Not to thread jack, but here is my BestBuy story from a few months ago...
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It was late in the day, almost 4:00PM, and I get a call from a key client that their lone server is acting odd, possibly going down. I swing buy their office and see what they mean. Windows is spitting back any variety of errors and only boots for a few minutes before it BSODs. I pull the case open and start looking for obvious faults - it is an old Dell 400SC. Nothing stands out so I do some quick tests - PSU is o.k., RAM tests fine, boot drive is testing fine as well. Stumped, I pull the box offline, and bring it back to my office for more testing. I go to pull the Celeron chip that is in it and notice some bulging and leaking caps under the green fan shroud - uh oh. The Celeron powering the thing will not boot stably into my test system - again, uh oh.
So I call the client and tell him that the system is most certainly going down. His reply..."I need to be back online - tomorrow morning". I do not have any spare parts on hand that would get this old Dell up and stable so I offer him two options. I will go to Best Buy, the only decent big box store left in this area, and see if they have a suitable desktop box that I can convert into a small-office server. If they have nothing suitable, then I will loan them my office server while I get the parts to build them a new one. Client says great, does not matter which option I choose, just to make it happen.
Off to Best Buy I go. I get there and start looking down their display of desktops looking for something that would work. I am trying to stay under $700.00 for the desktop, but I also need something that will accommodate the client's RAID array. I quickly find two that show potential. Of course, it is hard to know how these desktops are laid out internally so I ask the first sales rep that stops by if he knows how many expansion bays are in each of the two desktops I am looking at. All I get back is a blank stare, as if I am speaking Greek. I try to explain to him what I want to know and he simply points out how many CD and DVD drives the system has. WTF? I am thinking as I scratch my head. I thank him for his time and move on.
A second sales rep comes by and asks if he can help. I tell him I need to know how expandable the two systems I have in mind are. He replies that they have plenty of expandability, "see, you can put up to 8GB of RAM in each of them."
Deep, calm, breaths...many of them.
I try again and am explicit this time. I tell him that I am looking for a desktop that I can turn into a small office server. I have a client's RAID array that I need to be able to fit into the desktop I buy, so I need to know how many drive bays are open in each. He pauses and then replies, "Wow, sounds like you know what you are doing."
More calm, deep, breaths.
"Look" I say. "Can you possibly open up each of these two desktops so I can look to see how many open drive bays there are?" He replies that "he would love to, but that the 'Geeks' will not let the reps do such a thing." I am getting tired and frustrated so I say pointedly, "If you want to sell a desktop tonight, you need to find a way to open these two up so I can look inside them."
"Hold on" he says as he darts off to the Geek Squad counter. When he gets back, he informs me that his manager approved him to open the cases. "Great" I say thinking that we are getting somewhere. "But there is one problem" he continues. "We do not have a screw driver in the store that is suitable to open either case."
Are you f'ing kidding me I scream to myself internally! Externally, I ask him, "what exactly does [he] mean?" "We do not have any screw drivers" he says.
"Hold on, you mean to tell me that in this store, with an entire Geek Squad camped out behind the help desk, there is not a single #2 Philips screwdriver to be found?"
"That is right" he says.
I ask him, "What exactly do your Geeks use to open the computers that come into the store for service?" He answers simply, "I have no idea. I do not even know if they open the systems."
It takes every drop of restraint I have not to self-implode at this point, but somehow I manage to keep it together. "Look" I say, "If I go out to my truck and fetch one of my #2 Philips, can we open up the boxes or not?"
"I do not see why not" he calmly replies.
Five minutes later I have both desktops open and found one that would work perfectly. "Oh, I am so sorry sir, we are sold out of that one" he replies when I say I want to buy one. You have got to be kidding me. "Seriously, you are sold out" I ask? "Yep" he says. "I should have checked first." You are darn straight you should have checked first!
I offer to buy the one I just opened off the floor. "Nope, we are not allowed to sell floor models." Again, you must be kidding me. I offer to pay more than the asking price for the floor model - no dice again. Sensing my growing frustration, or at least I hope he sensed it, he offers to go check the back stock in case they have one or two that never made it to the floor. Great, I could use a break I think to myself.
Not more than two minutes since he left me, he returns to say that miraculously, a customer had "just returned" one up front - unopened even. Wow, I guess I should thank my lucky stars!
As he is ringing me up, he asks what I do to "know so much about computers." I told him I run a technical consulting business that caters to the small businesses in the area; essentially I help with all of their networking and computing issues. He asks if I would work or anyone's computers. I said sure, I am happy to do so. Great he says and asks for my business card. As I handed it to him, I asked if he was referring me to someone he knew. "No" he replies, "but if it is alright with you, I would like to call you next time I have a problem." Sure thing I tell him, but then ask, "What about the Geeks here, don't you get a discount on their service or something?"
His reply was what made my night..."I don't care if their service was free even. I do not trust those guys at all."
Wow - that is one of the harshest "endorsements" I have ever come across.
In the end, the desktop I bought worked perfectly as a small office server after some internal modifications to let the entire RAID array fit and allow for adequate cooling. Even better, my client was ecstatic to be up and running the next morning.
A couple of days later I went back to the Best Buy to thank the guy who "helped" me - I left him a Craftsman #2 Philips screwdriver.
