We ordered and paid for a product two weeks prior to Christmas. We were assured the product would be in within a "few" days. If fact, we were told the product was "in transit" at the time we purchased it. According to the sales person, there were two of these products on the way to the store and since we paid for the product, one of those two would be ours. Guess what? Not only have we not received the product, but we very well may not have it on Christmas morning. This is my son's Christmas! The store's operations manager stated "I hate being the BAD SANTA, but we don't have it and I don't know if we will have it". Since we had paid for this product, XBOX 360 Rock Band, we stopped looking for it. You cannot find this product anywhere right now. I will NEVER purchase another product from this company, plus their management is insensitive and down right rude!

My sister walked into Circuit City to purchase a HP Pavilion Model DV9620US ($850.00). In the specs it states: 'Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium' in the bundled software. As everyone knows there are a few 'issues' with vista. I recommended for simplicity sake that she purchase XP Pro W/SP 2. That way when vista is updated and found to be ok she could go back to vista seeing as the laptop came with it.

When she told the fired*rks that this is what she wanted they of course went into salesperson mode and hyped up vista. She clearly said she knew little about computers and she was just doing what she was told would be the easiest for her as far as trying to get peripherals and programs to work with vista. I am not knocking vista it's just right now it has some very unfriendly 'issues'.

Anyways after she purchased XP ($200.00) and asked them to install it ($140.00) she asked about the copy of vista that came with the laptop. They said 'no you don't get a copy'. I then called Circuit City to explain to them that they were wrong in telling her that. This was my thinking. If you purchase a laptop or any PC and it came with an operating system, you then purchase an additional Operating system,( now keep in mind the price you pay for that PC would include the license for the OS it comes with), you would then legally own both Operating System's. Yes??

To install XP on a laptop that has vista you pretty much need to blow away the hard drive, but HP has a recovery partition built into the hard drive. Circuit City decided to blow that away as well... Why?? Windows doesn't care about partition it is not installed on. They could have left that partition alone and installed XP on the same one vista was installed on. After they blew away the recovery partition they stated to me that she would need to purchase vista ($200.00) if she wanted to upgrade. On a side note SHAME on these cheap computer manufacturers as well not including recovery disks with their computers. If they do then I am sorry but the fired*rks said that for the past 2 years manufacturers have stopped including them.

The king firedork finally stated that to get vista back my sister would need to spend another $30.00 to get the recovery disks from HP because they don't have the time to explain to customers what computers do or how computers work. If a technologically challenged person asks a question of a professional I.T. person and that persons job is to treat the customer with respect... Why ISN'T IT YOUR JOB TO explain to customers what computers do or how computers work. THAT IS WHAT YOU DO...

As a heads up to all people who have purchased PC's or Laptops that originally came with Vista. If you as they jokingly say 'Down graded' to XP and are thinking of upgrading to vista when it is all cleared up. You should NOT have to Pay an additional $200.00 for Vista again when you paid for it when you bought the PC or laptop to begin with...

It's a SCAM...

So to review
Laptop w/Vista $850
XP w/ SP 2 +$200
firedork install chrg +$140
4-year xtend war +$450
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total $1640

Then to upgrade later
vista home +$200
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New Total $1850

I know there are a lot of people who have purchased and put XP on the system they bought but you should be aware you have already paid for vista. I think just because you don't know doesn't mean you shouldn't be told.

THE MOST FRAUDULENT DISHONEST COMPANY AROUND ALL THE STAFF ARE TRAINED TO SCAM.FALSE ADVERTISING BAIT AND SWITCH -NON EXISTENT REBATES USELESS WARRANTIES -DO YOURSELVES A FAVOR STAY AWAY OR YOY WILL BE SORRY THE ONLY PERSON THAT BENEFITS FROM CICUIT CITY IS THE GREEDY SCHOONER OR WHATEVER HIS NAME IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fire your management staff in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Rt. 1 North!!!!!! Imagine my horror as I was trapped in a stampede of people shifting from improperly setup waiting lines outside your store. Now picture the pregnant woman by my side as we see another woman on crutches nearly run down in front of the main door. Whoever was in charge of crowd control on this Black Friday really, really, truly dropped the ball!!!!!!!!! I'll never shop Circuit City again, and neither will my business associates.

