Circuit city ripoff Rego Park New York

Thanks Heather,

You have clarified your position as well. Guess its just "ok" for them to lie to us. Since everyone does it.

From now on I suggest everyone expect CC to lie to you. After all......everyone does it. Thus it must be ok.

So at least we know where we the consumers stand. According to you, basically....stores lie....deal with it.

BTW....I think those consumer advocate shows do the same thing there Heather. You know the ones that put cameras in the hoods of cars and take them to mechanics to catch them doing bad things to your car. I guess they can be sued too for recording people without their consent. I guess the mechanics can claim "we were lied too also!" when they bring those fully working cars with nothing wrong with them to the shop for a "ruse". But I guess those mechanics cant be blamed for being "bad" either. Since....everyone does it....it must be ok.

Lie...? No need to be rude there Ben, i was asking you to explain what i was failing to understand.
You're problem is that they lied. I ask you, have you ever lied? Actually, you have admitted to lying.

I mean, the lie that they told was to bring it to the store. When yo called with a ruse they said call the 1-800 number. OK, so different information, the slaes person lied. But, yuo o not prefer to call the 1-800 number over having to drive to the store, and waste your time?

Again, myself, I would prefer to contact the warranty company myself, than have to go to the store to have them ship it off for me.
Just different opinions...
I mean, you can't point out a store has never lied. I mean... everyone lies at some point or another .. whether is that the person is new and makes a mistake that is then a 'lie' or if the person purposely lies to get a sale.

I think that having the customer deal dirrectly with the warranty company is better customer service... but thats just my opinion.
Thank you for clarifying your position.

Heather,


My argument is.....

They simply dont tell the truth!


Is that so hard to understand? They say one thing (like "bring it to the store if anything goes wrong") then when you try and do exactly what they said.....they dont want to do it.

It has nothing to do with if I or anyone wants to run to the store. It has nothing to do with if your going to save gas or not. Plain and simple.....they say one thing, yet do another.

How more simple can I make it for you?

Ok maybe a little more simple......

THEY LIED!

He said "bring it to the store". Yet when you try, they dont want you too. Matter of fact...they wont let you. They tout it as if the store is your end all to fix all your issues, yet when you try to go there, they dont want to deal with you.

The salesman.....LIED. And its common if not standard policy.

Got it now?

I remember going into a circuit city over five years ago. I needed a new television.

The salespeople didn't want to be bothered. Clearly, they weren't being paid. So, I guess I can't fault them for having their attitude.

It looks like the problem is that the market is saturated with electronics retailers. That drives the prices and the profit margins down.

Now, the only thing that's left is to sell fake warranties and try to make up for the lost profit.

That's why they try to force you into a warranty.

Personally, I fail to see the point in continuing to do something that clearly isn't working.

For example, I used to drive tractor-trailer trucks long haul. There was no money in the business because too many trucking companies were chasing too few dollars. Everybody competed by driving down their rates. That continued until there was no profit left in the business.

Nothing lasts forever. When you see that the competition has driven your profit margin so low that you can no longer continue as a viable business, it means that it's time to move on. Either change your products or close up and find another business niche.

Continuing to coast along in neutral just prolongs the inevitable.

Circuit city had their 15 minutes of profitability. They should get out and sell the property to make way for a Kia dealership or a restaurant. Let those dejected salespeople go on to find jobs where they can earn a living.

Ben, I don't understand your argument.

You are happy that Apple wants you to waste your time, and gas, to bring a product to the store so that they could 'deal with it'. Do you know how they were going to 'deal with it'? Did they advise you that they were fixing in store, that they were sending it off to be fixed, what? That is the important part.

For Circuit City, they orginally said to bring it to the store. Then when calling with your 'ruse' they said to call the 1-800 number. And you have aproblem with that.
So, you prefer that stores allow you to bring a product to them.

Even though you have no way of knowing, how the store was going to 'deal with it'?

