Did I get a broken pc? Reaching out for a solution after no help from In-Store.

MaggieZ

Hello. For context, I purchased a POWERSPEC G470 in September. In December I had to bring it, because of two very loud noises. I deduced it was coming from the CPU and the Radiator at the top of the PC. They were distinctly two different noises. One was a rattle while the other sounded like a fan grazing against something. Technician claimed it was all from the radiator. I told him it wasn't, yet he assured me. Brought the PC back home, sure enough the rattle noise was gone but the noise from the bottom of the pc that sounds like a fan malfunctioning was still there. I was busy with work so couldn't bring it back until a couple months later despite it annoying me greatly. I bring it back, then get told it'll be 3 weeks until a repair. 3 weeks. I tell them I simply cannot leave my PC for 3 weeks as I use it for work and this was the third time I had driven over 3 hours to come to the store for a repair (first time they quoted me 5 days and I simply couldn't and had to come back another time). I get a manager, he assures me since it was in the manufactory warranty still it would be done in 2 days max or they'd outright replace the pc. I get in touch with a technician who will be doing my repairs, she claims she stress tested and no noise was to be had. I send them 5 different videos of the pc making the noise, to prove it (it was so loud). I explained how it always happened when I have OBS open, graphic intense game, or have been on it for several hours. The technician was wonderful this time and replaced what I told her the problem was, super sweet girl and she made my annoying experience a better one. The PC runs great for about 2 more months. Then another noise occurs, this time a different spot on the PC and still a rattle noise or a fan failure sound. I then have gotten blue screened multiple times, with this error popping up. (I will attach). It is telling me something is wrong with the CPU fan now.

At this point, I'm so frustrated. I spent $3.5k on this PC, for three different parts in about half a year to break and completely fail. At this point I'm expecting the GPU to give out a day after the warranty ends.

I reach out to a manager, who frankly just made me more frustrated. He told me how sorry he is for how frustrated I must be with such a huge investment needing so many repairs so quickly. The help he offered for me was to spend $300 on an additional warranty. His solution was for me to spend another $300. On a PC that has needed 3 separate repairs on it, in half a year.

At this point, I'm so frustrated, annoyed, and truly just saddened. I've spent over 6k at Microcenter the past year or so, to be treated like this feels awful. Am I just having a horrible experience? I've heard great things about Microcenter and that's why I felt so comfortable buying all my streaming equipment, this PC, and a hefty laptop there. It brings me back to the day I bought the PC, I was so excited. Then while I was checking out, the cashier tells me "you better extend the warranty on this... people bring these back ALL the time with MANY problems". I shook it off at the time, thinking he was trying to upsell me. Now I realize he was trying to warn me. How bad is your management/quality control if your own employees have no faith in customers buying a $3.5k PC from you?

At this point I feel so defeated. Okay, I realize I will have to bring in this PC yet again on a 3 hour drive for the 4th time in half a year to get repairs on another part. Is there really nothing else the manager can do other than to offer me to pay $300 for a clearly busted PC they sold me? Is this common for PowerSpecs to have this many problems? Why is the management not considering this a dud prebuilt? I understand things happen, truly I do, but three different replacement parts in half a year is insane to me considering the cost for higher quality parts in the machine. Reaching out here for some guidance, as I feel really defeated at the whole situation.

Thank you in advance for any help or assistance.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@MaggieZ

We apologize for the issues you're experiencing with your new system. We're looking into this and we'll be in touch once we hear back from your stores local management team.

MaggieZ

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/50613#Comment_50613

Is this normal for a PowerSpec? I already reached out to management over this and did not get a helpful response.

PowerSpec_MichaelB

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/50620#Comment_50620

After reading over your posts, I would say this is a very uncommon situation for a few different reasons. The volume of issues that your system has experienced in such a short amount of time is worrisome, especially given that the G470 is one of our more highly reviewed systems. Modern hardware failure is rare in general, but having multiple failures occur on the same model is nearly unheard of. Secondly, after reviewing the return rate of this model, it is no higher than typical returns on any desktop product. Most of our returns typically come from game code promotions or "price protections" where the price drops after purchase, so the product is "returned" and the price is adjusted and reflected on a new transaction. I can't say for certain if the cashier was mistaken on the particular model or if they may have been referencing a different model with a similar name, but the G470 did quite well during the time that it was manufactured. I also took time to go over the product reviews and customer support tickets for this model to make sure there were no trending or widespread issues just to be safe. While we are lucky to confirm that this is an isolated incident, it's still unfortunate nonetheless that it occurred, and even more frustrating that it is still having issues after multiple attempted repairs.

I can't really speak for the management team, but I can assure you that they do try to resolve situations like these to everyone's satisfaction. There may be some situations where we do not get it right the first time, but we always make it right in the end. As for your specific situation, our engineering team has already reached out to the local management team and we will be following up on this situation to make sure everyone is taken care of in the end.

I know that after dealing with this many issues on your G470 that our brand might not be inspiring confidence at the moment but I can assure you that we do stand behind our products and will do whatever it takes to ensure they operate as designed. Our entire engineering team is active on this forum and we do not hesitate to offer our support whenever we can for any customer that needs it. If you need anything while waiting to hear back from the management team, let us know.

PowerSpec_MichaelB

@MaggieZ I wanted to follow up to see if everything is going well after the store reached out. Let us know if you need anything.