Circuit City Managers Lie to Customers + Terrible Service and Attitude

On September 8, 2007, at the Orange, Connecticut, Circuit City outlet shop - or "warehouse store" as they label it, I purchased an open box Toshiba laptop computer ($799.96) and an open box Samsung 27" HD tube TV ($209.96). Practically everything in that store is out of the box, having been a display unit or a previously returned item. I also paid a required $29.99 service fee for Circuit City's technician to reset the laptop computer I bought back to factory settings and fully optimize it to perfect working condition by removing certain extraneous software so that the machine would be as though it had just gotten it in the box from the factory. When I got the laptop home, it did not work. It was a mess. None of the four USB ports worked, no audio card was recognized by the operating system so there was no sound, software would not launch, it got hung up and gave an error message. I was told America Online software was removed from the computer as part of the optimization process, yet I found two AOL folders still on the machine, all of which made it clear that the machine had not been serviced the way I was told it should have been and it was not at all not in perfect working condition *when I bought it*. So essentially, Circuit City had taken an extra $29.99 from me and given nothing they promised in return except a very messed up machine. The computer in no way functioned as if it had come sealed in a box from the factory, the way I was told the technician was going to re-set it.

The next day, September 9, I brought the Toshiba laptop back to Circuit City and was told that the technician was not in on weekends so I'd have to come back the next day. So Monday, after not being able to use the machine all weekend like I had wanted to, I brought the computer back to Circuit City and the technician took a few hours and revamped it and got it working again. I had a legitimate complaint to make with the manager, George, in that I had paid $29.99 to have that computer in perfect working condition *the day I bought it* -- Saturday, 9/8/07 -- and yet I had to wait two days before the technician got the computer to that condition, so I did not get what I paid extra for. George said the $29.99 technician fee was non-refundable. When I pointed out to him that Circuit City promised a customer a machine in perfect working condition at the time the customer buys the machine, but did not come through on their promise, George made a very interesting offer -- one that he himself would later expose as a complete lie – George told me that he could refund me the $29.99 fee but then I would have to re-set the machine to factory settings myself – their technician would not be doing it. This offer was a bluff by George because he knew I did not know enough about the new Microsoft Vista operating system to try to re-set the computer myself. (My previous computer was Windows 98.) I guess George figured he had me in a compromising position where I certainly would not be able to accept his terms of refund, so he would offer it to me just as a means to shut me up, which was a sad sign of the terrible attitude of Circuit City. When I pressed George about my paying for something I didn't get, he repeated that he could give me the $29.99 technician fee back, but then I would have to re-set the machine to factory specs myself, and in a wise-guy manner said to me, "You said you don't know much about computers." I guess he was certain now that he had me shut up. But his offer to refund the fee would come back to haunt him, because when I later talked to him in October after I returned the computer to Circuit City because I was disgusted with their attitude and the games they play with customers, George told me in a condescending tone that Circuit City cannot refund that $29.99 technician fee to a customer, EVER! Really George? Never, EVER? Why then, did you offer to refund that $29.99 technician fee to me, not once, but twice when I first brought the computer back to you? Why did your nasty sales clerk also offer a third time to refund me the $29.99 technician fee when he said to me in a nasty, condescending voice, "Alright. We can give you your $30 back, but then you won't get any technician coverage on the computer!" It’s clear that Circuit City’s position is to slam the customer in a condescending tone with an offer they know the customer is not going to accept, and so now they can finally shut the customer up once and for all, and keep the customer’s money. This is how Circuit City does business. It is an extremely stupid way to conduct business. They lie and deceive. I felt like I was dealing with a bunch of teenagers the whole time. George, the store manager, with his lies and deception to customers, is training the younger sales clerks at Circuit City to carry on with the same lies and deception when they later become managers. Circuit City employees have no incentive to learn their products either. After purchasing an HD tube TV set (not flat-panel) the same day that I bought the computer, when I found out at home by reading the product manual that the sales kid had completely misinformed me about the TV after I had asked him a specific, direct question in the store, I asked the manager, George, "Don't you read your own manuals?" George answered, quite matter-of-factly, "No." -- I was completely taken by surprise. What an uncaring, unprofessional disposition to have. All you'll find at Circuit City is hourly-paid sales clerks who ring up a transaction and carry the product to your car after you buy it. Don't take what they say as truth when you ask them a specific, direct question about their products, as evidenced at the Orange, CT Circuit City "Warehouse" store. From my experience, the attitude of the management there reflects that the store is run more like a rummage sale store.

