I Hate Microcenter
I just had the worst shopping experience. I will never go to Microcenter again.
I had heard all sorts of things about how great Microcenter is, but I have a Mac at home, so I never really needed to go there for anything because I’d just go to the the Apple Store instead. Eventually I did go shop there and bought a few things which I ended up not needing and having to return. One item I returned a while ago, the other item I went to return today.
When I walked up to the customer service desk, there was one lady in line ahead of me, two customers at the counter getting helped, and a third customer sort of wandering around. That guy eventually left his cart and walked away. After 20 minutes the lady ahead of me went, and then 5 minutes later it was my turn. The random wandering guy had returned and stationed himself at the far end of the counter, and the kid behind the counter called him up. I asked aloud if leaving one’s cart behind constitutes a place in line and why do any of us have to stand here and wait? That guy said he had waited 30 minutes to get to the counter and then they started his transaction but couldn’t finish it, so he went to shop and came back.
One, why start his transaction if you can’t finish it? Two, you still can’t just go shop and come back and cut the line when you feel like it. But okay. At this point, the employees had clearly demonstrated poor management of customer flow, so I was less mad at that guy and more mad at the guys behind the counter. Plus, in this entire time, I saw at least 5 different employees come and go past the counter, including the manager who stopped to ask a question or two of the customers at the counter as if he were helping or something, and then promptly walked away. As the lady in line ahead of me said, “There sure are a lot of people here for whom this is not their job.” There are now five other customers in line behind me.
I return my item and get my store credit. I’m mad at myself for waiting so long to return it, because I can’t get my money back and I really don’t want to spend another penny in this store. But since I had a chunk of change to spend, I went looking for a printer.
I spent a good 15 minutes staring at printers and in this time, four different employees walked right past me and did not ask me if they could help. Out of the corner of my eye I counted four more standing around. If someone is standing and staring at a printer, and then takes two steps over and stares at another one, they are probably shopping for a printer.
I finally picked one out, and I walked back towards the front looking for paper. I had to stop and wait for another pair of chatting employees to move out of the way (they were blocking the aisle). I walked past them and then turned around and asked where the paper was. I just wanted to get this shit over with and get out of the store.
This kinda smarmy kid asked me if I needed photo paper. No, just regular paper. He then sifted through a stack of cards he held in his hands and showed me two cards with photo paper sale prices on them. “Come on, it’s buy one get one free.” I said I didn’t want or need photo paper. I just want regular paper. I’m guessing what he was supposed to be doing is putting those cards up on the shelves, next to the paper, instead of standing there shooting the shit. He then asked if I wanted some fancier, heavier paper. No, just regular paper. He walked me back to a center aisle display of paper which I hadn’t noticed when I walked past it because that’s where he and his co-worker were standing in my way. Ink cartridges? Nope. USB cable? Nope. (Turns out I do stiill need one of these, but I’m not fucking buying it there.)
Then he offers to help me out since my hands are full and carries the fucking ream of paper up to the register. If he really wanted to be helpful, he would have taken the damn printer out of my hands, but whatever. This is a minimal transgression after everything that’s happened so far.
On top of all that, between that trip and the previous two, I’ve never gotten the impression that many of the sales staff actually knew a whole lot about anything I’d asked them. Actually, that’s not entirely true. The guy in the Apple back room knew what was up (i.e., that it was probably kinda dumb to buy a Mac from Microcenter, except that it may be more convenient than going to the nearest Apple Store). The guy in the back room with all the cameras and networking accessories, who (coincidentally?) was one of the nerdiest looking people there, knew what he was talking about. But none of the floating folks out in the main showroom have ever struck me as being reasonably competent.
A complete lack of customer service at the customer service counter. Not one offer of help from a sales person. A negative and unhelpful encounter with the sales person I approached. For as many employees as there were in that store, I should not have had to wait 30 minutes at the counter or spend 20 minutes shopping without ever being approached. And somebody somewhere should be able to tell me the differences between the 20 different boxes of firewall software.
I have $4 store credit left and I’m ready to just throw that $4 away. Or maybe I’ll give it to someone else. I never want to set foot in there again. I’ll go to Office Depot or CompUSA or somewhere. Anywhere but there.
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I still shop MicroCenter, but I haven’t had any expectation of service in about, oh, forever. I go there when I know what I need, and I need it faster than amazon can get it to me.
Anything else leads to misery.
kinda off topic but my xbox 360 died yesterday. after google’ing the problem its common. ive hardly used this thing, so im pissed about that!
while not good for service, watch http://www.techbargains.com for tech deals, my tip for buying.
Sorry to hear your 360 died Derrik.
Ring of death? Check out http://www.xbox-scene.com - you may be able to bring it back.
Then again Microsoft just extended the warranties to a full year, so send it in if you can. Let them deal with there faulty product.
