Dick Smith Exposed

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A lot more of this in Whirlpool forums I noticed too.

Im not really surprised at this, and I don't think it would be limited to Dick Smith either.

As for your case with valves and transistors, it could also apply to kits.

IIRC years ago, when you bought a kit from Dick Smith, you would be able to return it for a refund if, once getting it home, opening it and looking at what was involved, you didnt feel confident you could build it and hadn't started construction.

If there were IC's involved, and they were not handled with static safe methods before being returned, you could end up with a faulty kit, if you were the next owner of one of these returned kits.

Just as a BTW the Dick Smith "satisfaction guarantee" is gone. Now they only exchange as required by law.

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We have failed to address the fundamental truth that endless growth is 
impossible in a finite world.

What an unfortunate subject title (shudder).

A lot more of this in Whirlpool forums I noticed too.

Im not really surprised at this, and I don't think it would be limited to Dick Smith either.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Had returned faulty items that had been put back on the shelf several times from Maplin in the UK.

Suspect once or twice from the Lidl chain of stores too.

"Phil Allison" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

** From the SMH:

Dick Smith and other retailers exposed for selling returned items as new.

Anyone who has ever had anything to do with retailing knows that any item returned in presentable condition goes right back on the shelf. That is why retailers will not accept damaged items for return nor items with no packaging.

DSEs famous 7 or 14 day " satisfaction guarantee" was all about doing just this.

But with digital storage media, the subsequent owner can be in for a nasty surprise ...

It ain't happed to me, but I have been sold faulty valves and transistors where I was certainly not the first owner.

... Phil

When I negotiated a price match on my wireless router from DS, the salesgirl rummaged in a cupboard and came out with a boxed unit. When I got it home and set it up it already had details in it including a hotmail address. It would appear that the customer thought he/she could connect to the internet without an isp? and when not successful, returned the unit. Nevertheless it has worked faultlessly since. When I was next in the store I mentioned the fact to the manager, and also that the Ethernet cable was missing. He apologised and was willing to give me a cable however as I have plenty already, I declined. Not limited to Dick Smith either. I purchased a canon Camera from Harvey Norman last year. I negotiated a lower price and the salesman assured me that they had new stock and it would not be the display unit. He then walked me to the payment counter and disappeared saying that he had to search the storeroom. After what seemed a rather long time he appeared with a boxed unit and I made the purchase. When I got the box home and set it up all appeared ok except that the battery was already installed in the camera and there was no battery cover. Having purchased several Canon cameras previously, the batteries always come in a sealed plastic bag so the guy had more than likely reboxed the display unit or given me a return. It has proved to be OK also, tho I would like a battery cover I find myself opening boxes in the car park these days just to make sure I am getting what I paid for before I take it home!

"kreed"

As for your case with valves and transistors, it could also apply to kits.

IIRC years ago, when you bought a kit from Dick Smith, you would be able to return it for a refund if, once getting it home, opening it and looking at what was involved, you didnt feel confident you could build it and hadn't started construction.

If there were IC's involved, and they were not handled with static safe methods before being returned, you could end up with a faulty kit, if you were the next owner of one of these returned kits.

** As I recall, ICs were supplied in a plastic bag and were inserted into pieces of conductive foam - whether they needed that or not.

By far the most likely reason for finding a bad part in a DSE kit is that is came from a shonky supplier. This was particularly true of TO3 transistors with "TIC" brand on them or later the Motorola "M" brand on them.

At one time in the late 1970s, DSE were selling LM741s that were out of spec and more than half were completely dud. I remember the logo on the packs was like a clover leaf.

The faulty transistors I bought were MJ15031/32s from David Reed in York Street. I purchased 5 of each and they were all shorted C-E. When I got a staffer to check the remaining stock with a multimeter - they proved to be all shorted too.

Then the truth came out, all the stock had been returned by another customer who had put them through a selection process to find the ones with the highest Vce rating. He returned all the ones that failed his test.

The faulty valves were GE brand 6L6GCs bought from Radio Despatch Service in George Street. I had returned four of them for making severe crackling noises only to have them turn up in an amplifier on my bench two weeks later. The owner of the amp had bought them from RDS a few days previously and he still had the boxes. They were the same ones.

... Phil

"bristan"

** Some customers are very cunning.

With stores that offer a no quibbles return policy - they will return an item that is clearly faulty and say they changed their mind. They then get an immediate, no questions asked instead of waiting god knows how long for the item to be assessed and maybe repaired by DSE or some other company.

With the money, they then buy another one at another DSE store or elsewhere.

The faulty one is then sold to the next customer.....

... Phil

"Exposed Dick" ?!!!

Surely the man hiumself should sue Woolworths to take his face off everything, as they now do zero of what his chain was originally about.

Unless he has no pride.

geoff

"geoff"

** Dick sold his name and the " Dick face " logo to Woollies for a tidy sum - you know.

For a while time in the 70s, delivery vans had the Dick face logo on the back with the words:

" The Electronic Dick "

in large, black letters.

... Phil

His moniker is likely to be part of the business assets, Mr Smith probably has no further say in the matter.

I know what a silversmith does and I have seen a locksmith at work. But a Dick Smith?

When you see him unashamedly spruiking for the Woolies group about how great they are and are as pure as the driven snow, it shows quite clearly what side he is on - at the same time rubbishing Aldi, who through their much better pricing on many items are probably doing a lot to keep food on the table in many low income households.

He seems not to be concered about how his "heroes" treat their suppliers, or what they have done to small businesses over the years either. Ironic, since he started out small himself.

...

I think there were heaps of faulty 741s on the market, I remember building an acceptance tester that the assembly people could bin the parts into working comparators, integrators, or fully functional.

We didn't get many product returns, and the binning sure helped improve manufacturing yield for completed assemblies, mid 70s.

Poor testing, worse ethics :(

DSE also supplied remarked 5% resistors as 1%, some values you could see the gold showing through the brown tolerance band.

Grant.

A Japanese legend has it that a demon with sharp teeth had hidden in the vagina of a girl, and had successively castrated two young men during their wedding night. A blacksmith fashioned an iron phallus to break the teeth of the devil, and the subject became a holy relic. A Dick Smith?

What Dick used to do was sell you resistors that with a 98% profit margin and tantalum's with an 86% margin*. Then he got on TV to complain how IKEA was ripping of Australians

• my very first job was as a salesman at DSE Chermside.

--
We have failed to address the fundamental truth that endless growth is 
impossible in a finite world.

Strange how they always see their own worst faults in others isnt it ? Never been to Ikea, so dont know what their pricing is like.

Really? How much would your mark up be if you'd have to re-package a penny article and sell it in retail quantities, keeping it on stock over years? Keep in mind you have to make a profit.

"kreed"

** What era was this ?

I know someone what was there in the late 70s.

DSE generally lost money selling 0.5W resistors and tantalum caps through their retail stores.

Wages paid to staff that had to order and handle such stock and deal with counter sales exceeded the value the sales - plus there as a high theft rate.

" Never been to Ikea, so dont know what their pricing is like."

Dick's criticisms of Aldi, Ikea and others is all here:

He seems to have a good point.

... Phil

And the rest. When I went to Tokyo in 1980, I found that I could buy the same stuff at one third the price retail in Akihabara.

You weren't a "Techxpert" were you