Would you check out this layoff slip CompUSA sent around? We know we shouldn't expect their director of HR to get all blubbery or anything, but it's like the corporation really is as soulless as it gets credit for. Like, you're really going to sit in your office in Texas and write a hundred word letter that instantly puts thousands of people out of a job, and the best you can do is "We thank you for your service to CompUSA, Inc."? Thanks for peppering in that "Inc." there, sure it made everyone feel great, but not even a personal anecdote or something? We're actually a little surprised they didn't finish it off with "and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out." Man, even in the throes of death CompUSA treats people like garbage.
P.S. -Upshot to the vultures in the audience, liquidation is beginning within the next week or two at certain stores, so keep an eye out for going-out-of-business carrion.
[Thanks, CompUSA Employee]
posted December 12th 2007 11:51AM
While it is sad to see people lose their jobs it does not surprise me to see CompUSA going out of business. I live near Charlotte, NC and we have two of these store. The only reason I go there is I sometimes need items right now and can not wait for a shipment from an online retailer. I really loath our local stores. Most of the time you cannot find anyone to help find what you are looking for and when you do they usually don't know what they are talking about, have a bad attitude, or think they know what they are talking about and want to argue with the customers. Just for laughs sometimes I stand near the repair area and listen to the "customer service" folks tell customers about what needed to be fixed and usually they were way off. I have also tragically heard them tell more than one customer that all their personal data had been lost in the process of moving it to a new hard drive or new machine. With the lack of service, caring, and knowledge it is no wonder that they are closing. It is too bad too because the one nice thing about having a store like this around was the ability to get items on the spur of the minute and most of what I bought there no other store in my area carries. This will have an big impact on how I go about getting last minute supplies. My hope is that someone else will take the bull by the horns and create a smarter better run version of a computer retail chain where us last minute computer nerds and get our fix.
I'm not surprised they're closing...it's been a long time in coming. Not shifting with market trends, not updating their image, charging more for items that are really not that expensive...
It is sad though...I used to work for them and I enjoyed my time there. I mean, I hated the company and all the damn upper-management decisions that made no sense, but as a whole all of the people in my store came to be a family, and we still feel that way today.
As for all of the closing stores, I feel their pain. I went through that earlier in the year when my store got closed. And those closings were not meant to "cut under performing stores," seeing as my store had the some of the highest numbers in the area. And for the employees, I really do hope the company offers them severances. All employees got severances during our round of closings.
And on a side note, we never got those letters when my store was set to close. We were just told to keep working and when the store closed, we would get severances based on how long we worked for the company.
I use to work for CompUSA also, well until it got shut down in last may lol. I have to say the Company truly deserves to be shut down. I started on the floor and moved into Tech, and I honestly backed that company. I believed we were better then Best Buy. I was part of the #1 tech shop in the country and was damn proud of it. We turned around computers within a day and always tried to help the customer save a buck.
When we were shut down, we got nothing. I wasn't there when it first happened, but came into work later that day, and there were a few people in back of tech really upset. Thats how I found out. Told to keep working and get paid.
Back in Tech and the store we were a solid family and we still meet up for drinks every now and then.
This letter is more about the strict requirements of the WARN Act than any personal slight. The Act is very specific in what can, and can't, be included in such a notice. And as someone above (correctly) guessed, this is unlikely to be the only communication between CompUSA and their employees. At the company I work for, our WARN Act notices have been similar, but they're only sent out after personal discussions with the employees.
WARN notices are a specific legal document required to be sent out in situations like this. There is very little room for anything but the standardized language in this notice.
Even if that weren't the case, what more is there to say? "You all did really well but we were incompetent. Sorry." How does that make the situation better?
CompUSA down, Staples to go.
I certainly know that Mr. Coder will *NEVER* get an interview in any company I'm involved with.
WTF? ok...
Forgive me - that was a flash of fingers on the keyboard without context. I was playing with 'coder' being akin to programmer and such a dry, uninspiring missive. If you don't get those moments, you should! ;-)
Have you never worked in the real world? What did you want him to give everyone hugs and butterfly kisses?
CrapUSA strikes again.
Good riddance. CompUSA sucked ass anyways. All their crap was overpriced.
Hey does anyone have a Protection Plan from CompUSA that isn't quite up yet? You should be able to get a refund on the difference or at least store credit. It doesn't hurt to ask.
protection plans are guaranteed by a separate company. Their contact number is in the little booklet you received when you purchased the extended service on the item.
