Is your website count accurate or does your Madison Heights customer service just suck?

CSG

I'm very upset after my last experience at Microcenter and it's finally enough to get me stop going there. On the phone, attempting to verify stock of the RTX 3090 which the website claimed had 2 different cards in stock, the recorded message states website count is accurate. So when I decide to hang up and drive 25 minutes based on that promise, only to be told by an employee that there are no cards in stock and they haven't been in stock in a "hot minute", it makes me question whether your claims are lies or whether your employees are too overworked to care about customer service anymore? Had the fellow not walked away, I would have shown him the website. I wandered the PC build area looking for help, because I was prepared to spend money anyway. No one offered, looked my way, asked me to wait a moment, nothing. 
That is bad enough, but to go home and continue to watch the website state you have cards in stock, then see one of the two disappear from the website as if it had been sold was quite disheartening. Then I texted the store, and again am told the cards are not in stock. I received no answer to my question of the website claim of accuracy. Then shortly after, the second card disappeared. 
So what is the answer here, Microcenter? Is your website not 100% accurate all the time despite your claims otherwise? Did poor customer service force me to lose out on building a new PC? I want to know if that store sold any RTX 3090s today and if not, why the website claims they were in stock, even briefly. 
Thank you. 

JS_MC

Hello @CSG. I'm sorry to hear about your experience with us. We take pride in the level of customer service we offer and I'm sorry to hear that we fell short here. I will share your feedback with our store management so that we can take steps to provide a far greater experience in the future.

I can speak to your questions about our websites accuracy as well. Currently, the 3090 is a very high demand item. With the high demand and limited stock, we have been issuing vouchers to customers who are waiting in line for our store to open so that they can get a new RTX 3090. This voucher allows the customer who received it time to shop. If the voucher is not claimed that same day, it will expire and another customer will have the opportunity to purchase it. Think of it as being in another customer's cart and while it hasn't sold just yet, we can't take it from their cart. I apologize that this wasn't properly explained at the time!

Again, I'll be sharing this with our store management to further address this concern.

Due to the RTX 3090's limited availability and our use of the vouchers, we have been listing them as "Limited Availability" as seen below.

I'll check with our web team to see why this wasn't the case for our Madison Heights location. Thank you for sharing your feedback and information about your experience with us! Please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly if you have any additional concerns or questions.

MattWill

I had a similar experience with the Columbus store. I check the website daily for the MSI 3080 gaming x trio. Today it went from sold out to limited availability while the store was closed for a deep cleaning. While they were closed to customers I called in to ask if the change meant they had a few cards in stock, but I was told they were sold out. I would have just gone and waited for the store to open, but I live an hour and a half away and I didn't want to make the trip and wait outside the store for no reason. Shortly after reopening though the tag got changed back to sold out making me believe that I was given bad information, even if they were only in stock for a very short time. 

JS_MC

@CSG @MattWill Could you please provide the specific SKU for the products that you saw in stock?

Thanks in advance!

MattWill

The SKU for the items I saw are 172981, 172973, 173013, and 177089. I was specifically looking for 172981.

CSG

@LandShark
First of all thank you for that explanation. It makes sense. Had someone explained that at the time, I would have at least purchased a processor. Unfortunately, either the attitude of the particular staff or the simple nature of understaffed retail betting overworked caused a loss there as I could find no one else to explain why there are no video cards, or get help for other purchases. Side note, internet pickup is always amazing customer service as was curbside pickup when that was still offered. 
The skus I saw on the day I made the original post are 177923 and 173146. 

JS_MC

Thank you for the additional feedback @CSG. I'm glad I could help clarify things for you as well. I'll be passing along your feedback to our store leadership to better serve you and other customers in the future! I'm glad to hear your experience with our in-store pickup has been great! Hopefully, we will start to get more of these items in stock and have them available for reservation!

Boneious

@LandShark
I just had an issue like this today, I went to pick up an RTX 3090 that was shown as available, and when I went to the location (North Jersey) I was told by the staff there they had none in stock. I asked them to please look it up and all three refused to do so saying they did not need to because they knew they had none. Being only a customer I had no choice but to walk away empty-handed. There was no respect given from the 3 employees of the North Jersey staff to at least look in their systems when asked politely.

TSKevinG

Good afternoon @Boneious

Again i do apologize for the issues you had in the store trying to get a graphics card.  I would like to get this over to a manager so they way they can speak with you directly on this and let you know what options we have.  Again we strive to have the best customer service we can and appreciate the feedback you have given for this.  You should be receiving an email from me as well on this to get you conatct information.  

Boneious

@TSKevinG
Thank you for the response, I still have respect for the store I just wish Those specific employees would have taken the time to just verify on both their systems and the website to ensure the customer the product was in fact not in stock. I would have been grateful for a simple "it was listed on the website by accident sorry about the confusion." or something along those lines. I do not hold the actions of those 3 against the store itself.