RadioShafted

[Chriszuma]

You'll have to forgive me for venting here, but I am really, really mad at Radioshaft right now (and yes, that's what I'm calling them henceforth).

The other day we couldn't find our USB-Serial adapter that we needed to download code. The simplest option seemed to be running to the RadioShack on the corner and buying a new one, that could be kept better track of. So I go to the store and after making sure that it comes with drivers (as we don't have an easy way to connect to the internet) we find out that the frigging thing costs $40!!! Forty bucks for a product that can't cost more than 25 cents to manufacture, just because they know I can't easily find it elsewhere.

Okay, thinks I, If they want to rip me off so badly I'll just use it today then return it and use our old one when Jacob returns with it. So I get back to the lab and attempt to install the included driver CD. The first red flag popped up when the CD had but one file on it: "Radioshack USB to Serial Driver.exe"

Any sane company puts the individual driver files on the disc, along with an installer that installs them, so the user has the choice to install them himself, in the case that the installer doesn't work properly. Also, for $40 I kind of expected so much as an autorun.

Then they really pissed me off. I run the program and it says "Importants message! You already installed driver, to select one of items to operate it" with the choice of "Re-install(Upgrade)!", "Uninstaller Driver!", or "Exit Setup!"

If they're making forty bucks off every one of these god-forsaken things they sell, can't they have the decency to run their software through a spell-checker? Maybe at least take a quick look before packaging it? Not to mention the fact that I most definitely have not "already installed driver." It was probably confused by the drivers for the other adapter I had used. If they had included the actual driver files like everyone else, this would not be a problem.

So I went ahead and clicked "Re-install(Upgrade)!" and that's when the feelings or extreme rage began to work their way through my bloodstream. The program crashed! Windows comes up and says "InstallDriver.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close." What kind of crap is that? I've never even heard of InstallDriver.exe before, and now it's crashing, probably because the morons don't know how to install the driver the right way.

After a few hours that we really didn't need to lose, I managed to get the stupid thing installed on a different computer and downloaded the code after grabbing the Program Files for IFI_Loader with my thumb drive. It turns out that I could just use this spare computer's serial port instead of bothering with all this USB business.

This kind of horrible quality and disregard for the customer is unacceptable from such a large corporation as RadioShaft. If they're going to completely screw people over in their time of need, they can at least have the decency to make a working product. I am definitely never giving them money again; everything I've ever bought from them has been overpriced and of very poor quality, and this is the last straw. A company like that does not deserve my business.

[EDIT]And by the way, it's not illegitimate because I really couldn't get the bloody thing to work. My initial reaction to the price may have been immoral but by returning it I'm not doing anything fraudulent. I don't need it and it doesn't work. If it had worked properly I might have changed my mind and made it the official team USB adapter, since the other one is owned by Jacob. I'm just really angry because they're charging 40 bucks for such a piece of junk.[/EDIT]
Now please stop flaming me, lest I point out the GP hypocrisy.

[Michelle Celio]

What is it bash Radio Shack day?

Maybe you should of included this in the other Radio Shack thread?

Maybe you should be complaing to the store, not the the CD community?

Just my two cents...

[Adam Richards]

Originally Posted by Chriszuma

Okay, I am really, really mad at Radioshaft right now (and yes, that's what I'm calling them henceforth).

First of all, you don't need to insult a company just because a product that they likely didn't manufacture themselves doesn't work properly.

Originally Posted by Chriszuma

The other day we couldn't find our USB-Serial adapter that we needed to download code. The simplest option seemed to be running to the Radioshaft on the corner and buying a new one, that could be kept better track of. So I go to the store and after making sure that it comes with drivers (as we don't have an easy way to connect to the internet) we find out that the frigging thing costs $40!!! $40 for a product that can't cost more than 25 cents to manufacture, just because they know I can't easily find it elsewhere.

Welcome to Capitalism. Supply and demand is an amazing concept, isn't it?

Originally Posted by Chriszuma

Any sane company puts the individual driver files on the disc, along with an installer that installs them, so the user has the choice to install them himself, in the case that the installer doesn't work properly. Also, for $40 I kind of expected so much as an autorun.

Google for the drivers if you need the seperate files so desperately.

Originally Posted by Chriszuma

If they're making forty bucks off every one of these god-forsaken things they sell, can't they have the decency to run their bloody software through a spell-checker?

