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Micro Center Sucks + My Good Deed For the Day

rdowns

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
Ran over to Micro Center to pick up a new USB hub. Of course, I wandered into their Mac section (why Apple let's this shitehole sell it's products is beyond me). A lady is wheeling a 24" iMac to the register. I made a comment on what a nice machine it was and asked if she got a good deal since they were discontinued and replaced the other day.

The salesmen comes running over and asks her if she needs help to the register. Funny, he didn't offer it before I began speaking with her. Apparently, he sold it to her at full retail. He also says that the new machines aren't out yet and that Apple would be shipping them in a few weeks.

I decided to not even speak with him and addressed my comments to the lady. I told her that Apple announced the new 27" iMacs the other day and they were on display and in stock at the Apple Store as I was there last night. She asked me how much and I said $1,700. She turned to the sales rep and said she didn't want the 24" unless it was highly discounted. His response was, "the price is the price. I have no flexibility". She walked.

A few minutes later, the manager comes over to me while I am waiting on line to check out. He was obviously pissed at me and said he didn't appreciate arm chair quarterbacks interfering with his sales professionals. I said, "Look, your salesman tried to sell a discontinued model at full retail and lied about the availability of the new ones. Is that how you do business?"

He then asked me to leave without my purchase. I dropped the 2 items on the counter and started walking out. I turned around and asked for his name. He initially refused but I was getting louder and louder so he gave me his card. Then he said the cashier would ring up my purchases. I told him to forget it, I'd rather go out of my way and go to Best Buy to pick the items up.

Can't wait to write the letter to his boss. :D
 
I neglected to mention that the women was waiting for me in the parking lot and couldn't thank me enough. made me feel good.

It just pisses me off the misinformation and lies these sales guys get away with. I'm a sales and marketing guy and respect what good salespeople do.
 
rdowns said:
I neglected to mention that the women was waiting for me in the parking lot and couldn't thank me enough. made me feel good.

It just pisses me off the misinformation and lies these sales guys get away with. I'm a sales and marketing guy and respect what good salespeople do.
Click to expand...

That's just ridiculous, you don't lie, ever. Apple Store employees have told me to purchase a different thing not available in their stores because it solves the solution better, that's why I go back.
 
Good job... it amazes me that they were willing to lose two customers forever for maybe 2-300 dollars. If they had been fair with that lady maybe she would have rewarded them by buying software from them in the future... now? Blergh...

thegoldenmackid said:
That's just ridiculous, you don't lie, ever. Apple Store employees have told me to purchase a different thing not available in their stores because it solves the solution better, that's why I go back.
Click to expand...
The manager definitely F'd up... The manager should have done his job and made things right when confronted with the truth. Instead, they lost a sale and two customers... yeesh.
 
stonyc said:
Good job... it amazes me that they were willing to lose two customers forever for maybe 2-300 dollars. If they had been fair with that lady maybe she would have rewarded them by buying software from them in the future... now? Blergh...
Click to expand...

Not only that, but now I dont want to shop there anymore. So thats 3 customers. The power of Word of Mouth is astounding in business.
 
thegoldenmackid said:
That's just ridiculous, you don't lie, ever. Apple Store employees have told me to purchase a different thing not available in their stores because it solves the solution better, that's why I go back.
Click to expand...

I've heard plenty of mis-information dispensed by the geeks in colorful shirts.
 
Unspoken Demise said:
Not only that, but now I dont want to shop there anymore. So thats 3 customers. The power of Word of Mouth is astounding in business.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, I meant more the immediate loss of two customers... the loss of two customers should have been more than enough to get the manager to play right. Now they get to deal with the loss of business by word of mouth too... imagine if he had done the right things and turned the situation into a positive (ie. discounted the iMac heavily and thrown in iWork or something for her trouble)... the good word of mouth would have more than made up for the discount AND the free software.
 
rdowns said:
I neglected to mention that the women was waiting for me in the parking lot and couldn't thank me enough. made me feel good.

It just pisses me off the misinformation and lies these sales guys get away with. I'm a sales and marketing guy and respect what good salespeople do.
Click to expand...

Good job dude. I would have done the same thing.

I hate when salespeople lie to get a sale.

That store lost out on two customers because of that salesperson's actions. I would guess you or than woman won't be going back there possibly ever.
 
