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How Office Depot Pushes Service Plans On Customers
Harry writes "I was amused, appalled, and angry — yes, all three — when I spotted signs above every register at my local Office Depot with handy scripts for clerks to use in 'recommending' that customers buy extra-cost, extremely profitable protection plans. And now Laptop Magazine has posted an eye-opening investigative report that charges local Office Depot stores with instructing staffers to lie and tell people who want to buy laptops without service plans that they're out of stock." Update: 03/13 00:53 GMT by T : An employee with Office Depot, somewhere in the southeastern US, wrote to respond to this story as a employee of the company, but in his off time and not in any official capacity:
"I will only say that what is described in your article and the Laptop
Mag article is not something that occurs across the entire company as
sanctioned or ordered by the Corporate Higher Ups and is certainly
nothing I have experienced as a 10-year employee of the company, we
want sales. Yes, we want add-ons, but we will take the sales regardless."
Remember, you're helping them by saving them the loss N years from now when it breaks and they didn't buy an N + 1 year warranty.
My work here is dung.
Why would you buy a computer at office depot?
Heh, that sounds about right.
I worked for OfficeMax a few years ago. Everybody who worked there received commissions for selling those overpriced plans to customers.
I'm wondering if the examples discussed in TFA are a companywide policy a la Best Buy with their seperate pricing for internet and intranet, or the brainchild of some greedy store manager. When I worked as a film-developer for a major drugstore chain, the store manager approached me about finding a way to cheat customers using standard processing for customers who turned in their film with premium envelopes(which means that customers who wanted offsite "premium" processing would instead have their stuff done in-house, saving us tons of cash and leaving us hoping that the customer wouldn't notice the lack of the extra features they wanted ^_^).
My biggest mistake in that job was mentioning the word "ethics" to my manager. I was never promoted ^_^
Wow, if you get appalled over scripts for cashiers, wait until you find out about telemarketers, what THEY have. I fear the day you learn about politician's speech writers. Oh, and did you know? Those bills that get passed through congress, often the congresspeople DON'T EVEN READ THEM.
OK I'll stop now to keep your rage meter from going overboard.
(This message brought to you from the 'please channel your anger towards things that actually matter dept').
Man, I must be feeling bitter today.
Qxe4
I bought a paper cutter (the kind with the circular blade you slide up and down) the other day from Office Depot. I asked if they sold replacement blades. The girl behind the counter swore up and down that if I bought the $10.49 replacement plan and the blade dulled I could bring the thing back and get a replacement of the entire paper cutter. This was on a $50 item.
I don't know if she was lieing or just dumb, but she swore up and down 3 times that was the policy. I laughed and refused to waste the money.
did not look that bad to me. It seemed to stick to the facts. They are supposed to make money
Nullius in verba
America is the land of opportunity and innovation in science and business. All Office Depot has done is work out an innovative way to generate extra profit for their company. I'm sure they consulted their legal department to find out if federal and state laws allow this innovative method of training salesman to follow a sales flowchart.
There ought to be a patent on this technique! Infact, the only hurdle is used-car salesmen who might sue claiming prior art (but thats a minor inconvenience)
FreeBSD bounties
that read "How Office Depot Pushes..." as "Home Depot Pushes..." and wondered why you'd want a service plan for a screwdriver and a sheet of plywood?
I bought a keyboard yesterday. I was asked if I wanted a warranty. I said "On a keyboard?" with a sardonic sound. It went right over her head. Then she put a tape over the edge of the box "Whats that?" I asked "our return policy" she said. "So if I break the tape I cannot return it? You do realize I need to open the box." " I'm sorry sir, that is the policy" she smartly replied. I left with my wallet, but not wits intact...
- Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
Sounds like Office Depot has been busy hiring all the former Circuit City execs ...
About a year ago, I walked into a local Best Buy, and was shocked, appalled, angry, but not surprised, to see anti-filesharing propaganda set up throughout the store.
I counted over 25 fliers hanging on walls, telling people "DOWNLOADING IS A CRIME!", and other propaganda. The most elaborate display they set up was in the MP3 Players section of the store. They mounted two flashing strobe lights on top of a display, designed to look like a police car's flashing lights. They then placed a large sign stating that "DOWNLOADING IS A CRIME. DON'T GO TO JAIL, DON'T DOWNLOAD".
So I asked one of the employees about the signs. They said it was an order by their upper management (as in, from their corporate offices). I then asked if they believed that downloading music is a criminal offense that can result in arrest, as they clearly try to say. They did not know. Some of them said "Yes", while others didn't answer the question.
Needless to say, I guess people complained, because the signs were gone after a while...
"This _____ is eligible for our replacement plan. I recommend it because if the product fails after the manufacturer's warranty, it will be replaced with an Office Depot Merchandise card for the full price you are paying today."
If this shocks, amazes, or angers you. Get a fucking life. How is this news at all? If they want to lose a sale b/c they're not selling a protection plan, well I would think they are just shooting themselves in the foot.
I used to work for Office Max for over a year. These exact same employee "policies" were in place there too.. though our plans were called "Max Advantage". We'd be told to only help customers on the floor that were looking at or thinking of purchasing items that carried a service plan... and got "write ups" if we didn't sell X amt. of plans per month. And since the day I quit, I haven't worked retail again...
Wait till they get a patent on this method!
Really worked well for these guys, and of course these guys, too. Sounds like a great idea to apply to more retailers. I wonder, can I buy an extended warranty on a case of pens from Office Depot as well? Damned things keep breaking on me.... And how about these? They might break, too.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
but I think it has to do more with poorly trained employees and managers who don't care about the top line revenue of the sale, and rather focused on driving just the attachment rate. I don't think this is limited to Office Depot because you can go to any car dealer and most electronic shops and get the same story.
Something about this story doesn't add up though. From the article "We were surprised by how aggressively the sales associate tried to convince us not to buy the system and then, when we said we still wanted it, how aggressively he tried to convince us to buy its corresponding tech services.". I thought the point the article is supposed to be making is that the rep will say it's out of stock AFTER they refuse the corresponding tech services, not before.
Now the people who call my cell phone warning me "This is the second notice that your car warranty has expired", well those people ARE lying.
"Circuit City".
Not that I'd buy tech there in any event (I'm one of those smarmy Mac guys), but this certainly means I'll minimize my purchases to only those staples (pun possibly intended) like paper and pencils.