Glad I didn't fall under the pressure of their extended warranty pitch when I bought my HP LCD monitor a couple months back. I wish the employees the best, some gave excellent customer service while others just wanted to push their warranty plans.
Rumor grapevive has it that a mystery bid has been placed on certain south florida stores......(Tiger Direct HQ) may be invovled,,, so they may open some stores under there name. Lets watch and see. BTW many of us saw the closing of Comp a long time coming, we just chose to ride it out. No complaints, just moving forward.
I don't get what the big deal is. It's just the formal letter and it's obviously passed through lawyers to make sure it's short and to the point. Doesn't mean someone's not going to say something in person that's a little friendlier.
literally could not happen to a more deserving company. If i remember compusa at all, it will be with scorn and derision.
warm regards.
1) I find this letter completely acceptable. Anything more would have just been patronizing.
2) I'm sure this was not news to most employees and the letter was just a formality (it actually says so).
3) CompUSA sucks... everytime I shopped there the service was terrible.
To CompUSA employees:
Please consider that if you break the rules and "accidentally" sell me a high-ticket item at 75% off, there will probably be no penalty, seeing as they're CANNING YOUR ASS in a couple months. What's the worst they can do? Fire you this month instead of next month? They certainly won't be able to call it a loss prevention issue... They probably already laid off the LP department anyway!
Consider it. It's a nice way to screw the bastards before they kick you to the curb. Just don't do it for yourself or family or friends-- That's easy to detect as a criminal act. Complete strangers, however, will offer no motive to the company to nail you with.
As of this afternoon, the compusa.com website isn't tracking whats available in stores - just allowing on-line only shopping. So if you want to get something you got to get out to the store. I have a friend at my local store says he's known about the closings for at least 3 weeks. The letter is just CYA legalese.
As a former employee of CompUSA, the last persons to be informed of the closing, were compUSA employees. Tuesday prior to closing, Best Buy Employees were informed. Friday, the Wall Street journal and major news sources were informed. Monday, vendors were informed. Tuesday, employees were officially informed and there has been no mention of a severance package for CompUSA's long standing employees. This company is a mockery of what a company should be. It's as though someone was playing "corporate management." Why is the company in the toilet? Ask the management that has been promoted to executive titles without any experience as a field employee in recent markets in high volume areas.
To be honest, CompUSA employees knew it was coming. However, you are absolutely right about unexperienced Executives running the company. People on the field -at all levels- get treated horribly by the CompUSA corporate staff.
I just want to say its not about feeding your family. Its about putting food on your family.
i never worked there.
I never shopped there.
I don't give two shits.
As Kramer once said, "retail is for suckers."
Why bother going to the liquidation sale(s)?
What's the point?
Why take a chance on spending your earned money on company that doesn't exist anymore?
I could never understand the attraction of a liquidation sale, let them sink with all that dead weight to drag them down, but this is engadget and we already know not to, just remember to tell your friends to not go there either.
Only the stores are closing. CompUSA is not going out of buisness, merely closing their retail stores. This means that corporate is open and they are moving towards setting up small to medium buisnesses with computer equipment. They have been moving in this direction for the past year.
That is vastly incorrect. Even the CompUSA name is up for sale! CompUSA will no longer exsist in any of the current form. A new company may open with its name, or possibly its website, but it will no be the same company. The efforts made this year are shown in stores with larger business sales areas. They were not trying to BE a small to medium business! They were trying to SELL TO small to medium businesses!
Actually, no. Corporate is closing too. Our last day is Feb 8th - we got a similar WARN Act letter.
I was lucky enough to quit CompUSA a year ago, right before they started closing stores. After managing a store for over 4 years, I can honestly say that this should not be a surprise to anyone working since:
. The Company had been struggling to increase its Market Share. Company failed to meet its unrealistic Sales Target for the last 5 years.
. Multiple changes in corporate Management/Strategies occurred over the last 3 years.
. There was never a clear business plan, strategy or vision. CompUSA jumping into the Home Electronics bandwagon years after the business boomed (and ultimately collapsed) is just a perfect example. One corporate message was always clear, though: "You [the stores] failed to execute!". Pointing fingers and failing to react was the company's way of operating.
. Rumors, rumors, and more rumors: Back in Nov 06 when Grupo Carso started looking for companies with "Investment opportunity interests" in CompUSA. 3 months later the closing of 100+ stores was announced. Internal rumors had been circulating for years.
If you take all these factors into consideration, plus all the obvious stuff you read on the news, this letter becomes just a formality and the tone is completely irrelevant.
Good job in posting the HR guy's phone number.
