About a month ago I posted an article that was originally posted at the consumerist entitled “7 Lies You’ll Hear From Salesmen At Future Shop“. Click here to read that 7 lies article.
In response to these accusations a Future Shop salesman left a detailed comment expressing his point of view and addressing the 7 lies:
The following is written by me, a Future Shop employee and is not endorsed by Future Shop in any way.
First off WOW, there sure are a lot of salespeople for our competitors badmouthing Future Shop here. First look at the article and who it was written by “a former Future Shop employeeâ€. I can only guess as to why he is a “former†employee. Future Shop is governed by consumer law and as such many of the claims made by people, if true would fall under Tort law and would be actionable. Beta TV’s are not available to the public and future Shop does not sell them. If your TV was used and not sold to you as an Open box then your case would be open and shut in a court of law.
As for Monster Cables. Simply put they are superior cables to any cables out there. The amount of Data sent to your HDTV through a HDMI cable is enormous. A basic digital signal over HDMI cables is 2.23Gig a second, a lot of room for errors. Monster Cables are virtually interference free. Which means the signal received by your TV is identical to the one that was sent. Other cables are subject to noise, false information that translates to pixilization. Monster Cables are also Simplay certified which means they are certified to meet high quality standards. You will also see Simplay certification on a great deal of other High Definition consumer products. Cables that do not have Simplay certification generally mean that they do not meet quality standards. Simply put, other Cables are just are not up to snuff. But the customer is always right, so if you think that Monster is too expensive; buy another product. But there is a difference. Keep in mind too that there is not just one type of HDMI cable, there are many different standards. For example some cables, including some monster cables can not transmit TrueHD or DTSHD (uncompressed sound for the technically challenged). To state that all HDMI cables are the same only proves that you know very little about HD and maybe you shouldn’t be making comments like your some kind of expert! Do the research.
To deal with the title of this article. I first have to say that yes you will find salespeople at Future Shop that lie, just as you will find that life is filled with liars. Some salespeople will lie out of greed and some out of ignorance. You will find this at any retailer. If a Future Shop employee lies to you simply report it to the store manager. Lying to customers is a huge no no at Future Shop and always results in disciplinary action. Future Shop strives for excellence, and in fact salespeople at FS are held to this business model. They are graded once a month on the “Circle of Excellenceâ€. On most products sold at FS you have a thirty day return policy which means if for any reason you are unhappy you can bring the product back. Getting a return not only takes a salespersons commission but also results in reducing a salespersons rank on the “Circle of Excellenceâ€. The Return policy is posted on a huge sign in front of Customer Service and is also available in print.
Product service plans are sold because customers ask for them! By no stretch of the imagination does it cover everything. It is designed to compliment the manufactures warranty and in fact covers a great deal more than the manufactures warranty. A PSP brochure is given with every purchased product service plan. It is also available upon request. What is covered and what is not covered is detailed in it’s entirety with in this document. By the way service plans are refundable for thirty days. So if you find that the plan was misrepresented; then simply refund it within thirty days.
Future Shop has several policies that make it Canada’s biggest and best electronics retailer. 100% customer satisfaction backed by a thirty day money back guarantee. Guaranteed lowest price: This continues for thirty days after the purchase of your product. If you find a lower price Future Shop will beat it by 110% of the difference. Simply bring in your proof and show it to any salesperson before purchase or customer service after purchase.
I think that it’s suspect how Charlie doesn’t give you his full name. I think that he doesn’t because most of what he says is an outright lie. So in saying that, my name is Kurt and I work at Future Shop Anjou! I am paid commission and I have never been paid 25 bucks for selling a Monster Cable. But being paid commission guarantees that there are more salespeople on the floor to help you. My livelihood depends on a customer’s confidence in me and on my product knowledge. If I thought that lying to a customer would make me more money then I would quickly learn the error in that thought when the customer returns the product and complains to my manager! It’s just bad business.
As a former “The Source by Circuit City” employee, I can tell you that we sell Monster Cables too and it is indeed still a load of crap. Monster Cables USED to be superior when it came to analog signals used for things like cable TV to your television, but when it comes to DIGITAL signals, including HDMI, the digital signal is going to be the same regardless of what cable you used. Monster Cables are very well known to be a scam, and you can find more info by searching http://consumerist.com/
All retailers have some liars, but the root of this problem is that Future Shop and The Source employees are both paid in commission, which makes lying a LOT more tempting. If you want trustworthy service, go to Staples or Best Buy where they are paid a flat rate and are encouraged just to do good service.
Product Plans are definitely valid, it’s just that you usually never need them, and that should be obvious because if people really did need them then retailers would always be losing money doing repairs and replacements.
I’m sorry but lots of people lie, and Futureshop employees are not immune to this. I recently bought a rear surround speaker from Futureshop and the salesman told me he only had one left. The box was in bad shape and it had a sticker on the side and when I asked what the sticker meant he said “Oh, that means the box was damaged when we received it, so we opened it up, checked it out, and it’s in perfect shape.” I opened the box and the side I could see seemed flawless so I accepted it. Upon returning home and pulling the speaker out I found that it had clearly been dropped, while out of the box, and was heavily damaged. A corner was smashed in, it had chips in the side and scratches all over, and most of the contents of the box were missing (wall mount bracket, rubber feet, manual)
I brought it back and asked my friend what the sticker meant and she said it was a demo. She called the salesman up and I told him I wanted a new speaker and he went off looking for one. When he couldn’t find one I told him to order one for me. He said it was an item they don’t order, they’re just sent a certain number and he didn’t know when they were coming in. I told him to have one shipped from another store, and he said they can’t do that. I told him he lied to me when I bought the speaker so I wasn’t about to believe anything else he said and told him to get a manager and he went off to find one. I should point out at this point that I too worked for Futureshop in the past, so I know that’s all b.s. (but I couldn’t remember the sticker that meant demo unit)
The manager, who I knew, came along and I told him what happened and he said they couldn’t have a speaker shipped from another store right then (system for that was down over the Christmas holidays) but if I came back in January he would have one shipped in if they didn’t have them in stock yet. After he left and I was talking to a friend the salesman came by and said “you got a really good deal on that speaker you know” and I felt like smacking him. After I left a friend messaged me on MSN to tell me that his girlfriend (CSR who was there the whole time and overheard it all) told him about what went down and he told me some stories about that salesman. He lies to people all the time to make sales, but since he sells a lot management overlooks it because it’s all about the money. I came back in late January and another salesman found a brand new in box replacement for me and I’ve been happy ever since.