_______________________
It was late in the day, almost 4:00PM, and I get a call from a key client that their lone server is acting odd, possibly going down. I swing buy their office and see what they mean. Windows is spitting back any variety of errors and only boots for a few minutes before it BSODs. I pull the case open and start looking for obvious faults - it is an old Dell 400SC. Nothing stands out so I do some quick tests - PSU is o.k., RAM tests fine, boot drive is testing fine as well. Stumped, I pull the box offline, and bring it back to my office for more testing. I go to pull the Celeron chip that is in it and notice some bulging and leaking caps under the green fan shroud - uh oh. The Celeron powering the thing will not boot stably into my test system - again, uh oh.
So I call the client and tell him that the system is most certainly going down. His reply..."I need to be back online - tomorrow morning". I do not have any spare parts on hand that would get this old Dell up and stable so I offer him two options. I will go to Best Buy, the only decent big box store left in this area, and see if they have a suitable desktop box that I can convert into a small-office server. If they have nothing suitable, then I will loan them my office server while I get the parts to build them a new one. Client says great, does not matter which option I choose, just to make it happen.
Off to Best Buy I go. I get there and start looking down their display of desktops looking for something that would work. I am trying to stay under $700.00 for the desktop, but I also need something that will accommodate the client's RAID array. I quickly find two that show potential. Of course, it is hard to know how these desktops are laid out internally so I ask the first sales rep that stops by if he knows how many expansion bays are in each of the two desktops I am looking at. All I get back is a blank stare, as if I am speaking Greek. I try to explain to him what I want to know and he simply points out how many CD and DVD drives the system has. WTF? I am thinking as I scratch my head. I thank him for his time and move on.
A second sales rep comes by and asks if he can help. I tell him I need to know how expandable the two systems I have in mind are. He replies that they have plenty of expandability, "see, you can put up to 8GB of RAM in each of them."
Deep, calm, breaths...many of them.
I try again and am explicit this time. I tell him that I am looking for a desktop that I can turn into a small office server. I have a client's RAID array that I need to be able to fit into the desktop I buy, so I need to know how many drive bays are open in each. He pauses and then replies, "Wow, sounds like you know what you are doing."
More calm, deep, breaths.
"Look" I say. "Can you possibly open up each of these two desktops so I can look to see how many open drive bays there are?" He replies that "he would love to, but that the 'Geeks' will not let the reps do such a thing." I am getting tired and frustrated so I say pointedly, "If you want to sell a desktop tonight, you need to find a way to open these two up so I can look inside them."
"Hold on" he says as he darts off to the Geek Squad counter. When he gets back, he informs me that his manager approved him to open the cases. "Great" I say thinking that we are getting somewhere. "But there is one problem" he continues. "We do not have a screw driver in the store that is suitable to open either case."
Are you f'ing kidding me I scream to myself internally! Externally, I ask him, "what exactly does [he] mean?" "We do not have any screw drivers" he says.
"Hold on, you mean to tell me that in this store, with an entire Geek Squad camped out behind the help desk, there is not a single #2 Philips screwdriver to be found?"
"That is right" he says.
I ask him, "What exactly do your Geeks use to open the computers that come into the store for service?" He answers simply, "I have no idea. I do not even know if they open the systems."
It takes every drop of restraint I have not to self-implode at this point, but somehow I manage to keep it together. "Look" I say, "If I go out to my truck and fetch one of my #2 Philips, can we open up the boxes or not?"
"I do not see why not" he calmly replies.
Five minutes later I have both desktops open and found one that would work perfectly. "Oh, I am so sorry sir, we are sold out of that one" he replies when I say I want to buy one. You have got to be kidding me. "Seriously, you are sold out" I ask? "Yep" he says. "I should have checked first." You are darn straight you should have checked first!
I offer to buy the one I just opened off the floor. "Nope, we are not allowed to sell floor models." Again, you must be kidding me. I offer to pay more than the asking price for the floor model - no dice again. Sensing my growing frustration, or at least I hope he sensed it, he offers to go check the back stock in case they have one or two that never made it to the floor. Great, I could use a break I think to myself.
Not more than two minutes since he left me, he returns to say that miraculously, a customer had "just returned" one up front - unopened even. Wow, I guess I should thank my lucky stars!
As he is ringing me up, he asks what I do to "know so much about computers." I told him I run a technical consulting business that caters to the small businesses in the area; essentially I help with all of their networking and computing issues. He asks if I would work or anyone's computers. I said sure, I am happy to do so. Great he says and asks for my business card. As I handed it to him, I asked if he was referring me to someone he knew. "No" he replies, "but if it is alright with you, I would like to call you next time I have a problem." Sure thing I tell him, but then ask, "What about the Geeks here, don't you get a discount on their service or something?"
His reply was what made my night..."I don't care if their service was free even. I do not trust those guys at all."
Wow - that is one of the harshest "endorsements" I have ever come across.
In the end, the desktop I bought worked perfectly as a small office server after some internal modifications to let the entire RAID array fit and allow for adequate cooling. Even better, my client was ecstatic to be up and running the next morning.
A couple of days later I went back to the Best Buy to thank the guy who "helped" me - I left him a Craftsman #2 Philips screwdriver.
Just a simple question. 
