Oh, yeah. That's why I haven't purchased anything from Micro Center in 4 years.  
 
I was looking for a portable hard drive and a light for my Sony PRS. Micro Center had both on their website so I place an order online to pick up in their Richardson Texas store. This was going to be a fast in and out in under 10 minutes so I had time to get home and make dinner.  
I received the confirmation that the order was ready to be picked up on my iPhone as I was pulling into their parking lot. I went in and straight to the pick up area. There was only one other person ahead of me and it looked like they were finishing up her order.  
Looked like. Apparently no one knew how to process an AR order for UTD. I waited in line for 30 minutes while no one acknowleged the fact that I and now 6 other people were standing there. There were two associates and three managers trying to ring this order up. They called UTD twice trying to get the account number. I now know that one manager snapped on an employee and that her favorite candy is peanut M&M's - He wanted to apologize.  
 
After all this I was finally there at the second register that it never occured to anyone to sign into while we were all waiting, ready to pay and get out the door. Unfortunately, only one of my items was there. I take full responsibility for not noticing that the email showed one item unavailable. My fault absolutely. But, when I asked about the missing item I was told twice that if I wanted to I could go try to find a replacement.  
 
I told the associates to forget it and started to walk out the door. Before I walked out the door I decided to ask for a manager and give them a chance to redeem theirselves. And who was the manager? One of the 5 who spent 30 minutes ignoring my presence at the register. Sigh.  
 
I explained my frustration and she agreed it wasn't acceptable and then handed me off to an employee who was going to walk me to section of the missing item to look for a replacement. This employee handed me off to another employee who took my print of the item I was looking for and disappeared. For another 30 minutes.  
 
Needless to say I left the store, went to WalMart (by this time dinner wasn't getting cooked)purchased the item, and then took my family out to diner at Friday's.  
 
By my count Micro Center owes me for an hour of my time and the cost of dinner. I will be posting this story on every networking site I belong to and sending it to every person I know. I work for an IT company and all of my little techno geek employees will hear this story every chance I get.  
 
I wish this bad experience was the first I've had with Micro Center. Maybe I'll have forgotten about one in another 4 years, too.  
 

This review was modified by its author, pattiepor, on 2/23/10 11:16 AM.

Ordered an item online and it was backordered. Hundreds of people purchased the item it seems during a sale. I thought most of us were going to get our orders canceled, but after several weeks, MicroCenter pulled through and gave all of us limit of 1 order per household and honored the deal. They really came through, and I am very impressed with their customer service.

This review was modified by its author, foxstar74, on 2/20/10 1:01 AM.

This store just moved into town and I'm already tired of them. Bought an Xbox system that had to be returned 3 times in one week. I just ordered another item online. It showed 2 in stock. Today I get an email stating my order has been canceled.  
I'm finished with these clowns. They'll never beat Best Buy with this type of service. Also noted that all of the responses to complaints on this site were just a bunch of excuses. No real results to anyone complaints. I won't go back to the store or shop online anymore.

Ordered a hard drive on 02/02/2010 and get a confirmation email the next day saying it will ship as early as 02/24/2010 (22 days to ship is early?)I email them saying cancel my order. I did not receive anything back regarding the cancel so I call and the person tells me my order is off to their warehouse and will ship that day. I say fine, I'll keep the order then. I send an email as good measure stating to disregard my previous email about cancelling. 2 days later no shipping confirmation email yet. I call again. The person says my order is now at my local store and will ship the next day. She assures me it will ship! I agree not to cancel. Well, today, now 8 days later I get an email stating the order has been cancelled! NICE! My experience before with this crap company, I called to see if they had a certain video card in stock at the local shop. The sales guy puts me on hold forever to check, finally comes back on saying they have plenty of them in stock. I drive to their store which is pretty far away for me to find out they don't have the card in stock! I will NEVER do business with this crappy company again! Microcenter can't even come close to Newegg on any level.  

This review was modified by its author, Lothar1974, on 2/9/10 12:51 PM.