Why would anybody be appalled and angry at a store for trying to upsell a customer? That's business, and there's nothing inherently wrong about it. A store has no duty, legally or morally, to inform a customer as to whether or not a purchase is a "good deal." If you don't want to buy the extended warranty, then don't. Of course, I'm not talking about dishonesty here. If someone lies to you about what you're buying, that's a different matter completely.
the warranties and services were the only way to make a profit.
I used to work at Circuit City. We weren't ever specifically told to not sell the computer without ESP (extended service plans), however, an employee could get fired for not selling at least 20% of their sales volume in extra services like warranties (or more of a ripoff, the anti-virus setup). A number of our sales team would turn away customers who would not purchase a computer without additional services just to keep their job.
> This message brought to you from the 'please channel your anger towards things that actually matter dept
I believe that when you say "things that actually matter", you really mean "things that you feel you can change". Politicians not reading bills is Very Bad -- but there's little one feels they can do about it.
Believe it or not, I bought my current PC at Circuit City. I know, I know. But at the time, Circuit City had the same model HP Pavilion for as little or less than anyone online, with the additional advantage that I could jump on the bus and go buy one today, rather than having to wait around for UPS to deliver it. A week later, Amazon.com dropped the price by $50, so I went back to Circuit City and said, "Hey! I you guys ripped me off!" The nice kid at the cash register promptly credited $50 to my card. Total time without a working computer: 18 hours. Total money lost due to not shopping online: $0.
Am I sorry they're out of business?
I dunno. Not really.
Breakfast served all day!
When I am to buy anything from stores like Office Depot, and happen to be coaxed into these service plans, I tell them:
"Look, this is a gift. If I must purchase a service plan before walking out with this product, then I will leave it. Now, can I have this product without a service plan or not?"
This script has worked remarkably well at all times. I have never been disappointed.
Since the days of the Romans, the adage has been "Caveat emptor." (Let the buyer beware.)
Now Modern Marketing has their own adage: "Carpe emptor!" (Seize the buyer.)
Let the Battle of the Adages Begin!
Selling up is hardly new with computer stores. Long time ago I bought a high-end VCR (Yup, THAT long ago) from a Silo store I had frequented. They always tried to sell the warranty, and this time I was damn sure I wasn't going to buy one. The sales lady rung up the order without asking, so I sarcastically asked, "Aren't you going to try to sell me one of those extended warranties?" "No," she said. "I can see it in your face that you aren't going to buy one." which I thought was pretty funny.
About the scripts: I worked retail for awhile and I gotta tell you, some of these 'sales associates' are so afraid of what to say that they demand scripts. They'll say, "What do I say?" so I'd say, 'Just talk to the customer and answer his questions.' "But what, exactly, am I supposed to say?" and it just goes on and on until you write them up a script to keep them quiet. This was especially true for customer complaints where no one wants to say the 'wrong' thing. As you know, once in awhile a customer can be kind of unreasonable, and there's this old aphorism that "the customer is always right." But as far as I'm concerned, that doesn't mean a front-line flak catcher has to take abuse. What the phrase means is, "The customer knows what he wants to buy, and if you don't have it, you screwed up." It doesn't mean if he starts yelling at tou that you have to stand there and just take it. Leave. get a manager. Whatever.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
When I was 17 I worked for Office Max.
The incentives that they gave the salesperson who sold the extended "warranty" on any electronic/furniture item far outweighed any moral obligation for me. I would push a $5.99 1-year replacement warranty on just about anything I could, selling someone a $29.99 inkjet printer with a warranty gave me an extra $12 bucks in my check. Some weeks my check gross amount just about doubled from the volume of extended replacement plans I sold.
I don't blame them.
A few years ago I worked at Office Depot for about a month while I was looking for other work. I was hired on as a stocker, though they'd occasionally have me cover the computer department when we were short staffed. At our store, management set a quota for each employee for how many service plans we were supposed to sell each week with a required Saturday morning training session for any employee who did not reach their quota where we would do crap like train on these scripts and brainstorm incentive plans on how to motivate us to sell more.
I went to one of these stupid meetings and all I could say for myself is that since I worked as a stocker in office supplies, I didn't even sell anything that I could in theory have pushed a service plan on, even if I didn't think they were crap. They responded that I was mistaken because batteries were in my department and they qualified. WTF? How the hell are you supposed to sell a service plan on a pack of AA batteries? I quit before the next Saturday as I'd found another job, though I probably would have given them notice if it weren't for the crappy work environment.
Office Depot is still in business?
wtf?
Well, that won't last much longer, nobody worry.
1. Get online printout of items in stock in that store.
2. Wear recording device.
3. Show print out of stock.
4. Offer to visit State Attorney General.
5. Get free laptop!
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
office depot isnt the only place that pushes these.... i lost my job at k-mart years ago for openly opposing them (though the termination notice was full of lies about poor service).
at the time the statistics said only 5% of the smart plans were ever used, and nearly 100% of those used were within the time period when you could still return the product to the store, or get it repaired/replaced by the manufacturer. plus the service was provided by a third party, with a call center located in india. so they were difficult to deal with and k-mart had no liability.
from what i see of the marketplace now, the only time a service plan might be worth it is while perchasing $1000 plus products with service plans that only start AFTER the store and manufacturing warranty plans end... or provide crazy handy services, like pick up and delivery service during purchase/repair, and move-it-fr-you services when you move for the durration of the warranty (if you move a lot).
other than that in store plans mearly pad big corp's pockets and encourage the whole generations selling them to rely on lies and deceit to maintain basic employment; and just basic employment, since few companies share their profits with their employees.
"Nice little laptop you got here... shame if anything happened to it!"
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
How is it different from Barnes and Noble where a young teenager offers their *membership* everytime you check out? I only go their once a year anymore (as Amazon often has better prices than B&N membership prices). In fact, it was one of the motivating factors for me to stop walking in the store. They have been doing this for years. Perhaps this is the reason they are unable to keep employees.
I've recently been to Sport's Authority, twice, and each time was solicited extended warranty plans for a pair of rollerblades, and (get this), a pair of freaking ski goggles. Anything for a buck...
This reminds me of CompUSA, before they went out of business. I was trying to figure out why my broadband connection was so poor, so I thought I would buy a cable-modem, and if it didn't solve my problem I would return it. As I was checking out, I asked about the return policy. They said that it was subject to a 15% restocking fee. "In that case I don't want it," I said, and they proceded to charge back to my credit card 85% of the price. I complained to a manager, and had to be very forceful and confident that I was not going to pay 15% for the privilege of inquiring about their return policy. They eventually gave me a full refund, but tried to make me feel they were doing me a favor (if you don't count the 20 minutes it took). So I'm glad they're out of business. Serves them right with customer service like that.
