TigerDirect - a.k.a. The Destroyer of Dreams

The long and winding story

Over the past few weeks, we have been dealing with a rather annoying situation. Lyndsie and I were discussing what to do with next year's tax return. Her computer has been having trouble lately, and I suspect failing hardware, so we decided why not get new computers. We spend a lot of time on them and it would be nice if they worked well. Then we thought, why wait, we can float the money until then, no problem!

As I have done for the past ten years, and as I have previously advised everyone else to do, I ordered our new computers from Tiger Direct (TD). Biggest mistake ever! I ordered all the basic components for new computers - a case, power supply, a hard drive, a motherboard, RAM, CPU w/fan, and an Operating System. After doing a lot of research on CPUs, I found what I decided was the best deal - a Combo Pack from TD with the motherboard, 4 gigs of RAM, a solid CPU (i5-3570K) with fan for just $399.99. It's not top-of-the-line or anything, but way better than we're using and a lot of bang for the buck. Two computers, no waiting, under $1500 shipped.

I placed my order and received an e-mail receipt which included this bundle:

ASUS P8Z77-V LX Intel 7 Series Motherboard and Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40 GHz Quad Core Unlocked and Patriot Viper Xtreme 4GB Desktop Memory Module Bundle (M69-7202) $399.99 each X 2 = $799.98 total

As you can see, nothing is amiss, all three bundle items are listed in the description and the price is right.

Our order arrived astonishingly fast, just in time for a weekend build and some quality gaming with my love. I opened the packages and set to work building the first computer. I got the case prepped, the power supply installed, the motherboard mounted and powered, the RAM inserted, and then it hit me - where are the CPUs? I double-check all the boxes... nothing.

Feeling concerned, I double-checked my receipt and everything looked right, so maybe the CPUs were coming in another shipment? So I logged into my account and saw that according to my invoice, everything shipped and arrived. I didn't see the CPUs on the invoice and thought, maybe I forgot to order them? So I started a chat with TD's "customer service". I put that in quotes because they have insufficient skill to even been associated with the term. After a 45 minute chat (about 30 lines worth of back and forth), where I assumed I forgot to pay for the CPUs and offered to pay what appeared to be a discrepancy, the clerk said he'd get the missing CPUs and their fans sent out to me. He had to send the request to some managers who would review it in a few business days. This was contact #1 - Apollo.

Fast-forward 5 business days, I still haven't heard anything. So I call the "customer service" line and ask about the situation. After explaining what I want to know (about 20 minutes), the guy on the phone told me to wait 3-5 more business days and I should hear back. This was contact #2 - Omar.

A few more days pass and I receive an e-mail from the "customer service" supervisors:

Thank you for your recent order. Our records indicate your order was completely shipped approximately 10 days ago. At this point, you should have received every item of your order.

So contact #3 tells me there's nothing wrong and I should be happy.

So I call again and speak to a fourth representative - Rafinee. I immediately asked to speak to her supervisor, but she insisted I let her try to fix the problem first. It was around this time that I looked at the invoice more closely. Remember that everything looked right on my receipt. Well, on the invoice, they charged me $295.49 EACH for the $125 motherboards and $104.50 EACH for the $50 RAM. This is especially disturbing because I ordered extra RAM, with the same item code, on the same invoice, that shows the correct price. In any case, she seemed understanding and was the first person I spoke to who actually spoke fluent English. She also offered me her direct phone number and e-mail address. She spoke to her supervisor about getting my missing CPUs and fans out to me. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday and the guy who can approve it is not in the office until Monday. I figured, hey, they're fixing the problem, I've got her contact information, this could work.

Monday rolled around and I didn't hear from her. So I called her direct phone (contact #5) and left a voicemail. I still hadn't heard from her later that night, so I e-mailed (contact #6). I still hadn't heard from her Tuesday night and e-mailed again (contact #7).

Since I had already been dealing with this for 3 weeks, I was at my wit's end. TD had the audacity to send me 5 different advertisements for the exact CPUs I was missing for $200 each in the last 3 weeks. I discovered my order was supposedly covered by Google Trusted Stores, so I filed a complaint with them, letting them know that all I want is what I ordered and maybe an apology and something free for my inconvenience.

Today I received a phone call while at work (contact #8). The lady offered to sell me the missing CPUs for a huge discount - only $100 a piece! She explained that there was a mistake on the website and the package wasn't supposed to include a CPU, so I'd still have to purchase one. This made me rather curious as the motherboard in the bundle retails for $124.99 and the RAM retails for $49.99. So she was telling me that to buy these two together in a bundle (a retail value of $174.98) cost $399.99 and I still had to buy CPUs.

I yet again explained the discrepancy so she put me on hold to find out how to resolve this.

I waited. And waited some more. After about half an hour on the phone, she comes back and tells me she can see the problem now. Unfortunately, she can't just send me two free CPUs. No, I'll have to package and send back the motherboards and RAM chips to get the wrong charges refunded, at which point I am free to order all 3 items again separately from the bundle (the prices fell since my order so to order all three separate was now only $375 or so) so they are charged right and I can get them back. I mentioned that I have been a TD customer for over a decade, both personally and professionally, and is there anything they can do to encourage me to ever shop with them again. She said no.

So I decided it was time to give up. I've wasted way too much time and stress on this and they are WAY too deceitful and incompetent to work with. I told her I would like to return everything and shop with her competitor. She said that was fine. So I asked if they were paying the shipping to get this crap back to them. After putting me on hold again, she managed to send me pre-paid return labels. I packed everything up and dropped it at the UPS store this afternoon. Time will tell whether they refund me what they charged me or what they should have charged me.

Incidentally, about an hour after this call, I got an e-mail from Google (addressed to 'Dear Robert'...) saying TD has graciously offered to refund my original shipping fee and has started a process to figure out what happened to the original CPUs and they would resolve it sometime next week. I'm flabbergasted.

The Moral of the Story

This rather lengthy tale of the worst customer service I've ever received and the thousand and a half dollars of my money TD is playing with serves one main purpose - a warning. I am warning you, everyone you know, and everyone you come in contact with for the rest of your life -

DO NOT SHOP AT TIGERDIRECT.COM!

Please help me in showing them that this kind of "customer service" is unacceptable for a major online retailer and that being dishonest, unhelpful, and manipulative (all those ads, their attempts to get me to pay more for something I already bought, etc) is not an effective way to get and keep customers. Thank you for your help spreading the word!

-Richard