7 Lies You’ll Hear From Salesmen At Future Shop

Tips & Tricks

Very useful article posted at the Consumerist:

Future Shop is a Canadian consumer electronics retail chain. Charlie used to work there, and has now passed along the 7 most common lies he heard salesmen use on unsuspecting customers. Whether you have a Future Shop in your area or not, you’ll find these lies familiar.

1) “The Service Plan covers everything” In fact, it doesn’t cover most things. Don’t believe any salesman who says it covers physical damage, spills, cosmetic damage, etc. Also, after you have you machine replaced (after 3 repairs), the Service Plan stops working. The salesman will act like the replacement is a benefit, really it’s so Future Shop can wash their hands of your buggy hardware.

2) “I’m going to give you a discount”
More often than not my co-workers would lie about high priced items, claiming to take off hundreds of dollars on cables or warranties to trick uninformed shoppers. Always shop around and find out how much things are worth, and watch what the items scan in at instead of taking his word.

3) “This model is a Future Shop exclusive”
Danger Will Robinson. “Exclusives” are always a repackaged retail product, usually with a slight cosmetic change, but bumped up several hundred dollars. As my manager put it: “They move the speakers from the bottom to the sides, repaint it and we mark it up”. Salesmen make about triple commission on these models, so there’s strong incentive to push them.

4) “Setup will avoid hours of work”
This only applies to computers, but it’s good to know. Most salesmen try to push this on technophobes, saying that it’s a complicated procedure involving special tools. Really, they click through the Vista install, run regedit to stop some software and burn a backup disk. Oh, and it’s automated. Unless your time is worth about 30 dollars an hour do it yourself.

5) “You’re saving on x”
With some products there are legitimate discounts available for bundling, and managers have the authority to offer real discounts on unbundled product. However, avoid bundles like “Pay 350 dollars for setup and get free Office and Antivirus”. You end up saving about 20 dollars on Office and Antivirus, but you’re paying 80 dollars for useless setup still. If you’re going for a discount refuse to tack on anything you don’t want, and try to push the salesman. It’ll hurt his numbers to help you, but he won’t want to lose a big sale.

6) “You need Monster Cables/Setup/x to make this work well”
Monster Cables are a scam, so avoid them like the plague. They make the salesman about 25 dollars per cable, and leave you with very expensive copper. Similarly, some salesmen say computers won’t work well without setup, which less technically-inclined customers tend to believe.

7) “You have to buy x”
Legally, the store is obligated to sell you any available (nondisplay) product at the advertised price. Many stores “pre-setup” their laptops to avoid making customers wait for setup. Salesmen see this as an excuse to force the setup on you. Legally (at least in my store), if the customer didn’t want setup we had to give them the laptop at the sticker price, with setup. If the salesman is too pushy ask for a manager, who will know the rules a lot better.


112 responses to “7 Lies You’ll Hear From Salesmen At Future Shop”

  1. ScaryFast says:

    I went off to Futureshop to buy a cheap DVD player for my roomate a while back when she bought a new LCD tv and the salesman told me all sorts of BS about HDMI cables.

    He told me that cheap cables would work at first but within a few hours to a few days I would start getting white noise all over the screen and then the cable would stop working. He tried to sell me on a short, $100 Monster HDMI cable.

    Meanwhile back at home I’ve been running 25 foot long HDMI cables from Monoprice for $20 that are flawless. No cable I’ve ever purchased from Monoprice has ever failed me or given me reason to doubt their quality.

  2. Maxime Le Duc says:

    About the cable,
    Most Monster Cable cost 150-250$. On ebay, you can buy a little bit cheaper cable (well, you won’t see the difference, trust me) for……… 1$!!!!!!!!! Ok, include the shipping…. 9$.

    If the worst happens, just buy another cable, you need to buy 25$ to pay the same price than 1 at futureshop or other electronic store.

  3. Sally says:

    I havent had too many problems with them. I just tell them to leave me alone and go about my shoppping.

    Who was helping you today?”

    noone.

  4. Kelly says:

    I purchase 2 items there years ago and both items broke at different times, they sent them away to be fixed, weeks later and many calls/visits from me, they said my item had been lost and they gave me a new replacement item, which turned out to be an upgrade since they didn’t sell my exact item anymore. This happened to both of my purchasing. It least I came out with better products.

    Haven’t shopped there much since.

  5. Moongalz says:

    “Also, after you have you machine replaced (after 3 repairs), the Service Plan stops working.”

    This part isn’t true. I had mine replaced after 4 repairs (3 repairs, fourth time it breaks, then you are allowed a replacement) And to be fair, the salesman upgraded my laptop from a core processor to a duo core processor. From 120GB to 200GB HD. From 1gb RAM to 2gb ram!
    Once mine was replaced, since it was still only under a year before I bought it, they transferred a FULL three years to my new laptop. I had used up 11 months by the time I had it replaced, and now I have 2 years 11 months left! I am very happy with the service provided, even though I was advised against buying the service plan from my lawyer cousin who says it’s a scam. Yay

  6. Ladena says:

    I have written about my experience with the FS extended warantee on the board before.

    Basicly, my parents bought a tv and fell for the warantee. Their 2 year old tv broke, the bulb (the broken part) was the “ONLY” thing not covered on the warantee.

    To make a long story short, my dad went into FS, bitched and they gave him 2 options. 1) pay for half the bulb ($150) 2) refund the warantee ($450).

    My dad took the refund.

    A good ending to a bad decision!

    L

  7. GGF says:

    I bought a cheaper HDMI cable for a Samsung DVD Recorder. The cheap cable didn’t work. So cables do make a difference. Especially if you have a 1080p TV and an upconverting DVD player. Is it worth the price for a Monster cable at FS? No. I went to the USA and got a Monster cable at over 1/2 off the price at FS. Part of the problem is ‘border gouging’.

    The best thing that FS ever told me was the gold ended printer cable would ‘allow me to print faster’. Hilarious!

    I’ve also had problems price matching. They would tell me the other store was selling ‘stolen goods’ and wouldn’t honor the price match.

    • fail says:

      lmao i bought a 2 dollar hdmi from dollarama and ive used it for my 1080p 50 inch samsung tv and it works great, i also use another one of the same for my beast comp again in 1080p. so your just dumb lool

  8. Boo Radley says:

    GGF, Monster Cables are a huge rip off and as good as the less expensive ones sold at WalMart.

  9. Ian says:

    Consumer Reports says that regular grade cables are just fine and you won’t be able to tell any difference. (Unless you *think* you can – then you will forever wish you bought the better ones… plus you will be able to show off to your friends how expensive your cables are! You can’t put a price on that!!)

  10. Talee says:

    Where we live, when your TV breaks it gets fixed in the gross part of town.. they had us go down to pick it up. Hookers were swarming the building, and inside women that were hanging around appeared to be high and were hitting on my spouse very overtly! It was disgusting.. Future shop didn’t care at all, nor did they care it took over 30 days for the shop to fix it. Beware who future shop outsources to!!!

  11. Skippy says:

    They also raise their prices in order to make their “sale” prices
    seem greater.
    I caught them,confronted them and received a B.S. response.
    Lesson learned,never buy anything other than DVD’s/CD’s if that!

  12. tattoodprincess says:

    I have had NOTHING but problems with Future Shop. We bought an Acer laptop from them Dec 26-06. Two months later the speakers and headphone jack stopped working. I took it back to the store and asked if there was anything they could do to fix it. I was told VERY rudely by this 16 yr old (I’m only 22 so this isnt ageism) that it wasnt their fault I blew my speakers and tough on me. I demanded to speak to his manager. While we waited over 20 mins for the manager of the computer department (who probably wasnt much older than myself) to come, the resident “geek” took my laptop into his “lab” to see what he could do. He ran some disc through the computer and said there was something wrong with the connection between the jack and the motherboard. He was able to reconfigure the sound card to allow the speakers to work (still only works about the half the time if I click my heels together three time and chant “theres nothing like sound, theres nothing like sound, theres nothing like sound”). Then the manager came out and he said there wasn nothing they could do about the headphone jack problem. It had been more than 14 days since we purchased the computer so they had technically washed their hands of any problems with it. He said we had to go through Acer to get it fixed and wished us the best of luck in a know-it-all-kinda-way and walked away. The guy who “fixed” the speakers went through the trouble of calling Acer and finding out wait times and cost for us, something the manager couldnt be bothered to do, seeing as he had to get back to his game of Guitar Hero at the tv department (I kid you not).
    Now, when we bought the computer it was boxing day. It was busy. I understand they’re kinda harried and all over the place, but we specifically asked the kid who was helping us what the regular warranty was, he told us 90 days. It wasnt until we went back to get it fixed did ANYONE point out the “14 day warranty” sign. Who finds every bug in their new computer in 14 days? Very few people is my guess. They do it so you’re pretty much forced to buy their craptastic extended warranty. Which my mom did buy once when we bought a tv from them and they covered NOTHING that was ever wrong with it. I honestly dont know HOW Future Shop is still in business. I work with a guy at Wal Mart that has more computer knowledge than 99% of our local FS employees PUT TOGETHER! My friend went there the other to look at Blackberrys and was treated like crap because he got it cheaper elsewhere but went back to get a holder. The guy got angry at him because he couldnt get commission out of him. I avoid FS like the plague now. Anything I want I buy at work (Wal Mart) AND I get a 10% discount. If I have to buy it at FS, I go without!

