Minneapolis location next to Burlington : Four older-looking slovenly male employees standing in the next row for 15 minutes talking about fishing etc. . . .  
and then finally rudely asking what I wanted . . . after telling me they were too busy to help . . . and then quickly dismissing me after impolitely barking off the answer to my technical question . . .  
by the way . . . their answer was not even correct : simply a pseudo-intellectual reply given in rhetoric to impress their fellow-do-nothing-employees.

I purchased an Xbox 360 from Micro Center prior to Christmas 2006 because they were running a special that included a $100 rebate. I immediately mailed all required materials for my rebate to the address indicated on the rebate form (the rebate center happened to be across town from where I live, so they should've received it within a day or two). After six weeks, I still hadn't received my rebate or any notification that it had ever been received, so I decided to try to track it on the Micro Center rebate tracking website. I put in my invoice number, name, address and it said that there was no record of my rebate. Being a trusting sort of guy, I decided to wait a little longer, figuring that it was the normal foot-dragging that seems to go along with rebates. After checking the website over the next two weeks and still being told there was no record of it, I decided to call the toll free number to ask about my rebate. When I finally was able to speak with a human, she told me that nothing was ever received. She told me to resubmit my rebate request, this time to a different department at the same address as my original submission. I did so and about a week later I received an email that stated that they had received my stuff and would process my rebate. The email said that it would still take 8 - 10 weeks to process. Now I was looking at late April to mid-May as when I could expect my rebate check. That would be four to five months after filing my rebate request.  
 
Moral of the story? Do not ever buy anything from Micro Center that includes a rebate. You may never get your money. Or if you can live without the money for upwards of a 1/3 to 1/2 a year, then by all means, go ahead. IMO, you are better off buying what you want somewhere else where the list price is cheaper. The rebate at Micro Center seems to be a way to bring shoppers in, with them hoping that most people will not waste the energy or time to follow-up on it when it never shows up.  
 
In fairness to Micro Center, I should state that I have had no problems with the Xbox 360 or the other stuff that I bought there, just with the rebate.

I purchased a Intel D975XBX2KR (Bad Axe 2). Online said "ships in 5-7 days", but it was the lowest price around so I ordered it from Micro Center. I was surprised when the next day, I received email that it shipped. I ended up receiving the motherboard in 3 days. It was the retail box, still factory sealed (with a Intel holographic sticker on it.) All in all, I was very impressed with the turn around time. The only downside is that they charge tax in IL. Shipping was reasonable at $6.

Well, this is both good and bad.  
 
The bad....ordered a cpu and motherboard combo on 2/12. Put hold on my card immediately. two days later the hold was removed and no charges applied. I called to enquire and was told it was canceled.  
 
Good...ordered cpu from another store and actually went to one of MicroCenter's B&M stores and purchased same motherboard.  
 
Fast forward one week and suddenly a cpu appears...no email about it being charged or shipped. Credit card charged same day. Four days later card charged again(!) and this time for the motherboard. Again, this is on an order I thought was CANCELED!  
 
I call last evening and spoke to a very nice CSR. Within two minutes or so she got an RMA number assigned to the motherboard, after I told her I couldn't just take the mb to a store and return it....2 1/2 hour one way drive is a bit much to just return a board....and told me to refuse delivery when it came.  
 
So, in the end, I guess it'll work out.  
 
On the other hand, there was absolutely NO email notification of either product shipping and I only knew the mb had been shipped because I noticed a charge for it on my card's statement online. And to top it off, they now have my $185 in their grubby little hands for who knows how long. Poor practices!  
 
My suggestion: If you deal with this company online, and this is a company with web presence but absolutely no customer support online....only by phone which makes it very inconvenient(!), write everything down, take names, and expect your card to be charged even when they tell you it's canceled.

Their prices are good with some things and lousy for others. Plus, since I'm in MN - I have to pay sales tax. It makes them a bit less desireable.  
 
I haven't had any real problems. Their return policy is draconian, but I've had a success with the one return I needed to do.  
 
I purchased a few things. They had a 20% off sale. So I bought this case. I get the case and the case is broken. So I had to return it. Of course, it was the last one of this kind.  
 
They also seem to do a lot of bate and switch. A lot of products they advertise in their weekly will be "sold out" by the time you get there. Customer service is a joke.  
 
