To Whom it May Concern,

Currently, as I write this, I am hoping the story will turn out to be a little more interesting; I always looks for little nuances which may help combat the prosaic way my typical day usually goes and, if this story ends well, it is my hope that readers from this site can use my story as an augury and guide to their experiences with Futureshop in which it may help them deduce what course of action to take in a similar situation.  I, of course, feel no internal ethical conflict in my struggle against this company, as I often associate companies who exist solely on the principles of for-profit: who strive only in their own self-interest – with moral decadence.  Isn’t it so true that the one naturally follows the other.

So let’s get one thing straight: Futureshop is a for-profit company and that is why they exist, to make money.  They are like many companies that have existed and that still exist to this day.  They do not really care about the consumer, they care about the consumers’ capital investments.  That is why they treat you nicely, and that is why they try to give you good customer service.  I find it almost amusing (as sociopathic as that sounds) when people get wroth (angry) because they have been treated impersonally or unjustly in the stories I read on this site.  Do you honestly think an immoral company whose deprave fetor sticks to your nostrils like an irremovable slime really cares about you or it’s employees on a personal level?  Perhaps you could argue individual people do, but I mean the bureaucracy itself as a whole. Do you think Futureshop cares whether you live or die?   It is this same mentality that allows corporations to permanently destroy the environment on a daily basis….it is this same mentality that allows companies to do many things…and it makes me sad.   Capitalism is a great achievement of the human race, but the governments of the world must remember that natural law is natural law, and self-interest strives in the name of self-interest: it must be controlled with governmental regulation so as not to damage the equilibrium with which this environment exists upon and so as to not violate the lives and rights of the citizens it interacts with.

Before I begin my story, I would also like to leave a little note to the employees who (and I cannot even begin to surmise why) defend this company with such vehement in their posts.  Most of the rebuttals I read from Futureshop employees do have a point.  I just read a post about a man whose laptop was replaced under the warranty, but he just wanted it fixed, not replaced.  He was also angry about the fact that his warranty ended after his unit was replaced in full.  The Futureshop employee (who I am assuming it was because he knew the policy of the Product Service Plan) stated that the warranty fulfilled it’s obligation and did exactly what it stated it would do in the plan contract.  On top of that, the employee also pointed out ,with optimism, that the customer actually received a brand new laptop for the warranty price of $150.99+-.  He does have a point, but I try to understand why someone would give time to such a meaningless cause.  Defending a for-profit companies policy contracts?  There are environments being destroyed, people starving, mass homelessness, (and if we go out of the country) genocide and the rest, and you are spending your time defending the name of a for profit company (and one that probably doesn’t even pay you monetarily what you deserve for your work as a human being)?  Of course I am using extreme parallels here, and very hyperbolic contrasts to prove my point, but nonetheless please ascertain something from this.  What I am trying to say, is that this is a hollow cause, there is no depth to it, no humanity.  Then I realized, and from my personal experience as I have to work for corporations in order to put myself through school: the employee is emotionally attached to the company and their coworkers, they emotionally identify with it in some aspect, and it is therefore hard to detach oneself from that company in one’s own thoughts when he or she reads and replies to posts on this website.  The reality is however, you work for a typical capitalistic corporation, one of many and one who operates in monetary self-interest.   Yes people on this website may be complaining about circumstances which are, ultimately, not Futureshop’s fault (as it is just a mindless entity doing what it was made to do), and yes they may be acting just plain ridiculous, but, look at what you are defending.

Now of course, one may pick up a tone of hatred to wards capitalism in my comments, but I am not a ‘communist,’ and I am not a supporter of this either.  I am simply aware of the injustices occurring  in the world at the hand of unregulated capitalism and greed, and this makes me angry.

I feel I have put in my two cents, and much more than needed.  I should also move out of the realm of good and evil and world problems and get a bit more down to Earth.  Let’s go to the meat and bones, shall we?