    • Jen says:

      that’s why you get their warranty… people always bitch about how it’s a ripoff and don’t get it. when they find a problem past the return policy date they expect future shop to fix it? nice try! depending on if you got PSP or TPP, PSP covers almost everything but accidental damage (no major physical wears of course) and TPP covers accidental damage up to 3 times and you get a brand new one or the newer model. when the guy told you 90 days, it was 90 days from the manufacture, not FS so before you get your ignorant ass up on this blog and rant about fs please get your facts straight.

      • LOL says:

        Sounds like a disgruntled FS employee here. Stop raving about how great FS is just because you’t can’t get a better job. They are a rip off! Their stupid cell phone warranty is junk. My phone wasn’t physically or water damaged and they still wouldn’t exchange it even though I pay a monthly fee for it.

        • Tracey says:

          I’ve had the Future Shop cell phone warranty in November 2012 and I’ve gone through 4 Samsung S4s to the point I got fed up and they let me have a gold iPhone 🙂 that’s 5 new 700 phones future shop just no problem gave me. I’ve got 350 headphones that I get brand new ones unlimited times for the next year and then second year I get my 350 dollars back. That cost me 50. So please tell me your story , expectation and outcome because it will make me laugh.

          People should listen to Future Shop warranties because you don’t inform yourself on your manufacturer warranty, you see they just sell things and wanna make money. Maybe yeah but at the same time when you avoid all associates and don’t let anyone help you, you’re literally helping them go UN PAID. No income.
          That trouble you’re having is who made your computer and yourself to blame because you neglect to inform yourself and just expect future shop to replace everything no matter what and you get pissed because you have stupidly unrealistic expectations to begin with. NOT Future Shop.

          As a consumer as well looking on this you are mostly all unimformed and need to read up on warranties before you buy anything.
          Ridiculous.

          • tmaster says:

            Id smack you for your ignorant words… Simple fact if you want a good warranty dont go to future shop just contact the manufacturer… But you… You stfu with defending them

      • sealy says:

        i totally agree with your statement…..i work at futureshop, and believe me they are not perfect but people do need to shut their face considering half the blogs on here are bs.

  13. Sally says:

    I personally think that a lot of electronic retailers sometimes try to pull the wool over peoples eyes.
    I never purchase extended warranties anywhere.

    IMO best buy and the source have just as sleazy salesmen as future shop.
    Some are bad sales people, some are good 🙂

  14. king_b23 says:

    Thanks for the info, someone should copy and paste it else where in case a futureshop manager sees this!

  15. Sresh says:

    Can’t really blame these guys..They are in a brutal business. Most of them are new immigrants , way overqualified for these dead end jobs.

  16. Ashley says:

    I am extremely offended at the exclusionary language that is being used. There are many females sales associates as well, not just salesMEN. After working there for many years, I can say that there is just as many females there as men. IT’s the year 2008, not 1948, get with the times. Stop discriminating against women.
    A lot of the stuff mentioned sounds familiar, but there are good sales associates and bad sales associates. Some lie, some don’t know what they’re talking about and some are excellent.
    One thing that is wrong with what was said was about FS exclusive items. These items are not damaged, you’re thinking about openbox and clearance items which can be. Exclusive items are models that aren’t sold anywhere else. They are pretty much the same, but will have one tiny difference, and therefore they can’t be price protected. What this person who wrote this was refering to was open box and clearance items. Yes, they many or may not be damaged. But sales associates don’t make a lot of commission off of them. Most sales associates avoid selling it because of the low commision rates.

  17. Glen says:

    Salespeople?

  18. Carla says:

    Relax Ashley- I am sure nobody was trying to offend your womanly right! lol I wasn’t offended- because I honestly haven’t seen many girls working sales @ Future Shop- and the ones who were there were at the cash register- instead of pushing sales on the floor. Who cares? The point is the SALES PEOPLE @ Future Shop do tend to BS alot because they get commissions on what they sell.

    • sealy says:

      if someone doesnt want to buy the protection plan then they dont have too…..no one is holding a gun to their head. its not bullshitting if the protection plan covers everything but physical damage, including a broken tv remote or burnt out pixel on a tv

      • greg says:

        Yes, in a way they do hold a gun on you. I went to f.s. to buy a very expensive tv, and after negotiating a price, the associate started hammering away on me about the extended warranty. This guy WOULD NOT STOP. I ended up leaving without buying the tv, because the associate refused to give up on the warranty, and I couldn’t take it anymore and was actually getting chest pains. Afew days later, I went back in to complain to the manager, and he said the associate was just doing his job. I guess losing the sale of a $3000 Samsung f8500 television is in his job description, because that’s what happened.

  19. man says:

    Future shop is the biggest scam out there. to make a long story short, my daughters tv was purchased there and it broke within 2 months. I took it back and they told me they had to send it out for repair and i would have it back within 2-3 weeks. After 3 weeks and still no tv i phoned them and they told me it would be 8-12 weeks before i had it back. They simply told me that the manager who told me 2-3 weeks was wrong and she no longer worked there. After 8 weeks and still no tv I started to make some phone calls. I phoned the manufacturer of the tv who told me where my tv would have been sent for repair. (Future shop would not tell me where my tv was) I phoned the store where it should have been and they told me they did not ever have my tv. They told me future shop sends it to their own warehouse and leave it sitting there for weeks on end. If he had it it would have been back within a week. When i mentioned this to future shop they said the manager should have told me that I could take it to this other repair shop but must have forgot. At this point I was calling daily to future shop but nobody knew where my tv was. I told them I knew it was at their warehouse and asked for the number for the warehouse so I could locate my tv myself. I was told by a manager at future shop that the warehouse does not have a phone number and even they can only communicate by e-mail with them. At this point it was close to the 12 week mark and I had been calling every day but got a different story each time. The manager finaly told me it was my fault that I did not have my tv back because I did not buy the extended warrenty. I told her that was not the probem because it was still covered under manufacturer warranty. At this point I was done taking to them at the store because they did nothing but lie. I called every future shop and best buy store to get the number to the warehouse. (Best buy and Future shop are the same store) Someone at best buy felt bad enough for me that they gave me the warehouse number which i called myself The warehouse told me yes my tv was there but it had not been sent to the repair shop yet. I called the manufacturer of the tv again and told them the whole story. They said I had been through enough with future shop and they would auhhorize future shop to give me a new tv and future shop could worry about the broke one themselves. I went in the next day to get my new tv and they of course did not sell that brand anymore so they had to give me a different brand. This is part of future shops scam to.They sell a certain manufacturer for a short period of time and then stop carrying them.This is so that when people have problems with it future shop is no longer liable to help you because they no longer carry them anymore. Right before we purchased that tv, we had purchased a 46″ dlp tv from them. It is now 1 year and 3 months later and that Tv is dead. Future shop will not help me because they no longer carry that brand anymore and the manufacturer of the tv said they coudn’t find the model number of my tv. When they did find it I was told it was a beta version so it was not covered by warrenty. So that means that I was sold a $1500 BETA Tv that future shop sold to me as new. Of course they will not admit this to me. I will never step foot into a future shop store again. They sell crap products and lie to custmers and do not stand behind their products.

    • sealy says:

      this is such crap….once you buy anything, and dont purchase the product protection plan then you are dealing with the manufacturer not futureshop…fs is just the go between, thats why fs offers that extra protection plan, if you buy it then fs would be responsible….and i know for a fact that if a product is getting fixed and it takes 60 days….on the 61st day you would get a replacement product or the equivilent of what you paid on a giftcard

  20. futureshop salesman says:

    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 employee”. 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 Excellence”. 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 Excellence”. 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.

  21. Alex says:

    FYI, Best Buy is owned by Future Shop. I NEVER shop at either place because extended warranty or not… they treat you like crap! Every place bulls**ts you, but Future Shop goes above and beyond. We got a DVD player as a gift for our wedding and of course it stopped working. We had to keep calling and calling to find out when it would be ready… it took over 45 days. According to Toshiba at that time, if it takes over 45 days for your item to be replaced the company (ie Future Shop in this instance) must replace it. When we said that, all of a sudden they were able to find our DVD all repaired and ready in their back room and claimed it had been sitting there for two weeks but were never able to get a hold of us… Yeah Right!! All I can say is CONSUMER BEWARE!!!

  22. Alex says:

    Another thing to the ‘futureshop salesman’. Whenever I reported a problem or a lie to the manager… they were just as ignorant as the salesman I dealt with. I believe that Future Shop likes to perceive that they ‘Stive for Excellence’ with all the bs that they claim they’re implementing but if you were to actually call them on it then it’s just a big headache for the consumer. You’re telling me that if I walk in there within 30 days with a flyer they’ll smile at me and refund me my money… I don’t think so. Another trick Future Shop uses is carrying items that look exactly like items you would find in any other store but there is one HUGE difference… the model numbers. Future Shop purposely buys items that look exact to the average consumer but if you want a price adjustment, I can guarantee you that the model number will be one number off, therefore it’s not EXACTLY the same as the lower price you found elsewhere (even though it’s the exact same quality).

    • LOL says:

      Of course the managers are just as ignorant as the sales people. They once were the ignorant sales people!

  23. Alex says:

    The Alex above is another Alex

    Watch places like Walmart when it comes to exclusive product models. These are products that are made by companies that we recognise (or contracted out to other manufacturers)but are different models. You don’t know what you are getting and you can’t compare to other retailers for price.

  24. Stormie says:

    Remember people you can HAGGLE with Future Shop on big purchase items.

    For example in November I went & bought my new computer there. The clerk went off to figure out my total price and came back with 1047.00 … I haggled him down to 900 cash and walked out happy with my receipt and warrenty in hand.

    A happy haggler LOL

  25. Rodney says:

    I am a department leader and sales expert in my store. I honestly LOVE to read these rants about Future Shop as they tend to illustrate exactly why my job is so important. I cannot officially speak for the company and this is my own personal point of view in light of what I am taught.

