Why I Won't Buy From GoodGuys / CompUSA
UPDATE:CompUSA finally came through!
I believe in giving credit where credit is due.
Robert Wessel, a manager at the Lynnwood store promised me yesterday that he would get a hold of the district manager and take care of this.
Today, I received a call from Mr. Wessel telling me it was handled, come out to the store and it would be replaced.
I went out to the Lynnwood CompUSA. My Minolta dImage Z1 was lost. Apparently when they closed down the Bellevue GoodGuys, a lot of inventory dissappeared, including my camera, and it's not clear if it got sold in a liquidation sale, stolen, or just what happened to it.
They allowed me to choose a replacement camera. Minolta has merged with Konica, and while they did carry the Konica/Minolta line, there really wasn't anything in that line that approximated what I had.
So I chose a Cannon PowerShot S2. It has overall similiar functionality although the user interface is different. The Minolta generally tried to utilize a few controls to serve multiple functions through numerous software menus or hold this while you do this and this kind of tricks. The Cannon by contrast relies on more buttons that tend to be dedicated to their function.
The general shape and feel of the cameras are similiar, but where the Minolta had a mirror/shutter arrangement to display one LCD screen either on the back of the camera or through the viewfinder, the Cannon has a seperate internal and external LCD screen with the external on a hinged door arrangement. Both cameras use AA batteries so I can use the same NiMH batteries I had purchased for the old camera with this one. Both also use SD memory cards so I can re-use that.
The value of the cameras in terms of dollar amounts that I paid was similiar, but the Cannon being a bit newer has a slightly higher resolution chip, 5 megapixels verses I believe it was 3.2, and some image stabilization technology that I haven't had the opportunity to try out yet.
Overall though I am pleased that they finally made good on the warantee and replaced my camera and I want to thank Mr. Wessel for his personal involvement in getting this promptly resolved after a year of inaction by the folks manning the 800 number.
I would change the title of this to I will Buy from CompUSA again, at least from the Lynnwood store, but that would change the filename and break any links to this article.
Several years ago I bought a Minolta DiMage Z1 digital camera from Good Guys in Lynnwood Washington. The salesman sold me a warranty he claimed would cover anything. I asked him if this meant I dropped it and it broke it would be covered, he said, yes, anything. And if it couldn't be repaired they would give me the current model equivalent.
Last July, 2005, it failed just after July 4th. Specifically, it's not a digital SLR but it doesn't have a separate optical viewfinder either. What it has is some sort of shutter and mirror system that either allows you to view the image on an LCD screen in on the back, or through the viewfinder. Something went wrong with that mechanism and the result was that the image was partially obscured in either viewfinder.
So I took the camera into the Lynnwood store. But it had been replaced by a CompUSA (they are owned by the same company). I would have to take it to the Bellevue store, about 15 miles away. The Bellevue store shipped it back to some central repair facility back east.
Weeks went by, no camera. Months, summer is over, no camera. I kept calling, nothing. I paid the store another visit in person. They just said to keep calling an 800 customer service number that was completely useless.
Finally they told me they were returning it unfixed because it had been abused. I can tell you this camera had never been abused, dropped, or otherwise physically mishandled. I told them there was no external damage at all when I had brought it into the store, and if there had been damage it would have been noted on the receipt.
They acknowledge that there was no external damage but they said, there was internal damage. Well DUH! Otherwise it would have been working. But they refused to fix it and said they would return it. By this time it was November of 2005. Today, July 18 of 2006, I still have not got my camera back (repaired or not). This was a $359 camera and I paid around $100 for the extended worthless warranty.
I want my camera back, repaired. I want them to honor the warantee and I want them to return my camera. My financial situation is such that I can't afford to replace it at this time. I shouldn't have to. I spent the extra dollars on the warantee so I wouldn't have to worry about it in the near future.
I just felt others should be warned about GoodGuys / CompUSA. I won't spend another dime there and I hope that after reading this, neither will you.
