Rumor: CompUSA going out of business

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tod071

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Is it true??? Found this on engadget and am not too surprised.



Rumor: CompUSA going out of business in January



Posted Dec 5th 2007 taken from engadget.com



So we've heard enough banter about CompUSA being on its last legs and possibly shuttering completely after closing more than half the chain's stores earlier this year. Well, chalk this up to rumor (in fact, rumor with prejudice if you must), but we're privy to a high-level internal email competitor Best Buy recently circulated which claims to have it on authority (but not "verified") that CompUSA's holiday revenue is half what it was last year (which, as commenter Hans points out, might have to do with those store closures), store-restocking shipments are not being scheduled past February, and additional liquidators are being called in to help manage closure of the 103 remaining stores. Sure, it could be a sneaky misinformation campaign -- or it could be the truth. We gave CompUSA a ring, and their PR team has yet to respond to the claim; but for what it's worth, if we weren't already hearing this kind of thing elsewhere (or didn't believe it plausible) we wouldn't waste your time.
 
I thought they WERE out of business, all the ones around here are closed up. I had stopped going there already; as SpoiledMan alludes to it never seemed to be a satisfactory experience.
 
That's too bad. Now all the rude, bad customer service employees are going to end up somewhere else and give us a bad time at another place. :hairpull
 
That's odd, because the one close to me is great and has a great CS. But I have heard nothing but bad about them, trying to rip-off everybody that goes in.
 
I was in a CompUSA last night looking for a laptop case for my new laptop. I have to say they had the best selection of cases out of any of the large electronics stores. I am really surprised though that this close to Xmas that the prices were ridiculous. Every store I visited either had a lousy selection or the prices were way too high.



Looks like I will be buying a case on eBay as that seems to be the only way I am going to get a good deal.



At least I was able to get an idea of what I am looking for and take some measurements to find a case that will fit my laptop...
 
bigfoot said:
That's odd, because the one close to me is great and has a great CS. But I have heard nothing but bad about them, trying to rip-off everybody that goes in.
Click to expand...



I think the beginning of the end for them was when they tried to be a Best Buy etc. buy converting half the store over to TV's and such, rather than trying to stay with their "core" business. Nothing like going to buy computer stuff at a store with computer in their name and finding out they have no selection anymore because the place is filled with plasma TV's.



But beyond that it could have been the rude/nonexistant cashiers/help desk people, the incessant alarms going off (what was that from, the cameras? I finally figured out I think that if you pulled on that security cord too hard this loud beep would go off, but it didn't come from the camera area. Constantly in that store, there would be these loud beep sounds coming from the PA...) Then of course there was the fact that either on purpose or stupidity they didn't have the lights on in the parking lot at night during the winter. I personally love walking in the dark on black ice carrying potentially expensive/fragile/heavy equipment and not being able to see if there is someone next to my car waiting to bonk me over the head for it.
 
Just found this article in the local paper that Hawaii's only 2 stores are liquidating. Honolulu Advertiser



I guess engadget can confirm their rumors.

Setec, I thought it was just 1 store here that made those noises, but I guess it happens nationwide. If you pull a certain camera, the alarm blares and of course, no one is around to take care of it. And yes, we too have that alarm-sounding noise coming from the PA. Then of course the backup beepers when they use the people lifter to get to high objects. Well, no need to worry about those noises much longer.



Oh yeah, not to mention the cases where people arrive before the store opens, go get a coffee across the street, come back and find their cars have been towed! Yup, just because they were not shopping in Compusa.
 
I'm not surprised at all that they're going out of business, but like Setec I already thought they were out of business? I must be getting mixed up because I believe the same guy (I believe he's Mexican and is one of the richest man in the world) owned both The Good Guys and CompUSA, along with many other things in the telecommunications industry. I remembered reading a story about him in the LA Times a couple of years back.



I've also experienced the beeping alarm issue when I was looking at some digital cameras some years back. It was so annoying I had to find an employee to turn it off and then I apologized for setting it off. At the time, mail-in-rebates were probably at the height of its popularity and CompUSA was notorious for not honoring or screwing up customers' MIRs. I had purchased an item and there was a MIR for a free $100 Epson printer and instead of sending me $100 back I kept getting MIRs for $7 CD-R discs. After that incident I never shopped with them anymore, although I heard their MIR program improved dramatically because of all the complaints they had.



But, IMO they were doomed long ago when Best Buy and Fry's Electronics entered the market. If you're lucky enough to have a Fry's near you, there's no point in going to a CompUSA. Plus, BB and Fry's almost always had better deals.



But my biggest complain about CompUSA was their $hitty return policy. You had to pay a restocking fee of 15% on any opened item unless it was defective, in which case you can do an exchange. Best Buy, Circuit City, and Fry's all have a similar policy, but it only applied to certain items that people were most likely to buy, use for the weekend, and return it the next week such as video cameras, digital cameras, radar detectors, GPS, etc.



The only nice thing I can say about CompUSA was that they carried Apple computers, often times which were hooked up to the internet.
 
Yup its owned by Carlos Slim, THE world's richest man.



2 weeks ago, there was a Christmas sale on alot of cameras. The catch was that the return policy on these cameras was 14 days. So I asked if I bought this for a Christmas gift and the person didn't like it, could they exchange or return it? NO was the only reply. So he asked if I still wanted it, NO was my only reply and I left.



I was fortunate to visit a Fry's in Texas and like it. I wish they would come to Hawaii.
 
Not too long ago CompUSA bought The Good Guys. Now that was a liquidation that stank! Raise the price to discount the price. Things were in many cases prices higher than before they were discounted.
 
The Good Guys liquidation was pretty crappy overall. I was able to walk away with 10 sets of Klipsch iFi's for 50% off, bringing it down to $200 a set plus tax. At the time, BB and Circuit City was selling them for $400 so it was a pretty hot deal. But a few weeks later, Costco started selling them for $200/set so it somewhat ruined my plan to fleabay them ASAP as eBay became oversaturated with the product. Luckily about a year and a half later, once none of the stores carried it, and most of the eBay sellers had already sold their inventory, the demand for these speakers picked up and I was able to sell the rest of the units I had for a profit.



For $200 they are pretty awesome speakers though and I was able to give 2 other sets away as gifts so I didn't regret the purchase too much. For a long time though I was worried I had lost money on the deal, but in the end it worked out in my favor.
 
I just went to my CompUSA store, was a better sale, they had a 10% off but not on everything, otherwise was all normal price...***, I was expecting some liquidation type sale like 50%+ off everything as other business in same situation did. I remember years ago when that company Incredible Universe came around, went out of business, and you could buy tv sets that were 2k+ for like 400 bucks.
 
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