    I am a Product Expert. I pride myself on my product knowledge and expertise. My first and only job here is to HELP a customer.

    Yes, I am on commission so I want people to buy things from me. That is how I make my living. However, unlike many commission sales people, our product experts will LOSE the commission earned if you return the product. I have a vested interest in making sure you are completely satisfied and get the right product.

    Keeping that product means I get paid. After sales service and guarantees on performance satisfy customers as well. It also means I will sell more again. I get paid again. This generates more sales for me because people CAN trust me.

    Selling our service plan is part of that satisfaction. Many people who complain about the service they got trying to get a product repaired are dealing with the manufacturers limitations. We attempt to solve these limitations with our service plan. Extending warrantee does not get you BETTER coverage, just longer coverage with the same limitations.

    The entire premise of the article is really a stacked pile of lies and misinformation. This person is likely a “former” employee because he actually did the things he says we all do, and likely believes that is what we do. The company’s very principals would be justification for terminating this scam artist from our organization.

    Are we perfect? No. Am I perfect? No. I do my best and have my customers best interests in mind. This is why I am successful at what I do for many years now. Those who misinform are going to find their way into our organization. It’s true. However they do not last long.

    You can find examples of these practices at ANY retail outlet. However the “scams” this former employee talks about are his own fabrication and not even close to truth.

    I appologize on behalf of my peers if you have had a bad experience with Future Shop. I assure you these are isolated cases. There are thousands of people daily getting the service and education they need from our product experts that seriously outweigh the bad.

  26. Lynn says:

    Lowest price guarantee – not true ( it is actually a lie 😉 ). It only price matches for certain stores. There is a tiger direct store ( yes a physical store) by my house in Markham and FS does not meet their prices. I have tried multiple times and at different stores and they won’t. I’ve talked to managers, wrote to FS , but they won’t. I have had some great super service at stores, and some terrible – trying to scare me into buying a extended service plan, and additional extras – salespeople. The latter is the unfortunately the most prevalent in my experience. It’s what you get from commission.

  27. NuKem says:

    Ahley, Relax already! I doubt all of “Mankind” will sympathize with your over sensitivty regarding gender discrimination. Take a pill. Many professions are adopting the masculine form of their names, such as Actor. You never see the term Actress applied to feemale thespians anymore. Some forgiegn languages have removed the masculine and feminine terms, and moved to one or the other, just to make things simpler, and to hopefully not offend people like yourself, afterall this is the new millenium, and people are supposed to be more tolerant. I mean as long as they are peolple who agree with us, at least. Lighten up.

  28. robert says:

    I waited at future shop from the wee hours of the morning to be first into the store for their boxing day event. Cheap computer for $199. When i got in and snagged a computer they refused to sell it to me for that price. Wanted another $80 for “setup”. I refused as they were not selling the item for the advertised price. Wrote a letter to the head office (which of course was bumped back to the original store). The manager called about it. Making a long story short I got a $600 computer for $199. Setup fee’s are a money grab for sure. Oh and if you buy a HP/Compaq computer, run a good spyware program when you get home because it’s preloaded with spyware right from the factory.

    One other thing i’ve noticed when i shop at futureshop etc. Unless you look like you have money or a female anatomy you appear to be invisible to the male staff. Last time i went into the local store to look at GPS’s i left after 10 minutes because no salesman even approached me, tho one did stare for abit.

  29. peter jones says:

    my personal experience with future shop has been lame i bought 4 phones
    model panasonic cordless this outlay was 500 even and when i brought back the 4 phones i was told my items were no good at the store location vancouver b.c on granville street thankfully for me i just went to anouther future shop and returned the goods future shops is lame i feel sorrie for the people who work there its not a living its a leech hole

  30. c money says:

    i work for futureshop and let me tell you, the psp is bull shit lol we make pure commission on it and company profit. u buyin a psp is like paying for air, they send ur stuff out 3 TIMES before they replace it, then ur warranty is OVER. all of us sales people laugh at the dumbass customers after they just bought a psp. in general future shop is a scam so buyer be ware!!!

  31. Chris says:

    I can see some of the frustration directed at Futureshop, the same goes for anywhere. They are a big box retailer and a popular one at that. I currently work as a technician at one of their stores and I would just like to respond about the Service plan “lie”, it is unfortunate that some salespeople do whatever they can to get you to buy it, but once your machine gets replaced by the no lemon the service plan is considered “fullfilled”. When you purchase service plan for one item and exchange it for something different you can’t transfer that service plan over to new item, they are different items. The service plan was purchased to cover the original item. Lets say you purchase a laptop and spend say $300 on service plan (just thowing # out there), now if you have had 3 major repairs on it and it needs to come in for 4th and they give you a brand new laptop… On a laptop a repair could be as cheap as $100 and as much as $1000 (or more) depending what goes on it, so as an example lets say that you had these as repair:
    HD goes ($250)
    motherboard ($200-$500)
    screen (non physical dmg)($300-$700)
    inverter ($100)

    So if you take all the costs $850-$1550 and then on top of it you get a new $700 laptop which is way better than the one you got… So for that $300 you got up near $2200 worth of repairs and a new laptop out of it! Id say that more than pays for the service plan.

    yes I know that on another hand you may not make any use of that plan but I can’t count how many customers who wish they WOULD have bought the plan when their motherboard goes after a couple of years or whatever!

    Also the fault about Acers and we don’t service them, even if you purchased service plan we are not ALLOWED to service them within the first year (laptops only) and if you have any issues with that then please feel free to give acer a call and complain to them. They do not allow our technicians to be “certified” for their repairs. i am sure that FS head office is probably working on that with them and trying to get it done so we can better service the customer. I do agree though that if someone is selling you are product they BETTER be informed about the policies and warranties on the product! I know personally every customer that I deal with about purchasing new computer i tell them about the differences in manufacturers warranties!

  32. adam says:

    Hey my names Adam and futureshop and its sister company best buy are both full of shit. Basically I have my PhD in engineering and I am about a semester from finishing a law degree ( I got annoyed with cost cutting measures by companies so I went for something new) and those idiots try and argue with me. They lie through their teeth and don’t honour warranties – every time I walk near one of those stores I end up getting dragged into an argument between management and some poor shmuck. Here are the three things you always need to remember – store policy doesn’t replace law – you don’t have to take store credit. the limited liability warranty is bullshit – most electronics faults are caused by cost cutting so everything short of physical damage is covered and lastly since they basically hold a monopoly they think they can get away with lying – best buy and futureshop are the same company- they cannot claim something is stolen goods in an other stores flyer because they have no physical evidence and their claim opens them to liable. Oh and the monster cables they try and push actually shorten the life of the electronic- it has a higher electron resistance factor – so it causes the machine to burn out quicker. I only know of one store you should ever buy an extended warranty from and that’s staples – because they’re so damn cheep usually about $10 – they deal mostly with business clients so it’s in their best interest to honour them. – everything is repairable as long as its intact when they say its not it means it will cut into their profit margins so they bullshit you some more to get you to buy a new one.

  33. adam says:

    oh and the whole myth of compression damage – it is caused by cost cutting in the company- they use alumnium instead of lexane clips and the injection moldings they do actually promote the damage – its not your fault its designed to do that;)

  34. Mr. Truth says:

    This response to futureshop salesman retarded diatribe on the superiority of Monster cables. I can find a better quality cable at monoprice at a fraction of the cost. Simplay and ISF have put there names behind Monster because Monster cable has a massive distribution channel (namely Best Buy/Futureshop) and it’s marketing for these companies, it has nothing to do with quality or testing.

    Audioholics test 17 HDMI cable from a variety of companies and found non-monster HDMI cables pass all the same tests. Monster cables are made in china and have NO third party facility that performs independent testing. The companies that have independent testing are on the HDMI Adopters List – Monster is not one of them. The HDMI Founders have versioning for HDMI cables e.g. HDMI 1.3. That means I don’t need to get an Ultra Monster cable to get quality that costs my $500. I go get another brand of HDMI cable certified at 1.3 and I’m set. Read Blue Jeans Cable articles on HDMI and you might understand what is the real deal with Monster cables. Or read the forum posts on reputable Home Theatre sites like AVS Forum, Audioholics, Digital Home,etc that lambaste the absurdity behind Monster’s claims.

    And YOU are taking about bias…you outshine Goebbels in the way you spout ignorant propaganda about Futureshop and Monster. Futureshop is filled with dim witted salespeople who are made to believe there experts. Sorry to break it to you – your not experts your salespeople. You fleece customers that don’t know better and exploit them so you can make fat commissions. By selling marked up junk like Monster cables, Monster Power Centres and PSPs. Then you screw them again post-sales by not honouring PSPs and giving customers are hard time. There tons of complaints about Futureshop that make it more then just a coincidence.

    Before you make an another ignorant post and embarrass yourself again. YOU should do some research and not quote something you heard at a futureshop misinformation session or on the Monster’s website.

  35. ec-tech says:

    Wow a lot of complain but definitely true, FUTURESHOP is one of the worst electronic store, they hired and train this salesman to lie but also unprofessional. I make a mistake of buying a Laptop with this company and what do I got, 3 weeks after getting the laptop, they send it for repair and minimum 14 days to get it back and service. Unbelievable kind of service. Was informed after 5days that I could pick it up, another lie, arrived at the store and no laptop at all. Liar,liar,liars and more lies. In Heartland Mississauga confronted a manager by the name of Ali, definitely he does not know what he is doing and the supervisor on the counter for customer service, what a shame… why do they hire such people….unprofessional, liar, greedy….name it and you got the worst employee on a company…..

