Say goodbye to CompUSA

CompUSA, the king of overpriced products and some of the worst customer service in the industry, is calling it quits. Early this year, the computer and electronics retailer closed over half of its stores in an attempt to save the ailing business. Some $440 million of cash was infused into the company to help resuscitate it. But all of this wasn't enough, and the company is planning on selling or closing all of the 103 remaining stores. CompUSA has been sold to Gordon Brothers Group, which will sell off all the assets.

If you ever shopped at CompUSA, you will likely agree that the loss of this chain is really no loss at all. It was known for its overpriced products and more so for some of the tech retail sector's worst customer service.

I personally experienced a sales person who lied about the features of a computer service plan, deliberately overcharged me for it, and hassled me when I discovered the overcharge and went back to the store for an adjustment. This wasn't my only horrible experience with CompUSA, but seems to be representative of the atrocities the company committed against consumers each day.

And CompUSA didn't just treat its customers poorly. It looks like the employees have it just as bad. A blogger purporting to be a CompUSA employee says that management didn't know the stores were closing, even when the Wall Street Journal ran an article about it. It took a day for the "official" word to be communicated to employees. Nice.

Forensic accountant Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations through her company, Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners honored Tracy as the 2007 winner of the prestigious Hubbard Award and her first book, Essentials of Corporate Fraud, will be on bookshelves in March 2008.