Futureshop

I purchased a lap top computer with a package I refused the service contract do to cost $400.00 for 3 years one year was the manufactures guarantee.The computer had a blue line one side four inches on the left side.I was told it was a loose wire if I purchesed a contract it could be fixed at the store. I refused and it was sent away this was a month ago I have not received my lap top as of May 29/004 The Manufactuer Averatec computer Co. Claimes Future Shop Of Peterborough Ont should not of sent it out for repairs in the first place. This Was Sold to me with the line in it, I am 75 years old, knowing nothing about computers or a blue line on a screen.

I am not a satisfied customer of Futureshop to say the least.

Futureshop is not authorized to fix avaratech notebooks, it has to be sent out. All laptops qualify for a 14 day return/exchange starting on the date of purchase.

Plus the laptop is under the manufacturers warranty, meaning that the manufacture must fix it. If the laptop was sold to you with the line in it then why didn’t you say something or return it within the 15 day return period?
Don’t use age as an excuse.

www.futureshopexposed.com is a good site which may help you

Your “Bad Experience” with the prices being the same isn’t a bad experience you dolt. Its called competitive pricing, and its how the market works. If a store doesn’t have the same price on an item as another store, it will soon, or lose money.

My experience with future shop is that of remote car starters.

When at the time of purchase you SHOULD be informed of a few important things, for instance …
If purchasing a Nordic starter and having it installed by them, you will loose your spare key … (It is used inside the remote under the dash.) The cost of another key from manufacturer is 90$ and up. (For my vehicle anyhow)

I was informed however, that this unit only has one remote, at the time of purchase.
That was fine … they never mentioned the spare key information until I handed over both keys and recieved only one in return.

It wasn’t the installers’ fault that I was not aware … I understand this … and when I asked the salesperson why I wasn’t informed of this at the time of purchase … he was quick to pass the buck … must have been a new sales person.

Alright then … when I bought this unit … the same “new?” sales person failed to tell me of the installation charge for labour of installing the bypass …

I bought the unit … had my reciept … and handed it over to the installer and this is when I was made aware that he wouldn’t be paid unless it was on the bill.

Fine … I had to go back through the process again with an additional
35$ + tax.

So now we have an additional 90$+ for the spare key purchase, another
35$ + tax (which I had to shell out ON THE SPOT (because it wasn’t initially added as it was supposed to have been and installer fellow wouldn’t have finished the work if he hadn’t seen that it was absent from the reciept)

… as I am still waiting for a 3 hour installation (which ended up to be 4 and a half hours because also unknown to me, I had purchased an “open box” special and because of this, the installer was having a difficult time.)
I hadn’t known this either … but low and behold … that is what it said on my reciept.

To end this nerve wracking experience … I had to come back the next day to get the bypass put in as they didn’t have one where I would be able to get my spare key back. I figured the hour it took me for the proper bypass was well worth the 90$+ I would have to shell out for the key from the manufacturer.

I do have one final comment … the funniest thing about this whole thing is … the sales person who was so quick to pass the buck … WAS THE SAME PERSON WHO ORIGINALLY SOLD ME THE UNIT.

Everyone,

There are a few things people have to understand. First of all, not every employee at every store is a bad one. This is a large company with well in excess of 10000 in store staff. Granted, not all of them are superstars, but to paint with such a wide brush is unfair. Also, there are other companies around that have much worse service, and yet no one makes much mention of these companies. People pick futureshop because it has “hard selling, money hungry” staff. I believe that’s why people forgive the screw ups at McDonalds or Wal Mart or Canadian Tire. There is some myth regarding commisioned sales people (well, maybe not myth, but broad generalization) that all are out to get the consumer. Truth be told, if most people stopped to think for more than ten seconds, they’d realize that there is more to it than that. When you go to buy a 100 dollar tv, maybe the sales person pushes the 300 dollar one because it’s better for you and your needs. Another point on this, why do I never see salespeople make forums to discuss rude customers who for some reason feel that they are entitled to some special deal, and push for a 30% discount on the big screen they so badly want. Things are priced the way they are for a reason, and believe it or not, the salespeople don’t get rich off of your 2000 dollar purchase. Quite the contrary. These folks sometimes make less than 1% in commision on big ticket items, and small ticket the same. One last point on the “evil” commision people. The warranty, believe it or not, is more times than not a good purchase. Yes it is expensive, and yes, it doesn’t apply to every purchase. But when someone inevitably calls 14 months after their purchase because they’re stuck with a 600 dollar repair bill, maybe they should have thought it through. Keep in mind that these people are usually trying to help you and make everything go perfect for you. Because, if there is a return, they get their commision (read PAYCHECK) taken back. So they are trying to insure that you don’t have to return anything, and the way to do that is to make you happy. Anyway, to conclude, this is not a big bad company full of people trying to rip you off. I am not an employee, but have friends that work a few stores, and I hear the horror stories. Just figured someone should maybe try to defend the good ones.

