werner@ut-ngp.UUCP (03/05/84)
D-CON-POWER ( what, me losing faith in RAID ? )
Sears: I don't want to start a discussion on this, but ... I can't
understand why anyone comparing prices would want to buy
anything from them. Not even the automotive department
is competetive anymore. And when Sears in Miami did not
honor my tire guarantee, because it was from Texas and about
to expire - there went my last reason for buying my auto-supplies
from them !!! As I was leaving the country the same night
I had neither chance nor desire to fight this one, but I have
not forgotten it !!!
Still, getting a card to establish credit might be worth it.
Radio Shack: Their prices are more than non-competetive - they are an
outrage. Buying anything there but a few odds and ends which are
hard to get, or not worth the trip elsewhere, is a NONO for me.
I buy their paper+plastic record sleeves, though, to protect my
records, never having found them elsewhere (<$3 for 10).
Their insistence of asking for the address EVERY TIME and refusing
to take NO for an answer, is very annoying and I have given up on
trying to modify their behavior. Just another reason why I abhor
buying anything there.
BTW: The owner of Radio Shack has become STINKING rich in the few
years he's been at it, and is now playing Texas politics in a very
annoying way, meddling with education, etc.
Junk Calls: We have seen nothing yet. Just last week, there was an
interview with reps from TI and DEC on CBS-Nightwatch, introducing
DECTALK and TI's latest speech module. Especially DECTALK is targeting
companies who would like to have DEC's little machine make lots
of calls for them. In 7 different voices, 3 male and female each,
of different timbre to give the impression of different ages, plus
the voice of a "darling" child, this machine will intrude into our
privacy. It might be neccessary to await its impact before having
a chance to pass some legislation about restricting its use,
but if anyone is interested in trying to organize and execute
the first steps into that direction, I am game. Flaming here or
elsewhere has its function of raising awareness, but for me, I am
already going crazy every time one of those computer-voices starts
talking to me - I need action.
werner @ ut-ngp { .UUCP or .ARPA }arl@mb2c.UUCP (Arlan R. Levitan) (03/10/84)
Sears is certainly not unique in its inability to staff its credit department
with personnel that have had brains installed, but I certainly wont deal with
them anymore.
Three years ago my fiance' and I sojourned to the local Sears store to
purchase appliances for the new house we had just acquired. We both had Sears
credit cards under our own names. The total appliance tab came to about $2600
and each of us had a $1200 limit on our accounts. Since we were 200 bucks short
our salesman went over to the credit office to have the sale approved. Not only
did the credit office turn down the sale, they informed me that because I had
not used my card in two years (although I had an account for over ten years)
they were suspending my account until I furnished them with an updated credit
application. The idiots in the local credit office could have been cloned
from Richard Nixon...they just stonewalled on the subject as I pointed out that
my income had increased fivefold since the last job they had me at with the
US Snail. They blithly ignored my Amex Gold Card, Bell Management Co. ID, and
any other evidence of solid citizenship I proferred. I finally blew up at them
and demanded to speak to someone who was capable of logical thought. Thirty
minutes and five phone calls later I was talking to someone out of Chicago
headquarters who actually apologized for the local dunderheads and OK'd the
sale. I got the bill a month later and returned payment in full along with
a finely diced and saute'ed Sears credit card. When I do make the rare purchase
there these days (after all, Craftsmen tools aren't bad) I pay cash and give
them "John Q. Public, Anytown USA" as a name and address if questioned. Keeps
the junk mail down.
Some folks have asked why Sears is so hot on credit customers. The simple fact
is that they make more yearly on interest charged than on actual profit realized
from merchandise sold.