Micro Center — Local services in North Bethesda

I received this invitation from Micro Center through Google to reconsider my review about the store, as I had left a very negative review some time ago due to an issue I experienced there. I didn't write the bad review out of spite; the reason was that I had purchased a motherboard, processor, and memory, assembled a complete computer, and chose to do this through Micro Center because, today, we have Amazon. I also own a retail store, so I understand how important it is for people to visit my store instead of buying everything from Amazon, because eventually, we might not have retail businesses anymore if Amazon dominates everything. So, I understand the importance of customers choosing to buy from us.

However, the motherboard I bought had a problem with the socket pins, where some of them were bent. When I opened the motherboard for the first time and removed the cap that covers that area, I didn’t notice any problem at first. I’ve been building computers for many years, since I was 15 or 16 years old, so I know what I’m doing. I explained to them that I didn’t damage anything and that I installed the processor correctly, making sure the arrow was aligned with the arrow on the motherboard, as I've always done with Ryzen processors. I’m 46 years old now and I’ve been doing this for years. I explained everything to them in detail, but it was treated as if it was my fault, as if I had damaged it.

I understand that it’s hard for them to accept this from their side since the manufacturing process has quality controls, making it almost impossible to receive a motherboard with bent pins because there are many people in the factory who inspect these issues, and they wouldn’t let something like that slip through. But anyway, the board had issues with the pins; they were bent. I didn’t damage anything there, but they didn’t believe me. I had also requested to replace the memory, thinking that was the problem before I noticed the bent pin, but I had to pay for that memory too. I got so frustrated because I realized I’d have a huge expense since I had to leave my computer there for them to fix and to diagnose what had happened, and they charged me a lot of money. At that point, I got upset and asked them to just install the best part they had.

So, the issue wasn't the money; I didn't even want my money back. I just wanted them to believe me because I was telling the truth. That’s what upset me the most, and I said that I would never return to Micro Center. But it is the best computer store we have here, practically the only one. So, I do still go there occasionally and buy things, but I’m cautious now. I feel like I need to open and inspect things right away to make sure everything works, which is complicated. But yes, I will change my review. I understand their side a bit too, but I think they could maybe trust or help their customers in a more humane way.

The manager who assisted me there, a short man, didn’t treat me well and looked at me as if... I don’t know. I’m Brazilian, so you can tell my English isn’t perfect. I’m not saying he was racist or anything like that, but he treated me poorly. Meanwhile, the regular staff working there are the best employees in the world; Micro Center employees are on another level. But the manager, an older man, probably around 60 years old, treated me quite poorly. But that’s it. Yes, I will somewhat change my opinion about Micro Center, though I am still upset. It’s not a bad store; I do recommend Micro Center, for...

So the good thing about Micro Center is their staff usually is very knowledgeable and can help you compared to Best Buy or Target, or Walmart. It seems Micro Center provides training. I’m giving it two stars because I had different experiences with different staff. I was looking to buy a monitor, and the First Gentleman to help me was very helpful and explained everything, the difference between the various products they offered and the prices. Once he knew what I was looking for offered me the best product he thought would meet my needs and would also not break my wallet. However, he had to leave because when I first arrived, he was towards the end of his shift, and he had somewhere to be. I understood, and he provided excellent service. He said he would get someone else to help me. The second staff member was the complete opposite. He was rude and impatient and did not take the time to explain the different products I could get with them and why they were priced so differently. On top of that, he didn’t care about my wallet. He just picked one, told me the price was the price, and did not care. It was 200 dollars. It’s ridiculous how micro center cheapest docking station is 200 dollars and they offer monitors for 50 bucks. When I asked if he had any used or refurbished options he said no. I asked if I could purchase it on Amazon or eBay cheaper and he didn’t answer the question. He just said the price is the price either you buy it or you don’t. Then said if I don’t like it I can return it. Because It was something I really needed right away I went ahead and bought it. Came to find out that you can buy docking stations for 30 dollars and they work just as well for my purpose of using a dual screen for school work and very basic every day tasks. So the second staff member was awful. Not to mention he told me that the monitor I bought did not come with a hdmi cable and made me buy a 40 cable which is what the cheapest Micro center had. Again some of their prices are way to expensive. You can get HDMI way cheaper than that. Long behold when I go to set everything up the monitor has two hdmi cables and a display cable. I literally bought one for no reason. My friend’s dad works with computers and was able to give me a monitor much better than the one I bought for free and can give me two of them replacing the cheap monitor I already had. So because of the terrible experience I had with the second staff member even though I spent like 300 dollars at micro center I will be returning everything. And I will be very hesitant to come back and purchase anything from micro center. I will use them for their knowledge because most of their staff are very knowledgeable but their prices are way over priced and ridiculous you can find the same products on Amazon and other places much cheaper. So use for knowledge and to know what you need to buy but do not buy any of their products. And it’s all because I had a terrible experience with the second staff member. If I just had my entire experience with the first staff member then I probably would have been like okay well I really liked your service that I’m more willing to pay for your overpriced products but nope your second staff member has ruined it for me forever. I hope micro center finds this employee and fires him because I’m sure I’m not the only one that has had this terrible...

Review will be updated pending resolution. This interaction with a tech company ranks among the most unprofessional experiences I've encountered. In July 2023, based on my brother's strong recommendation – he works in the tech field – I invested in a $1500 desktop computer from this company. Despite purchasing a three-year warranty, within less than six months of acquiring the computer, the hard drive began to fail. Upon contacting support, they insisted I bring the computer to their location in Rockville, which posed a significant inconvenience given the distance of over an hour from my residence. After making the journey, dropping off the computer, and returning home, I awaited updates. However, the communication from the technician tasked with the repair made it evident that they lacked a clear understanding of the issue, initially attributing it to hardware problems which upon further inquiry turned out to be software related. Subsequently, after another trip of two hours to retrieve the supposedly repaired computer, totaling four hours of travel, I discovered that the issue persisted. They clearly did nothing when they were supposed to repair to and wipe it clean, resetting it back to factory settings. They did not address the problem as promised, failing to reset it to factory settings as expected. This is a breach of contract of the warranty for the service repair. Upon expressing my frustration with the manager over the phone, their unprofessionalism reached new heights. They insisted on me returning the computer for further examination, seemingly disregarding the inconvenience and time already invested. I truly believe that they were hoping I’d either not realize or that I’d be too tired to continue with them to drive more time back. Additionally, their attempt to downplay the situation by mentioning “at least you didn’t have to pay for the repair” when 1) no repair had been done and 2) I DID in fact pay for it…when I bought the warranty which further exacerbated my dissatisfaction. To make matters worse, my brother witnessed a technician's negligence while working on another computer, highlighting their lack of attention to detail and professionalism. My brother saw a technician working on a different computer not screw the mother board into the case mount and the entire internal workings were hanging on by the thermal paste…which is not supposed to be load bearing. This underscores the company's questionable practices and incompetence. I would caution anyone from purchasing anything from Micro Center and especially caution them about trusting Micro Center to conduct...