Complain about a product or service

CompUSA Advertising

Mario of Astoria NY (01/23/08)
An order was placed on 11/22/07 for items shown as in stock and one was at a reduced sale price. Only one of the two items was delivered (of course not the one at a reduce sale price). Although the item still and has always shown in stock, I was told that the item was on backorder and it'll be shipped no later than 4 weeks from the time I placed the order. It has now been 2 MONTHS with nothing. When I check the order status online it shows it was shipped (but never was). I have made numerous attempts to contact compusa via telephone and email about this oder and always got the run around. Now every time I call they tell me to hold on for customer service and then the call gets disconnected. This is totally inexcusable. I would appreciate your help in resolving this matter once and for all.

A SanDisk pro duo memory stick ordered for $35 and now selling on their website for $55.

Sarah of Lake Hopatcong NJ (04/21/07)

On the morning of April 20th, I placed an order for a laptop, Toshiba A135-S4527. The pick-up was in Manhattan. I drove for three hours to get to Manhattan. When I got there, I waited 1/2 an hour to hear whether they had the product in stock or not, while the employees paged the manager several times. After a long time the manager showed up. He said that we do not have the product in stock. I had received and email earlier saying that I could come and pick it up within 72 hours and when I got there, they didn't even have it. The manager there was very rude and unfriendly.

Then he said that if we get the laptop next week, we will call you but you will have to pay the regular price for it. I said what is the purpose of my order then if I don't get it for the sale price? He said I can't do anything about it.

Tom of Tucson AZ (07/18/06)
Subject: Sale Product Never Available at sale price SKU: 338076 Mfg. Part #: WDXUL2500BBNN Product Desc: Western Digital 250G External Drive Last week this drive was on sale for $59.00 after instant and mail in rebates. It was never available on-line and the local store showed out of stock everywhere. Now that the sale is off it mysteriously reappears in the store. However the new rebates are only valid on-line where it is out of stock.It is available in-store for $188.00. Appears to be a catch-22 and certainly some dishonest advertising. Its always on sale but impossible to actually buy at the sale price.This seems to be standard CompUSA bait and switch.

Sheila of Walnut Creek CA (1/5/04):
I was trying to get a computer that was advertised in the New Year's Day ad- it was: Toshiba Satellite M35-S3592 Notebook Product Number: 307562 Price was $1099, which included rebates worth $150.00. I went down to the CompUsa closest to my home (Concord, CA) the morning of 1/1/04 after I saw the ad, which said the sale was starting that day. The salesman showed me the demo, but said they had none in the store, they had actually ordered a couple from Bakersfield "the night before" the sale even started, for other customers - but that I could order it online.

I went home, got online and the site said it was "sold out". I went back to the store to try to get them to order one from Bakersfield for me, and they would not even try ("we already ordered 2, they won't give us any more" Eric, the manager, told me) - then I tried to buy the demo, but that was already gone, as well.

Jan. 2, I looked online, and instead of the computer saying "sold-out", as it had the day before, it said "store pickup only"- but every zip code I can think of to put in their website, from CA to NY to FL, comes back that the item isn't in stock. It's like they had 2 computers in Bakersfield for the entire country-and they had to be ordered the night before the sale started!

While I was in Concord, the manager, Eric (to whom I complained that no one would answer the phone at either Bakersfield, where I had hoped to order it myself and have it shipped, or at Concord, and he said "yeah, that's a CompUSA problem") tried to sell me 3 other "manager specials", all of which started at prices of $600 more than the sale machine. It seriously smelled like a scam! How can they advertise an item they don't have - and then, once they get you into a store, try to sell you a similar item that's $600 more expensive. I thought that was illegal.

$600, if I want to buy a similar computer from them now. Plus two trips to their store because they gave me the wrong info about being able to order it from their website, and then wasting time with numerous calls to their Bakersfield and Concord stores, neither of whom answered.

Ray of Amherst NH (7/5/03):
Attempted to purchase a Sony 4X2X8 Internal EIDE DVD RW Drive. The item was advetised on COMPUSA's website for $169.97. The ad on the website said to print ad and bring it to the store with you and you would get the price advertised. There were no disclaimers on the ad and it was in effect from June 29, 2003 to July 6, 2003.

I followed all the insructions on the website and went to the local COMPUSA on July 4, 2003 to purchase the DVD writer. The store personnel did not know what to do with the ad and told me the price was $329.99 when I showed them the ad clearly stated the price was $169.00. I was shuffled to a very condescending sales manager who told me that he was told in a memo not to honor that price. I asked to see the memo and he refused to show it to me. He even told me to call Dallas and said I wouldn't get anywhere.

I indicated this was classic bait and switch, he couldn't have cared less and refused to discuss the matter any further. I will be complaining to COMPUSA Headquaters and the State Attorney General's Office. Maybe even the FTC.

Sam of Waco TX (2/19/03):
On Sunday, 2/15/03 CompUSA ran an ad for a complete computer system at an attractive price. On Monday, 2/16/03, I went to purchase the system and was told they were "sold out" (they didn't even have a display model) but other, higher priced systems were available. This is the third instance of "bait and switch" practices that I have encountered with this company.

I am forwarding a complaint to the Texas Attorney General's office about CompUSA's sales practices. I will never patronize the company again.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.