Microsoft Store

On Dec 2, I found an item on the MS Store website (I was working at a remote O/​G production site), I sent an email to my son with a link to the item and asked him to go to the Microsoft Store in WEM to purchase the item. When they (both my sons attended) arrived at the store to buy the item they were informed that the item was indeed in stock but not for the advertised price, the price offered at the store was $ 150 more than what it was advertised for on the website, the excuse given for the difference in the price was because the web price was in USDs. My sons left without completing their mission, and failed to complete their quest.
We have since found out the MS Store website is indeed priced in CAD.
That being said the clerk at the WEM Microsoft Store was either not competent and was not able to refer to the website to get the advertised price (and sell us the item at the advertised price), or he was just plain lying.
The boys were confused by this turn of events and the very authoritative and confident rebuttal from the clerk when they pressed him on the issue of the pricing, finally they just left the store.
On Dec 4, after returning to St. Albert, I decided to simply go to the store and purchase the item myself. I checked the MS Store website (using the same link that I had emailed to my son) and found the sales price had been taken down and the regular price was now posted which is $ 450 more than the sale price.
I entered into a chat session with MS Store customer service and finally after contacting three different agents was able to plead my case — in the end they asked what I wanted… I told them that I wanted the item at the originally advertised web price (even if I had to get it online). In the end, after a wasting a couple of hours (that I’ll never get back), the agent said he agreed that this was total BS, and he wished he could help but said that it was above his authority and gave me the number to MS Customer Support.
THe MS Chat Agent’s closing remark was: «I completely understand that inconvenience as I would be fuming personally. Their incompetence did cheat you from an outstanding deal. Unfortunately there is nothing in my abilities personally to allow you to purchase at this price due to the deal being over. However there is a chance that our customer support team may be able to assist and resolve this issue here today. I appreciate your patience, and again my apologies for not being able to directly assure you this at this price. Let me get you their number.».
I then called customer support at the number provided, let’s just say that I wasted another hour (that I’ll never get back), and received the same level of satisfaction, although the Customer Support rep did offer to help me find another similar item in their store (I not so graciously declined, but did tell him he could email me if he found anything — He didn’t ask for, nor did I offer my email address (if I do get an email I’ll be interested to know how they managed to get the address — Microsoft’s NSA connection? LOL).
I am going to go to the WEM MS Store and question the clerk (Chris, i think), and then his manager on their business practices. I don’t really expect satisfaction, but I’m somewhat motivated to embarrass them in their own house, so to speak (I hope there are a lot of people in the store…).
On Dec 4 I went to the WEM MS Store and bought the item at the previously offered sale price. Aaron the sales clerk I dealt with was more than helpful, and didn’t understand what the commotion was about as they have loads of the items in stock — incidentally the MS Store website now lists the item at the regular price and says they are sold out (they are still in stock at the local store and at the sale price). Microsoft needs to get it;s act together with regard to their marketing — this whole debacle could have been avoided by simple communication.

My Windows phone wasn’t taking a charge and I had tried just about everything but replace the battery, so I brought it back to the store where I bought it to see if they could recommend any actions before I attempted to chance dissecting the phone myself. A sales associate set me up with an appointment at the help desk almost immediately (although I should probably mention that it was a Monday night. Dunno how wait times would be at peak hours), A fellow by the name of Sharif asked me a few questions about my phone, hooked it up to a device that jolted it back to life, let it charge to about 10%, told me to reset the phone when I got it home, and sent me on my way, simple as that. My phone seems to be back to normal, so hooray for Sharif and his expertise! As a person who works with both apple and Microsoft products quite frequently, I gotta say a similar appointment with an apple «genius» would have easily run me up $ 60. These guys didn’t ask for a red cent, so I figured giving them a big-​up on Unilocal would be the least I could do. Thanks lads!

I came here on Good Friday after a frustrating experience at another retailer. Joan helped me with my decision and managed to tell me in the most polite manner that I was wrong about product options. I feel bad for doubting her expertise. She was my personal assistant from start to finish which was a nice change. I left happy and confident in my purchase.

I was having issues with my Internet Explorer not connecting to the Internet after a Windows Update. I tried to troubleshoot and fix the problem myself but it didn’t work. I called the store I bought my laptop and they suggested I contact the Microsoft store. That day I was at the mall and went to ask at the store. They booked me an appointment the next day and took my email address to send me a confirmation.
My scheduled had changed so I wanted to move my appointment time earlier in the day. I called the number on the email to request the change. My call was answered at a call centre and the person answering my call had to direct it to another person. I think she was in another call centre as then she needed to put me on hold to connect me to the store. By this time, I was getting a little annoyed as it was close to 15 minutes of waiting. Finally I spoke with someone in the store and made the change. I told them about my experience and they said they are busy in the store and don’t take calls directly.
So, at the appointment time, I went to the store. It didn’t seem busy to me, at I saw at least 3 – 4 associates near the front of the store hanging around (I really think one of them can answer the phone!). I told one person I had an appointment and she told me to wait near the service desk. The person who was to help me wasn’t available yet, so I ended up waiting about 10 – 15 minutes. At least another associate approached me to apologize and asked if I would like a beverage which I asked for a tea.
When the person I had the appointment with became available, she turned on my laptop and I told her the issue. She suggested we upgrade the Windows version and another associate said it could be the Norton Antivirus causing the issue. I decided to have them conduct the upgrade which would take about an hour and I could wait in the mall.
They called 1.5 hours later to let me know the laptop was ready for pick up. I went in the store and they asked who serviced my laptop and I couldn’t remember the name but I gave my name. I was happy that IE was working and connecting now! Once you get the appointment and free service it’s decent. It’s the lead up, that can be a pain. Next time I have an issue that I can’t figure out on my own, I’ll go there with my laptop and get help.

Horrible customer service. Took 30 minutes for 5 people to tell me they couldn’t do a trade in on their $ 100 PS3 trade-​in offer because their system was down. No manual work-​around, and a lot of really lame excuses. Sad for a big tech company. Too bad Microsoft gave their sales people no tools to do their job efficiently and effectively.

They get all the Microsoft tablets first, and have the Windows Phones too, but carrier-​lcoked. They have accessories you might not find in other retail stores. Yui Man Mak is very knowledgeable. A friendly bunch.