Here are some other Good Guy Horror Stories, I invite you to share yours with me (I will in turn share with the world).
I believe in giving credit where credit is due.
Robert Wessel, a manager at the Lynnwood store promised me yesterday that he would get a hold of the district manager and take care of this.
Today, I received a call from Mr. Wessel telling me it was handled, come out to the store and it would be replaced.
I went out to the Lynnwood CompUSA. My Minolta dImage Z1 was lost. Apparently when they closed down the Bellevue GoodGuys, a lot of inventory dissappeared, including my camera, and it's not clear if it got sold in a liquidation sale, stolen, or just what happened to it.
They allowed me to choose a replacement camera. Minolta has merged with Konica, and while they did carry the Konica/Minolta line, there really wasn't anything in that line that approximated what I had.
So I chose a Cannon PowerShot S2. It has overall similiar functionality although the user interface is different. The Minolta generally tried to utilize a few controls to serve multiple functions through numerous software menus or hold this while you do this and this kind of tricks. The Cannon by contrast relies on more buttons that tend to be dedicated to their function.
The general shape and feel of the cameras are similiar, but where the Minolta had a mirror/shutter arrangement to display one LCD screen either on the back of the camera or through the viewfinder, the Cannon has a seperate internal and external LCD screen with the external on a hinged door arrangement. Both cameras use AA batteries so I can use the same NiMH batteries I had purchased for the old camera with this one. Both also use SD memory cards so I can re-use that.
The value of the cameras in terms of dollar amounts that I paid was similiar, but the Cannon being a bit newer has a slightly higher resolution chip, 5 megapixels verses I believe it was 3.2, and some image stabilization technology that I haven't had the opportunity to try out yet.
Overall though I am pleased that they finally made good on the warantee and replaced my camera and I want to thank Mr. Wessel for his personal involvement in getting this promptly resolved after a year of inaction by the folks manning the 800 number.
I would change the title of this to I will Buy from CompUSA again, at least from the Lynnwood store, but that would change the filename and break any links to this article.
Several years ago I bought a Minolta DiMage Z1 digital camera from Good Guys in Lynnwood Washington. The salesman sold me a warranty he claimed would cover anything. I asked him if this meant I dropped it and it broke it would be covered, he said, yes, anything. And if it couldn't be repaired they would give me the current model equivalent.
Last July, 2005, it failed just after July 4th. Specifically, it's not a digital SLR but it doesn't have a separate optical viewfinder either. What it has is some sort of shutter and mirror system that either allows you to view the image on an LCD screen in on the back, or through the viewfinder. Something went wrong with that mechanism and the result was that the image was partially obscured in either viewfinder.
So I took the camera into the Lynnwood store. But it had been replaced by a CompUSA (they are owned by the same company). I would have to take it to the Bellevue store, about 15 miles away. The Bellevue store shipped it back to some central repair facility back east.
Weeks went by, no camera. Months, summer is over, no camera. I kept calling, nothing. I paid the store another visit in person. They just said to keep calling an 800 customer service number that was completely useless.
Finally they told me they were returning it unfixed because it had been abused. I can tell you this camera had never been abused, dropped, or otherwise physically mishandled. I told them there was no external damage at all when I had brought it into the store, and if there had been damage it would have been noted on the receipt.
They acknowledge that there was no external damage but they said, there was internal damage. Well DUH! Otherwise it would have been working. But they refused to fix it and said they would return it. By this time it was November of 2005. Today, July 18 of 2006, I still have not got my camera back (repaired or not). This was a $359 camera and I paid around $100 for the extended worthless warranty.
I want my camera back, repaired. I want them to honor the warantee and I want them to return my camera. My financial situation is such that I can't afford to replace it at this time. I shouldn't have to. I spent the extra dollars on the warantee so I wouldn't have to worry about it in the near future.
I just felt others should be warned about GoodGuys / CompUSA. I won't spend another dime there and I hope that after reading this, neither will you.
Here are some other Good Guy Horror Stories, I invite you to share yours with me (I will in turn share with the world).
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