Microsoft Store

The difference between an Apple and Microsoft store is astounding. I have walked into this store on THREE separate occasions to buy an Xbox One and literally no one comes up to offer any type of customer service. The place is disoriented and the staff is not helpful.

Customer service at this location is beyond horrible. I love Microsoft devices. I have a Surface Book, Lumia, Windows 10 desktop PC that I built myself. But this is the worst Microsoft store I’ve ever been to. Natick and Burlington locations are better than this, and this is Boston. Sales team are clueless, they lack any desire to sell product. I have to flag people down in order for them to sell me something. And they usually pass me around to different people until one finally decides to help. I would rather spend 20 minutes driving to Natick and 20 min driving back, than spending 5 minutes walking to this store.

Only giving one star because I have to!
Just tried to purchase a Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro 256 which has been out of stock at this location for weeks. The price has always been $ 999 during the past few weeks that I have been inquiring. They finally have one in and now the price is jacked by $ 100. The sales guy didn’t think it would be a problem to honor the sale price but the manager quickly put the kibosh on that. I explained that I had been checking for weeks and it was out of stock and named employees that I had spoken with. They didn’t care and let me walk. This is the ultimate bait and switch and don’t trust this place. Definitely go elsewhere to buy your hardware!

I regret ever buying my Microsoft tablet. Touch screen is broken. Had to make an appointment online, which was brutal. Finally found a number to call in in. Tech rep said there was nothing to do but offer me a probated new computer — and I would need to turn in mine. Rep couldn’t tell me how much i would get or anything about the process details; everything is online. Needless to say I have not been able to get any action from Microsoft online because they insist on having an outlook account and tons of other garbage. Ridiculously time confusing with TONS of roadblocks.
I only give 2 stars because they offered me something to drink which is great.

Cant say enough about my positive experience here. Brenton was extremely patient in answering my questions and getting both a new Nokia Lumia Icon and Surface Pro 3 all set up. Compared to other Microsoft stores, I felt like the service here was superb.

A large, colorful open floor filled with computers, tablets, phones and Xboxes galore for you to try before you buy. Emphasis on the try — for the premium prices, I’d hope that you really fell in love with your new Microsoft device before taking the plunge, because you won’t have much cash (if any) left over to soften your landing.
But that’s what the Microsoft Store employees pride themselves on — they’re ready to catch you when in need. One of them in particular named Jamal really impressed me. He approached me to offer a carrying bag for a stack of books I was holding on my way through. Jamal was genuinely thoughtful, even though I hadn’t bought anything here. Many thanks for your help, brother!
You might wonder, does Microsoft really need its own store to show off its products the way Apple does? The jury’s still out on that one, but I’m a fan of their in-​store customer service all the same. You may find your experience here to be a pleasant one too.

Bought an HP laptop here that was defective, the store promptly exchanged it the next day for a new one. Was told I would be getting a better deal than I actually received, but it was only around $ 30 bucks or so. I bought the 2 year extended warranty and classes. Have only taken one class but really enjoyed it. I would give higher points but feel the rep that sold me the unit misled me about what all was included software wise.

I had a very good experience last week. My Surface RT would not start up. Made an appointment the same day. After 10 minutes the tech personal offered a replacement product. She had me login to the new surface and all done. Most of my setting were all setup and many programs already on the new desktop.
I was originally thinking it would be hours or days to reconfigure the new Surface. It took all of a few minutes. GREAT JOB MICROSOFT!

I had a terrible experience at this store. The customer service rep basically lied to me and told me that some of the features she was demonstrating on the surface 2 pro would be the same of the surface 2 (namely how the stylus interacts with the tablet). when I came back to purchase the surface 2, a different rep told me that that was TOTALLY incorrect.
such bad customer service, I will NOT be back.

The Microsoft stores conveniently located
in the shops at the Prudential Center,
Featuring every new electronic gadget they offer.
The staff is very approachable and patIent,
Willing to demonstrate products for you
and answer all your questions ad you go.
The only drawback I see is that you’re paying
Expensive, Back Bay Boston mall prices
The deal: they always have interactive video games playing on the big screen. Jump in and get some exercise, if you feel like showing off your dance moves for the mall walkers!

This is a really fun place to stop by and play with the latest Microsoft products — especially the ones you would never buy… and the ones you end up buying.
My favorite find was a desk top computer that was built like a tablet. The whole computer is in the screen, and it even has a battery — just like the surface — but it’s about 26inches wide. I would love to take it to work to take notes on in meetings.
Surprisingly, they even have sales here from time to time. 200 bucks for a 7 inch computer running full windows 8? If I hadn’t just found out I was getting the Acer T100 (which they didn’t have for me to play with) I might have walked out with it — despite 7 inches being too small (that’s what she said)
Clean lay out — lots of toys — low pressure sales people. This is more of an outreach than an actual store — but … it actually works. My co-​worker bought the surface pro after stopping by here and loves it!