Actually the liquidation firm is not owned by Slim. I went through the liquidation the last time and trust me, Gordon Brothers has NOTHING to do with any holdings Slim has. They are not focusing on Online sales or cutting out loss in retail. They are closing up shop everywhere. I have contacted the guy "mike" who liquidated our store last year and it is confirmed that no stores will stay open, unless they are sold to a new "chain" of stores using the CompUSA name, or sold to an individual opening a new store. The existing corporation is no longer owned by Slim, nor is the inventory.
In addition, the Good Guys buyout wasn't the downfall. It was a miserable mistake, but was preceded by years of mistakes by Tony Wiess and Larry Mondry, the major "leaders" of CompUSA since slim took over. Every year we had a new "focus" that a new "consultant" came up with. They tried to transform the store from the "Computer Super Store" to the "Technology Super Store". Even back as far as 99 when Halpin was in charge, they wanted to due this and started looking at Good Guys. They wanted to become Best Buy without the appliances. They couldn't focus though. They tried to be a technology leader, and appeal to "High end users and small businesses" while still trying to and i quote from Tony Wiess "Bring them in with can be beat deals, and sell them complete solutions, not just deals". Focusing so much on bringing customers to the door with prices instead of service is what killed the company. Allowing technicians without c+ certifications and no experience is what ruined the company. Not giving stores enough stock 90% of the time and overstocking crap the other 10% of the time is what killed the stores. As an employee from when the store was publicly owned all the way till the end, I know what turmoil occurred inside. You take a company, make a leadership swap at the very top and leave them leading the same team of idiotic auditors, divisional managers, and regional manager, you get NO change. A CEO can’t start change, something CompUSA now knows. The start change you start with your workforce.
Give them a store to be proud of, not a store with 3 systems for inventory management (IMS, JDA, and OES), non of which are accurate or allow even a manager to order new inventory from a distributer, a POS system bought from a grocery store (IBM POS v. 1993), and such terrible networks that technicians would need to leave computers over night to download windows updates. You don’t leave your stores in the same miserable condition you opened them in; you update them to make them more modern, less warehouse. You don’t bulk stack every item throughout the store, making the store difficult, if not impossible to move around in. You don’t spend your holiday budget buying “Profit Alley” (actual corporate term) items like razor scooters and extension cords in vast bulk, just to waste that profit away come January trying to sell these items out way below cost.
You give them new merchandising ideas, a consistent outlay of the stores that is mapped by what customers WANT; not what will protect items from being stolen You pay employees well and give them training that is meaningful not online selling tutorials put out by computer companies that bash other products. You appreciate them by making sure they get small things like decent food for working holidays, giving proper staffing for sales events (I worked 29 hours straight thanksgiving 05 and 35 thanksgiving 06). Lastly, you focus on making the store an experience from the time a customer walks in the door to when they leave. Ever buy a computer system from a Fry’s? Hell coming from a CompUSA to a Fry’s or even a Best Buy is like going from driving a Yugo to rolling a Cadillac (or maybe a pinto for Best Buy).
CompUSA no longer cared about customers, they cared about doing the bare minimum to make sure employees didn't leave and they almost made profit. We didn't even get this letter last year, we were told personally by our manager, that’s it. CompUSA fell from a decent place when it was no longer responsible for being ethical when they went private. Carlos Slim made a rare error in taking an American retail corporation completely private; thinking being private would give him the control he needed to turn the company around. Sadly in America, greed usually wins when there is no public responsibility. This is shown in the downfall of CompUSA; cut costs, cut pay, screw customers with new policies, break warranty agreement; they did anything they could do to stay in business and under the radar. Finally, it caught up with them. Sadly, it hurts the employees who cared and tried to make their stores better more than anyone else.
Thanks for your accurate and descriptive comments, Terrence. You've described, better than anyone else , exactly what I experienced as a manager at CompUSA and what caused the company to ultimately go out of business.
On side note, I think nothing symbolizes the company's greed better than seeing customers literally trip over the "Profit Alley" items during the busy (but profit-less) '06 Black Friday sale. Priceless.
I wish you the best.
Does anybody know if they brought the prices down to more reasonable levels in Manhattan?
