WARNING: Micro Center Motherboard Scam

[chubbyfatazn]

Wow, I see a few more people had problems with "Bent pins", and MC not accepting the return of their boards.

Someone in the CPU forum basically accused me of being nuts for having the fear that MC would do that to me.

I'm glad I got an AMD rig, no worries about "bent pins" in the socket.

I think, as a couple others have pointed out, that it's more of a location-specific MC.

Nothing but great things to say about the Dallas location. Best of all, no one bothers you when you're walking around looking at everything.

 

[Meghan54]

I think, as a couple others have pointed out, that it's more of a location-specific MC.

Nothing but great things to say about the Dallas location. Best of all, no one bothers you when you're walking around looking at everything.

Think that's very true. I returned a Biostar H61 motherboard to the Cambridge, MA MC (Boston essentially) because one of the USB ports didn't work. Exchanged it for a similar Gigabyte H61 board. Interesting thing was the old board was not checked at all...not for bent pins, not for matching ser. no's., nothing. The clerk just opened the box to ensure some mb was inside, then did the exchange. Took all of one minute total.

 

[Diogenes2]

Wow, I see a few more people had problems with "Bent pins", and MC not accepting the return of their boards.

Someone in the CPU forum basically accused me of being nuts for having the fear that MC would do that to me.

I'm glad I got an AMD rig, no worries about "bent pins" in the socket.

A few more ?

We have 2 now...

 

[hyrule4927]

I'm glad I got an AMD rig, no worries about "bent pins" in the socket.

I guess that's one way of looking at it, ignoring the obvious downsides and whatnot. 😵

 

[2timer]

To OP: you've been building computers for how long, and yet you say you didn't know that ASUS and other motherboard manufacturers want the load plate on before accepting returns? Kind of makes me think, hmmm.... :/

 

[jcniest5]

Buy a replacement plan and your worries will be put to rest.

 

[Daemas]

Buy a replacement plan and your worries will be put to rest.

replacement plans DO NOT cover physical damage

 

[SniperWulf]

Interesting, I returned a Sabertooth Z77 with bent pins and the CPU it killed to one of my local Microcenters just today. I exchanged it for the exact same thing, but the whole thing was effortless. Actually, I've never had any issues with returning, exchanging or price matching anything at either of the Microcenters here in Atlanta.

 

[jcniest5]

replacement plans DO NOT cover physical damage

It does here. Different stores tend to carryout the plan differently, but yes, at my location, I was told "Don't worry about it. We will exchange it for you give you full price toward anything, regardless if it's damaged or just defected. Even if it's not dead or damaged, we will never test it anyway. Even if you just want to upgrade to something faster, just say 'It's dead.' We'll take care of you."

 

[Daemas]

It does here. Different stores tend to carryout the plan differently, but yes, at my location, I was told "Don't worry about it. We will exchange it for you give you full price toward anything, regardless if it's damaged or just defected. Even if it's not dead or damaged, we will never test it anyway. Even if you just want to upgrade to something faster, just say 'It's dead.' We'll take care of you."

we don't check products in columbus for defectiveness, but physical damage is no go on products without ADH

 

[nitrousninja]

I bought a mislabeled HDD from te Westmont MC. The outter label said 1TB bt the actual HDD was a 100G. I didnt notice unti I had it installed. Lesson learned. Always double check that stuff especially open items.

I've purchased MANY items from there without issue to be fare.

 

[Rvenger]

I bought a mislabeled HDD from te Westmont MC. The outter label said 1TB bt the actual HDD was a 100G. I didnt notice unti I had it installed. Lesson learned. Always double check that stuff especially open items.

I've purchased MANY items from there without issue to be fare.

Sounds like it was defective or formatted improperly.

 

[winstonweber]

Agreed, I should not have complained about MicroCenter as company as others have not had similar experiences at other stores. But what am I suppose to do, fly to another city. Also, I returned the MB the day after I purchased it because I noticed the damaged pins as soon as I opened the CPU cover. Guess I should not have been honest, maybe I could have gotten away with returning a damaged product. Also it was not just one individual, I spoke to several people in returns including the manager. I apologize for posting on an old thread.

 

[Destiny]

I've seen some crazy customer service stuff in person at MC... (like selling an AMD Hex Core for the price of an AMD Quad core because they sold the last AMD Quad they were supposed to hold for a customer)...

and mistakes and errors in judgement happens all the time in retail... heck last month my friend and I went to MC to get i5s + mobo combos... I picked up an i5-2550k for $135 (FB promo + $15 off e-mail) while my friend got an i5-2500k with an ASRock Extreme 4 gen 3 combo... the cash register person scanned the Mobo but NOT the i5 cpu... we didn't know till we got home and noticed the receipt only showed the mobo was scanned and paid = he got a free i5-2500k ... 😵

 

[CZroe]

Sounds like it was defective or formatted improperly.

No. It sounds like someone fraudulently swapped their 100GB for a 1TB. That crap happens all the time. The good scammers seal it back up so the CSR doesn't check.

 

[CZroe]

NOT defending microcenter or any poster that says micro center was wrong, but I am answering your question not every mobo has tamperproof sealing when new.

I purchased an intel mobo from micro center and it was sealed in a tamper proof package >
{The intel is in my signature below}


I purchased the same gigabyte mobo from superbiiz and from amazon both were new but the packaging was not tamperproof. both work fine.


The gigabyte was this one


http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-LGA11...4978304&sr=8-1

https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-H77MD3H

So if either one of these gigabytes had come with crushed pins I would have a fight on my hands.

I've seen plenty that were strapped closed and yet you could slide the plastic straps off and back on with no sign of tampering. They are supposed to be so tight as to embed in the cardboard and require serious marring to slide off.

What I would recommend for anyone who is returning a mobo is to make sure the mobo is NOT out of your sight for whatever reason. Whatever they want to do, whether to inspect or test it, do it in your presence and make sure you see everything they do to the motherboard. That's the only way to not get yourself in such a situation. I can believe that if they simply don't want to return it, they can just break a pin and point it out it's you that did it, if you do not see that they did it, you can't prove otherwise, so you are basically at their mercy. Afterall, this is a cruel world, you know.

Wear a Looxcie and take pictures of the condition as you return it. Also, wear it when you unbox something.

 

[winstonweber]

Issue Resolved, after filing BBB complaint. Probably partially my fault, I should have asked for the general manager as I've worked with him in the past and he has always been great. Also, he noticed that my family has spent over $26,000 at MC, I'm sure that fact didn't hurt!

 

[bryanW1995]

Interesting, I returned a Sabertooth Z77 with bent pins and the CPU it killed to one of my local Microcenters just today. I exchanged it for the exact same thing, but the whole thing was effortless. Actually, I've never had any issues with returning, exchanging or price matching anything at either of the Microcenters here in Atlanta.

sigh...I was "stuck" in the Atlanta airport for 6 hours the other day... I could have bought a 2600k + mobo combo...