On the topic of Monster cables, all I can say is that it’s snake oil. Some audiophiles (possibly from the industry?) were recently invited to hear some speaker cables to compare and they had no idea that one of the “speaker cables” was actually 2 metal coat hangers. They couldn’t tell the difference.
HDMI and other digital cables are, well, digital. They do not suffer from interference like analog cables do. They pretty much work or they don’t. I tried to use a 15′ shielded VGA cable from a PC to a monitor once and it was unuseable. Blurry, ghosting, you name it. Meanwhile a 25′ DVI to HDMI cable (about $20 from Monoprice) from my HTPC to my Harman Kardon A/V receiver and Sony TV is just as clear as it is using a 6 foot DVI cable to my LCD monitor. But when I was in Futureshop buying a DVD player for my roomate the salesman (different guy) told me I had to buy a 6′ Monster HDMI cable. If I bought the Monoprice equivalent it might work for a bit but after 20 minutes or so I’d start to see snow on the screen and eventually it would stop working, at least until I turned the equipment off or unplugged the cable and plugged it back in.
The only time I’ve ever had trouble with a cheap cable was when I had to get the digital audio signal from my HTPC to my A/V receiver across the room. A few times a day my receiver would just drop the audio. A second or two later it would pick it up again and work fine until it lost it again sometime later that day. I was using a 10′ analog RCA cable, a $2 coupler, and a 15′ analog RCA cable, all from a box of old cast-off cables from 10 years ago. When I upgraded to a 25′ Digital Coax cable from Monoprice for $6.14 my problem went away.
Analog signals are much more susceptible to interference than digital signals and if you use an analog cable for analog audio you might get interference and thus noise but digital over that same cable will most likely come out the other end the same way it came in or it just won’t work (or cut out sometimes like mine did above)
Most people know that you usually get what you pay for, but the truth is that cables are really cheap to manufacture and these companies are just trying to cash in on those willing to spend $150 on an HDMI cable when $15 buys you the same thing at Monoprice. If you work at Futureshop, go look at the markup on these cables. Monster has already marked up the price they sell the cable to Futureshop at, but Futureshop has then gone and increased the price another 80% or more. You’re not lying to the customer when you tell them about Monster cables, because you believe what Futureshop told you about Monster cables.
Do yourself a favour. Buy some cables from Monoprice (very cheap) and do some comparisons yourself. I’m positive you’ll be surprised at the results as more and more people are these days when they finally see for themselves rather than just believe the bs someone else told them.
My 2 c:
You can have all the policies and procedures that will theoretically make a store honest and worthwhile, but if these procedures aren’t followed then they’re worthless.
Sure, things are SUPPOSED to work a certain way. Futureshop is SUPPOSED to beat lower prices, but when do they actually do that? Stores in the GTA won’t beat prices from TigerDirect, Canada Computers or any stores of that nature. My experience with price beating from Best Buy or 2001 is that FS will simply match the price. They always have an excuse for not beating it by 10% of the difference.
There’s also the matter of being able to return merchandise at any location. Sure, that’s what they say. But try doing that for anything over $500. A return of an item that large will throw off the store numbers and no manager is going to simply allow that. They give you every excuse in the book for not accepting the return and making take it back to the store of purchase. I tried to exchange a television once (the one I purchased was defective) and was told that since the price I paid wasn’t the price in the system at that moment, they couldn’t do the exchange. Yeah, it was ON SALE last week when I bought it.
Now that being said, some stores are MUCH better than others. The Vaughan store is amazing and actually follows corporate policy. The salesmen are still somewhat pushy, but if you ask them to follow the policy, they do that. I’ve gotten price beats (still not from Tiger Direct though) from them without any issues.
On the flipside, the Richmond Hill store is probably the worst cesspool you can imagine. The salesmen lie outright (I’ve heard them trying to sell the product plan to people) and they almost never match a price for a bigger ticket item ($75+). There’s always an excuse.
So yes, the North Bay store may be a gleaming example of how a FutureShop should work, but it’s not the case in the GTA. Corporate policy can be made and preached until the sun falls from the sky, but if customers aren’t happy, then that’s the bottom line.
Oh and they reason you’re the number 1 reseller of electronics is because there’s no real competition. Best Buy owns Futureshop and your only competitors are WalMart and 2001 AudioVideo. Both stores have limited selection when compared with FutureShop. If you can’t find the item elsewhere, what choice do you have but to give money to the FutureShop/Best Buy empire?
Monster vs other cables. There is a difference sometimes. My upconverting DVD player wouldn’t work with my TV with a cheap cable I purchased. When I switched cables, it worked. So cables do make a difference. The Monster cables are overpriced in Canada. I bought mine in the USA for 60% of the price they are in Canada. It is a case of border-gouging more than anything.
As for salespeople on commission being ‘more helpful’. That is bull. I feel like a deer being hunted whenever I enter FS – unless there is a Flames game on. Then they are too busy watching the game… I guess they do have their priorities!
For those that might have missed this, MarketPlace on CBC did a comparison on HMDI Cables (http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/packing_the_deal/). The cables were benched tested and consumer tested.