(I installed new fans in mine - works much better now.)
As for buying computer parts, printers, scanners, etc… I’ve been using http://www.newegg.com for a long time now. The prices are great and even with shipping they usually beat local prices.
Microcenter is the diehard geek’s necessary evil when it comes to certain shopping needs. I rarely buy anything more than esoteric connectors, cables, tools, etc there. You have to watch their stock because some of their shelf items tend to get stale. I bought a cheap ass sound card there brand new once and found the manufacturer had long since stopped supporting it.
And yes, they seem to be staffed with a varying mix of snotty know-it-alls and clueless dimwits. Last year I put together a new computer and ordered almost all of my parts from newegg.com. I had a little mishap with the CPU and bent the shit out of the pins. Not good. That is a non-returnable and very expensive mistake. I needed a processor and fast, so I went to MC and dropped a bundle on a new one. Knowing how jumpy some places are about returning CPU’s I asked the guy who got it out of the case, “Can I return this if I open it?” Answer: “Oh yeah, no problem.” I checked out and asked the fat 12 year old at the register, “Can I return this if I open it?” Answer: “You sure can. No problem.”
I get the processor home, open it, then get sick about spending so much after ruining the other one and set about painstakingly straightening the pins one by one. Damned if I didn’t fix it. So I take the CPU back, wait in line forever, get to the counter, and the girl behind the counter glares at me and gives me a snotty, “You canNOT return this! Our store policy won’t let us take back CPU’s once they’ve been opened.” I was already crabby over waiting in line and unloaded on her, “Ok, before I walked out of this store, I asked two of your employees POINT BLANK, ‘Can I return this if I open it?’ and both said I could. I asked that question to avoid this very situation. If I had been told otherwise, then I wouldn’t even bought it here to begin with.” She sighed and went to get a manager, who started grilling me about what time of day I was here (Me: “It’s right there on the receipt!”) and if I remembered the names or descriptions of who gave me that information. I remembered the name of one and described the obese 12 year old the best I could, as I had the distinct feeling they had many of them working there.
The moral of the story. Don’t buy big ticket or even medium ticket items at Microcenter. And don’t be a dumbass like me–read the return policies on the receipt of any store for yourself before walking out the door.
P.S. In my blathering, I forgot to add that they did take my CPU back. Lucky thing because I hear snotty clerks walk funny with a computer processor shoved up their ass.
I think I might know of the fat 12 year old of which you speak. He was the one behind the customer service counter completely disrespecting the fact that there was a line and there were people waiting in it (because the whole point of a line is that you get served in order of arrival).
I posted about a similar situation -also on MetroBlogger- last summer. So does this mean MicroCenter’s getting worse? The ironic thing is that I received a marketing letter from them (signed by their district manager) asking for my feedback about my experience purchasing my Mac there. I gave them an honest (somewhat negative) review and authorized them to contact me, which was a question on this form. They never did. Curious.
http://minneapolis.metblogs.com/archives/2006/07/microcenters_mi.phtml
Based on all the comments here, it sounds to me like they’ve been continuously sucking for a while. I should have paid more attention to your post and the comments and never gone in there!
I bought an ipod in dec 05 from microcenter in colmbus ohio. It was put out with the brand name of hp. The salesman assured me that it was the
same exact product as apple ipod. Well now that
it doesn’t work hewlitt packard will not fix it except for an initial $45.
They say if the hard drive is damaged it will cost
$270 plus tax. The ipod new didn’t cost this. If
it had been apple instead of hp you just have to send it back for a small charge. Thousands of songs and many dollars went into this. Thank you
Microcenter for selling a product that was not supported.
I have had my Sony laptop at MicroCenter “Customer Service” since early Dec. Twice I was told it as fixed so I went in and stood in line for 20-30 minutes to pick it up, get it home and find the SAME problem continued.
Don’t bother phoning… you are unlikely to get anything but lipservice after your 10 minutes on hold.
Anyhow, who knows they may come through this time… I’ll feel lucky then!
Meanwhile they do have a large selection, but floor service is zip, nada, zero. I was in line to buy memory and the clerk turned to a guy that just walked up and asked a question… after a five minutes I interrupted and asked if there was another computer store nearby… he told me about a CompUSA… I said, “good I can probably get service there” and left. The clerk had NO reaction. The employees could care less about the stores reputation or service. Meanwhile I bought the memory at COMP and PROBABLY saved time even tho it was a few miles away!
I’ve been patient, I’m polite… but I’ll be damned if these guys will keep me as a customer… and I buy $2500 laptops every 18 months! My wife has gotten two laptops there in the past couple years… but hasn’t needed service (and she is more tolerant of incompetence too - putting up with me case in point :)
Nix on MicroCenter