This place is horrible. There products don’t provide the right user experience that I want. It’s not very big and there isn’t much taste or excitement to the store. The stuff they sell is absolute crap. And there is nothing unique to the store.

This place is tooootally staffed by bros. I went in a few days ago to take a look at the new Surface RT suite to get an idea if it’s what I need in a work device as well as a tablet, and if I went solely on customer service, I’d have flown across the street to the Apple store in less than 5 seconds.
However, I was determined to try out some gadgets, because hey, if you put an Xbox where I can see it, I will try to play with it.
Kudos on that, by the way; if you get close enough to the couch setup on the far side of the store, they have a television with Let’s Dance or In The Groove or one of those dancing games. The employees spend a ton of time using it, so it’s hard to get a chance.
I gave up on that quickly and headed in to the disturbingly-​Apple-​esque side of the store where the Windows phones and Surfaces were stacked out. I was impressed with some of the neat technological gimmicks Microsoft worked into the Surface with its keyboard/​covers, but they seem prone to breaking, the keyboards aren’t responsive and the UI is so unfriendly to navigate, I was turned off on it pretty quickly. Also, it seems the glass the company used to manufacture the devices is shoddy, based on one model with a cracked screen.
During my test pilot of the Surface, an employee approached me, not to make a sales pitch or ask if I needed help, but to show off to his coworkers an inappropriate photo he’d taken in-​store earlier that day. While I’m sitting there. Using the tablet. Um, hello? Customer here? Go be jerks somewhere else, please, and if your bosses see that picture, you’re probably going to get fired.
Anyway, I gave up on the Surface shortly thereafter and went to try out the Windows phones by the mall corridor. While I’m fiddling and futzing with it, trying to see how it works, another employee comes up and seemingly starts talking to himself and snapping pictures of me, the hallway, and other things. After my experience with the bros and the Surface, I was somewhat concerned about other workers taking my photo, so on top of the fact that he didn’t engage me, offer me help, ask to take the picture or anything else, he seemed to be in a talk-​to-​himself reverie. At one point he slid, not handed, but slid a $ 25 dollar off voucher into my field of vision as I’m still poking helplessly at this phone to try and figure out the interface, and then he immediately runs off. Creepy much?
In short, this place is filled with weird, unprofessional employees that are more interested in having fun than doing their jobs. It’s a good thing I didn’t want to buy anything, and I certainly won’t be going back.

We stopped in here to pick up the new Microsoft Purchase tablet. It was very busy but were were helped pretty quickly and shown a tablet to play around with as soon as one came available. Our staff member was knowledgable and friendly and was able to answer all our questions. We will definitely stop by again, perhaps to look at some Windows phones.

Oh look, another Apple store! Oh wait this is Microsoft’s late entrance into the retail space. While mostly a showcase for their products, it does do a great job at showcasing. On my visit they were doing a great job showing off their newest products and everyone in the store appeared to being having fun. Looks like a good concept if Microsoft will continue to support this innovative store.

First let me say I am not an Apple user so I’m probably one of the few people that have never been inside an Apple store. Microsoft sure knows how to make an entrance. I’ve never seen a store opening accompanied by a free concert with a bunch of giveaways and events for their opening. And reading Steph’s review of their marketing experience with her non-​profit just makes this place sound wonderful.
Never mind they don’t have prime storefront real estate like Apple across the street. What they do have is a bright inviting atmosphere. I stopped in last week and noticed one of their staff playing kinect with a random customer and another staff challenged me to a match of Just Dance. Me having no shame to dance in public took him up on his offer. I lost but the team member said I should come back and play some time.
He didn’t try to sell me an XBox or any video games. I also got to play some Fruit Ninja on another of their wall displays. They do have several computers on display from high-​end entertainment to everyday use. I will say though, having recently purchased a new gaming computer if they want to advertise their entertainment comps they should probably load on a high end game or two to show people the difference in power. If I were to buy their HP Envy for gaming I’d have a case of buyer’s remorse because it’s not nearly as powerful as more of the Alienware laptops or diverse spectrum of PCs you’d find at a store like Best Buy capable of handling high resource programs.
Either way I’m glad to see Microsoft open it’s doors to the public and the community. And it’s silly comparing them to the guys across the street.