A further note on the Simplay HD comment from the FutureShop salesman. After looking at the Simplay HD website the Dynex HDMI Cables sold at FutureShop are also “certified” and are a third of the price of a Monster Cable (still to much in my opinion). I quoted the certified because from reviewing the Simplay HD site I see that the certification is primarily a pay to get certified process and doesn’t appear to have real industry backing.
I’d lay money that the Future Shop employee that provided this very well written retort had a wee help from the corporate communications and legal group.
Personally, I can’t stand future shop or most of the employees I’ve ever encountered there. I avoid it like the plague whenever possible. I have been outright lied to so many times, and most of the time the salespeople are so pushy I just leave. Several times they have tried to sell me things that cost a lot more, but that I didn’t want or need (and if they had actually listened to a thing I said they would have known that!) And if you ever actually have to take an item back for repair under warranty? When our ipod was defective, the salesman was useless as usual, I had to go through two others to a manager to get it dealt with. Then they said it would be sent for repair the next day and I should have it back in under 2 weeks. They didn’t actually ship it for two weeks, and it was well over a month before I even heard anything back.
And how does the commission work if you make a large purchase when nobody helped you? The few times we have bought things there we were ignored, the salespeople certainly didn’t deserve to make any commission from our purchases.
I have had a very straightforward experience with HDMI cables. I hooked up my DVD player with a Phillips HDMI cable and then later used a HDMI cable that I got from XS cargo. The difference was cut and dry. The cheaper cable looked like an analog signal. Noticeably different to anyone that looked. Now does that mean that a Monster cable could be even better than the Phillips cable??? I don’t know, but it proves that not all HDMI cables are the same.
Boy do I have a couple of things to say about Future Shop. My husband purchased a computer from a store here in Scarborough on Kennedy Road. The salesperson was very pushy and he ended up purchasing not what was in the flyer (all sold out 15 minutes after flyer came into effeect) but another computer. After having it only 6 months, the hard drive went on it. We took it back to Future Shop and were told it was the memory board and had to send it back to HP and it would take a couple of weeks.
After hearing nothing after 4 weeks, we called Future Shop and they said HP still had it. When we called HP, they told us they had only received the part from Future Shop 2 DAYS before……When we finally got our computer back 3 , it contained some very strange stuff. (by the way, HP told us it went back to Future Shop a good 4 weeks before we picked it up and FS did not call us, we had to call them every 2 days begging for our computer back)
There was a lot of downloaded programs, someone’s personal email account, etc. that were not on the compouter when it left us……A little bit of enquiring led us to an employee of FS that had been playing with our computer for a good month before it was sent to HP and also for a few weeks after it came back…
Complain to the Manager??? I do not think so. He WAS the Assistant Manager and conveniently, the manager himself was always out!!!
Word of Advice: Stay away from FS, even if you have to pay a bit more elsewhere…..
I had some bad experiences even more so at Best Buy. They do not try to match the prices at another advertised place (eg Visions) when it was their policy for the same model number. They had lame excuses like, we can’t confirm they have it in stock or something like that. They also seem to take stuff offline to make it seem out of stock. If you go to places like ncix,their prices are significantly cheaper and they just say, not the same item. I try to avoid Futureshop & Best Buy unless I truly know it’s a deal that they have in stock. I also agree, most people there don’t know squat; they prey on the non-techies and people like that.
Sadly, I too attempted approaching Future Shop looking for a better price than The Brick (which was just across the aisle in a shopping center.
I bought a Sony 46 inch TV which came free with the Sony Surround Sound/Home Theatre. In the end, they told me they were UNABLE to match or beat the price and that now and then, this can happen. Strange, that’s not what the policy claims. I simply bought at The Brick which is what they preferred anyway.
I didn’t bother pursuing it. I will still buy at Best Buy or Future Shop if I am satisfied with my purchase, but I always do my homework and properly research it first.
Linda S.
Mention of Monster cable caught my attention.
http://consumerist.com/362926/do-coat-hangers-sound-as-good-monster-cables
Simply put, Monster Cables are over-rated. Again, not a fault of Futureshop or any particular sales person. The company just did really awesome marketing, that’s all.
But consumers, we should all be aware and don’t shoot the messengers.
After all, it’s our money, we should be responsible and do proper research instead of believing everything a sales person or marketing person tells us.
I agree with most of the above comments…Monster Cables are just hype and over-priced. The only difference between digital cables is the quality of manufacture – cheap cables are so poorly constructed that they don’t make good connections. As long as you buy something of “decent” quality, you’ll be fine and there will be no audible or visual diffence – that’s a proven fact. Brands to look at would be RCA, Recoton, etc., also sold at FutureShop. They can cost as little as 1/10th the price but perform exactly the same as the pricey Monster cables. The reason for the high prices? Simple, Monster uses a very aggressive marketing campaign (faster signals?? better propogation?? C’mon, all electrical signals move at relatively the same speed) in order to maintain an artificial sense of quality among consumers, and along with highly inflated prices, they coerce buyers into believing that the high price and fancy lingo means the best quality.
Bose is another company that uses marketing and high prices to delude people into believing that they make the best products, but Bose is very cheaply made products that only sound “ok”, yet cost 10x more than they’re worth (that’s right, the tiny cubes are just plastic boxes with cheap $1 paper cone drivers!). There are dozens of MUCH better sounding speaker manufacturers out there at half the price or less…shop around.
The comment at the top about certified cables or other hardware is also hype. Simplay sounds just just like THX, it’s a PAY TO PLAY certification which means that you must pay to have your item certified and then licensed to use the logo. Smart marketing people have pushed the THX logo so that people are deceived into thinking that it means it’s superior to other products (remember all those THX aural/visual “ads” at the beginning of Lucas Arts films?), but that’s often not the case at all. There are plenty of non-THX certified items that meet or beat the THX specifications, but the manufacturers chose NOT to pay for the THX logo due to hype and sell the item at a lower price to pass on the savings to the end user.
