Ever Had Home Tech Buyers Remorse?

The 60" flat panel TV looked great in the store. But when you take it home, somethings not right. Since you've already fidgeted with the settings and optimized the picture for in-home and not in-store use, you just can't figure out why it doesn't work. Maybe it's a little too big, maybe you're getting a bad angle from where you sit in your living room. Either way, you're experiencing home tech buyers remorse...

It happens to all of us every once in a while. Since home technology can almost always be a big investment for most households, it's inevitable: That immediate regret that maybe you should have gone with a different size screen or a different color finish or waited for a sale. Even if the regret isn't immediate (like if it doesn't hit you until the credit card bill comes, yikes!), you're still going through the same feelings.

Do you let your new toy grow on you? Do you return it (assuming you can)? Do you learn from mistakes and wait longer before the next purchase? Maybe you do more research for the next buy. Or maybe you scan funny blogs like Maybe You Shoudn't Buy That to remind you that sometimes not buying is a better choice.

How do you handle home tech buyer's remorse, Unplggd?

Image from syvwich at Flickr with a Creative Commons license.

Comments (5)

Ah, I just bought a huge 24-inch Dell monitor only to realize the colors were oversaturated and is nearly impossible to calibrate. I think a return is in order..

posted by ekoshyun on June 18th 2009 at 12:32pm
view ekoshyun's profile

that's pretty much the only kind of buyer's remorse I ever experience - so many tech crap I don't really need, and then end up never using. but it appeals to the consumer in all of us because it is always something new.

posted by amt230 on June 18th 2009 at 2:21pm
view amt230's profile

i thought i would see a poll on this post - i would agree with amt230 that we love tech and love to own it, but if we don't use it - remorse sets in.

in retrospect, sometimes we won't realize what we do and don't need till we have everything we want.

posted by FightTheFuture on June 18th 2009 at 9:12pm
view FightTheFuture's profile

I have buyer's remorse right now. I didn't even make the purchase! My husband bought some expensive movie-on-demand system (you transfer your videos to a file server), and that thing hiccups and stalls all the time. It's horrible.

posted by stickyricemama on June 19th 2009 at 1:52am
view stickyricemama's profile

We bought a freeview HD unit so that we could have better TV reception but now there are a few channels we don't have a signal to at all. We've tried climbing on the roof and changing things up there to no avail. Calls to their helpline only tell us to reset the system (which we've done countless times). We've just learned to live with limited channels.

posted by buda on June 20th 2009 at 6:29pm
view buda's profile