Compustore

vinnyfitz

4 days later....

From RTE this afternoon:

Four Compustore shops cease trading

October 26, 2004 16:41

Four Compustore shops in Dublin and Galway have ceased trading.

The shops, which specialised in computer and software products, failed to open for trading on Saturday.

A statement from the company's registered office says notice of a creditors meeting will be advertised in the press tomorrow.

RTE understands that up to 60 jobs may have been lost.

Compustores in other parts of the country are not affected and remain in business.

People who left computer equipment with Compustore's repair service have been asked to leave their details on a mobile phone number. The message says they will be contacted in due course.

Fusion251

Yeah they took their time with that. Was supposed to get a phone call today off the head office to be given details of how to claim when I'm gettin my p45 etc, no call. There's an envelope in the shop with my comission and name on it, don't reckon i'll be gettin that ethir!

I worked with Dell for 3 years, their business model was very sound and I rarely had any problems with delays or lack of parts for pc's we were building. When I moved to Compustore initially it was fine, there was stock to sell, it was easy to sell customers were easy to help for the most part,but, as soon as the stock levels began to go downhill it wasn't good at all. I mean an employee that has essentially 5 pc/laptops of the same spec can't really give you that many options? The problem for us when we're there was, that we weren't given a forecast of what stock may come in, therefore, if we were to tell a customer they needed a different spec then the one we could supply it wasn't really what they wanted to hear. Most people in the market that compustore aimed towards wanted to hear "This is exactly what you need sir, easy to set up and will provide for all your home computing needs, and look!!! :eek: only €999!!!" man that never happened up there...oh dear, seems I've been rambling for quite a while...I wan't my money!!!

GerardKeating

Well the the web store is stilll open fofr business, or maybe someone forgot to shut it down.

gerard

Fusion251

Yeah I know I saw that....not really a good idea to try buy anything there.

I wouldn't reckon there are any staff left to process any web orders so it's not really a problem... or is it? :eek:

the_syco

GerardKeating wrote:

Well the the web store is stilll open fofr business, or maybe someone forgot to shut it down.

gerard

It may be the way they plan on doing things?

tribble

the_syco wrote:

It may be the way they plan on doing things?

Not a chance, in the immediate future anyway.

Fusion251

One thing my lack of job has given me was time for my old friend Photoshop...... he he he

Fenster

Fusion251 wrote:

One thing my lack of job has given me was time for my old friend Photoshop...... he he he

While brushing up on your Photoshop skillz, you might want to brush up on your spellchecker ones also.

Fusion251

Fenster wrote:

While brushing up on your Photoshop skillz, you might want to brush up on your spellchecker ones also.

You too man!

Matfinn

sorry for everyone who worked there and lost their jobs, but the simple fact is whoever was working in the upper echelons of the company making the decisions simply didnt know what they were doing, and thats why the company went under.

Irish Angel

they are very very very expensive!

daveg

Irish Angel wrote:

they are very very very expensive!

They were...

Cabaal

Compustore closes down
Tuesday, October 26 2004
by Matthew Clark

Irish PC retailer Compustore has closed down indefinitely, after staff were locked out over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Most of the company's shops nationwide were closed over the weekend and a recording on one of the company's phone numbers said that the chain would remain closed for the foreseeable future. The same recording told customers with repair concerns to leave a message. Sources have said that the retailer of PCs and computer gear had gone into voluntary liquidation following a difficult trading period.

Exact details of the shutdown still remain foggy and with some branches outside Dublin operating on a franchise basis, it is unknown if all Compustore-branded stores will go out of business. Some media reports, as well as internet postings to popular websites, claim that staff were unaware of the plans, with many finding themselves locked out since Saturday morning.

It remains unclear how many staff will lose their jobs as a result of the shutdown. At the end of the 2003 year, the firm was listed as having about 130 staff, with annual revenue of around EUR25 million. Kevin Buckley was Compustore's managing director.

The Compustore website lists 13 outlets in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Tralee, Dundalk, Wexford, Carlow and Letterkenny, although many of these branches were not answering phone calls on Tuesday. In January, a Limerick shop was closed after the Christmas shopping season.

