[TriLUG] OT:<rant>Intrex just lost a customer</rant>

[Dave Sorenson]

Aaron, I appreciate your feedback, but I'm done with Intrex. I can
understand the policy if I was asking for a refund, but I just wanted to get
a working memory card reader. I was told that "Mark" was the manager on duty
at the time so elevating to the next level was not a option. The card reader
did have an exposed circuit board but is also inset into a plastic tray,
there is no way I "shorted" this accidentally or on purpose. I'm not an
idiot and I NEVER touch an exposed board if I don't have to and I always
wear a grounding strap when I'm working inside my computer. That and the
fact that it was installed and working for a short time before failure leads
me to the conclusion of a defective part.

Again, I appreciate your comments. I know it is not your job to deal with
complaints so your willingness to address them says a lot about you.
Unfortunately not all of your fellow Intrex employees seem to care as much.
And if they don't care about me why should I care to shop with them
especially when there are many other options in town.

DS

-----Original Message-----
From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On Behalf
Of Aaron Joyner
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2004 10:32 AM
To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] OT:<rant>Intrex just lost a customer</rant>

Yes, someone from Intrex reads this list.  No, it is not my job as an Intrex
employee to do this, and I am in no way compensated for doing so by Intrex.
But since I am rather fond of both organizations, I do often find myself
serving as a bit of a lizaon.  I'm posting a bit far into the thread (I've
read what's been posted up to this point), but I'm a bit slow on the uptake
as I'm out of town in Dayton, OH at the Hamvention for the weekend.

My first question would be, you talked to Mark at the Wake Forest Road
(Raleigh) Intrex store - I would hope that you didn't make it out of the
store with out talking to Brad (or Brad), the Manager and Assistant manager
are both named Brad.  :)  I don't know everyone in the company's name, and I
can't identify who Mark is off the top of my head.  Generally, speaking, it
is Intrex's policy that if an item has physical damage (i.e. has been
tampered with), you can not return it.  
You say that there was a friend resistor on the part - if my memory of our
product line is correct you may have purchased either an internal or
external card reader.  I'll address them separately for clarity.

If you purchased an internal card reader, which has an exposed circuit
board, it would be clearly evident what the problem was when it happened.
On the flip side, it is not unreasonable that either by static electricity
or inadvertantly shorting something against the PCB you *MAY* have caused
the damage yourself.  I want to be clear that I'm not accusing you of having
done so, but simply stating that it's technically possible, and not beyond
the realm of possibility.  Because of this, it is the manager's discretion
(and his alone) to determine if he wants to accept the part for return.  I
can not say what his response would be, but at the least you should speak to
one of the Brads and give them the opportunity to make a decision.

As for the external card reader, it is a closed plastic box with space for
cards and a usb cable to be inserted.  If you purchased this device and took
it home, it did not work, and then you chose to crack the case to attempt to
determine the problem -- this is a whole different story. 
  In that case, if you took the steps to take apart the case (likely
breaking plastic bits of the case) and begin sub-component diagnostics, I'm
pretty sure that we won't take it back.  Again, it is the manager's
discretion as to wether we will accept the return, but general policy is
anything that's clearly been tampered with we can not accept for return.
The reason for that is simple, when we take that part in, we also RMA it to
the manufacturer.  If they won't accept the part for RMA from us, we
*probably* won't accept it from you.  There are of course exceptions - if we
find a particular product has a semi-common problem, we are very likely to
be more leniant with our return policies than usual.  It's also very likely
that we'll stop carrying that product, maybe even phase it out.  I don't
believe that's the case with either of our card readers, but as I don't work
in the store and I am not involved directly in the retail side of things, I
can't really say.

So Bottom line, if you haven't talked to a manager, please be sure to do
that before you consider the book closed.  I think you will find the results
to be satisfactory, or at least you will get a reasonable explanation of our
policies.

As an aside, I can appreciate that I am known as an employee of Intrex, but
as I stated at the beginning of this email - I am not the appropriate
contact for Intrex, for this type of problem.  I have no authority to
rectify your situation, and at best I can only bring it to the attention of
someone who might.  In this case, the appropriate contact would be to talk
to the manager, and email feedback at intrex.net. 
  The Feedback address *really* does go right to someone in upper management
who can address the problem directly.  Intrex would love to hear more
feedback from us, in terms of quality of service, so that we can improve our
service.  Personally, I am of the opinon that we do a pretty darn good job.
But as everyone is aware, the minority of times there is a problem, is when
the majority of noise is made.  :)

I am headed out of the hotel now to return to the Hamvention, and can not
continue to comment further.  If I get a chance when I get home tongiht,
I'll touch on the rest of the topics mentioned in this thread
- particularly what products we do and don't carry.  In brief - come to next
month's meeting (which we will be sponsoring) and let us know what you want
us to carry!  :)

Aaron S. Joyner
Intrex.Net
System Administrator


On May 15, 2004, at 6:50 PM, Dave Sorenson wrote:

> I'm posting this for 2 reasons 1: caveat emptor to the rest of 
> Tri-Lug'ers and 2: I know some of those at Intrex reads this list so 
> you'll know why I'll choose to go 5 miles out of my way to not shop at 
> any of your stores ever again.
>
> Well, I didn't believe it when I heard about other peoples bad 
> experiences, but Intrex just lost me forever as a customer. I buy a 
> memory card reader from the Wake Forest store, get it home hooked up 
> and working. A few minutes later it stops working. I remove it from 
> the boxen and find it fried a resistor. I take it back and explain 
> what happened and Mark tells me they can't take it back because it has 
> "physical damage" (the fried
> resistor)
> they say my only option is to try to get help from the vendor. Note: 
> vendor
> is a small New York based outfit. We are talking $19.95 here.. It's 
> going to cost me more to ship certified insured as required by the 
> manufacturer than the thing was to buy..
>
> I'm EXTREMELY disappointed in Intrex, They COULD have stepped up and 
> replaced the defective unit. In fact, I was ready to spend MORE money 
> to replace the defective reader with one that was $10 more. Now Intrex 
> will not see that $10, nor will see any additional patronage from me 
> ever. They CHOOSE not to help the customer, this customer now chooses 
> not to shop at Intrex. With "customer service like this, it's no 
> wonder that stores like Intrex find it harder and harder to compete 
> against Best Buy, Tiger Direct, Circuit City Et. All.. From now on 
> I'll pay a little more not to have this kind of hassle.
>
>
> Dave S
>
>
>
>
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