  36. Vick says:

    people are idiots, really. PSP is not a scam. you CHOOSE to buy it. terms and conditions are posted for YOU to READ. people here a bitching how its under the manufacuture wartanty and futurehop took forever to send it out. why dont YOU send it out. manufacture waranty doesnt gurantee what time it will be back so that isnt out problem. futureshop is the LARGEST electronic store in canada AND they wouldnt be if customers dont buy from there!

  37. Vick says:

    btw.. walmart is ALOT worse than futurehop. atleast we pay our employess fairly

  38. Patrick says:

    Everyone having a go at Future Shop is an idiot.

    I’ve worked at a number of retail electronic stores, including FS,and most of them have the same policies regarding warranty, and service. In my opinion, anyone going against every warranty is much more than an idiot. I’ve never had ANY issues with warranty, and I purchase one with nearly everything I buy.

    I’ve worked at a lot of places, and actually SERVED a whole lot of consumers. I’ve SOLD the warranty, and actually KNOW what it covers; and how to make sure the item gets replaced even if it what is broken wasn’t REALLY covered.

    We can’t say these kinds of things to consumers, but sometimes, I find myself pushing the buyer to purchase their warranty for their own good.

    I’m sure most of the users that posted a reply on this thread couldn’t correctly identify the parts on the product they purchased. They DO NOT lie, NEVER. That, I guarantee. You probably interpreted what they said like you WANTED it to be heard. Use your damn logic.

    Oh, and your bullshit about commission… wow… $25 on a monster cable?! We get about $5 on the $120 cable.

    Oh, and the best price guaranty is available from nearly EVERY electronic retail in canada. READ THE FINE PRINT ON THE BOTTOM OF THE POLICY PAGE! If the item is under cost, no go, unless you purchase service. If you could not get the item yourself, not valid (out of stock, errata, etc.).

    EVEN AS A CONSUMER, I understand that comparing a price to an online retailer should include EXPRESS shipping charges as you get it today. FS is dumb enough to price beat ANYWAY!

    Check around you before talking bad about any company. Hell, I’ve had surprising service from WAL-MART!

  39. Sally says:

    I personally prefer future shop over best buy, I find the customer service SO MUCH BETTER then Bb.

  40. Another Former Employee says:

    Firstly, I’d like to pick a bone with FutureShop Salesman. You don’t know why the original poster is a former employee, the same way that you don’t know why I’m a former employee, so drop the attitude and listen to what people here are saying. Your co-workers are lying, my co-workers (especially the commissioned ones) lied all the time to make a sale, and then they laughed at how easy it was to “get another hundred bucks out of that guy”. It’s true that some FS employees are good, honest people; I always prided myself on being open and honest about all of my sales, as a result, I had a relatively low rate of return. Problem is, when you are honest with people about what the PSP does and does not cover, most people refuse it, it’s just not worth it to them to shell out another 100 bucks on a 300 dollar item, just to have a defective product fixed. The PSP is a scam in that most if not all employees advertise it as a two or three-year warranty, when it’s really only a one or two year warranty, as you still have to go through the manufacturer in the first year. The only difference in manufacturers warranty if you have a PSP is that for the most part, you can get Futureshop to deal with the manufacturers for you (Unless you’re dealing with Apple, Microsoft, etc.)

    Also, there -are- fewer women working on the sales floor in Future Shop, so much so, that they have implemented incentive programs, one of them advertised as “WOLF”, to convince women that it is a place they would like to work. I saw the flyers, read them every day while I was waiting for labels to print. After two weeks, I had the flyer memorized. I was the only woman working on the sales floor, with only a handful of other females employed in the store (All of them stationed firmly behind cash registers day in and day out.)

    As a somewhat-disgruntled former employee, I advise my Clients to stay as far away from future shop as possible, and I continue to encounter the startling incompetence of “Product Experts” nearly every day in my new job. The fact of the matter is, Future Shop could care less how their employees feel, or whether or not they can support their families on the half-assed wages (not everyone is commissioned, pity the poor fools in gaming and movies, they make far less than their counterparts in every other department, and do proportionally more work too!) or whether or not their department managers are harassing the employees who work under them. For the record, I left after taking huge cuts in hours totally at random, because all of a sudden, after 4 months of full time work, I was actually only a “Part Time” employee. Adding to my frustration as an educated, and well-spoken young woman, I was constantly subjected to my coworkers calling each other fags, fruits, etc, even though I had previously conversed with the manager about how unsafe, persecuted, and downright uncomfortable they made me. When I complained that a male manager had used a rolling cart to corner me in the warehouse, with no witnesses, she simply laughed and told me that “Boys will be boys, and sometimes they don’t think about what they’re doing” The same manager did nothing when I complained about sexual harassment from other employees, just told me that as a gay woman, I represented something they just “Didn’t understand”. I’d like to think this is a one time occurance, a problem with bad management, but have heard way too many stories from other young women working on the Sales floor in other stores to truly believe that.

    I still work on commission, still sell electronics, and still work for a major telecommunications company. I still sell warranties, and I am still as honest as I ever was; the difference now is that the company I work for is concerned about how I am treated by customers, and my coworkers alike. Not all commissioned salespeople are evil liars, nor are all of the people who work at FutureShop, but in my experience, the really good salespeople eventually move on, and don’t stay with the company forever, because with FS, it’s hard to be honest, AND make a decent amount of money.

  41. Don Seto says:

    I remember buying a gold plated NDS Stylus for my wife for around 10.00 and the cashier actually asked me if I wanted to purchase extended warranty for it!!!

  42. Love these posts, keep ’em coming! bye 🙂

  43. Harry says:

    I don’t know why some people are aginst extended warranty (product service plan) while it’s useful for customers like us. I can tell my own story. I bought a laptop and bought extended warranty as well. After couple of months, something happened to the motherboard and it stopped working. I took my laptop to futureshop of Northland mall, Calgary and they fixed it for me absolutely free. I did not pay a single dollar for the repair work. I am very happy with their service because laptop is working very well after that and now there are no further issues.
    FUTURESHOP IS GREAT….

  44. Kerri says:

    I don’t buy big ticket items at FS or BB, because I’ve read a lot of reviews on both website for items, showing little satisfaction. I buy a lot of ‘prizes’ for staff who work for me (ear phones, cds, dvds, video games). I alos purchase these items at HMV, Walmart, sometimes even Zehrs etc. In my experience I’ve found at the stores I visit (Kitchener and Cambridge) the sales staff are quite ignorant, and don’t really understand the products I’m asking them about.

    Recently I purchases a MacBook Pro. For those who’ve ever looked closely at Macs, they aren’t cheap, at all!! I had done AMPLE research about the model I wanted, and some of the Future Shops have a Mac section. Unfortunately, even the MAC experts (I’m not sure if they are FS employees, I think they’re hired by a separate marketing company?) were not remotely knowledgeable about the product!!! I ended up purchasing my loaded MacBook Pro at a great little shop in London, that specializes Macs only.

    The only major error I encountered with the FS in Cambridge Smart Centre, was that I purchased the Rock Band II video game disc only, to use for a campaign at work. Upon bringing it back to the office, I noticed the package had no cellophane on it and when I looked at the back of the disc it was all scratched. I made the trip back to the store, and spoke to the manager and explained that this was not the disc I wanted. I expressed that upon cashing out, the cashier put the product I brought to the counter under the desk, and this is what I got. I gave the manager the name of the associate (I always pay CLOSE attention to that when I go into electronic stores) and I received with no hassle a new copy of the disc wrapped in cellophane.

    As a consumer, it’s important to be well educated about the big ticket items before you purchase them. Don’t be naive, do your research, and if possible, purchase from local stores, rather than big chains like FS or BB. You’ll often receive much better service, and the staff tend to be significantly more knowledgeable. It’s in these ‘mom and pop’ stores best interest to keep their customers 110% satisfied, as they have to compete with places like FS and BB. I also ask A LOT of friends/family for feedback/advice prior to making any big ticket purchases! Their insight/experience often helps me make better informed decisions.

    FYI: the MAC Outpost in London, ON is fabulous!! if you’re looking to purchase anything MAC, I recommend going there. Great service, nice people, and they don’t BS you.

  45. mrshufflez says:

    lie #8 is that their so called ISF tv Calibration is worth 300$ and done by a certified professional.

    word to the wise DO NOT buy this service, you can get the same if not better quality from the many DVD caibrations ex DVE, AVIA for 40$

    all the connect pro as they are called does is adjust the settings on your tv with your remote on one input with HIS dvd. YOU CAN DO THIS YOURSELF

  46. AnotherEmployee says:

    So like other FS employees I love reading these because first of all it shows me how bad other fs employee’s lie, in response to computer questions, the $80 “setup” fee is not a must. It is just a means of having everything done for you. No matter what a salesman or women tells you, you do not need it. Which also discusts me is how poor management is at some fs stores, how LPG (lowest price gurantee) is not honoured. And to sum up PSP or product service plan, its an investment on your product.

  47. YetAnotherEmployee says:

    I love it when people who don’t buy the product service plan think that because there is a manufacturers warranty on the product they bought that FS is responsible for the repair. We offer a service plan on these items so you don’t have to deal with the manufacturer. If we do send the product that doesn’t have psp on it for you, we can’t guarantee how long it will be out for. If you have the service plan and we send it out for you we guarantee that if it takes more than 60 days then we would replace it. Depending on what is wrong with the product, it can take sometime to order in the parts to repair it and sometimes the parts aren’t available so we would replace it for you as well. What bothers me the most about people who buy products and then blame FS for the issues they have with the stuff they bought is that they don’t realize that the brands we carry are sold at other stores. Telling me that you will never shop at FS again because your Sony tv stopped working 2 years after you bought it and you didn’t want to spend the money to buy a service plan and you just can’t understand why we wont do anything for you.

