Canada Computers & Electronics — Local services in Halifax

• Have Updated this review - will be avoiding this store from now on and suggest you do the same if you ever plan on using their warranty/tech care *

Friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable staff, fair prices with lots of stuff usually on sale. They actually allowed me to return a sketchy power supply and exchange it for a better one, which they didn't have to do since technically there wasn't anything wrong with the unit (at least not yet). Only complaint is I wish they would answer the phone more often. Been calling every now and again to check if they've received any 30-series GPU's and the phone just rings forever. Unfortunately you have to act fast trying to get a GPU these days and it's difficult when no one will answer the phone. Otherwise, great store !

UPDATE :

It seems this stores stance on customer service has changed after my previous good experiences with them. Will be changing my review from 4 star, to 1 star now.

Had a water pump in my PC fail unfortunately, however I had purchased the 3yr tech care warranty. Of course they needed to verify the issue themselves which I understand, but having my PC for 5 days is a bit much for something that probably took 20 minutes. Anyways they call me to say the unit is defective and they have already swapped in the replacement for me - which at first I thought was nice of them, as I had planned on doing that myself. In hindsight though I feel it was so I wouldn't "notice" what had actually happened until I got home with my PC. When I got my PC home and switched it on I immediately noticed the replacement was not what I had originally purchased. To be specific my original pump was a Kraken Z53 with the 2.5" LCD display on the pump head (the ENTIRE pump head). What I had been replaced with was the new "base" model Kraken with a 1.5" screen that is only a small square within the larger pump head. Looks really tacky, and I never would have purchased this version ! Looking at my receipt I also see there is a large price gap between my original pump and the replacement, about $70 worth that was NOT refunded to me. Thing is, my original pump still exists, but had been re-branded as the Kraken Elite, for a higher price, which I would just chalk up as 3 years of inflation - not my problem. But of course this greedy company didn't want to lose more money and replace with an equivalent, so they opted to downgrade me without my permission.

When I called to complain and search for a better solution I was met with a brick wall of "this is the decision head office has made". When I asked them to re-evaluate the situation, as I feel though I am being ripped off, they instead strengthened there position of "this is what you're getting, take it or leave it". I offered to compromise, and pay the difference to get the equivalent of what I had before. Nope, no compromise. No apologies or even a hint of empathy. Just cold robotic corporate BS. I ended up returning their replacement unit and taking back my defective one to pursue the manufacturers factory warranty of 6 years.

When someone purchases an extended warranty on their product , FOR ADDITIONAL COST, they do so expecting it to be a smooth and hassle free process, and that their product will be replaced with an equivalent or better if none is available. You don't replace someones 55" TV with a 48" because there are no 55's available. You don't replace someones V8 engine with a V6, because it's now depreciated. That's not how warranty works. The fact that Canada Computers wasn't even willing to compromise with me shows how little to me they care about customer satisfaction. I will never purchase another product from this shady, scummy, greedy company ever again, and I suggest you do the same.

To any of you floor staff that may be reading this, my quarrel is with your management - you guys have always...

This place came recommended to me as a local business, which was appealing to me. I needed a new laptop, so I went in and was helped by a friendly person, and left with my new laptop, a lenovo ideapad. When I was setting it up, it said that there was only 10 months left on my warranty, which was really weird for me. When I would install a program, it would give me an error, then install it anyway, and later I would get weird glitchy errors when using the program. The camera also made it look like I was in a fog bank. It was super blurry. The webcam on my 5 year old mac was far better than this one. Needless to say, the laptop didn't meet my expectations and I recognize that this isn't the fault of the store. I eventually left the store with a full refund, but the person that I dealt with negated everything I said was wrong with the laptop. I explained the warranty issue, he fiddled around with it and showed me a date that reflected the date that I actually bought the laptop, which is fine, but I know what I read and it clearly said the warranty only had 10 months left on it. I looked up online that lenovo computers can have errors on their warranties and that some people have to call the company to reset theirs, so I'm not the only person this happens to and I'm surprised that a lenovo dealer such as Canada Computers isn't aware this issue and would just deny my statements. We couldn't recreate the errors that I was experiencing with the programs when I was in the store either, so that was denied by the customer service person as well. When I mentioned the webcam issue, he opened that up too, and I became worried that it would be crystal clear or something and make me look like an idiot since none of the other issues I was experiencing at home could be proven in store. Luckily, the camera was incredibly blurry, just as I said it was. The person helping me said, "Oh, well that's because it's pointed right at the lights." I explained that this is exactly what was happening at home and that I didn't have this sort of lighting in my home office. I need a decent camera on my work laptop since videoconferencing is kind of important nowadays. I'm not really sure why everything I was concerned about had to be negated in such a manner. I wasn't even actually told that they were going to refund me, so it felt like I was being told that none of my concerns were real, which suggested that I was going to be stuck with the computer. I wanted to go to this place because they are locally operated and rather than going to one of the big box stores, I thought it would be good to support this business. Instead, I was told that none of my issues were real, but it was also explained to me that I can just take time to troubleshoot all the problems. I just don't have time to figure out problems with a brand new computer nor do I enjoy being told that my issues are not real. Someone in line while I was waiting to get into the store said to get my money back and go somewhere else. I think that was good advice. It's a shame though because the initial customer...

Disappointed overall. Long story:

Placed an order for a laptop on the online store, called to confirm that I would be able to pick up later that evening (explained that I will be doing a fresh install so no need for them to go through the whole install process themselves).

When I show up the laptop that I had ordered is not actually a new machine (as advertised on the website) but in fact an open-box with only a damaged Purolator box to take it home in. The store manager and employee that was working though gave it their absolute best to try and provide me the open-box discounted price as per the website but due to their "online payment system" (this said system will come back again later I promise) it would take several days to apply. Because the online payment system had not actually taken the payment but instead "held" the funds, much like a hotel payment system does, I could not take the machine that night though I had reassurances I should be able to take it earlier that day (50$ cab total).

Go back the next day (another 50$ cab) and now can pick it up...within one week the machine is shutting down, crashing, etc. For reference I am quite skilled with computers and have built several desktops in the past and work as an IT tech (my current laptop is more than 4 years old without issue except dated hardware). I ended up returning this 2000$ laptop as it was not what I expected.

Fast forward to now, placed another online order and this time waited for the confirmation that my order was ready with the notice that I have two days to get it "to avoid order cancellation"...go into the store (another 50$ cab) and am informed "so your total is x, how would you like to pay?" I explain I paid online and show the payment, the employee (I believe they were a manager as they were in a dress shirt) tells me "well the payment is not there so I can't give these to you unless you want to pay right now". No apology, no explanation, not an ounce of empathy.

Hold up. Wait a minute. Now I’m being told I have to pay a second time for my order. Looking back with a clearer head what they probably meant was I can pay now and they will cancel the online payment. The issue though is this is the third time I have been in this store, and the second time for an online order where there is an issue with their online payments.

I get that people have a bad day or there are things that you cannot control (online payment system) but you have to have more empathy in the situation and try to find ways to make the experience better for the customer if there is an issue.

Moral of the story, decent store with a decent selection but do not order online unless you want to...