service technician

inventory control specialist

Micro Center

I'm writing this review with a heavy heart but feel I need to warn people. 
I worked in the DC (warehouse), I'll tell you what the company doesnt and explain why I left, gonna be a long read so sit back.

For starters, I will say, the work itself isn't bad, in fact its enjoyable depending on how your brain is wired. Can be a bit cumbersome or repetitive, but not bad if you dont need to be overly stimulated, its great if you have 0 tech experience and would like some, if you can somehow finesse your way into full time or seasonal the employee discount is pretty cool. Some of the coworkers are enjoyable and you get to listen to music, albeit depending on where you are you gotta share the aux. 
Now into the reason why I left, I came in as a temp, as majority of the employees there do, with a bright outlook on the future and excited to start my first steps into the IT world, I worked my butt off, I worked overtime when nobody else would to help the team for weeks and even months at a time, sacrificing my physical and mental health in hopes that my work would be recognized and I could quickly move up the ranks. I asked my fellow coworkers how I should go about getting hired to which the response was "you dont, ive been temp for x amount of years/months"/"they never hire people on, its all a lie" but I shrugged it off and figured these guys didnt put in the work or show interest, I ignored the red flags. Nonetheless I worked, often doing the workload of 4-5 people by myself because everyone kept quitting, another red flag I ignored. Mind you this was all without extra pay, no bonuses, not even a pat on the back, but I didnt care I was gonna work harder than anyone else and get the bag. This was in build, an opportunity to work in test and repair came up and I took it, it was a chance to go from temp to seasonal (which is just temp with an employee discount so thats kind of a win) This is where it all began, immediately I didnt feel welcomed, see build was more hard labor so everyone was kind of relaxed and enjoyable, test and repair is where the brainiacs are and believe me, if you dont look or act nerdy enough you will not be accepted, but its cool, my goal was to work my butt off and get full time now, and thats what I did, with no help from my peers despite the fact management told us to ask them for help, so pretty much I got 0 training on the job, You get 0 tools you need for the job, you gotta pretty much ghetto rig everything but again I ignored the red flags and focused on what mattered, being excellent.
We all sort of got along, theres some cool folks there but for the most part everyone always felt 2 faced, like you couldnt trust them, like smile in your face then when you arent there they talk about you, this creates an even more uncomfortable environment, nobody really acknowledged the conflict we just kind of ignored it but it was there like a fly in a quiet room. We often bantered with each other on good days, ALL of us, it wasnt always PG but we are all adults so what do you expect. Little did I know this would come back to bite me.
I worked relentlessly and finally it started to pay off, I asked to be full time and the result was a yes, I would see a change in the system and a raise, but that wasnt all, a few days later I got offered a supervisor position. I was beyond excited, a year and a half of hard work finally paid off, everyone else was wrong, I was right...I was wrong.
3 checks have passed (2 months just about because biweekly pay) but nothing in the system changed, I confronted management about it each week and was told it would be fixed until finally I had an informative meeting.
The reason my money or status wasnt changed was because someone overheard me having a conversation with a manager about the supervisor position, and my theory is they felt I was not good enough for it, so they went to Human Resources and essentially spun a tall tale telling them everything they needed to hear to prevent me from not only being a manager or full time, but to get me fired! As I sat there mouth agape over what I allegedly said, I couldnt believe it, but I wasnt worried, I was a hard worker, a golden goose if you will, and these are clearly false statements, all I have to do is tell the truth and theyll understand this was an attack and not action taken to better the work environment, I just knew in the end I would be fine, everyone was wrong about how evil this company is and I would be right...welp you guessed it, I was wrong. The next day after pleading my case I was handed a paper telling me it was my final warning, see HR wanted to fire me and they didnt care about my side of the situation or the actual truth of it but Chet, the department supervisor, had my back, in my eyes he did nothing but buy me time to find another job without the financial lapse, and for that, I thank you so much, I know management reads this so I will say, my abrupt departure was bitter sweet, I didnt want to leave suddenly and unprofessionally but I was going to be fired suddenly and unprofessionally, so when in Rome, do as the Romans. I found a much better job with a higher paying and more respectful environment. 
To the eager person looking to work here, lower your expectations, you do not matter, as they will show you but tell you differently, you will work yourself into an early grave and the only thing the company will do to show appreciation and buy you low quality fast food once every 7 months, you will not get hired on, let it go, you cannot trust your coworker, do NOT make friends, focus on your work and after a year find a better IT job once you get the experience.
To the management reading this, you cannot continue to treat your employees like less than nothing and expect them to stay, that is why they quit, not the work, not the pay, but the way you guys showed us you do not care. Stop being greedy, pay these people, hire them on, give them a reason to stay or much like myself they will leave.


the work is tolerable and so is the pay, but whatever you do, do not get emotionally invested or work more than youre paid, give them the bare minimum to keep them happy then leave, or go to a different company if you can. Working here is fine, but its corporate bs even filled with cliche "we are all family" lies. My family would never lie on me, my family would not treat me as careless as HR did, my family wouldnt want me to struggle to pay bills like you guys have. Please be careful when working and always have a plan B with this place, I got lucky otherwise Id be in a bad spot right now.