I am writing this review based on my customer service experience and my interactions with Allison, the communtiy development specialist. I reached out to Microsoft for a product donation for an upcoming charity event I am planning for a local nonprofit. I called and I was told the manager was busy but that they’d take my information and call me back. I was skeptical if they would follow-​up, but Allison emailed me the next day. Allison asked for a letter about the event and organization and within 48 hours had responsed with a response saying that Microsoft would donate a Samsung tablet w/​Office Pro and Windows Pro 7 worth $ 1300! I was so excited and couldn’t believe how fast they got back to me.
I went to the store today and I picked up the donation and had a great experience in the store. Yes, the store does look a lot like Apple, but whatever. I did have a few people ask if I needed help, which was nice. Allison gave me the donation and offered for one of the employees, Carlos, to set it up for me. They told me it’d take about an hour to download everything and told me to feel free to leave and come back, etc. Carlos and Allison were both great and Allison told me how you can rent out the meeting space for free for nonprofit and business meetings! They have a 103″ screen you can use for presentatins or for kids to come and play the Kinect (think nonprofit, etc.). The charity I volunteer with, Boredom Busters, gives toys, games, etc. to pediatric patients @ BMC so this was great to know about!
I went to get a snack in the food court and Carlos told me not to buy a drink because he could get me a drink from out back — when I came back he got me a soda! How sweet. All of the staff were friendly and made a very positive impact on me.
Also, Microsoft values community service and they volunteer in the community so if you are lookng for some help with an upcoming nonprofit event, I suggest you contact Allison.

Seems like a really nice store with a good layout BUT the staff were overwhelming. Asked twice if I needed help and the first guy was nice and explained how the store worked but the second…
‘Hi lady [looks me up and down] *mumbles yeah* lady and gentle-​man [said with pause in middle] do you… umm…need any help…” This was after jumping out from behind me and making me jump.
Maybe management is just pushy on the staff to make sales since it just opened, but calm it down.

This store is a complete cluster *&*% and embarrassment for Microsoft. Not only is it a complete Apple rip from from the neck bands that mimic apple, the tables that mimic apple, the t shirts that mimic Apple, the tablets that the people at the front of the store that mimic apple, and to everything else, but its a completely uncomfortable experience. The store is good size, but only about ¹⁄₃ the size of the Apple store across the street, however there were, get this, about 30 retail reps on the floor.
They outnumbered the customers 2 or 3 to one. I could not move two feet without being bombarded by these pests. We all love good customer service, however, in a span of 15 minutes, I had NINE people approach me. Leave me the *&$% alone! Every time I would move to the next display, some over bubbly, and not too smart person would come up with some horrible sales antic, and I would have to stop looking at the products.
So I move to the cell phones. I’m there less than 15 seconds when this guy says, «Hey, you know what, the funniest or coolest thing happened today.» So I roll my eyes, as this is the eighth person, and say WHAT. Well, I was standing outside, and this bus drove by, and I had no problem hearing my conversation on my Window’s phone. Isn’t that cool?” I wanted to slap him and send him on his way. What a corny, pathetic sales line. GO AWAY. I love good customer service, but in that store, they won’t leave you alone. The manager has no clue how to restrain his employees and should be fired. Poor execution of a store.
And wow, they had ordinary price tags with paper descriptions next to the products. Go look at the apple store and see how you can use a tablet to show all the products features, show what is in stock, etc. Poor execution, Microsoft.
Then for thirty minutes, (I left after fifteen, and passed by twice more) there were the same two employees doing this Latin disco dance to some game boy type device at the front of the store. Again, it was cute to see them doing it for a few moments, but they were there for half an hour.
It you want to buy a Microsoft product, go to Best Buy, go to Walmart, go anywhere but this store in the Prudential Center. Its a complete mess and you will have no peace and quiet looking at the items while you are bathed in a complete, but poorly executed Apple Store rip off. Microsoft you should be embarrassed by this store.

If you’ve been in the Prudential Shopping Center in the last several months you would have noticed that Ann Taylor was moved to a different location and has since been covered up with a big poster, indicating that Microsoft would be moving in.
I come to the Pru often and every time, up until last week, it was the same banner wrapped all the way around but last week, they’ve removed it and replaced it with fabric coverings.
Well… the long await is over. It opened today. The place has a large storefront. It’s floor is of hardwood or perhaps bamboo. There are several stations, laptops and desktops. The side panel which I love has boxes of apps most of us are familiar with. The place looks vibrant and stuff are buzzing around.
I only had a small sampling, while passing by but it’s looking really good!!!
Per their facebook page:
The Shops at Prudential Center got a special look to celebrate our latest grand opening! Boston fans, we hope to see you at the celebration which starts when we open our doors at 10 a.m. and continues through Saturday with an exclusive performance by Lenny Kravitz. Only the first 1,000 people in line at the store on ⁸⁄₂₃ will get a concert wristband!
I wasn’t one of the lucky few — this girl’s got to work! :(