Its not the salespeople who work at futureshop that are bad. No one said that. The policies that define the services one receives at futureshop are fatally flawed. Warranties are harldly ever satisfied, and if satisfied rarely on time. If a warranty is exercised while manufacturers warranty is still active, they’ll send the product to the manufacturer. Forget using it for a few weeks at least. If after the manufacturers warranty but before Futureshops own warranty, exercising it once voids the warranty. You will have to purchase a new one if you want continued service. On site service, hah, they’ll send a courier to your place to pick up your product. Forget using it for a few weeks until they return it to you. Try purchasing something online that says “Online Availability: In Stock: Usually ships next business day.”, hah, next day is only an estimate says the fine print, and only after your order is processed. Processing itself takes 1 business day at least. After processing customer service humbly points out 2-6 business days for shipping and delivery.
My take on Futureshop, use it only for very small items if you really need to, anything over $70 should be bought elsewhere.

Futureshop serving the thousands of people that they do everyday by the law of averages only make so many people happy. Most people don’t realize that the company is actually owned by Bestbuy (which is non-commision). The fact of the matter is, Futureshop tries harder than your average run-of-the-mill local store. Why? They have the leverage to do so in the market over the “little guy”. I don’t know about you, but in the fast paced world of electronics, with a million brands out there with a million terms and tech facts and a billion possible problems, I want the biggest and the best watching my back, and my 250 dollar digital camera with the so called “Extended Warrenty” (that only costs $69.99 for 4 years by the way) is guarenteed to work for 4 years, by that time i’ll buy something new. Listen folks i’m 17 and just graduated high school, i’m fresh out of the frying pan and I might not have the experience, but the one thing I do have, is the advantage of being raised in the age of micro-technology, this means I understand the stuff AND how much it can break! In closure, people generally don’t change their minds, if you sit a person down you can reason with them, however a group of people with the same viewpoint are not as easily swayed, if anyone actually reads this, please this is a call from the youth of today, can we please change this “island way” of taking tradition over the future, of taking the store around the corner (Hirtles is now closed by the way) that can’t do anything for you if your product breaks over a multi-billon dollar corporation that has a system by which will guarentee your product in some cases for up to 9 years! Us young folk are disgusted by the way this island is percieved by the rest of Canada and this is just one instance which proves our point. My final point, if Future shop treated every customer with the treatment stated above, how are they now the largest consumer electronics store in Canada?

Futureshop serving the thousands of people that they do everyday by the law of averages can only make so many people happy. Most people don’t realize that the company is actually owned by Bestbuy (which is non-commision). The fact of the matter is, Futureshop tries harder than your average run-of-the-mill local store. Why? They have the leverage to do so in the market over the “little guy”. I don’t know about you, but in the fast paced world of electronics, with a million brands out there with a million terms and tech facts and a billion possible problems, I want the biggest and the best watching my back, and my 250 dollar digital camera with the so called “Extended Warrenty” (that only costs $69.99 for 4 years by the way) is guarenteed to work for 4 years, by that time i’ll buy something new. Listen folks i’m 17 and just graduated high school, i’m fresh out of the frying pan and I might not have the experience, but the one thing I do have, is the advantage of being raised in the age of micro-technology, this means I understand the stuff AND how much it can break! In closure, people generally don’t change their minds, if you sit a person down you can reason with them, however a group of people with the same viewpoint are not as easily swayed, if anyone actually reads this, please this is a call from the youth of today, can we please change this “island way” of taking tradition over the future, of taking the store around the corner (Hirtles is now closed by the way) that can’t do anything for you if your product breaks over a multi-billon dollar corporation that has a system by which will guarentee your product in some cases for up to 9 years! Us young folk are disgusted by the way this island is percieved by the rest of Canada and this is just one instance which proves our point. My final point, if Future shop treated every customer with the treatment stated above, how are they now the largest consumer electronics store in Canada?

