FutureShop Sucks
Emailed to service@futureshop.com
on September 5th, 2007:
Dear FutureShop:
I went into the Peterborough, Ontario Futureshop to buy the $749 HP laptop on the front page of your flyer. It was the first day of the sale. I wanted to just get in, get the laptop, and go - in and out of your store in 5 minutes, you know?
But, your computer tech told me that all of the machines had been "set up" and they had no "un-set up" machines in stock. I had two choices:
1. Pay another $100 and take a set-up machine.
2. Wait one hour while they un-set a previously set-up machine.
I asked the tech what he does for $100. The response I got was along the lines of "lots of stuff...recovery, firewall, webcam..." It was painfully obvious he had no idea what he was talking about. I'm guessing it's one of his colleagues who does the setting up...Whatever. I told him to just give me a "setup" one for the $749 and he reacted like that was the most ludicrous thing he'd ever heard. So, I fairly lost it and demanded to see the manager. The manager showed up and within a couple of minutes, magically located a factory-sealed box for me which is impressive since you apparently didn't have any of those.
I'm trying to keep this short because you already wasted enough of my time in the store. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I'm pretty sure it's not classy to extort extra dollars from your customers. That's a despicable tactic. You - FutureShop (and by relation, Best Buy) are very, very bad, and if your Peterborough store were one of my children, I would spank it so hard it would walk funny for a week.
Stephan Hoppe
In all seriousness, to help you assist me, I'm going to give you one piece of information right now for free. I'm pretty sure the person I spoke to at the store was your mother. I mean, he kept saying: "Would you like the extended warranty? I'm Gabe-from-customer-care's Mom!"
You're a jerk, Hoppe. And I am going to beat the shit out of you if you ever show your face in New Delhi.
You're a jerk, Hoppe. And I am going to beat the shit out of you if you ever show your face in New Delhi.
JJ
Future Shop is owned by Best Buy.
Prices vary between them, they will price match.
Future Shop sales reps are on commission, Best Buy reps are on salary. My experience is that Best Buy reps are far more honest.
The sales reps don't always stick to their "home" department, so the guy you are talking to about a Laptop might be an expert in Plasma/LCD tvs but know little about computers.
Extended warranty is their "profit gravy" so be careful at this point. Ask questions!!!
Never buy product with damaged packaging, have come across situation where the product was being sold as new but had a slip in the box from the repair centre!!
We are drawn to this retailer by the prices and most of us don't like dealing with them but as always BUYER BEWARE! BUYER BEWARE! BUYER BEWARE!
You westerners may be used to extortion over there in Alberta, but here in Ontario, yes - the same Ontario that is the engine of the Canadian economy, the same Ontario that is the reason there is any Canada worth noting at all; here in Ontario, we like our cows "un-mad" and our Futureshop employees docile and honest.
engine of the Canadian economy, eh?
So why are so many of you Ontarians moving out West?
How many auto plants be operational in 10 yrs? Canadians do good work but Americans design crappy cars. Value of our dollar ain't helping either.
Keep electing Liberal & NDP governments and Ontario will become the new "Newfoundland" of Canada and Alberta oil revenues will be paying your EI!!! Don't like the sound of that, maybe Alberta get divorce from Canada!!
You guys still buy Beer from the Government, how 60's Trudeau era is that? Still think we should all be able to buy beer at Gas Stations, speaking as a passenger not a driver!!
Toronto Maple leafs.. why does such a consitantly bad team get so much press? They haven't won since 1967, that was before I was born and that a looong time ago...
Let the East vs West war begin!!
If you truly valued our business, customer service would reflect a more proactive and comprehensive approach to addressing issues. The time to deal with problems is immediately, not days, weeks, or months, removed from the situation. At least one local business has the right idea when it comes to customer service. If the customer is not satisfied with decisions made by sales people or management, they can request to speak with head office any time during business hours. The store knows that head offices approach to dealing with all matters is, solve the problem in the customers favour, end of story! Consequently, the attitude disappears, and the customer is not additionally inconvenienced by being made to wait for a solution. Another proactive approach to customer service would be to test the integrity of the individual stores by using secret shoppers. If head office made themselves aware of the true nature of the way customers are treated by individual franchises, customer satisfaction might actually mean something instead of meaningless hype. Not all sales people are unknowledgeable, untrained, argumentative, rude, or have a poor attitude, but many are with the high turnover in staff nowadays. We know the stores are not acting without some complicity from head office.The boxing day fiasco was a perfect example of how far corporate greed will push the envelope for profit. Bean counters may be necessary to corporate strategy, but customers pay everybody's wages.
I can fully understand how you feel about Future Shop.
I myself, and some of my friends, had not very pleasant experiences with Future Shop. I can assure you that I will not set foot again in Future Shop. But then, why should I. I am perfectly happy with Staples.
Klaus (Kingston, Ontario)