What are your experiences with tigerdirect.ca?

June 29, 2007 5:48 PM

Any Canadians tried tigerdirect.ca?

I'm thinking about ordering some things off of tigerdirect.ca, and I'm wondering if any Canadians have experience with them? Is it worthwhile? How do the prices compare to your local computer shops? (I'm in Toronto). I'm thinking of getting an external drive, some notebook memory, and a couple of flash memory cards.

posted by modernnomad to Computers & Internet (22 answers total)

I've used TigerDirect here in the states fine. I had a friend that complained about not getting a rebate that was advertised because TD wasn't an 'authorized reseller' for the company, so keep that in mind.
posted by pupdog at 5:57 PM on June 29, 2007

And yeah, I know you asked about Canada, but they're the same company, so I thought I'd share. Not everything is cheaper, but for closeouts and stuff they can be good.
posted by pupdog at 5:58 PM on June 29, 2007

A company for which I was working ordered some jump drives (is that like flash memory?) from them about two years ago. They were fine. The only issue we had was that my colleague ordered the wrong jump drives AND put impossible-to-remove stickers on them, and then wanted to return them. We could have returned them if she hadn't done that. I spent a lot of time talking to customer service and they were really good. It was clear we could have returned the order if my colleague (who no longer worked there) hadn't defaced the drives. :)
posted by acoutu at 6:01 PM on June 29, 2007

Yep, they're as close as you can get to a Newegg-ish site in Canada. I've ordered from them several times without incident.
posted by Krrrlson at 6:29 PM on June 29, 2007

No problems, prices were decent. My peeve is that they ship UPS which is inconvenient for me.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 6:39 PM on June 29, 2007

I've ordered from them a couple of times with no problems.
posted by synecdoche at 6:58 PM on June 29, 2007

Friend of mine custom built a desktop with parts almost entirely from tigerdirect here in Canada with nothing but good results.
posted by DecemberRaine at 7:00 PM on June 29, 2007

We bought SLVR cameras, a digital camera, and an SD card from them and they were great. My family has bought lots of other stuff and they've had no problems.
posted by some chick at 7:17 PM on June 29, 2007

Drat, SLVR *cellphones*, not cameras.
posted by some chick at 7:17 PM on June 29, 2007

Yeah, from what I can tell the rebate thing was in the past, several online retailers got dinged for it and changed their policies a lot.
posted by pupdog at 7:19 PM on June 29, 2007

Great company. I've ordered from them a lot, both for business and personal. Because they are part of the .com company (which other online retailers, like sears.ca are not), sometimes your order will be shipped from the US, but I've never had a duty charge because of that.

Once they realized I was doing some small business ordering, they assigned me an honest-to-goodness human as my rep at the company and has worked with me to find things they don't have (rare) and work out bulk deals (I haven't needed this more than once).
posted by Kickstart70 at 7:39 PM on June 29, 2007

I've ordered from them quite a bit for their fast delivery and fairly exhaustive selection. However, for prices, I would have to recommend Canada Computers since you live in Toronto. The prices are really the best out there. Sales and service leave a little bit to be desired, but if you know what you're looking for (and they have it) I doubt you'll find it for a better price.

One thing about tigerdirect though, you'll keep getting catalogs after. I have yet to figure out how to stop getting them.
posted by purephase at 7:50 PM on June 29, 2007

I've ordered from them and had no problems at all. Go for it.
posted by ashbury at 8:02 PM on June 29, 2007

Also have had a couple positive experiences with no problems.
posted by Mitheral at 8:16 PM on June 29, 2007

I've used them a few times, with no complaints. Shipping has, on occasion, been unexpectedly lighting-fast. For that "I-just-have-to-have-it-now" feeling, you could also drive to their Markham store.
posted by mrmcsurly at 9:18 PM on June 29, 2007

I bought some video cards from them a few years ago, and had no problems. A similar Canadian store worth pointing out is ncix.com, but they're in BC. Price shopping between those two and some local stores usually saves me a little bit of money.
posted by Fully Completely at 11:37 PM on June 29, 2007

Both Canada Computers and NCIX/DirectCanada are worth checking out before TigerDirect. TD relies on mail-in rebates a lot to make their sale prices look good, and anyone who's dealt with a couple of rebates knows that half the time they don't pan out—they get lost or the manufacturer rejects them or they take way too long or whatever.

If you stay away from rebates, though, I don't see why you'd have any major problems with TD. If you know what you're looking for you can even find some stellar non-rebate deals that are genuinely worth purchasing. Plus TD has a wider variety of non-computer products, especially stuff like unlocked cell phones that can be hard to get otherwise if you don't know the right places to go.
posted by chrominance at 12:19 AM on June 30, 2007

My other half has ordered a variety of stuff from them over the past few years and has never had any problem with them. In fact, he ordered some memory for my laptop for Xmas that was only installed around March and caused some incompatibility problems, and yet they were still willing to exchange it.
posted by Jade Dragon at 2:41 AM on June 30, 2007

Used them, loved them, would use again. A++++++.
posted by blue_beetle at 6:53 AM on June 30, 2007

I've bought from tigerdirect.ca many, many, many times - from small components all the way up to full computers. They're fast, efficient, and their prices are great while still being a reliable company. I've used them both for business purchases and personal. I've never had to return a thing; everything worked great.
posted by twiki at 11:31 AM on June 30, 2007

Oops, meant to mention I'm also in Toronto. :)
posted by twiki at 11:31 AM on June 30, 2007

Tigerdirect is reliable enough, with a couple of exceptions: rebates have a history of being very slow, but this may have improved; some RFD users report that CPUs sold as OEM seemed to be used (or at least pulls from unsold systems). Check redflagdeals or pricenetwork for lots more opinions, and also for the best prices on anything you want to buy.

Canada Computers is rarely the cheapest, but always pretty close to the cheapest, so if you aren't motivated to spend hours hunting for the best deals, they are a good bet. There are some other stores around Toronto that are pretty competitive, depending on your location and requirements.
posted by Chuckles at 11:19 PM on June 30, 2007