Oh, wait, what were we taling about?
Just another scam. Why go through the hassle? I just bought a netbook for my wife from Amazon. Has as low a price as I could find for that particular product, no hassle, no muss, no fuss. The only hassle I can see is that I can't walk out of their establishment with my purchase that day. But I didn't have a sales clown in my face telling what I need, getting in my way, forcing me to smell his BO, etc... For this kind of service I can wait.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
That's a good word. I'd save it for racism or the holocaust, but hey!
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
There is nothing new going on here, who doesn't know about this? This stuff has been popular amongst many major retailers for way over a decade. What's next, a slashdot submission that car salesman are going hard-sell?
When I worked at Compusa, we had similar quotas on our ESP (extended service plans) later renamed TSP (Technology Service Plans). The quota/goal was 3% of gross individual sales.
:)
We didn't refuse sales, although, we would put sales out the door without going under our name in the system as to not affect our individual percentage.
Store managers were under the same type of pressure to maintain the overall TAP percentage and would basically do whatever was necessary to make it happen. One 'trick' was to 'negotiate' the sale of the TAP with the customer and discount the computer and record the reason as a 'price match'.
On the plus side, I do recall purchasing a couple 2 year Exchange Plans on cell phones there (when they sold them) in case my phone mysteriously died, I could get another phone of equal value [read newer/better] at that time. Strangely enough, both phones purchased failed around 18 months and I had to get an upgrade. Glad I had that instant exchange warranty on it.
Will they replace a candy bar under the plan?
I can see it now.
Just buy a candy bar and they ask do you want a protection plan you say yes eat it right there and ask them How do I make a clam?
As for batteries will they give new ones for free when they go dead or does the plan cost more then the batteries?
Fry's (at least in Austin) has been doing this for a while.
I got to be on the receiving end of that scam. The sales drone confirmed it was in stock. Someone went to get it as the original drone typed in my info. After I declined the extended warranty, the original drone stops typing, initiates a call, mumbles something into the phone, hangs up, and then informs me that the laptop was out of stock.
I mean come on, at least make it look more convincing by having the second guy come back and say 'oops I could not find one'.
I work at an Office Depot store and we haven't had this said to us. It's not company policy and I don't personally do it, but we do get pissed when other stores send us customers who they know won't be getting a warranty. I've never had a manager tell me to lie to a customer about our stock unless we believed they were involved in some type of scam (rebate scams, etc). It's a moral decision made by the employee, not the company. Personally I never buy a plan on any of my electronics because I'm a geek and get bored of electronics after the first year anyways! Also, I never really cared much about the commission. We are always trained over and over on how to sell warranties, but never to the point that we stretched the truth. Like I said before, it's the employees fault for lying or trying to get a commission. Most electronics come with a one year manufacture which is enough for most people and it's not like the plans are worthless. I've seen quite a few people that purchased cameras 2 years ago, come in with an Office Depot gift card for the price they paid and walk out with a better camera all for the price of the original plan (like 29.99, which is pretty damn good for a new camera worth $300).
Yes, selling people stuff they don't need, because they don't know any better. Nothing wrong with that! It is fundamentally dishonest. It is deceit. Our system is (was) based on it. No more.
I once worked at a bank that set high goals for the "sale" of credit life insurance on consumer loans. Without exception, credit life insurance obtained through the lender is a bad deal for the borrower and a great deal for the bank - DON'T EVER BUY CREDIT LIFE INSURANCE. If the borrower "asks" for it, the premium is not counted in the A.P.R. calculation; if it is required, it must be part of that calculation, vastly inflating the A.P.R. Guess how much credit life was sold as "asked for" and how much was sold as "required"?
We were instructed as to patently illegal and devious means to write it as "asked for" while the bank President stood in the room. The one fellow who questioned the practices was fired within the month. I left shortly thereafter.
It happens everywhere. That's the sad, harsh real world.
This is not news.
"Office Depot Provides Legitimate Extended Warranties At No Extra Cost" would be news.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
So, I worked at an Office Depot for a while, and I can honestly say that this didn't happen there. We did not lie to our customers. We were not pushy salesmen. This was not in anything we got from corporate. I can honestly say that this is the fault of some greedy Store Manager, and that it was certainly not mandated by Office Depot. Hell, we didn't even get comission. We were encouraged to sell bundled things, but really, who isn't? Chalk it up to a bad apple, not to an entire company.
And if you're wondering, I don't work there anymore and have no stake in the company whatsoever. I just hate to see people fly off the handle at the wrong people. Besides, it sounds like everybody else's anecdotes would agree with this even if you didn't believe me.
Last thing I tried to buy from them was two file cabinets. I ordered them for delivery from a brick-and-mortar Office Depot They charged my card, gave me an expected ship date, and, later, notification that the cabinets had shipped. When over a week passed, and they hadn't arrived, I drove back to the store, and they told me that they had shipped already and that I should have them. An hours worth of phone calls later, I find out that they had not actually shipped them yet, and that they just tell everyone that the products have shipped without even looking it up.
When the cabinets did arrive (expensive, $400 two drawer cabinets), I opened both boxes before the truck left and found both of them damaged. The guy from the trucking company that Office Depot contracts in my area, told me that there are like 4 or 5 times more problems with Office Depot stuff than any other company that he delivers for.
I sent them back with the trucker and cancelled my order.
Ordered the same thing from Staples online, and had them two days later.
Dealing with Office Depot is always like this. The only reason to buy from them is if you been in a really good mood for weeks and can't think of any other way to shake it.
"I once threw a hooker who ripped me off through a store window. That's why I shop at Office Depot'
I found one vintage keyboard model that I like, and I've stuck with it, accumulating them when they come up on eBay and various other places. The one I'm typing on now has dual English-Japanese key caps on it which, IMHO, is cool and different. I have to use an AT to PS2 converter, which I plug into a PS2 to USB converter. If anything supersedes USB (doesn't seem likely) it might get really ugly though.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
I found one vintage keyboard model that I like, and I've stuck with it, accumulating them when they come up on eBay and various other places. The one I'm typing on now has dual English-Japanese key caps on it which, IMHO, is cool and different. I have to use an AT to PS2 converter, which I plug into a PS2 to USB converter. If anything supersedes USB (doesn't seem likely) it might get really ugly though. If it weren't for the fact that most old equipment uses more power than new equipment I'd probably get everything refurb. Yeah... guys like me killed the consumer driven economy. Sorry 'bout that, oops! My bad. Now, let's see if this gets attached to the proper thread. Somehow my original reply got attached to the next comment after yours...