I'm not sure if their staff is commission based or not, but they put stickers on products you buy with their name and bar code on it. They also aggressively try to upsell you.  
 
It's a last resort. They tend to be cheaper than Best Buy and General Nanosystems, but I'd rather order through newegg or zipzoomfly if I don't need it now.  
 
The one exception are small things. Newegg's shipping is crazy with small things, like memory heatsinks and such. In that case, the tax and drive tend to be less.

Absolutely the worst customer service I have ever had. I bought a motherboard from them, and it had a bad SATA port. Called returns, waited half-an-hour for somebody, talked for 30 seconds, got transferred to technical support, waited half-an-hour for somebody, talked for 30 seconds, got transferred back to returns, waited 20 minutes, then told they are too busy and I have to call back. Never buy from them again.

I ordered a 550watt modular power supply, 250gig SATA2 harddrive, and a Coolermaster case from Microcenter.com for in-store pickup. I received an email the next morning that the order was partially filled (they were out of stock on the PS and case). I go to the store and get the harddrive and find a 500watt ps and a case that was almost identical to the one I ordered (instead of being Coolermaster brand, it was "microcenter brand by coolermaster"). The price on the case was the same and the PS was cheaper since it was a lesser model. I grabbed those and saved about $40. I love Microcenter, it's my favorite B&M computer store. Their prices are pretty good usually (and they even beat out newegg on some prices this time around). My only problem is that their online order system has no online account management. I'd have to call to figure out what's going on.

Worst customer experience ever. Never ever buy any products with Micro Center rebates. They simply won't pay. Micro center will come up with fictitious reasons to NOT pay your rebate. I purchased a computer for $650, with a rebate of $100 from Micro Center and $50 from HP. I received the HP rebate in 1 month and it has been now over 4 months and haven't received the rebate from Micro Center. I have placed numerous calls and everytime they say that they'll take care of it and nothing happens. I mailed the rebate through a registered post, so they were not able to lie about that (I have the proof that they received the mail on Nov 3), but came up with a reason that I did not submit the receipt ( A total lie ). I'll never ever purchase anything from this store again. LIARS!! LIARS! LIARS!  

Terrible shipping! This is my first and last order with this company. I ordered a flash drive and blank dvd media on 1/19. They claimed to have shipped the drive on 1/24 postmarked 1/26. Postage was supposed to be guaranteed 1.99 for the drive but they charged 3.72 for partial order. The blank media was not fulfilled. I called on 1/26 to cancel the media but they said it was routed to shipping, and wouldn't refund the difference in the shipping because it would wash out with the second shipment. OK. But still the second shipment was not deducted on my CC so I think they never shipped. I called back on 1/29 and the guy says it was in shipping. I asked for supervisor intervention and the next day I get a ship notice. Finally, Fedex tracking shows it was shipped 1/31.  
 
Shipping times are way below my expectations for an internet transaction. Micro Center says if the item is not in stock they send you an email within 3 business days, so I figured the whole order should have been received within 5 business days. Meanwhile I'm making an emergency trip to a local store to get what I needed a week earlier.  
 

This review was modified by its author, wazunderdhood, on 2/9/07 9:27 AM.

Person complaining below about being charged $6.98 S/H on 2 flash memory cards is being a whiner. Check around - $7 is about the norm for s/h for about any item. Yes, they make money on s/h and you should plan on this. First class mail is an acceptable alternative to FedX Ground, especially with tiny items like memory.  
 
But before you acuse me of working for MC, I do have a complaint about their rebate practices. A huge number of their sale items involve mail in rebates. If you have applied for one, you know that only a tiny percentage of rebates are honored. In fact, most people forget about them before the 8-12 weeks is up and by then, they can't find their copies of the paperwork to call someone about it.  
 
MC and other retailers need to dump rebate programs altogether. If there's a discount, give it to me at the register and don't make customers play the rebate game.  
 
MC's sale prices frequently reflect a "Final price after rebate." This is deceptive and if you don't check your register receipt, you might find that you've been charged regular price. The clerk may or may not know to give you the rebate form. If you're purchasing multiple items in one of the stores, these things can escape notice.  
 
If you do get the rebate form at the store, good luck trying to collect it from the various manufacturers. I've sent in for about a dozen rebates over the past 5 years and have only received 3. If you doubt me, simply google the words "rebate complaints."  
 