As for FutureShop salespeople being liars, that’s to be expected since they’re on commission and there’s a lot of incentive to BS a customer to make a sale. And they know which are the high profit and high commission items, so they push them harder (like the Monster brand). Personally, I know what I want and make sure I know the facts before visiting a FutureShop or any other store. I still buy from FutureShop because they have some good deals – but that’s the only time I buy from them, for the price and savings (I bought the laptop I’m using from there).
For most hyped products, you’re simply paying for an artificially inflated price to match a “name” or “status symbol”. Is a Gucci purse really worth $1000? It’s a $10 bag with a $990 name-tag, but you’re deluded into thinking it’s “better” quality when it’s not. Ok, maybe it’s stitched a bit better with nicer leather, but it’s not worth 50-100x its manufacturing cost!
Product Plans are another issue that many people have been misinformed about. First off, they are nothing more than insurance policies. You pay a large premium to have your item “protected”, however they are HUGE money-making schemes. They are high profit margin sales with high commissions, and they are pushed hard for that reason. They do little to protect the consumer because for 99% of what you buy, nothing ever goes wrong with them. Sure you get a lemon from time to time, but if you add up all the Product Plans you bought over the years, you could have kept your money in your pocket or bank account and paid to fix or replace the lemon many times over.
The comments about price matching is also an issue at many of the futureShop stores – they make excuses for anything, even a $40 router that’s on sale elsewhere (can’t verify, out of stock, different item, etc.), even at their sister store Best Buy. However, if you push it and remind them of their policy with the customer service people or one of the assistant managers (store manager is NEVER available) they will submit and match it but rarely beat it by 10%. After over a dozen attempts to beat a price, FutureShop has only done it once, and it was on a $49 laptop carry case (saved $10). Anything with a higher price difference, they flatout refused to beat it, just match it, which is violating their own policy. Complaints to head office get a standard reply thanking you for your business and that they’ll investigate the situation, but that’s it and nothing ever changes. Money talks…and lots of sales are what they want.
Having said all that, I don’t mind FutureShop or most other commission based retail outlet…one just needs to be aware of the facts before listening to a commission salesperson. 🙂
Alright dear Future Shop employee, I too work at Future Shop, and your post is the usual bullshit speel which I so often hear from Future SHop managers. They manipulate the truth in order to justify their business.
I have been working at future shop for about 7 months, and intend to work there for a while more. I go there, do my job, make over 15 bucks an hour, and don’t say what I really think to anyone.
Yes monster cables have better shielding and are superior. But you are leaving out the other facts.
How about the fact that future shop gets their top HDMI cables for $50-$70 cost (which includes all their company upkeep, so therefore they get it for much less thatn $70)
and then charge the customer $250 for the cable.
And bullshit, monster cables make ALOT of commision, its a high percentage of cut, over 10% usually.
What you left out even more in your bullshit comment is that HDMI cables do not suffer signal loss, and therefore it does not matter if the cable has great shielding and is superior. I remember global did a test at a futureshop and they found out that our $30 dynex cable produced the same picture quality as our most expensive monster HDMI cable.
You people have to understand that Futureshop is corrupt, its a business, and like all other businesses, they are there to make profit. That is what business is my friends.
Yes, everything is marked up at future shop, and yes you could easily get things for much cheaper online or on wholesale.
Yes warranties are profit makers, and yes statistics show that it is cheaper for the consumer to not buy warranty overall.
I work at futureshop because it pays well and I don’t have to break my back.
Do I intend to work there for long? Hell no, business is business, and business is in the name of self-interest, profit. For me, that is an unwholesome way to live my life, and as soon as I find a better job, or finish college, I will kiss future shop goodbye.
The managers tell employees stories about super sellers who work at future shop, they basically have such a large customer base and are so well at selling that they make over $100,000 a year.
Really though, these sellers are master manipulaters, no they are not evil, but they have broken down human interaction to the point that it is a science to them.
And that is what I would never want to be. To make all my human interactions based on self-interest. That is a sad life my friends.
Seriously people, if yo believe that regulare and/or low end cables are even close to the same quality as a Monster cable just hook up 2 televisions with the same components side by side using a Monster cable and any other cable of your choice ans see the difference for yourself. 99% of the people who have commented against Future Shop are simply under educated and ignorant. Do a little research and when i say research i mean actual research, not consumer reports because guess what, those are written for the most part by people just as clueless as yourself. I must also say that if you are complaining about being pressured into buying something, grow a set of nuts and make decisions for yourself, if you arent smart enough to take in the info that u can gain from these sales people and make an educated decision, you deserve to be a moron, they cant take the money from your wallet so how can you feel pressured unles equiped with a feeble and less superior mind, use your own brain and take advantage of the unneeded amount of knowlege these guys have about the products, and as far as a service plan goes, if you dont want it dont get it and stop bitching about warrenties, if they werent offerd the consumer would bitch about that too. So in the end shop where you want and shut the hell up. If anything you should try avoiding people like yourself who spread completely rediculouse “facts” about things you dont even know what the acronym stands for.
i have come to realize there are two types of people, those who just need the job done and those who need the job done good. For example my parents would fall into the category of ‘just get the job done’ and many of the people out there and reading and posting on this forum would too. To them they could careless about bandwith and 1080p, rather more on price. The latter person, ‘get the job done good’ would be someone who understands that the difference goes beyond price and usually has equipment which needs the benfits that higher end cables may provide.
anyways, i posted this earlier on marketplace, and many other people pointed this out in greater detail, however marketplace continues to air this flawed report.
