rec.autos.simulators

I bought a Thrustaster FF Wheel from the Plymouth branch this afternoon,
and, after a 25 mile drive, opened the box when I arrived home to find the
following things missing -

- All leads
- The base (clamp) unit
- The gearstick
- The instructions
- The installation CD

They display empty boxes, and fill them up from the store room when you
buy - unfortunately, the staff don't seem to have the wit or intelligence to
realise that a wheel lacking all that stuff is not quite what anyone has in
mind...

OK, I know I should have checked it in the shop, but it's a shame you have
to anticipate such incompetence.  In fact, of the seven items that should
have been in the box, they managed to give me two - the wheel and pedals.
Oh well done.

When I called them, the excuse was 'well.. our storeroom is very messy..'

Give these guys a very wide berth ;)

P.S. This comes in the same week that I bought a Sony laptop, which had
serious hardware problems on delivery.  When I called Sony, they promised a
very reasonable '3-5 week repair time' - well, they have to send it off to
their only European service centre, in Alsace, after all...

Sony won't return calls, won't give out telephone numbers, or even e-mail
addresses.  Their customer service is non-existent and I'd strongly advise
anyone to look elsewhere.

Btw, Dell make some good laptops with the GeForce2Go card inside - soon as
the refund comes through, that's where it's going ;)

Geez, Roger, this sounds like the week for horrible customer support!  ;]

Cheers!

--
?? Jan Kohl ??
SECURITY CONSULTANT
The Pits -  http://www.theuspits.com
Castle  Graphics - http://www.castlegraphics.com

--

Ian P
<email invalid due to spammers>

Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
F1 hcp. +16.36...Monster +366.59...

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Looks like they sent 'Game' entirely the wrong thing.

Anyway - let battle commence ;)

Steer clear? for a simple problem like that?  I remember when my girlfriend
bought me the psx for christmas in '97 from HMV.  Got home from work, and
found that we'd been sold what turned out to be defective and already
returned item (was easy to compare the state of the internal packaging with
a pucka item) returned it the same day (fair enough I live about a mile away
from the local store) got a replacement and no problems.

I still shop at HMV, it was a simple mistake, easily rectified.

If I lived a whole 25 miles away from where I spend large amounts of money,
I'd make sure what I bought was in the box, I would be stupid to drive all
that way without checking.

Give them a break, and take some responsibility- do you not check your
change before leaving the shop either?

cheers
John

The same deal applies to all hardware and they have an excellent loyalty
scheme. Just try getting any of this from Dixons / PCWorld.

And yes I always check the contents of a box before I leave a shop - unless
it's cornflakes I'm buying or peanuts I'm paying

Ian

Anyone working in a computer *** store must realise that a steering wheel
is going to need software drivers, a connection lead(!) and perhaps some
instructions too.  How he could miss out five of the seven items that were
supposed to be included in the box, and (presumably) believe the package
complete, is quite beyond me.

If you were to buy, for instance, hi-fi from a similar specialist shop,
you'd expect better service and better product knowledge than you'd get from
a bigger store.  I'm thinking particularly of Richer Sounds - the knowledge
of the staff is second to none, the service is superb, and they know what
goes in the boxes.  Why computer and console users put up with second class
service and non-existent product knowledge is a mystery.

I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill, and a drama out of a
crisis.  So a mistake in stocking is enough reason for you to post on a
global newsgroup saying "never shop at this store?"
You'd think they ***ed your family the way you posted.

I buy all my games from GAME, except when PC World has an offer on.  I've
made savings with GAME, and had no problems returning eg, a Voodoo2 card
bought in error (mine not theirs) it wasn't faulty, and it wasn't packaged
wrongly, but they let me get a full refund on it.

Yay for GAME I say.  Buy all your stuff there.  Most of the less mainstream
auto sim/racing games sell there for 15 to 25 maybe as soon as a month
after initial release- a great place to stockpile your sims.

cheers
John

And I'll include all the fun I've been having with British Telecom over
the last few days... errgghh :-(

--
Cheers!
Graeme Nash

I don't get the idea of them unpacking all new stock, putting it away and
displaying empty boxes, yes, it's safer but it takes so much time and does
not work.
They could do like some stores and display one like this and when you want
to buy take an unopened one from the stock room if they are really safety
conscious of protecting from theft.