Radio Shack Consumer Reviews - Page 4

ROSWELL, GEORGIA -- On 01/18/2010 I have purchased a CLEAR wireless modem at Radio Shack store. The reason I did not purchase it online at Clear.com, because my home address was showing as non-covered area. My neighbor has CLEAR; so I decided to try, maybe it will work. I explained the situation to the sales representative at Radio Shack and specifically asked him if I can purchase the devise, go try it and if it does not work bring it back. He told me yes it is possible and I have 8 days to return it. He was a new employee by the way.

The devise we purchased did not work and I took it back to the store. The supervisor told me that if I would read the receipt I would see that I cannot return it to the store; I have to call CLEAR and return it directly. I refused to do so because that is not what I have been told at the time of purchase. She called the manager and unfortunately she could not help me as well. She said that she personally trained that employee and he knows about the return policy. So I end up with waiting another week until Clear wireless will receive my package.

I'€™m very unhappy with this kind of business practice. I think it is misleading customers just to sell something. If I would not ask specifically if I can bring it back if it does not work, I would not complain. Now I am trying to cancel the service because it does not work the way it is advertised. I was surprised to find out that I have to pay $120.00 cancellation fee. Never before I was told about this even though I asked if there is any cancellation fee. It seems like Clear is trying to make money in very unfair way. The lie is their main strategy. Is this a good business practice? Is it fair to the customer? Is it lawful to lie, to mislead?

My son purchased a new blackberry 8520 from the Radio Shack in IL. While in the service there close to his base. They suckered him into buying the protection plan on his phone. The blackberry phone retailed for $50 he paid $359 and another $124 for the insurance. Five days later phone became damaged. He took it into store, they mailed it in and unbeknown to him they replaced it with a downgraded refurbished phone. After several hours on hold talking to many reps they realized they sent him the downgraded phone.

They asked him to mail the phone back and promised to send him another. They received the phone on 12-4-09 and have yet to return a phone to him. I had to add him to my phone plan Verizon so he could be in touch with his commanding officer while on leave for thanksgiving. I can't even begin to say how frustrating this entire situation has been and the way they have treated us. To make it worse I explained my son was shipping out on 12-9-09 to San Diego and would be heading overseas and if we could not get a phone before he left we would be unable to get it to him thus severing our only chance of communicating with him.

They obviously have no regard for our service men and it is truly disappointing. They did not seem to care about the urgency of our situation. Everyday that I called they would place me on hold for 57min at a time and come back with "oh we have no notes in your file because our system hasn't been updated." I insisted they issue a cash credit so he could get a phone before he leaves at another Radio Shack store, but they have refused to help us. FYI do not purchase anything from Radioshack especially their "no Hassle protection Plan". It is a consumer ripoff.

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA -- I stopped in your Santa Clara RadioShack to purchase a cellphone recorder only to be told that there is no such thing. It was funny because I just saw one in the Camarillo store the day before. After arguing with the clerk and his unwillingness to even look online to find one for me, I keep looking in the store and was able to find it.

After I purchased the unit I passed by the counter where there was two different KVM units. One was priced at $29 and the other one at $9. I wanted to make sure that the USB one I needed was the $9 unit. I confirmed it with the clerk and even asked why the USB unit was priced lower than the PS2 unit. I expected that the PS2 unit would be on sale but the clerk assured me that the USB was the $9 unit.

When I got to the register to purchase the USB KVM the price I was being charged was $29 plus tax. I brought that to the clerk's attention and at that point he turned me over Crystal that was outside on her cellphone. She seemed to be upset that I interrupted her call and had to come in to help. After researching the tags on the shelf she found that the sales price was placed over the wrong item. Even after I explained the situation in being assured that the price on the USB KVM was $9, she stated that did not matter and there was nothing she could do to help.