    1. Manufacturers only offer a 1 year warranty because they don’t expect the product to stop working within the first year.
    2. When you buy the service plan, you have the option to return it within 30 days and you receive a brochure outlining EVERYTHING that is included AND excluded in the coverage.
    3. On the back of all receipts you will find the return policy (this is also the case in most retail stores)
    4. We do have the right to provide store credit if it is out of policy or if you cannot provide the credit card you used to make your purchase
    5. The sales associates who lie don’t last very long at the store I work at.
    6. If you don’t want to buy the service plan or the set up, don’t buy it. We can’t force you to do anything.
    7. Physical damage, Water damage and consumable items (such as bulbs for tvs) are not covered under our service plan or any other warranty.
    8. The majority of the staff who work at the FS I work at (and have been for 3 years) have degrees.
    9. Commission at FS is not near as much as you all think. The people who sell ipods all day can tell you that.
    10. I don’t care if you spent $10 or $10000 in my store. We will treat each customer the same. If you treat me with respect, I will treat you with respect. If you yell at me, I am more then likely not going to help you. Yelling at someone may make you feel better but the outcome will not be that you get your own way. The outcome will be that you are asked to calm down and if you do not comply then we will ask you to leave. We then can call the police and have you removed.

    So, when you step foot into a Future Shop remember: The employees working there are only human. We make mistakes. Some may lie, MOST don’t Treating us like crap is not going to solve your problems. The customer service associates who consist mainly of women aren’t stupid. We try our best to help you out. We strive to keep customers for life. If you let us, we will try our best to help you out.

  48. Critical Thinker says:

    I too would like to challenge the “inside informer”! Most points raised were presented in a very skewed, one-sided viewpoint. Let me start by going step by step.

    1) “The Service Plan covers everything”

    Of course it doesn’t! Anyone, at any store, that tells you everything is covered in a warranty is likely either uninformed or lying. Typically, salespeople at any store, offering any warranty, will inform you of the limitations on the product. Happy customers are repeat customers, and customers which send their friends to their salesperson for great service too- which means more money in the long run.
    Obviously, if I had a 4 year warranty that covered “everything” on my car, at 3.5 years I’d drive it into a telephone pole, total it, and get a brand new car. An “everything covered” warranty is not possible at any store because of this, and thus this is why physical damage is not covered.

    2) “I’m going to give you a discount”

    Hardware has little to no mark-up on it anywhere- money is made in the mark-up on accessories and yes, on the warranties. If you are going to buy TV A, with a cables, a stand, set up, and warranty- there is more numbers to “play with”, and thus the employee can usually wiggle some numbers somewhere for you. Is the whole package going to be less than the ticketed price of TV A alone? Doubtful. Should you buy a million things you don’t need to save money on a package? Not likely. But if you need everything, then they’ll cut you a little slack so you’re saving some money of some things in the end.

    3) “This model is a Future Shop exclusive”

    Typically, exclusives aren’t any more expensive than comparable products. Sometimes it’s only a matter of the product being a specific colour, or coming with certain things packaged into the box. And while the commission may be higher- that is because the manufacturers give the store a “deal” on the product and sell it at a lower price to the store- the employee makes more money, but it typically does not cost the customer more at all.

    4) “Setup will avoid hours of work”

    If a month after you buy it you screw up your product because you are not tech-savvy enough to set it up correctly, that is in no way the store’s fault! If I don’t turn my headlights on in my car when I drive and someone rear-ends me because of it- it’s not Toyota’s fault. And if you haven’t figured out how to set up your Antivirus and you get a crippling Trojan that wrecks your software on your laptop, you’re pretty stuck.
    If you’re capable of doing setup on your own, you certainly can save a few bucks. But if you’re hesitant in your abilities, it’s not worth wrecking your expensive new purchase to shave off a small percent in the end. Better let them set it up, it’ll save you the hassle of both the frustration and the cost of having them “fix” what you screwed up and then having to get them set it up for you correctly to boot.

    6) “You need Monster Cables/Setup/x to make this work well”

    Yes, sometimes no names are indeed equivalent in value to brand names. However, sometimes they are not. (Although fyi, commission on no-name items is actually often higher than that of higher priced “brand name” products!) If you don’t believe the salesperson, or you cannot afford to dish out big bucks, you can, of course, go with a lower value item- just be aware it may not work as well, and be prepared to purchase a higher grade item in the future if it turns out that salesperson was right after all.

    Also, I’d like to reply to all the customers dead set on always refusing warranty. 🙂 It’s certainly your decision. It’s truly a roll of the dice with electronics- most of the time, the failure rate on a product is relatively low. That means, statistically speaking, that most times you buy Product A you won’t have a single problem with it.

    The problem lies when you become that unlucky person and roll the wrong number on your dice. If you have electronics fail outside of a warranty period, it is, usually, astronomically expensive to pay out of pocket to get it fixed. Many times it is simply not worth repairing, which means that a month after the manufacturers warranty expires and it breaks down, you may be out the cash you spent on that high-priced item.

    Furthermore, manufacturers’ warranties are through the company- not through any specific store. So, if you choose to stick with the warranty that comes with the product, be prepared to deal with them directly. That means that after the regular return period, you cannot return to the store and have them cover anything for you, or deal with anything for you, no matter what goes wrong- you’re on your own. That means calling the manufacturer, speaking with someone who may or may not natively speak your language, and potentially paying shipping to the company for the item. That is, if you remembered to register your product with them- or can find your receipt of proof of purchase somewhere. Manufacturers do not have a time limit on the amount of time that they can take to return your product to you- it may be quick, like weeks, or it could take 6 months.

    For many products, Future Shop warranties let you walk into a store and drop off your product. They send it out and deal with the silliness for you, and there is typically a cut-off time where after 60 days, no matter how complicated the repair, if the product is not ready for pickup it’s replaced!

    If you’re comfortable rolling the dice and taking your chances- understanding that you’ll deal with the issue yourself, and you may have to completely replace the product if you’re unlucky, go ahead and go warranty-free. But it’s always worth hearing the full details on what the coverage would indeed cover- coverage is often actually pretty useful when you take the time to thoroughly look into it.

    Lastly, in all walks of life, you should take things people say with a grain of sand. You need to think critically for yourself, of course- there are certainly plenty of scam artists out there. However, it is also not beneficial to go through life overly suspicious. If you set your viewpoint in stone, then you may not listen at all to the salesperson urging you to spend $10 more dollars to upgrade to a better model, thinking “he just wants to make more money”- when truly, he/she knows the model you’re interested in is total crap. A higher price doesn’t always mean higher commission- and you’ll regret it thoroughly when you get stuck with a crappy product. Go into every sales purchase with an open, but critically thinking mind. If you have questions, ask. If something’s not clear, ask for clarification. Get the information you need to make your own, educated decision.

  49. matt says:

    I went to buy an ipod touch and that BS salesman told me that apple is releasing an upgrade to all apps next week and only the 64 GB (coincidentaly the most expensive) will be able to play them. I yelled BULLSHIT and walked out of the store yelling DON’T BUY HERE THEY LIE!

  50. So now if you did everything right, you planted a seed in youtube, and now when people search for this TV show they will see your clips, want more episodes, and click your link and fill out the CPAlead survey and you get paid. Its pretty simple really. Again this is not to make a fulltime baller income but rather a FREE way to start getting a daily income from doing basically nothing.

  51. You made some Good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree.

  52. unsanctioned_fighter says:

    All you people are such tools. Exclusives pay .5% more…and are not marked up…It’s not the stores fault you buy shit computers such as acers, emachines, etc. You get what you pay for. And I will also admit that there are some “Product Experts” that know fack all and there are some snakes. If you act like a baby, you will be treated like a baby, if you act like a piece of shit, you will be treated like a piece of shit, if you act like a retard, someones gonna hit you. Hard. So suck it up, stop buying CHEAP shit and stop whining when you break you shit.

  53. Future Shop is a Canadian consumer electronics retail chain. Charlie used to work there, and has now passed along the 7 most common lies he heard salesmen use on unsuspecting customers. Whether you have a Future Shop in your area or not, you’ll find these lies familiar.

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  57. Cindy Lasa says:

    My boyfriend wants to buy a Sony led 42″ but my father tell me we should buy a Toshiba. Can you guys tell me which one is the best? thnx Cindy

  58. brad says:

    cindy, that’s far too generic, if you’re buying at futureshop find out the manager or department manager’s name and if you don’t think the salesperson that asks if you need help is knowledgeable simply ask to speak to the manager and he/she will be there to give you all the information you need and will not be biased in anyway because managers want customers to return to the store to make money in the long run, not push a quick sale to get you out of the store.

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  62. Jorge says:

    They are soooo smart!!!!!! let alone CUTE!!!!!! I bought a camera last night, and I cannoot get that guy out of my mind. He is the most handsome guy I have ever seen. I asked him to assemble my camera, not because I could not do it myself, but because I wanted to stay some more minutes in his company. He did a superb job! I dont care how much I spent, of the quality of the product. I will keep the memory of those moments for ever, and that already pays off!!!!!! TE AMO salesman!!!!!!

  63. 7 lies? I've lost count. says:

    Ashley; get over yourself and go back to the sixties. I’m a woman and the fact that you’re trying so hard to make an “equality” issue over something so trivial is what gives women and women’s rights activists a bad rep.