“The 12 dollar HDMI cable will perform just as good as the 300 dollar one for most applications. However marketplace did not do a thorough investigation. There are major differences when you factor in A)length, over 5m and HDMI signals begin to get out of sync B)HDMI 1.3+ requires huge bandwith which the 12 dollar cable cannot put out C)cable construction, durablity of the connectors as well as actual insulation is important when you plan, i.e. running cables through walls”
Bought a $7 6 foot HDMI 1.3a cable from monoprice. Everything looks BEAUTIFUL on my 720p tv. If you’re talking about component cables, seriously, why would you even consider using them? It’s ANALOG! blech!
Also, bought a 75 foot ethernet cable. Super cheap at monoprice. Same speed for downloads as the 6 footers closer to the router. Talking 800kB down on a rogers cable connection, that’s been split THREE times with cable splitters along the way. Cheap, $5 cable splitters too!
Coming from a guy who is raving about his 720p tv… bet you would buy the 500 dollar LG plasma too right? no Service Plan? enjoy a broken shit tv in a year.
Ummmm. . . To the guy above with the “Beautiful” 720p TV.. . You’re right, any HDMI cable will look pretty good in 720p. We aren’t talking about that tho, we are talking about higher versions of HDMI, that are carrying TruHD audio combined with 1080p video. The bandwidth difference between your 720p tv (and im sure you use your speakers from the TV for sound, or MAYBE a home theatre in a box), is NOTHING close to running an HDMI out of a BluRay player, into a dedicated amplifier with Dolby TruHD, and passing through the 1080p video signal to the TV.
This is exactly what people are talking about when they speak to the differences in HDMI and its use. YOU are basic and that piece of crap HDMI will work fine. My home theatre which is probably worth 10x the amount of yours, it is not the case.
REALLY do you ACTUALLY believe monster cables are the best cables out there PERIOD.? If so you’ve been in the field too long you cant even remember whats fact from fiction. Monster is NOT the alpha and omega, but every futureshop employye would LOVE you to think so. Obviously youve never heard of QED, or platinum plated, or even SOLID silver connectors for which there is NO monster model. as for power, buy an APC UPS it does the same damn thing for $150 AND you can set the sensitivity…not to mention the power cords ont he monster cleaners arent even hospital grade UL certified greendot cords, now thats real heavy duty sh*t , hang out in an AV forum youll learn a few things like amazing, affordable brands youve never even herd of, in there monster products are only middle of the field, yet they costs 3X MORE than the best AV cable you can buy…why is that? I see no difference with monster cable AND i CAN spot a visual mpeg artifact from across the room so I DO know what im looking for (color bleed, dot crawl etc) what always made me laugh was the monster display with the split screen monster component cables vs the other guys…COMPOSITE! well jesus christ of course component will look better, but no one ever seems to look behind the tv to notice the composite vs component set up…As for the ‘former employee’ spreading tales, well all someone needs is a reason, it doesnt neccessarily negate that something is a piece of crap. i worked fast food, when i unfairly was let go, i called the public health office on their asses and they got written up for numerous violations. EMPLOYEES ARE TOLD TO PUSH PRODUCT SERVICE PLANS THATS THE TRUTH. theres so many times i threaten to walk away from a sale if they mention it one more time. i asked them why htey always push and their response is always “we’re told to” or “we have to”
heres a neat trick. wanna see exactly what future shop sells their products to their employees for…i mean actually see the lowest price they can let it go for… ask them to check a product theyll type a 100xxxxxxx web code into the computer terminal and youll see on the right hand side closer to the bottom of the page a number all by itself with out a decimal place… add a decimal place in the most logical spot and you got their at cost price… neat huh. especially when you learn that they could let that 56″sony plasma go for $1200less(no lie)
futureshop is obsolete and there is no reason why a business like this still operates, if enough people realise there ARE better deals out there theyll be gone in a month, all you have to do is look for them, it baffles the mind that a big box retailer still exists and gets away with charging 60% over landed cost on an item. future shop wants $1800 for a DSLR camera with kit lens, a bit of shoppign around i paid $1300 from an AUTHORIZED reseller with full warranty and it was a brick and motar store.. NOT online. i tried ot get future shop to price match it, but they gave me some lame excuse that the other business adds 3% to non cash orders…which first off isnt true, and secondly who said i WASNT going to pay cash. numerous times they conviently forgot to remove an additional 10% from a price match and when i enquired they had to go ask their manager…which i dont understand why SINCE whats there to ask about elementary store policy, its in writing.
the only good thing about futureshop is the fact you can remove something from the package after buying it, kick it across the street and still get a full refund 30days later. THATS ABOUT IT THO
here are a few resources:
you want a computer:
CANADA COMPUTERS best price on parts and systems, 3%cash discount
you want a DSLR camera:
ADEN CAMERA best price authorized reseller of canon, nikon, etc
you want Cables:
EBAY . honestly EVEN if you want monster cables which are good just not the best, you can find them for 80% OFF the futureshop price brand new.
Honestly I can see both sides, but it really depends on what employee you use, some are great and some are completely dreadful.
Ive gotten them to price match the two times ive requested them to, and I did it over the phone since my closest FS store is an hour away.
I dont know about you but I prefer to go into a store that isnt by commision, not because I feel like im going to be lied to, but the simple fact I dont want to be pressured or asked 100 times If I need assistance.
For most hyped products, you’re simply paying for an artificially inflated price to match a “name†or “status symbolâ€. Is a Gucci purse really worth $1000? It’s a $10 bag with a $990 name-tag, but you’re deluded into thinking it’s “better†quality when it’s not. Ok, maybe it’s stitched a bit better with nicer leather, but it’s not worth 50-100x its manufacturing cost!
:O
Thats my shock face.
Why bring innocent hand bags into this. I can assure you while coach gucci and chanel are more expensive they are far SUPERIOR to any 10 dollar bag. Once you carry a coach bag, (I doubt you have) youd realize the quality craftsmanship of the bag.