Typically you'll start out as a CSR or cashier at a store. You're an hourly employee and you get money every time you sell a replacement plan, which they want you to sell at least 2 per day. You used to get more from each plan, but after they changed the pricing of the plans to be so dirt cheap for customers, you started getting less. As a CSR you basically need to smile, and make sure your cash drawer is never short. It's an easy job. Hardest part about being a CSR is asking people for personal information, like name and address. Micro Center does direct advertising and you have to ask, and people get mad when you do. Shrug it off.

From CSR you can go to sales, or warehouse. I would advise it.  You'll make more money and get tons of product knowledge. The training Micro Center does for its employees is second to none. You are constantly kept up to date on the latest products. Only issue with sales is there aren't enough people sometimes , and it feels like you're putting out stock and watching for thieves more than you're helping customers. Micro Center seriously needs a night time warehouse stock team. Pay is alright, you'll have your good days and bad days in sales. Don't sell in other departments unless management asks you. 

From sales you can go management , or home office or service department. Most people I knew went to home office. The tech support position is a pain. Unlike the stores, there is no training. You will train yourself. You had better have an A+ and an N+ ( or a lot of experience ) before thinking working there. Again, you will only be trained on how to use their systems and will not be trained on products, networking, or anything else. Micro Center sells servers, and will not train its techs on how to troubleshoot , or setup a server OS. And lets not even talk about Mac. In our department (20 people) only 2 had any mac experience. The contrast between store to technical support is striking. Store level wants you to be knowledgeable, home office wants a body to fill a seat. 

Benefits are great. Vacation and sick time roll over so you never lose it and you'll keep getting time until you max out which is about 3 weeks a piece. Vacation time is also paid out when you quit or get fired, so again, not bad. Discounts are pretty good too. Don't expect huge discounts on tv's , pc's or laptops. You can get good discounts on cables, keyboards, mice, headsets, speakers, and pc parts ( if you search around).  Good company to work for mostly, big gripe for me was that it is retail . So , no matter how big of a jerk a customer is being that customer is always right, you are always wrong and all that. After 3 years of people cursing at me  over problems with their pc's I had enough.

While the potential is there to make decent money as a CSR, often times that will not be the case. For one thing, the base pay isn't really competitive in today's labor market. The $12/hr ought to be raised in order to bring the pay in line with a lot of other entry level customer service/sales jobs, otherwise Dallas' location is going to continue facing massive turnover, a shortage of representatives, and customers will continue being subjected to wait times stretching as long as 45 minutes.

The commission structure should also be changed. As it stands now, CSRs only earn 10% of every plan they sell to a customer that goes unreturned. Opportunities to get credit for plans in general  on items where that makes sense can be few and far between, as sales people on the floor also get commission for plans and are heavily pressured to reach a quota. As a result CSRs may need to pitch plans on items where a replacement plan usually isn't needed (SSDs, RAM, etc.), as they may fail to reach their assigned quota as well (not to mention the fact they'll miss out on decent money).

This is putting aside the fact that not every sales person is honest when it comes to such plans. If a CSR encounters a GPU with a 2yr/3yr Carry In plan tapped onto it that may not actually mean that that customer agreed to that plan. But because sales people get the benefit of the doubt more often than not they are able to take credit for that replacement plan AND take that commission if the CSR manages to convince the customer to leave the store with the plan. CSRs simply do not fight for such plans because doing so amounts to performing the sales person's job for them for no compensation.

Despite turning massive profits during the holiday season not much seems to have been reinvested into the store. The register system is still out dated and buggy, while a broken register has remained that way for almost 3 months now. Several registers still have wired scanners from over a decade ago, while ALL registers have check readers from the 90's.

You'll be tasked with keeping an eye out for shoplifters while juggling everything associated with working a register and peppered with daily updates about shoplifters who seem free to walk in and out with goods. Again, the profit doesn't go to solving these issues. A fraction of one day's sales could more than pay for a receipt checker or a security guard's wages.

Initially I was told I would not have to worry about sales being in the service department. My focus would be on fixing computers and customer service. That quickly changed in a few weeks when the company announced that sales were now a big part of our job. Over the past few months the job has quickly become just another sales job with added responsibilities. 

