Fried memories

After driving all the way to the store and spending time waiting in line, the memory I got from Fry's Electronics (a warehouse-type electronic hardware chain store) are defective.

The computer wouldn't even boot up from those. I should've know. When I got the memory, I noticed that the sticker on the chip looks seared on the edges. I bet some stupid punk fried these puppies while trying to overclock them, and returned them after they're toast.

Now I gotta drive back and return them. Bogus.

Never shop at Fry's, for those who live in the States (California).

that sounds very assy, in denmark we got like "ELECTRONIC WORLD" and
"COMPUTER CITY" hmm..then theres "ELECRTIC CITY", the guys who made up
these names lack inspiration

I got lured into buying those because they're so cheap. With rebate, the PC3200 512 MB only costs US$35! I simply couldn't resist such good deal.

Apparently, they're not good deals. They're just cheap.

yeah, often cheap stuff = ass covered in a lie, covered in a PC3200 512 MB pack that only costs US$35!

You have to be careful at Fry's, something they don't tell you is that a lot of their parts are refurbished. However, I've gotten cheap ram there before and not had any problems. They are an excellent source for CD-Rs and DVD-Rs cheap, useful. (Got a 50 Pack of DVD-R for $2.50, they work great)

Overall, I usually don't shop there because they're more expensive and less options. And they're in Wilsonville (here)

I'm mail order all the way with my components these days, but then in
the UK most places have next day or next couple of days delivery as
standard so its not really a hassle. I've never really seen many shops
in the UK that can match mail order prices either.

Yeah, this Fry's place sometimes has ridiculously low prices for parts, that's why it has so many customers. Customer service sucks, and sometimes there are defective parts, but there are times when I get lucky and score something nice for an extremely low price.

It's a gambler's mentality, I guess.

We go to Frys in Burbank at least once a week on our lunch break - that place is awesome! Our branch is done in this sci-fi 'mars attacks' theme, with a big spaceship crashed into the front of the store, and a military jeep melted in half by alien lasers, inside. I could live there.

that sounds very assy, in denmark we got like "ELECTRONIC WORLD" and
"COMPUTER CITY" hmm..then theres "ELECRTIC CITY", the guys who made up
these names lack inspiration

Try The Computer shop (or world as it used to be known) and PC World.

You are recommending PC World?!

I just read the title and thought "Burning Memories" would have been more apt.

Satchmo, try to find an OEM shop somewhere in your area (Other then Fry's of course A.K.A. Ex-Incredible-Universe). Granted online buying may be cheaper, but I've heard endless complaints and problems with malfunctioning parts. ALSO, most OEM shops offer a 1 year warranty of their own, in addition to whatever warranty the product it self has. And face it, returning something you bought online is a pain in the ass, as far as I can see what you have to do is buy another part while you're haggling with the old part (thus costing you more money in the here and now)
But, I know that doesn't always happen.

Most OEM shops are pretty comparable to some online prices. But, seriously, some places online have to steal their hardware, I have no other idea of how they're making any sort of profit any other way by having such low prices.

I find teh major chains, (compusa, best buy, staples...etc) have the best deals. Just look in the weekly ad they put out and your bound to find somethign you need for cheap, and it'll be brand name stuff for cheap.

Ive gotten 25$ off a seagate HDD, 100$ off a PNY geforce 6800, and gotten PNY PC3200 for 40$ a 512mb piece.

You are recommending PC World?!

I hate to say it cos I hate PC World with a vengence but I would recomend them only for games they sell them really quite cheap I got HL2 there for only ?25 where Game had it and still has it for ?30 they also had a thing on where you could get HL2 for ?25 and Doom 3 for ?15 if you brought them together. I think Game had CS:CZ for about ?20 the last time I say it in there (which would have only been a week or two ago).

But please dont shop at PC World for parts they dont have many and what they do have is quite crap. They've got some nice cases in though too expensive for my tastes.

