H than what you'd receive in compensation, then you should just shrug it off and accept the loss.
                        He didn't ship it, he came back to the store but you're quite right. I have another story that related DIRECTLY to what you just said there too. Maybe I shall post it soon
                        -The one, The Only, AdvancedFlea-

                        Stick that in your blog and smoke it.

                        A guide for customers about retail

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Slave to the Phone View Post
                          Welcome and I agree with notalwaysright about why he didn't notice for so long. Who uses DVDs anymore?
                          I still use them for a number of reasons; mostly ownership, they are mine and not dependant on the whim of a service rental provider or my internet deciding to cack it's pants. I also have a large collection that'd be hard to find on subscription or a bugger to rip.

                          None of our portable devices have an optical drive.
                          Many laptops still have optical drives, it's just that the manufacturers seem intent on pushing the "But it's wafer thin" aesthetic
                          Lady, people aren't chocolates. D'you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling. Dr Cox - Scrubs

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Quoth Naaman View Post
                            Many laptops still have optical drives, it's just that the manufacturers seem intent on pushing the "But it's wafer thin" aesthetic
                            or the "look, We can copy too, just like Apple do"
                            -The one, The Only, AdvancedFlea-

                            Stick that in your blog and smoke it.

                            A guide for customers about retail

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I cant even tell u the last time I used a computer....I use my smart phone for everything and I mane everything lol. I guess that's why I went over my internet limit and am not throttled the rest of the month

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