I mean, Apple very well could send off the Ipod to be fixed as well. They may have to wait the time to get a box from the warranty company as well.
I'm not sure I understand why you prefer to bring something to the store. Because at no point does your post say that the store is just going to hand you a new one, or fix this problem in any specific way.

Me, as a customer, i dislike having to go to a store with a defective item. If I have a warranty on the item, like my computer, I wouldn't want to bring it to the store just so THEY can ship it off.

And BTW, it IS illegal to record someone without their knowing, unless you have a court order. You have posted this information on a very public website, so I suggest that you delete your lil recording there, for your own safety.

I have a suggestion on how to resolve this problem... This is a sure fire way to resolve your problem...

First, I always recommend filing a complaint through normal channels documenting who you have spoke to.

Second thing, I would do is research their corporate office telephone #.

Circuit City's corporate office telephone # is
(804) 527-4000

However, when you call in there, you should make sure that you have the name of the executive with whom you wish to speak.

Here is a list of those executives:

Senior Management

W. Alan McCollough
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Philip J. Schoonover
President

Michael E. Foss
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Brian E. Levy
President and Chief Executive Officer, InterTAN

George D. Clark, Jr.
Senior Vice President; President, Circuit City - Retail Stores

Ronald G. Cuthbertson
Senior Vice President, Supply Chain and Inventory Management

William C. Denney
Senior Vice President, General Merchandise Manager

Fiona P. Dias
Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer

Philip J. Dunn
Senior Vice President, Treasurer and Controller

Reginald D. Hedgebeth
Senior Vice President, General Counsel

Eric A. Jonas, Jr.
Senior Vice President, Human Resources

Michael L. Jones
Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer

John J. Kelly
Senior Vice President, General Merchandise Manager

David L. Mathews
Senior Vice President, President Circuit City Direct

Gary M. Mierenfeld
Senior Vice President, Retail Operations

Douglas T. Moore
Senior Vice President, Chief Merchandising Officer

Marc J. Sieger
Senior Vice President, General Merchandise Manager

Randall W. Wick
Senior Vice President, General Merchandise Manager

Since your problem situates around an operations issue or policy, just ask for that executive's office... Don't ask for the executive -- just say -- "Can I have Mr or Mrs. Executive's office please?" DO NOT TELL THE OPERATOR YOU ARE UPSET ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE, otherwise you will never make it to the executive's office. Trust me, no executive wants to be perceived as not trying to address a customer's concern.

Hope that helps...

Ok in response to your three points.....


Number one: Well, if its $64.98, then why did he say $89.99?? I know what he said. I have the audio tape! In my opinion you just bolstered my argument. That Circuit City will say just about anything during a sale.

Number two: I'm not too sure what your point is about shipping me a box. The point I was trying to make was the salesman said "bring it back to us here at the store"....period. Yet that was not the case when I called the 800 number. Point being, what the saleman says and what is truth are two completely different things. "bringing back to the store" is.....bringing back to the store! Its not calling an 800 number. Its not dealing with some customer service in India, England, Mars, or Jupiter. Its not waiting for some darn shipping box to be sent to my home.....period! He said bring it back to the store. I expect....to bring it to the store.

Oh....and I have nothing to do with the "headset" you speak of. That was the orginal author of this thread.

Number three: As far as I am aware, recording is illegal if you are a business calling on a consumer. Not the other way around. Now I could be wrong. If I am....so be it......write your DA! I really dont care! If it was legal or not doesnt matter to me. Facts are facts, regardless of how they were obtained. Its not like I am going to use the recordings in court.

Number one to your test: The protection plan on ANY Ipod is $64.98 (unless it's a Shuffle)

Number Two: Although we don't do any service in store, all we do with an Ipod is give you a gift card for the full amount of your Ipod so you can then come into the store and get the new version. The second part therein is, did you want to drive back to any store? Because we just ship you a box for that defective Ipod of yours and ship you that shine-y new gift card... Wow... that was easy, huh?