    But yeah, the future shop in my area is filled with the worst liars for salesmen you can imagine. The lies I’ve heard come out of their months are amazing! There is maybe one or two of them that are honest and informative, but the rest just spew out whatever diarrhea that they squeeze out of their bums and try to force-feed it to you on a platter. Someone said something like “Future Shop strives for excellence and liars are punished oh so severely” is full of bull himself. If the store (at least, my local one) was oh-so concerned about it, the situation would be oh-so much better. They don’t care as long as they get the sales.

    I had one salesman today, when I was trying to buy my new laptop, try and FORCE me to let him “set up my laptop over night” and I’d be charged a 100$ fee, telling me it was 100% necessary and I’d never be able to do it myself, because it is a “very long, difficult and complex process” and if it was done at the store, they’d get rid of the “annoying” anti-virus pop-ups, and it would run “at least three times faster because of it, and only THEY could get rid of it because they had special tools”. I regret to say that I’m not even exaggerating – he /actually/ claimed it would run THREE TIMES FASTER! I’m not an idiot, don’t lie to me. If he suggested it, I would’ve been fine and like, “whatever, no, shut up” – but it was the fact that even though we kept saying “no”, he kept insisting that it was necessary and they HAD to do it in store (even though I knew for a fact that it wasn’t and it didn’t). He was so persistent on it and REFUSED to let us say no to it, because it was 100% needed. He even claimed that I’d be able to use the newest microsoft office program on it, but failed to mention that it would be a TRIAL version – which I was aware of because we’ve gotten computers and laptops from them in the past couple years and I’m 100% aware that they don’t give the actual program.

    He contradicted himself on a few different “facts” a handful of times, and to get him to shut up and let us bring it straight home, we had to call an ACTUAL computer technician friend of ours to pretty much tell him he was an idiot and he could do it himself for us.

    ^ Do not fall for that tactic, please! You’re wasting 100$ on something you can figure out yourself. The steps are easy as frig. If I can do it, you can do it! If you need help, ask a tech-knowledgeable friend – or search it up on google.

    This doesn’t include some of the other absolutely ridiculous lies I’ve heard from their salespeople. Like the last time, trying to tell me that acers, hps ,toshibas and macs are all equality as good and all rarely find themselves in repair shops, and that they all have the EXACT same percentage of incidents. That’s bull if I’ve ever heard it.

    Though it is possible to get legit salesmen at future shop, they seem to be too rare and too far apart. 7 lies? In most cases, EVERY word is a lie.

  64. Ahmad says:

    Hey guys,
    Ive read all the responses and frankly as a seasonal employee sad to hear the crap everyone has to put up with. Personally when I sell I keep both parties in mind both futureshop and the customers. If the person buying the computer has one in mind and i see that they will run into problems because of the brand or model or w.e the case is ill push the service plan and very often the customer comes back next season thanking me because a blown power cord is 100 bucks alone. If they are sure they dont want it i just ask debt or credit process the sale and send them on their way. But trust some people dont know jack about computers and benifit from the installs ect. or else they fail at home and bring it back as a return. In the computer department i have full faith in everything i sell except the laptop cases and printer cables which i inform the customer get it from somewhere else. AND YES there are alot of shit heads at my workplace who rip people off but i do my best for those who deal with me because my rep is more important than any dollar figure… unless its a million dolllars lol

  65. john says:

    I work at futureshop and you guys obviously had bad expieriences.. but for the most part the salesmen try to get you the best product for your buck.. and we have to push the service plan its not because we need the extra 10 dollars commission we get from it some people dont feel comfortable without the service plan some people dont want it and i havent once tried to change there mind once they have said no and im in the top 20 percent of sales in the company, it seems bad in here because your alot less likely to post on a site if you were happy with the service.. theres probably some salesmen that lie about alot of things to get a bit more commision but in general the salesmen dont at least at my future shop

  66. Gems form the internet…

  67. molly says:

    well i actually work at future shop, and yes i have told people about the more expensive monster cables but i also tell them that they will do just fine with the 50$ cheaper cables, cause honestly they will and i tell them i really dont need the extra 8 bucks and ive had most of the same people come back. just the other day i had an older lady looking for an ipod shuffle im completley out 8 other future shops were sold out i called 11 stores in my city that carry apple products sold out. so i told her i have the day off tomorrow i am going shopping at walmart etc.. if i find one for your grandson i will put it on hold in your name, and give you a call. i think most people know were on commision and people will sell them the one that benefits the worker but as fs workers no you make almost next to nothing on apple products and like 30$ on bose systems. i tell them from personal experiance you know yeh i like the bose but if your not that big into music and just want it for one room go with the apple docking station a lot cheaper with good sound still. so im going for the customers really because in all honesty they do come back and you will make your money. but when you push something for your own benefit a lot of the times the know.

  68. futureshop sucks avoid it like a disease.

  69. Donna says:

    My daughter and I agreed on the same thing we bought a laptop today and had them set it up. We did pay a little more but got some extras thrown in, you need to know how to bargain and the sales person is always the first to help….we had more than enough service. Let them setup your computer properly, even I know how to but figured I wanted the quality I paid for, let them do it. We live In Montreal and had wonderful service from Future Shop at the Pepsi Forum near Atwater Downtown.

  70. fs employee says:

    Monster Cables – Not worth the price.

    Product Service plans – Worth it on Computers and TV’s

    “The Setup” – Beneficial, but not mandatory.

    Price Protection – Absolutely awesome. Future Shop stands behind their price for the duration of the return policy, and you should definitely use this.

    Lying Sales Associates – Rarely flatout lie, some mislead, most are honest. If a product is returned they lose the commission.

    Future Shop as a company does not scam its customers.

    Think about the last time you had a good experience… at any retailer you have been to… Did you go on a forum and start a thread about how great your experience was? Probably not. It’s natural you want to vent if you have had a bad experience. You are bound to have good and bad experiences in life, experience is how we learn and grow as people. The best course of action is to find a sales associate you can trust, somebody that doesn’t steer you wrong and gives you their truly honest opinion on a product or service. Remember we live in a free market and you are free to shop at other retailers. If you are reading this you also have the means of researching the products or services you are interested in before you make your purchase decision.

    Final words:
    You will always benefit from independent research, learn about what you are looking to buy, find a sales associate you can trust, service plans are sometimes a wise decision, but be sure to read all exclusions and ask all the questions you need to feel comfortable before the end of the return policy.

    Thank You

  71. The guy who doesn't get commission says:

    If you guys want an honest salesperson, talk to the entertainment guys. : )We’re not on commission anyway. (other than the $9 I make on PSP)

    Maybe i’m too young an naive, but I rather enjoy helping out customers. It’s kind of upsetting that it seems so many people come in pre-judging me based on previous experiences.

    Either way, I still try my best to keep you guys satisfied. Even if some customers do get rather rude just because i’m a sales person.

    What makes this job a treat is when I get those nice customers that treat me with the same kind of respect that I treat everyone else with. That really makes my day.

    Maybe if any of you accidentally stumble into my store, I can make it a decent experience for you next time!

  72. ICanRead says:

    This stuff is laughable.

    There is NO scam. READ the fine print and if you do you’ll see no scam. How can you honestly believe that the largest electronics retailer in Canada has been scamming everyone? I have never seen any reputable or official complaints about the store; I only see posts on the internet by unreasonable, uninformed consumers.

    If you would only take some time to read through all of Futureshop’s policies and maybe did a little research on the product you want to buy first your shopping experience will be much better. Then if you do get stuck with one of the sleazy salesmen you won’t get walked all over.

    Since when did people start believing that all salesmen are totally honest? Take some responsibility as a consumer.

    Notice I used the word salesman. It is 2012… Get over it Ashley. The only thing that gives feminism a bad name is the feminists themselves. Don’t be a Femenazi.

  73. Lori says:

    Ummm….aren’t you doing the same thing by calling anyone who posts a complaint on the internet “unreasonable, uninformed consumers.”? I have heard that from certain electronic sales people as well. As if a complaint isn’t legitimate because only unhappy customers take the time to post.

  74. VeoLu says:

    As an FS employee, who also works in entertainment on a non-commission base, I would like to point out how ridiculous this article is. The Sales team sell products based on actual knowledge-not lies. If they do lie, it is simply that person being a bad salesman, and not something any manager would ever endorse. Returns and open boxes eat into their margins, too.

    Futureshop is not a ‘fake it ’til you make it’ company. If a customer is unhappy and returns something, that also takes the money that the salesman has apparently scammed you out of. PSP commission is also a very small % of the plan.

    Connect pro- I agree that it’s a waste of time and money, and I don’t think we should be trying to sell it – in truth, a lot of our associates don’t bother. On that note, there are people, ( a small number) who do call saying things like “I shouldn’t have to plug my xbox in, your associate said it was wireless.” or “The HDMI cable doesn’t fit in the usb slot.”

    Buying a psp is not like paying for air. The psp lasts as long as the term you purchased, and items, ie:consoles can be replaced several times on the same plan, as long as it is the same serial number as purchased.

    In short, the article is total bullocks, as are a lot of the trolls posting. I believe we’ve all had irritating circumstances with multiple retailers, and FS is by no means perfect, there’s just a lot of holes in the statements many people have posted here.

  75. dan says:

    SHUT THE FK UP ASHLEY
    U BLONG IN THE KITCHEN BITCH

  76. haha says:

    I laugh at this whole forum. Its stupid and pointless. If you believe everything you are told withoput double checking the facts then your just as irresponsible as some of the sleezy SALEMEN out there. Yes the guys in the store are paid on commission, so what .. Do you ppl work for free? I didn’t think so. Morale of the story, do your own research before you make any business/buying decision.

