Mike Tschel. wrote:

Hi Guys 'n' Gals,

In light of the recent postings of the decline of Radio Shack, I thought I'd
share the unfortunate story of my recent misadventure of my RS experience.
Just a quick note though: I've been shopping at RS for over 30 years and
have purchased everything from scanners to batteries. (No computers or TV's
or anything - but I *do* have some perspective from my past dealings with
them. Anyway, here's what happened:

I figured I'd treat myself to a small present. Although my current Trident
TRX-100XLT
scanner is a fine machine, it doesn't do trunking which makes it
difficult to listen to the trunked Police in my neck of the woods. Plus,
Fire are trunked which I also like to listen to. In any case, I need a
scanner that has
Trunk-Tracking and figured I'd go to RS and see what they have to satisfy my
trunking needs....big
mistake! I really should have known better after all the stories I've read.
But I live in Canada, most of the dissatisfied customers I'd read about were
located in the U.S. So, I tooks my chances....

So, I sally forth to the Radio Shack at (Toronto) Humbertown, a new
location, and ask
the 19 year old kid to direct me to the Police scanner section. He gives me
a look like I'm asking for Strontium-90 and says, get this: "There is no
such product and RS has *never* carried anything like this." Sigh, I ask for
a catalog - only a store copy as usual - and find the Trunk-Tracker on page
XXX. I said "Here's what I'm looking to buy - can you please check the stock
and see if you have one"? (I'm slowly loosing my cool, but maintaining a
friendly attitude. His reply: "No! We don't have any!" Just then, the female
store manager comes over. I again state: "Hi, I'd like to purchase
(and I point to the unit in the catalog) this radio...do you have
any in stock"?

First she says "Oh, you won't hear Police with this, they use "tones" and
they can't be decoded". I ask, "well why does RS advertise it receives
Trunked Police, Fire and Paramedics?"

She says, "oh it does, but the 'tones' prevent hearing the conversations".
(Tones? TONES? WTF is she talking about I says to myself.) "Besides - she
adds - it's a web-only order and will take ten days".

I tossed the catalog on the counter, and said "Lady, you not only don't know
what you're talking about, you just lost a $400 sale". (I pulled out my
money to prove I was serious) "See you later".

I'm writing a letter to Radio Shack Canada - not that it will do any good,
but it can't hurt. Unless it's cheap cables, adaptors, etc - I will never
buy anything over $20 again. I've heard they're really bad nowadays - but
nothing could have prepared me for this. It was almost like they were
discouraging me from buying a product.

Mike

They did you a favor, Ratshack here in the states charges outrageous
prices. I use them as a last choice.

Also, ratshack here has mobile and table top (police) scanners on
display last time i checked. I wonder if thats one of those us-canadian
differences. Either way, I still suggest shopping around.

-Bob