SmallBizResource Blog -- Hardware

Beware: Electronics Salespeople Are Not to Be Trusted

Posted by Naomi Grossman Friday, Aug 31, 2007, 09:35 AM ET

Doesn't it always seem like you're being cheated at those big consumer electronic stores? There's something about those salespeople who all wear the color coordinated t-shirts and khakis, smile a lot, talk real fast, and are always pushing warranties, products, or promotions right as you're checking out that just feels like they're trying to get you to shell out more money for no good reason.

Guess what? They are.

At least some times. PC World was contacted by a number of computer buyers who reported that as they were buying their PCs at Best Buy and Circuit City they were told that if they wanted recovery disks — important if you need to reinstall your operating system —they could either get them made at the store for about $30 or get them from the manufacturer for double the price.

Writes PC World in response to one story of a consumer who buying an HP notebook at Circuit City: "But the clerk's assertions simply aren't true. Recovery discs are fairly easy to make yourself. And if you don't want to take on the responsibility of burning your own, you can buy them from HP for half what Circuit City charges."

PC World further investigated the claims. Their results?:

"In our informal tests we found that some Circuit City sales reps pushed hard for us to pay the extra $30 for store-made recovery discs, but all of them ultimately acknowledged we could make them ourselves. On the other hand, salespeople at three of the five Best Buy stores we visited told us that we couldn't make the discs ourselves and would need Best Buy's assistance. Our alternative, these sales reps said, was to buy them from the notebook manufacturers for even more -- sometimes twice as much -- as the store would charge."

There's more:

"We checked with five major vendors -- Acer, Dell, Gateway, HP, and Lenovo -- and all told us that you can create such discs yourself from the preinstalled software on their retail PCs (if they aren't automatically included with your new system). If you would prefer to pay for the convenience of having someone else make recovery discs for you, check with the vendor: Most (but not all) will sell them for less than the $30 or so that the retailers typically charge."

As Consumerist writes: Lies! Don't fall for it!.

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