On 12 JAN 08, I ventured to the Circuit City in Kildeer, Illinois to purchase a new HDTV and BluRay player. I brought with me an advertisement for Frys Electronics promoting a Samsung HDTV model LNT4071 discounted $800 off the original price of $2, 399. Circuit City claims to have a low price guarantee where the purchaser can receive 110% of the difference between the CC price and a competing retailer. CC listed the sale price as $2, 199.99. I presented the sales person with the Frys ad and inquired about CC matching the price. He consulted with the on-duty assistant store manager Erik who came to me, examined the ad, and walked away. A few minutes later, Erik sent the sales person back to me stating he would not honor the price listed in Frys nor would he honor the CC price guarantee policy. I inquried about the policy with the sales person, who had to go back to Erik and speak with him. After a few rounds of back and forth with the sales person speaking to Erik, I finally had to ask why Erik did not have the stones to speak to me personally. Erik, obviously concerned I believed he had no stones, finally came to speak with me personally. Erik stated he did not have to honor the ad as he considered Frys a 'wholesaler', not a retailer. I asked Erik if he would negotiate a price with me, and he walked away after saying if I had any concerns, I should call 1-800-THE-CITY. So I did, and spoke with Kim, who stated the store should honor the price guarantee and explained the process for obtaining the price difference. Kim, apparently hard of hearing, had to be told ten times the process she outlined for me is not acceptable to the store's assistant manager, Erik. Kim called Erik and, after holding for nearly ten minutes, came back and told me how sorry she is, but Erik would not honor the policy nor the price.

I went down the street a half mile to Best Buy and dealt with Steve, Scott and Duke who immediately provided assistance. Steve informed me the price advertised by Frys was extremely low and below cost. While the store could not meet the $800 difference in price (Best Buy also priced the Samsung unit at $2, 399), they would discount the price $500. Throw in a Samsung Blu Ray machine for $100 off, ten free Blu Ray discs, and a Monster HDMI cable, and I walked out the door - taxes included - for the original price of the television with two years interest free financing.

Based on this experience, I can see why CC stock plummeted from a high of $22.02 eleven months ago to its current pitiful $4 performance. At this rate, I will be shocked if CC is operating in 2009 lest a major corporate overhaul occurs.

My daughter received an item from her grandfather for Christmas that she didn't want. He of course didn't include a receipt and she certainly couldn't ask him where he bought it. We assumed it either had been bought at Circuit City or at Wal-Mart. What she really wanted was a digital camcorder. She found one she loved at Circuit City and even though the item she was returning was sold at Circuit City, they wouldn't take it back. It wasn't just that though, it was the way they handled it. They had attitudes and stared at us as though we were trying to cheat them. They demanded the gift giver's telephone number so they could look up the recipt. I wasn't sure of the phone number he might have used!! They finally came up with his account but it was under his official name. She gave me a look like I was a liar. "He hasn't been here since March!" she said coldly. I said, "God, y'all act like I'm trying to pull something over on y'all." No response. Finally, "without proof, we can't take it." It was humiliating. I felt like a criminal, I was embarassed. I will NEVER go into a Circuit City store again!!

I said that a year ago when a dear friend decided to buy a special present for my daughter that I couldn't afford. It wasn't anywhere in our city, but we located it on Circuit City online. It said there were 5 of them at the store in Lafayette, La. She even called to make sure. They looked it up on the computer (The same way the internet looks it up) and said yes, they had them in stock. So we drove 1 1/2 hours to this store. It wasn't on the shelves. They said someone would check in the back to try to find them. We stood around by the back door by customer service for about 20 minutes with NO ONE asking if we needed help. There were 2 guys who could plainly see us in the back area, they were hanging around talking, playing on the computer, they'd look at us occasionally but didn't respond when we would try to wave them down. Finally the guy who said someone would check finally came around about 30 minutes later and seemed surprised that no one helped us or even talked to us. He went looking for the missing 5 items but couldn't find them. We were there for about an hour with no explanation of why they didn't have them when their computer said they did. Also, we were angry that they didn't actually check their stock when we called, they were well aware that were traveling in a distance specifically for that reason. Then they had some sort of sign that if you didn't get waited on in a certain amount of time that you would get some sort of coupon or disount or something. She inquired about that, wanting sore sort of comensation for all of oour trouble and time, and dissapointment of a child's expectations. Oh, they could send out a small gift card in the mail in about 4-6 weeks, but we would have to stand in line to get all of her information. Were they kidding?!!!

