Radio Shack
Radio Shack is one of those necessary evils. If you need a cable or an adapter, you can either order it online and pay exorbitant shipping rates, or go to Radio Shack.
Let me detail what I hate about Radio Shack:
1. If you do not know your products, do not offer to help a customer. When I ask for 75 ohm cable, please do not direct me to cable in 75-foot lengths. I said ohm. Ohm. OHM! As in resistance, you know? I don’t give a damn about the length if the resistance value is not what I need.
2. Stop asking me for extra information. If I am returning an item I didn’t need, then process my damn return without asking for personal information. I made the purchase with a Visa, and you didn’t ask me for my phone number or address upon making the purchase, you should NOT ask me for my phone number or address when I make a return. If you do, don’t expect that information to be valid.
3. Give me my receipt back. If I return one item from a multiple-item purchase, I get my receipt back. That is how businesses keep records– with receipts. Don’t make me feel like a jerk by threatening to cancel my whole transaction worth $30 just because you won’t give me my original receipt back from a $4 return.
4. Learn the basics. If I ask for RCA, don’t show me Instrument. If I ask for Instrument, don’t show me Coax. This is simple stuff, and if you don’t know the answer, please don’t pretend like you do. If all you are going to do is search around in boxes, then spare me the trouble– I can look through the boxes much faster because I already know what I’m looking for.
5. If I clear you out on an item and ask if you have more, don’t look exactly where I found the item, and don’t look in the back. Put the SKU into the computer and check your stock. If the computer says you don’t have any, that is good enough for me.
Hopefully I got everything I need, and I won’t have to go back to this Radio Shack for a while. They drive me crazy.
July 13th, 2005 at 4:54 pm
HI i would just like to say that i have woked at a radioshack and yes they are a neccessary evil here is the problem commission we work on commision so of course we are going to try and sell you more so we can make money although if you go somewhere that they don’t work on commission they get paid hourly what do they care if they know the product we have over 5,000 products and people expect us to know every single product and they are constantly changing along with knowing like 5 diffrent cell phone services they also don’t pay us enough anyways to know every single product if you came across someone who did not know what ohm’s were then that is a rare case b/c most of us know what ohm’s are that sucks that you hate radioshack that much and i don’t work there anymore but i just thought that i should validate some of these things
July 13th, 2005 at 5:36 pm
Thanks for commenting!
I don’t hate Radio Shack *that* much– I just get frustrated with them!
I knew they were on commission. I knew a guy in high school who worked at Radio Shack. It seemed to me that he was fairly technically inept, yet he was able to rise to a management position simply because he could sell, and was willing to let them walk all over him in terms of scheduling.
My problem with the cable (ohms) wasn’t a “lack of product knowledge” problem– we never even made it that far. It was a “failure to listen to the customer’s request” problem. He kept insisting 75-foot lengths, I keep insisting that length didn’t matter, even after I pointed out the difference between the cables he was showing me and the cable I needed. It was a communication issue.
The product knowledge problems are simple not excusable. I wasn’t asking for anything fancy. The person who helped me didn’t know the difference between a RCA jack, an 1/8″ headphone jack, a 1/4″ instrument jack, and a screw-on coax connector. I mean, come on– the place is called Radio Shack, and all the products I needed were directly related to *radios*! I don’t think it is an unusual request to expect that the employees of a store should have at least the slightest clue in regards to the product that is specifically mentioned in the name of the store!
To me, it is a wonder that Radio Shack is still in business.
Mike
July 21st, 2005 at 2:34 pm
As another former Rat Shack employee, I’d like to apologize on your local employee’s behalf. Not every jackass who works at Radio Shack is incompetent.
So you know, though, the computer inventory is very, very frequently wrong, and a lot of time the computer will think we don’t have something, but we do, and vice versa. This is usually the fault of human error (patent idiocy while doing inventory, theft, returns of shit items, stock transfers, and so on).
Having worked with some incompetent Radio Shack employees myself, I know how you feel. And I’m sorry.
How Radio Shack stays in business is a mystery to me. The problem isn’t so much that they’ll hire anyone — which they will — as that whoever they have deciding what product they’re going to carry is completely off his rocker.
And I think sooner or later people are gonna get wise to the cell phone scam — i.e., nothing is cheaper at Radio Shack than it is elsewhere.
July 21st, 2005 at 2:48 pm
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
There is no apology necessary. I am sure that there are employees who work at some Radio Shacks that know their stuff.
It’s kind of funny, actually. I run this political debate site where we discourage generalizations and blanket statements like the ones I probably threw out here, but it’s really hard to complain effectively on a blog if you don’t use blanket statements and generalizations. Damned if you do… nothing to write about if you don’t.
As a matter of fact, there is one employee that was very helpful at this Radio Shack. I went in looking for a way to do yet another audio cable conversion. I had a little drawing I did with the parts I thought I needed. He asked what I was doing, and I showed him the picture. He said something like, “Oh, you don’t need to buy all these connectors. Just get one of these, and one of these.” He saved me about $8! So now, whenever I go to Radio Shack, I always try to get in his line at the register, even if he didn’t help me. He earned his commission by saving me money.
The odd thing about this particular Radio Shack is that they seem to have a huge amount of employees in rotation.I have seen at least 6 different employees at this particular location, and I always go at about the same time! Either they’re way overstaffed, poorly scheduled, or they have a huge turnover rate.
Heh… I’ll be headed to Radio Shack in the next few days– I have to return some adapters that I didn’t need!
Thanks again for stopping by!
July 26th, 2005 at 7:11 pm
Mike,
I also work at Radioshack. I want to tell you other reasons why Radioshack sucks. Beleive me, I hate bothering people upon entering the store but they make us. They also make us ask annoying questions like “Do you want batteries” or “We have lots of phones”. If you decline, they want us to annoy you even more by saying “Well, lightning could strike anyday and you never know what could happen”.
Also, RadioShack is the nosiest company ever. We get complaints all the time from customers not wanting to give out information. I just tell them to give me a false name and address so Radioshack doesnt pamper them with junkmail for the rest of their lives.
Another thing I hate that has nothing to do with you is that Radioshack is so damn unorganized. We have been understaffed for 6 months, and there reason for not hiring anyone is they dont “qualify”. What?? DO you have to qualify to sit behind a computer all day looking at websites and watching TV while helping the 1 customer come in a day with something? There are 12 radioshack stores per 10 square miles in every city, they all do shitty business. We have a guy working here fixing to quit and gave a 2 weeks notice and nothing has been done to hire anyone else. This is another point of how unorganized Radioshack is.
Also, my last bit of advice. DONT BUY ANYTHING FROM HERE. Everything here is 10 dollars cheaper at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, and any other electronic store. It’s also of better quality b/c it doesnt have the name RadioShack on it. And if someone ever tries to sell you a service plan, dont buy it, its not worth a shit. Our service center send things back half the time un-repaired or in worse condition than before. Don’t ever trust Radioshack with anything you want fixed.
KC
P.S. Sprint and Verizon suck, if you need a phone, contact Cingular, I dont care what your local Radioshack says.
August 6th, 2005 at 3:56 am
Yet again, I also work at Radio Shack. Being an electrical engineering major, I have no problem helping the customer that come in with technical questions, but the other guys I work with, one being an experienced pizza delivery man of 13 years, have no clue. Radio Shack does not pay their employees as if they know anything or even speak english. Radio Shack never has to pay me more than 5.25 an hour thanks to their wonderful way of dealing with building too many stores and creating a low volume store pay rate. The only companies that I can make money selling are Verizon and Sprint, who give me instant commision called Spiffs for each sale. Radio Shack is no longer in the business of selling radios, consumer electronics, or parts. The only thing they want their employees to sell is cell phones. So don’t be suprised when you ask a sales associate to find you a replacement capacitor for the one you brought in and they give you a blank stare followed by a cell phone sales pitch. Moral of the story is RadioShackSucks.com (a very cool forum ran by former and current employees if your interested) and avoid it at all costs. Fry’s Electonics has much better selection and prices for anything you might ever dream of wanting, so if you have one near you, go there.
August 7th, 2005 at 7:18 pm
Attention All RadioShack Haters….. Get this……RadioShack Corp has now come up with a brand new way to make certain that they will have to pay even *LESS* commission to their employees. As the story goes, the company hired another ‘business research group’ to ‘analyze’ the practices of RadioShack stores. In the case of the strip mall stores that ‘report’ came back that they weren’t open long enough hours to get the daily opening and closings done ‘properly’. Therefore, RadioShack Corp. has now made the decision that they will open the stores at EIGHT A.M. instead of 9:00 a.m., and close the stores at EIGHT THIRTY P.M. on Mondays thru Saturdays instead of 8:00 p.m., and SIX THIRTY P.M. on Sundays instead of 6:00 p.m. on Sundays. They will also open an hour EARLIER on Sundays too. I’m sure that stores with other hours are getting the hour and half hour screw-over too. So what’s so bad about that? Well think about it, People. Anyone who slaves away at a RadioShack store for a ‘living’ (HA!) works on COMMISSION. That commission is paid on the basis of HOURLY SALES DOLLARS. With the addition of an extra hour and a half over the course of the day, those commissioned sales people now have to fight off that time against their commissions since, although THEY ARE THERE IN THE STORE, BUT THEY DO NOT HAVE CUSTOMERS TO WAIT ON, and therefore have an extra hour and a half to WORK, but NOT to be able to fight for their total commission pay during! This can only benefit the corrupt RadioShack Corp. due to the reduced monies they have to pay out to their overworked slave-employees. The average RadioShack employee wasn’t doing overly well financially before this turn of events, but now they can only do worse as they literally STRIVE to eek out a commissionable salary while fighting for their commission against NON-CUSTOMER HOURS that count against their HOURLY SALES amounts nevertheless. This is typical RadioShack business procedure. Crooked and stacked against the poor schleps working for them. What a sick joke, yet oh-so typical. RadioShack Corp. is crooked every step of the way. Disgusting……
August 8th, 2005 at 1:08 am
I have a story, a story about an electronics store.
