Circuit City ripoff ignores damage claim on product failure refuses to honor warranty Springfield Virginia

On 8/13/05 I bought from Circuit City Springfield VA a home theatre system - 42-in Panasonic TH42PX50U plasma TV, Zenith ZHX313 DVD player and audio system, DVR, and a Slam Brands glass-top SLB 220337 TV stand, plus the CityAdvantage Protection Plan ($284), which was stated in effect until 2008.

Everything was installed by Circuit City contractors on 8/18/05. On 11/22/06 the glass top of the stand failed; the TV fell down on and broke the home theatre box; the TV fell forward breaking both beveled glass top of coffee table and the TV itself and threw glass everywhere.

Since then the store director has told me that the entire matter was in the hands of "corporate", which is in Richmond, Virginia, and "corporate" has given me nothing but a complete runaround - basically refusing to honor either the CityAdvantage Protection Plan or to assume liability for the damage caused by the defective product they sold me and installed for the express purpose of supporting the TV I bought from them at the same time. They have refused to put their decision in writing, or send anyone out to examine the damage.

I first reported the incident on 11/22 to Circuit City Service at 1-888-333-2333. An associate gave me a call-ID of 8354393 and said Jessica Brittingham tel. 1-800-457-5181 x 21355 was assigned the case. Starting 11/29 I left repeated phone msgs to her but no one returned my calls. On 11/29 and 11/30 I talked with Jim Higgins, store director at Springfield store and asked his help.

He told me to email circuitcity.com, which I did on 11/30. A customer support coordinator, Meherdeep G., answered on 12/2 (call ID CALL8736483), gave me a new IM number of 449661, and told me a Home Repair team would contact me. That has never happened.

On 12/6 Ms. Brittingham finally returned my call and told me someone from home repair would be in touch. Hasn't happened. I have called her repeatedly. She told me on 12/14 the case is still quote under investigation quote but no one has ever called to inspect damage, view photos, or get estimates for cleaning carpet or repairing coffee table.

In late December I called back to the Circuit City service number 1-888-333-2333 and was connected with a Leticia Davis who was identified as part of the "Escalation Department." She talked to me and advised me that my case had been determined "not to be a damage claim" because it was an "accident." She further said this was because I had informed a person named "Jess" she identified as the "operations manager" of the Springfield store that I had installed the TV stand myself. This was untrue on all counts.

First I never talked to anyone named Jess or who identified themselves as the operations manager of the store. Second I never said I installed the stand myself, and it is not true that I did. Third, the stand was actually installed by Circuit City contractors C&P Satellites & Phone Inc. When I informed Ms. Davis on 12/28/06 of these facts she said she would investigate and get back to me within one day. Since then and up through today (1/15/07) she has not answered her phone or returned any of the phone messages I have left for her.

The Protection Plan was billed all-inclusive, and the table I bought from Circuit City for the purpose of supporting the stand - it's rated to support such weight - failed during the protection period, destroying the TV and DVR unit. My efforts to get Circuit City to honor its protection plan have met with nothing but stalling and unkept promises of future action. Replacing the TV would cost $1600 - though I paid $3300 for it in 2005 - the Zenith unit $166, the stand $242, carpet cleaning $150, new coffee table $150.

So I am out about $2500 and have learned several valuable lessons - that Circuit City's promises mean nothing and their warranties are worthless, that they are cheap chiselers, and they don't stand behind their products.

Howard
Springfield, Virginia
U.S.A.

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