Circuit City Advantage Plan ripoff Mishawaka Indiana

Because I know how boring long posts can be so I tried to be as thorough as possible with as few words as possible as well.

Because we had gotten screwed on our TV, when we purchased the laptop I GOT IT IN WRITING, right on the back of my receipt in the manuscript of the sales person. I made him write down exactly what he told me, that EVERYTHING was covered. He even wrote "if you drop the laptop, no worries just bring it in and we'll take care of it".

When I had repairs done to my laptop and I took it in they told me I had to CALL IN!!! And I had to arrange for direct pick up - no problem, that happens and I'm not difficult to get along with generally.

When I showed them my receipt with the guys signature and writings, they told me he no longer works there so that made it invalid!!!!

It's not every place that doesn't stand behind their ext. warranties. Yes most of them suck, but most places DO tell you exactly what is covered and what isn't. I've gotten a lot of electronics so I'm familiar with these extended warranties. That's why I purchased this particular one because I had it in writing. But they don't care about any of that.

Advertisement is HUGE when it comes to any type of business, and that includes advertisement by word of mouth!!! I have a HUGE mouth and I will do everything I can to cut down on the sales of their ext. warranty plans. I have placed signs in front of the doors reflecting that they do not stand behind their warranty.

I do plan on pursueing this through small claims but I currently have an existing small claim in process from a car accident where the driver of the other car ran a stop sign and she had no insurance. I don't want to bite off ore than I can chew at one time.

I do want to reiterate that I have had good experiences with some other ext. warranties so they aren't all bad. Not the best, but some do stand behind what they say. None is as bad as Circuit City. They make up the rules as they go along.

Have a GREAT day everyone!!!

Omessihio,


Why did you even bother to post on this thread?


Ok you disagree with the keyboard issue. Well to answer that.....are you sure that the salesperson didnt tell the customer that WOULD BE covered? Its common practice for salespeople in all of these types of retail stores to tell the customer all sorts of crazy things to get that extended warranty sold. I have personally heard someone say that even "broken keys would be replaced under the extended warranty.......now the manufacturer wont even do that.....isnt that great sir!?".

I'll admit, it would be ridiculous for a store to do that. But that is the STORE. Are you sure all the CC employees are on the same page? If you say "yes" then your obviously in the twilight zone. If you say "no" then you are finally seeing the light (or darkness) that so many others that post on this site see.

Now on to the "today while I was working" crap..........


Im sorry if a customer treated you so badly. That customer was clearly out of line. No doubt about that. But what does YOUR personal experience that day have to do with this thread???


This is not the first time you have jumped on this "shut the hell up you d**n customers" line after you had a bad day at work. As if it has something to do with the thread itself.

Now I DID work at a Good Guys back in the early 90's briefly for extra cash after I got out of college. Then, the extended "warranty" was called a PPG. 15% of our sales HAD to be PPG's. The pressure was extream to get these crappy deals sold. I heard horrible lies told to customers to get these sold. Since those days, I still hear the same crap from Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry's etc. They are still crap. The employees still say things that are untrue.

Now here is the difference between how Best Buy, Frys and other "big box" stores handle cases like this compared to Circuit City..........

At those stores, the manager usually will make a MANAGEMENT decision on how to proceed. Usually he will try to make it the best for the company...AND the consumer. If a case of misleading sales tactics comes into question, they will address that as well. Sometimes even directly with the salesperson in question.

Circuit City is simple........"The policy is on the back of the recipt.....period". (WOW! What an easy....and totally unfair way to handle it!)

So next time you tell someone to go check the "other stores"....think about that. I have never wavered in regards to the fact that the policies are similar in almost all respects. Its how those polices are maintained, and implemented that are at the root cause of concern. Those "other stores" leave it up to a human to decide how the text pertains to the situation. Circuit City leaves it up to the text alone,or some script at a service center that cant be adjusted or ad-libed to fit the actual situation. If policy says "15% re-stocking fees on returns" then Circuit City charges 15% on a return....regardless of the fact that the employee MISLED the customer, regardless of the fact that the product may be poorly made, regardless of the fact the product may have been broken right out of the box. Policy says 15%....thus they charge 15%. Its just not right. Policy needs to have some flexability, and needs a human component to interpret it.

Any other way......then your just HIDING BEHIND A CLOSED POLICY.

The case of a poorly made camera is a perfect example. Its POORLY made. To find this out would require purchase of the camera. To lock a customer into a defective or poorly made camera by using re-stocking fees is just BAD POLICY. Or BAD IMPLEMENTATION of POLICY. Now I'm sure your going to use the "car example" to retort on this angle. Something like "well car dealers wont take cars back simply because you decided you didnt like the car". Ok let me answer that before you use it. Do you think a car dealer would make you keep, or charge you a re-stocking fee on, a car that you bought, THEN found out it couldnt go in reverse? I think the dealer would be very quick to take it back. And before you use the "you should have checked for that on the test drive" excuse on us, I will answer that as well........How many Circuit City's actually have ALL the models of a product out on the shelf, available for a test drive? Circuit City is not a car dealership. They sell electronic products retail. Deal with it....or get out of the business.