You can go in without being pestered about buying things you’re not interested in. They simply ask if they can be of help and then butt-out when you say no-thankyou. When you do need help, they’re knowledgable and courtious.
As for stock, you can find almost anything. For example, a 2N3054, 2N3055 or even an LM7808 voltage regulator. Power resistors from 1 to over 10K ohms. Need two 8″ woofers and a couple of dome tweeters for a set of home made extension speekers? They’ve got’em. How about enclosures for just about any project. By the way, you can find good quality stereo equipment, too. Not the best, but good enough for the den or if you’re not interested in high end audio. Oh, not a telephone in the whole joint, no TVs either. After all, there’re other stores that sell those things. They also have hookup wire in more than three colors, too.
You can find one of these places in every town of at least 10 or 20 thousand and within in easy driving distance, not 3 within two miles of each other, where they compete with each other.
Let us not forget hiring practices. If there is an openning and a licensed amature radio operator with 20 plus years of electronics and computer experience (me) walks in, they snatch you up so fast your mother feels it, instead of spiking your resume and hiring some moron that only knows how to use a cell phone. That way, the managers position isn’t threatened by someone who’s forgotten more than he/she knows. Of course, a good manager doesn’t have to kiss ass and be a door mat to become a manager, they aleady know more than the employee, so, where’s the threat?
“Where is this place”, you ask. You should ask “when”. It’s Radio Shack, up to about 1970. People ask where they went wrong. In this reply, that has been covered. In my never to be humble opinion, They went from a good to very good electronics hobbiests parts store to the 7-11 of the electronics industry. Think about it, they’ve only got a few things you might need at prices just low enough to keep you from mail ordering. Screw that, I scrap out things people toss out and buy on eBay and from Mouser (www.mouser.com) and MCM (www.mcmelectronics.com). They will fill small orders for the hobbiest. I just wait until I and a couple of friends have a large enough order to make the shipping worth it. That is, if we haven’t been able to salvage what we need, which is rare. I don’t even buy nickle-metal-hydride cells from these thieves, Wal-Mart has them at half the price.
So boycott that jack-ball place and hit the thrift store dumpster and yard sales for your parts and order online, anyway.
Hasta…
August 8th, 2005 at 12:41 pm
KC, John, Kitty, Palomar Jack– Thanks for stopping by, reading, and commenting!
I was wondering how all of these former and current Radio Shack employees were finding my little blog.
I dug through the logs (ok, no digging involved– Webalizer makes a nice list and I don’t even think about it). It turns out that my blog is the number one result when you search Google for:
hate radio shack
i hate radioshack
hate radioshack
i hate radio shack
I don’t know what is scarier– the fact that I am number one for all these searches, or the fact that each of them has over 100,000 results!
Good luck to you, Radio Shack!
August 9th, 2005 at 5:15 pm
This is going to be quite a graphic post, so here it goes.
First of all, not all of radiocrack’s customers are ignorant. I will be the first one to tell you. However, why do customers insist on calling and wasting my time with questions that are really useless babble?? Let me illustrate:
ME: Thanks for calling Radioshack, KC how can i help you?
A Stupid Fuck: Is this Radioshack?
(as you can see this is already an ignorant question)
ME: Yes, this is Radioshack.
A Stupid Fuck: Radioshack right?
ME: Yes, goddamnit.
A Stupid Fuck: I come up there and got minutes for my cell phone, but I told the guy the wrong phone company and I need a refund.
ME: There are no refunds on wireless minutes sir.
A Stupid FUck: Well, thats bullshit b/c I didn’t know.
ME: You are obviously a stupid fuck.
Okay, done ranting about customers, now to rant about the company as a whole. RadioShack is the most unorganized piece of shit company I have ever worked for. The store I’m currently working in has been understaffed since April. That is 5 fucking months. Now, haas anyone helped us,sent us other associates to help, or hired anyone for our store. HELL NO!!! The mall store and the other big store in the area have been hogging all of the help. They have these hiring fairs( I call them circuses) every Tuesday where they sit 8-10 pawns down and butter them up on how Radioshack is the best copmany. Those who are hired are sent straight to a mall store, leaving the other stores dry.
Another thing I hate about this company. Well, everything. EVerything in this store is so overpriced it is ridiculous. I have been constantly repremanded for telling customers about other places with cheaper prices(in other words, the truth). My district manager has told me “We don’t want customers to know about information like that”. Well, they should know info like that b/c Radioshack sucks. I can’t beleive Radioshack has the audacity to sue this website b/c so many people hate this worthless company. I search Yahoo, Google, and altavista, and everytime i search i find hundreds of thousands of websites about hating RadioShack.
O, and one more thing. Radioshack has been pro-Verizon for years now. EVerytime I say something about Cingular at a meeting that come up with this babble about verizon being the best, #1 in customer service, #1 in coverage(all lies of course). Well, Radioshack just screwed Verizon over. They are ending their contract with them at the end of the year and going with Cingular. What a bunch of dumbfucks. I hope radioshack burns in hell.
KC
August 13th, 2005 at 11:50 pm
Yes I work for the Shack and I have to say to all of you that have worked and say it is an unorganized company because your store doesn’t get help; well that is your managers fault. They are suppose to call and tell the DM or any other manager they need help and they’ll get it.
One reason people hate RS so much is because of lazy ass people that work there thinking how much the job sucks. When you feel that way, you will treat the customer bad and they will get pissed and that will make you pissed cause you don’t “need” this shit. If you went it all happy and being nice to people and helping them you will see how commission is a good thing. I make $13 an hour working at a strip mall only 6 miles away from a mall. How you ask; easy, I help my customers, never get angry with them, and they always come back to see me.
Yeah our prices might be higher on some things, I will tell the customer that but one thing they will get from the shack that they won’t from places like Wal-mart, is customer service. If I have a customer that has a problem with smoething they bought from the store I work for, I will do anything in my power to get it to work. Hell we even have a number we can call if we get stuck.
Yes I sell alot of cell phones. Sprint is my best friend in the world with the spiffs they pay out, but I only ask a customer once if they need a cell phone. If they (customers) come in with an uptight look to them I won’t offer cause I don’t need their shit for asking.
The only thing that in my 2 years of working there that makes me mad are the customers that come in and think you don’t know what you are talking about. People come in “I want to hook speakers up to my TV” me: “Do you have a reciever or something that can amplify the volume from the TV?” customer: “You don’t need anything like that you can plug them right into the back of the TV” So they will buy something that won’t work and I’ll tell them and a few days later they come in returning it. Even worse 9 times out of 10 they won’t have their receipt and want me to give them cash back. Hell no!! We have a return policy and I stick to it. I will look the receipt up from them and if they paid cash I will give it back, but by doing this yeah I need a name and all that info, cause I don’t want it to look like a stole cash out of the drawer with a false return. Another thing I hate is when a customer comes in with something they bought 6 months ago and wants to return it because they “didn’t” need it. Again policy states 30 days to return for cash back. Then they will get mad and compare RS to Walmart and how Walmart would return it.
In the area I work I have gotten use to returns and have even put on the receipt “Rent-a-Shack” For the purpose that customers will buy a camera and after 29 days return it saying it never worked when I can put batteries in it and to mu surprise it comes on and still has pictures from when they used it. Funny thing the customers are always like will it never worked for me.
So you wonder why some employees are asses to customers, well cause they prolly have some ass customers that piss them off. Or you have the employees that shouldn’t be in retail because they can’t sell anything if they tried and get pissed off cause they make so little. Look I was told when I got hired “You work for what you want to get paid. You hardly work you get paid the least, you work hard and you will be getting a good check” Now last year I made 26k for the year. Not much or not as much as I would like but still pretty good for only working 32 hours a week. It pays my bills and and I have plenty to live on.
So before some employee comes on bitching about this and that, it is prolly because they should be fired for not working or being to lazy and just looking at the computer/watching TV. Those people are what gives RS a bad name.
August 14th, 2005 at 8:55 pm
Where else will you find that hard to find item that you need for your stupid remote your child tossed across the living room? Where will you find the customer service that we provide. I have a great deal of pride in my work. If you had multiple bad visits i could understand, but all this over a return or an associate asking you for batteries, give me a break. Come to my store, and ill show you what Radio Shack is about!
