I went to Fry’s Electronics this afternoon to look at portable CD/MP3 players for the kitchen. They had the largest selection of players, speakers and portable boom boxes I’ve seen. I spent about 20 minutes looking at all of them and decided on a JVC model after testing out the display model. Underneath the display case was where all the real product was boxed and organized. But there was no JVC box to be found. I spent another 10 minute looking around again and found a Sony that would work. I went looking for it, but no such luck. I did this for three more models and none were in stock. At no point did a single sales associate approach me and ask if they could help. Maybe they had stock in the back, but I wouldn’t know since nobody was around to ask. So I spent over 45 minutes struck out. Maybe I’ll have better luck looking at iPods.
I walked over the iPod section. Fry’s keeps all their iPods in a black cage about three feet off the floor. I stood near the cage for about 10 minutes playing with the display iPods they had hooked up to several speaker systems. Not a single person approached me. But I counted 6 employees no further than 10 feet from me who were talking about their vacation time. I walked over to one of them (the one wearing a black suit as I figured he was the manager) and asked him what the price is for one of the iPods. He told me the price. But he didn’t ask anymore questions. He didn’t ask if he could take one out of the black magic cage for me. He didn’t make any attempt to sell me anything! All he said was, “If you want one, just ask one of the guys with the keys and he’ll get you one”.
So not only do I need to (again) approach a sales person but I need to find one with “the keys”? Well, it’s Friday and I’m tired and that just sounds like too much work to do right now for the privilege of giving you my money.
To be fair, I’ve purchased a lot of products at Fry’s and usually they are very helpful and kind. But they were not on their A-game today. And they lost a couple of sales because of that.
Nordquist Blog 
Please see your previous post regarding spelling errors, you may want to reflect on said topic with regard to this post, re: “Not a simple person approached me”. Now, they of course could be simple people, but you’re usually not that demeaning, so I’ll mark it up as a grammatical mishap. Also, regarding Fry’s Electronics and their terrible service, it seems to be a reoccurring topic on your blog. Makes me wonder if you’ve ever picked up the customer feedback survey pamphlet that is available at each of their 20+ counters and noted your disappointment there…or are these service atrocities only blog-worthy and not worth directly approaching the company itself about? There is also a Store Feedback section on the Outpost.com site, which took less time to find then writing this response. Perhaps in future instances of poor customer service, you could voice your comments there…in addition to your entertaining blog entries of course.
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Thanks for pointing out my spelling mistake. Usually Whim finds them for me before anyone else.
As to whether I’ve picked up a customer feedback survey the answer is yes, I’ve filled out a number, although usually when I’ve received really good service. I much prefer to talk in person if possible or by phone if I’ve received poor service. I could have done that today but I wasn’t in a rush to purchase either product so I figured I’d just look somewhere else this weekend.
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