Microcenter CPU/Mobo Policy

w1retap

w1retap

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Short rant -- I just went to Microcenter to pick up a motherboard and CPU combo for a Z270 ITX build I'm doing. I had a gift card to burn, so I figured I'd go spend it. I picked out an i7 7700K + Asus ROG STRIX Z270I.. along with some RAM and a M.2 NVMe drive. I get up to the register and I'm ready to pay, and the cashier just takes the motherboard out of the box, takes it out of the anti-static bag, takes off the pin protector, then runs his fingers over the LGA pins. I said "uhhh, what are you doing?" And he says it is their policy to check for bent pins on the motherboard. Then I say "Without an anti-static wrist strap, setting the motherboard down on a plastic shopping bag, wearing a polyester shirt, while rubbing your fingers on the pins?".. so I proceeded to tell him I'm leaving while he stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face. So I went home and just purchased everything on Amazon and Newegg, since it probably has a lower chance at being ESD molested before I receive it.

Has anyone else experienced this retarded policy at Microcenter?
 
WTF? That is crazy! I just recently got a new Ryzen build last month. Got the CPU/Mobo combo at my local Microcenter Denver. And they didn't do that.

Maybe they've had a rash of returns for bent pin mobos?
 
Emission said:
In all the times I've been to Microcenter and picked up a motherboard, they've never taken it out of the box at checkout.
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Same here. Either that employee or the manager of that location was fucktarded. Where was this?
 
He probably just wanted you to refuse to take it so he could buy it at an open box discount.
 
can say I bought many MoBo and CPU from Microcenter and NEVER had that happen.

was your account flagged for Shen's?

Maybe he just took a huge shit, got some on his hands, did not wash his hands, and wanted his shit to be all over your data. that's really the ONLY logical reason why he would be doing this IMO.
 
What a fucktard for real. All the times I bought from there I've never had that happen to me. The cashier, however, made sure the cpu box was sealed, but dayum.
 
I built my latest gaming box at Microcenter in Sharonville, Ohio and I had a fantastic experience. I took my shopping list from PC Parts Picker and they price matched everything. In some cases, their bundles made it cheaper than I could have purchased offline. From that experience, it sounds like you got the village idiot running the register.
 
This was at the Madison Heights MI location. Yes, and I believe this particular employee probably was just a dumbass. :p
 
I've purchased and/or sourced all of my CPU/Motherboard combos from Microcenter in Tustin, CA for the past 4-5 years at least. I've never seen them do that to anything I purchased, NIB or otherwise. Your reaction isn't far from my own.
 
Usually I buy all my motherboard and CPU combos there as well, but this was the first bad experience I've had. If that's some new policy, no thanks. I'd rather purchase an unopened motherboard.
 
w1retap said:
Short rant -- I just went to Microcenter to pick up a motherboard and CPU combo for a Z270 ITX build I'm doing. I had a gift card to burn, so I figured I'd go spend it. I picked out an i7 7700K + Asus ROG STRIX Z270I.. along with some RAM and a M.2 NVMe drive. I get up to the register and I'm ready to pay, and the cashier just takes the motherboard out of the box, takes it out of the anti-static bag, takes off the pin protector, then runs his fingers over the LGA pins. I said "uhhh, what are you doing?" And he says it is their policy to check for bent pins on the motherboard. Then I say "Without an anti-static wrist strap, setting the motherboard down on a plastic shopping bag, wearing a polyester shirt, while rubbing your fingers on the pins?".. so I proceeded to tell him I'm leaving while he stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face. So I went home and just purchased everything on Amazon and Newegg, since it probably has a lower chance at being ESD molested before I receive it.

Has anyone else experienced this retarded policy at Microcenter?
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We have a local store here that does this as well. Its called Canada Computers. They removed a board and just held it, looked at the pins and then put it back in the bag. I did not buy the board, obviously.
 
Comp USA used to open the box on laptops at checkout and only return, exchange, refund unopened boxes.

Does sound like maybe someone needs some education on ESD.
 
Yeah I will stop shopping at Microcenter if this ever happens to me. In fact I'm just going to start shopping at Newegg again to save on tax.

The last system I built cost me like $2300+ dollars and a chunk of that was tax.

I'm going to return my 1080 ti and get my $70+ dollars in tax back. I hate shit like this. HATE IT.
 
SixFootDuo said:
Yeah I will stop shopping at Microcenter if this ever happens to me. In fact I'm just going to start shopping at Newegg again to save on tax.

The last system I built cost me like $2300+ dollars and a chunk of that was tax.

I'm going to return my 1080 ti and get my $70+ dollars in tax back. I hate shit like this. HATE IT.
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Dude...it's sales tax. Relax or move to a state that doesn't charge it.
 
wow....im waiting to purchase the combo deal as well but if they pulled that shit on me, im out. lol
 
Frys did this to me (Downer's Grove, IL), last summer with an X99 motherboard. They just opened it and checked the pins visually, no touching. I still felt violated and dirty.

