"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...
| On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:22:48 -0700, "iws" wrote:
|
| Well, with Fry's, whenever I've returned something, even unopened, they
open
| it, check that all the stuff is there and then slap a returned sticker on
it
| and that generally winds up back on the shelf at a discounted price.
|
| I once bought a rather pricey video card that had been returned.

Well, that's your first mistake isn't it? I never buy returned stuff from
Fry's unless it's all that's available and I'm desperate. The one time I can
recall doing that, I opened it up in the store to make sure the right items
were all there.
I
| had no way to inspect the contents at the store.

Sorry, I'd insist on doing it at the cash register on such an item.

When I arrived home,
| instead of the expensive video card, a cheap junk commodity video card
| had been substituted. The previous buyer of the card had done the
| swap, and the expert Fry's staff could not recognize the difference
| between the pricey card and the cheap junk commodity card when it was
| returned. Caveat Emptor.
|
| I've also bought returns where something important was missing. For
| example, an ATI All-in-Wonder card, that included a fancy cable the
| connector box. The card was present and accounted for, but not the
| cable. The Fry's employee that accepted the return could have looked
| at the contents listed on the outside of the box, but I suspect that
| would have been asking to much.
|
| In both cases, complaining to Fry's produced sympathy, and nothing
| else.

So they claim you made the switch when you returned it?

| I have other Fry's horror stories, both first and 2nd hand, but you
| can find those all over the web. The above are simply two problems
| I've experienced with repackaged merchandise.

That's why you should avoid returned stuff. BTW, I've never had a problem
returning stuff to Fry's and I do it fairly frequently.
|
| At
| least you can tell if it's been returned. I recently returned a set of
noise
| cancelling earphones that were defective - they accepted what I said and
put
| a return to vendor sticker on the package.
|
| Most large electronics stores and online vendors have enough clout to
| force the manufacturer to accept all returns. Costco and Best Buy
| both do that. When something is returned by the customer, it goes
| back to the manufacturer or distributor. However, this is only
| functional with high priced hardware, where the exercise is
| financially worth the effort. You can usually find the returns marked
| as "remanufactured", "reconditioned", or "refurbished". Dealing with
| and reselling the returns has turned into a rather substantial
| industry. It's a large enough business that most computah
| manufactories have their own online outlet stores:
| http://www.delloutlet.com
| www.shopping.hp.com/outlet
| http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/bstorelist.to?coid=-29405
|
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchCatalog?outlet=true&langId=-1&storeId=10151&docname=ShoppingArea%2FCatalogSect ion%2FOutletSubsection%2FOutletDisplay_Generic3.js p&N=4294961692&catalogId=10551&categoryId=16160
| etc.
|
| --
| Jeff Liebermann
| 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
| Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
| Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558