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
This is standard practice at every big box store. there is no profit in the laptop itself so if you don't buy the warranty and the $30 USB cable they can't stay open. If every customer got their rebates, nobody bought the warranty, and accessories were reasonably priced they couldn't compete without going bankrupt in a year.
If the customer doesn't realize it's not a good deal, that's their own responsibility. Where's the deceit in that? If you pay more for a house than it's worth, that's your responsibility, not the seller's, and it doesn't make the seller a bad person. Like I said, I'm not talking about the seller lying; dishonesty is a separate issue. I'm just talking about the apparent disdain for up-selling here.
Let me give you a retailer perspective that isn't jaded. . .(I apologize for my anonymity but given the topic and my current position. . .)
Apparently you all are oblivious to the fact that retail stores make jack squat on PC's (Laptops or Desktops). . . +5% to -10% on average. Yes, negative ten percent (even after vendor kickbacks). A lot of these margin negatives are driven by the market just due to the competitive landscape.
That being said for a company to make $$ they sell all the extra crap that goes with the computer. Some of it we need as end users: bags, mice, router, etc. Some of it is negotiable: Install, Service contract, Network Setup, etc.
Why do I label these as negotiable? Because the rest of the universe is not comprised of people who actually know how to use a computer (believe me, I know as I have spent years talking to these people). Is there a premium price for these services? Yes. Is the price to high for you? Yes. Are there people out there that are not comfortable taking apart part of a pc to diagnose and fix it? Yes (surprisingly a large part of America/the World). We will all just have to get over ourselves and our superior knowledge of the inner workings of a computer.
In the end though (and getting back to the original point), these companies would not stay open if they did not offer these extras (service, accessories and plans) and successfully sell them. You would end up with fewer stores to buy stuff (not just your computers) and the market price on these products would just go up. . .
So next time you choose to shop at a retail brick and mortar store and purchase a computer (or anything else for that matter) deal with the fact that you will be offered other stuff that you don't feel you need. In fact, look at that web site shopping cart next time you check out or buy something. You're being offered all the same stuff as well, just by a computer (not a person). Retail studies actually show that people buy more often from a computer than they do a person since computers offer these plans 100% of the time.
If you don't like the business model either a) Quit shopping there or b) Open your own computer business and attempt to be profitable just selling computers. Just quit your bitching about it.
I work at an Office Depot, and have worked there for almost 3 years now. For the most part, people who work at an Office Depot are part time employees in HIGH SCHOOL or are very UNEDUCATED on anything technology related. Office Depot does not really have any training courses aside from some guy coming in to their store to talk for an hour or two once a year. Lets get serious here, if there was no script for these people to read from, how would anything get sold?!
1) NOT ONCE have we ever not sold a laptop to a customer just because they would not buy a protection plan.
2) YES, we are instructed to sell a PPP to every person who wants to buy ANYTHING electronic whether it be an electric stapler or a flash drive.
3) Have you never been to a MicroCenter, Frys, or any other retailer that sells electronics? Do they not try to sell you a protection plan? Even the people at Target sold me a protection plan on my Playstation 3.
4) 90% of the time you couldn't get a better deal on a laptop at another big box retailer like Best Buy. Office Depot laptop/PC prices are awesome, but they lack in good memory prices. Other places like Frys and MicroCenter are exact opposite, lousy laptop/pc prices but great memory prices.
Im done ranting.... these comments people are posting are just outrageous and uninformed.
So they'd rather do without the sale than make a sale that didn't include an over-priced warranty? That makes no financial sense to me. I wonder if I can short their stock?
I recently bought a MacBook at BestBuy. They tried to sell me an extra warranty for nearly $400. Fortunately, I had at least one functioning brain cell.
I've avoided buying anything at Office Despot since I walked into one years ago and they had a sign boasting that they test their employees for drugs. Even aside from the fact that I find that invasion of employees' privacy troublesome on principle, why would I - as a customer - care whether the guy ringing up my sale smokes a little weed once in a while, or even if the girl restocking the shelves does a line of coke every night? What kind of business brags about how worker-unfriendly an employer they are?
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
instructing staffers to lie and tell people who want to buy laptops without service plans that they're out of stock.
I don't get how this would work. Generally, extended service plans are pushed at the end of the sales transaction, when you are standing at the cash register.* They might be good, but I've yet to meet a sales person that can convince me that the laptop I'm holding is out of stock** and must be a figment of my imagination.
*Any earlier and the issue of product reliability becomes an issue. "What! I need a service plan? Does this thing break down a lot?"
**Generally, when I walk in to a store to buy something, the first thing I do (before aking about all of the expensive accessories) is to see if they actually have one in stock. Yes? Well, bring it out and let me take a look at it. The continuation of the transaction is predecated upon them actually producting the item in person.
Have gnu, will travel.
If the salesperson makes it clear that s/he's simply going through the motions with the extended warranty because he's required to, but that he really understands that I know better, I will politely decline it. This actually happened at Tweeter a number of years ago when we bought a TV -- he even prefaced it by saying that he was required to ask us, even though he knew we knew it was a bad deal. If the person acts serious about it, I'll be rude -- cold, snarky, or just plain condescending depending upon my mood. My strategy is to make pushing this kind of warranty an unpleasant experience while rewarding sales people (at least emotionally) who treat me respectfully.
Someone at Radio Shaft sold my mother in law a "protection plan" on a $12 phone. I managed to convince her to go right back to the store and demand a refund on it, which she had no problem with.
I remember going to one of these big box retailers - I vaguely remember it to be The Wiz (sometime known as Nobody beats The Wiz) and buying a VCR or a DVD payer (I forget which). The salesman told me about the extended service plan. I told him that I don't need one. He said, 'Sir, it is simple. Please buy the extended service plan. It will cost you $45.00. But you have 3 days within which you can come back to the store and cancel it. Please do it for my sake'
I did buy the extended service plan and then canceled it a couple of days later.