For buying games, the cheapest I know of is normally
http://www.play.com . Most PC games are ?25 or less there from release,
and even a lot of console games are coming out there at that price too.

They're great for music, too.

yea the frys in burbank sucks balls. a friend of mine worked there for a while and gave me the scoop on how they usually dont test returns AT ALL and just put them back on the shelf. (though, it's somewhat understandable considering how many idiots go and buy pc3200's for their pc2700 max boards.)

i do 90% of my shopping online, but still manage to hit up frys at least once every 2 weeks.

they usually dont test returns AT ALL and just put them back on the shelf.

I figured that must be the case, because I've had many experiences
buying parts that are not labeled as refurbished but clearly are.
And most of them turned out to be defective.

The pain in the ass of returning stuff from online merchants sometimes
makes me think twice about buying online. For example, the
Netgear wireless PCI card I got from newegg.com doesn't work, but I
don't think it's worth the hassle of returning it and being charged the
restocking fee. I suspect that it's a weak signal problem, so I
am just going to live with it for now and use an alternative wireless
USB adapter.

Perhaps once I move in to another location, the signal strength would
be better when my computer is oriented differently from the wireless
router.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quote:</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>they usually dont test returns AT ALL and just put them back on the shelf. </DIV></DIV>

This is not the case everywhere. I know the people here in a local parts store, (office depot) and they are not permitted to put any item back on the shelf, for any reason once its sold.

they are also not allowed to sell it at a discount even though there is nothing at all wrong with it. (sometimes people buy the wrong size/speed and return perfectly functional items)

/ 2 cents.

[edit] /me clarifies.. Crono seemed confused, cause I was not. I fully understand that some stores do this, but I wanted people to understand that some stores do sell only quality, or they will make it so if its defective.

? quote:
they usually dont test returns AT ALL and just put them back on the shelf.
This is not the case everywhere. I know the people here in a local parts store, (office depot) and they are not permitted to put any item back on the shelf, for any reason once its sold.
they are also not allowed to sell it at a discount even though there is nothing at all wrong with it. (sometimes people buy the wrong size/speed and return perfectly functional items)
/ 2 cents.

Orph, I don't think you understand. At Fry's they have to test the parts because they're not new. They've been redistributed from manufacturers after being refurbished. Meaning at one point they were sold at someplace (like Comp Usa ... bleh) and returned. A place like CompUSA or Office Depot have to report those defunctional units and possibly return them (depends on the 'deal' with the company)
Does that clear anything up? Fry's isn't a normal vendor. However, they do sell normal retail stuff too. But, comparitivly speaking, Office Depot is a coffee shop compared to Fry's inventory wise.

We do not have a Fry's, nor any other store that has an understanding that "you might be purchasing s**t parts"

so i wanted to clarify for those whom may not realize, there are credited stores out there who will stand behind their products.

if i even suspected a store of selling crap parts, i would not even enter the door.

/ 2 cents

i would not even enter the door

Except at Fry's, there are times when I could buy an entire system
(fairly decent specs) for less than $200. Trust me, I've done
that before, and that computer worked fine for many years.

That's why I get lured back every now and then.

satchmo said:
<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quote:</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>i would not even enter the door

Except at Fry's, there are times when I could buy an entire system (fairly decent specs) for less than $200. Trust me, I've done that before, and that computer worked fine for many years.

That's why I get lured back every now and then.
</div></div>

The more i read, the more i get the impression that this Fry's is like the "Big Lots" of computer stuff.

See, thats another animal all together if its true. I would know in advance that there is a strong possibility that some parts may be borked. Like what you would buy at a flea market.

If I knew that, then it would be ok, BUT if this store is on par with say, "Best Buy" then I would expect 100% quality, or my money back.

No. They sell quality stuff, I was just mentioning that they do sell the refurb. They do sell retail products as well. But they're also in the OEM stuff too.

