I was a little perturbed today having witnessed some really poor salesmanship at a local Orlando computer shop I stopped into to try and find a special type of USB cable (another story).
While I was in the shop, the owner (I assume) began helping a walk-in client who came in with a laptop asking about Windows 7 and if he could upgrade it.
The salesman/owner turned over the laptop and saw an OEM Vista Home Premium sticker, and said ‘yes you can upgrade it, but we don’t recommend it’ and went on to give the guy some techno-babble about the hard drive not working correctly when you ‘try’ to do an upgrade’
THEN he went on to say he could sell him an OEM copy of Windows 7, complete with a CD he could take home for $200, and they could do the install for $50.
The obviously non-technical customer asked if Windows 7 came with Word, and to my utter disbelief, the sales-owner said ‘yes’! About 5 seconds later, he somewhat correctly himself saying it comes with Word-pad – making a distinctive pause between ‘word’ and ‘pad’. “But we also can install OpenOffice for you.” More blank looks.
As I was browsing around the store waiting to see if his tech could find the cable I was looking for, I also saw 4 copies of the Office 2007 OEM disk kit in the counter display case, for anyone to come in a buy.
So this company misrepresents Microsoft products, blatantly selling OEM product completely against Microsoft’s licensing requirements, AND he’s completely misleading this customer.
Turns out they didn’t have the cable, and I didn’t have the opportunity to talk to the customer as the owner-sale guy was glued to his side. I did sit in the car for a few minute in the parking lot hoping the customer might clue-in and leave and I would have talked to him outside (and tell him to go buy the Windows 7 upgrade from a reputable store and just do it himself).
Microsoft needs to put the hammer down on this type of reseller. It hurts all of us.
The really scary part I saw on their window as I drove away is their ‘business’ service offering. They ‘take care’ of you. Right.
.png)
0 Responses to “Bad Apples in the Computer Industry”