If anyone didn’t catch it the first time I posted it twice :P

Extended warranties are garbage, I had them before at futureshop and they try every trick in the book not to fill it. “Did you drop it” “Did you hit it” And with NO sign of physical damage and no damage acctually happened to the product. I have seen salesmen LIE flat out to customers to get a sale at futureshop.
I never get extended warranties, instead just keep track on how much you would have spent on them and use that to repair whatever may break. And in case you do have physical damage…. YOUR warranty fund will cover it. I prefer to go to Staples and London Drugs for my Electronics needs. They put people in sales that DO not know what they are doing. I work as a programmer/sys admin and the knowledge the sales have in the computer department is pathetic. Any why are they the largest ? The most popular store/product is not allways the best store/product. Just look at Windows,Honda Civics, Ipods, etc….

The one comment I have on this string is “Buyer Beware”. Pimple Face “Experts” fresh out of High School only know what they are told. All they want to do is sell the product they push and keep it out the door. The so-called sales people only learn key word and phrases that the customer wants to hear. Want to know how it works? Forget about it. As for the warranty, read the fine print. It’s all there. If you do decide to purchase it. Make sure you hold on to the receipt and the warranty information, you may need it to show the custmer disservice rep what Futureshop’s obligations are.

I’ve Always bought these replacement warranties, I mean if you go to staples they try to sell you the same thing, only they haven’t gone through half the training futureshop has gone through. You know what though, I forgot that The Futureshop Computer department was supposed to be trained as programmers/sys admin and not as sales people that know about the products they sell? But i’m sure they will fix that once they realize that every one of their associates can’t build a computer blindfolded. However from what I have seen at the Charlottetown Futureshop, they have an amazing computer department that strives to expand their knowledge constantly. But perhaps I should be dissatisfied with the warranty I bought on my iRiver 5GB mp3 player. But I was sure glad I had it when the hard drive was unable to mount on any computer. I was able to exchange it for a real product. My 30 GB Apple iPod has served me faithfully 2-3 hours a day for the last 7 months in my car, office, home and all other situations. So perhaps the big products are big for a reason?

Ok, so the impression I have gotten so far on this blog is that PEI REALLY is filled with rednecks, hicks, and farmers. Very few posts seem to have taken the route of actually sitting down and rationally talking about an experience at Futureshop. First off, prices are generally all equal between electronics stores on products; the companies that make the thing generally set EXACTLY what a factory fresh product HAS to sell for (ie iPods). Next, not all associates are knowledgeable in all areas. I believe I personally met Mr. Bauld who posted further up, when he rudely approached myself and a co-worker in another department (we sell CD’s. We do not have every model PC in the store memorized to tell you which one does what.) and asked so nonchalantly “Can you two stop having a personal conversation for a minute and help me with a PC?”. Now seeing as how we were discussing work that needed to be done that day, we were slightly shocked by his demeaner, but having had to deal with unrulely customers before I merely led him to the PC isle, and told him I would attempt to find an associate who was PAID to know all the PC’s, and the advantages of each one. He seemed upset that the knowledge in the computer department was pathetic (didn’t he notice from the fact that I was in another department when he decided to demand help from me?) yet I suspect that the big “programmer/sys admin” (means he probably failed his A+ test) wouldn’t know a northbridge from a front side bus. I don’t even work in the computer department and I have built 4 PC’s by myself in the last month alone. Do not be so quick to judge ALL the staff of a store because one or too of them are bad, or becuase people from other departments haven’t memorized what OTHER PEOPLE are supposed to sell. Just because I do not sell computers myself most assuredly does not mean that I know nothing about them, but don’t take that the wrong way and think you can expect someone from a different department to tell you the selling points of a PC they are seeing probably just for the first time.

Also, what is this about “whats most popular is not always the best”? Sure I agree it applies in some situations (ie Apple iPods being the best selling MP3 players, but also the most prone to malfunctions), but did you actually put down Windows? So your a Macintosh faggot are you? Explains why you were such an ass to the poor part time students who work at FS selling CD’s to pay their way through University. OSX is likened to a telephone with really big buttons,and designed for the elderly, because we all know everyone over the age of 25 is too set in their ways to learn how to use x86 based machines correctly. The only other option is that you are a big time Linux user, which makes no sense, becase if you use linux for any reason other than webhosting, it can be compared to using a scooter over a car (not to mention that the scooter can’t make right turns [ie use windows designed programs without emultaion, play REAL games, etc] like everyone elses vehicle).