The only thing is, Fry's is RARELY the least expensive place around where I live. ENU, which is down the street almost always blows Fry's away in price wars.

Orph, you can return things at Fry's and get your money back, especially if it doesn't work. They have ?technicians? working there as well, at least the Fry's here they do. They're supposed to go through everything that's been returned and find the problems, if there is one (most of the refurbished parts, I bet, are parts that got returned from that store). Not to mention, you know if the product is new or not by looking at it.

Overall, they're not a bad store at all. So, I think you're getting the wrong impression ... possibly. I mean, I've never personally had a problem with anything I've bought there. I just don't like some of the price gouging they try to do (which is nowhere near Best Buy's or Circuit City's)

I was confused, now I am not.

I was under the impression from the posts that the store was... corrupt in some way.

my bad :

Hmm, I still believe that Fry's runs a shady business. I have purchased many products from them over the years, including the Radeon 9200 for my last computer.

They do have a nice return policy, but I just have to drive an hour to get it done. I don't appreciate the fact that they sell refurbished parts without notifying the customer beforehand.

wow.... i'd love it if my Fry's was alien-attack themed.... The nearest one to me is tesla-themed, and the next nearest is egyptian....

The Fry's by my house is in Manhattan Beach. The parking is the worst on the planet, they even bought the adjoining lot below them and added a good sized lot, but parking just sucks there too. I believe this is also the least themed fry's of all because it's kinda loosely tiki-fied somehow, but not in a coherent fun to look at way. Still though, I go in there often, and in the past couple of years they have recieved many of thousands of my hard earned samolians. I love and hate fry's.

I hate Fry's, and yet I find myself strangely attracted to their daily
advertisement in the newspaper. It's almost like unwrapping
Christmas presents. It's so exciting for me to read the latest
discounted, s**tty items.

I don't appreciate the fact that they sell refurbished parts without notifying the customer beforehand.

You'll know. If you buy something that's in a retail box sealed. It is NOT refurbished. (they can't reseal them and sell them as new if they've been returned, it's illegal or something)
So there are large red flags if what you're getting is refurbished or not. However, what do you care if it is if it works properly? I mean, you get it cheaper.

Most stores put things back on the shelf on "clearance" without fixing them.

Crono said:
Most stores put things back on the shelf on "clearance" without fixing them.

Really? I've never been to one of those. Is this a California thing or maybe just an Oregon one?

Seriously, YES, I have seen things previously opened being sold, but I have never seen it done with the intent of selling a broken item.

Usually, it was because some other customer wanted to see if medium bloomers would fit their LARGE ass and opened the item to check. same with many other items.. to check color, or shape/size.. but the item is not broken.

I have yet to find any store in Arkansas that would knowingly sell an item that was returned "broken"

You are recommending PC World?!

HELL NO! :razz: I was meerly stating some other cheesy PC shop names.

You are recommending PC World?!

They've got some nice cases in though too expensive for my tastes.

OCUK have some really nice cases like akasa eclipse and some nice lian li cases.

oooops dble post.

? quoting Crono

Most stores put things back on the shelf on "clearance" without fixing them.
Really? I've never been to one of those. Is this a California thing or maybe just an Oregon one?
Seriously, YES, I have seen things previously opened being sold, but I have never seen it done with the intent of selling a broken item.
Usually, it was because some other customer wanted to see if medium bloomers would fit their LARGE ass and opened the item to check. same with many other items.. to check color, or shape/size.. but the item is not broken.
I have yet to find any store in Arkansas that would knowingly sell an item that was returned "broken"

No, it isn't an "Oregon" thing, because it happens in chain stores. Target, for example. I don't know about nessesarily "broken" mechandice being sold, however, they don't sell the same products that a computer store would sell, so it's a different "ball game". And yes, I've seen damaged things being sold on clearence.

I think Fred Myer's price tags directly on products pisses me off more then any other store's short comings.