If you bought a fake and a real I guarantee while they may look the same the quality is far less superior, and the real deal bag is going to stand the test of time.
Sorry.. lady who likes purses hahah.
i want any jobs if u have any jobs for me so please give me thank u sir
There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points.Keep working ,great job!
Hello all,
I work as a Product Expert at a Future Shop in Ottawa and am very pleased to see the healthy dialog in here.
There are so many points to address, but I’ll just give my general idea about the happenings at Future Shop.
#1. Not all Product Experts are created the same.
-Many of you are correct in your descriptions of PE’s(Product Experts) that you have unfortunately run into. The commission sales environment does create some pressure to perform. The difference is in the person you run into. Yes, you will be bombarded at Future Shop by associates asking if you need help IF you are at an unorganized store. Stores where the PE’s are communicating with each other, and are constantly paying attention to everyone in their department will insure that you only get asked to be helped once.
Knowledge of products is another story. Even though F-Shop has some fairly decent product knowledge standards, it is very difficult to enforce them. You have to literally run into the right person if you want the highest quality product knowledge. Make sure to do “some” research or at least be familiar with the product you wish to purchase.
Customer service is again not dependent on policy, its dependent on the store and more so the associates who work there. I personally pride myself on having an extremely low return %, and insuring every single one of my customers is treated with 100% respect in all our interactions, and is at least 99% satisfied when they leave the store; but that is just me, and that is how I treat everyone I meet in my life – Its just the way I role, for others it may not be the same and thus the experience you receive may not be the same.
To shift gears a little bit.
When it comes to products I hate to say it but Caveat Emptor. Regardless of where you buy anything you should always try to do some research before buying, or at least insure you feel comfortable with the person you are working with before pulling out your wallet.
When it comes to price matches it is very difficult to get a uniform understanding of how to handle things regardless of store policy. Places like Tigerdirect and NCIX and other OEM/Retail establishments are a grey area when it comes to price matching. Different people give different answers.
I’m going to skip the Cabling debate because I feel its been beaten to a pulp.
Services:
Product Service Plan, this insurance plan is completely up to the customer. There will always be some pressure to get you pick one up unless you very clearly put your foot down early in the interaction. Myself, I purchase the plan for one reason – peace of mind. I could really care less about the benefits of it – all I know is that as long as I treat my equipment right, and it fails within the period I’m covered. Of course, I know everything there is to know about how the coverage works.. ex: laptop batteries are not covered, but everything else is. Physical damage not covered . I find the debate to be quite redundant because the end of the day products aren’t built to last and some will break – does that mean insurance plans are useless? absolutely not, are they a waste of money? debatable? Do people buy them a lot, and are they pleased with the service for the most part? Yes.
Since I work in the computer department I’ll talk about the In Store Setup.
The in-store setup again is explained in different ways depending on the PE. Some will lie and say its absolutely essential and your computer will run like crap if you don’t get it setup. This is very wrong.
The In-Store Setup is for the CONVENIENCE of the customer. Computers and laptops that require recovery discs take time to create. Removing the marketing and trial software takes time to do. Optimizing the operating system also takes time to do. The common denominator is time. Some people couldn’t be bothered to drag an icon to the trash bin, so they get the setup. Some people don’t know about msconfig to remove startup programs. Some people don’t want to know about the registry and how it works. Some people couldn’t be arsed to any of this, yet they very well have the knowledge. This is not just about 30/h or about a waste of money.
In conclusion I find that a lot of the opinions on this forum and other F-Shop/Best Buy bashing boards are because of people having the worst possible experience. You won’t find many websites about future shops greatness, or about any commercial establishment that really does a wicked job – people just can’t be bothered to go out of their way to praise companies that make lots of money. But when it comes to complaints – oh boy, this is what the internet was created for.
Awesome, I just broke my keyboard typing this out, good thing I bought the warranty.
Peace.
I only go to FS locally if I need something *NOW* and it’s in stock.
Otherwise I’ll try and find the best deal online and just get stuff shipped directly to me…
None of this waiting in line at the only checkout that’s open and the person ahead of you just bought a pc, has a million questions AND there’s two employees trying to sell her the damn protection plan.
Last time I was on the FS website, I was going to buy some blank memorex dvd-DLs. They were like $45 for 25 discs, Staples on the other hand sold me 25 discs for $27 AND delivered them to my home next day shipping for free.
I agree with the quality of Monster cables, they are definitely a better made one. In respect to picture quality that it will give you over a lower quality is where the truth not discussed. It’s been tested over and over again and visually, there is no difference. In fact a bigger percentage of people guessed the xbrand to be monster cable when looking at both performance. What does this tell you?
I dont think Monster cables are a rip off. its a brand ppl buy and i dont get why ppl complain about it. ppl shop at armani exhchange, gucci, u dont think ur 400 dollar glasses works the same as a 10 dollar glasses? some ppl take pride in their system and monster cables do have good marketing just like apple. apple laptops start about 1200 and im sure u can find one that has the same specs if not better and ull being paying less.
btw, if ur under a manufactuer waranty ship it out URSELF, there no reason why any company should do it for u and u expect them to call u when its back.
I work at Future Shop. It makes me mad when people attack out store! Kurt, you are 100% right! If you don’t want a Monster cable, fine, but don’t come back and complain if it’s not working for you. No one can compete with us. We’re called Product Experts for a reason! The people at WalMart know NOTHING! They are idiots. The people at Staples are stupid too. I had a couple who bought an DSLR from someone at Staples. They should never have sold them a DSLR. It is too complicated for them to work. He should have sold them an extended zoom point and shoot. Moron!
And when customers say “future shop shouldn’t have to be selling PSP, they should stand behind their product!”
