Topic Actions

Topic Search

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests

Frustrations with BB

For anyone who might want to have a side conversation...you're welcome here!
Frustrations with BB
Post by smr   » Tue Apr 22, 2014 9:52 pm

smr
Vice Admiral

Posts: 1522
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:18 pm

I went down to the neighbor BB and they sold me a $30 male to female usb 3.0 cable extension. I balked at the price and asked if their was cheaper version and the salesman said "No!" Now, the store might only carry the latest cables but I annoyed by the price because usb 2.0 webcam cost less than $5 but the wire extender was costing $30. As a result, I get online to look for usb 2.0 cable extender 6' and Walmart.com will have it at the local store withing a week $2.47. Cheap! Just how I like the price and just have to wait a week for it to be in the store. Now BB online store had a similar item for $5. (BB is a short for a well known store, I just don't want to give them any free pub!) So much for trying to buy local!
Top
Re: Frustrations with BB
Post by Donnachaidh   » Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:40 am

Donnachaidh
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1018
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 3:11 pm

Eh, neither BB on Walmart are local anyway. Better off going to newegg or amazon. I picked up a high quality 3 meter hdmi cable for ~$10 instead of the ~$50 for a 10 foot one at either of those stores.

smr wrote:I went down to the neighbor BB and they sold me a $30 male to female usb 3.0 cable extension. I balked at the price and asked if their was cheaper version and the salesman said "No!" Now, the store might only carry the latest cables but I annoyed by the price because usb 2.0 webcam cost less than $5 but the wire extender was costing $30. As a result, I get online to look for usb 2.0 cable extender 6' and Walmart.com will have it at the local store withing a week $2.47. Cheap! Just how I like the price and just have to wait a week for it to be in the store. Now BB online store had a similar item for $5. (BB is a short for a well known store, I just don't want to give them any free pub!) So much for trying to buy local!
_____________________________________________________
"Sometimes I wonder if the world is run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain
Top
Re: Frustrations with BB
Post by Ensign Re-read   » Wed Apr 23, 2014 12:18 pm

Ensign Re-read
Commodore

Posts: 763
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 4:24 pm

Hey smr...
Where do you live?

In our town, a store called "General NanoSystems" used to be tied-with or the 1st/2nd choice versus "http://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/default.aspx".
GeneralNano has since closed, so MicroCenter has now taken the crown for the best computer, computer parts, and overall electronics store in our area. (Keep in mind, I live in the area where BB has its headquarters!)

OK, OK, I admit I'm giving a "free" promo to them, but really, in my opinion, they are the best store of their kind in my area, and I think you should check them out _IF_ they are in convenient (or even only semi-convenient) driving distance.

Here's their store list, off of the above mentioned web page:

California
• Orange County/Tustin
Colorado
• Denver/Denver Tech Center
Georgia
• Greater Atlanta/Duluth
• Greater Atlanta/Marietta
Illinois
• Chicagoland/Central
• Chicagoland/Westmont
Kansas
• Kansas City/Overland Park
Massachusetts
• Boston/Cambridge
Maryland
• Beltway/Rockville
• Baltimore/Towson
Michigan
• Detroit/Madison Heights
Minnesota
• Twin Cities/St. Louis Park
Missouri
• St. Louis/Brentwood
New Jersey
• North Jersey/Paterson
New York
• Long Island/Westbury
• Westchester County/Yonkers
• Now Open! Queens/Flushing
• Now Open! Brooklyn/Gowanus Expy
Ohio
• Central Ohio/Columbus
• Northeast Ohio/Mayfield Hts.
• Cincinnati/Sharonville
Pennsylvania
• Philadelphia/St. Davids
Texas
• Houston/West Loop
• Dallas Metroplex/Richardson
Virginia
• Northern Virginia/Fairfax

I hope the above doesn't break some sort of a rule around here, but I meant it when I said they deserve a visit.

ERR

.
=====
The Celestia "addon" for the Planet Safehold as well as the Kau-zhi and Manticore A-B star systems, are at URL:
http://www.lepp.cornell.edu/~seb/celestia/weber/.
=====
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68506297@N ... 740128635/
=====
Top
Re: Frustrations with BB
Post by smr   » Thu Apr 24, 2014 3:31 pm

smr
Vice Admiral

Posts: 1522
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:18 pm

I live in a suburb of Houston, Texas (USA). I have Fry's, Microcenter, and Directron to shop at but they are not close! My problem was I felt that BB was ripping me off and when I did a little price comparison, I found out they were ripping me off. When I paid the money for cable, I knew they were ripping off. So, part of the problem was me buying the cable even though I felt I was getting ripped off. Their's a sucker born every minute and when I bought the cable I proved it. Luckily for me, I could take it back.
Top
Re: Frustrations with BB
Post by Lord Skimper   » Thu Apr 24, 2014 7:24 pm

Lord Skimper
Vice Admiral

Posts: 1736
Joined: Wed Aug 07, 2013 12:49 am
Location: Calgary, Nova, Gryphon.