I bought an iPod nano from Futureshop.  I also bought the Product Replacement Plan with it (they replace the product in Product Replacement Plan (PRP) and do not fix it like the Product Service Plan (PSP)), as the sales associate told me it covers lithium ion batteries, and I know for a fact that a lithium ion battery begins degrading from the very first time you discharge it, so I was guaranteed a new iPod nano when the new ones came out before my warranty expired.   A year and a half later my iPod started having click wheel problems and would not turn on sometimes.  I brought it into Futureshop, they sent it out for warranty.  A couple weeks later, the warranty department calls me claiming that they will not back the warranty because of water damage.  I accept this answer in shock (as my iPod has not been rained on, or dropped in water), then call them back.  Supposedly, there was an area on the ‘board’  that looked a little discoloured that could of been a place where there was water.  I ask myself was this deduction really based off of empiricism?  I go online, and realize that there are others who have been rejected via the water damage claim. I call back the warranty department, no answer. I then decide to leave messages and ask them for a list of scientific proofs in which they used to come about their decision that my iPod was water damaged, and also proof that this discoloured area could not of been caused by them, or in the manufacturing process, and that I would like this list mailed to me so that I can give it to a lawyer.   I however, receive no answer, and the warranty department simply sent my broken iPod back to my original Futureshop.  The Futureshop calls telling me my broken iPod has come back for pickup.  I arrive at the store with my story, the manager helps me (nice guy by the way).  He shows me the iPod, and I noticed that the warranty repair centre did not bother putting the iPod back together properly as the top plate is ajar (another way for water to get inside while in shipment).  The manager expresses concern for my story and says he will take care of it.  Since then, I have not heard from Futureshop about my iPod for 6-8 months, maybe more, as I have lost count.  I am hoping that they have simply lost it so that I can demand a new one.  However, to state, I am simply pissed.  I am also anticipating being told that my warranty has expired (since they have had it for months past the end of my warranty contract date), so they cannot back it.  I have called them again, and am waiting for a callback answer, which I have not received yet.  If, Futureshop does not back my past warranty, I will be taking them to small claims court.  I have no problem with this and it will be of no inconvenience to me, as I am currently working on my undergraduate degree towards admission to law school, and do, in fact, enjoy going to court.  I will be keeping up to date on this website what does happen with this situation.  Also, if my warranty is backed, I may still consider court, for the lost time without my iPod, emotional detriment this has caused me, and the fact that they tried to bambuszle me and have wasted my time and life.  I was also thinking, due to the amount of people who have had their warranties not guaranteed by Futureshop for frivolous reasons (and I will also acknowledge the fact that there are many who have had their warranties turned down due to legitimate reasons), perhaps some form of communication could be established between all of us, and we could ponder on the idea of a class action lawsuit?

To end this and to restate what I mentioned in the beginning, I simply hope that my experience can be used by others so that they will be able to decide what to do in my type of situation if they want to take action against Futureshop.  We will see if they decide to back my warranty or not if I push back.  If they don’t, we will see if they decide to spend much more than the worth of a new iPod to hire a lawyer in court, or to just give me a new iPod.   I would like to say, this is all very exciting to me, in a rah rah, take it to the man kind of way.

Thank you for reading,

- WehrWolf

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The extended warranty Wal-Mart sells is under-written by American Bankers. These are the same guys who underwrite the extended warranty for The Bay, Zellers, Best Buy, Future Shop, The Source… any others???

Kudos to Wal-Mart because they are the least expensive and considering they offer the exact same warranty for less than Best Buy or Future Shop, I’ll buy my brand name product at Wally Land first!

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I bought a washer and dryer a few weeks before Christmas thinking that if it came on sale Boxing day or week that I could get the low price guarantee. No such luck as futureshop wont honor the guarantee for boxing day sales. Now the unbelievable part. They tell me to return the washer and dryer as it is less than 30 days and then buy the same washer and dryer at the boxing day sale price. Now how is that for customer service. They expect me to disconnect the hoses and vent duct and lug it up the stairs and across the yard and drive 60 km to the nearest store!!! Its not like its a lightweight item. Not only is it inconvenient for me but it is work for them also. They acknowledge that the policy is stupid and alot of work for everyone but that is the only way to get the sale price. I wrote head office to complain but they just sent me a form letter and said too bad its our policy. Thats it for me. I was a long time customer but no more. With customer friendly policies like this I will shop elsewhere and hope they go belly up.