One other time, when I was buying one of those ultra-cheap DVD players ($20 or so) from Circuit City (I think - it could have Best Buy too) and the sales guy tried to foist a $25 extended waranty on me). When I told him that it would be cheaper for me to buy 2 of the players, instead of his warranty, he didn't know where to look.
All in all, pretty sad the way they catch unwary customers.
All views my own. Anyone else with the same views needs to have his/her head examined.
The MAX amount an Office Depot associate can get in commission on his paycheck from selling extended warranties is currently 15%. That starts and 0% and goes up to 15% in increments of 5 ONLY if the store sells an average of $220 worth of these things PER DAY for an ENTIRE MONTH. So, in short, if people don't buy them (which for the most part they dont) an employee could get jack and squat for their efforts, they might get 5%, or they might actually attain the beloved 15%. So, don't go saying they can DOUBLE their pay because they cant unless they are superman.
What's really funny, is that as I'm typing this, Slashdot has an OfficeDepot google ad at the top of the page!
Sounds like a good theme for an investigative news report. If true then complaints to the Better Business Bureau (do those guys even still exist post Bush?) should be placed for unethical business practices. Like most shady enterprises, once the bad PR starts they often go back to a more normal business practice, at least or a few months.
read this for the real stormy on car sales men
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/article.html
At the video store, we had to ask if you wouldn't like to get another candy bar for only 30 cents more, or if you'd like to sign up for our frequent renter program and get some free older movie rentals. It happens; it increases revenue; get used to it.
To be devil's advocate, maybe there's someone that really beats the hell out of their $5 mice and the service plan would really benefit them.
It's not that hard to say, "No, thank you."
Closed.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/16/news/companies/circuit_city/
Circuit City had a bad reputation. If you could buy something somewhere else, you would probably go there. Now it looks to me as though Office Depot is ODing on the same foolish management ideas.
It would be interesting if we could know two things: 1) Exactly how much Office Depot makes by selling overpriced "protection" plans. 2) How much it will cost Office Depot because of stories about the company being abusive on Reddit.com, Digg.com, and Slashdot.
That Digg link leads to a New York Times article about the Office Depot CEO. Quoting: "The worst chief executive of the year was Steve Odland of Office Depot, according to Glassdoor.com's reviewers. He had an 80 percent disapproval rating."
CEOs in the U.S. often make 475 times the pay of the average person. I suppose it doesn't matter to many CEOs if the company they are managing dies. The CEOs make millions as fast as possible, and when the company dies, they retire or do something else.
That isn't honest, I think it is psychologically self-destructive, but it seems to me that's the way things often are.
Warren Buffett warned about bank failures in 2003. It was certainly no secret; anyone with any interest in financial business knew about the problem. Bank executives knew that what they were doing would be the end of their companies. I suppose they were making so much money (sometimes $40 million per year) that they didn't feel it was necessary to care. It was understood, and often discussed even on TV, that the U.S. taxpayer would pay for any problems that were created; that is happening exactly the way it was planned.
My worst experience at getting an Extended Warranty Plan was at the Apple Store a few months ago when I purchased a Mac Mini. They were THREE salesman picthing, and insisting, and arguing how I totally NEED it. They couldn't believe I kept refusing. Which made me wonder what kind of costumers they are used to. Surely the kind that failed their math in high school.
As I was signing for the payment, repeatedly saying No ... No ... No thanks ... No ... eventually I snapped and told them: "Basically you're offering me a 150$ lotto ticket for which I have a 1 or 2% chance of winning 600$, is that right?". They were stunned. I think I broke them.
Wow, if you get appalled over scripts for cashiers, [...] Man, I must be feeling bitter today.
I want my coffee to taste how you feel ;-)
> Put in the ten or fifteen years and take all the training need to become a store manager, and you might be worth something too.
If I trained myself to lie for fifteen years, I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror. I also hate how they set up ridiculous standards like these that can only be met by lying and replace those who refuse to.
I worked at ChimpUSA in college (same shit, different company), and once of my co-workers with less than stellar morals managed to sell some lady a 1 year warranty on printer ink.
When the boss found out, he yelled at the guy, not for being a total slimeball, but because the woman could have probably come back and got free replacements for her 'defective' (re:empty) ink cartridges for the next year...
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
My favorite experience of this sort was when the Home Depot cashier tried to sell me an extended waranty on a sump pump. I had selected the particular model because it came with a life-time guarantee, and said so in very large print, right on the box.
That must have been some extended warranty.
Lemmings are silly; dinosaurs are extinct.
I bought a monitor once from Circuit City, and declined their benefits package. A little over a year later (and just out of warranty) it died. Shortly after *that*, I received a letter from C.C. to the effect of "We hope you are enjoying your $Product. Please reconsider and buy our warranty plan."
Why thank you, I think I'll do that...
And I did get a new monitor out of it too.
Just do what I do: announce loudly that anyone who buys an extended warranty is an idiot, that it's a tax on people who can't do math, and that anyone who recommends an extended warranty is either a liar or stupid, and then ask the clerk, "so which is it, liar or stupid?"
Pushing some sort of added warranty plan is common place for a long time. Office Depot might be even more aggressive, but I have dealt with them for years by asking "Hmm, you make me think, why do I need this extended warranty. Are you telling me that the product is of such shoddy quality that it won't last very long? May be I should buy another product and/or elsewhere?"
So far all sales people, without exception, stopped pushing after that. :-))
Busy helping non technical users of OpenOffice.org - http://plan-b-for-openoffice.org/
I worked at Best Buy back in college and we used to tell people the cheap boxes we advertised in the paper were out of stock if they weren't gonna buy the service plan all the time. We'd do it even if there was a whole row of boxes sitting right in front of them. The first time I saw it, I was amazed, and I'm sure Best Buy would never admit it, but we used to be instructed to do it by management on a regular basis.
Game... blouses.
And you're neglecting the subset of people for whom it is a good deal. By no means is every extended offer worth the price, but if you pay attention to what they actually give you (and trust the store to give it to you when you need it), it can be very much worth it.
Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
"Since the employees are easy replaceable, even at near-minimum-wage, they don't have to care."
That's what CompUSA and Circuit City said. About a year before they folded.
Good employees matter, but CEOs who are paid bonuses based on profitability *this quarter* care a lot about making those numbers. And they know they'll be gone in 2 years anyway. The fact that they've hired idiots who don't speak english means that they won't get repeat customers or new customers, but they cut expenses back this quarter, and the street rewards them.
