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Author Topic: AKA, you suck! the Radio Shack floorstaff Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 09-01-2005 02:59 PM                     Okey, I'm gonna start a new thread on how ill-trained these floorstaff people are trained at RatShack. Why I bring this one up is that the other day, visiting a theatre, the manager had to go out to RatShack and by a new walwart (plug-in wall AC adapter for the newbies) for the modem, but the one the manager bought didn't work. I buglit the walwart with a meter and it was wide open like nobody's business. I looked at the old one and noticed that it had an output rating of 1200mA's. The one that was purchased at RatShack was only 500mA's. The clerk at RatShack told the manager that this 500mA unit would work......DUH!!! So, I took both walwarts back to the store and showed the clerk how to read walwarts CORRECTLY. The clerk was somewhat embarrased and the store manager was twisted some about this. Got the refund on the burnt up one and purchased the correct walwart needed. How many times have we've gone to RatShack and had to practically "retrain" their floorstaff/management people due to their "procedure of ill-training", since RatShack is, technically an electronics/speciality store, NOT a frikken Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, or any other variety/department store where stupidity is allowed to exist there? These people should be trained to where they know what they are selling, not to be there trying to look intelligent. But, whats sorta fun is to see how smart these bozos really are by throwing out some questions on some simple item, and it's amazing that they really don't know anything at all. Then, you tell them HOW the damned thing works and they seem "wow..why aren't you working here instead of me...?" GRRRRR! -Monte  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 09-01-2005 03:17 PM                     Monte, don't you remember their slogan? quote: "You've got questions? We've got answers. Nowhere did they say they had the CORRECT answers. Sheeeesh!  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 09-01-2005 03:30 PM                    Do we have to comment on Radio Shack? I deal with similar incompetance every time my company buys a piece of software from somebody. They tell us what's required to make it work communications-wise, and they're always wrong to some degree or another. We end up digging into the program, sometimes with a packet sniffer, to figure out the correct way to set things up, and end up educating them on how their program REALLY works. But you're right, Radio Shack people generally suck. There are exceptions, but they're becoming harder and harder to find.  |  IP: Logged Wayne Keyser Master Film Handler Posts: 272 From: Arlington, Virginia, USA Registered: May 2004 posted 09-01-2005 03:44 PM                     The "Shack"??? I'll second that! Also, "Circus City" ... the only thing they know is how to push the items they get an EXTRA commission for selling - never mind what your needs are or what works (or how). But they do somewhat better at "Jest Buy". Don't even get me started on "CompUSSR".  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 09-01-2005 04:01 PM                       It got to where I dreaded going to Rat Shack, knowing I'd have to do "the dance": I look for part(s). Clerk intercepts me, insisting that only he can help if I will just tell him what I'm looking for. *sigh* I give in, just so he'll shut the hell up and leave me alone. "Okay, I need a +12v regulator in a TO-220 case." Blank stare. He hesitates, turns to the wall, and hands me a vacpak card with an IC chip on it. Okay, almost over now. I insult him by asking questions he has no answer for, like: "You mean, you're in the electronics parts business and you don't even know what a TO-220 case is?! That's pretty basic stuff. How'd you get hired here?" Either that, or you get the one who says, "Let's look in the catalog!" Then he spends 15 minutes trying to do the same thing the first guy did, only without walking to and from display racks. 9 times out of 10, I've already looked in the catalog before I walk through the door. Besides, sometimes, I just want to check out stuff that may give me ideas. I don't need an Orange Julius reject trying to advise me on 'appropriate' options. Don't get me started on Rat Shack!  |  IP: Logged Richard Fowler Film God Posts: 2392 From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Registered: Jun 2001 posted 09-01-2005 04:40 PM                     The main profit center for RS is cellphones....not those stinking electronic parts try are starting to hide in drawer cabinets  |  IP: Logged Mike Heenan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1896 From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 09-01-2005 05:45 PM                     There's still Radio Shacks open for business? Wow.  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-01-2005 05:48 PM                     RatShack is your typical greedy corporation. The upper management (who do nothing that directly brings in money)takes 10's or even 100's of millions out of the company, so that they can only afford to hire the cheapest labor, and not give them any training (training costs money). What the management-morons are just too stupid to figure out, is that this cheep labor is who is in direct contact with their customers, and are pissing off their customers. If they would hire better (and more expensive) labor, they would make more money. Let's face it, RatShack management-morons have a long list of failures, Computer City, Incredible Universe, Tech America. Tech America started out as a wonderful place to buy parts, but than the management-morons turned it into a big RatShack, and down it went. RatShack has now gotten rid of most of their parts, and, as said above, just sells Cell Phones. Years ago, I enjoyed going to RatShack to see what was new, now when I'm at the mall, I will walk right past them. They no longer have anything I want (I already have a cell phone).  