Now back to your "bad day at work".........

I think its time you found yourself another job Omessihio (aka:Chris). Retail is just not your cup'o'tea. You have blathered for months now trying to defend this piss-poor excuse for a retail shop. Now you barely can even scrape a pathetic excuse to defend it. Your two latest examples are just the lowest.

1. "look at the other stores!!"

Well Omessihio....I, along with many other people have crushed that time and time again. What I have stated above, I have stated in many posts where we have locked horns. You didnt get it then, and I doubt you will get it now.

2. "Im sick of you mean customers...someone called me an a*****e today"

Well Omessihio.....WELCOME TO RETAIL!!! Dont like it? Leave! Thats the breaks of working directly with consumers. If you cant handle your job and you feel that you must come here to take out your frustrations because you had a "bad day at work". Then I think its time you found a nice cube-farm to work at. Retail is just not your bag. I worked for fast food places in high school, and was a manager at a pizza place during college. I had many "bad days". I saw many "assholes". Its just standard. Whenever you deal with a customer directly, YOU WILL get assholes, mean people, upset people, strange people, etc. Deal with it or move on.

The fact that you can put so much effort into BASHING customers, using the excuse that you had a "bad day" is proof of the fact your days in retail were poorly chosen. Any mention of your "bad days" has no reason or foundation to even be on one of these threads unless the actual customer that treated you poorly is the actual one making the post.

Firstly I say thank you so much for the responses (even the one from the childish fool, who obviously feels as though cursing is cool. If this is any indication of a circuit city employee, well it ain't no wonder there's so many complaints on them. But that's just my opinion, others are free to make their own)

Thank goodness for the internet!!! I have placed complaints at the BBB, which doesn't amount to much in this area. As a warranty representative from a long way back I know how that works at least our local one. I've done many a rebuttal to them in my day but not for warranty issues, the issues were with the manufacturer. And the manufacturers in my case, for my TV and my laptop, have been very kind to me. If not for magnavox my tv would have been on the receiving end of a sledge hammer I'm sure. There are also comment sections on the circuit city website which I'm certain are closely monitored for contents and I placed my situation on there.

And, the next thing I did - which I thought was hilarious by the way - I went to the circuit city in question and looked around for the busiest department which happened to be the camera department (digital camera's, 35 mm camera's, video camera's...that sort of thing). I was acting as though I was interested in a camera (not acting, I am interested in this particular camera but will NOT purchase it from circuit city) and one of the salesmen approached me. I asked a few questions about the camera, the price and then I asked about the circuit city advantage protection plan. I asked the obvious questions, when does their coverage start, does it start the day you purchase the item (because when we got the laptop we were told it was covered by the manufacturer for the first twelve months and then the circuit city warranty would kick in for four years so I would have a total of 5 years coverage), and once again I was told the same thing, that circuit city warranty begins AFTER the manufacturer warranty ends. Then I asked about the batteries, and oh yes they are covered too. No questions asked was what he said to me. You bring the battery in and we'll replace it. On the spot I asked and oh yes, ON THE SPOT was his reply.

This went on for some time and there were probably 10 or 12 people around us by the end of our conversation who were listening in to this "wonderful" (and I use that term with great sarcasm) coverage. And then I let loose!!! I told him it was awfully strange how the same plan on two seperate items were so different. I told him how my laptop (which I brought with me as a prop mind you)battery didn't hold a charge but it wasn't covered. And I pretty much went over everything that I had mentioned in my initial report here. By the end of this conversation (and I spoke loudly because of this hearing impediment I acquired as soon as I walked through the doors so the salesman had to speak loudly as well) the 10 - 12 people that were looking at camera's had decided to "shop around".

I wasn't rude, I wasn't mean, I was only letting the perspective buyers know what was truly covered and what wasn't. I think I got my point across loud and clear!!!

I do intend to follow this very same procedure as often as I can get away with it and at as many circuit city stores as I can find. Us consumers have GOT to stick together so that this sort of things does not continue to happen. We aren't asking for anything more than what was represented to us at the time of our purchase.

I will come up with more ways to make it loud and clear to as many people as possible that they do not stand behind their so called advantage protection plan. It's a joke!!! The only thing it is, is an unknowing contribution to circuit city. To help their stores remain open.

Prior to my "little show" I had gone through the camera's and made verbal comparisons with competitors as far as the prices went. One camera was $429 and I said "Gosh, this exact same one is at WalMart for $329, I think we'll go there...oh and look at this one, dang its almost $200 MORE than Best Buy" I did that with several camera's, didn't want to make it look fake!!! And who in their right mind would know the price of every item at different stores? I am genuinely interested in a digital camera but I know I will not purchase it at circuit city so the prices that I quoted were actual prices.