My main goal now is to sell services: data backups, ESET Internet security, service contracts, etc. My "main" job responsibility to repair broken PCs is now bottom tier. Actual repair work is constantly interrupted by customer walk-ins and part delays. There used to be a position that was solely customer facing. We're getting emails almost daily asking why things aren't stellar sprinkled with some praise in between to distract us for a bit. Apple reigns and they are our top priority, their repairs go first. But wait, custom builds go first also. So do any PowerSpec devices within warranty. So someone like me, with multiple skills, has to figure out who gets their ticket done first on top of getting more work piled on when a customer comes in irate because we aren't working fast enough for them. We are at the mercy of the vendors when they don't have parts available, are delayed or send defective parts.

Recently, a new "contest" was announced where bonuses were given based on sales. Although that sounds fair on the surface, when you read what it entails, you quickly realize that this is their new model going forward. Any retail hardware added into the repair no longer counts, now someone who needed a simple hard drive replacement and OS install gets ignored while a customer who needs a rebuild gets fought over.

Micro Center had a special place in my heart since I first walked in through their doors. I was excited to work at a place I loved going but poor, unprofessional management quickly turned my experience sour. Customers have become extremely entitled especially when dealing with Apple products or high-end ($$$) merchandise. The company really does look like they are trying to expand quickly. People who have been there for years have started to complain they are no longer happy.

The work day begins with assistance throughout the store in organizing departments if I am opening the store or assisting in the warehouse with things such as unloading and moving product to the floor. If I was not opening I would immediately proceed to assist customers and greet the most assistance needed customer immediately. Sales skills such as upselling and recommendations would be used occasionally, but I preferred to build trust and rapport naturally to lead into recommendation selling which worked well for my personality. Honest answers were always given on my part within what was needed from the customer. I focused on doing what I COULD for the customer instead of what I COULD NOT. Most of my job consisted of sales of computer parts including processors, fans, cases, graphics cards, networking equipment, and other peripherals basically building into custom computers. Occasionally I would help around the store selling pre-built name brand computers and also things such as printers and other accessories. If I was closing the store I would help vacuum, clean, and organized the store and then proceed to help warehouse if they were not finished. Nobody left until everyone was finished. Management was bearable with my only disappointment being that they seemed lackluster in their attitude about their jobs; therefore, important tasks were not prioritized or often completely ignored or forgotten. I would attempt to assist the company and my own work environment by appeasing ideas to management, but with little change in the time I've spent there I decided to seek other opportunities and left them in good hands. I enjoyed the social experience with customers and meeting many different people. It was both the easiest and hardest part of the job.

A typical day at work really depends on what day it is, and whether it's a holiday or not. Micro Center is a retail store, so the environment is that of a retail environment.  It can be laid back, or it can be very hard, it just depends on the volume of sales that day.

I wouldn't have said it before, while I still worked there, but thinking back on it, I learned actually a fair amount, mostly about how a retail store is run, and displays and such and the importance of a good environment, that is well organized and looks good. I also learned that even though it's hard work sometimes, it can be rewarding.

The management, was Fantastic, except for two managers that were there, but for those two, apparently I wasn't the only one who felt that way, they are no longer working for Micro Center, and one lasted maybe a month before he no longer worked there.

Most of my co-workers were very good, I didn't like a few of my co-workers, but it didn't interfere with anything, and we never actually butted heads or anything, so it isn't really anything, just a personal thing, that has little or nothing to do with the store overall, or even the employees in general. In general, the employees make Micro Center more of a family-like environment than a business environment, it's comfortable, and enjoyable.

The hardest part of the job was that it was often demanding work, and frequently busy, and thus hectic.

The most enjoyable part of the job... well when I worked there I wouldn't have called it enjoyable, but we(the employees) were always kept doing stuff, and didn't have much down time except for our breaks. When I worked there, my favorite job that I had to do from time to time was stocking the shelves, doing inventory, and working in warehouse.

At Micro Center, I worked as a Service Technician Level 1.  As A service Technician, you are repairing or building computers.  It's a fun job if you enjoy working on PC's.  Only real issue is there is ZERO advancement in this type of role.  You can upgrade your pay by getting more certs, but the certs are all Manufacturer based for specific devices.  

What I would have loved to see was a career path from Service Technician to IT operations for the company.  There is many smart and capable individuals in the companies service departments, but they never want you to leave the store.  So, trying to advance your career in IT at this company is not a good idea since it's not offered.  

Other than that, the pay is only okay.  They do compensate with an hourly rate and some commission based income.  But you're ideally going to make less than 40K a year a service tech 1.  You can possibly make more as a service tech 2 or 3.  This requires additional certs that they are willing to pay for which is a bonus.  But your max hourly rate is 20/h.  May sound like a lot, but this pay rate requires years to obtain.

