Discount Electronics

Reviews 3

SQ

SquidTheSid

Ive never been a big fan of corporate stores. You know, the ones where the employees know very little and try to sell you stuff you dont need at ridiculously inflated prices. Youre never assaulted with a barrage of questions to appease their almighty supervisor overlords. Generally, I stick to online retailers since they offer a far superior experience to most retail stores at the convenience of my own home. Im happy to say that Discount Electronics is not like most electronics stores and is definitely worth your time. From the get go, the employees are quite friendly and extremely knowledgeable. Ive called two of the locations several times and the employees have an extremely high amount of patience (Id honestly call them saints, since they have to deal with a bumbling idiot like me). Its nice being able to have a conversation about video cards in the twenty first century or talk about 1440p monitors without the employees staring at you dumbfounded. I feel like I could have a conversation about anything with these guys and theyd still keep up. You can tell that theyre passionate and that they actually care about the customer and arent trying to seek an arbitrary quota to keep their jobs. The customer is king and they very well make you feel like one. As far as prices go, theyre quite reasonable. Discount Electronics is far more reasonably priced and competitive with online retailers than any other major electronic outlet that I know of (an exception being Microcenter). Honestly, the markup isnt that bad considering that Discount Electronics has to pay rent while online retailers do not. So yes, you will pay a bit more, but you will not get shafted like at other retail stores. Simply put, You will get a reasonable price for your electronics. The store does also have some hidden deals which even blow away online retailers out of the water. I bought a GTX 780 Ti for 530 USD after tax. The cheapest Ive seen this card is 620 USD and thats after a lengthy and arduous mail in rebate. To say that this deal is insane an understatement. Sure, it was used and I didnt get any free games, but for 100 USD off the lowest price, I aint complaining. So overall, very fair prices and some excellent hidden deals. Im sure if you talk to the employees they can give you the scoop on some hot deals. A special mention goes out to the manager. Although I didnt get his name, he went far and above what he needed to do. My debit card was declined initially and he tried to accommodate me in every possible way. In fact, he even told me that if I went to the ATM across the street, hed knock off whatever I paid in ATM fees off of my final purchase. While I only save 10 USD (I only ended up paying 6 from ATM fees), its a kind gesture that was extremely generous and very much appreciated. We also talked a bit about the variety of products that customers sell to the store and some of the goods that they get to display, and let me tell you, Im extremely jealous of the hardware he gets to play with. Its a shame that I live up in Dallas and that this chain is in Austin only, since Id definitely come back again, if only for the top-tier service. Overall, if you want an authentic tech experience without all of the hassle and upselling from corporate chain, come to Discount Electronics. If you want to be treated like a human and not a statistic, come to Discount Electronics. If you want to geek out about hardware, come to Discount Electronics.

ZA

zain abdelbazzi

I wanted to purchase a desktop for a very specific task and being that i dont want to spend a lot i went to this store to get a used machine. the prices were comparable but nothing too astounding; i spoke with several staff members who were all trying to be helpful but rather came across as arrogant and bothersome. I was very clear what i expected from the machine as i payed for it and explained that it needed to outperform the laptop it was replacing. when i got it home the machine was missing 17 drivers (an major inconvenience to someone not familiar with computers, but to me a 30 minute delay) after finally getting it into running condition it failed to outperform the laptop to my disappointment. i had spent over $200 on it so far so i went back and dropped nearly another $100 to get a yet-better machine. When that also failed to outdo a laptop with 1/2 its specs i returned that same day (after 4 hours of resolving drivers and trying to make it perform to spec) expecting to find them reasonable. i was mistaken. The manager informed me that "We are too big to do refunds, thats the sort of stuff you get at a mom and pop place"... this arrogance was mind blowing to say the least...I tried to meet him half-way and suggested he gives my half the cash back and ill gladly take the other $150 has store credit so that i could still spend a fair amount there and make the transaction worth his time. The answer was a resounding "no"... I then had a chance to become familiar with their inventory as i now had $300 in store credit for a store i no longer wanted to shop at. To compare a few of the things noticed; There are 2 types of Raspberry pi (mini computers) one with 256Mb RAM and one with 512; the 512 is double the 256 in all regards and goes for around $35-39 anywhere online (eBay, amazon) and radio shack has a "kit" including about $85 in accessories for just under $120... this store ONLY had the 256 version and were asking $79 for it with NO ACCESSORIES. everything they have thats not an actual computer or package is massively over priced and among the $300 in merchandise i left with; i have found fault with nearly all of it. To blow off that money i needed at least one large item so i selected a $180 desktop that to my dismay does not even have a DVD burner, the operating system they loaded it with was filled (literally consuming 40% of the processor with background processes) with bloatware (my new programming is consuming less then %1 to handle background), of the three desktop not one of them had its drivers installed. The "tid-bit" items i bought were all priced about about double fair market price considering that most of the inventory is clearly factory returns, re-manufactured, or (in the case of the full computers) returned after a several-year long lease to various companies. In short; never have i been so compelled to warn others of a shifty business but at this point i feel it would be wrong of me not to... if you need used electronics there are several other places to take your business; places that arent "too big to give refunds" when they have sold you a machine unable to perform. Its already a used machine and they did not even put in the labor to program it correctly; not like me owning it for a few disappointing hours hurt its value any.

PA

Patsy Shepherd

I am SO happy with Discount Electronics! I have been wrestling with Windows 8.1 for several months now, and finally, just before Thanksgiving, my frustration was so overwhelming that, instead of throwing the computer through the patio door, I brutally uninstalled every program I didnt recognize. At last I could work without 32 pop-up ads and malware intrusions every time I moved my mouse. I had not even been able to install a security program: literally every move I made on the home page of the program brought a slew of ads that blocked my use of the mouse. So at last, after my slash-and-burn uninstall, I could work in peace. BUT I had also uninstalled QualComm, my internet access program. So I could no longer reach the Internet on the computer (hence the peace). BAD MOVE. I finished my job using my iPad to do any research I needed. Then, I planned to go to Best Buy for help. No, said a friend--they charge $175 just to look at your computer. Go to Discount Electonics! Best cyber move I ever made! Lauren, the wonderful girl at the help desk, spent 1-1/4 hours with me! I wont give all the details here, but by the end of that time, my computer was a docile, well-behaved assistant rather than the raging, dictatorial menace it had been. She reinstalled the QualComm components, set up my Kaspersky account, installed MalwareBytes, and answered EVERY question with a smile and not a bit of patronization. I will never love Microsoft (I cut my computer teeth on the Mac in April 1984 and was dragged kicking and screaming into the world of Windows only 2-3 years ago by a wrong-thinking employer), but I now sit down at my computer with something resembling contentment. And I owe it all to Lauren and Discount Electronics! When Lauren was done, I pulled out my wallet and asked the dreaded question: "How much?" Oh, nothing, she said. Happy to help you get things working again. "But--but--but," I sputtered. "You spent so much time with me!" Thats okay, she said, I took care of others while we worked (and she did, very professionally). And others helped her with my computer, too. This is a place where people seem to like and respect each other and their lifes-blood: we, the customers they serve. I have been recommending this business to everyone I know--and some I dont know! This is how customer service SHOULD be--knowledgeable people providing professional expertise to people with problems. Those people will remember this, pass the word along, and bring their paying business to places like this. I know I will! Thank you, Lauren, and the rest of the people at Discount Electronics!