The 12-year-old company's failure does not come as a shock, following the success of online shops and British bricks-and-mortar retail superstores, which are able to offer a wider selection of products, often at lower prices.

Cabaal

In fairness this is not a shock,
- The staff hadn't a clue
- The prices were CrAzY expensive

There shops may have looked the part but that was it, nothing was good value in there
Generally speaking there staff just had not a clue about anything (I'm assuming one or two people did, but I never met them)

In a way in Waterford anyway it was funny,
in 2002 they moved shops while they got there new store re-modeled, then they moved into the new store for just over a year and then it closed "For renovations" apparently, then it suddenly goes up for sale

In fairness, if there going to shut it down just close the feckin store,
In the end PC Wolrd killed off PC Superstore & Compustore in Waterford.

But atleast PCSuperstore had some decent value stuff (even if there TV adverts were ****e!)

PiE

I worked there for my work experience in school, and I can honestly say it was the worst week or 2 of my life. Maybe it was the bitter cold that winter, maybe it was the fact that I didn't get paid a penny at the end of it... or maybe it was the fact that all the staff were suicidally depressed. I caught the manager crying into his coffee in the canteen one morning.

Gave me a great first impression of the working life, I must say.

Cabaal

gillo wrote:

As for people on this thread moaning about the bad service, I worked for them for a while and ok the service wasn't always the best (in the majority of times I thought it was good) and to have people complaining it now when aload of people get to spent the bank holiday weekend looking for a job is just abit sick.

How is it sick?
Overpriced products and bad customer service are part of the reason people did'ent shop there anymore and because of that there part of the cause of the company folding.
I haven't bought anything in Compustore since 2000, ever since I went in looking for a Compact Flash card and the sales rep did'ent know what the hell I was on about
Before that the only items I bought where back in 1998.

After that the only time I'd go into the shop is to point and laugh at how crazy the prices were, even compared to those offered by PC Superstore.

Fusion251

PiE wrote:

or maybe it was the fact that all the staff were suicidally depressed. I caught the manager crying into his coffee in the canteen one morning.

Man it wasn't depressing for me at all, I had a great laugh working there, although it was only part time!

PiE wrote:

In fairness this is not a shock,
- The staff hadn't a clue
- The prices were CrAzY expensive.

I wouldn't entirely agree with that, me and Tribble were working out how much redundancy we'd get the week before! :cool:
Seems we won't be getting any at all from the company according to a meeting my old manager had yesterday...:mad:


And the prices for some of our stock were expensive, but sometime we did have some decent deals....obviously now, not enough of the time!!! :rolleyes:

scribs

My experience of Compustore in Sandyford was a poor one.
Staff did not appear to be trained up well enough to handle the
most basic of questions.

Sorry to the guys who lost their jobs but seriously the store was crap

bringitdown

Fooling customers (or monkeys) because you can is not a sound business model. And as more and more people grow / grew up with technology Compustore was bound to get into trouble for that practice.

It is nice to be able to put a face on the person who is selling you something esp. when your tech savvy cousin / nephew / whatever informs you that the PC you purchased for €599 is a piece of crap and that if you'd said he'd have built you one for half the price or got it from Dell for pennies.

Compustore could have positioned themselves as the idiots freind without ripping of the idiot....and in doing so the non-idiot might actually shop there too..... as an idiot once said, fool me once....

Personally I never had a good experience with Compustore.

Hairy Homer

Were the employees' salaries paid up to date?

If not, they should head down to the Burlington Hotel on November 9th at 10:00 am.

Creditors' meeting.

Though sadly, I think employees are at the bottom of the queue to get paid behind the Revenue and the banks.

Adama

Knowing Compustore, the creditor's meeting will be called off. They were never any good at organising anything.

I worked in Sandyford (part-time) off and on for about 4 years and worked with Fusion251, tribble, heggie & jacko100. I left about a month ago, and look what happened without me!!!! Only kidding guys.

It was a fun place to work, and up to a little while ago a good bit of money could be made commission wise. But then the stock problems started earlier this year. Seems like it was a problem with purchasing the wrong stuff and lots of it, so therefore new stuff could not be ordered, i.e. vicious circle.

