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Report: #237644

Complaint Review: Circuit City - Salisbury Maryland

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  • Reported By: Berlin Maryland
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  • Circuit City 2650 North Salisbury Boulevard Salisbury, Maryland U.S.A.

Circuit City unfair and deceptive business practices Ripoff Salisbury Maryland

*Consumer Comment: Next time, buy an LCD

*Author of original report: UPDATE

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On February 26, 2006 my husband and I purchased a 50 in. LG 50PX1D plasma tv for $3299.95 along with $549.00 service protection plan (on the advice of the salesmen) and a $403.99 tv mount.

On Friday, May 12 the tv lost it's picture quality and the screen showed larged black spots. We were unable to view the tv. On Monday, May 15th, I called Circuit City and they put me in touch with Appliance Unlimited, Circuit City's repair Service. The technition called me a few days later and set up up an appointment for repair.

On June 6th, 2006 the technition arrived and stated to me that he needed to order a Digital Board for the tv. He told me that it could take a short time for the part to come in or up to two weeks. Two weeks pass and I call the service tech. He tells me that the part is on national back order. I wait another two weeks and call the tech again. He avoids my call (as I've called him a few times), so I start asking the secretary a few questions, and she acknowledges problems that seemed odd to me. The tech calls me back a few days later and explains that he is still having trouble getting the part.

I decide to call LG (the manaufacturer) and they inform me that they have plenty of digital board parts. I decide to call Jesse (Circuit City TV/Manager)with the hope of having him help me resolve this problem. It's now over a month without a working tv. After a few more days of no answers, I call LG again and explain the situation to them. They inform me that Circuit City's Service is UNAUTHORIZED to work on the TV. They offer to send an LG Tech to our home, but that it would take up to six weeks, due to the fact they we live in rural area. I call Jesse at Circuit City and explain this situation to him. He acted odd when I told him that LG stated that the service company that was sent to our home is unauthorized to work on the tv.

He offers no solution. I felted deceived. Was this a scam? What if the tech actually worked on the tv. Is is getting parts from the black market? How long did they think I would wait. I sent off a note to Circuit City Corp with no avail. I contacted the Better Business Bureau. They were working on getting us an exchange as we still liked our original tv.

On July 14, 2006 we took our 50 in. plasma tv back to the store because we were getting nowhere! On July 31, we found out that that particular model was no longer available for an exchange. The new model was three inches taller than the orginal tv and would not fit into the custom cabinet that was constructed for the original tv. We were told to wait until a few more new models come in and maybe they would fit.

It's now February 2007. We still have no tv. I called Tracy, the store manager and asked if we could come in and possibly look at a smaller tv, even though this is not what we wanted to do. When we arrived she informed us that we had only been authorized an exchange value of $2800.00 on July 31. I never agreed to a lesser amount, especially when the tv only worked two months and the fact that they lied about the service. If they had been honest, we would not be in this situation a year later.

The manager also stated that she could not return our $549.00 for our protection plan, even though she admitted that they still are not authorized to work on the tv.

As a customer, we have done everything possible to work this out. I told her that this was unaccepted and I contacted Corporate and they told me that there was nothing that they could do. The president's office has not returned any of my calls.

I have contacted the BBB again, Consumer Affairs, Maryland's Attorney General Office.

I feel victimized by Circuit City. They sold us a service contact knowing that they were sending an unauthorized service tech to our home. This prolonged the situation causing our tv being discounted by Circuit City. I can still purchase the original tv online from another company.

I want a full refund for the amount of our original tv and the $549.00 service contact. I also want to inform the public of this kind of tatic.

Donna
Berlin, Maryland
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 03/01/2007 03:30 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/circuit-city/salisbury-maryland-21801/circuit-city-unfair-and-deceptive-business-practices-ripoff-salisbury-maryland-237644. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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#2 Consumer Comment

Next time, buy an LCD

AUTHOR: Thomas - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, May 02, 2007

The LCD display is not quite as nice as a plasma will provide (I wrote "not quite" which means "almost as good") but the LCD is far, far more reliable and also it will not deteriorate with time as will a plasma.

I bought a 4-year extended warranty on our LCD for $80 but I am not sure why. LCD displays are very hardy- they have to be hardy because they are used on laptop computers and digital cameras. My wife managed to cause our LCD to fall off of a high chest and onto the bed and it was still fine! Try that with a plasma.

And yes, there are better places to buy an LCD. Sam Walton started two of them. The warehouse clubs can be very good. Also, your local Dad-and-Lad TV/Electronics store can be an excellent place to buy for the same price charged by Circuit City but without the CC BS factor and much, much better service. Check them out.

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#1 Author of original report

UPDATE

AUTHOR: Donna - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Phillip J. Scoonover
President, CEO and Chief Executive
Circuit City Stores, Inc.


How can you possibly accept $17.1M for fiscal 2007 when your customers are being treated like this?

On February 26, 2006 we purchased a 50 Inch Plasma TV, model no. (LG 50PX1D) for $3,299.99, ticket no. 316402608104, at store #3164 in Salisbury, Maryland. We also purchased a specific TV mount for $403.99 along with a five-year Advantage Service Protection Plan for $549.99 (on the advice of the salesmen,
D. Abbott). We purchased this plan in good faith and expected hassle-free certified service.

This purchase was made after extensive research on purchasing a quality plasma TV with the correct dimensions. Our home had been recently remodeled and the family room fireplace and custom cabinetry had been made to fit the TV dimensions. The TV was professionally installed on March 6, 2006.