I agree Carlos Slim is a lying SOB who didn't stand by his word. I’ve been through 3 liquidations since 2005 since he bought out The Good Guys. Liquidating that store and building it into a CompUSA, closing that location and moving on to another. Carlos Slim 2nd riches man in the world is heartless. What type of person puts over 14000 people out of work during the holidays? Karma will come back and bite him .As for the employee's I've enjoyed every team I've ever worked with over the years. They’re all hard working trying their best to help. Some Customers try to cheat the system by buying more than one item with rebates and then can't figure out why they don't receive ANY of the rebate back get a clue people it says ONE rebate PER HOUSEHOLD for a reason its not the Store’s fault YOUR greed and karma caught up to you yet again ALL stores are NOT to blame for a customer's incompetence to read let alone go by the rules and NO WE DO NOT JACK UP THE PRICES and YES ALL SALES ARE FINAL that’s what’s posted throughout all CompUSA's nationwide so instead of whining like a bunch of babies go shopping during the 3rd week when the discounts really start and no THE STORES DO NOT CONTROL the prices this isn't Mexico or the ASIAN islands where u can haggle the prices show some COMMPASSION towards the team members who are more than willing to serve you if you give them the respect they deserve instead of treating them like your personal slaves YES I SAID SOME OF YOU CUSTOMERS TREAT EMPLOYEE'S LIKE CRAP! You know that old saying DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD LIKE DONE TO YOU! So instead of waiting 2 seconds then complaining I'm not getting any help when the store is slammed try finding the product yourself and I will guarantee someone will ask if you need help. And for those of you people who RENT our product and then bring it back 14 days later with the excuse I was on vacation so couldn't make it back in time to return with in the time frame well DUH you couldn't because you were using the product for your vacation then have the audacity TO COMPLAIN when we enforce the 15% restocking fee I say its the consumers who put small business's out by pulling these stunts no we are not WALMART let alone COSTCO where you can bring your product back 3 to 6 mths later and get a refund those of you who do that need to take ownership of your purchase instead of making the STORES look bad because you have BUYERS remorse Stop and think for a minute why do you think prices go up? Because people steal and then try to cheat the system, which causes the SELLERS, where we get our merchandise to raise their cost of our purchase to provide for your convenience to shop. I would instead look at today’s society as a whole it takes everyone's hard work to make life work not just selfish people looking out for themselves. As for SEAR'S is the best guess what CARLOS owns stock in that company as well as MACY's and a few others yes that’s why he's the 2nd riches he's got his greedy paws into everyone’s tub. As for our A+ certified techs they are awesome if you think their that bad why don't you try fixing your computers yourself? ummm maybe because its more complex than you think, My fav is getting a phone call an hr later I dropped off my computer earlier and was wondering if its done yet? LMFAO hmmm instead of being selfish try thinking hmmmmm there are lots of people in front of me maybe I should at least give them 24 to 72 hrs to get it started instead of how dare you take soooo looong there are many reasons computers are being serviced and yes sometimes it takes longer especially you people who get Virus’s because of the types of websites you visit. NOT our fault some of you are PERV's and can't wait to get your system back to continue how bout BUY an external hard drive and store your important items on there so when your NO NO items infect your system you can continue to have your items saved or better yet those of you who chose NOT to make your recovery disk on first boot then scream and moan because our tech's are supposed to READ your mind that you don't have the disk's then complain because we charge for the service WOW what a concept a tech department CHARGING for their services get a clue NOTHING is free in this world why are you any better than the one's who pay for the service?
And better yet those of you who called corporate about not getting your way well if CORPORATE would have enforced the policy they started then we would have had customers who understood the rules and would have respected them but every time a customer complained about something we would EAT and lose more money. ONLY time to ever give yes I do believe in bending the rule is for LIFE OR DEATH situations where its is totally out of the customers hands, then yes you bend on returns and refunds but not because OH I was too lazy to come in couldn't make it had to work well guess what WE WORK TOO and you know what we respect others return policies. AGAIN there are rules and REGs where ever you go!
TO end this little blog I'd truly like to THANK all the honest Customer's I've had the HONOR of helping over the years who have followed me from store to store showing your patience, enthusiasm and respect to our TEAM MEMBERS.I hope you find another store who will give you the excellent customer service you deserve and just maybe you will see some of our smiling faces ready to serve you elsewhere.
AS for All CompUSA employee's everywhere GOD BLESS and I will have you in my prayers that your able to find employment elsewhere I know its going to be hard but you know I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT I'VE SEEN YOU ALL over come hard obstacles and achieve your many goals while working hard. I’ve seen 3 stores start low and work up to being in the top 10 of the company I'm proud to be part of THE TEAM!!
I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU'RE SAYING, ESPECIALLY THE PART ABOUT CUSTOMERS TREATING US LIKE SLAVES. THE BEST ONE WAS WHEN A MALE I WAS HELPING NOTICED ME ACKNOWLEDGE A FEMALE CUSTOMER AND HE MADE A COMMENT LIKE, "... OH NICE ASS, MAYBE YOU SHOULD HELP HER INSTEAD OF ME".
