Micro Direct www.microdirect.co.uk

Bought a computer from a Microdirect, came to me with no original box, the seal was broken, item was used, however they advertised the computer was new. Tried to contact them through various avenues, but once they have your money they do not want to know. They refused to refund in full, even though it was their fault entirely. This company has has changed its name before and address and went into administration before. I do believe they would go bankrupt if they keep this service up. I will Never buy from Microdirect again. I am most certainly buying from John a Lewis, I would rather have peace of mind it's from a reputable company, they will give you 2 years warranty free and if any problems, they would not hesitate to refund you. Microdirect it totally the opposite, they awful and are a disgrace. Do not buy they try to give you a credit note instead of your hard earned money.k

I ordered a motherboard and computer case from Microdirect. The motherboard box was sent inside the computer case with no additional padding to keep it from moving around in the post, as a result the motherboard was DOA.

I contacted customer service who advised the fastest way to get a replacement was to place a separate order for another motherboard and send the faulty one back separately. This got me a new board quickly but left me out of pocket. Microdirect failed to refund the cost of the faulty board in full and left me with the bill for both delivery of the new motherboard and return of the old one. This left me around £25 out of pocket overall.

The refund was given as a credit note rather than a refund on my card. To get this refunded to my card involved multiple calls to the accounts department and extremely long hold times each time.

I tried to return an hard drive that was making a strange squealing noise intermittently.

I am a systems engineer for a bluechip company and am very aware what noises should be coming from a hard drive and this was not one of them.

I guessed it was probably the bearings on the spindle and wanted to get it replaced before the drive failed completely.

Microdirect sent the drive back stating there was noting wrong with it, reading the reviews this seems to be a common ploy of theirs.

I don't understand it as if the device is faulty they would just claim a credit from the manufacture so they are not losing out but by claiming item is not faulty they enrage customers who probably like myself never shop with them again.

Ordered a monitor in good faith, arrived with a smashed screen, tried to raise a RMA number - apparently the system is broken! eventually managed to get it returned microdirect who blamed me for the damage and refused to accept responsibility for the damage and sent it back. it came back in even worse state - one panel hanging off and the box smashed to smithereens. Now i just get ignored So if you value your money NEVER BUY FROM THESE COWBOYS!!!

It looks like this is standard practice for the company to send out shoddy goods and then not do anything about it

I've placed a fair few orders with MicroDirect over the past few years - their prices have been competitive and next day delivery has usually meant just that.

But. If you ever have cause to contact the company (in my case for non-delivery) the pain begins...

1. Emails go unanswered for a week.

2. Phone calls are answered by an automated system that NEVER puts you through to speak to anyone.

3. Calls to Sales are answered (funny that) but they refuse to put you through to Customer Services. Excuses range from they're in another building, to there's a problem with their phones.

4. They refused to issue a refund for an order that was never delivered - wait for it - until I returned the goods!

How on earth that works is beyond me.

In the end I got my money back from the credit card company.

Let the bank to deal with MicroDirect, and MicroDirect can claim for the lost goods through CityLink. Not from my pocket.

My recommendation would be a strong 'avoid'.

--- Review Summary ---

Telephone Contact: Just terrible 1/5

"Some clueless callcentre or a sodding 0871"

*EMAIL* Customer Service: Negotiable and Fair 3/5

"When you can actually get in touch with these guys they're very reasonable"

Website: 2/5

"Easy to use, but stock levels may be inaccurate"

Delivery times: 5/5

"If its genuinely in stock, next-day delivery is just that"

Value: The reason i shop with them 4/5

"Always has been some of the best prices locally"

Product 5/5 (LG 22" @£85 + Seagate 500Gb @£45)

"Got exactly what i paid for - brand name at good prices"

Has been overall 4/5 in person before, but delivery experience *during xmas* was a 3/5.

I would recommend to a friend and use them again, because they are a small enough company to still give a personal service including aftersales (and with national companies like pcworld and dixons thats just not there).

Just stay away from their phones, start with email, and the moaning and the wailing about microdirect on the review sites i have seen a lot of shouldn't be you.

--- Review Below ---

First time i shopped online delivery with these, but a previous happy customer calling and collecting at the store. A definite 3-star experience, wish i could review a four star, but there are some infuriating problems with telephone contact.