I have to say the prices in Compustore were sh*t alright, sometimes there was a good deal, but usually that was grabbed by staff before it even went on the shelf (am I right guys?!). But I don't think it was competition from online stores etc that brought down Compoostore. It was just the god awful upper management. They were all idiots, and I'm not saying that from an employee's POV, they actually were idiots. I have to say also, some odd hiring policies resulted in some great selling staff, but who knew f all about computers. And when somebody buys something, based on advice, it's a bit of a problem when they come back the next day to return it and go elsewhere cos it wasn't what they were looking for. This was starting to become the majority of sales people, but there were still a few knowledgable guys floating around. Management would chastise them for not reaching "sales figures" and they would get piss*d off and just leave. Just one of the problems, one of many...

Well, anyways, it was good while it lasted.

tribble

Adama wrote:

I worked in Sandyford (part-time) off and on for about 4 years and worked with Fusion251, tribble, heggie & jacko100. I left about a month ago, and look what happened without me!!!! Only kidding guys.

Alright Dicknose!

Ya should have stayed for the redundancy money.
Personally I think it all went downhill when K and M left - it was sausage fest city without the ladies.

Fusion251

tribble wrote:

Personally I think it all went downhill when K and M left - it was sausage fest city without the ladies.

I agree!

Hey Tribble, I reckon we should storm the Burlington on the 9th and demand they re-open and get some female staff!!

palance

How about this guys?

heggie

lol @ tribble totally agree!

gandalf

LOL another of my ex employers goes titsup.com. I used to work for Compustore back in 1994 and even back then they were even in trouble and nearly shut down. They had to close the Naas Road store for a couple of months. It seems the same problems plagued them back then buying the wrong stock, being unable to shift it and free the money for new stock.

I actually work for one of the Suppliers but we are lucky we are insured. This was honestly expected to happen last year but the speed of this was a surprise, then again I was talking to the account manager for them in our place last week and she was worried about the lack of orders for stock from them at this time of the year. Now we know why.

I expect the Sandyford store to be snapped up by PC World or Dixons or Currys (yes I do know they are all the same ).

Cabaal

You'd think they'd try atleast last past christmas and see how things go, things must have been very bad..

Gillo

Cabaal wrote:

How is it sick?
Overpriced products and bad customer service are part of the reason people did'ent shop there anymore and because of that there part of the cause of the company folding.
I haven't bought anything in Compustore since 2000, ever since I went in looking for a Compact Flash card and the sales rep did'ent know what the hell I was on about
Before that the only items I bought where back in 1998.

After that the only time I'd go into the shop is to point and laugh at how crazy the prices were, even compared to those offered by PC Superstore.

So the last time you shopped there was 4 years ago??
Funny if I hadn't shopped anywhere in so long, I'd find it hard to justify slatting their service / prices. After that the only time you went in was to laugh at their prices, GET A LIFE, surely even the biggest "computer nerd", gimp, nutcase or loser has better things to do?

As for the staff knowing nothing, in computer sales you can hire staff who know alot about know the techy / programming side of things, but in my experience most of those guys who got hired has no customer care knowledge and couldn't sell to save their lives; the other kinda guy you can hire is someone with a background in sales who has a basic knowlege, these are the guys who bring the money in. Go figure.

Cabaal

You must either have some chip on your shoulder, you know somebody that worked there and got layed off or you yourself got layed off.

So in your defense :
If a customer looks for a item and the person who is supposed to know what this item is has no idea what-so-ever, thats ok because there a sales rep and not techy?

Its there job to know about the products they sell or should be selling, its no excuse!

tribble

Fusion251 wrote:

I agree!

Hey Tribble, I reckon we should storm the Burlington on the 9th and demand they re-open and get some female staff!!

Personally I think we should just gas the hotel Moscow theatre style, burst in, grab the coke and keys, heggie waiting outside, engine runing in his bitchmobile, gather the rest of the crew and open a 70's Swedish style nattklubb with progressive Belgian trace on alternate fridays. Yo!

heggie

sounds good, i'll cya there

Fusion251

Me too....I think you're onto something there! :cool:

The Brigadier

AFAIK employees will be paid first before all other creditors. You should make a journey to the creditors meeting in the Burlington Hotel.