  77. Adam says:

    I can tell you that most of the issues listed here are not policy and are done because the sales people were slimy and not doing their job right. I will point out that most issues at futureshop can be avoided by BEING AN INFORMED CONSUMER. Do your homework.

    Here are the responses to the “List”

    1) The service place NEVER covers everything. And no sales person doing their job will tell you that. IF you believe it covers everything, you deserve to have your money stolen from you. It NEVER NEVER NEVER is covered if you physically break it, spill water on it, or anything BUT a defect. This is EXTREMELY helpful as most cheap point-and-shoot cameras will have lens malfunctions after 2 or 3 years which is covered, leaving you with a new replacement free of charge. The ONLY stipulation in the coverage is that it doesn’t cover CONSUMABLES. Meaning batteries, bulbs etc. This includes your laptop battery or TV bulb.

    2) “I’m going to give you a discount”. IS this any worse than customers saying “So what discount can you give me?”. The price is the price, but employees are able to give discounts on the listed price if you are buying a bunch of things. This is how they help you and encourage you to buy more. Unless your a mindless drone who cant make up their own mind or say “No” to buying more, YOU SHOULDN’T BE SHOPPING. ITS ALWAYS YOUR DECISIONS AT THE END. Their prices are not over and above anywhere else (except for some small things but thats just margins). You are the customer and have the choice to browse and shop around. Even saying that, they will price match any other price you find as long as its in stock and is in Canada.

    3) Futureshop Exclusive
    – Futureshop exclusives are NOT single models but packages. For example, Canon will offer futureshop a deal on products if they bundle them together, which allows FS To make the bundle cheaper for customers. THOSE ARE FUTURESHOP EXCLUSIVES. And at the end of the day….. again….. you can shop around and choose the best deal for you. If your going to be mind controlled because someone says its exclusive, then you need to wake up and think for yourself.

    4) Setup avoids hours of work..
    Its true that its an easy process to setup a laptop or other computer stuff. Unless your not a tech person. MANY PEOPLE HAVE NO CLUE how to setup a computer, let alone be able to search for the answer on the internet. Some people are simply to ignorant or lazy to do it themselves, and are willing to fork over money to have it done for them. YES ITS EASY TO DO, BUT IF YOU DONT KNOW HOW TO DO IT, ITS WORTH IT AND CONVENIENT.

    5) Your saving X
    OMG……. this is how marketing works folks. If you are too stupid or lazy to look at how much you are really saving with a deal, and take everything marketers say to you at face value, you probably have already sent your bank info to the prince of Nairobi hoping he will share his millions with you. Every product has margins and markup which can be fiddled with. Its simply moving numbers around, but the savings it says are still true. It may not be as big as savings as the product was last week, but thats for you the informed customer to find out. Its simple math folks.

    6) Monster Cables are a scam
    – No they are not they are simply FUTURESHOP’s brand of cables. Same with DYNEX and a few others. The reason they make employees so much commission is because they make the product themselves and therefore have more margins to work with hence better commissions for employees. If your argument is that employees will intentionally push these cables because of the money, well yes! because there isn’t much of a difference between the monster HDMI Cables and other brands. NOT EVEN IN PRICE. Obviously employees shouldn’t push products intentionally because of the commissions they hold, but thats a problem with individual slimy employees, not the company. And this is something an employee would get fired for very fast!

    7) Legally the store has to sell you any available product at the listed price. Except that they can easily say the product isn’t available even though it is in the back room. IF it is on the shelf, then yes, they must sell it to you. As for the preloading laptops, its still a service they are doing and if you want one without the setup then they can do that for you. Just because they did the service before they sold it to you doesn’t mean you dont have to pay for it. Just before christmas a customer asked to buy the boxing day deals they had, because they were in the building in the warehouse but obviously not for sale until boxing day. HE pulled the “your legally entitled to sell it to me”…… umm. NO THEY ARE NOT.

    At the end of the day, if your too lazy to do your research or think with your own brain and decide if what your looking at is a good deal or not, stick to amazon online and dont go to retail stores.

    There will always be slimy salespeople. In retail we try and weed them out but its difficult. All i can suggest is you find a sales person you trust at a store and stick with them. CRM And customer loyalty are big like that.

  78. Bob says:

    legally entitled means you can… and you legally could
    legally obligated means you have to… which you don’t

  79. Mary k says:

    All I can say is that I will never buy from Future Shop.

    I ordered an Acer 64GB Tablet through their Website and received at 16GB instead.

    I called their Customer Service line and they told me the only way I can get a refund is through their site.

    This was at the end of May, I am still waiting for my refund.

    I have reported my complaint to the BBB after harassing FS about where my refund was?

    They originally told me it would take 10 business days to receive my refund through my Credit Card. The 10 Business days already passed and after calling again where my refund was, they still hadn’t processed it.

    Any person who buys from FS be warned. You will get burned.

  80. vijay says:

    I never going to future shop for buy any thing Forget extend warranty which one biggest scam. We should know how it’s work. When you call first time it’s goes to third party no to Future shop.then they give you other phone number which one belong other company.That company send the technician. After that If you call to find any thing. Only GOD can help you.

  81. nick says:

    Having just bought an item from Future shop I can say it was a pleasant experience. The Salesman said they were not on commission and was very pleasant and helpful. I think if you have done your research first you should not be surprised.All stores quite rightly set their own price and it is up to you to know your market prices. Our saleman described the extended warranty and gave us a brochure. I only buy extended warranty on laptops so we refused it and that was all was said.We discussed price as I already knew where prices were worse, same and better so there was no problem getting a lower price. I am not sure what else he could have done to improve the experience, as usual I waited a couple of days to further compare before I went back to the same salesman to purchase.

  82. S a FS Employee says:

    I’m not even suprised by all the repeated complaints. I work at Customer Service, and every customer I get that has had one of the issues many of you have complained about just don’t know how to read and common sense.
    The issue with the PSP not covering everything, I apologize that you were lied to. In my store, any employee who is caught lying is written up and followed very closely to see if it happens again. Each store unfortunately is different depending on management. There are brochures for our warranty at every till and they explain very clearly what is and isn’t covered. Put your reading glasses on for once.

    For the manufacturers warranties, unfortunately its the manufacturer that sets the warranty with. FS. Bose and Beats headphones are great because they cover a 1year exchange at FS. Unlike all Apple products, after the 14 day return policy (tablets, laptops, phones and cameras) and 30 day return policy, all Apple products have to be brought to Apple for the first year. We do not have some special exception password or button to jump that.
    As for dealing with the manufacturer, some items FS can send them out for you but there is no time limit. Most manufacturers do not give a time limit, so it is not our fault for it (we didn’t have to help and send it for you)

    As for return policies, they are clearly written on the receipts as well as on the 8″ by 11″ whit (used to be red) stickers at every cash, as well as a huge poster write by the exit.
    And it is not our fault if you have lost your receipt. We do need the receipt to process a return or exchange as it actually says “Please keep this receipt” in big bold letters on the front of the receipt. And it also says on the back of the receipt and in our policy that the receipt is needed.

    I am sorry if you had a bad experience, but if you have someone yelling and swearring at you, how much would you really want to help them. We have many returning customers whom I enjoy seeing and having great conversations with. But if you are in a bad mood when you come to the store, that unfortunately affects the salesperson or cashier as well.

    And PS any store you shop at will have issues like this. Grocery stores, clothing stores, and electrinics. It just depends on if you go at the right time and get the right salesperson.

    Happy shopping

  83. AL says:

    I can understand all the complaining, BUT what store out there isn’t like this? At least with Futureshop, Bestbuy, and all the big box stores you can at least return items withing 15 or 30 days. I hate the ‘higher end’ stores, or independents, because they will never return anything, ever. I’ve always had the most problems with the independent stores or smaller chains. They give you huge runarounds. They also will lie incessantly to the naive buyer, and they also all push their worthless extended warranties. Futureshop and bestbuy and Walmart all have horrible horrible customer service, noone wants to help you, and most times YOU know more than the salespeople about the products. But, do your research, figure out for yourself exactly what you want, and get the lowest price wherever you want it. Don’t expect service. But, expect a decent return policy. That’s it.

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  85. JJ says:

    if someone who had worked in future shop and still come up with that kinda list of lies, he probably is the one using those lies very well while working at future shop and got fired due to conflict of company SOP. Use your brain, a good sale person in any field knows only honesty and good service bring him business.

  86. Rick Lauzon says:

    Avoid Future Shop and don’t believe ANYTHING a salesman tells you.
    I just found that a salesman had slipped an extra charge of $110 onto my bill for setup of a $20 antivirus program. I wasn’t advised that this charge was coming, and of course no one in their right mind would ever agree to such a ridiculous charge. The store manager was adamant that it wasn’t a scam, and I’m certain that they will keep trying this because it must be working. I had to really get in his face before he refunded the entire purchase. I had very clearly emphasized that I needed the option to be able to return the laptop. The sales IMMEDIATELY offered the antivirus software, knowing very well that the setup service fee was non-refundable, which in turn would make the computer non-returnable unless you want to swallow the $110 setup fee.

  87. 7 years of FS servuce says:

    I recently left Future Shop after seven years. I was a top earner and got to go on multiple trips for my performance (circle of excellence). i did well because i never lied to customers. If i thought a cheaper product would satisfy their needs i would present it and make less commission. it benefited me long term in repeat business. i left the company because i lost faith. i started seeing many customers who purchased the product service plan get a bad experience. things like the product coming back “repaired” just to find out that problem was still am issue before leaving the store. people sending products away and being damaged in transit and then FS not owning up to it and blaming the customer. there are many incompetent connectpro installers who bugger up computers worse than if the customer clicked next, next. i got sick of selling the promise and FS not delivering. its all in writing so customers would have a case to go after FS but most people don’t, they just shop elsewhere. i plan on still shopping there… buy whichever item with product service plan and demand a discount then go back and get a refund on the product service plan the next day.