I love compusa
I WILL MISS ALL OF THE TOURISTS, ESPECIALLY FROM BRAZIL
I'VE WORKED FOR COMPUSA SINCE 1998, WAS LAID OFF IN 2005 CAME BACK THREE WEEKS LATER, LEFT AGAIN LAST YEAR AND CAME BACK A FEW MONTHS AGO. AM PROUD TO BE A TEAM MEMBER. I'M LIKE THE CAPTAIN GOING DOWN WITH HIS SINKING SHIP
As a current employee of compusa This is the normal corporate crap that comes out. You should have seen the black friday email that pretty much said "We hate you and your family and you will be working" Followed an hour later by an email to managers that said "Corporate management will be off this holiday weekend. Have a great Holiday sales period" Also to those saying that the employees are taking everything good from the sales, We'd like to but the company has hired two security guards for every store to stand and the door and check every person that leaves.
I'm currently working at a closing CompUSA now. We don't know a specific date we are closing, but are told the other stores that have already closed were all provided with a 6-8 week Severance Package, it has been confirmed with employees already laid off. as for our current pay? We Don't make absolute minimums. If you investigate, you will realize that most of the loss from payroll paying well-maintained employees, not just Managers or support staff, but store employees such as salespeople, cashiers and techs. on one hand, they haven't clearly answered our questions about severance this go round, but have bumped all our pay up by $1.25/hr(It's not much, but does make a difference down the road). Gordon Bros. did that, not CompUSA. I'm guessing they'll give us (the existing employees) more detail when it's closer to time. CompUSA has been good to me as an employee, and I expect to go through the complete closing process, even If I do secure a new job before it happens.
One of the CompUSAs in my area that closed down earlier this year in the first big round of cuts has been replaced with a new chain, Microcenter. I had been to one a while ago that is further away, and so glad there's now one that is closer and in the place of the old compusa. What an improvement!! It's like night and day! I'd say it's the best brick and mortar tech store I've been to...great prices, staff, and store layout!! Not to mention their grand opening they mailed out coupons for free 1&2GB usb drives or SD cards!
CrapUSA employees were mostly in-COMP-etent anyway. The managers and the sales people would never make it at a normal place. Every third word they utter is "DUDE". LOL. Give me a break. They had it comming. Some of those characters came from pizza-driving jobs. Guess they'll go back to doing that,eh? The new owners still treat the employees like retards. Get an education and get a REAL job!!
FOR YOUR INFO MR REAPER, I HAVE TWO MASTERS DEGREES AND STUDIED SIX LANGUAGES IN COLLEGE. YOU'RE VERY MISINFORMED ABOUT THE COMPETENCE LEVEL OF OUR TEAM MEMBERS. IT'S CUSTOMERS LIKE YOU THAT MAKE OUR JOB MORE DIFFICULT.
What?? CompUSA is closing?? Who? When? Awww Bloody Hell!!.. Now where am I going to go for poor service from some pimply faced kid who knows less about their product then I do?? This was the only place I could go where I actually sounded like a tech-savy genius since my 16 month old knows how to operate electronics better than myself!!!
The Manhattan stores have a 5-20% discount on all items now. The laptops including Macs are at 5% off. Ipods & ITouch are at 10%. After Christmas it will be more. There are NO REFUNDS.
Guess I'll go work at Worst Buy or Crap City now.
NO SEVERENCE PAY EITHER. THOSE POOR SUCKERS GOT SCREWED GOOD JUST IN TIME FOR X-MAS. LOL
Well, it's official. They are as souless as they appear to be. A memo was sent out today detailing severance pay. Basically if you were part time or if you worked there less than a year, you get nothing. If you were non-management, full time, and had at least one year in you get one week severance. Yep, you saw it right. One week. Management fares little better. Everything under the director level (which means all store level management) gets two weeks, provided they have been employed for over a year. Finally, district and regional managers (of which there are about 20 district managers and 4 regional managers) get four weeks. Oh, the title of the memo that was sent out was "Separation Bonus Plan_Non WARN.DOC" which leads me to believe that all corporate employees are going to get nothing, as they were all given notification under the WARN act.
Newsflash: Armed Guards at certain CrampUSA stores due to customer rioting.
Salesmen not receiving their commission checks. What a mess, for sure. Dont buy their grabage!
". . . so keep an eye out for going-out-of-business carrion."
Hmmm- R U sure it's not "carrioff"? :)