Frys Electronics = Customer Failure
If you are unfamiliar with Frys Electronics, it is one of those large electronic stores that sells everything from dvds, tvs, and even vacuum cleaners. Until recently there was not one close to wh
ere I lived and the trek there was at least 40 miles. With the closures of Circuit City and CompUSA, Frys Electronics has been building up a good fan base here in SouthWest Houston.
Frys Electronics – In The Beginning For Me
One of the unique aspects of Frys Electronics is that most of the stores you will see will have a very unique entry way. The one in north houston has a oil rig theme and the one in Austin has a huge piano coming out from the sign.
What do we get in Sugar Land? The plain jane one seen on the right. Bleh.
This was a bad sign to come (literally).
After living through the grand opening of this location and even fighting the crowds that wrapped around the inside during black friday I was expecting more from Frys Electronics.
Frys Electronics – Epic Customer Fail
I'm not saying I expect better service than say Best Buy down the street but when I went to Frys Electronics to pick up a TV my father purchased 2 weeks I was in for a rude awakening.
See, my dad purchased a 55″ LED 120HZ Samsung without internet capabilities. Frys Electronics had a deal about 2 weeks ago and my father bought it in full plus the warranty. His SUV was in the shop so Frys Electronics agreed to hold the TV until he got his car to pick it up.
From what I understand, Frys Electronics will have their larger items on hold in the front of the store near the massive check out line. You will always see fridges and televisions there with their papers on the top ready for pick up. I thought hey, that's a system they seem to be running for many years and at least a couple here at this local location.
Frys Electronics – Stiff Arms The Customer
So when you thought the customer is always right… looks like customers don't in most cases at Frys Electronics as I hear more and more horror stories.
So check this.
I bring my van over to pick up his TV and it's a simple “here is my print out receipt so can I pick up my tv?”.
The 20 or so Frys Electronics employees with their white shirts are all moving around and 1 handles our pickup. 5 minutes later he has 2 associates take the paper away.
20 minutes pass and I'm thinking…. why are they in the back when obviously pickups should be 10 feet from where I'm currently standing.
another 10 minutes pass and we are talking to more employees only to find out that the tv was sold.
Interesting.
So just pull another one from the back – I said.
The manager comes out and says they have none in stock and they will be shipping one from Austin. We can pick up next week. Well that's a crappy way to deal with it as someone BOUGHT a tv that was paid for so Frys essentially double dipped…. crap.
Frys Electronics – It Gets Worse
So my father the other night goes with his SUV to pick up the TV so I wasn't needed with my van. He calls me during my lunch hour to tell me:
“They just told me that they have plenty of those TVs in stock but they refuse to sell or shall I say GIVE me my tv at the price I already PAID for it. Instead, they want to give me a 52″ LED 240z Sharp TV instead.”
I'm just thinking to myself, how does one do business like this? How can Frys Electronics just straight up spit in the face of those who are buying and fully paid? Then to go and tell them no you can't have it even though we have them in stock? AND you have a slip saying you are fully paid WITH warranty.
So instead they just throw some other tv at my dad and just take it.
Really?
Customer Service needs to be top priority.
My dad rolled over in that situation and he just wanted a dang TV today. eh…
What Not To Do – Fry's Electronics
If you are looking to build a business online and offline you better have your customer at the heart of your business.
Money comes from people, piss people off and your going to be closing shop soon.
Remember good news is viral but so is also piss poor customer service and shady selling practices.
Better than Frys Electronics?
So who would I recommend for:
- Price
- Selection
- Customer Service
- Real customer reviews
- Product Data
This is my #1 recommendation for all things electronic
vs
Frys Electronics
Engineering Your Success,
Lawrence Tam
I feel your pain LT…I bought a new laptop for my wife for Christmas from FRYs online. We got it and the CD-Rom drive didn’t work. I called customer service and they said bring it in with receipt and they will try to fix or exchange it since its brand new. They verified they had the same model is stock. I drive the 40 minutes to the store and the manager says they can’t deal with me since I bought it online….I had to repackage it and ship it back to their warehouse. World Class Crrraaaaaapppy service at Fry’s. I won’t even by a new mouse there if it’s the last one in town.
Cheers to you buddy!
~James
yeah, i just don’t get it. i remember back in the days circuit city would replace the entire computer. too bad they are gone and now I’m stuck with frys ;( off to amazon now.
Lawrence,
I love this article’s theme. Bad examples of customer service are everywhere. Thanks for the insights!
bad customer service lives on…. vote with your dollars and shop elsewhere.
I spent too much time as a Fry’s employee (I got out alive) and the horror stories are endless. They hire people at minimum wage with no experience. They are trained to do whatever is necessary to make the customer happy, until they get their money, and then the whole customer service thing goes out the window. They intentionally make it hard for customers to get their money back because they know some people will just give up. The online store is worse. The former manager, Henry Everson never did anything except treat his employees like convicts and fly on the Corporate jet to this warehouse to NOT fix problems. It was not uncommon for loss claims to sit on his desk for months waiting for his final approval. The call center people work with computers that are so outdated, you couldn’t give them away. The Managers refuse to take escalated calls because they are too busy texting on their cell phones, talking about shopping (the female managers are completely useless and incompetent), talking smack about the new manager Heidi, or just walking around doing nothing.
As for the Frys brothers, it’s all about how much money they can line their pockets with and hiring their kids to continue the tradition of screwing customers. Randy Fry never acknowledges anyone he considers “beneath him”, and John is the most arrogant and pompous of the whole family. John goes through admins like women go through shoes (I heard the latest one though is a lot like him, and has started acting like a b**ch, so she fits in). He could care less that moral in HIS call center is horrible and the employees feel like prisoners. One of the Frys kids, Preston has probably the biggest ego of all and looks down on everyone. He must be John’s son.
The only way to get their attention is to stop shopping there, blog everywhere about the horrible customer service and take legal action.
this easily takes this store down a couple notches in terms of where I would like to shop. Costco at this point is heads above and beyond frys at this point. As much as I would like to shop locally even at a chain store I was hoping customer service would be a top priority for bigger purchases… not the case.
There are now several electronics company out there that offer different kinds of active electronics components and products but when you start buying electronic components you must choose a good and trusted electronics company or store.