Competitive pricing, Decent customer service, Great deals.
Written: Mar 21, 2004 (Updated Apr 2, 2005)
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It's been some time since I wrote a review, but I felt compelled to share my experiences with Tiger Direct. Specifically I have dealt with "Tigerdirect.ca", the Canadian division. Here's my experiences.
In the Begining....
I am a computer part junkie. I save a little mad money each pay cheque, and eventually, and perpetually upgrade the PC I have built, piece, by piece. Over the past year or so I discovered Tigerdirect.ca. They were relatively unknown to me in the past, and I started by ordering a couple sticks of RAM from them. They were positively the cheapest for the Corsair RAM I had wanted. So, not so eager to try out this "unknown merchant", I sent through my first order. The experience was actually quite painless. Their website was well laid out. I could search by type of RAM, size of RAM, etc. The server seemed really slow at times, but the pricing was great. Their deals, and featured products really catch the eye. Since they were new to me, I didn't want to chance buying too much, so everything else that caught my eye had to wait.
The Good
The transaction went painlessly. They send you your package via UPS, and communicate with you the whole way through. I was sent a UPS tracking number the day the item shipped. I was impressed! The package came within the 5 days that Tigerdirect.ca had quoted (It's a Canada thing -- the packages are actually shipped from the USA.). The order was delivered, just as ordered, no mistakes. Perfecto! They emailed me, asking me if whether I wanted to be included in their mailing list of specials. Too bad they didn't have a button that read "well duh!".
More Stuff
Tigerdirect.ca is great for the thrifty shopper. Since my first order I have spent more than $1000 there. (Of course these are Canadian Dollars, which might make $50USD!) Tigerdirect.ca offers "Manufacturer Recertified" products. This is kinda cool. I have never been a "used" kind of guy. Basically, to those who are unaware of this amazing concept, when someone buys an item, be it a monitor (a great Viewsonic Pro series, that I got for a steal!!!) or whatever. They recieve the product, and don't like it for what ever reason within a stated period by the manufacturer, they can return the product to the retailer. They in turn return to the manufacturer, who inspects the product. If it passes their inspection, they ship them to a retailer for resale as "factory recertified". Good as new, but not, because the box got opened. Tigerdirect.ca sells these such products. I got a $450 monitor for $139!!!
The bad
This story does have it's evil villan though! I had been searching for a good computer monitor for some time now. I have had a great 15" monitor for about 10 or 11 years now. It had an amazing picture, and amazing refresh rates, amazing color. It's now starting to go. The picture shifts, etc. Who can blame it, my truck isn't even that old!!! So, I started hunting the local suppliers, and online merchants. The local merchants in Winnipeg really didn't have what I wanted. I can't replace a decent monitor with a cheap one. It hurts the eyes! So, the quest for a bargain, quality monitor commenced. Shipping was my worst enemy! Well, until Tigerdirect.ca offered free shipping on all purchases over $100! WOW! I can't lose right? Wrong! I started searching my new favorite vendor's website for a quality monitor. I checked daily. One afternoon, about 2 weeks ago I discovered a super sweet deal on a Phillips 107P (Great monitor), factory recertified. It wasn't there earlier that day, and it was on back order. I should have known better than to order a backordered item, but I did anyway. The deal was too good to be true! Yes it was! Tigerdirect's website claimed the monitor would ship in 7 days. So 7 days later I called them trying to get the status of my monitor, as the handy online feature that allows you to track the status of my order told me that the order still hadn't shipped. The friendly sales rep told me that they had no ETA on the monitor yet, and must have asked me 10 times (no word of a lie!) if I wanted something else from the website. Of course I didn't! This was the deal of the century! Not a chance. I asked if the product wasn't going to arrive. He quickly claimed that he didn't say that, and "do you want something else from the website?". I was getting mad. I told them that the order was going to remain in the system until they filled it. The next night when I got home from work I lucked out. I checked the website. No my order hadn't shipped, but they just got in Viewsonic Pro Series monitors, factory recertified...cheap! I quickly called, cancelled my previous order, and ordered the new one! SWEET!
Tigerdirect.ca isn't perfect. I work in retail. I can honestly tell you that as long as humans interact with other humans there will always be the occasional hiccup in customer service. I have to say that I will continue to buy merchandise from Tigerdirect.ca. They are professional, competitive, and they have always shipped the product on time, not dammaged, and accurately! I urge you to check out the website. It's slow, but the deals are worth the wait!
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? 17" crt monitor, motherboard, RAM, you get the picture
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About the Author
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Reviews written: 48
Trusted by: 5 members
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