Canada Computers

Very cool place. I always find what I’m looking for here. I like to research things online before hand, then check out their online store, then drop in to see the product. The staff are also always ready to help. Much better staffed than BestBuy and other large places.

Don’t try taking anything back. When their substandard equipment fails, they will always find a reason that you can’t get a refund or an exchange. Sure they’re cheap but it’s not worth the price.

Staff are very quick to give you the wrong ink cartridge for your printer, knowing full that with their no refund or exchange policy they’ve just made some easy cash.
When calling they’ll also try to confuse you with the which store question, pretending that there are actually 2 College street locations, one on the north and the other on the south side.

Usually I would give this place four stars but today I got someone who hates his job, hates customers or hates everything. I just needed a cable but he was singularly uninformed or unwilling to share his information. He was unhelpful to the max! After he went to the back, I asked someone else and whereas this guy was happy to send me home with a $ 30 cable that wouldn’t work, the next guy sent me home with a $ 9.99 cable that works perfectly. So go here, just avoid the redheaded guy with glasses and you’ll have a good experience.

Really knowledgeable staff and ready to help. They won’t steer you down the wrong path just to make a few extra bucks, they’ll set you up with what you need and nothing more. No sales pressure.
I find them to be a little higher priced than what I would like but over-​all they provide good value for the quality products they sell.

The guys there are really want to be helpful, however I always feel like they are pushing for a sale instead of really listen to what you need. I do understand about computers and I went knowing what I was looking for. However, they man who helped me took over and gave alot of suggestions I stated I wasn’t looking for them. Other than that, they have almost anything you need for computers unless you are looking for very hard core rendering.

I heard about this store from my ISP (not Bell or Rogers), and was recommended to shop there to buy a wireless modem. They had it for maybe $ 1 cheaper than Amazon. Bought it online and am happy with it; it hasn’t failed me yet.
In-​store they have the same prices and are pretty decently priced for many things. They also have friendly service, though sometimes they aren’t the most helpful.
Discrepancies with online stock made me waste about half an hour of time. I was looking for an audio cable that I’d think would be quite readily available. Their site said there were more than 10 items in stock in-​store and you couldn’t buy it online. When I went in, the clerk spent about 30 minutes looking for it and couldn’t find it. I asked if they could give me the 12 foot ones for the price of the 6 foot ones, which is what I actually came in for, which was a difference of about $ 2 per cable. The clerk and management (according to the clerk) were unwilling to accommodate me in that respect, regardless of the time wasted because they couldn’t keep track of their inventory or keep track of their stock.
Their system is unreliable and that time they really frustrated me, but previous experiences of good customer service and good prices (sometimes, not always) has kept my review above a failing grade. Still, next time I will be hesitant to shop there based on the negative experience I had. Generally, when stores inconvenience their customers to that degree, they usually compensate them because it’s good business practice to not have a customer leave the store peeved off.
I’m going to take it as a learning experience that ghetto computer stores like Canada Computers are generally unreliable. I would be hesitant to make a larger purchase there, especially since I’m in the market for a PC.
So basically they didn’t want to give me the cable that was too long for $ 2 cheaper, which is a blessing in disguise (for me), because even though I left the store peeved I ended up buying the audio cable off Amazon where it was less than half the price. If you know exactly what you want, try online retailers like Amazon that offer stuff at good prices.
Because of my last visit I’d be hesitant to visit them again.

Yes, I’m a nerd/​dweeb/​geek or whatever insult you care to sling my way. I build my own computers. It’s not rocket science people. All you have to do is shove colour-​coded nearly idiot-​proof connectors together, tighten a few screws, wrestle with some cables/​wires and that’s it. BAM! You have a fast computer for less than half the cash you would have paid if you went with a company that does this for you.
Sadly the new store is far more claustrophobic than the old and they don’t have nearly as much space for product so more of it is behind the counter in the back and you have to ask for it.
I’ve built up 4 different computers since parting company with over-​priced big retailers or direct-​sell outfits and I haven’t been unhappy in my decision.
I’m not enough of a nerd to «overclock» my computers to squeeze every last bit of performance out of the machine… I’m happy to build a fast and QUIET computer for not a lot of money.
For those of you who follow my reviews, I did have a hard-​drive explode recently… That has nothing to do with whom you buy your computers (or computer parts from). All drives eventually explode and you will lose all your data. It’s not an if, it’s a WHEN. (5 years would be the safe MAXIMUM for any HD… But it’s not unreasonable for them to start failing after 3 of hard use… or even sooner)
Back to CC: I’ll continue to shop here for as long as I need computers/​computer parts n’ stuff.
The prices are tough to beat… As for the return/​service policy you don’t get much aside from a few days of return/​exchange. This is the price you pay when you know what you want anyway.

Compared to the US or Japan, going to any Canadian technology store is like stepping into a time portal back 1 – 5 years, but with prices 10−40% higher. This place is no different on that dimension in terms of products, but the bad service and crappy layout drops this store lower than even Best Buy or Future Shop.
I came here to get a short list of things that are readily available in any neighborhood techno shop anywhere I’ve lived or visited before, but I walked away with nothing. Their website listed a few things that were interesting to me and said they were in stock at this location… when I arrived I was told otherwise. I came specifically to try to special order some laptop sleeves but was promptly told (without the guy checking) that they can’t get them… though clearly he had no idea what I was really looking for. He just couldn’t be bothered.
I decided to look around the store to get a feel for what else is there keep in mind for my next computer need, but the result is that there is nothing here worth getting here… you’re better off at Future Shop in terms of variety, quality, prices, comfort, information, and service.