August 15th, 2005 at 9:46 am
RadioShack is not so bad of a place as some people paint it. I work at a fairly slow store which, to my advantage, is next to the middle of nowhere. So we get people in always looking for phones, antennas, etc.
Yes, a lot of employees are incompitent. I work with a guy who really should not be in the business at all - he has no clue about anything except cell phones (and he’s always ready and willing to “step in” and try to commandeer when I get a cell phone sale once in a while).
But I want to make a simple observation: where else can you go for answers? The people working at KMart, WalMart, Sams, Cosco, Meijer (if you have one in your area) - they all know pretty much jack. If you ask any of them how to hook A up to B, or what does product XYZ do and will it work for me, you’ll get the blank stare.
Our driving force is to “demystify technology” - how many other electronics stores and departments can live up to that? How many of these other retail employees care about your problem and are willing to go out of their way to help you find a solution?
Yes we work on commission. Most days we only take home minimum wage. Personally I hate commission; yet when I meet the commission I feel like i’ve *earned* it.
The problem is, many employees should not be in customer service at all. They fail to realize that the reward is not the paycheck, but the smile on a customer’s face when you say, “Here is your answer.”
It saddens me that we no longer cater to the hobbyist like in the days of lore. I grew up a hobbyist, and have had to come to terms with ordering or scrapping for parts. But how many of you, even though you hate RadioShack so much, still turn to the neighborhood “Shack” when you need answers?
I may not be a suit-wearing million-dollar salesman, but I am a man who offers great customer service and who cares about his customers.
August 15th, 2005 at 10:32 am
Hiya Frank!
You make some good points, and I agree with quite a lot of it.
Some of the comments here and elsewhere on the Internet are very anti-Radio Shack, and I can understand that. Everyone has been wronged by an employer. Everyone has had a bad experience with a company. Stick a billion people on the Internet and you’re bound to find that every opinion is represented.
I still shop at Radio Shack. I look for the one guy over there who knows his stuff if I need any help locating an item, and if he is not there, I wander the store until I find the item. If I still can’t find it, I ask the salesperson to find the item by SKU number while I brows for other items, and ask them to let me know when they find it.
One problem with Radio Shack is this: Stores like Kmart, WalMart, etc. don’t claim to offer help, but Radio Shack does. They advertise it every single day in their TV, radio, and print ads. When you show up at a Radio Shack and get anything less than what they advertise, Radio Shack loses credibility as a merchant. Surely they have learned the “under-promise and over-deliver” mantra by now?
Kmart- See what’s new.
WalMart- Always low prices. Always.
Sam’s Club- It’s a big deal.
Costco- (can’t find a slogan).
Meijer- Higher Standards. Lower Prices.
Radio Shack- You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers.
I would be a much more satisfied customer if they were honest: Radio Shack- You’ve got questions. If you get a smart salesman like Frank, we’ve probably got answers. Otherwise, there is a good chance that we don’t know the answer, and won’t put forth the minimal effort to find it because the commission is too low. Do you need any batteries?
Mike
August 15th, 2005 at 5:26 pm
Honestly, if Radioshack would just do away with the whole comission thing and pay associates 7 to 10 dollars an hour plus spiffs it really wouldnt be a bad company to work for. But 5.25 an hour?? Are you kidding me? McDonalds employees make more than that. Also, you said you made 26,000 last year. You made more money than your manager. Radioshack is a bunch of nazi’s for not paying their manager’s for overtime pay. The manager’s arent like car salesman who make 1,000 dollars off of each car. They only get commission if they get a 15% gain for their store for the month. That is absurd. That is definately not a stable career. Plus, Radioshack treats their managers like shit. They expect them to work extremely long hours for next to nothing pay. If you actually do the math their working for like 6-7 dollars an hour. That is laughable. Why anyone would want to be a manager in this company amazes me. I’m quitting here as soon as I find a new job(which hopefully will be sooner rather than later). Radioshack pays me crappy and that is exactly how I work here. There is a reason that if you search “hate radioshack” that 1.5 million websites are found. There is a reason radioshacksucks.com exists.
August 15th, 2005 at 10:50 pm
KC - I used to be a manager with the Shack, back in “the day” (if I may be so bold as to use that phrase). I didn’t get paid well either, which was one of many reasons why I left.
Mike - you make a very good point yourself. The problem is not really the company however. We are required to go through extensive certification curriculum and bi-monthly product meetings. I, myself, completed nearly 2 dozen certification exams during my first two days of employment.
The problem is that many of the employees do not want to apply themselves. One of my fellow employees prefers to skip the training curriculum and “wing it” on the certification exam questions. Whereas people like me take the time to make sure they do the job properly, certain other individuals don’t want to make the effort and so they either fail or just barely get by.
It’s a sad thing that this happens. It’s almost a cycle: “5.25 an hour? well I’m just not going to apply myself and actually *work* at my job to earn more.” leads to “I’m sorry, I don’t have an answer.” leads to low commission, and finally leads back to “5.25 an hour?”
What’s even sadder though is that RadioShack is so desperate for help right now, they tend to retain their employees until the employee quits - instead of weeding out the tares from the wheat. And thus, a poor stigma is born.
Do I think they should continue with “performance-based” pay? Certainly not! An average full-time employee will only bring home about $350 per two weeks. Commissioned sales may have worked for Mr. Tandy back in the 50’s and 60’s, but in today’s world it just ain’t happening anymore.
Myself, I’m used to it. But many other people can’t get motivated off such low income. And then to be berated by managers for not meeting sales goals is just icing on the cake. For instance, my goal today for 4 hours was to sell about $450 in merchandise. Did I even come close? No. To me, it’s no big deal because I’m not money-motivated.
But I think it’s somewhat evil to pit a manager against his/her own employees because manager pay is based off employee performance.
I don’t hate RadioShack. I think that it could stand to change a few things though. Make it harder for morons to get jobs there. Stop making salespeople push merchandise so they can get a few cents extra on their paycheck. Pay managers and salespeople what they’re worth. True “performance-based” pay should be: “you’re a great salesperson, here’s a raise” and not “well, you’re my bitch now so I expect you to work hard for pennies.”
Yes, all of us current and former employees have our own horror stories about what it’s like. I’d share them all if I thought it would help change the company for the better. But it won’t. So I just go stand on my feet for 8 hours a day, work a flexible schedule against my will, and get paid pretty much minimum wage for the opportunity to assist the public with their technology needs.
It’s a job. It almost pays the bills.
I’m going to go check out radioshacksucks.com and pray to God that my store or district manager doesn’t catch me.
August 26th, 2005 at 4:13 pm
I used to work for Radio Shack serveral years back. I don’t know how people are getting away with not knowing their product. When I was hired everyone in the store was required to pass a series of tests from booklets on each section of the store. If they didn’t pass, they had to do it again until they got a high enough percentage.
Yes, there were plenty of teenagers whom did nothing but sell mobile phones, but they also knew the difference between their cables. I still remember most of what I learned from all those booklets, except possibly some of the more obscure things in hook-ups. I still get asked to help my relatives out with hooking up their electronics old and new.
I think it is entirely dependant on the management of the store to enforce this policy of knowledge as well as that of sales skill. Our district manager also made sure when each person in his stores met their deadlines they had good reason to and got bonuses for going above and beyond. What’s the point of going into a store that’s supposed to have the answers when you don’t understand the questions? If the people that run your area aren’t enthusiastica about being a good sales force over all, of course those low on the totem pole won’t be either.
August 28th, 2005 at 4:51 am
Mike (If that is your real name),
Let me begin by stating that I have worked for Radio Shack about ten years. I hate my job. I have been a regular underpaid employee, and I have spent several years as a underpaid manager. One of the reasons I hate my job so much is because of corporate. I could go on and on, believe me. A second reason I hate my job is idiot customers like yourself. Before I continue, I must acknowledge that I too must be an idiot, as I continue to work at a crappy job that I hate.
Why are you so stupid to buy things you do not need? You waste your time and the employees time. We get that response time and time again, “I didn’t need it”. Why did you waste your time x’s 2, your gas x’s 2, and the employees time x’s 2 to purchase something you did not need in the first place? I wish I could teach you people to THINK before you purchase! something.
Let me fill you in as to why we don’t give you idiots your receipts back. Many (not all) customers are theives. They steal something, then buy the same item, refund one of them, retain their receipt and refund the other. Double refund = profit for the theif. You clearly have no experience in retail. As for asking for your name and address. Well, employees can be theives too. Say you purchase something, and actually keep it(many customers love renting products…I’m sure you wouldn’t do that). An employee who is dishonest can write a false refund on that product and put the cash in his/her pocket. With a name and address on the refund ticket it discourages employees from stealing as the manager now has a means to verify the transaction with the customer. However, with you that would be difficult since you might not provide accurate information, “Mr. Smith”. Which also makes you a liar.
