How NOT to Get Scammed When Shopping for a Notebook

Big box stores may be charging attractive prices for notebooks, but they’re selling wholesale deception. Lately, the news has been filled with stories of national retail chains lying to their customers. In the past two weeks, we’ve reported on Office Depot sales associates who turn away customers that don’t want to purchase extended warranties and then Photoshop higher price tags onto clearance notebooks so they can build in the cost of those same warranties. We’ve also read about a class action lawsuit that was recently filed against Best Buy for allegedly violating its own price-matching policy. And, lest you think these are isolated incidents, we’ve received numerous tips from employees and former employees of other national chains telling us they’ve witnessed or participated in similar sales ploys. Fortunately, you don’t have to be scammed into purchasing an extended warranty or a tech service like software installation. Just follow a few simple rules and you can find a great notebook at a great price. 1. Shop online first. Before you set foot in a brick-and-mortar store, compare notebook prices and models on the Web. You’re likely to find a better price and you’re guaranteed to see a wider selection of makes at models. If in the end, you do choose to buy in-person, at least you’ll know you’re getting a good deal. 2. Use in-store pickup. If you need a notebook today or you just want to save on shipping, you can use the in-store pickup feature on most retailer’s Web sites. Best Buy, Staples, and Office Depot all offer their customers the opportunity to purchase a system on the Web and have it waiting for them at a local outlet. We’ve heard from numerous sales associates that in-store pickups sold without extended warranties do not count against their stores’ sales ratings so the associates have no incentive to turn you away. It’s also nearly impossible to lie and tell a customer that the notebook they just bought and paid-for is out of stock, particularly when that customer is holding a print-out of an e-mail telling them that the notebook is ready for them. 3. Take advantage of in-store kiosks to check prices and inventory levels. Many stores, including Office Depot, have kiosks that let you check store inventory and prices. However, we’ve been told that some Office Depots try to hide these kiosks and that they don’t always show the lowest price on clearance items. 4. Ignore advice from retail associates. They represent the store’s interest, which is getting you to spend as much as possible. You have to represent your own interest in getting a great deal. When dealing with salespeople, assume that any claims they make about the quality or functionality of a given notebook may be either innocent mistakes or outright lies. At a recent visit to Staples, we were told by a well-meaning but misinformed sales associate that a Acer Aspire One is “like a big Blackberry.” An associate at Office Depot told us that a GatewayLT1004U netbook was underpowered because it has “only 512MB of RAM” when the spec sheet in front of the notebook clearly and correctly states that it comes equipped with 1GB of memory. An anonymous Office Depot employee told us that associates will often disparage the quality of a particular notebook in an attempt to sell customers extended warranties. “If a customer was purchasing an electronic item, the sales person goes in to the warranty speech,” he said. “If the customer doesn’t bite, then the employee goes into the ‘bad quality’ speech.  ‘We’ve been experiencing a lot of issues with this particular HP laptop.  I would not recommend buying this laptop without a warranty for your own good! (sigh & shake your head in the ‘no’ position).’” 5. Don’t buy an extended warranty at retail. Extended warranties and protection plans are nearly pure profit for retailers, because the vast majority of customers who buy them never need them. Worse still, many sales associates lie about the features that are included in their protection plans, promising extras like on-site service or accidental damage protection, even when they aren’t included. The truth about warranties is that most notebooks fail either at the very beginning of their lives, when they are covered by the manufacturer’s warranty, or after so many years of service that they are no longer covered by the typical extended warranty. Accidental damage protection and theft insurance can be useful for someone who buys an expensive notebook and expects to put it at risk by traveling with it frequently or letting small children handle it. However, if you want these additional services, we recommend you buy them either directly from the notebook’s manufacturer or, in the case of theft protection, from an insurance company. Consumers can even get riders for notebooks and other portable devices added to their home owner’s insurance. Small business owners who can’t afford to wait several days for a repair can also benefit from on-site service or expanded tech support. Again, we recommend purchasing this type of protection from the notebook’s manufacturer, who best knows how to service its own products. Even if you buy your notebook at retail, many vendors allow you to buy additional service plans from them directly. Lenovo, for example, gives customers 90 days from the date of purchase to buy extended protections from them. 6. Skip add-on tech services, such as software installation or crapware removal. In addition to extended warranties you don’t need, retail associates will try to sell you computer services you can easily do yourself. Consumerist Senior Editor Christopher Walters describes tech services as “basically a stupid tax on the computer illiterate.  The only time I would recommend this is if you value your time so highly that it’s actually cheaper for you to pay money to have someone else do the grunt work. In this economy, that should apply to very few people.” Even if you consider yourself computer illiterate, it’s easy enough to remove trialware from your new computer, install software you just bought or downloaded, or scan for viruses. If you need help doing any of these things, try a reputable tech advice site online. 7. Feign interest in extras if necessary. If you can’t use in-store pickup and must rely on a sales associate to get your notebook from the stockroom, tell the associate you’re interested in purchasing the warranty and then change your mind when you get to the cash register. We’ve heard from many associates that their managers simply will not allow them into the stockroom to get a notebook unless they say the customer is buying it with an extended warranty.