I have had exactly 2 experiences at Circuit City and that was them. Those will be the last ones. Their employees don't care. I understand about rules, but there are ways of handling things and there is such a thing as customer service. All for the price of an exchange I will never purchase anything from them online or in the store. I also tell others about my experience, so now they are afraid to buy anything there for fear if they have to return it or exchange it. Poor poor customer service. I hope their stringent returns policies is worth all the lost customers. BTw, Wal-mart took the item, no questions or problems.

I tried calling Circuit City in Daly City for a stock check on a part we needed for our TV, and after several attempt I finally got through to a human. A useless human I mean. I asked her that I needed to check availability on a part. She proceeded to put me through to the tv department. Once again no answer, so I called back and told her i did not want to be transferred, I just wanted to know if the part I'm looking for is in stock. She then raised her voice and told me she was customer service and had to transfer me, and then hung up on me. I will boycott Circuit City store for the the above reason. It's sad your business is customer service based yet people in the industry don't care.

During the month of August, 2008 we purchased HP/Compaq LAPTOP for 479.99 at 78 Mountain Road, Glen Burnie, MD 21060 with a two-year “Advantage” Service Protection Plan for 199.99 (on the advice of the salesmen, )

Within couple of months of purchasing this we started having problems with this LAPTOP computer and it is not resolved till now.
1. We had problem with the wireless card and since we had the Advantage” Service Protection Plan we took it to the Circuit Store in Catonsville, MD for getting it fixed. They had the computer for couple of days and they returned stating that the problem is fixed.
2. We did not use Laptop for a month and when turned on to work it was very slow. We called up HP customer service where they made us do some tests and told that hard disk has a problem and HP can fix it free of cost. Since we had Advantage” Service Protection Plan we again went to Circuit City in Catonsville, MD. They had the system for a week and returned it back telling that they have replaced the hard disk.
3. We came home with the system and after couple of days when we switched on the system it did not boot and Circuit City told us that they have replaced the hard disk but did not install the Operating System(OS) and we had to do it on our own since it was not in their plan, which we did.
4. After couple of days the system started again giving problem and we called up HP and after making us do some tests that the problem is with the mother board and told us to send the system to them for a replacement or go to a Circuit City store for replacement since HP has a tie-up with Circuit City wherein Circuit City gets a replacement for faulty systems from HP.
5. Since the Circuit City store at Catonsville were not fixing it properly We visited their Glen Burnie Store in MD. I met Mr. Jeff from Firedog and we can explained the problem and told them that we needed the system very badly since e my wife was leaving to Australia and we needed the system for her to do her official work. Mr. Jeff assured us that he is going to fix it this time.
6. After couple of days we got a call from the store that our computer is ready and we can pick it up and that is where our harassment from the store people started. When we went to pick the system they took about half an hour to locate our system and at some point they also told us that that we have not given our system for repair but at last they could locate it. When we tested the system, it booted properly and suddenly went blank for couple of minutes. We pointed this to the Firedog person and he told us that there is some problem with the system and he also told us that since it is giving lot of problems and as per the plan since it has been repaired more than three times we are entitled for a free replacement. He spoke to his manager about this and told us to wait. After waiting for an hour and to our surprise the manager was not even bothered about our waiting and our little kids waiting without having dinner told us he cannot do a replacement and we need to come the next day and meet the Store Director
7. Promptly we went to meet the Store Director of Circuit City, Glen Burnie, MD and he was so rude that he was not even interested in talking to us. We explained the whole situation and also told him that after the recent repair the screen is going blank for which he told us that we need to leave with this since it is not a major problem. Being a Store Director he did not even have the courtesy to talk to us properly and the Firedog person who had told us that we are entitled for a free replacement or store credit did not utter a single word. The Store Director even told us that since it is not the same problem and we have not given the system at the same place more than three times he is not going to do anything with the system. We had not seen a Store Director being so rude and unfriendly to a Customer. At present we are still living with the defective Laptop.

. We also came to know that Circuit City is cheating the customers by charging for two years wherein the first year it is sent to the telling us that that they will cover for both the years
We request you to look in to the matter and help us in getting our problems fixed.
We would appreciate a response from a Corporate Manager of some kind, preferably by phone, explaining to me why Circuit City feels customers should be treated in this fashion.
In the interest of consumerism, we now expect Circuit City to refund the full amount of our original Computer purchase, in addition to the service protection plan refund.
We would appreciate a response from a Corporate Manager of some kind, preferably by phone, explaining to me why Circuit City feels customers should be treated in this fashion.