I must say the online service is ok at best. But the store is 120% better. If your going to do business with microcenter don't do it online just go to the store. If that is not a option then get it from newegg.com

This was the first time I ever went there Raymond Song and Charles Twitty were the most helpful workers I have ever met at any computer store, and very knowledgeable.  
Thanks guys,  
St. Louis, MO  
Tony C

Stay away from this scam store. Absolutely horrible. They cancelled my order and stay my phone# can’t go through my credit card. BS!!!! This is my only phone# with my credit card for over 5 years and never have problem with other website like newegg.com, dell.com, or frys.com. They event call me to confirm and this lady tell me my order will be ship next day. Few hour later, they cancelled my order. I try to reorder and this product becomes an in-store product only. If I’m going to go to store, why the heck did I order it online & pay delivery. The closest store is 120 miles away. Call to reinstate and got denied. Call my credit card company and they state they never hold/stop charge from Microcenter because the order is bill & ship to my billing address with confirm phone#.  
Meanwhile, they send me junk mails where I never sign-up to receive their promotion. Will file another complaints with BBB regarding their selling practice.  
Only reason I make this purchase was because they have this item just few bucks cheaper then other store. However, it seen you will never gonna get your order. Now I have to reorder it again with my long time vendor: Newegg.com  

I honestly don't understand what these folks are doing over there. It's ok if they do not have a real time inventory system. However, if thats the case, you cannot continue to let the consumer 1) search for a product 2) add it to the cart, 3) provide a credit card number to "hold" it if you do not have the item in stock. Do not offer it at all. I called and spoke with a manager and told him that for 3 days I have ordered the same model laptop 3 straight nights. Once I rec'd nothing at all, even though I'm supposed to hear something in 18 minutes. 2nd time, I rec'd a cancellation. On the 3rd day I even received a confirmation that my order was ready for instore pick up. I was literally getting ready to get in my car and drive to Boston from a state away, Providence, RI when I recieved a 2 sentence email. "Dear Sir, unfortunately your item is not available for pick up. We apologize for the inconvenience." I called the manager of the store and he told me the Laptop had a broken hinge and that it was not ready for sale and needed to be fixed. I told him fine, but it was my laptop. He told me no, it's not ready for sale, no matter what the confirmation told me. So I argued that I 1) Ordered and 2) Gave my credit card to Hold it and 3) Rec'd a confirmation to pick it up and still I cannot have it. Fine, if it's broken surely I can have it fixed. So I asked if I had first rights of refusal for the product when it is fixed and I was denied. However, they stated I could buy it "as-is" but they would not pay to have it fixed. What kind of operation are they running over there? So it's not ready for sale, yet they will sell it to me broken. Yet if I want it fixed, I cannot have it. After it's fixed, it goes back in the Queue to sell to anyone. Huh? Does anyone understand this? I'm still scratching my head. Twice I have been told I can speak with the general manager and twice I have had to call back and I still have not heard back from him. This is the Micro Center in Cambridge, Ma by the way.

This review was modified by its author, eristin, on 1/10/10 9:36 PM.

RESPOND to MICROCENTER:  
 
Thanks for pull that up. I did request to talk to manager. But she said "samething that's our store policy we can't do anything better."  
 
Tell us, why didn't you seal all the Brand New Stuff? and the sign said " No Refund or Return OPENED Motherboard" Please take the word OPENED down. None of them were sealed how dare you put that sign there. isn't it a customer's trap? It's not about $70 dollars. It's about your integrity. This is not the first complain, so this for sure your store's fault. Good store never get that low score. Please go and teach your employees how to deal with customers.  
 
 
==================================================  
Microcenter Traps customers to their Return-Policy and Customer Serives Are suck. You can see this complain over again in other reviews.I was so stupid that i didn't read these reviews before i step in there. I bought an ASUS M4A78-EM motherboard and AZZA 500W Power supply at MICRO CENTER on JANUARY 4th 2010 and an hour later i change my mind for other model. I came and return it. A Fat Lady at TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA store talked to me like this without looking at me "We dont do return nor refund motherboard PERIOD-- Next Customer Please". BUT on the Sign at RETURN COUNTER, it said." WE DONT REFUND OPENED MOTHERBOARD" Ridiculous, None of the Brand-New motherboards in store is sealed. They try to force us keep stuff once we paid and we can't even exchange for store credit or other model of motherboard. BE AWARE. My conversation at the store---- ME: "I didn't opened it, i just bought it and change my mind for other model." FAT LADY:"Doesn't matter, we didn't seal motherboard there is no-way to check if you opened it or not" ME: " Ok, i dont need cash refund, i just need to change other model or store credit to buy other stuffs, is there anyway?" FAT LADY:"no, we dont do refund nor return motherboard, Period" I was so mad and tore the receipt right there and threw at her. I said, So what's this receipt for? I will never step into MICRO CENTER again. First time to microcenter, I SWEAR NEVER STEP BACK AGAIN.  

This review was modified by its author, vuducvuong, on 1/9/10 8:22 AM.