The same thing will happen with your headset... a shine-y new gift card, my friend

Number Three: Did you tell any of these people that you were recording them? Did you know it's illegal to record them without their consent?

Ok Chris and Heather.....


I did a test. I needed an Ipod. There is both a Circuit City and an Apple store near me. So I tried both and asked many questions about it, and the "extended warranty".

First lets start with Apple. They offered an extended warranty for $59.99 that covered it two years. I asked "what do I need to do if it breaks?". Their response was "bring it to us here at the store, we will take care of it". After getting all the info I needed, I left. Two days later I called the store and pretended I already had an Ipod that wasnt working right and would like to make arrangements to get it fixed. I said I had the extended warranty and asked "what do you suggest I do?". They stated right away "bring it down to us, we will take care of everything". And that, was that.


Next I went to Circuit City. They offered their "city advantage" for $89.99 for 2 years. I asked "what do I do if it breaks?". They responded "bring it to this store, and we will ship it out for repair". Two days later I called the store and gave the same spiel I did at Apple. They immeadiatelly told me to call the 800 number on the City Advantage info given at the time of sale and then the people there would explain how I (thats right, me!) could ship it to their repair facility (now I'm sure this was an Apple place since Apple is pretty strict on who does repairs for thier products). I tried to explain that the sales person told me to bring it to the store (granted my whole spiel here is a ruse....but the saleman I spoke too DID say this!). They didnt want to hear it. All they kept repeating was "call the 800 number...call the 800 number".

If only I could upload audio files to this site. I have all four. Two from Apple (the initial conversation with the salesgirl and the call to the store about the warranty work), and the two from Circuit City (initial conversation with the sales"kid", and call to the store about the warranty work).

Needless to say, the Apple store just got a sale in the amount of $587.15 (thats one 60GB Ipod, the 2 year warranty, extra PC connector, FM transmitter, and a case)

Thank you Heather, you're correct Circuit City does contract out to GE Zuric for our warentey service, as I said earlier once you are past the return period you go though GE Zuric for the repairs, not through Circuit City at all. Now that dosn't mean the store won't help you as best they can, two days ago we exchanged a laptop that had been purchased back on April 1st because it wasn't working right and the manufacturer was jerking the coustomer around. The coustomer left the store with a new working laptop and a nice new digital camera.

Just to let you know Ben, I am not the same Chris that posted on the other thread, this is the only thread I have ever posted on here.

Ben, I think you have some anger issues, first of all. Take a breather man. The caps just makes it hard to read, and honestly, who wants to take some screaming guy seriously?

I did not work at a CC store, therefore, have never dealt with the CC extended warranty. HOWEVER, I wonder if this is actually Circuit City that has created a Warranty company, OR, if it is another company hired to deal with the warranty issues.

If they have hired another company, then yes, the product needs to be sent off. As well, you suggest that the store loses money, by giving the customer a replacement on the spot.
First, how do you know the item cannot be fixed? It it can be fixed, and the store gives the customer a new one, they cannot sell the refurbished item! they loose money! I don't know any store that would do this now.
Second, how do you know the customer did not purposely damage the item? Someone with expertise for the items needs to examine.
My other point is that quite often the extended warranties do not apply for the first year. That is because most manufactures have their own warranties ... if your product is damaged within the first year, you deal with the manufacture, anything after the first year, you deal with the store. Why have double coverage? Do you have two different car insurance policies?

We don't know if the OP contacted the Warranty Company, or what they were really told at the store, as they were not very descriptive in their post.

Oh Chris.....Stop already!