I never had a problem with a business trying to earn money but these clowns are pathetic. Thanks for the info, I'll never let them know if I want to buy their "service plan" until I have a look at the product and have it in my hands at the cash register. It's just sad how these businesses race to the gutter. They have no integrity and deserve no respect. I think people should approach these businesses as they would a criminal in a black market deal, I do. Watch your back and know your stuff before you talk to them.
those scripts are there for cashiers to read because they are not trained sales people. The store gets graded by mystery shoppers once a month and that is one of the questions..."did the cashier offer a protection plan?" yes, 5 points, no, they get fired.... Its simple and every store gets graded on the same questions... You go to bestbuy and watch their fancy screen prompts...
Also if youve ever bought a canon digicam and didnt buy the replacement plan i bet you freaking wish you did the first time you dropped it...
I swear i dropped my sd 790 on my freakin couch and the damn camera wont shut up about "card read error" i wish i woulda spent the 30 bucks on the plan
While this is an annoying policy on paper, there are several ways I could see this actually playing out, and none of them really seem to work.
Scenario 1
Customer: "Hi, I want to buy this laptop"
Clerk: "You wanna buy an extended warranty?"
Customer: "No thanks"
Clerk: "We don't have any in stock"
Customer: "Uh... then yes I do?"
Clerk: "We just got some in right now!"
Customer: "Then I'll take one without the warranty."
Clerk: "Aw, what a shame, we just sold out."
Scenario 2
Clerk: "Hey, you seem interested in that there laptop, you want to buy one?"
Customer: "Sure."
Clerk: "Extended warranty?"
Customer: "No thanks"
Clerk: "Sorry, I just checked, we're out of stock"
Customer: "But... you didn't go anywhere, you didn't even act like you were looking in the stock room"
Clerk: "Uh... Telepathy!"
Scenario 3:
Customer: "I want this laptop."
Clerk: "You want extend waranty."
Customer: "No"
Clerk: "No computer in stock"
Customer: "Yes you do, this box right here, in my hand, I want to buy it."
Clerk: "Me ring up"
Customer: "Okay here"
(Customer hands computer to Clerk, Clerk smashes the computer with a primitive club)
Clerk: "No computer in stock."
Then again, I haven't worked in retail for a long time, maybe my "Lying to strangers" skills are rusty.
I used to work at Best Buy when i was 18 a number of years ago...very similar things went on...I basically was instructed to show customers the door if they weren't going to get the service plan with a laptop
I used to work at office depot a few years ago. This must be a new practice since I never had a cheat sheet other than a convenient card with the protection plan prices. We were of course encouraged to sell the plans, but never lied about it. Even if we sold a laptop without a plan it was better than not selling a laptop.
the attachment scheme was along the lines of protection plan, software, power strips, printer (ink, protection plan, paper, usb). each thing was scored in a global attachment column, which the store was rated against.
also computers at office depot are the same as any brick and mortar store and the prices were competitive since they do price match.
certainly isn't my favorite place having worked there, but it's the same as every other B&M
Sorry, it's their God-given right to bitch about anything they feel like. Now take your whining about how you can't make money selling computers and shove it up your ass (we've got the right to be hypocrits too)
It's not just Office Depot who's doing this (who is, now, the biggest competitor to Staples since Corporate Express was bought out by Staples). I had a friend who is a Corporate Express employee, who went to a Staples store as they get discounts for being an employee now. When she asked for a certain Dell model without a warranty, she was told she'd have to go to another store as they were out of stock.
A phone call by her room mate to said store an hour later, asked if they had that particular model and asked for an extended warranty on it, was told they had 4 in stock.
Sorry for the anonymous post, but this would be lambasting the company I work for and I can't afford for the regime to fire me right now (and slashdot, if you sell me out I swear to God I WILL put your website's address in an envelope marked "Open Season" and send it to Office Depot's Scientology office. http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1157349&cid=27158513 (slashdot post)
I worked at Office Depot for a while and yeah a lot of them push this stuff, especially the newer and younger managers. But generally if you get into a store with a tech sales person who's been around for more than a couple of years they'll try and sell you on them but won't pull that "We must've just sold the last one" BS on you. Any honest one will check the availability for you early to avoid running you through the sales pitch and sending you home with nothing. The newer ones will send you to a store who will sell it to you with nothing so they can keep their numbers up.
Tony Stewart drives for the Office Depot now....think of the millions of impressionable Nascar fans who will be mislead by these scurrilous tactics! Oh, it'll be fine for a while, but sooner or later, they'll learn they've been had...and rednecks know how to get revenge!
I went to Fry's to buy a printer. I'm a very casual user of printers, so I opted to get the cheapest one they had at the time -- about $40. When I asked a salesman to bring a unit out so I could purchase it, he immediately went into "upsell" mode, not even discussing the printer I had explicitly asked for, and pointing me towards other models (that were clearly not even in the same price range - $300 and up). I flatly told him that I was not interested in an expensive printer, and again asked him to get me the $40 one. He then said "we're out of stock for that model". Needless to say, that was extremely suspicious. If something is out of stock, the obvious thing to do would be to say so in the first place, rather than only saying so after failing to upsell. So that's an immediate confirmation that you are being lied to. If you ask for an item and the fact of it being out of stock isn't the first thing out of their mouths, they're lying to you.
So, what happened in my case was that I simply went up to a different salesman, and asked him to check the stock level for the printer, either at that store or another branch. He went over to the computer to look it up, and told me that the store had 40+ units in stock, so I didn't need to go to another branch. That was fine by me, so he got me one, I thanked him, and made the purchase. Put simply, if I hadn't been able to pick up a cheap printer that day, I would simply have refused to buy any of them, and make my printouts from the library.
It seems to me that if a store is putting so much pressure to upsell that some employees are gaming the system by turning away sales, that store deserves to go out of business. It also brings into question whether the retail crisis was in part manufactured by idiotic managers. "Sales went down x% this season, the lowest in 20 years." Was that because people weren't buying, or because the store wasn't selling?
Quote On the flip side, without those regulations you can always turn around and resell a product that you realize that you don't want. You might still take a loss, but then, you went out and bought a product you didn't really want. Personally I'd rather people who buy products that they don't want take the loss instead of everyone.
Thsoe regulation do not cover second hand sale but first hand sale. So with or without those regulation you can both do the above as second hand sale.
