Canada Computers Boxing Day AD

[Kevinck]

The new Waterloo location seems to be great. I haven't tried to return anything but the service has been great and nothing has been defective so far.

As an aside, i'm often suprised at how much responsibility people expect computer stores to take. For the most part they are not selling their own products. They are just providing the consumer with a storefront to buy other people's hardware. If i buy an ASUS motherboard and it turns out to be defective, why should that be the problem of Store X where i bought the item? They never opened it. It should be ASUS's problem. People seem to EXPECT any purchase they make to be 100% insured against defect and even their own stupidity. Yet they dont' expect to pay any more for that insurance.

Sure i understand that if a store has a very agreeable return/exchange/refund policy then it promotes consumer loyalty but it does cost them money and can even lead to exploitation. Just look at how we abuse Staples 150% pricematch :-)

[OS44]

The new Waterloo location seems to be great. I haven't tried to return anything but the service has been great and nothing has been defective so far.

As an aside, i'm often suprised at how much responsibility people expect computer stores to take. For the most part they are not selling their own products. They are just providing the consumer with a storefront to buy other people's hardware. If i buy an ASUS motherboard and it turns out to be defective, why should that be the problem of Store X where i bought the item? They never opened it. It should be ASUS's problem. People seem to EXPECT any purchase they make to be 100% insured against defect and even their own stupidity. Yet they dont' expect to pay any more for that insurance.

Sure i understand that if a store has a very agreeable return/exchange/refund policy then it promotes consumer loyalty but it does cost them money and can even lead to exploitation. Just look at how we abuse Staples 150% pricematch :-)

The 150% policy is not abused if used with legitimate PM's, just because people use it a lot doesnt mean its abuse. Afterall, it's thier policy and they should honour it. the policy is good because staples has HIGH prices, if they didnt, people wouldnt PM

[felix]

I'm curious if you've had positive experiences with exchanges, though.

I did. Once in Kingston and once in Markham (PacMall). The guy in Kingston was really nice .. bought a modem for my old computer and I couldn't get it to work and they gave us full refund without restocking fees or any hassle at all.

Then in PacMall I got an exchange for a defective cheap Aopen wheel mouse ... after some hassle and proving to them it was really defective I finally got a new one. That new one also ended up having the same tracking problem .. so I was convinced they are just all like that. Same with the 2 silver HP optical mouse I bought from TD, and the other 2 HP ones from the keyboard bundles. Guess these clones will never be as good as the original Logitech mice.

[codex]

The 150% policy is not abused if used with legitimate PM's, just because people use it a lot doesnt mean its abuse. Afterall, it's thier policy and they should honour it. the policy is good because staples has HIGH prices, if they didnt, people wouldnt PM

Some people abuse it. No doubt about it.

[felix]

Is Canada computers reliable? It states on the ad that you are unable to refund on Boxing day. Does that mean you can refund/exchange the day/weeks after?

Haven't had experience with them myself, but from what i heard they're not as good as Staples or FS rebates, but not as bad as TD.

[MrDisco]

went by there on boxing day at around 1. the mall itself was (relatively) empty. in fact it was less busy then on most normal days when i go there. CC though was nuts. they had a line wrapped around the side of the store..and frankly i'm not sure why. i didnt see any super deals there that i couldn't find elsewhere in the mall.

[seanster]

I've returned only three items to canada computers. I bought that XDRUM mp3 player for my nephew and one of the buttons wasn't working in a reliable manner. I figured I'd have a 50/50 chance returning it. I'd bought it at pacific mall and returned it at the Kitchener store on the 24th. I just had to convince one guy that it wasn't working right and they exchanged it with no further hassle. I was asked if I wanted money or another one.

About a year and a half ago he wanted that cheap buslink one (which turned out to have the separate fm radio). I hated it and luckily the usb didnt work on it. I bought that in Kingston and returned it at the college street store. It took a while for the tech guy to go thru all the troubleshooting, but eventually he was convinced and I exchanged it for a decent apacer model. I was also asked if I wanted money or another one.

My first one was maybe 10 years ago at the kingston location, a bad hard drive. The tech guy (not Wes) was a jerk and wanted all afternoon to test it. Aside from costing me more in time than the drive was worth, they did exchange it.

I think the further away they are from Gordon and head office, the more likely you will be treated well.

On boxing day I picked up a couple of those $25 canon refurbs based on the recommendations here. At first I thought I was ripped off. It took a while, or a number of self cleanings before they printed black and the other colours okay. After that I went back and got another one at the $30 price.