I have tried to order online twice from their website. Both times they cancelled my order a few days later stating that the item is unavailable. With the fact they are a technical store and the software out there does keep exact tracking of items in a warehouse, it floors me that they can't keep promise to deliver my items. Both instances were also with no real appology or offer of a coupon for the hassle and waste of my time... Their store here in St Louis Park, MN isn't much better. Their service is the worst in all the technical stores I have shopped. They really need to step it up is they plan to keep customers business.

Microcenter, Rockville, MD  
 
Not the first time ...  
Don't know what's wrong with the folks@computer parts and surrounding area.  
You stay there and you wait until someone finally realizes you need assistance. Well, this might take you 15 min, 30 min or more ... they don't see you until you catch them by hand.  
Once you can catch one ... today, it happened again ... after few words, you think you need to be guilty because you needed assistance.  
At least, it's like talking to a stone wall. Well, I don't need a lot of help for shopping@microcenter, but, if I talk to someone I expect, at least, he looks in the direction from where I'm talking to him.  
 
Another section/part of the shop ...  
I couldn't find items anymore at a place I always could find it.  
I caught two clerks, of course you need to catch them, both simply disappeared after they told me they need to go to ask their colleagues.  
Clerk # 3 finally knows that the shop does not have this kind of books (Manga) anymore.  
No problem, but it took me more than an half hour to get this information.  
 
OK, I need to mention a nice and positive fact.  
Prices@microcenter are great, really.  
But, you need to check Microcenter's leaflets.  
If it's available @ microcenter prices can compete with newegg or other wellknown online shops. Sometimes prices are much better and ... no shipping and if you have problems you simply come back to the shop. Means, no hassle, no waiting ...

Best price anywhere on an EVGA GTX 275 graphics card. Order process was as trouble-free as any online retailer. Ordered it, got an email confirming order, got an email confirming shipment about 2 hours later with Fedex tracking, got board 2 days later (would have actually come the next day, but Fedex missed their estimated delivery date.)  
 
What could be better? Would definitely order from these guys again.

Advertised price after Rebate not honored. I purchased a MSI GD53 Motherboard on September 05 online at microcenter.com where the price clearly stated $79.99 after $20 Mail in Rebate. I downloaded the rebate form and placed my order. After a backorder notice the item finally shipped 2 weeks later or so. However as of today i was trying to fill out the rebate and had to go online for that and found out that the advertised MSI Rebate MIR00503 was not available online. So I called Microcenter and was told the Rebate has been switched to an instant rebate. Well after lot of talking back and forth nobody was going to admit that there was a mistake made by them but yet I have the rebate form...  
Microcenter was not willing to work anything out and the end of the story will be they get an open boxed motherboard back for a full refund.  
They always adverstise how much lower they are compared to Newegg or TigerDirect well, I guess low cost has its price in form of lagging Customer Service and actually honor what was advertised.  
Next time when i make a purchase i m sure it will be Newegg.com and not Microcenter. I rather pay a few dollars more and have outstanding customerservice as paying less and having basicly none.  
 
Please note that after another email to Microcenter the problem has been solved and MicroCenter is willing to pay me the difference for the missing Rebate.

This review was modified by its author, hw_locutus, on 9/30/09 9:37 AM.

I bought a PC from a Denver store while traveling with a $50 rebate...submitted all paperwork, etc., etc. I live in NC and by state statute, receive a 30 day period to submit rebate vs. the 15 days indicated, it even states this on the bottom of their rebate form. Anyway, I received a postcard back from MC indicating that they can't mail a check to my PO Box (although the postcard was mailed to my box?) and that I missed my dates. I resubmitted with the NC statute and highlighted their own receipt saying the same thing with confirmation of my submission dates and a physical street home address...but nada and can't get a return call or e-mail. I've bought 2 other laptops from other stores, and I have to outfit my new office with 6+ staff and will be shopping elsewhere. Seems like they went to a big effort to not have to pay a $50 rebate - and I don't have the time or energy to submit this to my state Atty. Generals office for resolution. Simply lost me as a long time customer.

This review was modified by its author, jbski, on 9/15/09 6:27 PM.

I had the pleasure of living near a Microcenter store for the last 8 years. Sometimes you just want a simple device at the best price and you don't want to wait. Unlike "worst buy", they are sure to have a $10 wifi adapter or 20 foot video cable for less than arm+leg. I used their 18 minute pickup service without a hitch. One time, when "Ultra" tried to ultra-screw me on a rebate (despite picture proof!) (note: avoid them at all costs), Microcenter was willing to give me store credit equal to the rebate. I haven't had to have anything shipped to me yet, but I wouldn't hesitate knowing that there is always a brick and mortar to fall back to. I love the internet, but in a place where stores can come and go in the night, this won't be one of them.