I asked if there was a manager that I could talk with and she said no and too bad that they had made a mistake in marking the KVM unit with the wrong price“ but she could and would not do anything about it. At that point I returned the cellphone recorder on return # 830960 and let them know that due to the poor service that I would never purchase anything from RadioShack and would do whatever I could to relay this story to anyone that is ever thinking about purchasing anything from RadioShack.

I work at a RadioShack and just want to say that some of the stuff on here is rather correct. Except I did see a review saying that a woman purchased a laptop for 700 and the employees pocketed some of her money. Never experienced anything like that.

One thing I want to get off my chest that is frequently experienced, RadioShack is NOT TECH SUPPORT!!! DO NOT call RadioShack if your computer isn't work, if you can't figure out how to work your GPS or phone or whatever. There is a number on every product for you to call for support. We don't get paid extra to walk you through an install guide. So, have a little respect for us, for once.

Yes we're here to serve you in store, but once you're out, you're on your own. That's not just RadioShack, mind you. That's EVERY store you'll ever go to. Buy your stuff, get out, done. The store doesn't care about you anymore. As mean as it may sound, it's true. Get over it and call tech support, deal with the wait.

Unless you get a RadioShack Protection Plan (RSSP) don't bother coming in asking to get something fixed. It'll most likely cost a bundle to get whatever you need repaired without the plan. Go to a real computer store. We are not experts. We never said we were experts on electronics. I work here because the economy is terrible, I work three jobs, all pay minimum wage, and I don't get ahead at all. Whatever. Either way, if we don't know, we don't know.

There's a site called Google you should check out before whining to us. Now for stuff you may like to hear. Sprint is BS. They screw their customers more than any other phone company. And at Radioshack, yeah you'll get a cheaper price but Sprint locks us out a lot because they want you to go to a real Sprint store. Our phones ARE cheaper. You'll get the same everything that you would if you went to an AT&T or Sprint store, only much cheaper. So, activate your phones here. That part is true. But do so with AT&T. Best rates.

If you're still reading bravo, I doubt many will even see this, I'm typing on the POS system now so I'm venting as well. Buy AT&T, get Protection Plan, don't call us for tech support, we are not experts, never meant to be employees at RS, get crapped on worse than a lot of other retail stores.

They don't care about their employees one lick. The bigwigs never worked in retail, they just get out of business school and read statistics and breathe down our necks. But that's part of our job so we do it. But, our job doesn't concern answering your phone calls about how to install Drivers. Probably more, but done for now.

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE -- Okay, so I recently read some reviews on here of how people say "don't buy cell phones from Radioshack," but I must say 99% of these statements are incorrect. I myself work at Radioshack in Concord, NH and find that a certain percentage of my customers, no matter how many times I explain them something, choose not to listen or simply cannot grasp anything I'm explaining.

As far as cell phones go, the policy is we activate it and you have 30 days to return it. After that you're stuck with it. Not hard to understand as far as I'm concerned. When you sign up for a phone and we read you the terms and conditions, actually READ them. There's a reason we have you do this so we don't have you come in 6 months later all upset you can't return your phone. Understand I'm not against customers, but this is common sense to me.

Now as I was saying, when you activate a cell phone there's what's called an EARLY TERMINATION FEE. This means if you for whatever reason decide you don't want service with AT&T/SPRINT/VERIZON then you must pay an early termination fee to cancel your CONTRACT. Be sure you look carefully over everything so you don't have questions later. An early termination fee can be $100 or even $300. Radioshack is ONLY responsible for your phone. Which means we can return the phone WITHIN 30 days and you can get your money back. But after that it's yours to keep.

We AREN'T responsible for your early termination fee. That is between you and the cell phone provider. I just wanted to take the time to explain this to everyone because Radioshack actually has cheaper prices on phones than the cell phone stores themselves. And we do our best to provide our customers with the best possible service we can give them.

