Micro Center — Local services in Sharonville

Horrible experience, don’t recommend. I bought a 9700x bundle (CPU, RAM, motherboard) from there at the beginning of December, built the system and it ran perfectly fine. Went on vacation for 2.5 weeks, came back and after 2 weeks the system stopped working. Turns out they sold me a faulty motherboard. I never did any overclocking, even expo, and the computer died in effectively 2 weeks worth of considerably light use. All the signs from forums, YouTube videos, etc, pointed to the motherboard being faulty.

Good thing I bought the motherboard warranty, right? Nope. Had to pay the diagnostic fee of $50 for them to even look at it, and when it was found to be the motherboard the fee is not refunded. I was also told I had to bring the entire system in for it to be tested, understandable. Now that the issue if found to be the motherboard the solution is obviously to replace it. There are 2 options (a) I install it myself or (b) they install it for $100. In either case, it has to be taken out (again, obviously) but they can’t do that there they say. Which then means, for option A, I have to drive out (2.5 hours) and take it home to disassemble it because they say there’s nowhere there for me to do it myself other than the back seat of my car. Then I have to drive back out to return that motherboard to get the new one, then drive home and rebuild the entire system. Option B is even worse, in this case I pay them $100 and still have to do all the steps of Option A, but then I have to wait 1-2 weeks for them to install the motherboard and then I have to go about for the 4th time to pick it up.

Yes, it’s on me that I decided to buy these parts from a store that’s 2.5 hours away. But the fact that I was sold a faulty component and not even the diagnostic fee is being waived when I had the motherboard warranty is mind boggling. Making it all worse, they don’t have an explicitly stated phone number to call and actually talk to someone about this. All updates are given over the phone even though I requested updates to be given over the phone. They also “updated the BIOS” on my motherboard when I had checked the bios before I brought it in and it was at the latest version. In doing this it required my Microsoft password to access windows again. Their method of getting that was making me text my password to a this person that has never contacted me before this time and when I asked to do it over the phone they ghosted me.

And it’s all worse considering I could’ve just done the RMA with gigabyte and not had to waste gas money and still had the same fate. I work from home, my job requires this system as it’s the only one I have. I’ve wasted so much time and money for this horrible process and as a result I’m probably going to lose my job. Thanks...

I am torn between a 2 and 3 star review. On the one hand, staff was extremely helpful and for the most part, very knowledgeable. But, the placement of the AIO in this build is unacceptable.

8/2/22, I drove from Indianapolis to the Sharonville, OH. location to buy all the components and have their 'experts' put together a gaming PC. I just did not feel comfortable taking on a PC build of this caliber.

Parts bought for this build...

Intel 12th Gen i9 12900ks Nvidia RTX 3090 ti ROG Maximus z690 Extreme Corsair iCue H170 AIO Fractal Torrent pc case ROG 1600 PSU 64gb DDR5 ram 4tb HDD

I arrived early, with the hope that the build could be done in one day, so I wouldn't have to drive back out the next day from Indy. My salesmen Nick said it would not be a problem, the IT tech reassured me it would be done by 5pm, and it was... but at what cost?

First, I was told that a 420mm AIO would fit into the front of the Fractal Meshify, but was text back telling me that the Ram was getting in the way of the radiator. At this point, I told them that we could just swap out the case for the Fractal Torrent, since it clearly states on this literature that it will fit AIO's up to 420mm.

Like I said, putting together PC's is not my hotspot. So, understanding the particular nuisances of PC building is understandable. See, the 420mm AIO wan installed at the bottom of the case. It did not dawn on me till I got home, that air is going to raise up into the pump, making it less than optimal. After doing a ton of research, my I was further confirmed by YouTubers such as Jays Two Cents and Gamers Nexus, that it is not just a bad idea, but detrimental to my system by having the AIO set up in this manner. So now, after spending $6000 on this build, I need to buy another case, swap all the components over, all because of a lack of understanding on AIO operations. This, right here was why I choose Micro Center in the first place! So that I would avoid making major mistakes such as this one.

And let’s talk fans. The tech set this up as a negative pressure system. 1 intake fan to 4 exhaust fans!!!

P.S. I had them install two Samsung 980 Pro NVMe drives, but the system only...

Usually, Microcenter is great. Competitive prices, price matching, great selection, helpful staff.

I live an hr away, and I always make the drive to come here to support a brick-and-morter store because past experiences have always been 5 star.

Today, however, I waited 20min to track down someone working in my area (aisle 25) to buy a modmic usb, xdm-100, and supporting peripherals like a boom, cables, etc. While I did initially find someone (Chris, nice guy, just has nobody to help him), after he went to help the folks there before me, he got sidetracked with someone else, then someone else again, then ran off to do a something someone asked over his radio. I made several contacts with this gentleman, "still waiting to get help to find this stuff" but eventually I got tired of waiting and seeing dude run off with whoever happened to be closest.

So I left and went back to my car and started writing this review. Annoyed. Annoyed that Chris had no help. Annoyed that this was so very different from 99.9% of my in-store interactions with staff.

Then, I realized, I have to have a microphone, today, and next day shipping wasn't going to be an option - so annoyed with myself and this whole situation, I went back in, found someone completely different to hopefully help me find the one thing I absolutely have to have today - a cheap headset mic. I was referred to Chris again (he's still a nice guy, just has nobody helping in his section) and finally got, at last, got the thing I absolutely couldn't leave without today.

With this kind of service, I can save myself the $12 in gas, 2hrs in time (currently worth about $40/hr in today's economy), and have it delivered to my front door in a day, which I very well may do next time I need something.

The other stuff I was going to buy? That'll be from Amazon. And that hurts me deeply, because Amazon is the death of in-store service businesses like Microcenter.

Microcenter, I expect better, because I've seen better from you. And for the love of God, give Chris...