I'm by Chicago so there are two Micro Center stores and I've never had those guys do that with a motherboard. I even bought some a few months ago and they never opened them. Hopefully this isn't a new policy, but just one d-bag. Of course if Frys is doing it then maybe Micro Center might follow suit.

On a separate but related note, Micro Center open box boards sometimes have bent pins. I've wanted to buy open box boards multiple times from them but when I checked the pins they had damage. Always check the open box before you buy it. Maybe it's best to check in front of someone though so they don't try to blame it on you or something, but always check.
 
w1retap said:
This was at the Madison Heights MI location. Yes, and I believe this particular employee probably was just a dumbass. :p
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Yeah, had to be. I have never had them open any box on me at that store. I have bought a lot of gear from them over the years for my family builds. I too would have lost my shit. But I would have done it on a manager and made them give me an unmolested board. I am half tempted to drive up there tomorrow and ask "who is the fucktard that opened the mobo box and groped the shit out of it?!" :mad: but also :ROFLMAO:
 
If people didn't break stuff then take it back claiming they didn't do it, this stuff wouldn't happen. They likely have to eat the cost of every product someone brings back and that stuff is expensive. How many motherboards do you have to sell to make up the cost of eating 1?

So while I understand that the way he handled this was wrong, I understand why they have some type of process in place for this. They just need to make it better.
 
That is rough. I have dealt with the Sharonville MC a couple of times and their service was top shelf, bummer this happened to you.
 
Wow. I think I would have started looking around for a camera crew, ya know, a nerdy version of pranked.

I've never heard of something so stupid. If I want bent pins I'll bend them myself, dammit!
 
Elf_Boy said:
Comp USA used to open the box on laptops at checkout and only return, exchange, refund unopened boxes.
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I find myself in the unenviable position of defending the soul-sucking nightmare that was CompUSA... I worked there for 5 years, and never saw what you're describing at the location I worked at.

In fact, when someone would bring back something "un-opened" it wound up being policy to open the "un-opened" item at return time at the counter because people would do insane shit like sculpt a replica iPad from clay with (I shit you not) a furnace-fired glossy "screen" and everything and then carefully re-bag and shrink-wrap the package and everything. We're talking hours of work to try and scam the store out of shit like pocket PCs.

So yea, if the location you went to was doing that shit, fuck them, but, I never saw that sort of shit where I was. I saw far more attempts to screw the store over than vice versa. The management at my location wasn't great but they often went to ridiculous lengths to keep people happy.
 
I would have called for a manager and ask about this policy. I don't think they should lose reputation for something a stupid employee did. I have bought maybe 5 motherboards from MC in Philly and this never happened.
 
I buy stuff from my local MC on a regular basis and never saw this happen there. Hopefully, I'll never have to see those shenanigans happen ...
 
That's a new level of incompetence...but this is still retail we're talking about.
MC despite it's better selection (over say a BB) is still a retail store at its core. Can't really expect much (if anything) from its employees.

Altogether more dangerous when you have an employee who *thinks* he knows what he's doing, lmaao.
 
Mav451 said:
That's a new level of incompetence...but this is still retail we're talking about.
MC despite it's better selection (over say a BB) is still a retail store at its core. Can't really expect much (if anything) from its employees.

Altogether more dangerous when you have an employee who *thinks* he knows what he's doing, lmaao.
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To be fair, I've talked to a number of MC employees and most of them are computer enthusiasts (at least in the location near where I live). I had a good discussion about headphones with the cashier, of all people (and actually ended up recommending him a headphone, writing down the name and websites for info and all).
 
If they did that to me, I would keep going back and getting a new un-opened one until they had no unopened stock left.

This is a bullshit policy. They already have procedures and policies regarding bent pins or broken merchandise.
 
I can see it already. Poor guy/gal buying that mobo will go home and realize it's DOA, returns to microcenter and gets denied for having bent pins
 
I could see this being a thing if you're getting an open box item, cuz god only knows what's going on with those.

But new? Fuck no!
 
So, you passed on providing a teachable moment for this fellow? Did you speak to management about it?

Would have immediately asked for a manager to come discuss this practice. They've never done anything crazy like this at our Columbus Microcenter.
 
This made me laugh to myself real good sitting here in training for some reason.

Never had an issue at the Fairfax, VA Microcenter.

I could maybe understand them giving it a one over if their store has been having lots of issues with fraudulent returns lately; but the way you described it in vivid detail seemed a bit over the top. They should definitely talk to that employee about it.
 
I just purchased the same things... asus 270i, i7 7700k, M.2 SSD, etc.... they can ALL be had for cheaper online than microcenter's price + tax; no grimmy fingers running all over it either (that we know of, anyhow, LOL).
 
Only had that happen with open box boards.

THey'd ask, "hey did you check the pins? Want to double check that the person who returned it didn't bend them?"

And they wouldn't touch things wrong....
 
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