The points I have made is that Circuit City wants to make things hard on consumers now. In the hopes that they will just give up and go away. Your attitude proves it. The stores have replacement products right there! Why make the person go through all this. 10 years ago they would have taken it back right then and there and be done with it. Now things need to be shipped around, hoops need to be jumped through and people have to near scream to get a store manager to just do his job. In the old thread about the laptop you said "deal with the manufacturer". On this thread you say "deal with corporate". The point being, deal with it at the fricking store you moron!! Dont make people go through this crap. Why even wait a week when a store manager can walk 20 feet and pick a replacement off the shelf or walk 5 feet and make a cashier cut a gift certificate. Why the corporate option? Why? Why bother? Why not make the customer happy instantly? Its all comming out of the same pocket anyway. Matter of fact, if what you say is true that "they will even ship it for you" (something I have seen MANY times DENIED at the service desk at CC), then you will be saving money by dealing with it then and there! We are talking about a headset for Christ sake! What are we talking about? $20?? Get off your duff and get a new one off the shelf ya dork!

And once again spare me the "boo h*o your typing in caps" routine. Zeroing in on someones caps, spelling, punctuation, or grammer just shows you dont have any real angle to comeback at the original issues of the post. You dont like caps? Tough!

My obligation to type the way you want has ended! (sound familiar?)


DEAL WITH IT.....CC STINKS!

If you would of actually read my post and understood it you would realize that he is not going to be dealing with the manufacturer. The headset will be shipped off and he will get his replacement. He can even bring it to the store and have them ship it off if he wants to. He won't be waiting a few months or weeks for a replacement, he will wait maybe a week for his gift card or replacement product. Our extended warenty service is the same as any other major electronics retailer when it comes to these things. The fact that you claim Circuit City will not honor their warenty is a flat out lie, and the whole typing in caps to make it seem like you're yelling.....you're not a little kid so stop typing like one.

Remember when in the "old days" they gave you the spiel about the "extended warranty" and said.....

"Now if anything goes wrong during the warranty period....bring it back to us....and we will take care of it"


Those days are long since gone. Especially at Circuit City. For a short time during my college years, I worked at The Good Guys. The tactics and attitudes were identical in every aspect. We even had our employees walk over to the Circuit City across the street to take notes on what they had on sale and what their prices were in general because of the "meet or beat" any price promise. During those years the internet was just starting and computers were becomming a major section in the stores (Good Guys has now gone way down hill and no longer sells PC's from my understanding). The "extended warranty" was a good idea then for a PC. Considering how many parts there are to go wrong. Even if the extra cost could be high, it was well worth it. Mainly for the fact you wouldnt have to deal with the MANUFACTURER!!

DO YOU HEAR THAT CHRIS! NOT....DEAL.....WITH....THE MANUFACTURER


Without the extended warranty a consumer would have to pack up the product, contact the manufacturer, get some long winded flamming hoop saga, and send it all in only to wait weeks if not months for it to come back....hopefully.

Thats where the strength in these "extended" things are. The fact that you now had a local place to bring it to (thats the Circuit City CHRIS!) and not have to go through all this garbage to get something fixed quickly and easily. I would sell many PC extended warranties simply on the fact that I would tell the customer..."If you get this, you only need come back to THIS STORE to get a loner, replacement, repairs, or an outright refund if needed". It was an instant sell. And WE DID IT...HONESTLY and WITHOUT QUESTION.


But those days are long gone. I think Chris said it best in the title of his post. And has said it well in many other posts on many other threads.......

Circuit Cities' "OBLIGATION" to you has ENDED.

Screw the "extended warranty"....your hosed pal. They dont honor them anymore in the capacity they used to. Although they sure will tell you they do at the time of sale.

NEVER GET AN EXTENDED WARRANTY AGAIN. CIRCUIT CITY WILL NOT HONOR IT...for any reason....at any time.

Thier obligation to you ends at the second they get your money. The warranty isnt worth the paper its written on. (and from some posts I have seen, they dont even put it on paper for you anymore!)

If you did purchase the City Advantage plan on your headset you can call the number in your service guide and talk to the people there. You will need your ticket number, if you do not have it just call the store and they will give it to you, along with the CA service phone number if you need it. Chances are you'll ship your defective headset off and either recive a replacement or a gift card for the ammount you paid for the headset.