“Process my damn return”; this little quote says so much. Many customers view us as doormats to be walked on. We are human, just like you. Most people working for Radio Shack are simply trying to help you because you are too ignorant to help yourself. Another thing, end your damn phone conversations before you come in the store. It bewilders me how rude people can be blabing on their cell phones, refuse help, and then five or ten minutes later(when the employee has started to do something else)…okay little servant, you can come help me now. Radio Shack employees are paid to help and sell to people, if you dislike the service…quit shoping with Radio Shack.
Customers are just as dumb as the Radio Shack employees Mr. Mike. You make a fine example, you buy things you don’t need. I have had two customers ask me if we sold a DVD re-winder. I’ve had many customers say they didn’t need help, only to “summon” me a few moments later. I’ve had customers that didn’t know an item needed batteries to function. When I answer the phone “thank you for calling Radio Shack…” the first question they ask is “is this Radio Shack?”. Many customers don’t know the difference between a “male” and “female” end on a connector. Several years ago I had a customer that needed a trilithium phase inducer for his “starship”. When I told him we did not carry that type of thing he proceded to bark like a dog and run in circles. Then got on all fours, crawled on the floor, grabed a female customers leg, and motioned to hump it(the police were called). I had a customer that came in needing a battery with a “negative on it”. I got him the matching battery and he got angry because the one I gave him had a positive. I then rotated the battery and showed him the negative end. Believe me Mike, for every stupid Radio Shack employee, there are hundreds of stupid customers. After ten years you have no idea how many stories I could tell.
If you don’t like the refund process Mike, don’t purchase items you do not need. Measure the wall before you buy that phone cord. Bring in that battery you need to replace, instead of just buying one in hopes it will fit(it won’t). Repeat after me Mike, YOU MUST BE AT LEAST AS INTELLEGENT AS THE DEVICE YOU ARE TRYING TO OPERATE!. Don’t buy something you are too stupid to understand.
Radio Shack employees have enough problems bombarding us from our own company. Most of us are just trying to make a living and support our families like everybody else. Next time try and be a little nicer. The customer is NOT always right, but the customer is always the customer. I will treat a customer with the same level of respect that they treat me. Just be glad you didn’t come into my store, I’d have to point out how stupid you are for wasting your time, my employees time, your gas, extra paper for receipts, and you becoming upset, all because of something that was your fault in the first place…purchasing something you were too stupid to realize you did not need in the first place.
Gregory
August 28th, 2005 at 12:59 pm
Gregory–
Come down off the ledge, my friend, come down off the ledge. It’s just not worth it.
You missed the ball on so many levels.
First, my name IS Mike. It’s a matter of public record. I am the president and CEO of the corporation that owns the number one political debate site on the Internet, and, putting your own admission of idiocy aside, I would like to assume that you know that corporate registrations are public record.
Second, I am not “so stupid” as to buy things that I do not need. I am setting up a radio program, and it is requiring a massive amount of cabling. Have a look here and tell me that you would know precisely which cable and how many of each you would need to configure four soundcards, two microphones, and a four channel dynamics processor to allow proper mixing of two telephone lines, music, and voice to be fed into an encoding workstation. Simply put, I am in uncharted territory. There are virtually no online resources regarding what I am trying to accomplish outside the resources that I have been kind enough to make available to others (example).
When I purchased the items I returned– my sixth purchase from Radio Shack in a three-week period– I specifically asked if I would be able to return items that I may not have ended up needing. The reason for this is that I realized I was nearing the end of my configuration, and it was possible that some of the cabling was not going to be necessary. The clerk said it would be no problem, most likely because he recognized that I helped him earn commission on– repeating for the idiot– six purchases in a three-week period.
Third, there was no gas wasted. The Radio Shack at which I shop is located in the same shopping plaza as my grocery store, and as a human, I find that eating is a necessity. I walked the six stores down from the grocery store over to the Radio Shack, and wasted no gas. If, however, I had purchased too few cables, I would have had to return specifically to Radio Shack, hence wasting gas.
Fourth, the customers to whom you refer as “thieves” are what is known as a “cost of doing business.” Shoplifters are a fact of life in every retail business. Granted, you admitted you are an idiot, so you may not be aware of this. But, to infer that I am a shoplifter without any evidence aside from your demonstrated ignorance only stands to further demonstrate your ignorance.
Fifth, you are required to give receipts back. This was a cash and carry transaction. Read the law, my idiot friend. If I paid cash, and want a refund, you are required to give me cash, and I am under no obligation to provide you with any information beyond my receipt. If your return policy requires a receipt, and I have items remaining on my receipt that are still within the return window as provided in the terms to which Radio Shack and I have agreed, then your failing to provide me with said receipt opens Radio Shack up to civil litigation if I decide to return the other items and my return is refused on the grounds that I do not have a receipt. Clearly put, if you outline the terms of the sale, you must follow those same terms of sale.
Sixth, you are incorrect. I have worked retail. I worked retail in high school like all the rest of the high school retail workers. My retail days ended, though, well before the word “teen” was no longer part of the answer when asked, “how old are you?”
Seventh, giving inaccurate information when processing a return in a cash and carry sale is not a lie. It is exercising my rights as a consumer while remaining within the guidelines as set forth in legislation.
Eighth, the theory that customers use you as doormats on which to walk (”on which to walk” is the grammatically correct statement, by the way) is nothing more than your incorrect perception, most likely a result of your ten years in retail. Your attitude exemplifies this. “Process my damn return”– a phrase that I did not use with the Radio Shack employee– is accurate. See my fifth point above.
Ninth, my phone conversations end when I leave my home. I am not one of the rude people who talk on their cell phone in public. I do not own a cell phone. As a matter of fact, I refuse to talk to people who have called me on their cellphone if I discover, through background noise or simply by asking, that they are driving (unsafe) or in a public place. I have enough common courtesy as to not impose my conversation upon others, and not put others at unnecessary risk. Heck, take a look at this blog. Did I contact you and ask you to come post here, or did you do it on your own?
Tenth, I highly doubt that the “crawled on the floor” example is on the level. You have been wrong on so many levels to this point that I am confident that my intelligent readership has already arrived at this same conclusion.
Eleventh, if I had come into your store and you had tried to “point out how stupid” I am, I can assure you that your days at Radio Shack would be numbered. If you assert that you are only trying to provide for your family, you may wish to consider how your family would enjoy a father with no job simply because he was unable to remain civil with those who provide the revenue that in turn pays his salary.
Gregory, thanks for stopping by and commenting. You have exemplified what is wrong with Radio Shack. I can only hope that Radio Shack reads this and is somehow able to determine who you are, and where you work.
Radio Shack– You’ve got questions, Gregory has answers, you stupid idiot thief.
It is a beautiful day out there. Have a great Sunday!
BobOops, I meant Mike!August 29th, 2005 at 2:31 am
Mike
The only conclusion your readers can derive from your above “eleven points” is that you exibit a proclivity towards garrulousness. Your unwillingness to acquiesce your deficiencies only bolsters your arrogance. I find it equivocal, that a person having such impotent debate skills, could possibly be CEO of any company. Especially a company that owns a debate site. One on one I can surpass you with half my brain tied behind my back.
I had to laugh at your second point that you made. Tell me Mike, if you are not so stupid as to buy things you do not need, THEN WHY DID YOU BUY THINGS YOU DID NOT NEED? I took a peek at your link you provided, clearly hookups must not be your forte. Yes Mike, by utilizing some foreTHOUGHT, I could easily determine what I’d need and how much of it. This is not “uncharted territory”, I have been presented with, and overcome, much greater challenges.
I love your seventh point; “giving inaccurate information when processing a return in a cash and carry sale is not a lie.” You hand me these things on a platinum platter. Webster’s dictionary defines a lie as speaking falsely; having a deceitful appearance; issuance of false information. The fact that it is a “cash and carry sale” has nothing to do with the fact that providing inaccurate information is a lie. Its a LIE Mike. Get over yourself! You are correct, you do not legally have to provide the information. However, when you provide inaccurate information you do become a LIAR!
I am not going to correct your gramatical errors in what you have written above. There are several and I will leave it at that. You did manage to get your main ideas across and that is all I’m concerned with.
I am sorry to disappoint you Mike, but the law does not require me to give your origional receipt back. If you would like a copy of a receipt I am to provide you with a modified receipt showing the returned/exchanged/purchased items and those you chose to keep. I recomend you do a little research before you try to cite specific law; someone may call you on it.
If you happened to stumble into my store, and you were as disrespectful as you are on this page to myself or one of my employees, indeed I would point out your stupidity to you and any others paying witness to the event. I assure you Mike, my days at Radio Shack would not be numbered. Your little complaint would not have the slightest effect on my career. Your inconsequential voice lacks any thunder. A filtration process is necessary to eliminate the customers that are not good for business. You may not understand this but there is such thing as a bad customer. Customers that “rent” my products, waste my time, and lie to me, are not customers I want shopping in my store. It is a two way street my friend. You need us as much as we need you. Without Radio Shack people would be running around like idiots trying to think for themselves(many people lack this ability; i.e. YOU). Radio Shack needs customers for revenue dollars.