Again, they likely didn't manufacture the product themselves, and someone made it for them, smacking their name on it.

Originally Posted by Chriszuma

So I went ahead and clicked "Re-install(Upgrade)!" and that's when the feelings or extreme rage began to work their way through my bloodstream. The program crashed! Windows comes up and says "InstallDriver.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close." What kind of crap is that? I've never even heard of InstallDriver.exe before, and now it's crashing, probably because the morons don't know how to install the driver the right way.

InstallDriver.Exe was likely originally extracted from the first exe you double clicked on. It is quite probably that the first file was an archive that extracted to a temporary location.

Originally Posted by Chriszuma

This kind of crap is unacceptable from such a large corporation as RadioShaft. If they're going to completely screw people over in their time of need, they can at least have the decency to make a working product. I am definitely never giving them money again, and I encourage others to make the same choice. Everything I've ever bought from them has been overpriced and of very poor quality. A company like that does not deserve our business.

I am quite sorry that you have recieved such poor service from them, but you do not need to go around insulting them and posting libel. I personally have had great service from them in the past in the few items that I have needed to buy from them (soldering iron, solder, project boxes, a few DB plugs, TI-83+, etc.). I plan to continue visiting them as I need to, though their selection does slightly size down from time to time. If you have such an issue with them, please call their head offices and complain there, not in a public forum. Thanks!

In the mean time, I suggest you look up online vendors, as they likely will have larger selections for products that you are looking for at lower prices.

[sanddrag]

OMG this is hilarious. Yeah, um, Radio Shack. What do they even sell there that is useful anymore? Remarkably, I was able to buy a potentiometer a couple times and even a transistor once, but when the cashier rang it up he had a wierd look on his face. It was either a look of "what is this?" or "we sell this?"

I don't know what is wrong with that place. They sell cell phones, TVs, and computers. Now, if you are going to buy a cell phone, I assume you'd go to a cell phone store (verizon, cingular, t-mobile, nextel/sprint etc). If you are going to buy a TV, you go to Circuit City or some place like that. If you are going to buy a computer, you go to a computer store like Fry's or CompUSA or some place like that.

Radio Shack sells all these things that people can get elsewhere at better prices, quality, and service.

I don't know what they are trying to do with themselves. Maybe not that many people need diodes, resistors, and other small electronic components anymore like they used to. But I have no idea who would go to Radio Shack to buy a cell phone, computer, TV, or otherwise. I don't know what their target customer is. I'm baffled.

Anyway, on this thing, yeah, it is like a lessoned learned. Radioshack isn't the place to buy a USB-serial converter. Actually, I can't think of anything that Radio Shack is the place to buy it. Maybe magnet wire. But that's about it and give it 2 years time and they probably won't sell that anymore.

[Eldarion]

If you want a laugh look on the bottom of the Vex package.

It says: "Manufactured in China for Innovation One Inc."
Innovation One?!?? I think we all know that's supposed to be Innovation First!

Welcome to the influx of poorly made (and poorly translated) Chinese goods.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Eldarion

(and poorly translated) Chinese goods.

Which provide some of the best humor ever

[Chriszuma]

Originally Posted by Adam Richards

First of all, you don't need to insult a company just because a product that they likely didn't manufacture themselves doesn't work properly.

You're saying that because a company outsources their shoddy products it's not their fault that they suck?

Originally Posted by Adam Richards

Welcome to Capitalism. Supply and demand is an amazing concept, isn't it?Google for the drivers if you need the seperate files so desperately.

I explained that I don't have a bloody internet connection, which was the root of all these problems in the first place.

Originally Posted by Adam Richards

Again, they likely didn't manufacture the product themselves, and someone made it for them, smacking their name on it.

Which happens to be at the root of my angry rant...

Originally Posted by Adam Richards

InstallDriver.Exe was likely originally extracted from the first exe you double clicked on. It is quite probably that the first file was an archive that extracted to a temporary location.

I am aware of this, and it pisses me off. There was plenty of room on the CD that they didn't need to make an autoextracter that doesn't even work.

Originally Posted by Adam Richards

I am quite sorry that you have recieved such poor service from them, but you do not need to go around insulting them and posting libel. I personally have had great service from them in the past in the few items that I have needed to buy from them (soldering iron, solder, project boxes, a few DB plugs, TI-83+, etc.). I plan to continue visiting them as I need to, though their selection does slightly size down from time to time. If you have such an issue with them, please call their head offices and complain there, not in a public forum. Thanks!