Canada Computers is a great place to get computer or phone accesories. Look for their heavily discounted specials — it’s worth it. Just piece of advice: try to avoid the Asian girl with the BIG attitude who works there as a cashier!

Canada Computers. what they lack in service and a shitty return policy, they make up for in sheer volume of their selection and price.
I anticipate them facing growing pains in how they handle their customer flow. and their awkward having to escort you to get the product to the cash.

I’m not a techy but I do have a compooter and when my geek friends (and boyfriend) need computer parts, they go to Canada Computers. The place is slightly cluttered but if you know what the heck it is you’re looking for you will find it with great speed and accuracy and the price point for this place is phenomenally good. You can also get memory cards for your digital camera at a much much better price than at camera stores. Grab a geeky friend and go!

Quite the debacle at Canada Computers today. While it’s usually a painless, no bullshit transaction, today was something else.
The behind-​the-​counter staff was exceptionally inattentive and unhelpful, mostly just standing there stocking shelves instead of attending to customers. I stood at the counter, leaning in, for almost 10 minutes before someone so much as glanced in my direction.
Once I found my item (a media card reader, which btw doesn’t work, so I’ll have to return it) I brought it to the cash, which had a lineup of six people. There was one cashier, poor Jamie W., who had absolutely no backup.
The person he was helping wasn’t actually ready to cash out so the entire line had to wait. She even asked him, «Can’t one of those 10 guys standing around at the back give you a hand?» and so he went to go check. But apparently none of them were trained on cash (how hard is it to operate a cash register??) so they couldn’t help. Instead, they must have stopped at the training 101 that taught the skill of «standing around and not being helpful.» They surely excelled at that today.
Also, because they’re always changing prices they no longer have price tags. So you have to ask how much each item costs. They could at least keep the highest possible price on the shelf so that once you check out, it’d be a nice surprise. It’s nice to have SOME idea how much your item is going to cost before you line up, especially given today’s cashier situation.

Canada Computers is perhaps the most astonishingly useful computer parts store in Southern Ontario, and as the downtown Toronto location (one of more than a dozen that stretch from London to Waterloo to Hamilton to the GTA to Kingston to Ottawa, with MORE COMING), this store seems to consistently have at least a slightly better selection in store than the others I frequent.
(I’d cut off my review there, but that would not be in keeping with my Unilocal history. If that’s enough praise for you, feel free to stop right here; otherwise, read on.)
A hypothetical Canada Computers Trip of Excellence and Awesomeoness starts before we even leave the house, by checking their website. Flyers are updated regularly, prices are accurate and — MOST importantly — live stock info is shown for EVERY STORE IN THE CHAIN. I know before I even leave the house that the Downtown store should have 25 of the hard drive I want in stock, so unless someone just got a truckload of Drobos, I don’t need to rush over there to get mine.
In the store, cheaper stuff is available in the middle area, self-​serve — a welcome change from the locked-​cabinets-​everywhere approach of just a few months ago. Memory, hard drives, notebooks, motherboards, video cards, etc. are all behind a counter or in locked cases, so you’ll need to track down sales help to get them.
This is the only really bad part about the store: the service. When you can get a hold of a sales rep, they’re generally very knowledgeable, get you your stuff quickly and send you on your way. It’s the actually getting someone to help that can be a problem, especially on weekends, when the entire population of the GTA evidently decides they need a new WiFi router. The move away from locked cabinets for everything has alleviated this, but getting the $ 7 SD card on sale can take FOREVER some days.
A tip for the newcomers: when you buy stuff from a cabinet or behind the counter, it generally won’t be handed to you, but taken up behind the cashiers at the front. Don’t be alarmed — just try to remember which Heaping Pile of Tech Goodness is yours.
Speaking of cashiers, they’re generally pretty fast and efficient — people sometimes take a while to pay or have large quantities of stuff to buy. There’s also the usual disagreements over price — in my experience, always from someone not understanding what product they actually picked up, or the 3% cash discount policy that applies seemingly everywhere. Lines can be long, but they do move.
Space is at a premium in the store — though the new location is much better than the old one. For comparison, go across the street to Jumbo Computers, and imagine all the stuff that’s in Canada Computers in there, with about as many people. Those of us who shopped there before don’t have to imagine it — we just remember it, because THAT’S EXACTLY THE WAY IT WAS. The crampedness is, I feel, just a testament to how much stuff is there. In that sense, it’s a good thing, but navigating with a backpack can be trying at times.
So why do we put up with the hard-​to-​find staff, the cramped space, and the sometimes slow-​moving lines? Selection and price. I hardly check anyone else for price anymore — one visit to Canada Computers’ site and I know instantly if I want to pay or not. I’ve found that there’s just no point — other places may be a few bucks cheaper, but the cost of shipping is simply NOT worth it. Canada Computers is my default computer parts store now. Also, if Canada Computers doesn’t sell it, the other stores around aren’t likely to either. I really only check them if Canada’s out of stock, or if it’s something weird /​used I’m looking for.
Bottom line: if you need parts — RAM, hard drive, optical drive, motherboard, cable, media, whatever — check this store first. Well, check their website first, but then go on in for a visit.