Since you have so much experience in retail, surley you realize that computer inventory records can sometimes be inaccurate. An employee goes out of their way to verify that they are truly out of a product and you chastise him/her for it. That provides your “intelligent readership” with some insight into your shoddy character. By the way, I find it interesting that many of your “intelligent readership” seems to be comprised of current and former Radio Shack employees….ya know, the ones that “drive you crazy”.
Mikey, Mikey, Mikey, it would serve you well to understand that the path of intellegence begins with the realization that the more you learn, the dumber you get.
Hey Mike….don’t let the door hit ya in the rear on your way out.
Gregory
August 29th, 2005 at 4:16 am
Oh Gregory, once again you are wrong on so many levels.
I am only arrogant towards you because you came here– to a site that I own– and were arrogant to me. I can assure you that it will not happen in the future. This is my site, and any comments you submit from here on out will be deleted.
My broadcast setup is uncharted territory, and I have helped several other people setup a similar configuration for their own uses. It seems they were unable to find any accurate information related to the subject.
I am replacing approximately $2,000 worth of digital audio equipment (called telephone hybrids– you don’t sell them at Radio Shack). These devices separate a standard two-wire telephone system containing caller audio and host audio on the same pair into a four-wire system that separates the caller audio from the host audio. They are essential for broadcasting telephone calls with any sort of quality. I am replacing this hardware with two $20 sound cards. I researched the heck out of it, and found no sources detailing a means by which this could be accomplished.
I highly doubt that most people would have been able to accomplish what I have accomplished in relation to my broadcast setup with one shopping list. When configuring multiple sound cards with a digital setup, there are sure to be snags. For example, did you know that, contrary to the majority of available documentation available online, two CMI-based soundcards will conflict when installed on one PC? There is no way to foresee that the provided documentation is going to be inaccurate. You have to reevaluate your plans when one card has a digital connection that you plan on using, and then you find that it will not function properly in your setup.
In regards to your claims that I am a liar, you need to realize that there is a certain amount of privacy that each person has a right to maintain. For example, you most likely used a fake email address when posting here. You also most likely used an ISP that allows you to mask your true ISP and IP address. These protections keep me from knowing who you are, and I wouldn’t expect it to be any other way. You don’t know me, and you don’t know what I might do with your information. After all, I don’t have a privacy policy.
So, when returning an unopened and unused item from a cash sale, I have every right to maintain my privacy just the same. In this case, I was not acting in a deceitful manner, which is one of the requirements for being coined a liar. I made it clear that any information I was providing was in fact false. As I said, I am under no obligation to provide any personally identifiable information when returning an item in a cash and carry sale.
The employee at the Radio Shack where I purchased the items and then returned the unopened, unused items was unwilling to provide any sort of receipt until I threatened to take my business to the Radio Shack across town. You can certainly agree, as a customer and not someone with a career at Radio Shack, that I have the right to documentation of my purchase for return, warranty, and accounting purposes. This employee was refusing to provide any documentation whatsoever. If any of the other items broke and needed warranty service, I would have no proof of purchase as it was a cash and carry sale.
I’ve returned items to other stores before. I know how the system works. For example, I purchased two chair mats from the local office supply store, along with a bunch of other Office Supplies. When I got the chair mats home and tried one of them out, I found that the quality was substandard. Sitting on the chair for more than five minutes left indentations that made rolling away from the desk impossible, and my weight is average for my height. I took the items to the service desk, and handed them my receipt. They asked me to slide the original credit card used for the purchase, which I did. They had me sign a return receipt, which I did. They then returned my original receipt to me, along with a copy of the return receipt. That is how a return should work. No hassle to me at all, no hassle to them at all. I didn’t need or want the item, and they were happy to return it in order to retain my business.
Your lack of concern for customer complaints demonstrates your lack of concern for customers.
Your accusation that I “rent” products from Radio Shack is unfounded.
I insist upon paying for what I use. But, if I have a product that I find I will not need and the product is in its original condition and packaging, I will certainly return it. Anyone who does otherwise has more money than sense.
You complained that I burned too much gas going to the store, and I shot that down. Now you complain because I ask for an employee looking to earn a commission on my sale to check the computer to see if an item is in stock?
I find it to be insulting, as do other customers I am sure, when an employee looks exactly where I removed the entire shelved stock of an item when I ask them if they have any more of the item in stock. Call me stupid (oh wait– you already did), but I tend to think that more product will not appear on the shelf in the time it takes me to turn around and walk to the counter. There is no need to look exactly where I just looked, especially when you (the employee) had no idea what I was purchasing in the first place. There is no need for you to look in the back for a product that you are likely not able to identify. Check the computer first. That is only logical.
Gregory, you attacked me from the moment you set foot onto my property. You were rude, and you were condescending, and I have responded to these qualities in kind. You have no grounds on which to speak, and as a result, I will not allow you to speak any further on my dime.
Gregory, it truly has been a pleasure discussing my situation with you. All personal attacks and enjoyable fun-poking aside, your attitude is poor. You, your customers, and your employer deserve better.
Have a great day!
Mike
August 29th, 2005 at 8:43 am
Mike, this entire thread is hilarious. If this keeps up you will have to devote an entire blog to Radioshack. I wonder if Gregory works for a Radioshack competitor.
I think we found a new corporate slogan for Radioshack though:
“Without Radio Shack people would be running around like idiots trying to think for themselves(many people lack this ability; i.e. YOU).”
Classic!
August 29th, 2005 at 9:05 am
Heh! I think you are on to something, Michael– if that is your real name.
I don’t understand why people vehemently defend a company that, by many accounts, does not deserve such loyalty.
I like your slogan, by the way. I wonder, though, if a paraphrase like this would be more appropriate:
Radio Shack– The federal government of retail consumer electronics.
It makes sense, doesn’t it? “You’re too big of an idiot to help yourself, so we’re going to do it for you– and do a poor job while we’re at it.” And, just like the federal government, we all wonder how they keep afloat!
Gotta love conservative jokes…
Mike
August 29th, 2005 at 11:28 am
Mike, watch out. Radioshack might decide to start taxing the public with a slogan like that.
August 29th, 2005 at 12:03 pm
That reminds me of a funny conversation that a couple of fishermen had yesterday on the pier at the beach.
Jaime and I were standing there taking in the sites. These two guys on opposite sides of the pier were having a rather loud discussion about fish size limits– you know, the size that a fish must be in order for you to be able to legally take it home for dinner.
One guy says, “Is there anything that doesn’t have a limit?”
The other guy says, “Yeah. Taxes.”
Hehe!
August 30th, 2005 at 3:04 am
Mike,
All of this I have read you have downed every Radio Shack and every employee. I am an employee and I am truely sorry you had such a bad experience at a store. With that I have to say I agree on some things Gregory said. We have BAD customers too!! Story Time: Guy walks in I greet him at the door, ask how can I help you, he shows me a cordless phone battery, I get the new battery for him 23-193 and take it to the counter, ask if he needs anything else and he says no, I tell him the price and he gets out a check and starts to write, I in the meantime bag the old battery up and put it in the recycle box, when I get back to the customer the check has $4 on it, so I ask do you want to pay the rest with cash, he looks at me like I am stupid and asked how much it was, I told him again, he then ask me where I was from and I told him and then he said and I quote “Well that most explain it” after I ask him what he meant he said I didn’t know how to talk right b/c of where I am from.
First on my three years of retail, I have never been told I talked so slurred that you couldn’t understand me. I was beyond mad, and what did I do…..I asked him to leave the store because that was uncalled for. The customer beside him told him she heard me just find. plus the battery was over $12 dollars so to hear 4 I have no clue how he could have.
Now the store is meant to show one customer can ruin a day for a SA and in turn give another customer a bad experience. It all started from what……A CUSTOMER!! Where I work people do treat the employees as doormats. They come in say they don’t need help refuse to listen when we say something doesn’t work and then gets pissed that we can’t take a product back because there is no packaging or receipt.
On your little giving false info on a return find whatever do as you please, but I know giving back the receipt as had to change where I am at for one purpose. People came in bought something, returned it, kept the receipt, went to another store stole the product on the receipt and returned it again. As you say “That’s retail” very true but do it enough and the doors close for good. If you have enough returns the store will be making no money and guess what no more Radio Shack for you to complain about….but wait where can someone go and find that cable with that little end that goes to those other two ends???
I work everyday with people not knowing what they need, what the name is, or how to work something; I work hard to give great customer service and feel I do a good job at it, but when I get customers that come in with a chip on their shoulders and refuse to be helped and then yell when they can’t return a used product I ask myself why bother with such people. I then come to sites like this and read people complain about Radio Shack employees and how none of them know what they are doind and how rude they are. I feel if I can just change one person’s mind; I have done something right. Radio Shack pays me well enough I can leave on my own, have a house payment, a new car payment, and everything else, and still have enough to buy whatever I like. So to the employees saying they get paid shit; you aren’t trying hard enough, you are the reason for these sites not the corpartion. Try hard and you will make more. Someone in a strip store made $16 an hour. Yeah a STRIP store not a mall, because he works his butt off and knows what he is doing.