LegacyUser

The store was a bloody joke. It deserved to close down. It was badly run, ridiculously overpriced and the majority of staff working there were too uneducated to understand what it was they were selling. It does surprise me that it did close down though as clearly, the majority of Irish people are too ignorant and stupid to buy online so I can definitely see them running up to compustore to pay three times as much for a 5 year old gfx card. Oh well...I, for one am glad it closed down. Let us hope something better goes there to replace it like a giant pet stop superstore .

luckat

In my experience, the staff were all nice, and the tech support staff were excellent. Two experiences:

1) Bought an external CD writer and it didn't work; after a bit of argie-bargie they gave me one that cost 100 quid more in return for the non-working one.

2) They didn't have a cable; they told me to go down to All-Cables in Cork Street, Dublin, which is cheap and good for any cable you want.

Both of these experiences made me trust them and go back to them. Sure, they were dear for some things; I just checked the prices elsewhere before buying!

It's a filthy way to treat your staff, closing down under them like that. Hope the staff all get good jobs fast. Keep in contact with each other, lads, and pull each other into jobs with you. That's the best way to get back into work - make a network.

heggie

cheesedude wrote:

The store was a bloody joke. It deserved to close down. It was badly run, ridiculously overpriced and the majority of staff working there were too uneducated to understand what it was they were selling. It does surprise me that it did close down though as clearly, the majority of Irish people are too ignorant and stupid to buy online so I can definitely see them running up to compustore to pay three times as much for a 5 year old gfx card. Oh well...I, for one am glad it closed down. Let us hope something better goes there to replace it like a giant pet stop superstore .

Is what ever company you worked for perfect?

I for one will be glad when you are out of a job

Fusion251

cheesedude wrote:

The store was a bloody joke. It deserved to close down. It was badly run, ridiculously overpriced and the majority of staff working there were too uneducated to understand what it was they were selling. It does surprise me that it did close down though as clearly, the majority of Irish people are too ignorant and stupid to buy online so I can definitely see them running up to compustore to pay three times as much for a 5 year old gfx card. Oh well...I, for one am glad it closed down. Let us hope something better goes there to replace it like a giant pet stop superstore .

With respect, were you sexually abused in Compustore or something? And don't talk about me like that ethir, I used to work there. I know my stuff and so did a the majority of people I worked with, so don't try your cheap shots here man! Yeah they are cheap! Internet price cheap! So in summation. SHUT IT!

Hairy Homer

The Brigadier wrote:

AFAIK employees will be paid first before all other creditors. You should make a journey to the creditors meeting in the Burlington Hotel.

Hmm. Don't think so. I believe the way it works is:

First priority is the government, ie the Revenue Commissioners

Second is secured creditors, ie the banks

Then everybody else gets lumped in together. I believe, though, that employees do eventually get paid any wages owing through the Government insolvency fund, although there's a bit of bureaucracy to go through before that comes in. Not sure either whether extraneous things like commission and overtime get counted with that.

Either way, being made redundant like that is a ****ty experience. I've been through it in the past and anyone suffering the same has my sympathy.

I had least had the recompense of seeing the little twunt who did it to me and my mates arrested on the TV news a few years later and charged with major financial irregularities.

Heh heh heh. File in the dictionary under Schadenfreude.

LegacyUser

heggie wrote:

Is what ever company you worked for perfect?

I for one will be glad when you are out of a job

I am a Student. Although I did work in the Sandyford store a couple of summers ago.

No, it was not perfect. Perfect for me as I was making good money. The so called training was a joke, I ended up interviewing the person interviewing me and the management was a disgrace. I am very glad the overpriced piece of crap that it is closed down.

LegacyUser

Fusion251 wrote:

With respect, were you sexually abused in Compustore or something? And don't talk about me like that ethir, I used to work there. I know my stuff and so did a the majority of people I worked with, so don't try your cheap shots here man! Yeah they are cheap! Internet price cheap! So in summation. SHUT IT!

No they are not cheap. They are overpriced. I said the majority, don't take offence if you are not one of the ones I am talking about.

Fusion251

cheesedude wrote:

I am very glad the overpriced piece of crap that it is closed down.

