@missileman I agree with discarding the great deal coupons from the dealer even if they are a great deal. We purchased our 1991 Jeep Cherokee from the Pontiac dealer and got a really good deal at over $6,000 off MSRP! Of course 3 years later the Jeep dealer was Chrysler. I received coupons in the mail for services at attractive prices. The vehicle was within 1,000 miles of it’s 36,000 mile service and 2 of the coupons (transmission service and cooling system service were part of the 36,000 mile service). The third coupon was engine bay and undercarriage steam cleaning plus detailing. Total price $330. The Saturday before taking the Jeep to the dealer on Monday I changed the oil and filter, replaced the air filter, lubed the hinges, inspected belts and hoses, and replaced the windshield wipers per 36,000 mile service. I dropped off the Jeep Monday morning and made it very clear to the service writer that the 3 coupon items were all that was to be done. If anything above and beyond was discovered I needed to be telephoned at work and I would decide to authorize or defer. This information was written on the work order which I signed and received a copy. I called at 4:00 PM and confirmed that my Jeep was ready. I finished work at 4:30 PM and walked to the dealership (15 minutes). I informed the cashier that I was picking up my Jeep. She presented me with a bill for $450!!!. I said there was a mistake and headed for the service writers office. He was not helpful. He gave me a song and dance that since I had requested the 2 big items of the 36,000 mile service he assumed that I wanted to complete the entire service! I told him a simple telephone call would have prevented this misunderstanding. I informed him I had completed everything except the fuel filter 2 days ago. His new excuse was if I had told him that we would not have this problem. What a great tactic. Blame your screw-up on the customer!. I asked for the service manager. “He’s gone home.” “Is the general manager here”? “I doubt it.” I returned to the cashier and requested a copy of my bill and directions to the general manager’s office. He was at his desk! I told my story and gave him the paperwork copies. I said I had planned on replacing the fuel filter anyway so I was willing to pay the additional $30 for that. He looked me in the eye and stated “absolutely not”! Yikes! He continued, “You agreed to $330 and are not paying a penny more.” He asked what I had paid for my wiper blades and subtracted $16 from $130. He walked me to the cashier and asked her to print a new bill for $314. He took my key off the hook and was waiting with my Jeep out front when I finished paying the cashier. After he was sure I was satisfied. He apologized, I thanked him, and left. It is possible to be exposed to a bad employee in an otherwise good dealership.
Radio Shack is a victim of the success of its own industry. When it was originally opened, electronics was hard wiring and gas tubes. Then along came transistors, and then PC boards, and along with them cam the TRS-80 and also Heathkits. Electronics was still largely either hobbyists or electronics companies like Zenith. And it was still hands-on.
Then along came thin film, along came Intel, and then the population explosion at Menlo Park. And the world changed. Electronics was no longer the playground of hobbyists. And the weaknesses of electronics is no longer the hardware. I remember repairing TVs in the '70s by taking suspect tubes to the local Radio Shack to test them and buy replacements for the bad ones. Now, even television picture screens aren’t vacuum tubes anymore. No more CRTs. No more high power transformers to power the no-longer-existing electron guns.
All companies have life cycles. IMHO Radio Shack is at the autumn of its life cycle. IMHO it was a good run.
I miss the old Radio Shack days when they had an entire wall covered in every type of electronic widget one could think of and at dirt cheap prices.
Now it’s all relegated to a limited assortment in a small parts bin and overpriced at that. I bought a pair of .01 capacitors a while back for a guitar and I think they were a 1.99 for the package.
In the old days it was a loose bag of a 100 or so caps or resistors for 2 bucks.
For some inexplicable reason I’ve still got a Tandy 1000 that runs Deskmate stuffed away in a box in the attic. I think that beast runs at a whopping 4 MHz or something like that.
This is no big deal, but maybe it only “torques me off a little”. When a service salesman talks about your car, it’s "I " can have your car fixed or “I” will have the parts by tomorrow. Now, if something goes wrong, it’s "the mechanic couldn’t find anything wrong"etc. This isn’t just a dealer ships but most retailers. When I worked in retail I thought it was appropriate to use the word “we” to let the customer know we were a team. Everyone wants to do a little CYA all the time.
Radio Shack is a joke nowadays, in my opinion. If I need some gadget, I go to Fry’s Electronics
The Radio Shack employees in my area don’t let customers browse and look for the little doo dads.
The fact that they treat everybody like a scumbag really turns me off. I only go there if I need a battery for my key fob.
" I only go there if I need a battery for my key fob".
I found the battery to fit the key fob on our 2003 Toyota 4Runner at the jewelry section of WalMart. I’ll bet the price was less than RadioShack.
On the other hand, I needed a battery for our cordless phone and WalMart didn’t have it. The person in the electronics department at WalMart sent me to RadioShack and RadioShack did have the battery.