August 30th, 2005 at 8:49 am
Now that was a breath of fresh air. See how easy that was? You disagreed without being disagreeable, and that is all I can ask. There was no need to call me stupid or insult my intelligence like Gregory did many times over.
I haven’t downed every Radio Shack and every Radio Shack employee. I haven’t been to every Radio Shack and I haven’t dealt with every Radio Shack employee. As I said in comment number four, generalizations are required for interesting reading when it comes to blogs. After I said that, I went on to detail the positive experience I have had with one Radio Shack employee in particular. He saved me money, and he saved me time. He knew his product, and he earned his commission. I offered praise to this particular employee, and I continue to show my appreciation through continued purchases.
I am sure, as you and Gregory said, that there are bad customers. In the case of your particular bad customer, RSEmployee, I would have to say that he ventured past the threshold of “bad customer” and into the realm of “bad person.” There is no need to criticize someone for that which they cannot control, such as this customer did because of your accent (I assume you have an accent from the content of your comment and if I am wrong, I apologize). I am a Midwesterner who lives deep in the South, and so many of the people down here consider me to have an accent. Sure, I don’t say “y’all” and I don’t speak with the typical Southern drawl like a large portion of my city, but “different” does not equate to “stupid,” in my case or in yours.
As I have said before, I am under no obligation to provide any contact information to return on an unopened item, accompanied by a receipt, when the original sale was a cash transaction. Your contention is not with legitimate customers, but with thieves. I am not a thief, and I do not condone stealing.
I am, in reality, an ideal customer for Radio Shack corporate. I come into Radio Shack and, nine times out of ten, know exactly what I need. I buy high margin items (cables), and I take up very little of the salespeople’s’ time. All I ask in return for my business is good service.
I don’t “yell” at the employees. I remain calm, but firm in my requests when I know I am in the right. I have no “chip” on my shoulder, and have even admitted in comment number four that a Radio Shack employee has helped me simplify my setup while saving me money. That is hardly labeling all Radio Shack employees.
You don’t need to change my mind, RSEmployee. I am sure that you do a fine job, and many others like you do as well. At the same time, I am sure that you recognize that some Radio Shack employees do a poor job, and those employees are the ones who are the subject of my complaints.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting in a civil, constructive, and calm fashion RSEmployee!
Mike
September 1st, 2005 at 12:49 am
About the return policy and having to ask for your information, this is what I have to say. The store I use to work at, we had an employee great with customers, sales was through the roof but every morning when I would go through the past days recipts I would see a few return tickets that he rung up and some line for the customers sig. At first I let it go, cause he was a good salesman. After about a month of seeing this and all the receipts not having a contact number to call I started to worry that he was up to no good. Well I ended up getting our L&P in on it and we put a camera up and recorder and didn’t tell anybody and sure enough after a few days the video showed he went pulled a random receipt from a few days back and return nothing and pocketed the cash. This is why we ask for you info, you save our ass. The manager, DM, and the main corpartion looks at these receipts and if they see a receipt that say has a false address it comes back down on the employee, even if the employee did nothing wrong it still looks fishy and that is all it takes. Cash transations are, IMO, the one we need most to take info from customers cause it is easy to steal from internally. A credit card return would be almost impossible to fake since you have to have the oringinal CC number. So again the only reason we ask for info is so the company knows there is no internal theif. I use to work for a office supply store and they asked for info only on a cash transaction.
September 1st, 2005 at 9:56 am
Very interesting thread. Interesting how “Gregory” flew off the handle right off the bat, making useless and stupid accusations. I wonder how many times he had to use a thesaurus on his second post… I noticed that his writing style changed.
I just have one observation: if Gregory is so smart, why is he still at RadioShack after 10 years?
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:01 am
okay guys, all of your complaints are really good points, but I have a point about radioshack that will literally take your breath away. I’m sure all of you have heard about hurricane katrina. i am in the mobile, alabama market, but we are in the same district as the mississippi market. katrina struck at 6:00am on monday morning. radioshack had its employees working sunday until 6pm. that is bullshit. by the time you got off of work, most stores, gas stations, were closed. radioshack cares about nothing but money. there will be some motherfuckers burning in hell for the people who died in this storm because they couldnt get off of work on time. i find it disgusting that radioshack would have its people working that late 12 hours before a catastrophic storm hits.
also, about the stupid customer, 95% of radioshack customers are legally retarded. if you answer the phone “thanks for calling radioshack” the customer response is “Is this radioshack??” also, many customers like previous posters have said, do not listen. if you tell them that your out of somethng, they dont beleive you. i had a lady ask repeatedly the other day if we had a tv/vcr/cd/dvd combo. after telling her no 5 times(literally), i finally quit listening to her, she got mad, left the store. call it poor customer service, i call it being a dumbass.
December 16th, 2005 at 11:28 pm
RS Employee in the right direction. There are Many good and Bad things about rs,but lets look at the REAL Factor. Its the Particular STORE, Not the Entire Company. For example. If you date Someone, and that person turns out to be a Flop, is the Entire Opposite sex Bad? So then is it fair to brand an ENTIRE Chain on a Bad Store? Yes RSEmployee is Absolutley right with names and addresses. and its NOT just Retail. Go to wal-mart and return something, Name and Address. go to ANY Major Retailer, Name and address. Are you a Spy? are you Hiding something? it takes 10 Secconds to capture it, AND IT DOESNT EVEN GO TO THE MAILING LIST!! Only Names and addresses Captured into the OPT In List Get Flyers. RadioShack CHANGED that 2 years ago. Yes lets face it, Radioshack is not what it was 20 years ago, but then, the World is MUCH diffrent also! Parts dont sell that well anymore. Cell phones are a HUGE Business For radioshack, and For ANYONE who thinks that radioshack Offers phones to everyone… YOU ARE ABSOLUTLEY CORRECT! Why? Well Let me tell you why.. ITS OUR JOB! Most People come in Looking for advice on Something they may or may not have purchased there. If the Manager hires competent People, then You get a Good answer, some advice and time. Our people are PAID on thier Time. So Every minute you talk to them that you are not Buying something, YOU are taking Money from thier Pocket. I will bend over Backwards and do handstands for my customers, as long as you treat us with respect. Treat us like Crap, and you will Get Crap. You have a Legitimate Problem, Great Lets solve it.. You have a Complaint about a $.15 Resistor. Great Lets Replace it. You have a 2 line Desktop phone From 1987 That you want replaced with a new one and Threaten to call the better business Bureau and Call me an A$$hole because i cant sell it beacause its older than my Employees?? Im Calling Security! Also, with the dudes with the 75 foot cable experiance… Sorry… There are Just some employees that just dont have a clue. And its absolutley True. the harder you work for your customers, the More $$$ you make. ITS NOT EASY, and its NOT FOR EVERYONE. ITS SALES! Plain and simple. And to the Gentleman with the 20 years with Ham radio Equip, Come to my store. Ill Hire ya. Its all about the manager and the DM. Everyone has a horror story. everyone has a Gripe about something. Im here to say Im sorry if someone at radioshack has pissed you off.., But be Pissed at that person, or instance, or circumstance. Dont hate EVERYONE at RS because of it. Jeesh. If i hated Every customer that Came in with a attitude, I would not be able to stay in business. But Customer service is what Radioshack is about. MAYBEE not the store near you, MAYBEE Not even your District. Come to my store. Ill treat ya right.
December 17th, 2005 at 12:13 am
RSManager, I’m sure you treat customers right. There are good employees and bad employees, as in every business.
Get this– I’ve probably been to this Radio Shack about 10-12 times in the last eight months or so. I have *never* been offered a cell phone, or anything related to a cellphone. Is that strange or what?
And on a totally unrelated note, I see that Radio Shack is now selling Skype hardware. Interesting idea. If Skype continues to grow, it could be really good for both companies.
I checked out the hardware (online). The $10 starter kit looks pretty barebones. The next option up is about $40. I’m kind of surprised that there’s not a $20-$25 choice in there too– either an integrated mic and headphone, or maybe a very stripped-down handset (not usb, just a speaker and mic that grandma can hold like a phone).
The one place I really think where the ball was dropped is prepaid Skype cards. The odd thing about Skype is that while it is owned by Ebay, and Ebay owns PayPal, Skype’s payment process remains an absolute mess. There is a constant flow of topics at Skype’s forum because Skype’s payment system, in an effort to combat fraud, doesn’t seem to like credit cards. Heck, one of my credit cards was denied, and I use it online all the time, and I’ve used it at other online stores plenty of times since.
Prepaid Skype cards make so much sense, for Skype at least. It allows people without credit cards to purchase. That means that a huge portion of the under-18 market opens to them (some kids already have credit cards for some reason). It could also make credit card purchases easier, too. There would probably be a lot less credit card fraud for retail sales than online sales. I would imagine that running a stolen credit card number from behind a computer screen is different than walking into a store with security cameras to steal $10 in phone calls. You’d have to be an idiot to use a stolen credit card.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
December 20th, 2005 at 5:19 pm
Well, I realize this blog is months old, but I really felt I should weigh in here.
I am a manager at Radioshack. (It’s one word, Mike. One.)