Ok first of all, IT’S NOT OUR PRODUCTS!!! If you have a problem with your Canon camera and you didn’t buy service plan, GET A HOLD OF CANON! We don’t manufacture products, the company just buys them and sell them. Don’t buy a camera without PSP, then 2 years later have it screw up and yell at us because we can do nothing. Canon has a one year. With us, you could have gotten 4 year protection. It’s your own fault, moron! Don’t blame Future Shop employees for your stupidity.
We don’t get paid enough to deal with abusive customers!! My sister had a phone charger thrown at her and was called a “bitch” (sorry for the language though) That was uncalled for!! How immature!! And another customer threw a bluray player across the Customer Service desk at our store. Grow the hell up!
Our managers are good at dealing with abusive morons. And have no problem kicking them out when they are physically or verbally abusive. And I don’t appreciate being called “racist.” I’m sorry, don’t play the race card with me!! I’m not a racist person. Get over it!!
I thought I would put my 2 cents in. I love my job!! More than anything! Future Shop is the best company in the world to work for!!!
Buy the damn Monster Cable!
A. L. S.
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Where You Going To Scuba Diving in This Year ?
Alright, I have to sort through some of the bs I just read…ugh here I am again posting in another forum about future shop…
“Future Shop is governed by consumer law and as such many of the claims made by people, if true would fall under Tort law and would be actionable.”
So this makes Futureshop accountable on a moral basis? The oil rigs in Fort Saskatchewan operate under Federal and Provincial law, but they are permanently destroying the environment, does that make is right? Capital punishment is done under the law in the United States, does that make is a good thing? How does the fact that something operates under consumer law make is just and moral? On top of that, many of the people who complain online do not bother going to a court of law, hence why nothing is done. However, I do agree that a large amount of people are being ridiculous and are crying wolf.
“As for Monster Cables. Simply put they are superior cables to any cables out there. The amount of Data sent to your HDTV through a HDMI cable is enormous. A basic digital signal over HDMI cables is 2.23Gig a second, a lot of room for errors. Monster Cables are virtually interference free. Which means the signal received by your TV is identical to the one that was sent. Other cables are subject to noise, false information that translates to pixilization. ”
This sounds like the load of bullshit you got from your manager and monster information booklet. Analog signal can degrade as it is transmitted along a wire, and a better cable with better shielding does make a difference, however a small one, and unless you have a nice TV, and are a perfectionist, don’t worry about it. What is most disheartening to me is your misinformation about HDMI, and I will not hold it against you, because I honestly think you actually believe what you are saying. HDMI is a purely digital signal, essentially a string of ones and zeros. There is no signal quality loss in the transmission, it is straight digital to digital. The $40 cable will actually perform as well as the $300 cable at lengths under 5m. Don’t believe me? Ask someone who has an actual education that applies to this kind of stuff, perhaps an engineering student in an applicable area from a university, not a Future Shop employee…This is an example of leaving out information, and it is a form of lying. You are letting the customer know that the cable is Superior physically, which it is, it uses nicer materials and what not. However, you are leaving out the fact that it is NOT superior in terms of video quality.
Here, educate yourself a bit: this fellow took some time to actually explain it a little.
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&message.id=828972#M828972”
“Product service plans are sold because customers ask for them!”
This is completely ridiculous and I can’t believe you even think this. Companies sell things that make them profit. That is the nature of capitalism. Product Service Plans are sold because they make Future Shop money. Now of course if people didn’t buy them they wouldn’t be sold, but we both know people are begging for them head over heels.
“Future Shop has several policies that make it Canada’s biggest and best electronics retailer. 100% customer satisfaction backed by a thirty day money back guarantee.”
Good for you, and I’m glad you you’re part of such a swell corporation.
“I have never been paid 25 bucks for selling a Monster Cable”
This is also a lie, as I know for a fact that some of the monster cables will give an employee this much, and maybe even more.
“If I thought that lying to a customer would make me more money”
Salesmen don’t lie, they try to convince you that you need things and manipulate the truth. This, however, doesn’t make you a good person.
“more salespeople on the floor to help you”
And don’t even think for a second that you are truly, deep down, helping the lives of people. You work at Future Shop. When I worked at McDonalds, I didn’t go around saying how great my company is, going online and defending it, and saying how much I help people and how important my service is….I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with you people, honestly, it’s like some god damn cult or something.
I tell you my story with Future Shop.
I have purchased an Hp DV-7 laptop . I was told as well in the store on the spec sheet showed it has 512mb dedicated ATI Video card. and as well it is ready for ddr3 ram,
And the laptop memory is expendable to 8 gigs of ram
When finaly i put a game and wanted to play it . it was not working properly.
Checked my video card settings and it showed i only have 256mb
Called HP customer service where i was informed my laptop only has 256mb of shared memory . and it has it max ram at 4gig. and it is not ready for ddr 3 ram either.
But i have the laptop for about 6month now , and i don;t know what to do.
The staff at future shop lies to you just to get a sale so they can get they precentige. Please if anybody had this issue let me know . or if anyone has an idea what to do , Thanks for your time
There is a class action law suite being put together against Future Shop and Best Buy. If you have an issue look into it. its about time something was done about these businesses that take advantage of consumers.
There’s a class action suit against every big company in Canada, get in line. Look at the bigger picture, go after cable and phone companies. 🙂
What’s the difference between a car and a golf ball? Tiger can drive a ball 400 yards.
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Maybe you should change the page subject Future Shop Salesman Responds to “7 Lies” Article Canada to something more catching for your webpage you make. I liked the post nevertheless.
I’ve never even thought about commenting till now. I guess if I really like a post I find myself checking the external links for more and favoriting (if that is a word) the post instead. From now on though I’ll definitely try and drop a comment every so often.
automotive, marine,domestic and aviation.NON Toxic Eco friendly.
As a former employee for 8 years… FutureShop is no different than any other business. They are in it for the money. I cannot tell you how many tricks we had employed in the home theatre department to take your money.