OREGON -- I worked for Radioshack for 2 yrs, 1 yr as a manager. The managers have to work a min. of 55 hrs a week, and never get out on time. They also have to work 6 days a week. Now if the sales are not that good, they don't sell a certain amount of cell phones, they are told to stay later by their district manager. The managers are paid salary and do not get paid any extra if they work 50 hrs or 80 hrs, the only commission the manager gets is for the cell phone sold which isn't much.

There are some districts that the managers are told that if an employee does not sell a cell phone in 3 weeks then they have to replace them and find someone who will. The managers are expected to teach their employees how to offer and are expected to offer accessories for the item you are purchasing, batteries, a cell phone, service plan, and a Radioshack credit card.

Some managers are stricter than others. Some managers are great at customer service however reading through some of these posts the managers could have made better decisions about accepting returns. Radioshack.com does suck, because if you have to return it for any reason they will not let you return it to the store, you have to send it back then wait until it is credited back the same way you paid for it, so if you paid cash your sales associate put it on a gift card and they will put it back on that gift card, hold on to those gift cards.

I took my 1 weeks (that is all I have earned for working 2 yrs) vacation while I was on maternity leave, however because I quit before the end of the year I do have to pay a portion of it back to Radioshack, so working 11 months for them I do not even get 1 full week of vacation.

HUMBLE, TEXAS -- On December 20th 2008, I went to the local mall in Humble, TX and bought a Casio Exilim Digital Camera from RadioShack on sale for $199.99, reg. $229.99. I was looking for one in a particular color (plum) and when the sales associate told me that they had the last one, I opted to purchase it right then and there.

Well, when I got home I opened up the package to insert the SD card, I noticed that the camera was black, not plum. Thinking that this was a simple mistake, I called the store and told them what happened. The sales associate then checked her computer and found that they didn't have any plum colored cameras in stock.

So I went ahead and went to another RadioShack on 1st Street and informed them of the situation. They looked at their inventory and found that they only had one left in stock, but it was a display item. I looked at the display camera and surprisingly it was in good condition. So I decided to go with that.

In my mind (or anyone else's for that matter) this transaction would have been a simple exchange, right? Wrong. The sales associate told me that he was unable to give me the sale price because the sale was over. When I asked him to clarify he just stated, “the system won't let me and I will have to charge you for the difference.” (An extra $30 + tax.)

Right then and there, I should have just asked for a return, but I was thinking that it was Christmas and my mother was really looking forward to getting a camera and blah, blah, blah. So I caved, but not before asking if they would give me a discount because if was a display item and of course, they said no. So I bit my tongue, forked up the $30 and went home.

Funny thing… the more I thought about it, the more I felt I got scammed and the more I felt scammed, the more pissed off I got. Why should I pay an extra $30 for an employee error? It doesn't make any sense. What it all comes down to is that RadioShack took advantage of my situation and made an extra 30 bucks off of it.

So I returned the camera and found a reputable retail store that is offering the same item for much less, in stock, and brand new. As far as my return experience, the Radio Shack manager was rude and very short with me, slamming the keyboard keys with his fingers as he did the return. I was treated like as if I was a huge inconvenience and after it was all over with, the manager said to me in a degrading demeanor, "Here, you can have the bag." Merry Christmas RadioShack! We know where your heart is!

I work for Radio Shack, and for the most part, I like my job very much. However, I HATE having to sell extended warranties (aka RSSPs). We are paid a pittance to begin with (minimum wage). Many people are under the impression that Radio Shack employees are paid by commission, which is partially true, but even the BEST employees get only about a 30% pay raise for all of the 'sales' we get pushed to do.

On the products that we push the most (things where contractual obligations are involved), our managers are under a great deal of stress to make sure the store as a whole sells x number of y. RSSPs are one of the areas that we are pushed to sell a lot of. Between that and credit card applications, cell phone sales, satellite TV sales, and batteries, we're basically supposed to do an impossible task of offering all of these things to each person.

