CompUSA: A nice place to visit, but when you BUY, buy from Dell or Gateway
Aug 02 '01
The Bottom Line Buy your computer software and supplies at CompUSA, but be very careful about buying an actual computer there; look to the major mail-order retailers for that.
CompUSA is all over the place today, and like Best Buy, WalMart, Circuit City and a few other places, you can buy your computer there. There are two big draws to buying at a place like this:
(A) You can SEE and FEEL what you're getting in the way of a computer, and
(B) If it doesn't work right you can take it back easier than messing with a mail-order computer company.
But if what I have seen in three CompUSA stores is typical, the average computer floor salesperson is only about C-level in knowing (or at least in sharing) computer information compared to an A-level person you will get if you call a computer company's 800 sales-line number and talk to a representative from Dell or Gateway or IBM (Or APPLE- later edition), etc.
Let's say you want a new Pentium with plenty of RAM, a big 'ol hard disk full of untouched gigabytes, a 250 Meg Zip Drive and a CD-ROM drive and a CD-RW ROM drive. The typical salesperson at CompUSA (or another computer superstore) will say, "What you REALLY need is a DVD drive...it's the latest thing and you can watch a movie right on your computer".
Hey, that's what they are trained to tell you, Joe (whom they presume is dumb) Consumer. What they don't tell you is that 99% of all people who watch DVDs today watch them on a DVD player hooked up to the TV, and that there are virtually NO practical applications for a DVD player on ANY desktop or laptop today. A mail-order computer salesperson will tell you that. Store people usually won't.
"Sir, you'd be better off putting your money into a CD-ROM and a CDRW-ROM setup so you can copy CDs and store your data on CDRW discs," is what the mail-order people will tell you, in comparison.
Again, the folks that work at CompUSA and the computers they sell may be OK, but it is pretty well entry-level stuff for the computer illiterate, in my opinion.
And then you come to service. I suspect that the techies in this place, if they are like many I have seen. can replace a few internal parts and such, but for a REAL computer diagnostician you better go looking for a real pro. You won't find people like that at CompUSA or Circuit City or places like that. They make a lot of money selling you "maintenance contracts" and "extended warranties," but my experience has been very problematic with these things.
At the rate that computers become obsolescent I'm not sure I would ever go that route again. Again, I would go with a mail-order situation through Dell, Gateway, or IBM, etc. because these people have superior track records in reliability and maintenance IN SPITE OF THE FACT that they are mail order companies and not site-based retailers. Become familiar with the tests in PC Magazine if you want to check this out.
But, computers aside (ironically!), the real value to places like CompUSA is that you CAN get a lot of hardware, software, and supplies there you can't get anywhere else. You can get blank CDs, games, cables, productivity software, memory chips, and a whole lot of other CC ("Computer Cr..) there that you can't get anywhere else. I've plunked down a lot of plastic credit cards on the CompUSA sales desk for that stuff and (a) the sales personnel DID know about it and (b) the stuff all works well. That, to me, is the saving grace of the place.
It's just a shame that CompUSA has to sell computers. But, as I said, for the entry-level person--- well, you gotta start some where.
My suggestion: If you MUST buy a computer there and you are not very savvy about computers, get the most experienced and intelligent computer user who will do it to go with you to the store when you are considering your purchase. (Hey, if I have the free time and you send me a ticket and pay my expenses I'll come do it---just kidding.)
Chances are a computer-savvy friend will know far more about computers than the average sales clerk at one of these stores. That way you'll have a fighting chance rather than buying something (a) far more extended in some way than you need, or (b) having a lot of bells and whistles on it you don't need.
So, because they are a great software and hardware PARTS retailer, we will give CompUSA three stars. But if they strictly sold computers it would be ONE star, and a fading fast star at that. The choice is yours.
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Ed.Williamson
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Member: Ed Williamson
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