An expose of bad businesses and their unethical practices

I can't say I'm delighted with my new Toshiba laptop computer - but my issue has more to do with the experience I had buying the darned thing than with the company that manufactured it. You see, I was told I was getting the model with the Windows Media Center Version of XP.

My old IBM T23 gave up the ghost and repairs were estimated in the high $400's, so I figured, heck, why not get something a little racier. Something with a little more under the hood than the four cylinder T23.

That's when the sales guy (sales kid?) at Best Buy convinced me that I needed to buy this Toshiba computer with Windows XP Media Center. See, this way, my computer would become a media hub for all the not yet purchased media toys I could buy. My laptop would be beaming home movies, music and slide shows to electronic equipment throughout the house. Alas, this was not to be. After some lengthy set up by my company's remote tech support, I discovered that Windows XP Media Center was nowhere to be found on the Toshiba A105-S4011.

Well, you know the feeling. If you're going to shell out a small fortune on something, you want to feel like you got something better than what you had before. While not a bad laptop for most days, the Toshiba, with plain vanilla XP Home, fails in its fundamental mission to delight .

I called Best Buy to complain and was offered $100 back or $100 off of an upgraded model. The manager was apologetic and seemed genuinely sorry for the error. Unfortunately for me, with all the work tech support did configure my computer, its too late to go for the upgrade.  Returning and starting over will mean two more days of missing work. I

 keep picturing the young sales guy who gave me the misinformation - and I'm angry at him for not knowing what he was talking about. I'm angry at myself for relying on some kid rather than research the features myself. But most of all I'm angry with Best Buy because they never seem to take the time to train their salespeople in much of anything.

Perhaps the best way to buy from Best Buy is using the model of the often imitated, original  47th Street Photo store. As any New Yorker knows, you would never go to or even call 47th Street Photo to ask questions or play with the merchandies. Rather, you just placed your order because they always had the best prices around. It would be too much to expect great service too.