A few of the boxing day items I bought were priced wrong in the computer. They were priced without the 3% discount. I mentioned it and they just added a 3% discount on the invoice screen.

The visionplus pci satellite tv card is a wicked deal for $70 bux. Repointed my sister's old dtv and had tv going in a matter of minutes.

[DragonZealot]

People seem to EXPECT any purchase they make to be 100% insured against defect and even their own stupidity. Yet they dont' expect to pay any more for that insurance.

You seem to have a funny logic here. So you buy something to find out that it is defective and you tell yourself too bad I did not pay the "100% against defect" insurance so I have to live with this piece of garbage?

When I buy an Asus mother board from FS I dealt with FS, not Asus. I really don't care whose fault that make the product defective. It could be Asus, XX cargo who shipped the board from Asia, YY courier who moved the board from the warehouse to the store, Intel who provided the chipset..... Who are you going to blame??

When you return the mother board to the store they do not eat it, they return it to the manufacturer and yell at them to keep up with the QA. There is some cost in administration involved which is built into the cost of the merchandise. This is retail business 101.

[intx]

There is some cost in administration involved which is built into the cost of the merchandise. This is retail business 101.

That's just the thing, I don't think there is very much of that in CC, which is why they don't offer the service much.

[Topher]

Have you ever exchanged anything?

The rule of thumb most people say is: If you buy something from CC, don't expect any exchange/warranty service after from them, only from the manufacturerer's warranty. If you follow that rule, you'll be fine.

I'm curious if you've had positive experiences with exchanges, though.

I bought an Asus A7V400 from the Waterloo CC. It never posted, so I finally determined that all the other components were fine, I took the MB back. (This is about 5 weeks later), they just exchanged it for another without any questions. That one has worked like a charm. I have and will continue to buy from the Waterloo store.

[!nf!n!t3]

You seem to have a funny logic here. So you buy something to find out that it is defective and you tell yourself too bad I did not pay the "100% against defect" insurance so I have to live with this piece of garbage?

When I buy an Asus mother board from FS I dealt with FS, not Asus. I really don't care whose fault that make the product defective. It could be Asus, XX cargo who shipped the board from Asia, YY courier who moved the board from the warehouse to the store, Intel who provided the chipset..... Who are you going to blame??

When you return the mother board to the store they do not eat it, they return it to the manufacturer and yell at them to keep up with the QA. There is some cost in administration involved which is built into the cost of the merchandise. This is retail business 101.

... indeed

[Kevinck]

You seem to have a funny logic here. So you buy something to find out that it is defective and you tell yourself too bad I did not pay the "100% against defect" insurance so I have to live with this piece of garbage?

When I buy an Asus mother board from FS I dealt with FS, not Asus. I really don't care whose fault that make the product defective. It could be Asus, XX cargo who shipped the board from Asia, YY courier who moved the board from the warehouse to the store, Intel who provided the chipset..... Who are you going to blame??

When you return the mother board to the store they do not eat it, they return it to the manufacturer and yell at them to keep up with the QA. There is some cost in administration involved which is built into the cost of the merchandise. This is retail business 101.

Of course there are other factors to what I was saying. FS charges a bit more (call it a pseudo 'insurance') and has a hassle free return policy. CC charges less and has a 15% restocking fee. I get to choose which one I purchase from and i'm happy. And remember that even if the store has a crappy return policy you're not stuck with it. You just have to deal with the hassle of a manufacturer's warranty.

It's the same way I veiw OEM components. AMD cpus for example. OEM costs less and has a short warranty. Retail costs more and has a long warranty.

[Scorponox]

I bought a bunch of stuff at the Waterloo store on Boxing day and it would not boot up. After they tested it, it was determined that the MB was dead out of the box. They offered to give me money back or wait for a new one (apparently Socket 939s MB are hard to get right now)...I'm still waiting, but hopefully it will be here by the end of the week.

[KennyX]

I bought a bunch of stuff at the Waterloo store on Boxing day and it would not boot up. After they tested it, it was determined that the MB was dead out of the box. They offered to give me money back or wait for a new one (apparently Socket 939s MB are hard to get right now)...I'm still waiting, but hopefully it will be here by the end of the week.

Seems like the Waterloo store is pretty decent then... So I guess it's just the College St. and the Pacific Mall locations that should be avoided?