To sum up the rant of a teenager tired of the prejudice and ignorance shown by the older generation of “islanders”, just stop ratting on FS because its the “big brother” of the town. If the were so bad then how did they put “Hirtles stereo” out of busniess? Im sure people are not stupid enough to go to a store they absolutely hate (hard to say if they are, since this IS PEI).
P.S. Commisions are non-existant thanks to the changes of Image 2, so stop your complaining that the sales people are only trying to sell you a product to make money. They are trying to push a product with a Product Service Plan (what you laymen would referr to as an extended warrenty) because they know that eventually the product will break, and we will get yelled at when its not our jurisdiction to service it (hey all you dolts out there: actually pay attention when associates explain warrenty’s to you, they aren’t doing it just becaue they like the sound of their own voice.

amen

I love future shop the hottest guy, Dave, works there!

I would think twice about having a remote starter installed by Futureshop. They guys that work in that back room are not cut of the same elk of general staff. I changed my debit card pin number the next day after purchasing the item. Unless you have purchased a car audio system you would never think this of Futureshop. They hung up on me twice when trying to resolve this problem. I had to pull up the store manger and contact the corporate office before getting this resolved. Bottom line have the item factory or dealer installed at time of purchase you do not want to deal with these guys they do not leave you with a warm a fuzzy feeling. For all I know they are putting in backdoor openings in these systems. Within a days of having this run in at Futureshop my bank called me to say that someone was trying to access my account with the wrong pin number. If you must deal with them make sure change your pin numbers. As I was paying for the item they kept pulling out their phones as if they were checking something. Most likely they were taking pictures of my card. They thought they were distracting. Since when does it take 4 guys to complete a purchase.

It seems like Christan (post AUG 17, 2005 AT 13:40 ADT) … IS computer literate … his ranting about people not knowing the difference between a northbridge and a front side bus and how he was being treated at this store … dosn’t really reflect how an employee should be representing this store …

Throwing all your computer lingo out there like you’re all that … someone should show your boss how you really treat people … and I do believe Mr Bauld when he says he had to pull you away from your private non- work related conversation … because obviously you have alot to talk about when it comes to talking about people and computers (as if you are trying to prove you REALLY ARE knowledgeable although, not in that department), as you so proudly demonstrate in your blog.

You should have talked about your work duties before you even get out on the floor so you don’t stand around wasting your employer’s valuable time and money … You make me laugh when you say “don’t be too quick to judge” … but then you call people hicks, rednecks, and farmers … well, you are seemingly educated, but you know NOTHING.

This Forum is for just that .. but because you know a couple really big words … you are so much better than your own customers? PA-LEESE!

These are peoples’ experiences … and like it or not … we have grievances with this store (or the chain, depending where one lives) and if this is how you (a representative of FUTURE SHOP) represent … no wonder there are so many problems …
No one will be listened to or treated fairly … which is obvious because you clearly have a beef with the ‘Older Generation’ … or anyone really, who doesn’t like the way you do things.

Those people who you are making fun of are actually paying your wages/salary you moron.

Your customer service skills suck and I am glad I never had to deal with you.

And I do own a MAC … Best computer on the market. Are you gonna call me a Macintosh faggot?

A couple years ago I purchased a flat screen samsung tv from future shop….. it was $2300 including taxes…… they offered me the warranty for $400 and took it……….. usually I never mess with the warranties there. Awhile later i had trouble with the tv……they delivered another…..same problem……..they asked me to come in and talk to them. They gave me a new tv that was MORE expensive and a sony brand for the same price I paid. They delievered it free and took the faulty tv back. I say thats awesome service and I got a wicked deal out of it. And it was because of the warranty that I got that deal….. my family member had an ordeal with a tv he had for 3 years under the extended warranty and it died… it was unrepairable……so futureshop gave him a brand new replacement with the closest equivelent model…….lets just say he ended up with a 10x better tv for free. without the warranty he would have had to buy another tv and throw the other one out. Every store will have its faults and advantages…….there is no perfect store. And not every employee will meet up to a persons standards…… always remember…….. buyer beware and buy where you feel comfortable and where you follow your rationality not your heart or desire.