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Backed up pictures I needed for a legal situation but thought oh well if something else is accidently lost no problem. They asked my husband if files were backed up and he told them we had backed up some important pictures. At no time did they tell him they could back up everything for $99 or if it is found to be the fault with the machine that backing up was free. They had backed up the computer before with no problem. I have had this machine in now for repairs 6 times and it was only home for 10 mins. this last time as it wouldn’t even boot up right after being sent to the Dell depot. I would’ve had it in more times but I moved etc. this year. The ram was replaced everytime the computer was taken in except for the 5 time and Dell even canceled the factory ordered ram once on me. I sent a letter to Dell who told me I should’ve bought the computer directly from them. Okay I can only get good service from Dell if I bought the computer directly from them. I could’ve had my computer back sooner but Future shop would not even check to see where the ram was until I waited 6 weeks. I phoned and asked them to check on the order after 2 weeks and they told me I had to wait the whole 6 weeks before they would check the order. Now Dell has wiped my computer clean not backing up anything they took off. They put Norton back on which caused months of problems with the computer when I first got it. The Norton would not uninstall properly so I could not put on another anti-virus program. They told me they had fixed that by totally removing Norton but it still would not take another anti-virus program properly. My husband had bought a Norton disk and I couldn’t even get it to re-install what a waste of money. Put avg on there and couldn’t get it back off again. Now I wonder if the 4 wireless mice I bought at Future shop were killed by the computer not working right. I have lost vacation photos, email addresses, research, all my bookmarks, All my friends addresses, passwords, and anything else on my computer. My son had just wiped the backups I had last year at home so I have nothing. Thank god I backed up the photos I needed for our legal action and sent all the documents to another computer for save keeping. Some of your files might be damaged or erased DON’T BELIEVE THEM!!!! 10 yrs. of stuff gone on a computer that isn’t even a year old.

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So I bought a laptop over a year ago and the warranty will be up this August, and the darn thing has been broken since the day I bought it. The very first day I got it home it overheated. Ever since then it’s done pretty well nothing right. I’ve brought it back to the Future Shop literally more than 10 times and every time it comes back to me in the same shape or worse than it was. I was told back in the beginning that they would send it to HP because it was under their warranty, and when I called HP a few months ago they told me there was no record of my computer ever being sent to them. When I go to pick it up from the Future Shop the guy told me that it was on the floor the whole time. From that day I write down who I deal with and what date I was out there. They keep changing the rules about computer replacements. They tell me now that I can’t get a new one until I have 3 part replacements. In the beginning they said it was just 3 repairs. Half the time they don’t believe me when Is say there is something wrong with it. But then why is it overheating, disconnecting from the internet, randomly shutting off, etc? And I just noticed today that the last time it was in the shop they put stickers on the bottom of it that say that if the seal is broken the warranty is void. They are sly. I hate the Future Shop.

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ok, so after weeks of back and forth with a regular futueshopsucks.com contributor who claims she is not a FS employee I have a hunch as to her identity(I say ’she’ based on her writing style…50/50 shot right, lol).

We all know her matter of fact, smells-like-corporare responses and many of us have responded to her with outright accusations that she is a FS employee.She denies it every time but it wasn’t until she responded to the accusation in one of the recent posts that it dawned on me.  PRIONS is not a FS employee as she notes, and I tend to believe her.

She writes clearly  with a limited number of errors and as stated, in matter of fact style.   PRIONS never curses or even raises an ire in any way to direct attacks.  I’ve looked back to past posts and she’s been on this site for a while.  When posting a response, she seems to zero in, not on the actual issue which is generally related to service but moreso the ‘easy-out’. 

 ex:  someone buys a TV and is told it does X. [NOTE: After buying 2 computers, I can personally say the average sales rep knows little more than the specs on the box] A month or so later when customer tries to do X, he/she finds out the TV does not do it.  Customer returns and explains situation and wants some sort of reparation and is immediately told the exchange policy is 30 days, too bad so sad.  After waiting what feels like hours and being passed off to different people, a manger arrives and does nothing more then reiterate the original response.