Secondly there is a good reason to have SOME of such regulation. Without them it would be "CAVEAT EMPTOR" everywhere with the customer screwed up. Whether there are too much of them right now is open to interpretation, but after seeing the seedier part of the business side of such shop, I don't see anything wrong with the current regulation.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Back in high school, I worked at a Media Play. It was a chain similar to Best Buy and Circuit City, but it had a massive book section alongside video games, software, music, and movies.
I worked in the video games/software section as a sales associate. Unfortunately, they didn't pay us commissions, but they sure as hell threatened us with losing our jobs if we didn't meet quotas.
Let me list out what we had to push on customers:
- "Free" issue of some general entertainment magazine (That would automatically charge your card if you didn't cancel in a week)
- "Free" issue of some movie magazine (That would automatically charge your card if you didn't cancel in a week)
- Dish TV subscription. (Yes, they wanted 16 year old 'associates' pushing a new TV form. Needless to say, only one person EVER sold one, and that was a manager)
- Media Play Rewards Card (The only semi-reasonable thing, low signup fee and money back - worth it if you spent more than a hundred dollars a year there)
- A Discover credit card... what the hell?
These were required to be pushed on EVERY CUSTOMER we saw, regardless of if they were walking to another section or not. I felt worst for the people heading towards the book section, as they had to pass through two other sections and were accosted at least once or twice before even reaching the book section.
This was only required if the customer was buying something electronic: (Gameboy, XBox, Playstation, etc)
- Extended Warranty Plan
We were told to lie about this, saying it was 100% coverage no matter what happened. Needless to say, 16 year old employees do not care to read a 10 page document of fine print to find this out. Not to mention that the store was on the way to being closed down (and they knew it) so these 3 year warranties wouldn't be honored anyway.
I never sold a single 'extra', even going so far as to tell people directly that these 'deals' were scams (except for the Media Play Rewards card, but I told them it'd be easier to just ask the cashier about it if they were interested) but I kept my job because I got a half dozen reports to my manager from customers about what a great employee I was. ;) I still got bitched at, but I kept my job.
And this is a situation where there's no commission.. ;)
I was going to boycott them, but then I realized that I've never actually purchased anything at Office Depot. So right now their relationship with me is already at 0 for them. If only there were some (legal) way to make that the number assigned to our relationship go negative for them...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I worked at Office Depot in Seattle for almost two years as a technology salesman. I know the system very well, and I can, with complete honesty, say that our store managers and the employees who sold the plans cared very much about the customers.
Yes, the employees and managers make a profit and bonuses (both) from selling them. And perhaps the plans are a bit more expensive than they should be.
But ya know what? If a customer ever came back to the store, complaining about a product that they had purchased that broke, for WHATEVER reason, we would ALWAYS take care of them if they had purchased a plan, even if they were still under the manufacturer's warranty. You can hate on OD all you want, and there very well may be "evil" stores out there who are just out to screw customers, but my experience was very different.
Our store had frequent repeat customers, because we would simply ask them if they wanted the plan. If they said no, we let it be. If they were hesitant, we would explain exactly what it would do for them. Because of this straightforward, honest, approach, people liked us and we always sold more plans than most other stores in the whole company.
So, again, it sucks that there are these bad policies put in place by certain stores, but you should know that not all stores take this approach, even if it is demanded by upper management. Having the customer's trust always brought more business.
They all run MS Windows, and therefore practically any software any ordinary customer is likely to use. So they can concentrate on essentials like: "Do I like the screen and the keyboard?".
With commodities it doesn't matter where you buy them; you shop on price and to some extent on features (like "Does it come with speakers? Are there USB and headphone jacks at the front?")and "extras" (like: "Do they throw in a free inkjet printer?").
Only nerds want to know things about processor type (let alone stepping), memory timing, motherboard make, BIOS make, extensibility, make and type of HDD, do I get a Windows install CD, can I downgrade to XP, right?
What is the big deal. I used to setup pc's and printers for HP in Best Buys and it is common knowledge they would rather sell the "Service Plan" then the pc. No margin in pc sales without add-ons like $45.00 gold plated USB cables, etc. or the Fat all-profit plan. And yes if you said you did not want the plan they came back and said "Sorry, we just sold the last one and we are out of stock."
Perhaps your Office Depot is run better than others. Office Depot advertised a "Centrino 2" laptop. I went to buy two. I tried one in the store, and discovered that the processor was not Centrino 2, but Pentium mobile. False advertising. I suppose a lot of people bought them and didn't discover until later that what they had was not what was offered.
Most of those types of stores have been trying to push warranties on me for years.
I have an angry face I guess. I just say "I'm not interested thank you". I don't usually have to say it twice.
-- Programming with boost is like building a house with lego. It's a cool but I wouldn't want to live in it
When I worked at best buy, this was the norm. Someone didn't want to buy a service plan? Out of stock. Laptops were such high dollar items, that if you sold one without a warranty, our "attach percent" would go WAY down. I think they wanted 10% of our sales to come from service plans. On some high end laptops, if we were having a good day, even with the warranty, it would bring down our percentage, so we wouldn't sell it.
I remember, they'd announce over the intercom how each department was doing. "Computers, please call 813", that meant we had an 8.13% for the day. They did this all day long.
I've worked at a handful of retail stores...ALL of them have similar scripts. We have to sell you on SOMETHING. In fact, most retail stores tell cashiers to get the customer to open up a credit card with us. Most of them only hear the good things; in reality it'll probably ruin their credit if they ever use it, but we aren't informed on that part.
So really, this isn't news. This is the equivalent of someone saying "What?! What do you mean Enron is evil?". Retail stores want to get their grubby fingers deep in your wallet. Get used to it.
First, as part of our commitment to providing office supply solutions to our customers, we offer numerous products and services, including service warranties and other complementary products and services for many technology products. These offerings are similar to other sellers of consumer electronics. Office Depot's objective is to offer such products and services to our customers, without regard to whether a customer purchases or does not purchase service warranties or other complimentary products and services. Although we offer a variety of sales promotions, like most retailers, we sell customers only what they wish to purchase. We do not have, nor have we ever had, policies or strategies contrary to this objective, and we do not condone sales practices to the contrary. Accordingly, we do not have any policies or sales objectives to limit the sales of laptop computers to only those customers who agree to purchase service warranties. Office Depot has been recognized with numerous awards for our commitment to customer service, so please know that we take this issue very seriously and will take the necessary steps to ensure that we continue to enhance the customer experience and promote quality in our customer-related processes. We are currently in the process of reviewing this situation, and if any associates have deviated from our sales objectives and policies, then they may be subject to disciplinary action, including termination. Mindy Kramer, Director of Public Relations for Office Depot
Here we have another stupid story about how some rogue retailer is employing some strong-handed, unfair tactic to separate you from your hard earned cash. Bitching and moaning about Office Depot does nothing about this situation because....wait for it....ALL RETAIL STORE DO THIS.
