FNK Consumer Reports and Tips

[DJ Ponz]

I think most of us work. As such, we have collectively a lot of knowledge about various businesses in town and the products we consume. Is there a way to make sure you get the best service or product? Is there a way we can avoid getting screwed? Share with your insider tips with your fellow FNK'er!

When booking a hotel:
*Look online, find the best rate, then call the hotel direct to beat that rate; 9 times out of 10 they will
*Call the hotel anonymously 2 days in advance to make sure the rate hasn't dropped.
*Always request a high floor
*Tip the front desk staff - cause their they're the people who have access to your account, and they'd be happy to take off "that movie you didn't watch"

[Custard]

when buying a tv, don't buy rca, or phillips.

they come defective more then not. and if you want a dvd/vcr built into your tv, don't. cause if something goes wrong with the player, you gotta send you tv away. :(

[skyline_trance]

make sure the weed ur buying isnt cat nip:364:

[craz_e_blossom]

Has that happened to you before:soak:?

[trance4life]

*dont buy the front milk as they put the fresh ones in the back*

[Dr. Doom]

If you are going to purchase a solarium or canopy for your home, before signign the labour contract, make sure the salesman put down the proper measurements and the posistions of the doors and windows. Otherwise the draftsman (Doom) will be deciding what your solarium looks like, and more often than not said draftsman isn't going to want to do anything fancy if the contact is sent to him incomplete.

[ppcock]

Originally Posted by skyline_trance

make sure the weed ur buying isnt cat nip:364:

i pulled that last saturday

the joint got passed around 7 times.. I'm suprised they didnt ask why i wasnt taking any tokes.

[Spoon]

never buy extended warranty from an electronics store. Best Buys whole profit margin comes from people who buy it. But if you already have bought it from Future Shop in the past just get really loud and obxious with the floor manager because he has the power to give full refunds/exchanges or to get it fixed. And if he says he has to wait for someone else like the store manager or for you to come back or call later its a crock of shit.

[Dean]

^thats basically the easiest way to get anything you want in any store

keep bitching til they just give you what you want to get you the hell out of there

works every time

[MC Hammered]

Originally Posted by Custard

when buying a tv, don't buy rca, or phillips.

they come defective more then not. and if you want a dvd/vcr built into your tv, don't. cause if something goes wrong with the player, you gotta send you tv away. :(

When buying a TV make sure the unit is COLD to the touch.

The picture looks best when the unit is warmed up so that is why they leave the TV's on all the time.

Fire up a new unit and then inspect the picture and colour before you buy it.

[MC Hammered]

WHen buying anything find out what the best price is from the saleperson and then make an offer for 15% less for cash.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE CASH AND SHOW IT TO THEM!! Otherwise they think you are full of shit.

Tell them the offer lasts 5 minutes and then if they don't respond walk towards the door.

I'd say about 70% of the time the salesperson runs after me before I get outside. If they don't you can always try at another location.

Someone will want the commission.

[SteveO13]

when drinking make sure u dont give the waitress a $35 tip thinkin ur given her a $5 one lol

[galaxie]

try to shop at warehouse sales, or when items are on sale
most retail stores will tell you that their markup is 100% - this is true on items such as jeans and expensive sweatshirts, and sometimes shoes. However, on private-label items, or on t-shirts, tank tops, sweats, etc (especially ones with no screens or embroidery) the mark-up is closer to 300%

BUY WHOLESALE. Try buying plain items (like tshirts, hoodies, sweats) in larger quantities - get a group of 10+ people together and order a mass number of tshirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, sweatpants, etc - you'll get a great deal. Try Budget Tees...they sell to the public and their prices are DIRT cheap. For example, Below the Belt sells the American Apparel long sleeve sheer tshirt for $28...Budget sells the SAME tshirt to the public for approx $10.

if shopping in a retail store, find the NICEST salesperson, and ask them if there is an upcoming sale...even though they're NOT supposed to tell you, they most likely will. (I always told nice customers when there was going to be a sale).

and finally...if you know me and you need a hookup for some cheap clothes, LET ME KNOW. There's no sense in paying retail when you have a friend who works for a wholesale distributor!

[ƒORM]

When you order some fast food..ask for extra mustard, lettuce whatever. Chances are it'll be fresh off the grill and you won't have to eat the burgers that have been sitting there for a bit.

