Went to Circuit City today to purchase the Acer Aspire AS4720-4721 laptop. The price at the store was $629. I had to tell the sales rep that I saw it on their website for $539.99. He then told me they could price match. He told me that I needed to upgrade to 2 gigs since it would be too slow. Told me it would cost about $100 plus $39 in labor. Then told me I should just buy the AS5520-5912, which was $679. Said that it would be the same as upgrading and save me some time. What he failed to mention was that that model was selling online for $549.99. Just $10 more than the other one. Not knowing this, I went ahead and purchased the first one and told him I'd upgrade some other day. I asked him about the return policy. Its 14 days. And also, if the box is opened theres a 15% restocking fee. Something about the whole experience just didn't feel right. So when I returned home, I went straight online to double check everything. I didn't open the box. When I went online, sure enough the model he was trying to sell me for $679 was on sale for $549.99. I called up customer service. They told me they had it available at the store and I could get it for $549.99. I returned the one I purchased and asked for the other one. First rep had left. New rep came out with the new one but the box had been opened. He said if I wanted it I'd have to pay just an extra $30 for it for the extra work that had been done on it. He called it "Quick Start". I said WHAT? It's been opened. I want a new one. He said they didn't have any other one left, but the one he had in his hand. He said it was better than new because they worked on it and made it faster. Said that all the advertisements like on new unopened ones were gone. All the stuff he told me to convince me to get it made no sense at all. So I just left. Went home to check their website. Sure enough it says that they have it available at that store ready for pickup. I call the store again. They said the one they have is the opened one. He said he'd go check to see if they had any other ones that haven't been opened in the back. I was on the phone a good 5 minutes. He got back on to tell me he's having someone go look right now. After 5 MINUTES? I waited another 5 minutes then just hung up. I mean, how long does it take to check if something is available. This was the most frustrating experience I've ever had with a computer purchase. I'm not going to try with them anymore. Even though the price is $100 cheaper than Wal-mart, its for opened merchandise. They will sell you opened merchandise for $30 more than unopened merchandise. CRAZY! Oh and then they charge you restocking fee on items returned that have been opened. That would have been $82!! That's just not good business to me. And another thing, the laptop I wanted to get couldn't be ordered online. It was for in-store pickup only. So there is no guarantee a new unopened one will be available at their store even though the website says it is. Something VERY fishy!!! It's not even just one rep but seems to be all of them. Best bet for everyone, just don't even bother stepping into their store. I just glad I was smart enough not to open the box and check things firsts. Still have all my money. Whew!
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