Comments on: CompUSA closes shop

The retail electronics chain was purchased Friday by a private equity firm, which says it will close the remaining stores.

[shadowagent]

I'm disappointed

I have to say I'm disappointed in the closing. I did managed to get some very good deals on software, media, and other supplies at my local Nashua, NH store. Not only that but the tech support area was always great and trustworthy. There was a recent investigative report done using a laptop with a planted problem. CompUSA was the only store that got the fix right. Best Buy and Circuit City got it completely wrong and wanted to charge big bucks to fix the problem.

[Menton09]

So am I

Sorry to see CompUSA go too. It was a nice stop for odds + ends. Cables CD/DVD media, Linux software. I live here in NYC and there are not many places to purchase at a reasonable price computer accessories. Of course there is Circuit City and BestBuy, but they are very limited with in stock software. The CompUSA staff was always helpful with questions I may have asked, and of course if the store is busy (like anywhere else) tracking down a salesperson will be a bit more time consuming. Had to return 'something' which I forgot, it was a few years ago, for a refund and it was really painless. Got my full refund. Know what it is to loose a job, and it must be tough to put on a smiley face for customers knowing you will be out of a job very soon. Wish all of the CompUSA staff the best of luck.

[whohasthecoralkeys?]

Concern is appreciated

As a father of four who is losing our main source of income it helps to know that some people feel concern for the employees. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

[neagle]

You are right. Best wishes.

Sad thing is this company was salvageable. The CFO let this company go to **** instead of developing a strong online presence with a real world foot print. I liked Comp USA because of the convince of being able to go to a physical store and be able to shop around for a product or find a hard to find part in a pinch and not have to pay to ship and wait for a product. I picked up my last two laptops and I paid a more then fair price for them. Comp USA spread itself to thin into the home entertainment market instead of concentrating on its core market then let the shelves go bear and the stores get run down for almost 2 years before entertaining a buy out. I did pick up a scanner and a few hard to find devices and paid what was not an exceptional deal but, average. Best wishes to those who are seeking new employment. Retail tech is a hard market.

[whohasthecoralkeys?]

What are you a moron???

It doesn't take someone with a degree in marketing to realize that stores often times take a hit on an item. Meaning that 229 monitor at OD, the store is probably losing money to get you in the door hoping that you will buy more items that do not have significant savings. Everyone thinks they're an expert and they know wht CompUSA went under. The real reason, plain and simple is because cheap freakin customers who don't buy service plans, and still want excellent deals on items. So go ahead and buy from Best Buy, Circuit City and Frys and do not buy their service plans either and they will go away as well. Enjoy buying online with no support from now on!!!!!

[dan.nance]

Your or You're

I've been reading many posts. I don't work in retail and only a casual compusa shopper. I just find this whole issue interesting.

There is an additional layer that I find interesting in a lot of the posts; I can hardly believe how many people use "your" instead of "you're."

[Ar1805]

RIP CompUSA, you will be missed.

I loved that place, and will miss it. I remember the time it opened in Latham NY, around August 1995 (maybe a little before), and I heard on the news about their grand opening, and how the first bunch of people were given gifts, like a hard drive, with capacity measured in MEGABYTES!:-), like 300 or so, a decent size at the time.

I never had problems with the help, because I never had any expectations of them. They were there just to make sure stuff is on the shelf, and to allow for customers to pay for stuff, and make sure they don't steal. Pretty good deal for the company, for the little they paid their employees. Sure, when I bought a laptop there recently, they treated me like an actual person, until I said NO to the warranty, then they treated like a criminal-scum, but thats because their employer was forcing them to do that. They get told every day, to sell that warranty, and if they cant do it, there must be something wrong with them. The truth is, there is a problem with the warranty, and the company that thinks it will turn things around by tricking and brainwashing people to make a bad decision based on fear. The company heads, the marketing and others who based profit forecasts on extended warranties, you far@ed up big time. This is mostly YOUR fault, so go @ark yourself.

The problem is, extended warranties are a very crappy deal for the buyer, at the prices they were offering. They should not be more than 5% to 10% of the hardware, but actually their prices were around 30% of the laptop, and thats a pretty stupid deal for a buyer.

Anyway, I am sorry for the employees, we got along fine except about the warranty issue, and I hope they will find better/happier jobs. And for CompUSA, thanks for the years of service, I am afraid you will not be replaced by a pure computer shop like you for a long, long time. For now, there are small shops like Computer Renaissance and DanJen (in Upstate NY), that I will have to make do with.

[leonadparker]

service policies

Who will be responsible for the service policies sold by COMP.USA on Samsung TV's and Acer laptops?
[e-mail]

[Theytookmyjob]

Most of you miss the point

Seriously. We are supposed to just forget about how this
company treated us? And by us I mean everyone, including
managers. I can't tell you how many times I have sat in the office
and heard the District A-holes scream at my boss and tell him
they aren't being hard enough on us, and how we're just like
dogs and if they whip us hard enough we'll start to understand.
Then our bosses scream at us. I know this happens at allot of
other jobs, but most of the time they had the attitude that we
only make 20,000 - we aren't worth them caring.
I remember how they would tell us to get as much in-home
service as we could, and every night I would have to send an
email to the district manager to tell him how much we did. Then
if it wasn't enough we got screamed at. If we didn't sell enough
service plans, they would make the manager go to Baltimore to
have a 1hour meeting about why his people didn't sell enough.
Sounds like a great way to spend money you don't have. Then
after all of that we would have to go to a meeting twice a week if
we didn't sell enough service plans. Never mind if you had a
huge $30,000 deal go through on software and couldn't sell
service on it, If you didn't run 5% service, meeting for you. This
isn't new, It happens at all electronics stores, in one form or the
other. WAKE UP, the employees only sell these things if they
really think you need it or if they are running scared and don't
want to have to wake their kids up at 6am for daycare (that they
can't afford) twice a week. Can I come to your house and wake
up your kids 2 hours before they normally get up?