If you don't realize it already, I'll let you in on a little secret. RSSPs are a ripoff. Period! Official statistics from ourselves (Radio Shack) says that 58% of RSSP cost to the consumers is pure profit. Radio Shack doesn't give a damn about its employees, and they don't give a damn about you, the consumer, either.

Here's some other infuriating information for you to ponder: if we do what's in the consumer's best interests, we're fired. If I tell you where to buy something for less than what we have it for (which is too much, almost without exception, for everything). If you don't want a cell phone, but you'll buy one due to what we tell you, we're obligated to sell you one. With the economy as tough as it is right now, I don't think that I'll leave Radio Shack right away. But I'm definitely not going to play Radio Shack's perverted playbook any longer. Do society a favor and complain to your local Radio Shack about their exploitative compensation packages and highway robbery.

HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS -- I am a manager for a very big clothing retail company. The last thing I would ever do is tell an upset customer, who has just lost access to almost $300 of their money, that they are rude. That is exactly what happened to me after buying a $250 Zune unit from Radio Shack. I asked for a split transaction, which in today's retail is quite simple to perform.

The girl working said she messed up and had to process the whole transaction on one card in order to void it afterwards. Come to find out the money that transaction still got put on hold in my account. With bills unable to be paid, I contacted the store to get answers. I asked for a manager and was told by an employee named, David, there was no manager available. I asked when a manager would be in, he responded saying, "Maybe later."

He gave no time to expect the manager. I asked for a phone number to contact the District Manager. He told me I was rude... Yes, insult has been added to injury. Without shouting or cursing, I was rude. As I mentioned, I work for a retail company, this would get any employee a write up; even if the customer had been loud or insulting.

To wrap it up, when I got in contact with a manager from another store, I was told I would have to drive back to this mall (four cities away) and take time off from my work to have an assistant manager credit my account. I would have to go out of my way to get my money back due to the mistake of an employee at whose store I spent $250. To finish it off, when I tried to issue a complaint through the company, I was refused a District Manager's phone number and the company's website has no option to comment on customer service. How's that for a review?

CLEBURNE, TEXAS -- I went to the RadioShack store in my town on 2 separate occasions looking for an odd AC adapter for an indoor fountain. I brought the adapter itself in the first time. The manager whose name is Chris, took a look at the adapter, looked through his various adapter plugs and stated he didn't have anything that would work. He then went on to the next customer. Okay that wasn't a problem as I figured I would just have to keep looking.

A month or so later, I came back in with the actual fountain piece that the adapter plug would fit into. Once again, I was "helped" by Chris. He pointed me to the various adapter plugs he had on one wall. He said if I didn't find a plug that would work, then I would have to just check elsewhere since they didn't have what I needed. Well I didn't find anything obviously and went on my way. Once again, no harm, no foul. Tonight was a completely different story though. I went into the store again for something different but this time my boyfriend was with me. Chris was the one who asked if we needed help and my boyfriend told him what we were looking for.

After finding what we came for, my boyfriend mentioned to Chris that he was looking for an adapter for a tabletop fountain. Chris went to the adapter plug wall with my boyfriend to help him find the correct plug. I went out to my SUV and got the adapter that I had brought in on my previous visit so they could find an adapter with the correct voltage, which they did. Then Chris proceeded to go to a big storage unit within the store and search for the right plug for the adapter.

He looked for about 10 minutes and came up with a plug, but since I wasn't sure it would work with the fountain, I went back out to my SUV again and got the part of the fountain I had brought in before when I was by myself. Amazingly the plug that Chris found fit perfectly.

He spent about 15 minutes with my boyfriend to make sure he found what he was after, yet when I came in with the same exact requests and same pieces in hand on 2 different visits, I was quickly sent on my way without anything more than a cursory look at the parts. I am looking for the Customer Service Number for RadioShack tomorrow. It may do me no good, but I don't appreciate being discriminated against because I'm a female.