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 09-01-2005 06:18 PM                        I once went there for simple things (batteries, dual bananna plug, hi-fi cables. The price is VERY high for the very low quality on most of these items. (The bananna plugs had ONE thread on the screws...they were too loose and frail to tighten.) We are a small company; however I can buy the very best components for much less than Shack if I will invest in high quantities, sometimes bought years in advance in order to have something good to sell. Louis  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 09-01-2005 06:22 PM                     A few weeks ago, my mom, who wont stand for bulls**t, went to Radio Frack to buy a small phone. She took the one she found home, and plugged it in, and called me. I could hear her, but she could hear nothing. She took it back. The store manager informed her that she had done the damage to the phone herself, after letting her explain everything, not once, but twice to two disinterested store employees. All mom did was plug the phone into the wall and call me. She left in tears, with the bad phone in hand. I went back with the phone, and the receipt, and informed the manager that I wanted a refund. Period. He said that this was fine. I asked why my mother had had such a hard time just getting an exchange, rather than a refund. He told me that the other manager must have delt with my mom. After giving my mom the description of the manager, we decided that she and I both delt with the same person. I hate going there anymore. The parts that they stock now are just crap in a drawer. The sales people are idiots. 3 years ago, I bought something for my 5 year old nephew before Christmas at RS for $80. I saw the same item marked-down after Christmas for $12. A couple of years ago, I was looking thru a new RS catalog. It was all glits and glitter. The president of the company looks like a spoiled executive in his picture. I think that RS is going to be gone soon. They have gotten away from their original intentions. Nothing for experimenters anymore, but every battery in the world, including $3 mercury-type batteries for a laser light that cost less than a dollar when it was purchased. PLUS: I dont want a cell phone. They cant stop trying to sell me one. If I wanted one, I doubt it would come from RS. I'd rather not look like a geek.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 09-01-2005 06:51 PM                     Tim, you don't have to even TRY to confuse the floor salesmen anymore to get them to leave you alone. Seriously, I have asked for painfully simple things like an RCA to 1/4" audio cable and they start showing me every wire in the place EXCEPT audio patch cables. Try asking for a coax cable and watch their eyes as they say "coax??? I don't think we carry that brand." Furthermore, the last time I went into a Radio Shack was to get a spare battery for my cell phone and a couple of other odds and ends. The guy wanted to help so I gave him the easy task of finding the battery so I could have some peace to find the other items on my list. He spent 10 minutes looking for it only to tell me they didn't have it but that he could special order it. I walked over to the wall saying "are you sure, this is a really common phone" and within about 15 seconds found it with my model number stamped really big on the front of the hanging bag. This was the manager of the store, and no I'm not kidding. I do continue to go their for their basic home audio patch cables though, but that's about it. Has anyone been in a Radio Shack and actually helped some of their customers when the staff couldn't?  |  IP: Logged Richard Fowler Film God Posts: 2392 From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Registered: Jun 2001 posted 09-01-2005 07:10 PM                     In an audio visual trade journal this month they feature the Fort Worth corporate campus type headquarters of Radio Shack...Flat screen displays, video projectors, in house production capability....with not a speck of Radio Shack hardware in use ....they have come a long way from making leather ( Tandy ) goods Like Louis, rather buy bulk lots of connectors at higher quality and less than 40% of their price... Circle K / 7-11 convenience store marketing in the electronics field.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 09-01-2005 07:19 PM                        quote: Wayne Keyser Also, "Circus City" ... the only thing they know is how to push the items they get an EXTRA commission for selling Circuit City sales staff are not on commission. They were taken off commission like the beginning of 2004 or thereabouts. Maybe they still get some kind of spifs for selling certain items though. That's common in every sales job. The complaints about Radio Shack seem to mirror those in the "you suck" thread about booth people. There are good ones and there are bad ones. Kind of like every other business. Usually I gauge the Radio Shack person's initial response to my question and make a judgment whether he/she knows what they're talking about, and proceed accordingly. It's probably about 70/30 where they do/don't know. As for their prices, they can be outrageous for things like connectors. But where else in town are you gonna go for some of that stuff? Sure you can order online but sometimes you need it now. It's like buying a quart of milk at 7-11: You pay extra for the convenience.  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 09-01-2005 08:57 PM                     Many, Many years ago in a Galaxy FAAAR FAAAAR wawy, Radio Shack was a decent place to go. They used to have all kinds of goodies for the scratch builder and do-it-yourselfer...and it was quality stuff. I still cherish (and play with) the Science Fair 101 projects lab kit that my Parents bought for me in 1977. And I used to terrorize them with it. There was a Morse-code transmitter circuit that would broadcast over the television. I used to mess with my folks when they tried to watch a program ! There was also an "eavesdropping bug" circuit that I also terrorized them with! And to think I was still in elementary school!  |  IP: Logged Richard Fowler Film God Posts: 2392 From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Registered: Jun 2001 posted 09-01-2005 09:26 PM                     Noah Nelson "the voice" in the Circuit City commercials is a good friend of the family  |  IP: Logged

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