Background: i ordered over the phone a monitor and external hard drive, two days before christmas.

Ordering just before christmas, i expected a late delivery and they said likely the 29th, but suggested £5 next-day delivery rather than royal mail, i agreed, anything but royal mail. But the monitor came the very next day, xmas eve. Which was awesome. But no hard drive. And the direct line i'd been given upon ordering went to voicemail (its xmas eve - thats ok). I called the number on the website again, but got some girl who seemed to know nothing at all about the company except that it would be closed till 4th Jan - 11 days later.

I stupidly accepted that, and as after the 27th the days passed with no delivery, i called the number again and again. The number would just put you on hold and ring and ring, with a nice little "you're call will be answered VERY SOON" to taunt you. I then checked the website for another contact number, and saw a notice which said they had been open since the 28th. *groan*

I saw an email address, and tried it, even though i didn't expect an answer after that, i got one back in minutes. Let me just stress this here before i continue. NEVER PHONE THE 0161 NUMBERS ON THE WEBSITE. I think its a call answering service and they don't know anything, will palm you off of the phone with any old BS. I first contacted them on an 0871 number (which was certainly direct to a guy in the shop) i had got off 118118 (had no monitor - so no internet) - while the guy was very helpful and efficient, i was on the clock for about 15p a minute on my landline. WHICH SUCKS HUGELY. Seriously, 0871 for a sales line - thats very poor. He did call me back later to confirm the order though, giving me his direct line. Infuriating as the phones were - i feel bad moaning. The actual contact i have directly had with them has actually been satisfactory.

If you can; EMAIL THEM. The response i got was quick and direct.

Next, in the email i was told they had been out of stock of the hard drive, despite taking my money over the phone for it as in stock at the time, for which they apologised that i was not informed (again xmas - its ok). My guess is the phone guy just checked the website - which may not always be bang up to date with actual stock levels. The customer service email suggested i had 2 options, an alternative hard drive, or a refund by "credit note". I said i was happy to accept a price and spec matched alternative, but if there was none, i wanted a proper refund not micro-direct dollars. The reply was basically that a full refund was what he had meant and so i am satisfied that a full refund was actually offered.

I asked him to check the suggested alternative was actually in stock this time and he did, and it promptly arrived the next day. Yes, thats a next day xmas eve delivery and NYE delivery. They use City Link who are clearly an amazing delivery co.

See the scores above, and remember to *email* this company first regarding any issue for a smoother ride.

--- End of review ---

Micro Direct(MD) have cheapest prices for computer accessories/components among other online retailers within UK. The worst thing with Microdirect is their customer services. If you ever buy any refurbrished items from MD, never think to return it back, means you going to waste your time.

I went to purchase some memory from Microdirect which was on offer on their website. The guy tried to charge me full price for it,until I asked if it was on offer, "Oh yes, so it is", he acted surprised.

I tried to return a graphics card which was artifacting in top spec games. Their fault 'test' involved putting it in a motherboard and running a game from 1977 on it for two minutes, promptly handing it back to me and claiming it wasn't faulty. It turned out that the memory was corrupt. Avoid Microdirect at all costs.

bought motherboard from this place, i shortcircuted the motherboard by mistake and didnt know, while building pc, took it back and asked if there was anything wrong with the motherboard, the guy said its not working and no refund, threw it back to me as if i was trying to con him without explanation or telling me what was wrong, i only found out by taking it elsewhere that i shortcircuited it. dont mind paying for my mistakes and its my own fault, but to have the guy lookdown at me and think i was a chancer really cheeses me off, felt humiliated, if he gave me two minutes and explained to me what might of gone wrong or changed his attitude then i could say the service was good. but frankly his reaction could of caused some trouble, lucky for him i got a good temper and very tolerent!

Refused to deliver to my work address despite all the security checks I had gone through. There is no mention on the site of delivering only your billing address and refuse to budge. STILL waiting for my money back. Took 10mins to answer the phone and the guy at the other end didnt sound as though he really knew what was going on.

STEER CLEAR OF THIS COMPANY - CUSTOMER SERVICE SERIOUS FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!