I purchased a Panasonic 27 inch HDTV from Circuit City it was less than two years old when on December 2, 2006 it started to smoke and give off noxious fumes. I unplugged it and contacted Circuit City. I thought I had peace of mind because I had purchased their (Advantage Protection Plan) which now has become a total disadvantage. After talking to Circuit City's outsourced customer service department somewhere in India I received a call a few days later from a local vendor who was going to make the repair. Now the trouble begins he informed me they would be a $50 pickup charge unless I bring the set in myself I stated I will contact Circuit City's over this matter I hung up the phone and called Circuit City again. In their automated telephone menu it states for any TV over 25 inches for in-home service press #1. This tells me because the size of my television it would be repaired at my premises. I explain this to Circuit City and within 2 days only out of protest I received a phone call once again from A. & A. standard to schedule a picked up . The vendor stated the pickup time would be between the hours between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at 4: 45 p.m. after no one showed up I contacted the repair company they said someone would be out there shortly by 5 p.m they finally arrived. I was stuck at home 8 hours waiting . Because of the sheer weight of this television it took people to carry it from my premises. By December 10 supposedly it was repaired and returned to my home within 36 hours the TV went again . I contacted Circuit City again now i am back to where I started from .A few days later I received a call from the repair company they refused to pick up this television set unless I paid a $50 fee. Also the repair company stated if Circuit City contacts them over this matter they will tell them the TV is not repairable thats where it should have ended. BUT somewhere in fine print supposedly there's a hidden clause before Circuit City will replace a television but they must be a minimum of three repair attempts. The repair company stated they had only picked it up the first time free of charge as a favor for Circuit City but this time the $50 pickup charge stands. I said that's not going to happen I hung up the phone once again I called Circuit City's custom service department's
I explain the situation they stated they would find another vendor who would pick up and service this television. My timeline so far is the television stopped working on December 2 it was supposedly repaired and returned on December 11 it stopped working again December 13 . December 13 I contacted customer service and they said I would receive a phone call from a new vendor by December 20 th which never happened.
On December 20 later that day's I contacted Circuit City again they came back to me with some cock and bull story that a new vendor had called and I no longer needed assistance with my television which was totally preposterous and an outright lie. December 20th customer service said I will receive a phone call within 72 hours over this matter which never happened. Now I had to begin from scratch all over I contacted Circuit City's customer service again. I finally talked with someone a little closer to the United States this time in Ontario Canada I explained the whole situation unfortunately I had to start from the beginning again. Once again I was told someone would be contact me over this matter and as of December 24 no one had . I e-mailed Circuit City's customer service department I received a general reply e-mail that stated someone would be contacting me within 72 hours. I also contacted the claim represented a handling this case I left several messages and the IM number supplied by Circuit City but no one has contacted me. Do you remember that movie Groundhog Day. I received a call December 27 from A&A standard for what reason I do not know because on December 13 Circuit City told me supposedly was trying to find another vendor to pick up his service this set without charging a pickup fee. A & A once again explained to me they would be a $50 pickup fee. So here it is December 28 and I am no closer to having my television repaired than I was on December 13. If this is not a runaround I don't know what else to call its. I guess it's easier when you're a multi-billion-dollar company you can hire people who are unbelievably apologetic and sympathize with you but B.S. you constantly until you finally walk away because you can't take it anymore. I refuse to cut my losses and I will continue to contacting them by any means I can until this matter is resolved. All I want is my TV picked up repaired and returned that's all. If you have experienced a similar situation with Circuit City please contact me at [email protected] or voice your complaint on this site I would like to know I don't stand alone. I feel this is a common practice with Circuit City. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Daniel J.