[geeks] GRRR. FRYS CAN BLOW ME

[Bill Bradford]

Read below for what I just posted to austin.general.  I am *so* pissed
off right now.

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I was at Fry's yesterday, went to the Mac section, and asked the sales guy
on duty if they would have MacOS 10.1 available tomorrow.  His words: "Yes,
both the full and upgrade versions.  The upgrade CD kits will be free.  We
have plenty, but Apple wont let us put them out until Saturday morning."

I asked him what time they opened on Saturday, and he said 8am.

I get to Fry's at 7:50 this morning, and find four other like-minded 
individuals waiting by the front door to get their upgrade copies as
well.  We're informed by every employee that goes in, "Oh, we dont open
till 9, no matter what someone told you."

So, we tough it out.  Waited outside until 9am.

By 8:50, the line out front had grown to at least 50 people, most of
whom were there for their OSX 10.1 upgrade CDs.

9:05 gets around, they finally let us in.  The group moves en masse to
the Mac section of the store, where the sales guy points to the full
retail copy of 10.1 on the shelf, for $129.

"no, we came for the free upgrade CD set"

"Sorry, we dont have any."

I'm surprised there wasnt a riot at this point.  At least five of us
had been waiting for over an hour.  Quite a few people waited out front
at least thirty minutes.  Store employees *knew* why people were lining
up out front, but yet they didnt come out and say "oh, we dont have the
upgrade CD sets".

According to the "spokesperson" who was dealing with the crowd inside
the store, "They're in the system, but they havent arrived at this store
yet, and they'll have to go through receiving, etc."  More than one person
asked him in front of the group "Why'd your people lie to us?  Why'd you
make us wait?" and he just shrugged.  "All we have available is the full
retail version here..."

I wouldnt be surprised if they *did* have them, stuck on a shelf in back,
but wanted to try to make people buy the full version if they were 
desperate.  The same guy ended up taking people's names and phone numbers
down, but I know there's a snowball's chance in hell that I'll get a phone
call when the upgrade CD set arrives.  I'll probalby get it QUICKER by
paying $20 to Apple and waiting six weeks.

I'd also been planning on doing some shopping after I got my upgrade 
CDs - instead, I walked out.  It may be quite a while before I give Fry's any more of my money.  Not only did they waste an hour and a half
of my time on a Saturday morning, they've really pissed me off.

Bill

-- 
Bill Bradford
mrbill at mrbill.net
Austin, TX