Surely said:
That store lost out on two customers because of that salesperson's actions. I would guess you or than woman won't be going back there possibly ever.
Click to expand...

I've always hated the store but it's in an area that isn't as congested as the rest of the other electronic sellers so it's usually an easy in and out. I'm done there now. There are 4 other places I can go within 2 miles.
 
rdowns said:
I've always hated the store but it's in an area that isn't as congested as the rest of the other electronic sellers so it's usually an easy in and out. I'm done there now. There are 4 other places I can go within 2 miles.
Click to expand...

Exactly. There are always alternatives. It's almost as if these lying salespeople think that they're the only spot in town.

I had a really bad experience at my local AT&T Store just after the 3GS launched, and I won't go back there for anything. They don't deserve my foot traffic, and if I were to buy something, I wouldn't want that store to get credit for it. I would sooner drive the 5-10 minutes to another store if I needed to go to one.
 
rdowns said:
I've always hated the store but it's in an area that isn't as congested as the rest of the other electronic sellers so it's usually an easy in and out. I'm done there now. There are 4 other places I can go within 2 miles.
Click to expand...

Care to say what those other choices are, since it sounds like we live close to each other? I'd always gone out of my way to go to Microcenter, since they are so much cheaper.
 
Wirelessly posted (Nokia 5800 Tube XpressMusic : Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.4; U; Series60/5.0 Nokia5800d-1/21.0.101; Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413)

The employee at THAT Micro Centre lied. Lets not get carried away and ban all MC stores. Otherwise, I'd never go to an Apple Store ever again either. Instead, I went back to the same store and dealt with another salesperson.
 
iphone.aggie said:
Care to say what those other choices are, since it sounds like we live close to each other? I'd always gone out of my way to go to Microcenter, since they are so much cheaper.
Click to expand...

Where do you live? I live on Long Island.

My choices are many. Name a national retailer and I bet they're within 5 miles of me.
 
Meh. This is how retailers make money. They don't think of it as swindling, but I'm sure the customers would - they basically take advantage of people's poor understanding of the products and options available.

Time honored tradition, and always fun to interfere with :)
 
Abstract said:
Wirelessly posted (Nokia 5800 Tube XpressMusic : Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.4; U; Series60/5.0 Nokia5800d-1/21.0.101; Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413)

The employee at THAT Micro Centre lied. Lets not get carried away and ban all MC stores. Otherwise, I'd never go to an Apple Store ever again either. Instead, I went back to the same store and dealt with another salesperson.
Click to expand...

True, but the manager of the store decided to get involved and asked rdowns to leave the store. He didn't treat rdowns as a valuable customer, and so rdowns is not wrong for never wanting to spend his money at that store again.


Also, it is the company's responsibility to hire employees that will act ethically in sales situations.
 
Abstract said:
Wirelessly posted (Nokia 5800 Tube XpressMusic : Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.4; U; Series60/5.0 Nokia5800d-1/21.0.101; Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413)

The employee at THAT Micro Centre lied. Lets not get carried away and ban all MC stores. Otherwise, I'd never go to an Apple Store ever again either. Instead, I went back to the same store and dealt with another salesperson.
Click to expand...

+1

Can't tell you how many times I've had an Apple store employee lie right to my face about something.

"How long is the factory warranty? This T500 I'm looking at has a three year factory warranty."

"It's a three year warranty."

"Included at no extra cost?"

"Yes."

:rolleyes:
 
FX120 said:
+1

Can't tell you how many times I've had an Apple store employee lie right to my face about something.

"How long is the factory warranty? This T500 I'm looking at has a three year factory warranty."

"It's a three year warranty."

"Included at no extra cost?"

"Yes."

:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

My experience isn't so much that they lie to my face but more that I know more about what I'm asking about than they do and when put on the spot, they throw out a response that is patently false and I can tell they just don't know the correct answer. This only means that I'm a geek and research the hell out of things even before walking in maybe. For the average consumer I can see how that would suck.
 
NC MacGuy said:
Score one for the good guys.;)

Good job rdowns!!

Those stores have the biggest bunch of no nothing losers working in them. Surprised they outlasted Circuit City & CompUSA.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I'm surprised they are still around. Every time you go in, it seems they add new products to sell. They must be hard up for cash as they had office/school supplies, energy drinks, soda and candy. Not to mention the stores are always a mess.
 
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