I was thrown out of Best Buy

[basketcase]

I have witnessed similar stuff from the geek squad.

I was in BB trying to get them to honor their warranty on my cell phone (which is a whole diff problem...). The clerk finally told me I had to talk to the Geek Squad. I was like, "for my phone...?", but whatever. I get in line at the geek squad and the lady in front of me had some Emachine PC and she wasnt' happy with the performance. By the time the guy was done working her over, he had talked her into paying about $400 for one stick of ram, install some antivirus software and run the antivirus software. Oh and maybe run the disk defrag too. I should have said something, but where else do I send someone like that.

The phone thing... that pissed me off royally. I had some cheap ass cell phone from them, and the thing stopped charging. I had about a year and a half left on my contract, so I needed a new phone. I bought the warranty just for this reason. AFter the above incident (I was told to call some 1-800 number for support) the person I talked to said that it wasn't normal wear and they would not replace it. I was like, WTF!! I have not done anything out of the ordinary with this phone... I just plug it in every day or two, charge it up , and carry it around and talk on it. It has never gotten drop, wet, or anything else. After speaking to about 30 minutes and 3 levels of MGMT (or so I thought) I was finally connected with some customer care rep that sent me a $100 gift card (the phone was free, lol). But, to make me just through those hoops, over some little definition of "normal wear" I refuse to shop there ever again (well, I used the gift card...lol).

[proteus5]

I bought a cable at the dollar store for 2.50 - works fine.

Look even the dollar store is up charging cables

[bdgbill]

Look even the dollar store is up charging cables

I knew someone was going to catch that. I should have said "The Hong Kong Store". It's not a true Dollar Store but sells all kinds of junk, most of it for less than $5.00. Most of my tools, usb cables, power strips, AC adaptors etc come from there.

The last time I was in there I found some flashing bicycle lights for $1.00 each. Each one has a switch, a AA battery holder, five red leds and a little logic board that will flash the leds in different patterns. I bought about 10 of them. They are awaiting a project.

[Ted the Penguin]

I knew someone was going to catch that. I should have said "The Hong Kong Store". It's not a true Dollar Store but sells all kinds of junk, most of it for less than $5.00. Most of my tools, usb cables, power strips, AC adaptors etc come from there.

I think he was saying that it isnt even worth that much... but its nice to go pick it up, and you have to figure in their overhead of getting it there and having a retail store.

The last time I was in there I found some flashing bicycle lights for $1.00 each. Each one has a switch, a AA battery holder, five red leds and a little logic board that will flash the leds in different patterns. I bought about 10 of them. They are awaiting a project.

I agree with most of that, but I do put some value on surge protectors. since they are sorta important in terms of not frying your computer if there is a storm. I have some belkin ones that all my stuff is plugged into now, and I will probably be getting some of their pureAV power conditioners/battery backups, since they are actually well priced.

[Mr. Camaro]

I always think it is funny when they stop you to check your receipt in Sam's to make sure that your receipt matches what you have in the cart. One time I bought some personal items and some business items and I had them ring them up on two different receipts. My wife then came up with another personal item, a large trash bucket, so they rang that up too on a third receipt. So now I have 3 receipts for everything in my basket. The business item even included a small refrigerator.

So I get to the front and the lady at the door asks for my receipt. I give her the first one that is missing many items and also missing the refrigerator. She looks at it and then uses her yellow highlighter on the receipt to indicate that everything is good. When she hands back the receipt I say, "Did you find the trash can on there?" Startled she looks at the receipt again and starts to frantically look for the trash can. I then pull out the other receipt and she says "Sorry, I must have missed that". So I say, "Everything is good now?", She says, "Yep, got everything that time." I say, "So did you get the refrigerator?" and she looks at the receipt again. I hand her the third receipt which not only has the refrigerator but about 7 other items on there and I say, "So I guess you really don't look at the receipts do you? You just take a look at the cart and then put a yellow mark on the receipt." She turns red and says, "Yes that is about right."

[Mr. Camaro]

A friend of mine went to Wal-Mart one time. He bought something that was $4.25. The line was 10 people deep and there was a problem at the register and the cashier was waiting for a manager. He was in a bit of a hurry so he walked to the front handed the checker $5.00 and started to walk out. The cashier said you can't leave I have to ring that up first. He just continued to walk through the door and into the parking lot. Security surrounded him and with in just minutes a cop pulled up. The cop says, "They said you just shoplifted that item." He said, "I did not. They are having problems with their register so I gave her $5.00 which will easily cover the $4.25 with tax." The cop said, "What, you paid for it?" The cop then walked back to the Wal-Mart folks and said, "He paid for the item, you can't do anything about it. He doesn't have to wait for you to ring it up, that is your problem not his." The cop let him go.

[Ted the Penguin]

A friend of mine went to Wal-Mart one time. He bought something that was $4.25. The line was 10 people deep and there was a problem at the register and the cashier was waiting for a manager. He was in a bit of a hurry so he walked to the front handed the checker $5.00 and started to walk out. The cashier said you can't leave I have to ring that up first. He just continued to walk through the door and into the parking lot. Security surrounded him and with in just minutes a cop pulled up. The cop says, "They said you just shoplifted that item." He said, "I did not. They are having problems with their register so I gave her $5.00 which will easily cover the $4.25 with tax." The cop said, "What, you paid for it?" The cop then walked back to the Wal-Mart folks and said, "He paid for the item, you can't do anything about it. He doesn't have to wait for you to ring it up, that is your problem not his." The cop let him go.

that is funny, but I wouldnt bank on that going so well every time...

[onestar]

I recall seeing a program or was it the news lol, where the scam involved the till operator under charging or mis-charging accomplices who would come in , pick expensive items, the operator would then fail to scan the item, type in a cheaper item, and thus make easy money. I guess that's why these places compare the receipt to the bag now ?

[NumberFive]

I was in a Dixons "tax free" at an airport once passing a bit of time and a stereotypical businessman walks in asking for a USB printer cable. The sales "assistant" suggests to him a cable in a fancy box for £17.17 (about US$40). The customer says, "That's a really good price" to which the assistant replies "We're tax free so it should be!"

I couldn't take it, and pointed out that you can buy them on ebay for about £0.99 with £0.69 postage. He didn't buy it.

This sort of thing really grinds my gears. Also CAT5 cable. I have several networks with tens of metres of burglar alarm cable and telephone wire (untwisted) linking them up and I still get file transfers running > 90 Mbps.

People who get their electrical engineering knowledge from reading slashdot should be banned from advising anyone!


(and Speaker cable!!! - http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/speaker-cable...302478.php - Don't get me started)

[carpeVideo]

Actually the twist makes a big difference, I had to scope those signals in college :0)