And also why no one takes Amex :P

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 10:57 AM, Petri Laihonen <[email protected]>wrote:

> Additionally, Every time you dispute something with the credit card, no
> matter how small of an amount, the seller have to pay penalty fees. 10yr.
> ago they were $25. today probably a lot more.
>
> This is why smaller businesses prefer to work with you instead.
>
> P
>
> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 9:37 AM, Tim Fournet <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> One piece of advice that I have for situations like these, is to always
>> keep a credit card that has purchase protection, and make large purchases
>> using that card. So what if the interest charges are high, pay it off as
>> soon as you get home. I've had to deal with similar problems with
>> non-tech-related purchases where the store refused to honor their own return
>> policy. After calling American Express and explaining the situation, I was
>> not required to pay the balance for the purchase and then I just had to
>> figure out what to do with the merchandise. Thanks to Craigslist, I turned a
>> profit on the whole thing.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 8:36 AM, Mark A. Lappin <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> I've had similar experiences with BestBuy;  got the laptop I wanted to
>>> purchase, it was whisked away to the GeekSquad to be checked and I went DVD
>>> hunting.   Go to check out and they just assumed I wanted everything
>>> installed....so that was a fight.   For a variety of reasons, I went back
>>> about 3 hours later to return it (the person who insisted that he leave town
>>> with a laptop that day, didn't like it, didn't even look at the computer,
>>> just the box!).   Had a 2nd `nice' discussion with the manager when they
>>> wanted to charge me a restocking fee on an opened product, which I had never
>>> even taken out of the box.
>>>
>>> ML
>>>
>>>
>>> Mark A. Lappin, CCNA, MCITP: Enterprise Administrator | Lee Michaels Fine
>>> Jewelry
>>> Director of Information Technology
>>> 11314 Cloverland Ave  | Baton Rouge, LA 70809
>>> Ph: 225.291.9094 ext 245 | Fax: 225.368.3675  | Mobile:  225-362-2770
>>> www.lmfj.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> This communication is privileged and confidential.  If you are not the
>>> intended recipient, please notify the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all
>>> copies of this communication .
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
>>> Behalf Of Edmund Cramp
>>> Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 2:14 PM
>>> To: '[email protected]'
>>> Subject: [brlug-general] A cautionary tale
>>>
>>>
>>> Yesterday I needed a 64-bit machine running Windows 7 - I looked around
>>> on-line and found a cheap little Lenovo laptop at Office Depot for $399 -
>>> OK, so I'll get it and swap it out with the sales demo machine once I'm done
>>> testing the 64-bit installers that I'm writing and my daughter can have the
>>> old laptop (a Toshiba running Vista) for Christmas.  New machines all round
>>> - everyone's happy.
>>>
>>> It looked like the local (Millerville) Office Depot had the Lenovo in
>>> stock so, five minutes later I'm up there, credit card in hand.  Turns out
>>> they did have it, but it was the floor model - they jumped on the phone
>>> (nice folks there, very helpful) and they found on at the Cortana Mall store
>>> and sent me there.
>>>
>>> I get to the Cortana Mall Office Depot, introduce myself (I should point
>>> out that I'm wearing a new pair of dark jeans and a t-shirt that says, "Go
>>> Away - or I will replace you with a very small shell script") and after five
>>> minutes the manager turns up with the laptop, boxed and ready to go.  I hold
>>> my hand out to take it.  He doesn't offer me the box and the conversation
>>> starts;
>>>
>>> OD: "What are you going to do with this machine?"
>>> ME: (thinks, "none of your damn business") but sweetly, "I'm writing an
>>> installer and I need to test it in a standard 64-bit environment"
>>>
>>> OD: "It this Business or Home use"
>>> ME: "Business"
>>>
>>> OD: "You'll be needing a copy of Microsoft Office then"
>>> ME: "No Thanks, I just want a standard machine without any other
>>> software"
>>>
>>> OD: "What about editing documents, you'll need a copy of Word"
>>> ME: (thinks, "When did EMACS go out of fashion?"), No thanks, I just need
>>> a basic machine."
>>>
>>> OD: "What about Outlook for emailing?"
>>> ME: "No thanks, I just need a basic machine - nothing else."
>>>
>>> OD: "This system has no Anti-virus software, you'll need Anti-virus
>>> software"
>>> ME: "No Thanks, I won't be connecting it anything - look, can we just
>>> take it as read that you've tried to sell me all the software that you're
>>> required to try and sell me, and that I've refused to buy anything?"
>>>
>>> OD: "We are required to tell you all of this when you buy a system - if
>>> this is for business then you'll need a copy of QuickBooks"
>>> ME: "No thanks, I just need a test machine without any additional
>>> software"
>>>
>>> OD: "We offer a service to setup the computer and install all your
>>> software"
>>> ME: "No thanks, I don't need anything other than the operating system."
>>>
>>> OD: "We can set the computer up for you and remove all the bloat ware and
>>> unwanted software"
>>> ME: "No thanks, I can do that"
>>>
>>> OD: "If this is for Business then you'll need the extended warranty"
>>> ME: "No thanks, I don't need an extended warranty"
>>>
>>> Buy this time we've crawfished over to the register and he hands the box
>>> to the girl at the register who smiles at me and says, "Cool T-shirt"
>>>
>>> OD: Loudly, "Fetch me the LIMITED 14 DAY WARRANTY labels" and then to me,
>>> "This machine only has a 14 day warranty"
>>> ME: (Thinking WTF 14 days!), "Why such a crappy warranty period?"
>>>
>>> He sticks their standard limited 14-day return policy label on the box -
>>> that's standard, they've done that for years, and says, "We don't make these
>>> machines and at this price we limit the warranty to 14 days"
>>>
>>> I think to myself, "If I can't debug the script in two weeks than I need
>>> another job."
>>>
>>> So I paid for it and left the store, never to return to the Cortana Mall
>>> Office Depot store - EVER.
>>>
>>> And getting the laptop back to the office, inside there's a little thank
>>> you note from Lenovo with a card saying that I have their standard 2 year
>>> warranty.  It boots, it runs like a charm ... unlike my 63-bit installer
>>> script - but that's another story.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Edmund Cramp
>>> --
>>> Motion Lab Systems, Inc.
>>> 15045 Old Hammond Highway, Baton Rouge, LA  70816 USA
>>> Tel: +1 (225) 272-7364 | Fax: +1 (225) 272-7336
>>> Web: http://www.motion-labs.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> General mailing list
>>> [email protected]
>>> http://mail.brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> General mailing list
>>> [email protected]
>>> http://mail.brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> General mailing list
>> [email protected]
>> http://mail.brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> General mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://mail.brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net
>
>


-- 
"The world's my oyster, a hotel room's my prison cell..."
_______________________________________________
General mailing list
[email protected]
http://mail.brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net

Reply via email to