I never worked sales or the retail side.  However, this job does require to have sales skills since you have to take payment for all work you do.  This can sometimes put you in a stressful situation between what the customer wants and what the stores policies are.  At my store, our manager basically wanted us to nickel and dime for everything. 

Bottom line, if you are an experienced IT professional, this is not for you, if you are just starting out after getting an A+ cert, then this could be a great entry level job top put on a resume, but it is not the company you will retire with since their 401k options are less than to be desired. 

Never work in the warehouse here.  You are underpaid, underappreciated, overworked. and understaffed.Unloading the truck, Carts,bathroom checks, janitor tasks, maintaining your AOR, Web orders, carry outs, assembling things, Processing returns, assisting customers, Loss prevention, and whatever else a manger feels needs done are the basic duties.

Your looked down on by management, who might take their bad mood out on you that day. Sales and Cashiers stand around and do nothing in downtime but god forbid you sit down to process returns, the front end can't even be bothered to collect the carts that have ended up around the registers.

There is no room for advancement as warehouse is a dead end job, training is terrible, I was not informed of some basic tools I had at my disposal until months into the job despite some it being very useful to assisting customers. Other things like Coachings and high five cards were never explained till months later

Understaffed terribly and none of the managers want to recognize that as being an impediment to getting things done in a timely manner (yes, I know there are no shopping carts in the store but I'm the only one here and the web orders are coming in like crazy and people are here to pick up an order I confirmed 20 minutes ago)


No chance for extra money like the rest of the store.  Every other department gets commissions expect warehouse, the sales guys can get commission on a web order simply by having talked to the customer even though I was the one who actually has to find and get the product.

I once witnessed an associate go to lunch and then have the front end manager start calling for him as he was needed to ring on the register and then finally after repeated calls going to where the employee was and informing him he needed him to hurry up and finish his lunch.  The employee felt obligated to end his lunch only halfway through and go back to work. 


Finally I'd like to know what others are talking about in regards to free lunch.  There was nothing like that at my store.

I worked at Micro Center, Tustin for less than a year. Personally, the most enjoyable parts of the job as a sales associate consisted of: the exciting merchandise the store has to offer, the relationships between coworkers, and fun, memorable conversations had with guests.

Pay was fair. Benefits were fair. Workplace culture amongst sales associates, CSRs, and warehouse was friendly.

With that being said, there is definitely some improvements that needed to be made to make this job worth it to me. There is poor communication amongst supervisors, managers, and corporate. Many times it felt like there were different teams all striving to accomplish different goals - as opposed to a cohesive, team effort. A lot of the time, you had poor (or no) communication across departments that resulted in unnecessary, extra work. This also resulted in the store looking disorganized and dirty. Pallets were over-ordered and dumped throughout the store in an unsafe manner (often times blocking exits, aisles, doors, etc.).  

When issues or suggestions were brought up to management, they were brushed aside or simply ignored.

Furthermore, management made no effort to coach employees. Management had poor planning and would task employees with duties with little to no time to complete their tasks (oftentimes making associates stay past their assigned schedules).

Management assigned twelve hour shifts without asking employees' permission.

Management asked Sales Associates to merchandise products rather than talk to guests and answer their questions. 

Management would only praise employees that hit highest daily sales. I also noticed there was a favoritism towards certain associates. Some associates could get away with not working, whereas others were under unfair scrutiny. Little recognition was given to associates that kept their department tidy, cleaned displays, etc.

Truly fun place to work. I sold computer components as well as a few other odds and ends like cameras and printers. As a nerd it was great being around the latest greatest technology. Although my average shift was 10+ hours long the day would move at a very quick pace. Co-workers were all friendly and we felt very much like a family. 
Although most of the day involved sales and customer service, a good chunk of it was other operations. Microcenter believes in all-in-one associates, so although i was classed as a sales associate, during non-peak hours we would be expected to stock, merchandise, put up signs, and sometimes dusting/cleaning parts of the store.

   Since there was always more things to do then time in which to do it the most difficult part of the job was juggling and prioritizing which things were most important, obviously helping customers is always first, yet after that deciding whether its more important to stock, replace a missing sign, or straighten up an area that had been heavily shopped. We were largely left on our own to decide these things for ourselves, management only interfering if our decision was decided to be incorrect. 

   I won't say the management was terrible at Microcenter, it was more unfocused largely because of lack of communication between them. One supervisor might tell you one thing while another manager tells you to do another that completely contradicts the first. This caused confusion among the staff on which order to follow, often leading to double work, or re-doing the same thing multiple times in different fashions. 
   Working at Microcenter has taught me many sales techniques, as well as helping develop my since of independence as an associate, knowing how to juggle and multi-task constantly throughout the day and be able to become more productive throughout the day.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Service technician 1 salary reported	$20,000 per year
Inventory control specialist 1 salary reported	$16.00 per hour

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