RadioShack

In a ‘nutshell’ as possible it’s like this. Got an iPhone 6. Needed new chargers. I live in the area and one day just strolled in to look at the store. Never had been in before. Bought a wall charger, car charger and a USB charger. Only peripherals I had bought for the phone. From any establishment. Car charger worked. Wall charger didn’t, so I gave it away. USB didn’t fit the phone so yesterday 04/​14/​2015 I decided to stop back in and try to exchange it. The guy that sold it to me was there. And also, I suppose the store manager. He looked at the charger and quickly said he didn’t recognize that brand and asked me to show him where I got it from in the store. Of course I looked and had no luck finding another one like it. He looked it up and said they have never carried that brand. He was all smiles, but very condescending and snarky. Like I was trying to pull one over on them. When I left I just tossed the charger to the cashier and told him to give it to somebody or throw it away. Basically made me feel like a fucking idiot. I’ll never set foot back in there. But that’s just me. PS A corporation making a last drain circle anyway.

My experience on 11÷7÷14 at this RadioShack represents 2 things: the very first time I stepped foot into a RadioShack, and the very last time I step foot into a RadioShack.
I have seen numerous advertisements stating that RS performs iPhone screen repairs (a process which one would assume should be a simple and painless procedure), and my phone was in need of a repair. I went into the empty store and spoke directly with the «technician» about the issue. She told me that it would take roughly an hour and a half to remove the bad screen and put the replacement on, but that I should rest assured that she does this all the time and it would not be an issue.
I will chronicle the rest of the day’s events with timestamps:
12:00 — Drop phone off
1:30 — Return to pick up phone. «Technician» informs me that the first screen «didn’t work» and that she would need another 45 minutes to finish with the second screen.
2:15 — Return for second time to pick up phone. Phone isn’t ready.
2:45 — Return for third time to pick up phone. Phone is ready. I leave the store and immediately test it out while standing directly in front of the store. To my surprise, the screen doesn’t recognize any motion from my finger and the phone is essentially unusable. I bring it back inside and the «technician» says to me, «Well what do you want us to do?» Well, ma’am, at noon, I brought you a broken phone. I paid you $ 170.00 and returned nearly 3 hours later to pick up a broken phone, I explained. I want you to fix the phone or refund me immediately, and put the shattered screen back on, which — believe it or not — was more functional than the replacement you that you provided. She explained that she could not put the broken screen back on but instead, would try a third screen.
2:47 — (I can’t believe I am going to type this, but this is not an exaggeration and I would want this information if I were making the decision to shop here or not)
Overhear Employee A tell Employees B and C about the time he was «wrongfully arrested» and spent the night in jail. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about his available vocabulary as well as his opinion of the New Orleans Police Department.
2:50 — Leave store.
3:45 — Pick up phone and test the screen. The screen is working, which, by all accounts, is a small miracle given the last 4 hours of insanity that just occurred. I put the phone in my pocket, leave the store, and go back to my hotel to get ready for a wedding.
5:30 — Attempt to take a picture and realize that my front camera is broken. Before bringing my phone to the store, I had no problems with the camera. Now, the camera that is most likely to be affected by the physical placement of the replacement screen (given its proximity to said screen) is suddenly broken.
When I finally got the phone back, I was glad to see that the screen worked. I brought the phone in with one problem and that problem was (finally) addressed. I didn’t check every other previously functioning aspect of the phone to see if they were all still in good working condition as well. I think every customer has the reasonable expectation that when they bring in an item for a repair, the repair is performed and the item is returned in the same condition as it was received, save for the improvement (the repair.) In this case, my definition of repair was very different than RadioShack’s definition and the «technician’s» definition.
With the wedding fast approaching, I did not have time to go back to the store, nor would I have time the next morning. Given how long 90 minutes actually translated to during my first experience, I knew I would not have the ability to go the next day and still make it to my flight on time.
For a store that sells many goods that are readily available at numerous competitors, they ought to take a close look at their metrics for customer service. Given my experience, I refuse to call that employee a «technician» without surrounding it in quotation marks and I truly cannot fathom how RadioShack is still in business.
Put very simply: The RadioShack on Magazine street performs poor quality work at best, and has effectively prevented me from ever using RadioShack again for any purpose.

I have popped into this location a few times and they’ve been fairly helpful for the most part until today. We called this location to see if they sold cell phone batteries and asked specifically if they carried the one we needed. They said yes so we rushed over to get it.
There were 2 customers with two sales clerks helping them when we walked in so we waited a few min. One employee must have been new because he kept asking the other guy, who was on the phone with a cell company, a ton of questions. After about 5 min the new guy was freed up to help us but he didn’t know where they kept the batteries so we were waiting on the guy who was on the phone.
After about 10 more minutes the main guy, while still on the phone for the other customer, went in the back to check for batteries. He came back up front only to let us know that he also didn’t know where they kept the batteries and could we please return in about 15 minutes when the technician will be there to properly locate them.
By that time there were about 7 other customers filing in and waiting around for help as well. I was stressed for the employees because they clearly couldn’t keep up. But for the most part I was just pissed that they told us yes on the phone only to make us wait for 15 min just to tell us that they couldn’t find what we needed. I will not be wasting my time at this stressful understaffed mess of a Radio Shack any time soon.

I was battling with my TV & HD receiver and decided to try some specialized cables to solve my issue. I verified with the website that they had what I needed… and once in the store (with the secret parking in the back), the staff was really helpful. I was in & out in no time.
Of course, the cables didn’t solve the problem and I’ve returned them but that was easy too. (Save your original packaging & receipts, kids!)