FragTek
New member
TigerDirect.com Online Retailer Review
www.tigerdirect.com
Overall Score: 6/10
Site Layout, Accessibility, and Connectivity
Score: 5/10
Tiger Direct's page has good contrasting colors and isn't hard on the eye. The first thing you may notice when visiting Tiger Direct is that the pages are crampacked with text and may seem cluttered. I know that it feels that way to me whenever I visit, it's a very "busy" page to say the least. The left side parts navigation bar houses everything that they carry unlike Newegg's setup that seperates computer parts from other misc. electronics. It's fairly easy to find the catagory you're looking for from the main page, it's the next area that falls on it's face. Once you have entered a main catagory you then get very BASIC options to filter out parts selection, unlike Newegg's setup that lets you filter everything you do/don't want. There are no redeaming features of Tiger Direct's page layout, but in the end it gets the job done.
It's hard to even say that Tiger Direct offers a an account control panel... They do, but it's completely useless. You can view previous orders and that's about it. No online RMA system, no order status system, nothing!
As far as Tigers servers go, they're steady, reliable, and fast. I don't think their servers ever get put through the stress that a site such as Newegg's does, they simply just don't have the clientel.
Product Selection and Pricing
Score: 6/10
Tiger Direct does carry a pretty wide range of products, even some that Newegg doesn't carry. But that doesn't make up for the overall lack of items that Newegg caries that Tiger Direct doesn't. I've found that it can be hard to go to Tiger's site and find a specific item that I've been studying up on, for some reason, Tiger never carries it! Yet if you're just browsing through the sections it appears that they carry a plethora of things. It's quite deceiving really.
Prices at Tiger Direct are great, there's no two ways about it. But, Tiger gets beat time and time again by competitors such as Newegg when it comes down to shipping prices. Tiger's shipping prices are pretty insane, most of the time after factoring in shipping to the price of an item at Tiger Direct, you can find it 10 other places for less after factoring in shipping. The shipping really gets bad when you start adding a lot of things to your cart, building an entire system from the ground up with Tiger Direct will ding you a good $50 for ground shipping which can take up to 6 business days for delivery.
^^^ You're joking right? $9.80 to ship an OEM hard drive via ground? HA! I think not...
Shipping & Transit Time
Score: 6/10
Tiger Direct's shipping department is pretty dismal. They usually don't ship same day, no matter what time you place your order, it usually takes them a full day to process and pack your item(s) for shipment. Now depending on where you live in relation to the Tiger Direct warehouse you could be in luck! UPS Ground is overnight or 2 day service to most addresses within about 700 miles of the warehouse which is nice. But, if you live across the country from the warehouse, you're in for the long haul. We're talking 5-6 business days until your order shows up, that's a long ass time for the premium price that Tiger makes you pay.
Returns (Refunds & Exchanges)
Score: 7/10
Though Tiger Direct doesn't have an online RMA system, they do have a fairly knowledgable staff to take care of return situations over the phone. I prefer the online automated process available at a lot of sites, but this works just fine if you don't mind waiting on hold or trying to understand muslim gibberish.
Tiger Direct rarely denies RMA's but it happens a lot more frequently than with other online retail stores. If your RMA is accepted you're replacement usually ships the day of or the day after they receive your broken parts.
Conclusion
Overall Tiger Direct is a below average online shop. They have a decent selection with decent prices. The shipping prices are what scares most people away, and quite frankly you can't find what you're looking for. Tiger Direct is reliable but I suggest only using them if they have something you can't find elsewhere.
Hope you enjoyed the review, more to come! -FragTek
www.tigerdirect.com
Overall Score: 6/10
Site Layout, Accessibility, and Connectivity
Score: 5/10
Tiger Direct's page has good contrasting colors and isn't hard on the eye. The first thing you may notice when visiting Tiger Direct is that the pages are crampacked with text and may seem cluttered. I know that it feels that way to me whenever I visit, it's a very "busy" page to say the least. The left side parts navigation bar houses everything that they carry unlike Newegg's setup that seperates computer parts from other misc. electronics. It's fairly easy to find the catagory you're looking for from the main page, it's the next area that falls on it's face. Once you have entered a main catagory you then get very BASIC options to filter out parts selection, unlike Newegg's setup that lets you filter everything you do/don't want. There are no redeaming features of Tiger Direct's page layout, but in the end it gets the job done.
It's hard to even say that Tiger Direct offers a an account control panel... They do, but it's completely useless. You can view previous orders and that's about it. No online RMA system, no order status system, nothing!
As far as Tigers servers go, they're steady, reliable, and fast. I don't think their servers ever get put through the stress that a site such as Newegg's does, they simply just don't have the clientel.
Product Selection and Pricing
Score: 6/10
Tiger Direct does carry a pretty wide range of products, even some that Newegg doesn't carry. But that doesn't make up for the overall lack of items that Newegg caries that Tiger Direct doesn't. I've found that it can be hard to go to Tiger's site and find a specific item that I've been studying up on, for some reason, Tiger never carries it! Yet if you're just browsing through the sections it appears that they carry a plethora of things. It's quite deceiving really.
Prices at Tiger Direct are great, there's no two ways about it. But, Tiger gets beat time and time again by competitors such as Newegg when it comes down to shipping prices. Tiger's shipping prices are pretty insane, most of the time after factoring in shipping to the price of an item at Tiger Direct, you can find it 10 other places for less after factoring in shipping. The shipping really gets bad when you start adding a lot of things to your cart, building an entire system from the ground up with Tiger Direct will ding you a good $50 for ground shipping which can take up to 6 business days for delivery.
^^^ You're joking right? $9.80 to ship an OEM hard drive via ground? HA! I think not...
Shipping & Transit Time
Score: 6/10
Tiger Direct's shipping department is pretty dismal. They usually don't ship same day, no matter what time you place your order, it usually takes them a full day to process and pack your item(s) for shipment. Now depending on where you live in relation to the Tiger Direct warehouse you could be in luck! UPS Ground is overnight or 2 day service to most addresses within about 700 miles of the warehouse which is nice. But, if you live across the country from the warehouse, you're in for the long haul. We're talking 5-6 business days until your order shows up, that's a long ass time for the premium price that Tiger makes you pay.
Returns (Refunds & Exchanges)
Score: 7/10
Though Tiger Direct doesn't have an online RMA system, they do have a fairly knowledgable staff to take care of return situations over the phone. I prefer the online automated process available at a lot of sites, but this works just fine if you don't mind waiting on hold or trying to understand muslim gibberish.
Tiger Direct rarely denies RMA's but it happens a lot more frequently than with other online retail stores. If your RMA is accepted you're replacement usually ships the day of or the day after they receive your broken parts.
Conclusion
Overall Tiger Direct is a below average online shop. They have a decent selection with decent prices. The shipping prices are what scares most people away, and quite frankly you can't find what you're looking for. Tiger Direct is reliable but I suggest only using them if they have something you can't find elsewhere.
Hope you enjoyed the review, more to come! -FragTek
Don't forget to check out the Sidewinder review, your ultimate international source for pimp ass fans!
