Micro Center

Reviews 3

GR

gracie anderson

Typically Ive enjoyed coming to this store and experienced fairly good service. My most recent visit was much different! I came into the store on a Saturday evening around 7pm to purchase a small at-home printer. Id been researching them online and had picked out the exact model I hoped to get—the website said there were four in stock at my location. I went into the store and, though they werent that busy, there was really no one around to help me. I found the printer section of the store, and walked the aisle back and forth for about 10 minutes counting how many employees made eye contact with me and quickly shuffled off in another direction, not wanting to help. FOUR EMPLOYEES! The model I was looking for was clearly not out on the shelves or on display (I knew this because I had ten minutes to search the entire aisle on my own). I walked into the main part of the store, towards a group of four male employees who were just laughing and joking around together. I basically had to ENTER their circle in order to get their attention! Finally, one of them asked if I needed help with something. Good lord! This man was able to check the computer, find the printer in the back room, and bring one out to me. Was he friendly? Not really, but at least he helped me! He told me that the printer came with a cartridge (I knew from the website that it did not) and once I could convince him of that, he told me that the store was entirely out of stock of the appropriate cartridge. Again, hard to believe, because the website said there were four in stock just before I left! Whatever. I decided to check out and purchase the cartridge elsewhere (and a good thing I did, because the exact same cartridge was twice the price at Micro Center). Next fiasco. I wait in a very long line, to be finally helped by a nice older cashier. As we went through the check out process, he continuously read information that was incorrect. Ok, is this still your phone number Francine? (my name isnt Francine, which I told him, and that was not my phone number). Ok is this still your address? (Incorrect address, which I told him). Ok, is this still your email address? (Again, all incorrect). It became very clear that, for some reason, my credit card was now linked to another persons account and he did nothing to correct this! All I wanted him to do was enter my appropriate information so that I could receive service at this store if I had any issue with my product. I wanted it under MY name, as I was purchasing a two year extended warranty. What good would it do under Francines name?! He had already finished the checkout and printed the receipt when I told him "This receipt says Francine, so the warranty will not be under my name. Could we fix this so its under my name?" He just shook his head, confused, and told me the manager could help me and waved me over to the customer service area. I wait in line over there as the pompous manager stands by, basically ignoring me. Finally, I get to the front of the line with my massive, heavy box, and the customer service clerk was able to return the item, put the value on a gift card, and re-purchase the item entering my correct name and contact information. What a hassle! Though this is a fine solution, I imagine that if I do need to return this for some reason, Im going to have to accept the value of this on a gift card rather than the credit card with which I paid. What a terrible experience! I dont plan to come back. Ive worked both retail and customer service and Id never treat a customer the way I was treated tonight. It was so frustrating to be looking for help and be ignored by so many employees I made eye contact with! Ive enjoyed shopping here in the past, but Ill plan to take my business elsewhere.

BU

Bub sing

Heres my take on MicroCenter. I buy very frequently there for my business so I am there about 1x per week. MC has a generally very knowledgeable staff. The sticker system helps get salespeople to help you quickly. But I usually use the same handful of salespeople whenever I am in there so they know me by now and know what I want which can vary from random cabling to custom-build pcs to pc replacement parts. So maybe pick a guy and stick with him. Get the salespersons e-mail and interact the employees tend to stick around for a long time. Yes, they can stand around and talk but just approach them (carefully : P ) and they should ask if you need anything. One salesman asked if he could put his sticker on an LCD I picked out on my own. Do not allow them to do this and take note of the salesman so you can avoid the sneak later (you know who Im talkin bout). This only happened once so its not a regular thing. The checkout lines are frequently a bit long BUT they have improved IMHO. The have a better queuing system now but there are still times when they get nailed and the line is long. Understand the checkout staff have to scan 3-4 different bar codes for 1 product so its not like typing in the code for "potato" and taking a weight. Average wait times nowadays are the same as at my grocery store if that makes sense. Newegg vs. MicroCenter. Newegg is great as well and I use them but I use Newegg selectively. If I buy a custom-build kit for a PC from Newegg I will get a better deal than at MicroCenter most likely. BUT if a single part fails I have easily 10x the hassle with a return. Step 1 is figure out the bad part somehow then submit a ticket to get an RMA issued. Step 2 is package it all up, print the mailing label out and mail it. Step 3 would be wait for the replacement and hope to god the part works. This does not happen at MicroCenter. Just return the part and grab a new one, done in 1/2 hour. Ill still use Newegg for things like 3 purple Cat6 cable or 2 yellow Cat6 cable or a set of LTO5 Backup tapes. I use Newegg for things that likely wont show up busted or that MicroCenter simply does not have.

AA

Aaron Coker

Fairly good selection, poor service. Its hard to get help from employees when theyre having conversations with each other and its often difficult to get them to understand what youre looking for, which is baffling when this is supposed to be a store staffed by "nerds". Additionally, I brought a laptop in for a repair diagnosis and estimate recently. Let me run down some of the hurdles you can expect. *Theres almost never anyone staffing the service desk, so expect to have to wait or track someone down to get help *There is a terminal to sign up for technical support and a terminal for repair services so watch for the distinction. Employees should watch, too; I was halfway through registering for repair services when the attendant (who finally arrived) told me I was on the wrong computer...then realized I wasnt when I was halfway through on the actual wrong one. *I received a call from Micro a day after I had dropped the computer off, but couldnt take the call. The service person didnt leave a voicemail. Why not? That would have been easier than him calling again at 9:30pm to say essentially, "yeah, we have it, we havent gotten to it yet." Thats info that can be conveyed in an email or voice mail and 9:30pm is past office hours for me. I did finally receive a call a few days later from someone at Microcenter and the conversation went like this. "Uh, yeah, Ive uh been working on your computer and sorry..." "...sorry? Whats the diagnosis" "Uh yeah, it wont start So..." "I know it wont start. Thats why I brought it in. Can it be fixed? How much?" "Uh, its hard to say. We can send it to ???(somewhere) for 239 (a number = repair charge? shipping? service fee? not elaborated on) but I cant get to start. "So your diagnosis is that it wont start." "Uh yes." That conversation cost $40. I thought the point of an estimate was for the repair facility to try and find out whats wrong and how much itll cost to fix. Im where I started, with no idea of whats wrong and $40 lighter. To sum up, you can get the tech on Amazon and the service doesnt exist; just skip it.