Also in my interactions with store manager George, when I explained to him how the laptop computer I purchased was a total mess when I bought it, he kept repeating that four days before I bought the computer, it was declared in perfect working condition by the technician - the tag on it said so. But George leaves the computers on the store shelves for people to come in and play with, and sometime before I bought it, the computer got terribly corrupted (or the technician didn’t do his job). George explained that a customer must have come in and messed the computer up. OK, George, so therefore, I the buying customer, should pay $29.99 to Circuit City to let them allow customers come in and corrupt the computer I buy, so I then have to bring home a computer that doesn't work, and I should feel just fine about that? In George's teenager mind, yes, I should be just fine with that after I’ve spent $800.00 on the computer. George kept on sideswiping the point and like a teenager, kept repeating the computer used to be in perfect working condition sometime before I bought it. Dealing with George was dealing like a child. His attitude was, “We’re charging you the $29.99 fee, and we don’t care what we promised, we’re taking the money and you can get lost!”
After I explained to the store director, Chris, how I had been wronged by Circuit City and how I was treated by his manager and sales clerk, he finally offered to give me store credit for the $29.99 technician fee. I thought he was being decent about the whole incident, but he didn’t tell me that he was taking the $29.99 as a lean against my prior TV purchase so that if I were to return the TV, I would not get a full refund for it. The term “store credit” means it’s the store’s money, not a lean against a customer’s prior purchase. You have to be up front with the customer, and Chris wasn’t. When I returned the TV I had purchased, I was refunded the purchase price minus $29.99. I was outraged. The assistant manager, Ed, told me, “I can’t just take money from nowhere.” So take it from a customer’s prior purchase, Ed?! I was furious and I told Ed would be contacting the attorney general’s office. When I later got a hold of Chris, the store director, he refunded the additional $29.99 to me. I told Chris clearly that store credit means it’s the store’s money, and Circuit City cannot place a lean against a customer’s prior purchase while the customer still has full right to return that purchase within 30 days if not satisfied with it.

The employees at Circuit City, managers included, basically behave like they have robot brains where they seem to be ordered by Circuit City to maintain certain policies, and even if they wrong the customer in the process, they still maintain the policy, do-or-die. Well, Circuit City chose to die financially. They blew an $1100.00 deal. After returning the laptop over the nightmare experience I had with George and his employees, I also returned the TV set that I had purchased - for two reasons - the tube picture quality looked very sharp when a DVD was played, but not as sharp through cable TV; but I also just didn't feel good about that purchase because of the attitude and misinformation and lies on the part of Circuit City employees and managers. Circuit City simply has no clue about the meaning of the word respect, and they have no concept of the terms "customer relations" and "customer confidence." They blew an $1100.00 deal over $29.99, and they exposed themselves as deceiving liars, and I will never, ever shop at Circuit City again, anywhere, not even in their regular retail stores where products come sealed from the factory in a box. I’ve now read too many horror stories consistent with my buying experience that reflect Circuit City’s attitude toward customers: “WE HAVE YOUR MONEY. NOW GET LOST!!!”