Complaint Review: Fry's Electronics

On 08/20/2005 I purchased a Canon PowerShot Digital Camera from your League City, Tx store. At the time of purchase I also bought an extended plan on the camera.

Approx. one month later I returned to the store with the camera because the LED screen would not come on. The tech I talked to pointed out to me a barly perceptable flat spot on one corner of the camera and said the camera had been dropped. I told him that the camera had never been dropped. For all I know the flat spot about the size of tw sharpened pencil points could have been a defect in the mold that made the case because it was as smooth and shiney as the rest of the camera. A couple of more techs looked at the camera saying that it had impact damage.

Then a tech with more on the ball than all of us, turned the screen back on. The camera has a battery saving feature that allows the screen to be turned off, and you can use the viewfinder like a normal camera. No one appologized for accusing me of dropping the camera although they angered me by consistantly accusing me of something I didn't do.

On 07/12/2006, I bought the camera back to Fry's this time the camera would turn on, the lens would open and extend, but the LED screen was black, and it would take black pictures. Now when I bought the camera, I also purchased a memory card that I'm told will hold 6 to 700 photos. And since I had the first problem I have approx. 250 to 300 pictures on the card.
As stated the camera stopped working.
It worked the last time I used it, I put it in it's case and stored it, the next time I went to use it, it did not work.
I was told that the camera had to be shipped off to the manufacturer for repair, and that it would take 6 weeks.

At six weeks I happened to be in Fry's so I checked on my camera, the tech looked up the status on the computer and told me it was awaiting parts. I was irritated, because I couldn't understand why if the camera was sent to the manufacturer would it have to await parts.

Today 09/12/2006 a full 8 weeks after I put my camera in the shop, I get a call from a tech at Fry's telling me the camera had impact damage from being dropped, and that voided the warranty. The camera has never been dropped, it seems to me that either Fry's uses this excuse to avoid honoring their warranty because a camera is so portable. Or the camera was dropped after it was in Fry's custody, because the camera had no other defects. And I never accepted that the indentation first identified by a Fry's tech was damage at all.

Any way the Fry's tech tells me that the repair charge for the camera would be approx. $130.00. I paid for a warranty they are refusing to honor so I asked to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor tells me that there are indications that the camera hade been dropped, then offers to have my camera returned to me, so I can return it to the store for it's current value of $150.00. I paid over $300.00 for the camera plus the extended warranty they are refusing to honor. The warranty states that if the camera can not be repaired it would be replaced with the same model or an upgrade if the same model was no longer availible.

But if you can just tell a customer, there's physical damage when there is none, they think there's nothing you can do.

Well I'm on My**, and I'm posting this as a bulletin to all my friends, hopefully they will pass it on to their friends, and Fry's will get the message that you can't do business in this manner. If Fry's decides to do the right thing by me, I will just as eagerly acknowledge the fact.

I have also reported Fry's to the Houston area BBC, and if I am not satisfied by Fry's I will file a small claims lawsuit.

Robert
League City, Texas
U.S.A.