My first Microsoft Store experience is pretty disappointing.

[Ravynmagi]

I decided I wanted to buy a Dell Venue 11 Pro. So I checked microsoftstore.com and saw they were out of stock online. However they had no way for me to check if the local retail store had anything in stock. Most major retailers have this feature, it's puzzling Microsoft doesn't.

So I called the Microsoft Store. I get an automated message telling me I can't ask employees if they have products in stock because they are selling products so rapidly. They suggest I drive to the store to check or buy the product online instead. Well it's out of stock online and it's a 45 minute drive. Wow. I press 3 to talk to an associate and violate the first rule and ask if they have a Dell Venue 11 Pro in stock.

First words out of this guys mouth is basically repeating verbatim what the automated message said, he can't check inventory because products are selling so fast. He also tells me because of the 12 days of Christmas it's best I come in on Monday.

At this point I'm wondering if he thinks I want the Venue 8 Pro. So I explain to him I'm after the bigger 11 inch tablet. He apparently didn't even know there was more than one Venue Pro. After repeating the product name multiple times he finally agrees to violate the rules and go check. Go you rebel.

After a while he comes back and tells me they do have a Venue 11 Pro in stock. Of course I can't purchase it over the phone. So I get in my car and make the 45 minute drive over.

This is the Scottsdale Arizona store in a mall. So it's over and hour before I find a parking spot and find this store in the big mall.

I walk in and wander around. Nobody offers to help me find anything. I eventually find the Venue 11 Pro and play with it a few minutes. Unfortunately they don't have the keyboard dock on display. So I try to find an employee. I have to interrupt some employees chatting with themselves to get help. He says they don't have the keyboard in stock yet and goes to check on the tablet. Comes back and informs me they don't have the tablet either.

Well it's certainly plausible they had low inventory and sold the last one between my call and ability to get to the store.

But wow, what a disappointing experience. Microsoft did a great job copying the look of the Apple store, but apparently stopped there.

* I should be able to check store inventory online and be able to purchase the item from the website and pick it up at the store (if it's available).

* Employees should be a little more knowledgeable about their products.

* Employees shouldn't be hiding from customers in the back of the store and should at least fake a smile (these guys were probably burnt out because of the holidays and they showed it).

I'll probably not waste time visiting that store again since it's impossible to know if what I want will actually be there. And the employees are not helpful.

 

[dbk]

You should leave this on their Yelp page.

 

[Canbacon]

Damn, that sucks. I would definitely file a complaint or fill out a feedback form online. More often than not they do look into the issue and will rectify it.

I've always had a good experience with the MS Store Booth at my local mall. They knew their stuff and were genuinely enthusiastic about the products. They have always been willing to give me a discount

 

[gus6464]

I like the we can't check stock because we are selling product so fast. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight........... My local MS Store is a ghost town compared to the Apple Store which is 100ft away in the shopping center.

 

[Joe1987]

I've been to one in LA several times, there's one next to an Apple Store, the MS store is deserted, at the most, I saw 5 people in it once, while the Apple store is packed to the rafters with people.

I would have had a chat with the manager if I were you and emailed corporate along with a yelp review. Matter of fact, you can still do all three.

 

[BladeVenom]

I've been to one in LA several times, there's one next to an Apple Store, the MS store is deserted,

Must be the holidays. Everyone is thinking, "lets go to the MS store, it's never busy."

 

[OBLAMA2009]

I decided I wanted to buy a Dell Venue 11 Pro. So I checked microsoftstore.com and saw they were out of stock online. However they had no way for me to check if the local retail store had anything in stock. Most major retailers have this feature, it's puzzling Microsoft doesn't.

So I called the Microsoft Store. I get an automated message telling me I can't ask employees if they have products in stock because they are selling products so rapidly. They suggest I drive to the store to check or buy the product online instead. Well it's out of stock online and it's a 45 minute drive. Wow. I press 3 to talk to an associate and violate the first rule and ask if they have a Dell Venue 11 Pro in stock.

First words out of this guys mouth is basically repeating verbatim what the automated message said, he can't check inventory because products are selling so fast. He also tells me because of the 12 days of Christmas it's best I come in on Monday.

At this point I'm wondering if he thinks I want the Venue 8 Pro. So I explain to him I'm after the bigger 11 inch tablet. He apparently didn't even know there was more than one Venue Pro. After repeating the product name multiple times he finally agrees to violate the rules and go check. Go you rebel.

After a while he comes back and tells me they do have a Venue 11 Pro in stock. Of course I can't purchase it over the phone. So I get in my car and make the 45 minute drive over.

This is the Scottsdale Arizona store in a mall. So it's over and hour before I find a parking spot and find this store in the big mall.