Anyone who says Monster Cable is better is correct. It is a better made cable. Is it more durable? Yes. Will it give you a better picture? No. HDMI has standards. And any cable that is rated to be Hdmi-compliant means it meets or exceeds this standard. So whether it is Monster Cable, Dynex, Rocketfish, Philips, Monoprice, Blue Jeans, etc. If they are the same specification, they will either work or not work. Anyone who thinks Monster Cables look better is a fool. We would sometimes change the settings on tv to make the Monster equipped one look crisper, have better colours etc.
I worked at FutureShop and I never once bought a service plan. Do you know why? 90% of the plans we sold expired before any customer had a problem with their item. Nowadays, you will notice a major defect within 30 days, or within 1-2 years, which is covered by factory warranty.
Thought I might add this”If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies… It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it.” – Albert Einstein
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Have problem with PC; take it to FutureShop to get fixed/ they “clean the system” with standard tools; charge $67; gee thanx for saveing me 10 minsutes of my life/ problem still persists…… Hello BestBuy
to all of u winners who opt for Best Buy I’d like to inform you that although they are not paid commission they still have a Circle of Excellence and have a quota of sales and extended warranties to sell which is the exact same one as Future Shop. So basically they are required to make the exact same amount of sales and rather than be paid commission they are paid a higher hourly rate and they DO receive commission solely on those extended warranties you all seem to hate so much. Why would any of you think Best Buy is different when they own Future Shop? As for the pc comment above this one, dude if you can fix your computer yourself in 10 minutes then why would you bring to FS and pay 67$? And if you didn’t bring your computer to Future Shop then why are you talking? Did you ever stop to think that not everyone is savy enough to take care of their own computer problems and they may not know anyone who can help. Furthermore do you have any idea what is the going rate for a technician? That 67$ won’t seem so bad. And last but not least, Best Buy’s techs charge the same rates. Please do some research before you post your nonsense for everyone to see
Wow clearly where the store is makes a difference, I but most of my electronics from futureshop have never had any issues well at least nothing they haven’t taken care of the managers there know be by name an the sales people to! lol @ Harold an his shady practices , Where is your morals you just said on the net that you tricked an stole from people for 8 years I find it sad that it took them that long to find you out.
This post is written by a real-life engineer…
You are a total sucker if you fall for the expensive HDMI cable trap. I will pay anyone $1000 if they can successfully identify the difference based on visual appearance alone…because you won’t be able to!
Interference on a cable that is a few feet long is going to translate to “noise, false information that translates to pixilization” ???? Can’t tell if trolling or just dumb. Oh and for the record, it’s “pixelation”.
Not Lying..Just over priced
Example
Futureshop – new computer – they offer to “set it up” for a fee I forget the fee (100 dollars?) but all it takes is to click a few yes options when the computer starts
Car dealships – car maintenance – new tires – $1000 – easy labor – no experience required (just gotta do it a few times to get good at it)
in Summary…if you don’t want to pay …do it yourself do more research…
if you don’t..people are going to eat you alive
You know what annoys me? People who tell other people to go shop at Staples or Best Buy because they don’t make commission and they’re not tempted to lie. You do realize that commission sales people rely on commission sales to live? Which actually makes us more inclined to HELP you purchase things? Going to Best Buy basically means you want a kid who is barely out of highschool, probably stressed and tired from long hours in university who is unfulfilled by his minimum wage to help you spend thousands of dollars…
Their associates at Best Buy are less likely to go the extra mile to make sure you get what you need and understand what you’re buying. I dare you to go to Best Buy, tell the sales person your name and return a week later to have them remember your name and what you purchased. That’s a level of professionalism you’ll only get from a commission sales person. As the sales person in the above response stated, when the FS associates lie to customers, more often than none they find out and return the product. In doing so the salesperson loses the EXACT amount of commission they made off of the initial sale. So the salesperson’s MAIN goal is to actually help the customer make an informed purchase with TRUE product knowledge (which is supplied to us on a monthly, sometimes weekly basis) along with quality presentations that will help you understand the benefits of what you’re buying.
We don’t cry when you say no, it doesn’t hurt our feelings. We just move onto the next person who needs help. The reality of it is some people are believers in the extended service plans. Some people have seen and experienced the good they do. So if you’ve ever been the person who asks “Why do you guys always have to try to sell me warranty” the answer is because we don’t know you, we don’t know if you want it, and we would rather present it to you as an option, than have you come back in a year and a half when your product stops working claiming that “The sales person didn’t give me the option to purchase the extended warranty”.
Yeah, it’s no secret we make money selling things to you. I make a good living at Futureshop with referral customers who bring their entire families in to come see me because they know that every time they need something I’m going to really make sure they’re taken care of. I get phone calls on my days off and take care of customers on my days off because it’s important to them and it’s important to me. The trick isn’t to go buy things at Best Buy, it’s to understand that sometimes you go to Futureshop and talk to a new hire, or a seasonal, or sometimes because were departmentalized you’re talking to someone who doesn’t work in the department you’re buying something in, who is just trying to help you out. The trick is to go into Futureshop and ask for someone who has been with the company for longer than 3 years who really knows their stuff. The associate will either confirm it’s them, or they’ll hand you off to the right person. You might need to wait a little bit because typically these people are assisting people at all times, but guaranteed you’ll get better service, and a better price regardless of what you buy compared to buying from a non-commission salesperson.
EXACTLY! I can’t count how many times I’ve come in on my day off or answered calls to help my past customers. I’m a commissioned sales person, I want to win you over not just once but forever, it’s just good business. I treat all my customers on the basis that I will see them again and again because they are happy with my past services.
If you’re in a restaurant, would you tip the waiter that does a shit job, lie to you and couldn’t care less if you got your food on time? No, cause the tip is their livelihood.