I needed a third key to give a friend to our front door who checks on things while we are on vacation. I went to Lowe’s key department, but they didn’t have the right blank. Lowe’s sent me to the auto department at WalMart and they had the right blank and made a key for me.
I don’t set foot inside a Walmart
That’s all I’ll say about it . . . the regulars know my opinions about that store
But everybody’s free to shop where they want, and I respect their decisions and reasoning
WalMart is the closest store to where we live. I don’t like WalMart’s corporate policies at all. However, there is a lot of unemployment in my community due to the loss of automotive parts factories. Some of the displaced workers have taken jobs at WalMart. At our local store, the employees have always been considerate and helpful to me. I was in the check-out line behind a woman shopper who was giving the check-out a hard time over nothing. The check out person was very considerate to this very rude customer. When it was my turn, I complimented the check out person on her patience with customers. She practically burst into tears and said “Thank you for making my day”. Last week, I bought a bottle of wine at WalMart. When I got to the check-out, I got out my I.D. since the sign said “We check I;D; for anyone that appears to be under 40”. The young man running the register said, “Sir, I don’t need to see your I;D.” I replied, “I feel insulted that you don’t want to check it”. He, the customer in line behind me and I all had a good laugh. (I’m 72, so it was obvious that I am not a minor).
I do go to the WalMart optical department for my glasses. A friend recommended the optometrist at WalMart to me and I have gotten a better glasses fit there than the previous optometrist that I had been seeing.
There’s three places that I (mostly) only go if I’m being paid to go: bars, church, and Walmart. Yes, I get paid to go to each. I play in bands, play for school masses and funerals, and have to shop at Walmart for the group home where I work.
I see WalMart as simply being the winner in the retail wars. Nothing more, nothing less. Their policies may be less than charitable toward their employees, but they provide a place for those less fortunate to get the basic necessities at an affordable price, and they do provide employment for a great many. They’re not a social services agency, they’re a retailer. I expect from them good merchandizing and good prices, nothing more.
I haven’t been to a bar since the mid-'70s. I haven’t been to a church since the '60s, except for the occasional wedding or christening. But I shop at WalMart regularly.
@the same mountainbike I feel the same concerning WalMart. There are none close to me so I don’t go very often but when I do I don’t feel guilty.
Their affordable prices are only from externalizing many of the real costs of doing business. And the costs are paid all over the globe including right at home in our own communities. Just because the negative externalities are not always easily visible doesn’t mean that they aren’t very real. The feeble attempts to constantly refer to the positives are just that - feeble - and quite narrow in view.
Uh oh…here we go!
Pretty far off topic now…
@cigroller There are different ways to run a society. In Japan there is almost no social security, so people save like crazy and live in small apartments. In France, society expects the government to provide everything; higher eductaion, health care, pensions, you name it. It requires very high taxes to do all that, but the French seem to be OK with that. But a Big Mac is about $7.50 at Macdonalds in France (all employees are unionized). Gasoline is $2.40 a liter or $9.12 per gallon. And most Frenchmen live in apartments.
French retail prices are reasonable buth they have a sales tax, in other words, a tax on consumption. If the USA had compulsory health care for all workers, Walmart would add that to its retail prices, not an unreasonable arrangement. Or the government could provide it, like in Canada, and have it come out of income taxes.
The downside of all this is that in many Paris suburbs, unemployment is about 50%, many non-French youths drop out of school, and become PERMANENT Welfare recipients. This is in sharp contrast to immigrants in the US who are very keen to work and make a better life for themselves.
In all the above cases you are transferring money from those that work and are well off to those who either don’t work (or don’t want to) or are in a very low income bracket.
A society has to provide the greatest good for the largest number if that is affordable.
My own opinion is that health care, education up to, but not including, university, and basic servcies should come out of income taxes. This puts all employers and workers on an equal basis.
Those who tout the “carrot and stick” philosophy of motivating workers don’t realize that very few get at that carrot and they seldom do so. And even the most stoic are eventually worn down by the stick and give up to stand in lines for entitlements. Can you really blame them?
@Docnick, it was a nice little lecture - about what I have no idea, so I also have no idea why it was directed at me. Perhaps though, you might think about how mini-lectures that start with “there are many ways to run a society…” really don’t have any chance of being successful at saying anything at all anyway.
At least for those not interested in listening…
I’m a little late to this conversation, but to the OP’s question, it’s not just dealerships who lie to you. One mechanic at a Goodyear shop recently told me I needed new struts on my car. I said, “That’s cool, because they’re covered by Monroe’s lifetime warranty on parts. How much will the labor be?” He said, “I only recommended the replacement because I thought they were the original struts. Now that you tell me that they aren’t the originals, they don’t need to be replaced.”
@my2cents, I don’t blame you for complaining. We regulars can bicker like school children about the most unrelated topics. It forces those of us who are interested in the original topic to pick the corn out of a lot of s#!t to find relevant comments.