Radio Shack and Electronics Store Secrets

anonymous Radio Shack employee. If there is an item you wish to buy that is not carried in-store, visit the Radio Shack website. Many times, the item(s) can be bought and delivered to your local store, saving you the cost of shipping Original post byChris Pirillo

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what is tix

2nd comment!!

COOL!!!

cool!

COOL VIDEO!
I completely agree/learned something/found it entertaining!
THANKS!
…
What?…Of course I watched it…No I’m not trying to be one of the first to comment, what are you talking about?

i love jello!

awesome!

sounds like marketing to me

She’s cheating on you…

=x ouch

lol

bitch

I hate RadioShack. They always ask for your name and address. Plus they never have what I need (computer parts). They do have the ink I need though. Plus why are they always small?

Wow Chris, thanks for the secrets and helping me out, I really look forward to see more blog posts that you have :). Thanks.

I had a $100 Pair of headphones that were only playing out of one side, I had the radio shack service plan. So I went to turn it in, they gave me a $120 gift card and LET ME KEEP the headphones which were easily fixable. Great Video!

I never thought Radio Shack was a great place to buy things at until now. There is a small Radio Shack in my town in our small abandoned mall.

I always buy electronics online and shipping has become a pain.

In my opinion spoken like as true Radio Shack shill might. Great advert for the corporation.

I have found most of the time my local Radio Shacks are under staffed and over priced.There are three in my local area all three of them may only have one person working in each of them in most cases up at the counter checking someone out or watching a movie.I also never go into there for information on a product because in most cases the employees aren’t trained properly.The only good thing that I have found is there web site has a lot to choose from and they do have some items that are on sale and worth buying.

Honestly, I feel that Radio Shack has gone downhill in the past few years. their selection is limited compared to the bigger stores like BestBuy or
Circuit City. Not to mention that their stores aren’t very common any more.
It’s a shame, really. I always liked the smaller stores.

I totally agree with you on the fact that you only use Radio Shack for last minute or small purchases. The only times I really actually go to a store to buy electronics is if I need it right then. Speaking of this, there are MANY sites out there that find not only the best regular deal, but actually search the sales of diferent companies. I would mention the names… but I really don’t if I am allowed. So… if you want some of these sites, just contact me in the chat (I am almost always there): computernerd. Just thought I’d talk a little about that.

I have never been to happy with Radio Shack after a problem with them 20 years ago. However after this post i may give them another chance. I have learned something new. I did not know you could return to the store and purchase a service plan. In most stores you must do this with your original purchase.
I can see the advantage of the help line (800#) you would get your answers first hand this cuts out any confusion.
Thx
TxNana

I totally agree I love Radio Shack I like their rc cars and pieces parts

I went to Radio Shack, on a friend’s recomend, to see if they sell a Phone device that I use for work. However, the Radio Shack employee had no clue of what I was looking for! Instead the Radio Shack employee told me to go to Office Max, to see if they sold those phone devices, but they did not, so next I get to see that the device I was looking for was for sale at the local Staples store. I use to rely on Radio Shack, for computer related things, but now I only see that Radio Shack is mostly trying to sell Verizon Mobile phones and their employees may not have a clue of what is a Digital Converter for the 2009 Digital Switch!

Oh and they also work on commission so they might get you to buy alot more than you wanted to buy and they love cell phone sales

-Rat_Dot_Exe

i go to radio shack all the time and i havent heard some of these tips also i think bestbuy is cheaper then radio shack

i love ur website and ur videos i think i may try some of this tips if i every need them .

RadioShack may be able to get anything you need, they they’ll probably charge you a ridiculous price for it. The cheapest HDMI cable they may have there is $30.00. You can get one off ebay for about $10.00 after shipping

good tips, just like you said, you can sometimes go before 30 days of original purchase to buy service plan or insurance for the item you bought, and also when buying a phone from stores like Radio Shack and Best Buy you might not find the phone you want because they can only carry certain phones.

Thanks Chris for the first post. I ALWAYS ad paying for shipping on cheap items. For Example, a great deal on a flash drive $5. Then shipping is $7.50. Then the shipping costs more then the actual product. This advice would help me save money. Thank You

> They always ask for your name and address.

I always say, “Ralph Kramden, 728 Chauncey St, Brooklyn NY 11207.” Showing my age…

I have had things delivered to the store that I purchased online and whenever I have called in to see if an item is in stock, I would have them hold onto it for me until I got there.

I didn’t know you could go back up to 2 weeks later to get the service plans. I used to work retail and never knew that. That is something that is definitely nice to know.

I personally prefer shopping online unless it’s something I need ‘right this second’. Online shopping is sometimes cheaper than going to the store with the online deals only.