Don't get me wrong, Im not asking for a pitty party here, just
remember that when you treat people like crap because you
think you are above them, It really does come back to bite you.
We control the technology you can't live without in the end. I
hope brick and mortar goes away forever, Then we never have to
deal with terrible customers again. For the rest of you that were
a pleasure to serve, I'm sorry that we won't be there for you
when you need us. I can't wait to deal with some 16 year old
"expert" at The geek squad, that calls me "dog".....

You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake, in the end the
things you own end up owning you.

[FLKiwi]

Always good... ALWAYS

I've worked with comuters since 1983... I actually owned a Pong when I was a kid?!? Sorry, inshort... always able to find what I need with good service
Cheers,
-John

[ChipHS]

Reason = Customers

I worked for CompUSA for over 2 years and left in July whenever I saw the layoffs and going under coming. I went out on my own and made my own computer repair company. I can tell you the main reason for CompUSA going under is the customer's who expect to come into the store and get everything for nothing. I worked in the tech department as a service writer and technician. I was the person who signed you in whenever you sat there and complained about getting a virus from looking at porn, installing limewire, bearshare or some other illegal file-sharing program. You expect someone to fix your computer whenever you bought no extended-warranty with us. You expect us to fix it for nothing, backup your data, and then show you how to do everything on your computer. You the customer need to take some responsibility for your computer. Learn something instead of expecting someone to do it for you for nothing. Every day I had someone coming in wanting me to fix there computers for pennies whenever you could had gone to best buy and spent close to $300.00 for the same service. Did you even know that if you take your computer to Best Buy it's not even worked on at the store. It's shipped to their repair center and is then shipped back to the store to be given to you. Another reason CompUSA had financial issues is you complain about the smallest thing and want the manager to give you a new monitor or something. I had so many customer's who were so stupid that they would delete there restore partition, then get a virus and want to return the machine whenever they didn't even make restore CDs. They would ***** and moan in front of all the other customer's until the manager just gave in to get you out of his or her face. And you wonder now why you have to pay for Best Buy, Staples, and Office Depot's prices. Maybe this time you'll notice that your paying more and still getting less. RIP to CompUSA.

[bwichmann]

Poor Customer Service

CompUSA went down the drain due to poor customer service. The last time I was in a CompUSA - over a year ago - I spent twenty minutes trying in vain to locate an 'Associate' who could assist. I never did find one, and promptly walked across the street to BestBuy. I was in and out in five minutes. CompUSA going under is hardly a loss.

[indilindi]

Service Contracts

Is there anything in place that will honor service contracts? We purchased a 3year contract last January at the time we purchased our computer. This really stinks. L

[Net Nerd]

Anybody work in this joint?

One of the primary reasons for customers abandoning CompUSA is that CompUSA abandoned its customers, on a daily basis.

I generally don't care to be bothered by sales personnel, since I know precisely what I entered the store to examine or purchase and I already knew more about the product than the grunts who were enthusiastically waiting to demonstrate how little they didn't know (but thought they did) ? a la Radio Shack.
It wouldn't have mattered anyway, as there were very few personnel around to help anyone.
This was the case in several locations I frequented, btw.

Trying to actually checkout with your goods was a worse experience than at Wal-Mart or Home Depot. On numerous occasions, I found dozens of patrons waiting in one LONG line because only a single register was open. All those registers just sitting there unused while we wait.. and wait.. and wait.. Highly annoying.

CompUSA's prices were higher than most competitors as well. At least Wal-Mart offsets the hassle of waiting in long lines at the FEW open registers by offering low prices!

CompUSA also got into trouble with their rebates as I recall. That didn't help their reputation any, but it certainly did help eliminate potential customers who would like to take advantage of rebate sales.

Another incredibly irritating thing about CompUSA was the tendency of some damn alarm going off while I was in the store(s). Sounded like a smoke alarm and nobody would shut the ear-piercing noise off for 20 minutes! And it hurt! This happened in more than one store as well, a number of times, so it wasn't an "isolated event".

So for all you malcontent ex-employees who find it easier to sleep at night by blaming customers for your ex-employer's problems, consider the above factors. **** off your customers and your customers don't come back.

I did quite a lot of business with CompUSA over the years. They were a far better store to shop in the early years. I found some good bargains on older software and, via rebates, on some decent hardware as well.
But, considering the fact that I could have products delivered to my door from online etailers for not much more than they would cost at CompUSA (not including gas for a 60-minute round trip into the equation), and the other annoyances presented by the computer giant, it's no surprise they've shutdown.