Micro Center

Reviews 3

TR

Travis Benzinger

TL;DR: Buy a defected product that was mispackaged, get judged for "stealing" or "product swapping", get told a sale is "compensation", faulty RAM, mispackaged product, zero compensation, being looked at as a theif, not being able to try out the RAM after all of this, and losing 8 hours of my life. Here is my story: Myself and four others took a three hour trip to get 3 sticks of DDR3-1600 laptop RAM. The guy working helped us pick out ram (which wasnt the name brand RAM on sale for less, but I digress.) I get home and none of them work. Also, the sticks in the package we bought are DDR3-1333, not 1600 like Micro Centers label says. We talk to Micro Center tech support and they tell us that the RAM is bad and we need to return it. So myself and two of the four friends go up to Micro Center again (which is roughly an hour away from my house one way.) Upon arrival the returns clerk calls a manager because the RAM sticks were mislabeled. The manager says,"Im going to go grab some of these RAM sticks off the shelf to see if they work." I tell her they wont work, but she is insistent and also says, "I wont be able to return these because they arent the same RAM as the package says. Im sorry but youll have to go home again and grab the correct RAM that came in this package." I inform her that, "it is impossible for that to be any other RAM." Ive worked in retail and I know she thinks we are trying to product swap and steal money. Also, during this conversation, the security guard of the store is around the corner staring at us. So the manager grabs some of the same RAM off the shelf and sees it has in fact been mispackaged. The manager says we can go grab other RAM off the shelf and swap out. I request some compensation because we have been working with this for 6 hours and they sold us a bad product. She says shell return the money and use that for the new sticks, which says to me "no, I will not compensate you for your trouble". We grab the sticks that were name brand and on sale. We take them back to the returns counter and I ask if we can try out the RAM sticks in my laptop before I go home and see it does not work again. The returns clerk said I have to buy the RAM before I can take it out of the package. I am aggravated at this point and I wait for the manager to come back to say it was ok to put the RAM in. They work and I ask again for compensation for our time and Micro Center selling us wrongly marked packaged and faulty product. The manager says, "well, we already gave you a discount on the RAM and I cant comp you for gas because some of our customers drive three hours to come here." Lets be clear here. A sale is not a compensation. The new RAM was cheaper because of a sale, not anything she did. She did not comp me. She acted like I was mentally challenged and was getting treated well because I got $2 returned from a promotion. The compensation is not unreasonable to request when a store messes up. So zero compensation, sales clerk didnt help us find the good deal, faulty RAM, mispackaged product, being looked at as a theif, get told a sale is "compensation", not being able to try out the RAM after all of this, and losing 8 hours of my life. If I didnt want the RAM so badly after 6 hours of messing with it (8 total by the time I got home thru traffic) I would have gotten a refund and went to Best Buy. Ive worked in customer service. That was awful customer service. Ive given Micro Center a lot of business too because I liked the store and I built a pc from there, but I can buy everything off NewEgg, Amazon, or Best Buy with out theft assumptions and with actual customer service.

A

A Private User

Oh yes they certainly put that sticker on everything you buy. They get a very small sales commission from it. They have to earn a living too. One thing that people dont know is that Microcenter barely pays their employees much of a salary. The rest is made up from commission. The CEO of microcenter keeps his lavish lifestyle and employees suffer. All in the name of keeping prices low. Microcenter is NOT the cheapest all the time. Just most of the time. And they dont carry modern or current technology. Just typical stuff an average homeowner would want to buy. They rotate through stock too frequently. Anything more than 3-6 months old they usually dont carry. And yet they still dont carry a lot of the good stuff you can buy. I need a battery for my I-Ram card. Microcenter dont sell support parts. They dont sell video card fans (I tried they DO NOT have them for normal cards). Microcenter is usually the cheapest compared to Best Buy, Wal Mart, etc. I went to buy an MP3 player. Walmart stinks. $100 for barely any features. I went to Microcenter and got a KILLER one with a 4.3 inch screen for $70! When I need say a power supply I go straight to Microcenter. Cheaper, and has many different ones in stock. An SSD hard drive - well, they have several. Samsung series 830. TWO different part numbers for the same drive. Comparing Microcenter to the rest of the stores in my area, they garnish a 4 star rating. But if they were the only one my review would be 2 stars. They need to hire more employees, especially for nights and weekends. And train the employees to know more than just gaming systems. Next time you go there, pay attention to the employees. They rotate through employees about every 6 months. High turnover. There is a reason for this... About Best Buy - I do not like them at all and wont buy anything from them. They screwed me over a TV warranty ($650 TV set they wouldnt fix or replace with a similar item). That being said, I no longer trust them. Geeks Squad is worthless too. They only know about Windows. I use Linux. Staples & Wal Mart have a paltry selection at best. Basic stuff for high $$$. A 4gb thumb drive for $10? Microcenter can beat that easily. I need a motherboard. They dont sell a Socket 939 any more. They only sold it for a few months then quit. They never maintained sufficient stock. Now I have to buy a whole new system. MOBO, CPU, MEMORY, etc. And Linux doesnt usually support brand new things. They are about 2 years behind. I have perfectly good hardware, but need a MOBO. Microcenter cant sell me one that I need. I try to go during off times for better customer service. Microcenter isnt much different than most other retailers though. Go to Walmart. They have TWO checkout lines, except in the evenings. They they *might* have 4. Microcenter isnt much different and they dont have any self check out lanes. More on Customer Service - try calling for information like do they have (whatever) in stock. You wait forever for help. So you have to drive 30 miles one way just to *see* if they have something.

KE

Kenneth Kabel

You know, they do have a lot of good choices, but their sales help really disappoint. This day (11:00 am on weekday) I interacted with five clerks, none of whom seemed willing to make eye contact. I waited on two long lines (service and then check out lines) and came away unhappy by my treatment. I recognize that this is a technology store but good management should work to make sure staff are knowledgeable, cooperative and accommodating to customers. Long lines, uncooperative help and downcast looks dont cut it. Heres a recent example: We bought an Asus netbook 9 months ago. Last week, the AC adapter went out. I returned to the store and the service line was 6 deep. I walked back to the notebook area and asked a guy whose badge said manager if they had a similar device so I could check to make sure it really was the adapter. Without looking up he said they no longer carried that netbook. NOT SO! I walked back, found the netbook, unplugged its adapter and was able to charge my netbook. That meant my adapter was defective (still covered under warranty). Why didnt the manager even know he still stocked the device. So, I trudged back to the line in the service department and waited my turn to tell the tech what was wrong. He said he couldnt replace the adapter until he ran a diagnostic test which meant an overnight stay. I explained what I had done but he said his hands were tied by procedure. Next, I wandered to the universal charger section but couldnt find any help. Finally, I went to the camera department and asked if they could help but the clerk said he didnt work in the components section. Finally, he directed me to a woman who told me she worked in charger components but they didnt have a compatible universal charger. I looked quickly and saw a device which I thought would work and pointed it to her. She shrugged and said maybe it would work. I asked if I could test it. She said I had to purchase (that meant waiting on long check out line) and if it didnt work I could return it. I asked her to open the package and test it for me but she said she couldnt. SERIOUSLY? Why would I want to purchase a device Im not sure would work when a clerk is standing right there who should be able to assist me? Finally, after she walked away I surreptitiously opened the package, plugged in the device and determined it would work. So, I stood in line, bought the device and when Asus sends me a replacement Ill return the temporary replacement. If I return to this store it will be only for the lowest price. If I can buy parts somewhere else (online) thats where Im going.