These are really good tips though so thank you to the employee for sending them and thank you for sharing them with the rest of us Chris.

Ya, Radio shack is way overpriced and there typically a lack of people there. And some of them don’t even know much about electronics. Personally, I just buy those kind of electronical things off the net.

I have had some good and bad experiences with Radio Shack! When I was first learning computers, I went in to my local Radio Shack asking about upgrading my memory ram! The response they gave me was to sell me a pcmcia flash card! I also went in looking for a laptop, and they sold me one that was better than one at Best Buy at a cheaper price!

Thanks for the blog post Chris, I always love your opinions and suggestions!

ur videos suck. u give nerds a bad name. flux capacitors. radio shack is a shit. they should have closed in 1983. i make videos for u-tube. grats on the new job asswipe.

hey, this is my E-mail

02/25/2008, Monday

Radio Shack employees determine how well or poorly a store does in its relationships with consumers. Here in southeast Florida, I have doubts…

Another tip for our forces members: Radio Shack will send to military addresses with free shipping. Service for the Services!

While the comments about the sales people not knowing much is true, there’s a reason. It’s a corporate decision. They don’t *want* folks who know all the ins-and-outs, or are very technically astute, as they’re afraid that they’ll spend too much time talking about it, and not enough time selling it. Several years ago, when RS still sold amateur radio gear, I had a friend that was an Extra Class. They told him outright that he’d spend too much time talking about radios and not enough time at the register, and that they didn’t want his ‘radio nerd groupies’ loitering in the store. Also, if someone had quite a bit of technical knowledge, and could make a living, or at least stay employed using it, why in the world would he work at RS for minimum wage, as a sales droid?

My opinion of Radio Shack can be shown by my last experience there.
I bought a power converter for my daughter when she went to Ireland for school. It worked about a week. I got it back from her and took it back to the same store with the receipt. Their response was “Too Bad”. No support, no refund, no replacement. I can’t imagine buying anything from RS that I wasn’t planning to dispose of almost immediately.

Sadley Radio Shack doesnt have much for computers, but luckily they still have the tiny hard to find stuff to fix things. hurray for the parts drawer

how are these secrets??????????? we tell this to all customers. this video looks like a marketing tool by radioshack….. man i hate radioshack even though i work for them

why on earth would anyone want some thing that is only REALISTIC and not something thats real

i don’t understand, what the hell is live pirillo?

the only time i have ever asked for names and shit is when someone returns something.. which still should only be done when giving credit back not cash but its a job and its pretty easy too

i used to work at radioshack.
this is all true ; )

RackShack is hit and miss. Today, I was annoyed that the local store won’t match the online price of an item that is discontinued. So I paid full price for a very faded package at $12.99 instead of the web price of $5.95. I think that sucks and I contacted RadioShack via their website to find out if this is standard practice. I should probably have just walked away — obviously, I’m not that upset about it and they did have it in stock but the website mentions nothing about differing prices.

I tend to avoid RadioShack though as in general it is not a good place to shop unless you know exactly what you need and how much it costs elsewhere.

I work for RadioShack, and I don’t really understand why there is such distaste towards them. RadioShack is a great company for the most part. We always do everything we can for the customer, to make sure they are satisfied. We do ask for address and phone number but only when someone is doing a return or if they are buying certain products such as cellphones or service plans. If everyone gave RadioShack a chance you would see it is a great place to shop.

of course it is! he said at the start of his vid, that a “SALES REP FROM RADIO…” had sent the email in. They arent secrets, I dont work for radioshack, Ive never even heard of them, but SOME people (as was said in the vid) DONT KNOW. Simple as that. He walked in to radioshack to by something, the manager spoke with him, and woolah (sp?) a “REP” sends him an email…

I dreaded the day that Tandy/Radio Shack appeared in Chicago. There may be some positives to the company, but since the hobbyist market for electronics shrunk over the years, their committment has also — I don’t know what it’s like where you are, Nixae86, but they are damn near useless when it comes to ’small parts’. I havent seen knobs, potentiometers, project boxes (metal, not plastic), etc., and so on. And the quality of what they sell? One of the members of my church bought a Radio Shack microphone stand — it lasted less than two months, and it was NOT abused. A microphone cord, which cost as much as a better type from Sam Goody or Guitar Center. just about made it to six months. I go there ONLY when I am desparate, and I plan to get a better item in a couple days.

Parillo, This is boring! Your freaking sales pitch! Did radioshack pay you for this crap?!
BBBBOOOORRRRIIIINNNNGGGG!

boring. who cares. your a nerd!

you OBVIOUSLY don’t work for RadioShack.

These aren’t secrets. They are problems and FAQ that sales reps run into. It’s purely an informational/promotional video to educate the customer. I did time for a couple years in the Shack and had to explain all of these things to customers several times a day. I hope this guy got paid for this.