It does suck. It also doesn’t. Everyone has valid points and counter-points on this.
I try very hard to help my customers with whatever it is they came in for. I don’t go into the “pitch” unless I feel the timing’s right, but I do do it. The way I see it, you came in, I helped you, that gives me the “right” to offer you anything I damn well please. It’s not like I called you at home during dinner. If you don’t like it, then don’t come in. When you tell me no, I let it go. That’s your “right”. However, the (and here’s one of those broad generalizations we should be avoiding) truth is, most customers are incredibly stupid at some point in their relationship with us. Not every customer, and most of them not everytime, but at some point they all come in and do something infuriating. It’s enough to make you want to scream that you wish their parents had never met.
Example. I have a customer that’s fairly intelligent. Actually worked at RS years ago, and they even paid for his schooling. He’s now an engineer for the city. Nice guy, but a bit of a blowhard. Not to mention he has made it perfectly clear how “stupid” he thinks I am for continuing to work here. Nonetheless, I always try to help him out, even though on numerous occasions he has taught me more than I have him. That’s fine. Anything I can learn is just one more thing I’ll know next time. Well, last week he comes in with an elderly gentleman who needs a new cellphone. Now, this customer is usually in for parts, cables, the stuff you were in for Mike. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to him about phones. He had one on his hip everytime he came in, and that was good enough for me. However, this time’s different. His friend needs a new one. I look up his account to see what pricing he’s eligible for (cellphones are a subsidized world, and despite what 98.7% of the customers spout about how they should get a deal because of their “loyalty” to wireless company X it DOES NOT work that way). Well, he isn’t eligible for jack. This isn’t my decision, or Radioshack’s, but Sprint’s, and they say he hasn’t been a customer long enough to recieve any special pricing. This puts the older gentleman in the position of either paying full retail ($150-400) or dealing with whatever his issue is until he is elgible. So I decide to see if I can figure out what the issue is with his current phone, and whether it’s something that could be fixed some other way. Well, Former RS dude decides I’m trying to scam the guy, and begins to fight me every step of the way, calling my motives into question, then my knowledge. Well, you know what? I know a good deal about cables, impedence, computers, connectors, and just about every other thing in the store, but the one thing I am the ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY on is wireless phones. Not so much for the $$$ RS pays, but because I simply have a passion for the damn things. I think they’re cooler than all get out, and I LOVE to sell them, read about them, LIVE them. People like you (no offense) who don’t own one and think they’re the devil make me shudder, but hey! To each his own.
Anyway, come to find out this guy’s “issue” is that he’s getting up there in years, and the buttons aren’t big enough. He’d like one with bigger buttons, and barring that, he’d like one with voice-activated dialing. Well, two problems.
1. They don’t make ‘em with bigger buttons. The one he has already has bigger buttons than any of the current models in Sprint’s line-up.
2. It has voice dialing. Now, there are two kinds of voice dialing. Speaker independant, and speaker dependant. The latter requires you to record the person’s name, then associate it with the phone number. Only problem is you have to speak naturally when you record it, then say it in a similar fashion when you use it, and the human tendancy is to pronounce it like you’re talking to your “simple cousin”.
“Call MIK-e” is a good example. That doesn’t work, and I can already tell this guy’s too old to put up with it. Lucky for him he has speaker independant voice dialing on his current model, which means the program figure’s out who you want to call based on how you entered the text in the phonebook entry. Much better, and much more reliable. Unfortunately, FormerRS Dude is not shutting up long enough to let me explain that I’m not trying to sell him a new phone, just show him that his old one is already the best one for his needs. Finally, the only way to do that is to get “mildy” rude. I did this by finally looking at the guy and saying “Listen, I can tell from the other 15 times you’ve been in here that you think you’r smarter than me, but I assure you, I know more about this than you ever will, and I can show him how to do what he needs.”
To his credit, he sht-up and let me talk, thus saving his elderly friend buying a new phone.
My point? There are many, many stupid people working for RS. I’ve got one now that’s probably not right for the job, but she’s so freakin’ sexy I can’t bear to let her go. I gurantee you there are plenty of people out there with horror stories about the shack that directly involve me, but that doesn’t mean I’m not good at my job, or don’t know what I’m talking about. Another problem (and again, I’m not directing this towards YOU specifically) is that many times WE know what we’re talking about, but you don’t, but you’re SO sure you do that you won’t listen to reason. At that point I’m at a loss as to what I can do for you. If you don’t like my answer then why did you ask?The people who want an adapter for thier 8mm tapes to play in their VCR (doesn’t exist and never did) or who want the “cable” to hook their DVD player’s composite up to their TV’s rf (as a “cable” guy I’m praying I don’t have to explain the issue with that to you) and SWEAR they don’t need a modulator, they all make life at the ’shack pretty damn hard.
Top that off with a corporate structure that doesn’t seem to know it’s ass from an iPod (they’re getting better, and there are many fine people in Ft. Worth, it just seems a lot of BAD decisions get made) and you’ve got a recipe for bitter employees who don’t care. I’m not one. I care, and I love Radioshack, but it’s a little like my mother, who recently retired from teaching after 27 years. You care, and you enjoy your job, but as the years crawl by, and you see a growing trend that appears to imply people are simply getting more and more stupid and selfish, and it makes it difficult.
Sorry you had a bad experience. I’d like to say there’s no excuse for an employee not knowing the difference between feet and ohms, but unfortunately…no. You know what? That just freakin’ stupid. They should know. Even “sexy” would know that. Geez.
Lastly (I think. I’m on a bit of a roll here.), I truly don’t agree with you on the name and address/reciept issue. It’s true, if a customer insists on having their reciept back, I mark through the item they returned, write “returned”, and initial it. Then I give it back to them. I write “customer kept original” on the return slip we have you sign, and that’s that. Not company policy, strictly speaking, but it makes everyone’s life easier. The address thing though? For God’s sake, let it go man. It is not that big a deal. I don’t care what you say, and after reading some of your earlier posts, and at least as far as I can tell (I’m not a lawyer, obviously) there is no law saying we can’t do that. Our refund policy clearly states we do, so where is the issue? Wal-mart does it. I’ve even had them photocopy my DL. Whatever though. If you don’t wanna provide that I can’t make you, but if it’s a credit card return, and you are OBVIOUSLY making up the information, and you’ve ticked me off or caught me on a bad day, I’ll damn sure ask to see your liscense and take it off that. Got to “verify” you’re the card holder. Cash I might have less of a leg to stand on, but sometimes it’s just fun to screw with people.
Anyway, I know this was a few months ago, and I’m glad it didn’t sour you on the whole RS experience, but honestly, I enjoy my job, and I think anyone who doesn’t is not right for it. I’d recommend they look elsewhere. As one poster said, “McDonald’s pays more”. Then why aren’t you AT McDonald’s?
December 21st, 2005 at 4:32 pm
Anyone have any stories about employee theft?? I know of a radio shack employee who has been doing a lot of stealing and would like to know their procedure for handleing that and if they prosecute….
December 21st, 2005 at 7:31 pm
Yes, I do. Call 1.800.826.3915 and report them!!!
December 26th, 2005 at 1:52 am
radioshack is garbage
for the people who like radioshack ur a bunch of fools . i used to work for them and then i quit . the best decision i ever made . we were trained to rip the customer off ,and we did it well . this company has a 90% turnover rate , i wonder why . if the manager isnt stealing then the employees are . ive been through 5 managers and all were crooks . one is being indicted right now for federal identity theft of 53 people . (customers ) all the applications you people filled out for a credit card . well they were being sold . you give 18 yr old kid your credit info and what do you think he does with it . what about illegal selling of phones to dealers . , and you cant make 500.00 a day in radio shack . you would have to sell 35 cell phones and all on new accounts to make 500.00 . it aint happening . i sold 22,000 for radioshack in 4 days and my paycheck with incentives and bonuses were 600.00 . before taxes . this company not only takes returns from customers , but they turn around and sell the same item working or not to the next customer for the same price . imagine being a manager and not being paid overtime , or not being paid for coming to work on your day off . i worked in a radioshack that fired a guy for stealing , but later took him back because he was a salesman that knew how to sell to customers in spanish . now hes a manager . all you thieves out there , go to radioshack for a job theyll hire you as long as you can sell . fotr the customers who dont know where our product knowledge comes from its , a set of books tht are given to every employee to read and the answer the questions , if you fail then your manager cheats for you so youll pass . what that means is there is no experience its just 15 minutes of product reading then you graduate and start selling . you got questions ,then go to someone else besides radioshack for answers
December 27th, 2005 at 12:07 am
I just began working at Radio Shack and am beginning to feel the frustration as an employee. I just recently learned that I do not get my hourly + commission! When I was hired the situation regarding hours or commission pay was not explained to me, it wasn’t until I noticed my paychecks were not reflecting what I had calculated. Also, when I was interviewd, I was asked if I would be willing to work overtime, again it was not explained to me that I will not receive time in half, only my commission. Everyday I go to work I feel depressed, everyone clings to each customer that enters the store, making the moral worse. I have tried to apply at many other jobs and have not been successful. I looked for work for several months until RadioShack hired me. I thought it would be a company worth working for, instead I find myself dreading the mornings when I have to go to work and praying at night for a better opportunity to come my way. I was online tonight searching anything about RadioShack and came across this site. It’s refeshing to learn there are others who think the company stinks! Now I am stuck working at this hell hole until I find another job. I am suppose to start my MIT (Management in Training) classes in January………the saga continues. I will continue to visit this site for inspiration. Signing off…
December 30th, 2005 at 12:40 am
I am a MIT at the shack and let me tell you. DONT DO IT! You become the managers bitch. You will spend hours off the floor doing his paper work or going to other stores doing 1010s. Its so not worth it. If you are at a mall store stay where you are. The only reason why the MIT program is remotly good is the training you do get to become a manager ina real store. So here is my advice. if you care about your paycheck DO NOT become an MIT, if you want the experince then go for it.