I walk in and wander around. Nobody offers to help me find anything. I eventually find the Venue 11 Pro and play with it a few minutes. Unfortunately they don't have the keyboard dock on display. So I try to find an employee. I have to interrupt some employees chatting with themselves to get help. He says they don't have the keyboard in stock yet and goes to check on the tablet. Comes back and informs me they don't have the tablet either.

Well it's certainly plausible they had low inventory and sold the last one between my call and ability to get to the store.

But wow, what a disappointing experience. Microsoft did a great job copying the look of the Apple store, but apparently stopped there.

* I should be able to check store inventory online and be able to purchase the item from the website and pick it up at the store (if it's available).

* Employees should be a little more knowledgeable about their products.

* Employees shouldn't be hiding from customers in the back of the store and should at least fake a smile (these guys were probably burnt out because of the holidays and they showed it).

I'll probably not waste time visiting that store again since it's impossible to know if what I want will actually be there. And the employees are not helpful.

you should have just given up and gone to the bike store instead, theyre on sale this time of year, discounted more than a $1200 off regualr price

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Must be the holidays. Everyone is thinking, "lets go to the MS store, it's never busy."

they used to have an ms store at the sony metreon here in sf and it went out of business after only a short time. im surprised theyre giving this another shot

 

[gus6464]

you should have just given up and gone to the bike store instead, theyre on sale this time of year, discounted more than a $1200 off regualr price

Got my new Cannondale at half off 2 weeks ago.

 

[hclarkjr]

these are out of stock everywhere, i am buying one as soon as they get back in stock. i have done like you did. i have called and chatted with dell about it and have done the same with micosoft, from what i can see they will be out somewhere between 15-20th of this month. there is guy selling a used one on amazon for $675 if you are desperate

 

[podspi]

Yea, I've been pretty disappointed with the Microsoft store. The sales associates are very aggressive but don't really know anything about the products they are selling.

I was in a B&M yesterday, and I saw someone looking at the Surface 2. He asked the associate what the screen resolution was, and the guy associate didn't know (!).

That signifies a pretty fundamental lack of training, imho. I've also heard associates say very misleading/incorrect things about the ARM-based Surfaces. That being said, I might be going back in the next 12 days. At the very least, $99 for the Dell Venue Pro 8 is ... insane.

 

[Megatomic]

I've only been the MS store once here in Orlando and it was a pleasant visit. I had received some information from even less reputable sales associates (Best Buy...) and went in to the MS store on a whim. I asked a few question (mostly about RDP, VPN, etc) on the Surface 2 (not pro), and not only did the salesman I talked to debunk what the Best Buy retard said but he took me to a Surface 2 and showed me. I was pleased and will go back there again when I have the need.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Got my new Cannondale at half off 2 weeks ago.

totally awesome, which one did you get, i got supersix evo a month and a half ago, i didnt realize if i had waited til dec i would have saved even more

 

[SKORPI0]

Nice.

 

[pcsavvy]

Unfortunately there is no close MS store. There is a MS kiosk 30 minutes away and a MS store 1 hour away. The MS store is in a mall that you have to pay for parking.

Edit: I should have said 30+ minutes and 1 hour+ since you would have to deal with the 5 and the 405. Ugh! I had called the MS Kiosk about an accessory and the guy told me, they had it in stock and I could check it out. Went there, very busy but once I got there "oh no we are just a kiosk, we don't carry that but the MS store at the mall should. went to the mall, oh no we don't carry that item, it is only online. This after being ignored by the staff for about 10 minutes. I guess I didn't look like a paying customer. They finally helped me allowing me to look at a backpack that was not on sale and would have cost about $90 bucks. I didn't get anything so I ended up paying a $1 for parking since I was only there for about 40 minutes. By the time I got home it was almost 11 pm. I don't think it was worth the gas nor the time spent driving nor the parking fee. And dealing with Thanksgiving weekend crowds.....

 

[hclarkjr]

I decided I wanted to buy a Dell Venue 11 Pro. So I checked microsoftstore.com and saw they were out of stock online. However they had no way for me to check if the local retail store had anything in stock. Most major retailers have this feature, it's puzzling Microsoft doesn't.

So I called the Microsoft Store. I get an automated message telling me I can't ask employees if they have products in stock because they are selling products so rapidly. They suggest I drive to the store to check or buy the product online instead. Well it's out of stock online and it's a 45 minute drive. Wow. I press 3 to talk to an associate and violate the first rule and ask if they have a Dell Venue 11 Pro in stock.

First words out of this guys mouth is basically repeating verbatim what the automated message said, he can't check inventory because products are selling so fast. He also tells me because of the 12 days of Christmas it's best I come in on Monday.

At this point I'm wondering if he thinks I want the Venue 8 Pro. So I explain to him I'm after the bigger 11 inch tablet. He apparently didn't even know there was more than one Venue Pro. After repeating the product name multiple times he finally agrees to violate the rules and go check. Go you rebel.

