is this bad customer service or am I to picky

W

who_dat73

Member
Jan 18, 2005
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Minnesota
I purchased a Radio Shack Pro 82 hand held scanner from the store in Worthington MN. on 5-5-2007 now about one month later it went on the fritz I had bought a set of RS recharble batteries to go in it and it just turns off with no reason no warning and they tell me its not charging the batt. so I ask well could it be the batteries are bad after for witch I get no not likly he puts it back together and hands it back to me after I stood there at the counter for about five Min. and much hem hawing and foot shuffling by the manager he says well we will try new bateries they could be bad. We tested them to make sure they are good and yes they have a charge and are ready to go I put them in and ran them down so I could give them a full charge and it wont charge them up. So I took it back to the store tonight and they looked at it put the batteries in this display and that display model and say well the batteries arnt charged.. So I tell the assistant manager that is helping me the whole story again when "she was standing there with the Mang. the first time we went through this." She tells me well it looks like the charger part isnt working I asked maby like a wire is loose going to the charger??? she says yea maby somthing like that. she then goes and gets a manual for the wrong one and starts to give me the once over about how long did I charge it, did I use the right battery adapter so on and so on. I have been using scanners for about three years now so I am pretty sure I know how to read manuals. I had to tell her well to begin with you have the wrong manual for this scanner she gets real huffy and storms back into the back room and returnes with the manual for my scanner. She again procedes to give me the once over so at this point I have been standing at your counter for about a half hour and am starting to get very angry she tells me I can send it on for repaires for you at wich time I tell her no how about I exchage it for a differant scanner that works so she pulls the batterys out again trys alkline batt. and tells me well it workd with these just dont use the charging function. {I bought this for rail fanning so being able to charge it in the car on the way is kinda important.} When she finally relized I am not leaving with this thing she goes to the display and takes that one hands it to me saying well this one works take this then!!!!!
I finally left after a hour of standing there with all the foot shuffling and hem hawing and just plain bad customer service and now want to know is this how Radio Shack handles all customer relations? Am I being made a fool of or am I just to picky?
 
I know companies are really getting strict on repair/replacement policies... It may be that they had their hands tied by rules they have to follow

You don't mention if there is a warranty on the scanner except that she asked if yo wanted to send it in for repair.. :( It stinks to be without a new toy - -I know - - but that may be the only retribution opened to you.

I alwyas bought stuff from Best Buy and paid for the replacement plan when I thought it was worth it.. It's saved me a bunch of times :) and yes - there are plenty of times you never use it - but it's worth it if something happens.

i used to have 3 friends that worked for RS - they have gone downhill in my opinion in the last 10 years :( :(
 
Yea I had the orignal recipt box and all the extras that came with it and the back of the recipt says a defective item may be repared or replaced within 90 days of purchase I personally think that these guys just dont care about the customer.. I also sent RS a email about this so we will have to see what they say
 
Hi...I rarely go to RS if I can help lt. They've turned into a fancy toy store and cell phone business. They know about as much of electronics as I know of organic chemistry....which is zilch...!!!
 
RS seems to be just another entry level employer anymore. Right in there with MickeyD and others. If the people who waited on you had any electronic and people skills, they would be working in the electronics industry.
 
The quality of electronics products from Radio Shack seems to be falling "into the toilet" lately. My experience with rechargeable batteries is that I don't use them much anymore except in my cell phone. When recharged a few times they all lose their ability to hold their charge. If I can use alkaline batteries in an item I do. When I go on a trip or somewhere that I'll want to take a lot of pics with my digital camera or use my frs radio a lot, I just go to Home Depot and pick up a big package of the appropriate batteries and replace them as they fail. I've found that the throw away batteries last at least twice as long as the rechargeables even when the rechargeables are brand new. I also agree that Radio Shack used to have people who new something about electronics, now they are just clerks. On the other hand I haven't seen much evidence of most major chains hiring anyone but unskilled labor to work in the stores.
 
Regardless of the policies in place, or the warranty on the particular item, it sounds like bad customer service:

1) She knew the story from being present when you initially tried the battery replacement

2) She didn't realize that she had the wrong manual.

3) She got "huffy". Bad, bad, bad.

However, in defence of Radio Shack (they are all "The Source by Circuit City" now in Canada - they carry a lot of parts/cables/adapters that you cannot find in the big box stores. If you have an earlier generation home theatre, for example, good luck finding adapters and cables that are not the latest DVI or HDMI. But Radio Shack had everything I needed, and the sales guy also knew what I was talking about.

Andrew
 
Surely there must be someone else besides those twirps? We've got at least three.

Thought I'd cheer you guys up a bit:

One day a wife says to her husband: "Tomorrow there better be something outside in a big box with a big ribbon around it and that goes from 0 - 100 in one second or else!". The husband agrees unenthusiastically....

The next morning she wakes up and sees something outside with a big ribbon around it- when she went downstairs, she found out that in the big box there was a bathroom scale- the husband is still recovering in hospital.
 
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