Micro Center

Reviews 3

DA

David A

As long as you need something off the shelf and dont have to deal with a salesman, this store does generally have good selection and competitive prices. However, keep your eyes open if youre buying a computer and actually need to interact with one of these vultures. I walked in knowing what I wanted: a low-end laptop on sale for $60 cheaper than Amazon. I expected someone trying to upsell me, I expected someone pushing a warranty, I expected to have accessories paraded in front of me. What I didnt expect was Mark M. I found the laptop I was after, and started craning my head around as the universal "I need an associate" sign. Mark M makes his way over to me, asks how he can help. "I want this laptop," I say, and then begin politely saying "no thank you" to the numerous suggestions: a better laptop, an overpriced antivirus, a high-end warranty, a mid-range warranty, a low-end warranty. Polite "no thank you"s eventually turn into firm "no"s. Mark M finally heads over to the floor terminal to print out an item ticket, but not before physically placing a $50 antivirus in my hands. I put it back and wait. After 5-10 minutes of casually looking around, I finally go back to Mark M to see what the holdup is. Hes got someone hed like me to meet. Its some upper-level salesman, or manager, or something, who gives me a spiel about gratitude, support, and hands me his card. I absentmindedly make small-talk while Mark M finally prints out my sales ticket, staples his card and something else to it, and hands it to me with a slightly nervous look on his face. "Thanks Mark M, have a great night," and I bee-line to the checkout. At the checkout, Im studying the impulse buys, when I hear two beeps instead of one. "Hm?" And my total is $30 more than it should be. "HM??" I look at the register screen and see two items on my bill. Mark M had stapled a warranty to my sales ticket, under his business card, flipped over. As if I hadnt said "no" no less than five times. It was the cheap warranty, too, the one that offers less coverage than the included Dell warranty. I guess $30 is the cutoff for "maybe theyll chalk it up to tax," where people in a hurry maybe wont notice. I was an inch away from frustrated before, and this nudge helped bridge the gap. I would have left right then and there if I wasnt so sure Micro Center was taking a hit on pricing that laptop so low. So, instead of griping to someone, which Im sure all Micro Center employees are impervious to, I had the checkout girl remove the warranty from the bill, stared daggers towards the laptop section (with Mark M nowhere to be seen), and grumpily walked out with my super-cheap laptop. Im used to pushy salesmen at brick-and-mortar stores. Upsells are what keep them in business, and I get that. And even without salesmen, loss-leaders usually work on me; Ill almost always wander around and buy a basket of other things while Im there. But what I absolutely cannot abide by is having something slipped onto my bill, that I repeatedly refused, in hopes I wouldnt notice. I cant promise Ill never go back, but I can easily say their prices will have to be a whole whole lot better than Amazons to even think about stopping by Micro Center again.

ZA

Zachary Wellington

I want to give a 2.5 star, but I cant. Overview of experiences: Customer Service - Only answer questions you ask, no extra info added. Doing that would add to the customer service experience. I guess free info would decrease sales, but it could also lower the number of people who visit the Knowledge Bar on a daily basis and lessen stress levels. Maybe these guys dont knowthe answer. I ask for information on a laptop and they struggle to explain to a beginner why my money will be well invested. - The Knowledge Bar Techs act like their alarm clock rang 5 min ago. Mumble when you ask questions, not keen on small talk. I understand you are busy, but make me enjoy driving 30 min out of my way a little bit. Quality of Service - On December 23, my OS failed. "No Boot Disc Found" appeared on start up. They reinstall the OS, but I am told I still need to reactivate after start up. I call Windows and my activation code is invalid. Really!? I go back to MC, as I am instructed by the store, and they say I need a new motherboard to get a proper working key. What!? I know I dont know a lot, but that sounded strange. Whatever, my laptop is essential, just fix it. I get my laptop back on 12/30/14.....OS successfully installed, yet I cannot access wifi or find any wifi networks....why? My device drivers for that arent installed!!! Cmon!!! Are you joking??? I had to spend 1.5 hours teaching myself how to add these drivers and add them. I shouldnt have to do that, a thorough inspection of the repair after "completion" would have eliminated that frustration. - I purchase an antivirus from them for $50.00 to install on my laptop (Dell Inspiron). After my motherboard was switched out, my antivirus was no longer installed and I was given no information on how to reactivate. You guys installed it, therefore I dont know any of the screen names, serial numbers, other info you used to get it going. So, I give you money and now I have to make the extra effort to call and salvage that info. Frustrating. Quality of products (all purchased from MC) - My Dell Inspiron: Failed motherboard, failed OS - My Lenovo Think Pad: Failed HDD - My Acer Aspire: Failed Motherboard, failed OS, failed A/C adapter and power charger socket. None of the above laptops went longer than a year before aforementioned failures occurred. To be fair, this store may not be responsible for what happens over in SE Asia/China where thee devices are made. But, I have run the gambit of manufacturers, leaving me to question inventory. I have spent $60.00 in cab fare. probably half a tank of gas, and at least a total of 24 hours running back and forth because of various problems.....just so I can pay more out of pocket when I get there. UPDATE 3/6/15: SCREWS MISSING FROM MY LAPTOP AFTER REPAIR. INSANITY PERSISTS.

JA

James Marr

Rockville/Beltway Microcenter Review Store: The store is located in an older strip mall but still has tons of active shops in it. The Microcenter is laid out like a sprawling wonderland of electronics and games. Its easy to spend an hour in the store just browsing everything. There are many things on display and in the back you can even demo computer games. Something I havent seen done since Gamestop killed all the smaller shops. Prices: The Microcenter might not be the cheapest but when they are, they beat the online retailers soundly. The main reason behind this review is my purchase of computer hardware. I think most of the processors they stock beat online prices by 50-100 dollars. I could not find a single online store that was close to their price on the processor I wanted. For the things that are cheaper online, they price match. Another review complained of them not price matching on things they dont make a profit on? Im not sure if thats true since they knocked about 150 dollars off from 3 pieces of hardware for me. Those were price matches from Amazon and Newegg. No trouble about it either, the sales rep just got the managers to approval. Maybe about 30 seconds of time to do so. Service: This can always be a hit or a very big miss. For me, it was a hit. I was helped by Matt G. who was great to speak with and helped find a good replacement for a piece of hardware I wanted but they were out of. He got all of the price matching done quickly and made sure I had what I came in for. As a side note, there was another customer being helped and the sales rep (not sure of his name) was being extremely helpful as well. Im not sure about the rest of the store but the BYOPC sales people were top notch. Check out: The check out is a little slow but whatever, if you were pressed for time you should have planned better. The check out person for me was extremely nice and very happy to help. She got me all checked out and all of the price matching done with no trouble at all. The manager did need to sign off on price matching again so this is a chance for making the purchase take more time if the manager is busy. Overall: This place is a great electronics store in the age of online retailers. Some of their prices are flat out amazing and on the others, you can price match! When I buy PC hardware, I like to buy it day of at a physical location. Any problems arise from faulty hardware, I can just walk back over to the store and get it cleared up the same day. I dont have to wait a week to ship everything again. I will definitely go back to Microcenter for my next hardware purchase.