MicroCenter is a knowing participant in this fraud on the public, as they know how tough it is for people to collect these rebates. Since they continue to advertise "after rebate" pricing, they are part of the problem.  
 
In some parts of the country, citizens have had to get their state attorneys general involved in rebate matters in order to be able to collect.  
 
Bottom line: Never count on a rebate to arrive. If you can't afford the full price at the register, you shouldn't be buying it.  

Do not buy anything from microcenter.com, their service is awful and your order will be untrackable unless you upgrade to more expensive shipping.  
 
On 12-3-06, they had a special for 1 gig USB flash drives for $9.99. I ordered 2. Shipping for my order was $6.98, which didn't seem too unusual for a Fedex ground package. I was given a ship date of 12-6-06.  
 
On 12-8-06, I finally get an email from Microcenter that my order shipped. By United States Postal Service. Yep, regular, untrackable, untraceable US mail. $6.98 would have easily paid the extra $0.50 for Delivery Confirmation, since shipping 2 small flash drives should cost about $4.05 in postage.  
 
What a ridiculous ripoff, to use shipping as another way to make a profit of about $3.00.  
 
On Microcenter's website, they say that they use Fedex as their shipper for "Standard Shipping" (at http://microcenter.com/how_to_shop/shipping.html), but it has this cryptic sentence in bold: "Ground shipments are not a guaranteed service by Fed Ex." Which I thought was a warning about lost shipments and claims through Fedex, and not a warning that they will ship US mail if they feel like it.  
 
To make matters worse, you cannot get your order status from their website. They have no web services at all to look at your order, your account, or your shipping status. You have to call their 800 number during their business hours.  
 
Stay away, unless you want to pay extra for Fedex overnight or 2 day, or you want to wait on hold for half an hour.  
 
UPDATE 12-14-06: I got my package today. They didn't even send it Priority Mail, it was sent regular First Class Mail. Postage was $0.63. They charged me $6.98 for $0.63 postage and "handling". They made an extra $6 overcharging me for postage and an envelope. This is just as bad as the worst postage-scammers on ebay. Stay away from this company!

This review was modified by its author, btfool, on 12/14/06 7:13 PM.

Poor customer followup! Ordered Nintendo Wii online, got immediate shipping information (2-3 days), found out through blogs that they are backordered and will not ship. Called them three days after the order was placed and got confirmation that they made a mistake and orders will not be fufilled. Finally got an email five days later confirming that the item will not be available.  
 
They should have immediately sent out an email once they found out their mistake, not wait till people find out through the blogs that they are out of luck. Mistakes do happen, if they sent out an email to all the affected orders the next day, I would not be writing this.

This was my first order with this company and most definately the last.  
 
On 11/19, Micro Center added the Nintendo Wii to their online store for purchase (not pre-order). Three and a half hours later there is an authorization for the charge and a confirmation e-mail in my inbox.  
 
My estimated ship date is 11/22. 11/22 comes and goes with my money tied up and no notice of shipment. Today on 11/24 the authorization is dropped and I receive a backorder notice.  
 
I recently found out that many others placed orders and all of them got backorder notices and cancellations. If Micro Center never had Wii's to sell online, they shouldn't have added it to their online store for purchase.  
 
Now, if you call all you get is a message saying they have no ETA for stock on Wii's nor do they think they'll have them by Christmas. Of course, this is supposing you get through to a CS rep.

excellent cust. service. When the package didn't show (even though FedEx claimed to have delivered), a quick phone call had a replacement shipment on the way at no cost to me. TOTAL cust support phone call time: 5 MINUTES! I like that!  
 
FOLLOW UP: Turns out, original was delivered down the street due to FedEx screw-up. MicroCenter was quick to send me a pre-paid return label to send back the now unnecessary free replacement. It doesn't get much better than that. I WILL buy from these guys again.

This review was modified by its author, kdc914, on 10/4/06 8:29 AM.

Add me to the list of happy ASUS A8N SLI deluxe motherboard buyers.  
 
I have also made in store purchases at the B&M store in Cambridge, MA and have been happy with the prices and reliability of thier rebates thru on-rebate.

This review was modified by its author, eric90gt, on 9/5/06 10:45 PM.