The most expensive $5 TigerDirect will ever make.

Why I will never buy from TigerDirect ever again.. read on to find out why.

It amazes me that in today’s highly competitive computer retail environment that some companies still don’t don’t grasp the concept of the customer experience.  Today I went to my local TigerDirect store (Heartland Centre, Mississauga) to purchase some ram for a Toshiba Satellite laptop.   The purchase was simple I needed a single 1024 MB DDR PC 2700 sodimm ram chip, what transpired next was anything but simple.

Eleven o’clock in the morning I walk into TigerDirect and went straight for the parts counter. I waited patiently for almost 15 minutes while there sales person dealt with another customer. My turn with salesman comes and I asked for the 1 gig ram chip, off he goes to look for the ram chip, I wait. Then I waited some more, Did I mention I waited? After fifteen minutes of eyeballing the “Wall of Ram” he says they are sold out, and passes me off to another salesman (for some reason). This time asked the salesman for the same ram but this time in the 512 MB capacity as that would have to do. He looks for my request on the “Wall of Ram” and comes back with a re-packaged Kingston branded chip. The deal was the ram was a return aka “open box” but fully tested to work, and for that it was discounted by ten dollars. I asked if they would exchange the ram should I get it home and its defective, he said of course. I agreed to the purchase and saved ten dollars of the ram.

Ram in hand I arrive back at my office it is now noon.  I installed the new ram right away and boot up the computer, nothing happened.  Well something did happen the laptop hung on boot up.  I tested the ram in both ram slots in the laptop , still hung.  Slightly frustrated I return back to TigerDirect with the defective and ram and the Toshiba to get an exchange.  When I arrive their customer service desk sends me over to their technician.  I explained to him the problem and he goes off to his work bench behind the counter to test the chip on a some generic Gateway laptop.  I waited over 40 minutes as he tested the chip in several  other computers as well.  Finally the guy comes back to tell me that the ram works and my laptop was the problem.   I asked him to prove it and show me on his computer that the ram I bought worked and he refused.  Instead he basically told me tuff luck and that the TigerDirect policy is they don’t take back ram.  I made it clear this was unacceptable and that I was reassured when I bought the “open box” ram that I could return it if it didn’t work.  The technician then goes off to see the store manager.

Upon the return of the technician he tells me that the manager said they can do an exchange on the ram but there would be a restocking fee.   “A restocking fee?” I questioned, I couldn’t believe what i just heard.  I pointed out the item was already opened and that the purpose of the restocking fee is to cover reselling the item discounted as an “open box”.  Again I insisted this was unacceptable and that I wanted a direct exchange.  The technician said thats all he could do for me,  and that I would have to talk to the manager.  I said no problem let me talk to him.   I waited almost 35 minutes for the manager to come.  When he comes he repeated that TigerDirect does not take ram back and that basically their policy was in stone.  I said “Oh really?  If you guys don’t take ram back then why was I sold ram that was returned and repackaged?”  Clearly he was lying to me.  After arguing with the manager and drawing a lot of negative attention to my situation he finally agreed to the exchange but on the condition that TigerDirect install the ram and pay the five dollar installation fee.   I was shocked that after all I just went through they have the nerve to try and milk me for five dollars to remove three screws from the bottom of my laptop and slip in a ram module.  However I was so tired of arguing with them I agreed to the deal.  

I really hope TigerDirect enjoys that extra five dollars because it will be the most expensive five dollars they will ever make. Having spent over $15,000 in computer equipment with them over the past four years (since they acquired Miscoe Canada) they will never see another penny from me or my company and for that matter I am no longer referring any of my clients to them either.

A smart manager would have recognized my problem as an opportunity to strengthen their relationship with the customer, and gave me the benefit of the doubt considering they sold me “open box” ram and promptly exchanged the ram with no hassle. Following that a smart manager would have offered to have the ram installation fee waived so that I would have left happy and confident knowing that my next purchase from TigerDirect will be protected from defects and that TigerDirect stands behind all the products they sell. Instead they forever lost at least one lucrative customer. And remember to TigerDirect try not to spend my five dollars all at once.

- Ryan Favro