On Friday, May 12th, 2006 (two months later) the TV lost its picture quality and the screen showed large black spots. We were unable to watch the TV. We called Circuit City's Service Department on Monday, May 15th at 1-800-787-0750 and were given a call reference no. 5925646, confirmation no. IHR605220412 and DUC no. 5927591. We were instructed to call Appliance Unlimited, (Circuit City's Authorized Service Provider) at 1-800-448-3997 to set up a repair appointment. Jim, the technician (410-587-4945) called back a few days later to set up an appointment. We were given ID No. 6106800.


On June 6th, two weeks later, the technician arrived and quickly stated that the he needed to order a digital board for the TV. He told us that it could take a short time for the part to come in or up to two weeks. Two weeks pass and we call the service technician. He informs us that the part is on national backorder and that it could take up to another two weeks. We wait another two weeks and call the service tech again. He does not return our calls. We call Appliance Unlimited and talk to the secretary and she acknowledges that the service technician is having a hard time finding the part.

We decide to call LG (the TV manufacturer) and they inform us that they have plenty of digital board parts. We then call Circuit City (Jesse, tv/salesmanager at the time) with the hope of having him help resolve this matter. It's now been over two months that TV is unviewable. After a few more days of no answers, we call LG the TV manufacturer again and they inform us that Circuit City's service provider Appliance Unlimited is UNAUTHORIZED to work on LG TV's. They will not sell Circuit City's service provider the parts. We call Jesse, the TV manager from Circuit City and explain the situation to him and he acts odd when we explain to him that LG stated the service company that was sent to our home is unauthorized to work on the TV. We ask to speak with the store manager. Lauren Palmer/CSA #1 who offers no solution. We contacted Circuit City Corp. and they put us on hold for two hours.

We felt deceived. Is this a scam or a tactic of Circuit City? We again contacted Circuit City Corporation and spoke with Marilyn Pando, and finally were given a contact ID Number 2205897. I never heard from Circuit City again. We contacted the Better Business Bureau. They were working on getting a replacement TV for us and checking into the unauthorized service provider issue. A few weeks later we speak with the store manager again, and she states that they are working on getting authorized service.

On July 14th, after several months of misleading information from Circuit City and their service provider, we returned the TV to the store. We were issued an exchange for our original TV on July 31, 2006 under ticket no. 14150118491 only after the Better Business intervened. However, we did not take the 50 LG exchange TV that was offered to us because of the unresolved service protection plan issue. In addition, by this time, our original model TV was no longer available and the exchange LG model was not similar in dimensions to our original TV. . We were told by store manager, Paul Renshaw/CSA #2 that we could wait a few weeks to see if any new models arrive while the service issue is being resolved.


February 2007, we still have no TV. I again call Circuit City and speak with new store manager, Tracy Sgon/CSA #3, and return to the store to consider a different brand TV. This brand was a Sony 46 LCD TV (Model No. KDL46XBR2), with similar dimensions as our original TV and was priced at $3,609.99. It was not a 50 Inch Plasma TV. We were however, willing to pay the difference between our $3,299.99 original purchase and this particular exchange TV, but when we arrived, Tracy informed us that we had only been authorized an exchange value of $2,800.00. We never agreed to this amount, especially when the original TV only worked for two months. She also informed us that she still had not been authorized to refund our service agreement fee, and stated that the corporate office should not be selling those service contracts when they know that we're not certified. We did not take the exchange TV. I called Circuit City Corp. and spoke with Amos Forman, and waited on the phone for over two hours, and was finally told that there was nothing he could do for me.

On February 16th, 2007 we contacted the Maryland Attorney General's Office of Consumer Affairs to help resolve the issue. As of March 3rd, the office had not heard from Circuit City or had returned their calls.

On April, 9th, 2007 John Rekinburg, Circuit City's new TV Manager calls to say that he has a different lower-end 46 Sony LCD model priced at $2,249.99 and asked if we were interested. Since Circuit City had still not addressed the service protection plan issue, and the quality and value of their TV offer was continuing to go down, we informed him that we were not interested. We also told him that we sent our complaint to the Maryland Attorney General's Office and were taking steps to file in Small Claims Court. A week or two later, other TV salesmen from Circuit City called to say that 46 TV we ordered was in. We informed him that we did not order a TV.

After a year of explaining our case over and over again to different store managers, TV sales managers, customer service reps, making numerous telephone calls to the corporate office, typing emails, and sending many letters without resolve, we feel victimized. The Circuit City Advantage Protection Plan states that it provides you with the best product coverage and customer service available. Relax with a peace of mind only seems like an Advantage to Circuit City. I have spoken with hundreds of people on the internet that seem to be going through the same problems with Circuit City. The consumer should be made aware of this.


We would like to add that Circuit City is misleading the average consumer, with the intent to deceive. This is an unfair and deceptive business practice. They sell a service contract knowing that they can send anyone (an unauthorized service tech) to your home and say that they attempted to fix it, or actually fix it and make matters worse, and then after weeks and months of the consumer trying to get this resolved, they begrudgingly offer you an exchange that is similar a new item with far less value or even worse, a TV that someone else returned, and then offer you nothing for the service contract fee.

Circuit City sold us a fraudulent protection plan. It is unacceptable that they are now only offering ($2,659.96)? exchange value for a $3,299.95 TV that only worked two months. As a customer, we have done everything possible to resolve this issue in a patient, timely manner. Circuit City's customer service policy prolonged this situation by not being honest and forthright from the start.

In the interest of consumerism, we now expect Circuit City to refund the full amount of our original TV purchase, in addition to the service protection plan refund. If this cannot be resolved we will have no choice but to file in small claims court for the total amount of the TV, the protection, plan, the custom mount, installation and repairs, and possible attorney fees.

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