Radioshack does tend to have some good deals, and believe it or not, many of their prices rival and sometimes beat those of Wal Mart or other big box places. It all depends on the store

I’m a RS Manager and I can tell ya some is true and some isn’t. Obviously, you’ll run into untrained people sometimes, but it’s in the minimum- in our State (Oklahoma) anyway.

It’s actually 30 days- the time when you can return and purchase a service plan, accessories in a bundle deal with a cell phone, and so forth.

At RS we do try and find everything for the consumer .Sometiems we’ll be busy and customer service wil ldrop less than we’d like, but mostly it won’t.

I personally try and not sell the ridiculously overpriced stuff, because it’s unhelpful for consumers- i.e. Monster cables and the HDMI ones people mentioned above.

I mostly sell audio cables, parts, cell phones, dig cameras and much more.

OneUNTRUE comment- that we don’t have any parts anymore. Yes, we’ve scaled back a bit, but reports of our death are greatly exaggerated. We still carry potentiometers for example (someone earlier said not!).

Other than that, I apologise to anyone who’s got bad service or a bad deal. In Oklahoma, I’d say you have an 80% chance or greater t oget good service and find what you need (about the same in the region, I can’t speak for the other side of the country). Those who don’t are definitely in the minority.

My policy is simply- don’t lie to our customers (i.e. mislead or overstate etc).

Anyway, hope you folks come in and see us. If you have any problems, call the number and LET PEOPLE KNOW! I don’t want people getting bad service.

Regards,
– Alistair

Is that xscreensaver with the bouncing cows in the back?

On the RadioShack criticisms, I felt I had to comment. Personally, I don’t care for RadioShack, but if you are going to criticize it, find some valid criticisms. What you posted is just more garbage from a disgruntled employee that was no doubt “let go” good reason.

1. On prices – this kind of markup is not uncommon. The cost of stocking some of these things that will just sit on their shelf for 2 years is astronomical.

2. “Manipulating the minds of the buyer”? That’s called sales. It is the same in every store, everywhere.

3. You won’t see the newest computers -anywhere- any more. They are improved so quickly, stores cannot be expected to stock the latest models, it is not profitable to attempt to do so. The newest computers or components can only be found direct from the manufacturer or the larger online distributors.

4. A gold contact was NEVER gold. Did you expect solid gold wire? Shoot, I should have stocked up. A one foot wire would have a thousand dollars worth of gold in it. It has always, always, been a very thin gold coating to decrease resistance *at the point of contact*, nowhere else. It is the same wire underneath, they never claimed otherwise.

Ridiculous.

Actually, all the first Sales Associate said is true. Locally, Radioshack is usually going to have the better prices on products such as cell phones and flash drives. Getting an RSSP (Radioshack Service Plan) is recommended on very few products. But, they’re usually recommended with products with Li-ion batteries. Unlike most manufacturer warrenties, Radioshack will cover replacement of the battery once every year for the duration of the RSSP–provided the battery has in fact gone out. This is very helpful with cell phones. Also, I recommend it with any Motorola product as I have seen a high failure rate with these products… For the most part, getting an RSSP on your product can be done within 30 days of purchase, but very few products have an exception to this. Older Boost phones are a fine example. However, I also agree to an extent with the second Sales Associate.

Gold products are just gold-plated. They’re supposed to help against conductivity and rusting (think outdoor coax cables). If you just need a quick fix for a cable, try another store. Even Walmart’s Belkin products are passable.

As far as audio cables… ignoring speaker wires, I personally stick with Radioshack’s audio cables and adapters. I’ve just not had problems with them versus items I’ve acquired elsewhere.

I may be a Sales Associate at the Shack, but I’m also a consumer. If I genuinly think my customer will have a better benifit somewhere else, I’ll tell them so. I was fortunate. When I started I had a wonderful manager. But higher up is cruel overall. I shant go into details of that, however.

To sum up at least the good, here’s some products I do genuinly recommend from the Shack:

Batteries (the red ones; they just last longer)
Flash drives
Cell phones
Anything from the parts drawer in volume (quantity discount)
Audio cables (save for speaker wire)
And possibly a few others that have slipped my mind.

Otherwise do your shoping at NewEgg. *laughs*

Oh by the way, check and see if any stores have products labeled “OSI”. They’re products that are missing packaging and are discounted, or are good parts to bad products. Radioshack throws away anything, good or bad. Smart managers sell the good under “OSI” at a very discounted price. My first manager did that, and I got some good cables like DVI for very cheap.

One last thing, if you have a Radioshack card, you can get 15% off on batteries. They never openly market that for some reason. Remind your Sales Associate, as I don’t think the register does it automatically.