Someone buys a $1,000+ TV based on bad info and nothing eh?  Not in my Canada damn it!   PRIONS will point out that the exchange period passed and FS was in the right.   Sure,those are the facts but the issue is, and seems to always be, the behavior and more so the behavior of the  poorly educated sales rep.  But PRIONS can’t comment on behaviour, that wouldn’t fit with a standardized response.  Any posts that straight up call FS employees liars are dealt with delicately but tend to point to yet another standardized response or attack the customers experience.

What am I getting at? 

PRIONS is most likely a PR account rep.  I’ll even go further with a theory that rivals anything Dan Brown could write… PRIONS is a rep from ION PR. http://www.ionpr.net/

I don’t have any proof but I do have this to proclaim:

Her ability to actually do any PR and curve the anti-FS sentiment in anyway is limited at best and I wouldn’t pay her a dime if she is paid in CND $, this is a pure outsource job.  I was in communications for 3+ years and she doesn’t even follow the basic rules to tackle negative comments on websites, whoever is paying her needs to stop.    Being so transparent only adds fuel to the fire, heck,  after I posted I would’ve left this site alone if it weren’t for my special friend PRIONS. 

If you are in fact PR.  Get off the blog.  What a waste of a limited communications budget.

If not.  Get off of the FS ’sauseege’ because unless you two are dating, there is no reason to  take the side of the  illegitimate son of Satan. Seriously.  You won’t win.  I won’t let you win.  I’ve got this shit on my mobile devices, laptop, desktop, cattop(my netbook strapped to my cat…).  Typing is easy and effortless and if it becomes too hard, I’ll outsource if I have to.  Whatever it takes.  I made my fortune raising guinea pigs so I got the time and the money. 

My point is, why fight the inevitable?  Resistance is futile.  Vive la revolution!!!!

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Dont waste money on their so called ISF tv Calibration to which they charge 300$ and done by a so called certified professional, to which all certification is is passing a test.

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 user settings on your tv with your remote on one input with HIS dvd. YOU CAN DO THIS YOURSELF

and if you must get an ISF calibration, because i do beleive that it can benefit your tv, go somewhere else, anywhere else that will actually go into your tv and calibrate it properly and not just change the USER settings

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Well here I am updating yet another forum to get this ridiculous story out. I am going as far as I can with this issue. Currently the BBB and CBC marketplace have been notified. I have also started a group on FB to see if I can gather enough people to start a class action suit.

So here is the story.

I purchased a Gateway NV5905H for 729.99 with the specs Core I3 330M, 500 GB drive, 4gbDDR3, and the ATI mobility Radeon HD 5470 on January 1 2010. It was ordered online and at no point was I advised I wasn’t going to get the listed laptop, but… when it came it was all correct with the exception of the ATI radeon card it had an Intel integrated graphics card! Two very different cards and the only reason i purchased the laptop was for the card it was a great deal.

So upon discovery of this I contact customer service only to have a CSR that told me he can’t do anything but allow me to exchange LIKE FOR LIKE. So the same specs as that system apparently didn’t exist, which is what i was told by their CSR. I then requested a supervisor more than 4 times and had to threaten lawsuit in order to have someone put in a callback. This was on January 13, no one has called me. Therefore I went into the store as I was told that the store could help more than the phone rep.

Once in the store the fiasco got worse, after an hour and a half of the MANAGER showing me lesser systems and trying to give me the same system again we finally found a Sony Vaio that was similar, but it was a DEMO model.

So I said fine i will take it, but you have to throw in a warranty as it is a floor model. He looked at me and stated no you have to pay for that. I then said ok then I will just swap the laptops. Again he said no you have to pay the difference 200.00!!!!! I said well that isn’t like for like then is it?

I asked if there would be any discount to the laptop for the trouble and my time. He stated I can give you 20.00 dollars discount!