I don't know if I can get into trouble by doing this or not, and I figure eventually they will ban me from the store. But at that point I will find another way to get the truth out. Tonight I am designing the signs that will go in both of my vehicles...CIRCUIT CITY DOES NOT STAND BEHIND THEIR ADVANTAGE PROTECTION PLAN!! I'm even thinking of leaving my phone number just incase someone would like more information on it!!! Who knows what I'll come up with next. But while I am fighting for what I paid for, I will do my best to ensure that nobody else gets suckered in like I did!!! And apparently like so many others have. I wonder if there's enough people to make a class action suit?

Peace to ya'll, and thanks for the support. It's amazing the amount of stress stuff like this can put on a person!!! So its really helpful when there is a place like this to turn for assistance!!!

The keys arent covered because it is cosmetic. Keys just dont rub out. I've used the same cheap a*s keyboard for 6 years and I can still see the letters.

The TV should have been in home repair. All TVs over 25 inches are taken care of in home. It sucks the service center told you to take it somewhere. CA covers the battery so get after the repair center to get them to replace it.

On another note I am really tired of all the childish insults. Today I was called a "f**king a*****e" and poor buy two different customers. And the previous poster called us stupid as well. I got news for you genius. I bought my TV (with coverage =D) about six months ago and it was only 25". If you are going to make blanket statements make sure they arent so stupid. Geesh...

The keys arent covered because it is cosmetic. Keys just dont rub out. I've used the same cheap a*s keyboard for 6 years and I can still see the letters.

The TV should have been in home repair. All TVs over 25 inches are taken care of in home. It sucks the service center told you to take it somewhere. CA covers the battery so get after the repair center to get them to replace it.

On another note I am really tired of all the childish insults. Today I was called a "f**king a*****e" and poor buy two different customers. And the previous poster called us stupid as well. I got news for you genius. I bought my TV (with coverage =D) about six months ago and it was only 25". If you are going to make blanket statements make sure they arent so stupid. Geesh...

The keys arent covered because it is cosmetic. Keys just dont rub out. I've used the same cheap a*s keyboard for 6 years and I can still see the letters.

The TV should have been in home repair. All TVs over 25 inches are taken care of in home. It sucks the service center told you to take it somewhere. CA covers the battery so get after the repair center to get them to replace it.

On another note I am really tired of all the childish insults. Today I was called a "f**king a*****e" and poor buy two different customers. And the previous poster called us stupid as well. I got news for you genius. I bought my TV (with coverage =D) about six months ago and it was only 25". If you are going to make blanket statements make sure they arent so stupid. Geesh...

The keys arent covered because it is cosmetic. Keys just dont rub out. I've used the same cheap a*s keyboard for 6 years and I can still see the letters.

The TV should have been in home repair. All TVs over 25 inches are taken care of in home. It sucks the service center told you to take it somewhere. CA covers the battery so get after the repair center to get them to replace it.

On another note I am really tired of all the childish insults. Today I was called a "f**king a*****e" and poor buy two different customers. And the previous poster called us stupid as well. I got news for you genius. I bought my TV (with coverage =D) about six months ago and it was only 25". If you are going to make blanket statements make sure they arent so stupid. Geesh...

I agree, take them to court. I have been in Circuit City numerous times and heard the same story - warranty covers everything. Just bring it in (in the case of smaller items) and we'll replace it. In your dreams.

To be forced to lug a large screen TV to a repair facility is totally ridiculous. It could easily be damaged even more. I guess the morons at Circuit City thinks TV is synonymous with small. They obviously don't get out much or they would realize TV's in the 21 century can take up half a wall.

I am sure the Circuit City people patrolling this site will say that a TV is a TV and is therefore portable. They will also say that the salespeople never mislead the public and they don't receive a dime for the warranties. Due to the zeal these people use to push the warranties they are either paid to sell them or it is reflected in their reviews and amounts to pretty much the same thing.

Take them to court - the only way to get their attention is through their bank account.

Traci,


Your situation sound like the typical "policy" of Circuit City. There is very little you can do without a fight in small claims. If you wish to avoid small claims then your only other options are to continue badgering Circuit City to no end. Hoping that at some point a reasonable person their will see the plain and simple logic of your case. That chance is slim. Along with that, you can continue to post updates on this site with the status of your "badgering".

If you do continue to hold hope in a resolution from Circuit City without making a claim in court, be prepared for a full assault by Circuit City employees on this site. If you wish to see what you will be up against and the types of pathetic arguments they toss out to deflect responsibility, you can find plenty by doing a search here on the company. You will see many of the same names appear with the exact same responses. In the end, when faced with the complete and total logic of the case they will bow out with a curt "You have no rip-off" and leave. Or, tout a new line of defence with "It clearly states we can change the conditions of the warranty at any time" clause.

Personally I would continue to update this thread with your actions and Circuit Cities' reactions. But I would move full-speed on a small claims case. The money you have spent is well worth it. Since you have both a computer and televison in question, I would make 2 separate claims. The logic of the situation will clearly stand out on both for any sane judge.

For the short term.....be prepared for a full assault by the Circuit City goon squad to rip you (and myself for this post) constantly. I'm sure you will see a post from one of them soon. If not, more power to you. You obviously dont need the distraction of pathetic excuses. You need a resolution.