This is the first post of my new category called “Extended Rant”. Though I don’t like to complain, sometimes things can really tick you off, and you need a good rant. I have been to the Best Buy store three times in the past three days, and right now dropping an anvil on my foot would feel more soothing than the aggravatingly annoyed feeling of having to go back tomorrow.
For the past six months my CRT monitor has been fading. I have been resisting buying a new monitor because for one, I am frugal (some call it cheap) when it comes to buying bigger ticket items and two, even when I do decide it is a drawn out decision making process (I want the best for the right price. This all changed on Monday when my wife sent me out of the house with “don’t come home till you have a monitor”.
I had already done some research so I figured I would go to Best Buy and pick something there. When I got there, the greeter was pleasant and the staff was friendly. I headed over to the LCD section and within a few moments a sales person was there to be of service. I was having a hard time because although all the monitors were on, the screen program that they had running was of inferior quality, and all the images looked fuzzy. I asked questions of Contrast Ratio and 8ms Refresh vs. 2ms Refresh, and got simplistic answers at best. In the end I decided to go with a 19″ Samsung 931C, 2000:1 contrast ratio, 2ms Response. I figured I can’t go wrong with the best 19″ there. When I got home I excitedly set up the new monitor and booted up the computer, ready for the view to end all views. Man was I disappointed. The colours were horrible the graphics sucked and the text was very pixelated. I figured that there was probably some things I needed to tweak, so I took out the users manual to figure things out. After reading the manual (not very useful) and checking out the Net (very useful), I came to the conclusion that I probably would benefit from a new graphics card with a digital connection (the older generations of monitors used analog connections).
So the next day I went to Best Buy. When I got to the LCD section there were some sales people grouped together and one of them recognized me from the previous day. I mentioned my dismay at the quality and also how it might be worthwhile to run a better program on their monitors so people could get a sense of what they were buying (you would think the last point was obvious). They told me that part of the problem was that all the monitors in the store had an analog connection, and would much better if they had the digital ones. This was a great segway to my graphics card request. Well a salesperson took me over to the graphics card section, selected a mid-range card, told me it would suit my needs well and sent me on my way. I got home and opened up the case to find an analog connection only graphics card. Hello….. We were just talking about digital connections.
Day three. Returned graphics card. Went to Graphics card section and asked for help. After a few moments of questions the first sales person was good enough to use the three words of the wise man “I don’t know”. He told me cards weren’t his specialty and went to get me a graphics card specialist. I explained my need again and the sales person suggested a card. This time I check inside the box to be sure it was what I wanted. I also noticed that there was a higher model for the same price. I asked him what the difference was. He wasn’t sure so we compared the two. The higher model read better, yet he said the lower one was better. When I mentioned that all the specs were superior on the higher model he responded “Oh yeah, the higher model is better.” This was when I clued into the fact that he didn’t know what he was talking about. He was like the majority of the sales people there, CARD READERS. Anyway got home took out the card, and guess what? That’s right another strike. The card didn’t fit in the motherboard properly. The sales person didn’t ask me the right questions.
Well you know where I will be going tomorrow. Insane. Though this is a rant, there still has to be some positive lessons.
There are a few I can think of.
28. Don’t Waste Your Time. Be Prepared.
29. If You Are Going To Sell A Product. Sell It Well.
30. Emphazise Your Strengths. Be Honest About Your Weaknesses.