If buying computer hardware don't be afraid of OEM (original equipment manufacturer) products. See www.atic.ca for a list of em. 9/10 they are exactly what you want for quite a bit less. Most packaged components come with lame ass installer programs that can glitch up your system and hog resources. You can also download most drivers and programs off the internet for free.

Don't go to London Drugs or mainstream stores for recordable media discs. Many small computer shops don't sting you with the levy.

Current Levies in Canada:

Audio cassettes 40 minutes or more in length 29¢ each

CD-Rs and CD-RWs 21¢ each

CD-R Audio, CD-RW Audio and MiniDisc 77¢ each

Removable electronic memory card, removable flash memory storage medium of any type, or removable micro-hard drive no levy DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM or any other type of recordable or rewritable DVD no levy

Non-removable memory (memory of any kind including hard drive or flash memory) permanently embedded in a digital audio recorder that can record no more than 1 gigabyte of data $2 per recorder $21 maximum


Non-removable memory (memory of any kind including hard drive or flash memory) permanently embedded in a digital audio recorder that can record no more than 10 gigabytes of data $15 per recorder $210 maximum


Non-removable memory (memory of any kind including hard drive or flash memory) permanently embedded in a digital audio recorder that can record more than 10 gigabytes of data $25 per recorder over $210

[dSl-DuDe]

^ yeah, good advice, i bought a spindle of 25 blank DVD-R discs for 30 bucks, and a spindle of 50 CD-R's for $16 at a smaller computer store. 32 cents a cd

[ebbomega]

On the Computer parts tip:
Never shop at Atic. Go to their website, check their prices, then find someone else in town with a comparable/better price on the same product. You can do it with just about anything. But Atic has the worst customer service in town for ANYTHING. But hey, if you wanna be treated like you're in the Soup Nazi's kitchen, by all means go check it out.

[rawb]

^ncix will pricematch atic most of the time, and you can even do it over the website.

[Akeel]

never buy the "damage waiver" or "extra insurance" converage offered by car rental companies themselves.

If your car is in a repair shop and u get a rental car your insurance transfers over to cover the rental car. Same terms and deductible. They'll try to sell you a "damage waiver" but all that really does is make them responsible to pay your deductible.

If you dont have an existing insurance policy and need to rent a car go to any autoplan and buy car rental insurance for 4 bux a day (4 day minimum) instead of buying the one the car rental place does for 20 bux a day.

[cinist]

pepsi is good

[ƒORM]

Originally Posted by ebbomega

On the Computer parts tip:
Never shop at Atic. Go to their website, check their prices, then find someone else in town with a comparable/better price on the same product. You can do it with just about anything. But Atic has the worst customer service in town for ANYTHING. But hey, if you wanna be treated like you're in the Soup Nazi's kitchen, by all means go check it out.

I think thats why I like it. Theres no silly nerd in a tie trying to sell you on it. Pick part, pay cash, leave store. + Yes it's a good idea to find the part via the atic website first.

[Dr. Doom]

Even with the speed and overall lower prices Atic offers, Doom will do anything he can to avoid buying something there again.. He'd rather just pay a bit extra and get his stuff from NCIX.

[Veni*C]

Originally Posted by DJ Ponz

*Always request a high floor

isnt it the other way around?? shouldnt u request a lower floor... in case theres a fire?!@#

ps.. winston.. ur coming shopping with me next time!!!!

[dSl-DuDe]

Originally Posted by Dr. Doom

Even with the speed and overall lower prices Atic offers, Doom will do anything he can to avoid buying something there again.. He'd rather just pay a bit extra and get his stuff from NCIX.

I think Anitec on Kingsway is one of the best places.. great customer service, wicked prices

[rawb]

Originally Posted by ƒORM

I think thats why I like it. Theres no silly nerd in a tie trying to sell you on it. Pick part, pay cash, leave store. + Yes it's a good idea to find the part via the atic website first.

you forgot waiting in line for up to an hour, horrible service, dumb staff, angry staff, stock problems, hassles RMAing gear, being banned from the store for exchanging a broken cpu....

[Chet]

you can get free RAM for most computers and Notebooks
by calling CU support and telling them the RAM is bad
something like
"my computer wouldn't boot
I swapped out the RAM with known good RAM and now it works"

If it is under warrenty
they will send you the RAM and not ask for the "Damaged" RAM back