  88. Kevin says:

    This is why you shop at Costco.

  89. Leona Day says:

    Most of this is complete bull****. Monster cables only pay a buck or two, whereas the less expensive, non-name brand cables pay more, so guess what, if someone tells you to buy a Monster cable, you probably should! It will make a difference. Also, not all salespeople are greasy. Yes, there are SOME things that the salespeople embellish, but that’s so people see the value in something they actually should be getting, because honestly guys, none of us want to spend our money, do we? Also, the setup on computers actually does make a difference in speed/efficiency and can make it last longer. The service plans are fantastic for some people.
    Most salepeople will be upfront with you if you call them on something you know to be *****. And markup on laptops isn’t very high, salespeople make about $4-10 on most of them. That equates to $40-100 PROFIT FOR THE COMPANY. THAT’S IT!
    The guy that said all this stuff probably got fired for being a dumbass or left on bad terms and wants to badmouth the company. Oh, and just so everyone knows, Future Shop is not the only company that does this sort of thing, supposedly. For example, Best Buy is NOT commission and they push setup and Monster cables because they’re good for the consumer. They don’t get any incentive for selling service plans but guess what, THEY STILL PUSH THEM! You know why? Because they’re worth it. Visions and the Source and any other electronics store is exactly the same.

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  91. HomeTheatreGuy says:

    That post is a lie… You people sound like aggressive customer who think they are acting smart by just saying NO to everything.

    First, We are not allowed to lie whatsoever. Like one of the previous posts, all the informations are on the PSP panphlet, the bill, and everything else. This week, a customer of mine asked for a crazy deal that even I would’nt get, only because my boss missheard the price and said okay, we gave it to him. We lost money by making that sale. So its not true that we will always try to rip you off your money.

    Second, we are also human in the case you forgotted, it is not because that one guy at one futureshop lied to you to get that extra 20$ in his pocket that all the futureshop associate will lie in every situation. it is not because you get hired at a futureshop that you automatically turn into a lying demon or something like this. at a 100% times when there was a mistake like a misinformation, our store manager assumed it right away. And when we go home, we do not pass days researching about every single products that we sell nor do we have meeting and formation everyday about every single product. Our formation teaches us the generalities like whats the difference between and LCD and an LED, what is 120Hz, what is a backlit and edgelit TV, what is a smart TV and how does 3D works. Except if the product in question is a huge seller (which means we have a lot of question about it) we do not know every single detailed things about everything. And no, compagnies do not call us to tell us right away or before you about their latest product and everything about it, if you show up in the store to get something that just came out the same day, the employe will most likely know nothing much about it for the first few days, thats why we have a general formation that enable us to at least understand the product mostly by looking and learn what makes it special later. So it happens that we do not have the exact and latest information.

    Third thing. here is a small story: when I started, I sold a really small cheap television. The guy showed up after few months with a broken TV. He asked for a refund but we could not refund him since the bill was over a month old. When my manager asked him why he didn’t took the PSP he answered that he didn’t even knew about it. Result: Since I didn’t present my PSP, my customer never had the chance to have it and then get his TV replaced. My point is that we do not take your credit card and scan it for you. If you don’t want a service plan, it’s up to you. But it exist and our job is tell you that you CAN have it, my job is not to say ”hmmm.. this person will probably say no so let’s not present it”. So even if it is for the smallest thing. Not presenting it is hiding it. And futureshop is really strict about the presentation of differents warranties.

  92. HomeTheatreGuy says:

    and about the exclusive model, maybe you know the difference between a single core and a dual core smart TV for exactly the same price. Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you just turned into the really agressive, frustrated spoiled-the-customer-is-always-right, douchebag person.

  93. Matt says:

    Any associates who has acted with the demeanour who’ve explained above has been terminated.

    Case in point “Charlie” does not work there anymore. Charlie was probably a seasonal

  94. Matt says:

    you’ve*

  95. Tim Roth says:

    Want to know my secret to getting the best price at Future Shop and Best buy? Its easy … drop the Future Shop and cross the border into the US at the Best Buy prices will be much less.

    But it gets even easier. Don’t use Either and just order from Amazon. For border towns its real easy to just not go to these stores because the prices are much higher than the US and they BS about it. Fact is I see French Labels on lots of stuff I buy at US stores near the border. Chains like Best Buy share stock.

    All US border towns have PO box places that wil take shipments and resend them to you. Its almost always cheaper and faster to just order the item, have it dropshipped and pay them to resend it to you than walk into a Futureshop. Often 30% on most electronics. After all expenses maybe 20%. BUT the real savings comes in never setting foot in a local crappy store that treats you like a tool. Time is money and if you save 2 hours of your time what is that worth?

    I live in Windsor. Detroit is 10 minutes away. All American chains offer free shipping within America under 50lbs. So I just get it shipped to my US PO box and go get it. Its actually less trouble than stepping into Future Shop or Best Buy. Its cheaper even after taking time, gas and border tolls into consideration. Sometimes they don’t even charge tax when I come back into Canada. If you order from Amazon there isn’t any state tax to pay in Michigan either. WIN WIN WIN.

    Future Shop could lower their prices. They choose not to as Canadians love taking abuse. Especially Ontario where choices are few and prices sky high. Then come the taxes. Add to that $7.10 on anything electronic in Ontario per item. The they tax that tax with HST. If you buy $100 item in Ontario they tack on the $7.10 enviro tax then 13% on the 107.10. Over 20% tax on $100!!!!!

  96. Inder says:

    I had purchase extended warranty on my I phone, after 2-1/2 year its home button stop working. I took it to future shop and they show me red tab in charging slot and declare its water damage on it. There was never contact of water to my phone. I want to aware other buyer dont trust them ever, use future shop until you don’t have any other option available .

  97. Bill T says:

    That’s why these faceless big box stores are best avoided (for electronics, at least) – although they seem to destroying all other options.

    You touched on a few of the biggest problems – up-sell on useless extended warranty … and the “sub-model” issue.

    Polling tells these stores that people want recognizable “brand names” but they don’t want to pay for them. Therefore, they’ll force the manufacturers to make heavily compromised models specifically for these stores. But the name will be close enough to fool people.

    So say you are talking about a brand called CoolPhone. The real models are CoolPhone A, and CoolPhone B. But under pressure, they’ll make an “exclusive” model called CoolPhone A-1. It seems to be the same one sold at better stores (and manufacturer direct) but it will be a vastly inferior product that will be sold at an apparent discount.

    If you absolutely must buy from a place like Future Shop or Best Buy, check the manufacturer’s website for the EXACT model name of the thing you are considering. If you can’t find it, it’s likely an “exclusive” product that should be disregarded.

  98. Aidan says:

    Wow. As a future shop employee, this entire website is wrong. The Total Protection Plan covers everything under normal uses. Spills are included. Throwing your computer threw a window is not included. If anyone believes this I am dissapointed in you. And no. We do not have to legally sell you it at sticker price with setup. Setup is extra. You dont just get free things because you THINK you know the law.

  99. brandon says:

    Futureshop sucks. ive worked at 2 locations. The only way you are a top salesman at a futureshop is by taking advantage of as many unsuspecting customers as possible.

    Anyone on here saying they work for futureshop and claiming otherwise is talking out of their ass.

    and believe me, ALL manament at store lvl support this. Without those salesmen they would nvr hit daily budgets (which is all they give a shit about).

  100. know-it-all says:

    ANYONE (salespeople especially) who argue that nothing will work properly without monster cables, is full of crap.

    Stop trying to convince consumers that salespeople are only “looking out for the consumer’s best interests”. Their only true concern is commission!

    Monster cables are for the ‘type’ of people who believe they can hear the difference between 0.1% and 0.00001% Total Harmonic Distortion. (Fact: the human ear can only really “hear” distortion at about 2%)

    Whenever you buy a consumer item that requires hdmi cables, NO-WHERE does it say that “monster” cables are specifically required. If the hundreds of manufacturers who make consumer electronics did not want to be inundated with service/support calls from consumers annoyed at pixelation happening on their screens, they would state specifically that Monster HDMI cables were required.

    NO salesperson knows ‘better’ than the manufacturer.

    And to state that no cable ‘other than’ Monster cables works properly, is also total BS. As long as the hdmi cable is:
    1 – shielded (or even better ‘double-shielded’),
    2 – has gold-plated connectors,
    3 – has ferrites (those weird thick barnacles near the ends of the cables)
    4 – and isn’t more than 10ft long
    then ANY cable that meets that should be fine!

    I “GUARANTEE” that a $20 cable that meets the above criteria WILL work properly, and only high-precision test equipment will be able to show you a difference.

    There are 3 grades of cables made:
    1 – el cheapo Avoid these!
    2 – Standard grade – gold connectors, shielded/double-shielded, with ferrites -> More than good enough for 99.9999% of applications
    3 – And the Stupidly expensive overkill Monster (and similar market) Cables -> These are more for gullible/rich/unenlightened people, or people who want top notch bling-bling accessories for their toys. (…Or are trying to overcompensate for ‘something’ unrelated…)

    The salesperson above who mentioned data rates (2+gb/s) may be correct, but data is transferred at a rate that is high enough to allow for enough time for error correction (resending the data) to occur.

    I come from a Electronics-Technologist/Physics background, so before anyone tries to argue with me, you better have some scientifically derived (not commercially funded) proof!


















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