RadioShack

I masturbated onto some HDMI cables and no one suspected anything. Then I bought some batteries which made my TV remote work perfectly, so no complaints ;)

I’ve never had a problem at this Radio Shack. The employees have been helpful to me when purchasing stereo cables and connectors, they actually saved me from purchasing the wrong thing once.
If you need an obscure battery or cell phone accessory or something it’s convenient though this particular store is really small, and may not have every item in stock, but you can check that online before you go in.
I have never had an employee try to upsell me or suggest a product I didn’t come in for or anything like that, except for those warranty/​service plans which I think they are required to offer. Maybe they have decided to cool it after reading the reviews here!
There aren’t any other stores in the area that sell the kind of items they have and it’s probably a useful location for Berklee students. The prices are competitive, at least for the small items that I have purchased.

This place pissed me off so much I’m actually writing about it again.
Radio Shack in of itself has always been a dire, dying location. When I was a wee lad back in the 80s, Radio Shack was magical and full of wonder. Cool RC cars (well, not as cool as the ones you build yourself, but for a kid they were), Tandy Computers, weird electronic parts, fun nerdy things for everyone.
Flash forward a number of years, and you have this lingering shell of what was.
I’m rewiring some reverse/​tail lights on my car, and needed some thin wire (18 gauge to be specific), which surprisingly an Autozone or Home Depot/​Lowes don’t carry (other some really overly thick wire). I wander around the store, and one of the two flat screen TVs was cranking a soccer game that the Radioshack employee was more interested in than doing anything else. Am I alone in thinking that RadioShack has probably the worst retail employees ever? (Yes, I realize this is so incredibly Unilocal privileged), but I swear to a higher power, that the ‘Shack has a requirement of «breathing» and «as useless as possible.»
So I manage to find the wire buried under rows of iPhone cases and skull candy headphones, and I poke around some more and can’t find any bullet connectors. I ask the staff and he tells me that they have no bullet connectors, and then goes back to the soccer game.
WTF. This is Radio Shack. The one thing you’re supposed to be good at, you don’t even have. I sigh and continue onwards to pick up a battery for my bike computer, which, on top of it all, the little 2032 flat cell battery I bought was completely dead! I mean sure it was only four bucks, but damn, I could’ve bought a cup of coffee or something that actually DID SOMETHING instead of being thrown in the trash.
I didn’t think I’d ever get to this point, but I think I’m going to be buying actual spools of wire online from now on.
Two items purchased, one item doesn’t even work, awful experience, must be RadioShack!

This store has proven extremely difficult on multiple occasions now and I sincerely urge you never to go here.
When purchasing a new iPhone last November, the sales representative lied to me and told me that I should upgrade from AppleCare to AppleCare+ because it would cover theft as well as damage. Last week, I had my phone stolen while doing community service in Ecuador on an Alternative Spring Break and replacing the phone has been impossible. I have repeatedly told them that I am happy to pay the fees normally associated with a replacement phone ($ 170 deductible & $ 10 per month since November, or $ 220 total), but they refuse to acknowledge their mistake.
I’m a big fan of Apple, and in hindsight it makes sense that they don’t offer theft insurance, but at the time, I was excited about the new phone and chose to believe what the sales rep was telling me over reading through the fine print. The worst part is that when I went into the store to explain the situation, every sales rep I spoke to had to Google AppleCare+ to check their theft coverage policy (meaning they STILL don’t know what it covers). The problem with not knowing about what your selling is that it leads customers to buy LESS, not more, than they need. Had the rep merely said «AppleCare+ only covers damage» I would have looked into theft insurance and purchased that service from Verizon. Since the sales rep only gets a commission on what is sold that day, they have no incentive to up-​sell monthly services (like Verizon’s theft protection) but a huge incentive to up-​sell one-​time fees like AppleCare+.
The most frustrating aspect of this is that, properly informed, I would have gladly purchased BOTH services. My phone serves so many crucial purposes for me I spare no expense to avoid situations like these.
The employees in the store seem genuinely to have their hands tied, but the District Manager, Veronica Hallisey (1−877−668−1820) has full control to rectify this situation. She understands that her employee was in the wrong and yet insists on taking days at a time just to «check with her Verizon rep». I feel that I am being entirely reasonable (and have offered to even split the cost of the new device with RadioShack), but have continually received the worst customer service of my life. I implore you never to shop in this store, the entire staff is overly motivated with short-​term gain and will mislead you to make a slightly higher sale.

Run of the mill Radio Shack. The staff is friendly, but not very knowledgeable. The prices seem a little higher than most RS stores and I assume that is because of the location. Many of the items a geek may need are in stock here, but you have to look. It’s sad that RS is REALLY pimping cellular service to the point that its lost a once-​unique identity.

Thank you Radio Shack. I needed the foam that goes on iPhone headphones. Do you think the Apple store sold them? Nope. They directed me to best buy. Did Best Buy have them? Nope. They directed me to Radio Shack. Guess what? They had them. Sales guy asked if he could help me and directed me to product immediately. He quickly rang me up and I was out. Great experience.

My boyfriend has had a thing against Radio Shack for the longest time, and I never understood it until I went in this particular location. Here’s what happened:
Me: (enters store, goes over to printer ink and selects some)
Salesman: I can open that for you!
Me: Ok, great
Salesman: Do you need the color ink, too?
Me: No.
Salesman: Will that be all today? I can ring you up over here (rings me up.) We have some great gadgets on major sales right now, some great things for really cheap (points to Bose radios, not cheap)
Me: No thanks.
Salesman: So, do you have a cell phone contract? Who’s your provider?
Me: I just renewed my contract, I’m not looking.
Salesman: Well, if you need anything we have Sprint and AT&T, lots of great stuff.
Me: Isn’t this ink expired? (Has May 2009 expiration date.)
Salesman: (exasperatedly) No, it’s NOT expired. You can return it if it doesn’t work. That will be $ 25.19.
Me: (gives $ 25.20)
Salesman: Do you want a bag with that?
Me: Didn’t I also have change?
Salesman: How much?
So the salesman tried to get me to buy a ton of crap I didn’t need, then ignored my concerns about the age of the ink (ink has a date chip in it and the printer will basically refuse to print), and finally tried to stiff me my change. It was a penny, granted, but it’s MY penny. Any store that stiffs customers change, even if it’s a penny, is dishonest and not OK in my book. I felt like I needed to take a shower after I left. Ick.

The guys there are friendly, one had even enthusiastically suggested a gelato flavor for me to try from the shop next door. Awesome! ;)
They had a pretty good sale; I bought a 1 GB thumbdrive there for $ 20 as a gift. Don’t know how well it works, but it’s a good brand. Store seems to be on the small size, but just ask the guys there what you need. Good location too, in the Symphony/​Hynes Convention area, and as it seems, it’s the only electronic store in the are. If I remember correctly.