"Them's angry typin words!" Was it you I chased from the shop not long back with a 17" PowerBook in yer arms?? Ye didn't get away though...did ye? :eek:

heggie

lol, think yer right about the abuse there. Somethins up with him

The Brigadier

cheesedude wrote:

No they are not cheap. They are overpriced. I said the majority, don't take offence if you are not one of the ones I am talking about.

I believe he was talking about the cheap shots being taken!!

unme

luckat wrote:

1) Bought an external CD writer and it didn't work; after a bit of argie-bargie they gave me one that cost 100 quid more in return for the non-working one.

2) They didn't have a cable; they told me to go down to All-Cables in Cork Street, Dublin, which is cheap and good for any cable you want.

Both of these experiences made me trust them and go back to them.

Luckat, I will take your comments as serious, though I suspect that there may be something 'tongue-in-cheek' about them.

If you were intending to praise Compustore, you might have chosen better examples.

Firstly, you bought a product that was defective, and then had to engage in what you call "argie-bargie" to get it replaced. Personally, if I had come across that kind of attitude, I would have had the people there in the Small Claims Court well before their coffee had gone cold.

Secondly, they did not have a product that you wanted (a cable), and sent you out from the shop to purchase one elsewhere. I hope you first went back to the shop that had the product in stock next time.

I'm not picking on you, but your experience seems to back up those who have been critical of the company here.

In fairness, I have met some nice guys in Compustore from time to time, but unfortunately (and to their embarrassment) they would not have basic items in stock whenever I would call in. Some of the items in stock would have been practically obsolete, but still sporting lastest-tech prices. Furthermore, there seemed to be no means for disappointed customers to order the items through the shops.

We seem to have a bit of an upturn in the tech sector at present (according to reports I have read), so, I hope that the more skilled and knowledgeable staff get even better jobs.

Fusion251

The Brigadier wrote:

I believe he was talking about the cheap shots being taken!!

Yes Brigadier you are correct...he doesn't seem to be too bright..how dare he boast he was once a Compustore employee....heh!

In fairness most peoples posts about the lack of stock are correct...and I was a great one for directing people to Maplin, All Cables, sometimes even Dixons if we didn't have an item and were unlikley to get it....I mean I wasn't gonna sell ANYONE a 32mb graphics card for €200? I tried the ordering stock in for customers and it just didn't work. I remember I ordered an iMac for a man and we got it in......6 weeks later!!!
So, by the end our best option was to not be as helpful, sounds funny I know, but the amount of crap you would go through to get anything ordered there was unreal! And as Tribble said before, it was the higher managment monkeys not listening to us and ordering stock that just wouldn't sell that was the problem....

LegacyUser

In all fairness...

tribble

cheesedude wrote:

I, for one am glad it closed down. Let us hope something better goes there to replace it like a giant pet stop superstore .

Petstop Superstore?

I worked there before I worked in Compustore!

They went bust too!

But if they feel like making a comeback then I'd work for them again in an instant. Petshops are cool places to work.

tribble

blorg

Well my girlfriend's parents got royally ripped off on printer ink up in Sandyford only last week, before I had a chance to warn them of the alternatives. Unfortunately this little cash injection didn't seem save the company ;-)

AFAIK, employees get paid ahead of other creditors but after the Revenue. In any case, the Insolvency Payments Scheme should sort out any back pay and holiday pay in the worst case scenario if the company can't afford it. Read about it on Oasis, and good luck to you all in finding new jobs.

tribble

blorg wrote:

Well my girlfriend's parents got royally ripped off on printer ink up in Sandyford only last week, before I had a chance to warn them of the alternatives. Unfortunately this little cash injection didn't seem save the company ;-)

I know an ex-employee of Compustore tried to setup an Irish web based ink retail store but found it impossible to compete.
Ink was a big money spinner for the company but mostly due to the volume we shifted, not so much the margin. Bulk ink suppliers to Ireland fleese the shops who in turn fleese the customer.
Refills and third party is where the real money is.

blorg wrote:

AFAIK, employees get paid ahead of other creditors but after the Revenue. In any case, the Insolvency Payments Scheme should sort out any back pay and holiday pay in the worst case scenario if the company can't afford it. Read about it on Oasis, and good luck to you all in finding new jobs.

Cheers for that - I'm due some holidays so I'll look into it.

LegacyUser

I would love to work in a petshop come to think of it.