Everything you ever wanted to know about CompUSA computers but were afraid you already knew
Mar 30 '01 (Updated Apr 03 '01)
The Bottom Line CompUSA computers are similar in many ways to other name brand computers but this review will tell you why I don't recommend buying them or any computer from CompUSA.
As a former sales associate for CompUSA, I can relate to the frustrations of CompUSA customers who bought into the Gold service plan. I must interject here that I am not at all against buying a service plan/warranty when buying a new computer but in the following paragraphs you will find disturbing information about CompUSA computers and their infamous service plans.
The CompUSA desktop computers
These computers are designed in many ways just like all other desktop models with a few exceptions. CompUSA uses proprietary drivers for many of their peripherals. Even though a peripheral may be a brand name peripheral it is often not the exact same as one you could buy yourself and install in any computer. What this means is, you must have the software drivers that come with the computer. If you loose them you may not be able to simply download them from the manufacturers web site as you could with a retail box item from the same manufacturer.
This mainly pertains to the models that sport "on-board" graphics and/or sound. For instance, if your CompUSA desktop has an on-board ATi Rage Pro graphics chip you can't use the drivers found on ATi's web site for that chip. You must have the OEM drivers that came with the computer.
Aside from the driver compatibility issue, CompUSA desktop computers are priced in the same range as Hewlett Packard and Compaq. The CompUSA computers are probably marginally better than the Compaq computers but hardly as well designed or as reliable as the Hewlett Packards.
The service plans
CompUSA sports three options of service plans for all the computers they sell. For a short time last year they were giving the minimum plan with the purchase of a CompUSA desktop. This was a decent service plan that offered in-home repairs. The breakdown of the service plans are as follows.
Bronze
This is the lowest priced plan and comes with a choice of two or three years. The plan covers all defective parts and labor for the duration and starts on the date of purchase, not at the end of the manufacturers warranty. With this plan you get the on-site service repair and coverage for power surge, power spike, normal wear and technical support.
Silver
This plan offers the same as the bronze but adds on-line training in designated computer subjects. At the time I was employed at CompUSA this plan was priced at an average of $100 more than the bronze.
Gold
This was the plan that was most pushed by sales persons at CompUSA. People who bought into this plan were commonly referred to as "suckers" by sales personnel in the break room. The only benefit of this plan over the Silver was the offer of delivery within 25 miles of the store or an in-store setup of the computer system. That was the only extra and at the time this plan was priced $100 more than the silver.
So looking back, if you bought a computer from CompUSA and the basic bronze three year service plan was $189 but you opted to get the gold plan, all you got for the $389 (extra $200) was a couple months of "not-that-great" (all text) online training (with no tech support on training) on certain designated computer subjects that most people never used and either delivery of your system (if you lived within 25 miles of the store) or having the system set up in the store by CompUSA technicians. Not hardly worth $200 in my opinion.
CompUSA tech services
One of the appealing aspects of CompUSA and their computers is the fact that they have in-store technicians who do repairs and upgrades locally. The benefit of this is you don't have to wait three weeks while you computer is shipped to the manufacturer or a service center. Right? Wrong.
The tech service at CompUSA is a great idea but fails miserably in turn times. It often took as long as eight weeks to get parts from the manufacturer to repair customer computers. Often it would be much faster for the customer to ship the computer to the manufacturer and have it repaired rather than have CompUSA order parts and have them backlogged for up to six weeks or more.
One other interesting fact I learned as an employee of CompUSA is that they do not service their own computers in the stores. CompUSA computers are actually built by a third party company and when these computers need service, they must be shipped out to that company for repairs. When I asked the reason for this I was told that the third party company would not honor the warranty unless they performed the service. Could this be telling us that this un-named company has no trust in CompUSA tech services? Possibly, but the answer that was given to me by my then supervisor was that they (CompUSA) wanted to be sure that the computers were serviced with the utmost care and attention. That still sounds like a lack of confidence in CompUSA to me, and by CompUSA them selves.
CompUSA notebooks
CompUSA notebooks feature similar components and abilities of the more expensive name brand manufacturers like Toshiba, Sony and IBM. They cost a lot less and to an inexperienced buyer they look and work just as good. The downfall here is longevity and downtime. In the time I was employed by CompUSA, over sixty percent of the notebooks that came in for service were CompUSA brand notebooks. They do not perform as long or as good as other name brand notebooks and generally have more down time due to repairs and driver/configuration issues.
The worst part of the whole CompUSA notebook thing is the fact that the sales personnel will outright lie about the product to get it out the door. I personally overheard several associates telling customers that the CompUSA notebooks were made by the same production plant as the Sony Vaio! If you were not a complete novice in the computer world you would know this to be completely untrue. When I approached these people and asked why they were telling customers this fabrication I was shocked to hear them say that the sales manager had told them this was true. That was the beginning of the end for my term of employment with CompUSA.
Devious sales tactics
While I was employed at CompUSA the newest notebooks on the market were running about 650MHz and were of course extremely expensive. They were also very popular and sold as fast as we could get them.
A gentleman inquired about one of the latest Sony Vaio notebooks and after I gave him all the information I had on it he decided to buy one. I informed him of the service plans and he turned it down. Now at CompUSA a manager must release the boxed laptops from a locked room and sign them out in order for them to be sold. When I asked my manager to release the notebook to sell to the customer he asked me if I had sold the service plan on it. I informed him that the customer had opted not to buy it and my manager told me to tell him we were sold out of the notebook. He also told me, and I quote, "I ain't takin' a hit on my margin today, we're already under our goal for the day." So the customer did not get his product that day.
Another devious sales tactic of CompUSA is called "margin enhancement". This is when they take a list of products and jack up the price by 10 to 20% for a few days. Usually this is done with mundane items like ink, paper, mouse pads and things of that nature that really don't hit a customer’s budget that much. This is also done with new computers as well at CompUSA. If the company sets the price at $2000 for a newly introduced laptop it is not unusual to find it at certain CompUSA stores for $2250 or even higher in some cases. I overheard the sales manager telling the retail manager one day that with this margin enhancement in place, even if the customers didn't buy the service plan he would still break his margin goal for the month.
Conclusion
It may seem that I am being harsh or picky but I have no love for CompUSA after the things I saw there as an employee. My general feeling as I left the company was that CompUSA does not care about it's customers or return business. They are out to make as much money today as possible and "fulfilling the customers needs" are just words to get you to loosen the grip on your wallet. I recommend not purchasing from CompUSA. You will get better treatment and respect from Best Buy, Circuit City, Dell or Gateway. I hope this helps you avoid being taken for a sucker at CompUSA. Thanks for reading.
Gr8ful :-)
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