It's called raising public awareness. Companies must be held responsible for having crappy quality and screwing their customers. If I complained to their head office it would just get lost in the beaurocracy and wouldn't do any good.

Originally Posted by Adam Richards

In the mean time, I suggest you look up online vendors, as they likely will have larger selections for products that you are looking for at lower prices.

That is what I have been doing, and will henceforth do exclusively.

[Chriszuma]

I am quite sorry that you have recieved such poor service from them, but you do not need to go around insulting them and posting libel.

I'm sorry I struck a nerve by insulting Radioshack, but you need to look up the definition of libel. Nothing I posted was untrue, I was simply recounting a horrible experience I had with the company. And I do need to "go around insulting them" because if nobody ever complains about a company screwing people over, they won't be held accountable.

li·bel n.
1. A false publication, as in writing, print, signs, or pictures, that damages a person's reputation.
2. The act of presenting such material to the public.

[EricRobodox]

I got a simple solution for the future, now that building aint as much of a priority... MAKE YOUR OWN CABLE!!!!! 99 cent store has a light up USB cable to a printer dock. Cut the printer connector, and use that half. Find a crappy serial connector and use that. Find an interface schematic, and build it. Hey, if they cant make it to your standards and you just dont want to deal with them, do it yourself. Oh, and i like RadioShack, as they sell parts, well the 2 near me, that i can use for modding my guitar amp as well as accesories for my soldering iron. The only big dissapointment i have with them is there freaken love for the ColdHeat soldering iron, that things a piece of junk. lol. So, if you cant find a serial-USB interface schematic, IM me at AIM: LAGuitaristGuru and ill get you one. Is not that hard. I make most my cables i cant find, well for audio the quality goes down a little bit, but for normal programing to a robot it can do just fine. Also, maybe use a company other than RadioShack if you think its a rip off, as Adam said, ITS CAPITALISM, you can choose where to buy. Not trying to mean, just letting you know that you had a choice, and you may have chose the wrong one. But now you can maybe learn a little more about electronics and get some soldering practice by building your own if you like, and as posted below, buying from a different place may be good as well.

[Travis Hoffman]

http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=8787

$15.50. I bought one of these on sale and it seems to work fine.

[SoftwareBug2.0]

Originally Posted by EricRobodox

...you can choose where to buy. Not trying to mean, just letting you know that you had a choice, and you may have chose the wrong one.

There's not necessarily someplace else nearby. Of course he could have things shipped to wherever he is, but if you're in a situation where every hour counts, like he says he was in, then it doesn't help.

The only choices he may have had were Radio Shack and sit around and do nothing.

[Jack Jones]

The other day we couldn't find our USB-Serial adapter that we needed to download code. The simplest option seemed to be running to the Radioshaft on the corner and buying a new one, that could be kept better track of. So I go to the store and after making sure that it comes with drivers (as we don't have an easy way to connect to the internet) we find out that the frigging thing costs $40!!! $40 for a product that can't cost more than 25 cents to manufacture, just because they know I can't easily find it elsewhere.

Highlights (err, Lowlights?) explain it all.

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by Chriszuma

...
Okay, thinks I, I'll just use it today then return it and use our old one when Jacob returns with it. ....

no one else sees the irony here?

its called Karma! You are not a Radioshack customer - your intention was to 'borrow' this thing for a day, then take it back, after you used it

and get your money back? how? by saying it didnt work?

What do you think they will do with it then? send it back to the factory to be repaired, retested, repackaged?

No, it will be in the dumpster behind the store on saturday morning.

And you think this is all perfectly acceptable customer behavior.

THATS why a piece of wire cost so much!

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I don't know what is wrong with that place. They sell cell phones, TVs, and computers. Now, if you are going to buy a cell phone, I assume you'd go to a cell phone store (verizon, cingular, t-mobile, nextel/sprint etc). If you are going to buy a TV, you go to Circuit City or some place like that. If you are going to buy a computer, you go to a computer store like Fry's or CompUSA or some place like that.

Correct me if im wrong, but doesn't Circuit City also sell phones, cameras, car audio, TV and so much more?

[Tristan Lall]

Are you trying to use a Windows 98 or NT4 driver with a Windows 2000 or XP computer? Because you will get an error when you try that. Windows 98 uses a totally different driver model, and simply can't work; NT4 drivers most often won't work either.