Seriously, when are these targeted crusades against (fill-in-the-blank-large-box-store) going to end? Criticize the system, but quit pretending Office Depot are the bad guys. The real answer is to NOT shop there if it pisses you off. Better yet, you can always, you know, say "no thanks" when they run through their spiel.
Have any of the editors who thought this story was a good idea stopped and thought to themselves: "how is using a script to ask customers to buy an extended warranty any different than asking customers if they'd like fries with that, or if they'd like to supersize their coke?"
I work as a tech monkey / computer mechanic at a FutureShop in canada / BestBuy Canada.
Honestly, what do you expect from a retail chain where margin of their product is basically 0.
You sell a laptop .. you get MAYBE $5 in your pocket .. you sell a service contract you might quadruple that .. so where do you think you are going to make up money? On the service end of things .. IBM seems to have understood that ...
If you think that the general population KNOWS how to actually setup a computer ... how to do basic updates etc .. you are sadly mistaken. They DONT want to talk to someone over the phone .. they dont want to do things for themselves .. welcome to modern life .. do it for me and make sure it is done correctly .. whatever correctly is ...
Sure EVERYONE that reads this site can setup systems in their sleep, make recovery media while snacking and replace a kybrd/hd/lcd in the bathtub .. but can average Joe do it? no...
Flat no. And the only reason I say it, my phone at the store rings off the phone by the minute asking me these questions.
in the end ... duh .. yes there are service and setup options ... look at EVERY industry ... you will find them
Doesn't just pertain to computers, either. I walked into a ghost town of an Office Depot (or was it an Office Max?) looking for a comfy swivel chair. I found one, but it only existed as a floor model. The sales guy demonstrated his skill at one-sided haggling: while I said nothing, he kept pushing the price down, each offer prefixed with 'I shouldn't be doing this, but'.
Then came his concluding offer, which I suspect was the actual price of the chair minus markup. Unlike the ones before it, this offer had strings attached: instead of the $120 on the tag, pay $80 plus $10 extended warranty, or no deal.
Whatever. It's a comfy chair.
Everyone here knows not to buy these warranties. People who do buy the warranties subsidize the cheaper purchases that YOU make. This is how they offer the good deals on priceline (except on priceline stores, they call it "accessories").
By bringing attention to the matter, you are making it harder for us in-the-knows to buy things for subsidized prices.
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
16 years ago when I worked for Circuit City they had a similar procedure. Sales counselors (as we were called) weren't explicitly instructed to deny the product to customers who didn't want the "cheese" (aka extended service plan or ESP) - but we too were subject to management scolding and eventual firing if we didn't meet our quotas. So there was a significant incentive to tell customers who didn't want the ESP, especially on a promotional item with a low spiff (aka commission) that they should either buy something else or maybe wait around awhile while the sales person ignores you until you leave. From the sales person's perspective, why bother selling a laptop that pays the sales person a dollar or 2 (if it's on sale) and reduces his or her ESP percentage? The only way out is to lie about stock, sell lots of overpriced accessories, or upsell to a higher margin unit with a higher spiff.
You must have had some crap sales people if they couldn't make a comeback to that... Not only have I sold plans to people who have said something like that when I worked at such stores during college, I've swung it into a higher end item & a plan on it...
It's really easy to not even lie about that when you see what comes back in as returns... "Oh model X comes back several times a week for one reason or another, you may really want to get item Z instead", I never lied to customers when selling plans. I didn't get as many as the liars did, but I got enough to keep me in a job... Even enough to make some extra cash at one point when they shared part of the profits with employees who sold plans (before I left they ended up taking all the money and giving salespeople nothing). This sadly was never much, a $100 service plan may net you $4... Most things net you a quarter or 2... The biggest payoff from them I ever got was on a $350 laptop plan (the plan was $350, the laptop was nearly $3k) and I kept a whole $15...
we are all invisible unless we choose otherwise
Out of stock? So they'd rather not sell it to you at all then? Nice to know they don't need your business. Or I guess the margins are so razor thin they actually lose money on them w/o the insurance.
Well, if so, we saw what happened to Circuit City, looks like these guys will be next...
I once worked at an electronics retailer (whose name rhymes with "ack"). It wasn't approved by upper management, but the manager at my store used to tell the employees to add the extended warranties to the customer's bill without telling them. He said to do that and if the customer complained to take it off.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
OK everyone here that posted they got a great deal on a hp at best buy please turn in your Slashdot credentials.No real slashdoter buys a HP, or shops at Best buy. If your last PC wasn't a mac or a homebuilt PC running linux or a pirated volume liscense version of XP Pro you are on the wrong site please try AOL.
That should be insightful or informative :-)
It is well known in engineering that the failure curve of components is usually high in the first few weeks of use, high after a number of years corresponding to the expected product life, and extremely low in between.
The guy below who recommends not taking a warranty at all and using a credit card with a warranty has a good idea too (especially as some places the warranty comes in a pack with services you may want, so if you're paying anyway . . .)
If you don't like the business model either a) Quit shopping there or b) Open your own computer business and attempt to be profitable just selling computers. Just quit your bitching about it.
If your business model requires you to sell upgrades to every PC that walks out the door, you deserve to go out of business. Sorry, but your negative margin isn't my concern.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
How much money have you given away this week?
Probably nothing. And yet you expect everybody to be generous with their money.
Reminds me of a saying...
Paul is all in favor of robbing Peter to pay Paul...
Did you happen to catch the bit about how they're telling customer who don't want the extended warranty that the product isn't in stock? That's a bait and switch scam, and it's quite explicitly illegal.
A) Not whining. Telling you how it is. It's the nature of every pc business out there. If you actually read what I had typed and not jumped to the "i don't care" scenario, then you would actually understand why retailers sell the stuff that you have no interest in. AGAIN, even your favorite website that you go buy all your pc shiate from offers you all the extras, you just don't have to talk to someone to refuse them (but it is offered 100% of the time as stated above).
B) To the rude MF with limited people skills that likes to watch it when people shove things up there ass you can go troll your favorite man-on-sheep websites and get your jollies there. Maybe your dad can give you a discount.