As far as the pay + commision, ya that wasnt explained to anyone that i know. I have to explain that to them after they are hired.
Also to all you anti shackers. Come to my store and I will treat you right. I don’t sell I recommend and give you info. However if you dont want to learn then don’t come in. If you do, your welcome.
December 30th, 2005 at 10:30 pm
As a RS employee, my apologies to all who have had a bad experience. Don’t hate on the company - every salesman in every store in every district is different from any other. Personally, I do everything I can to help out my customers AND I don’t cram phones down their throats - I don’t have to. Granted, I’m guilty of pissing the occasional customer off. Mostly - it is the customer getting upset because: someone told them lies to sell them something and I get stuck with telling them the truth about it, I can’t refund their year old item, I can’t send their item off to repair for free that has an expired service plan, or I can’t replace their ran-over cell phone for free.
Yes, the pay isn’t great… but in my impoverished area there isn’t much better.
January 6th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
I worked for crap shack for a year. i worked from november 2004 to november 2005I will never recommand anyone to work for this company! Working in the store isnt that bad, each employee has their own way of selling. Their are some stupid people that work their. Working at Radio Shack isnt that bad, i had some great managers and some crappy ones to. The big problem is Corporate Radio Shack. The DM’s, and everyone above that person. Radio shack is sneaky though, they will fire you for if they dont like you and accuse you of stealing! I didnt mind working their, but the pay trully sucked!
January 6th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
First I would like to say I am a former manager at Circuit City, Just kidding, I was a manager at Radio Shack. I would like to say first to the ones who are still working there and dont like it you can leave the same way you came in. I left cause all the crap you guys are talking about the pay sucks I was working over 80 hours per week as a manager, and I told my DM he can take my keys and shove it. Now all shacks arent bad I still go there to get things. The employees do need more knowledge but remember all I think how much has changed since I worked there 5 years ago. Yes idiots come in there and they go welcome to retail or anyother job dealing with people. Mike I do agree it is annoying to ask the info but I had a friend who LP thought was stealing beacause he had one day were 5 returns they wouldnt give him name and add. Lp called me and questioned it luckly My DM was in store when it happend. So I mean just remember they are just tryen to safe them headaches. Now the company as a Corp can goto hell. I think it is great they are being sued by past employees. Also its funny all the top Dm started to bolt after all the lawsuits happend hmmmmm wonder if they knew they were doing somethin wrong.
remember if the you are walking and shit flys out of the sky on your head you just benn radio craped on
January 7th, 2006 at 10:34 am
I’ve been at Radioshack for alittle bit now, and it didn’t take me too long to realize that I wanted to get the hell out and find something better soon. Ever since the hiring process i felt like their stupid little puppet that they could toss around. You think they will hire just anyone? Well, you’re right! In fact, they’ll grab anyone with an in-store referral even if they aren’t familiar with electronics because the people before saw how crappy of a job radioshack is and bolted away! I also feel that I was undoubtedly gyped in aspects of my training that was key to my job’s main function at the damned store. Maybe I won’t go into details about that, but i guess the problem was that i was just taking my managers precious time away from drunkenly flailing around at work.
The managers couldn’t give a rats ass about the employees and talk trash while the whole damned company merrily hobbles its way through unorganized decisions. I was apart of one of those poor, poor decisions, and i’m not the only one who got screwed over.
Radioshack is one big joke, and I’m splitting my sides laughing at the sheer fact that they hired me! Thanks, Radioshack, for giving me what little money i can squeeze out of your crooked pockets and the American people. You’re the joke that always gets old but never goes away.
January 8th, 2006 at 4:48 am
January 7th 2005 New York
Hello,
Today my husband and I bought two new phone well I guess we upgraded we each had $75 credits because we had our sprint phones for a year. So we go through the song and dance and I pick phone and then my husband is like well I should just get a new phone too. After spending most of our Saturday at the RS store I come home and I am looking at what I think are the pictures they program in the phone. I am in the downloadable section and go to screen saves and hit the ok button and what comes up, but a pornographic picture of a women being penetrated by a mans arm. I am in shock show my husband and check out the next 4 screen saver. All are graphic pictures of male to female penetration. The last screen saver of a women being penetrated by a man while having oral sex with another women. I am in shock. I am thinking how this could happen there must be glitch. So I call the store and the sales women apologies profusely and tells that the phone was not cleared when it was returned, I guess retuned during that 14 day window. She tells me they have another phone, “I say is it new” no. I tell her I want a new phone so it’s being ordered from another store. It is now 4:20 am and I am up and I am very angry. Not so much about the porn because its (kind of funny in a way I guess my friend thought it was funny) or the other inappropriate stuff that was downloaded but about the fact I bought a phone why would it not be new!! I am going in there to give this woman a piece of my mind she is a liar. Like I would want to spend $180 for phone that some else had and who knows how they treated it i.e. dropping it and what not. And then after 90 days or when the warranty ran out it would be my problem. In my eyes this is fraud and is wrong. Shame on that sales women and Radio shack to sell me a phone for full price and then and give me the impression it was new. I plan on writing a letter to Sprint and Radio Shack and the attorney general. I plan on making a stink when I go to pick up the new phone. My husband and I should just return the phones we got and take out business else ware. The sales women said she could clear it out for me so it would be stripped of the last owners stuff not good enough. Does Radio shack do this will all of there products? And are most of there phones sold as new but really used? If anyone could give me some input it would be great. I feel as if I should be compensated for this, because this should of never happened.
Thanks,
MMK
January 11th, 2006 at 9:22 am
Meighan, I have worked at RS for over 3 years. The phone should not have been sold to you like that… Radio Shack policy is …any phone being returned, even in the 14 day trial, needs to be sent back to repair to be cleared, and it comes back as a “reconditioned” phone…
Like most rules though, this is one often ignored to make money. I have also seen associates sell phones that have been brought back, instead of sending them off to repair.
January 12th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
a close friend of mine who works for radio shack is about to be wrongfully terminated. can anyone give us some advice
January 13th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
Being a former radioshack employee, I have thoroughly enjoyed spending the past 45 minutes reading this blog. I disagreed with many of the radioshack policies, but what I hated most was dealing with the retard customers each and every day. I need to hear some more funny petpeeves of shack employees dealing with dumb customers. Here are some of mine.
1. Me: “thank you for calling radioshack, how can i help you”
Retard Caller: yea, is this radioshack?
no, as a matter of fact, its not. I just say radioshack to fool you so that when you do go to the radioshack and ask an associate “yea i was the one who called a minute ago”, everyone looks at you like a fucking idiot.
2. Me: hi, can I help you?
Moron: yea i need some plugs
Me (directing them the the parts draw with plugs)
Moron: no no, i need it with the wire
Me: oh, so you need a cable
Moron: no I need the plugs
jesus christ, why waste my time with imbred fucktards.
3. Customer: i need a charger for my phone.
Me: what kind of phone is it?
Customer: its a sprint phone
Me: yea, but whose the phone manufacturer
Customer: i told you, sprint!
ok you degenerate, sprint is the service provider, not the manufacturer of the physical phone. I mean, have you ever wondered why your phone also said either “samsung”, “sanyo”, “motorola” etc. on it? didnt think so. so please spare me your shitty attitude when you have to repeat yourself. Its not because I didnt hear you say sprint, its because you are a complete moron and didnt answer my question. now go play in traffic.
Next, Im tired of people complaining when we dont stock something that YOU think we should have. “you dont have it?!? This is Radioshack, youre supposed to have everything”..No, you are wrong..we dont carry many things, including sledgehammers, which i could use at this point.
Also, spare me the grief when I can’t explain to you which capacitor or which resistor you need. they dont pay me enough to even make a remote attempt to learn about that shit, so dont bother. Youre 97 cent missed sale will not affect my paycheck, nor will I lose any sleep.
Note to Parents with small children: Please keep your rugrats under control when in the store. I am not a babysitter, nor a maid. Im not devoting any time to cleaning up after your kid terrorizes the store by knocking over displays and tag holders. Leave them in the car while you ask me to change the battery in your $800 watch, to which I will kindly decline.
ok well that is all for now folks. Ive actually become angered a tad while writing this, so Ill take a break. I