After a while he comes back and tells me they do have a Venue 11 Pro in stock. Of course I can't purchase it over the phone. So I get in my car and make the 45 minute drive over.

This is the Scottsdale Arizona store in a mall. So it's over and hour before I find a parking spot and find this store in the big mall.

I walk in and wander around. Nobody offers to help me find anything. I eventually find the Venue 11 Pro and play with it a few minutes. Unfortunately they don't have the keyboard dock on display. So I try to find an employee. I have to interrupt some employees chatting with themselves to get help. He says they don't have the keyboard in stock yet and goes to check on the tablet. Comes back and informs me they don't have the tablet either.

Well it's certainly plausible they had low inventory and sold the last one between my call and ability to get to the store.

But wow, what a disappointing experience. Microsoft did a great job copying the look of the Apple store, but apparently stopped there.

* I should be able to check store inventory online and be able to purchase the item from the website and pick it up at the store (if it's available).

* Employees should be a little more knowledgeable about their products.

* Employees shouldn't be hiding from customers in the back of the store and should at least fake a smile (these guys were probably burnt out because of the holidays and they showed it).

I'll probably not waste time visiting that store again since it's impossible to know if what I want will actually be there. And the employees are not helpful.

for further questions for dell i found this - http://en.community.dell.com/dell-b...-11-pro-tablet-now-available-on-dell-com.aspx

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

I think the source of the problem is they literally have no way for you to talk to an associate IN a store. It's all in a central call-center which I think is part of the reason why they won't check stock for you. The online store is just as disappointing. After a week of trying to order a Nokia Lumia 1520 on the store online, I gave up. They kept declining my order citing cryptic error codes. Every time I talk to someone in chat or on the phone, they claimed my bank was declining the order. I ended up calling my bank and the store a half dozen times before I gave up. My bank never received any authorization or attempted charge.

I ended up driving two hours to go to the store in Portland, hoping they had them in stock. Luckily, they did.

Now that I'm having a problem with mine (possible defect), I spent an hour calling various support phone numbers and getting the runaround from everyone on getting an exchange. Luckily, I noticed the receipt from the store had THEIR REAL DAMN PHONE NUMBER and I was able to talk to a guy IN THE STORE. (This is really quite amazing after you've spent hours talking to people in India).

Spent 5 minutes talking to the guy in the store and I can come exchange my phone whenever I can make it back up to Portland (He didn't even care about their exchange policy window), so I took down his name and we'll see how it plays out when I get back up there.

tl:dr - The Microsoft Store goes out of their way to keep you from ever talking to someone in a store, where they are the ones in a position to help you the most.

 

[Zaap]

My summary of the MS store (I went to the one in San Diego) is:

"Half a shelf at Best Buy streeeeeeeetched into a whole store."

 

[Dari]

Microsoft set up shop in Times Square last year. I went to it. Then it promptly disappeared. Idiots.

 

[pcsavvy]

I find if you go to any electronics store, you have to do your research first and go knowing exactly what you are looking for. Else the quality of training for electronic store personnel is spotty at best or nonexistent. Either the sales guy/gal has done their own research or has their own experience and knows their stuff or they know nothing either try to blow smoke up your @@@ or repeat talking points verbatim.
It can get frustrating when after all your research, go to the store to try something out and ask a few intelligent questions and you get smoke blown up your @@@. :whiste:
There are exceptions but they are rare.

 

[s44]

I have to resist butting in if I'm somehow at a Best Buy and hear a salesdrone giving bad advice.

 

[Megatomic]

My summary of the MS store (I went to the one in San Diego) is:

"Half a shelf at Best Buy streeeeeeeetched into a whole store."

The store I visited was set up VERY much like an Apple store. There were tons of tablets/surfaces, Windows phones, and accessories. Also, they had X Box 360 and One displays. Right out front of the store they have a giant interactive display where you can play against MS Store employees on the X Box One. Pretty cool, there was a lot of people at the store.

 

[Graze]

Microsoft set up shop in Times Square last year. I went to it. Then it promptly disappeared. Idiots.

Ahaahah. It's gone already? I dont venture into Time Square much but I do remember seeing a coming soon sign a while back.

 

[zerogear]

The Time Square pop-up one was only supposed to be there for a couple of weeks, it got extended to a few months due to popularity, but ultimately it closed.

As for the Dell Venue Pro 11 part -- I think you can call the store, and they will hold one for you for up to 24 hours -- This how I did it for the Surface Pro 2 -- as for the people in my store, they are genuinely friendly and pretty helpful. When I had an issue, went out of their way to help, when it couldn't be fixed, they did a straight swap for me.

 

[lopri]

I may stop by at a MS store in a mall after lunch. I did not know they opened up a store here but search showed up one right next to an Apple store in the same mall. My first visit to a retail MS store! Can't wait!