Comp USA false advertising, bait and switch San Bruno California

my brother wanted a laptop and bought one at a great price. it was boxed up and all like it was "new" but it obviously wasnt. soon as he bought it he brought it to me to install some programs on it. i immediately noticed things like a browsing history in IE, files in My Documents, etc. The first thing I did was install an Antivirus, and it immediately found viruses. I deduce that he got a display model, which would probably explain the cheap price.

i'm sort of glad they are closing.

Didnt buy anything but went to the store to see the fantastic closing the store sales of 30% to 50% off. First off, if any store states cash only, it is extremely risky to buy then. Basically, my browsing of the San Bruno store showed me that many items were highly marked up before being discounted. Also, the store had signs over merchandise stating lets say %40, yet when you ask them I wasnt suprised in the least when I was told "Not that item"

Also, I found a lot of hardware and games which were in really nice looking condition re-shrinkwraped to sell as new. As illigal as this is, Comp Usa probably doesnt care about this law breaking becasue they plan not to be in the staes they break the law in the first place and I doubt any official will bother with it. Other then ps games, most hardware and games are shrink wrapped with the ends folded like a gift and also have special lables (DVD movies and music especially) over the ends which you can see in the store were missing. I figure I post this in case anyone plans shopping there. Buyer beware.

In case many who read this arent aware, I highly recomend not buying any extended contracts from Comp USA. Reason for this is Comp USA is closing many of its stores which sales people are failing to tell their customers which means its quite possable if you buy one chances arein the nearfuture your not goingto be able to use it if the store doesnt exist.

Figure I update this as despite the horrable weather, went in real early to buy the Maxtor 250 GB drive they were advertising for their one day Sunday event sale at $59.99 which was advertised at $159.95 minus $20 instant savings and minue $80 comp USA mail in rebate. Why bother with them if they burned me before? Simple. If they try anything, my card company will credit back the difference should they Try scamming me, but anyways, lets get back to the deal here. I asked for the 250 MB maxtor drive and led to the section where they were displayed. Funny thing is, they had the sale tags up, but the drives were in fact not 250 GB but actually 200 GB in the 250 spot. Where are the 250s that are suppose to be here I ask. We didnt get any since the last sale was the reps reply. I dont remember there ever being a sale recently for this drive, but if so I must have overlooked it. So far, they didnt have them in stock and they put the 200's in their place hoping the unwary be dumb enough to buy it and not notice?

Telling a customer an item advertised in the store is in stock to get them into the store (When in fact the product isnt in stock)in order to attempt selling another at higher price is illigal in most states. The 1 in stock method is also not allowed in many states as well. Far as proving wether they had one in stock, it wont be me that have to prove this to, it will be the state, and right now they like making as much money as Comp USA, so they will either have to prove sufficient sales in each store that advertised, or will probably like usual, face high fines. Good thing about this, is the big mouth employee I spoke to will probably get canned if the above happens.

Scott your completely right about CompUSA. What they did over this DVD is corporate policy and quite common in any retail industry.



BUT......





What they did is totally legal! Before you get all hot under the collar and think I am going to defend them....take a deep breath, and let me explain.....



CompUSA did nothing wrong under "the law". They advertised a product at a certain price yet you never saw one for sale until after the sale was over. As the person from CompUSA told (taunted?) you "they only needed one to sell at that price to meet their obligations". That is totally true. It is up to us, the consumers to prove otherwise. Meaning you will need to find if they really had that "one" for sale. If not, then they broke the law. But good luck finding that proof. Tracking one DVD down in so many stores will be impossible, and CompUSA knows this.



CompUSA is totally crooked for doing something like that. No doubt about it. But the laws are the thing you should be REALLY mad at. They are unclear and give loopholes like this. Honestly, I'm totally outraged that someone at CompUSA could even mention it to you like they did. Thats like a slap in the face. They almost taunted you with it.



I certainly wont shop at CompUSA again. And definately wont pay any attention to their ads now that they have shown their "snake-oil sales" mentality.



Its only a DVD, so show your displeasure and take your business elsewhere. Im sure they will feel the pinch soon enough like so many other larger retail establishments when people take their big ticket purchases elsewhere. All lost because they roughed us up on a $20 DVD.

If you are a small t medium size business in the Edina, MN area beware. Their business sales assosciates are thieves and liars. What they say is not what happens. You are better off going to Office Depot, Office Max, or Sams Club. The Edina store ripped us off. They still have the odacity to call us up.