Shailan Mandayam












Thank you for using the Better Business Bureau's Online Complaint System.
Your complaint has been assigned case # 36027514.
Correspondence regarding this complaint will be emailed to : [email protected]
Please print a copy of this for your records.

Filed on : August 4 2008

Filed by :
Sri Shailan Mandayam
8317 Silver Trumpet Drive
Columbia MD 21045

Filed against :
Circuit City



Complaint Description:
During the month of August, 2008 we purchased HP/Compaq LAPTOP for 479.99 at 78 Mountain Road, Glen Burnie, MD 21060 with a two-year "Advantage" Service Protection Plan for 199.99 (on the advice of the salesmen, ) Within couple of months of purchasing this we started having problems with this LAPTOP computer and it is not resolved till now. 1. We had problem with the wireless card and since we had the Advantage" Service Protection Plan we took it to the Circuit Store in Catonsville, MD for getting it fixed. They had the computer for couple of days and they returned stating that the problem is fixed. 2. We did not use Laptop for a month and when turned on to work it was very slow. We called up HP customer service where they made us do some tests and told that hard disk has a problem and HP can fix it free of cost. Since we had Advantage" Service Protection Plan we again went to Circuit City in Catonsville, MD. They had the system for a week and returned it back telling that they have replaced the hard disk. 3. We came home with the system and after couple of days when we switched on the system it did not boot and Circuit City told us that they have replaced the hard disk but did not install the Operating System(OS) and we had to do it on our own since it was not in their plan, which we did. 4. After couple of days the system started again giving problem and we called up HP and after making us do some tests that the problem is with the mother board and told us to send the system to them for a replacement or go to a Circuit City store for replacement since HP has a tie-up with Circuit City wherein Circuit City gets a replacement for faulty systems from HP. 5. Since the Circuit City store at Catonsville were not fixing it properly We visited their Glen Burnie Store in MD. I met Mr. Jeff from Firedog and we can explained the problem and told them that we needed the system very badly since e my wife was leaving to Australia and we needed the system for her to do her official work. Mr. Jeff assured us that he is going to fix it this time. 6. After couple of days we got a call from the store that our computer is ready and we can pick it up and that is where our harassment from the store people started. When we went to pick the system they took about half an hour to locate our system and at some point they also told us that that we have not given our system for repair but at last they could locate it. When we tested the system, it booted properly and suddenly went blank for couple of minutes. We pointed this to the Firedog person and he told us that there is some problem with the system and he also told us that since it is giving lot of problems and as per the plan since it has been repaired more than three times we are entitled for a free replacement. He spoke to his manager about this and told us to wait. After waiting for an hour and to our surprise the manager was not even bothered about our waiting and our little kids waiting without having dinner told us he cannot do a replacement and we need to come the next day and meet the Store Director 7. Promptly we went to meet the Store Director of Circuit City, Glen Burnie, MD and he was so rude that he was not even interested in talking to us. We explained the whole situation and also told him that after the recent repair the screen is going blank for which he told us that we need to leave with this since it is not a major problem. Being a Store Director he did not even have the courtesy to talk to us properly and the Firedog person who had told us that we are entitled for a free replacement or store credit did not utter a single word. The Store Director even told us that since it is not the same problem and we have not given the system at the same place more than three times he is not going to do anything with the system. We had not seen a Store Director being so rude and unfriendly to a Customer.We are very happy unhappy with this.

Your Desired Resolution:
Replacement

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I used Circuit City online to order then pick up a keyboard and mouse combo hoping to save time and money on June 15, 2008. What I got instead was a refurbished keyboard and mouse not labeled as a return item and sold to me as a new product. I paid the amount for a NEW product to receive a USED one. The keyboard had dust and grime between the keys and the mouse was scratched up and obviously worn having just being taken out of the package. The packaging even was missing the six AA batteries that came included with the box and it's software sticker was obviously opened previously. I called the Circuit City location from where I pick up the item to receive feeble excuses. They didn't even offer any compensation for their error except for an exchange. Which can be all fine and dandy if you like wasting extra time, money, and gas just to drive back there for the exchange.