Mark up on cables is 1000% or more.

You might want to go to a used computer place such cables are dirt cheap to free.

Pawnshops might also sell such things cheap.
________________________________________
Just don't ask what is in the protein bars.
Top
Re: Frustrations with BB
Post by BrightSoul   » Thu Apr 24, 2014 9:04 pm

BrightSoul
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1368
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2009 10:51 am

I'm the technical director for an Ad Agency and I've discovered that while Walmart, Amazon and NewEgg have some decent prices I can get damn near any type of cable from a company called monoprice.com. Ridiculously low priced for the quality of the cables. HDMI cables that would cost more than $60 I get for between $15-30. Mac specific cables are at most 1/3 of the price of anywhere else.
Top
Re: Frustrations with BB
Post by Imaginos1892   » Thu Apr 24, 2014 9:47 pm

Imaginos1892
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1332
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2012 3:24 pm
Location: San Diego, California, USA

Any computer cable that costs more than about a buck a foot is a ripoff. These are digital signals people; if your cable gets the bits from one end to the other it's done its job, and no cable can do any better no matter how much it costs.

Not to start a Holy War, but the same is mostly true of analog audio cables. They have to be really, really terrible to noticeably degrade the sound, and anybody that says different is trying to sell you snake oil. (Or has bought snake oil and is trying to rationalize it)
------------------
Gentlemen! You can't fight in here - this is the War Room!
Top
Re: Frustrations with BB
Post by Ensign Re-read   » Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:17 am

Ensign Re-read
Commodore

Posts: 763
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 4:24 pm

BrightSoul wrote:I'm the technical director for an Ad Agency and I've discovered that while Walmart, Amazon and NewEgg have some decent prices I can get damn near any type of cable from a company called monoprice.com. Ridiculously low priced for the quality of the cables. HDMI cables that would cost more than $60 I get for between $15-30. Mac specific cables are at most 1/3 of the price of anywhere else.


Ditto; Monoprice good.
Chinese of course, oh well.


.
=====
The Celestia "addon" for the Planet Safehold as well as the Kau-zhi and Manticore A-B star systems, are at URL:
http://www.lepp.cornell.edu/~seb/celestia/weber/.
=====
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68506297@N ... 740128635/
=====
Top
Re: Frustrations with BB
Post by Daryl   » Fri Apr 25, 2014 7:08 am

Daryl
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 3562
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 1:57 am
Location: Queensland Australia

In Australia we have other IT frustrations. Items like HDMI cables are sourced from our own cheaper shops & I agree that buying upmarket ones is a waste of money. Generally hardware of non Apple gear is quite cheap.

However our beef is with the IT software giants in that everything from them costs much more here.
It has been worked out that to buy the full suite of Adobe software it is cheaper for an Australian to fly to Hawaii buy it and return than to buy it officially here. Naturally we don't do that but use a work around using a US intermediary to buy it for us then ship it on for a small fee; or some just hack pirated copies.
The same discrimination applies even to digital downloads of apps from Apple and others. Ok it doesn't cost an airfare extra but the proportional difference is inexcusable when it is simply downloaded over the net.

Then Apple and co play international tax games to ensure they pay virtually no tax here.
Top
Re: Frustrations with BB
Post by Buckfan328   » Fri Apr 25, 2014 8:58 pm

Buckfan328
Lieutenant (Junior Grade)

Posts: 43
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2010 2:53 pm

It took my awhile to figure out the game with cables but I'm pretty sure the reasoning is as follows:

Customer: "Oh noes help me sir I have my shiny new toy sitting in my living room ready to roll but I just forgot this one cable!!"
Store: "As it turns out we happen to have that cable right here. Of course we only stock the highest quality [hold up exact same cable you can buy on the internet] cables. I mean you could order an inferior cable from the internet but in the meantime there's that shiny new toy sitting in your living room you've been planning to buy for years..."

Most of the time I can find cables for a reasonable price on amazon, the key of course is planning ahead or having far more patience than the average human. I once paid $15 dollars for a SATA cable (what can I say I WANTED that computer working TODAY). Ditto cellphone chargers. Gotta have a working phone right?
Top

Return to Free-Range Topics...