So I said “ok so all you want to do is upgrade me and rip me off some more then? You aren’t going to give me a free warranty, nor swap the laptops for no price difference. So Futureshop makes out better than I did and then I get ripped off twice in one purchase?”

He seemed to think that was RESOLVING the issue. Then he stated that the ad was a typo and you MAY NOT ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU ORDERED!! uh what? I ordered this laptop with these specs and you don’t have to give me what i ordered?

That was it for me after an hour and half in the store ranting and progressively feeling like customers don’t matter but they will happily take your money. This lead me to returning the laptop and reporting this fraudulent advertisement all over the internet. People have to know that Futureshop does not take responsibility for their mistakes nor do they honor ANYTHING you may order. So basically if you get what you ordered than good for you and if you didn’t it was a typo and they owe you nothing.

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I’m interested in buying a DVD recorder/player and went to a Future shop in Northwestern Ontario Jan.15/10. I walked around trying to locate the players and looking for a salesperson to help. I encountered 3 or 4 salespeople, none asked if they could help, two walked by me. I walked over to two who were carrying on a conversation and stood by them for a minute, they didn’t offer to help. Finally I stopped one who about to walk by me again and told him what I wanted. He was helpful to a point, answered my questions and offered to see if the model in which I was interested was in stock. He came back saying it wasn’t but some would be in Thursday. When I said I lived out of town he didn’t bother to inform me that there is free shipping on items priced $39 or more, which I found out on the website this morning. I lost considerable time looking for someone to help me and sensed some indifference on the part of some of these people.

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http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10137393&catid=#

I basically want to purchase this notebook pc.

As you can see at the bottom it says:

This model comes pre-installed with Windows 7 Starter for small notebook PCs

Which to me, and everyone else I spoke to, means when I open up my pc, I can select the language of preference and use my computer right away. So on Monday I went to Future Shop at the Forum in Montreal looking for this exact computer which is advertised on their website & it states that it is available at this specific store.

To my surprise, this computer was no where to be found on display. I did find another Gateway which was priced at 349$ . I finally find a salesperson. I tell him about the Gateway on their website priced at 299.99$ with a better processor and he tells me he doesn’t know what we’re talking about. He tells us to test out the laptops on display to find one with an internet connection, go to the FS website and find the Gateway pc at 299.99$. Fair enough. After 10minutes of wasting our time trying to find an internet connection, we get the salesperson to look at the advertisement. He says, “OOOOH that one! We just received a shipment and we didn’t put it on display yet. I’ll go get it for you.”

That’s fine.

He comes back with it and tells me that “You have to format the hard drives to install Windows 7 – it’s preloaded but not actually installed per se, it could take up to half a day to properly install the operating system. You could try to do this at home but we don’t usually recommend it if you’re not good with computers. Future Shop offers this service for 100$, plus we’ll give you a recovery disc in case you ever need to reinstall Windows.”

I refused, I didn’t want to pay 450$ for a notebook pc, at that price I might as well invest in a laptop. So I went home really pissed off and disappointed and told myself I’d buy one from Dell for a little more expensive but definitely less than 450$.

I decided to visit the FS website because I wanted to see if this 100$ service charge was mentioned anywhere. I also found it weird that he would give us a backup disc – notebook pcs are too small to support CD Drives, so there’s no point in backup disc. And what if I decided to purchase the pc from the FS website? Would it warn me that Windows isn’t installed on it and I’d have to go to the store to get someone to do it for me since I suck with computers?

Then I thought to myself, they’re not legally allowed to charge me 100$ if it isn’t displayed anywhere on their website or in store and the fact that it says “comes pre-installed with Windows 7” is totally misleading.

I decided to call the FS Customer Service. I spoke to a sweet woman called Louise. She was shocked at what I told her and she verified with the “computer experts” at the Helpdesk and they all confirmed that there is no need to “format hard drives” because Windows 7 is already installed on the pc. At this point, I’m fuming.

The salesperson at FS blatantly lied to me and tried to charge me 100$ for a useless backup disc.

So today, I’m going back to the store. I’m gunna buy my notebook pc, “install” Windows right then and there and make a complaint to the store manager.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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