Avoid Circuit City

This is unbelievable. IMO, Avoid Circuit City at all costs after what they
just pulled on me.

I went in on Monday to buy an HP Notebook model ZX5160. They were offering
an additional $250 off and with a $100 rebate the price was $1199.

I saw their model ZX5040US for $199 after rebates. That has a dedicated
memory for the video and firewire. But it was out of stock and they didn't
know if any were coming in.

I specifically told the salesman that I'd be back Wednesday after
researching the 2nd computer.

I show up this afternoon and the $250 Circuit City Rebate is gone. I'm told
it ended Sunday night. This almost came to blows as the sales manager first
infers I didn't see it,then tells me the guy we found who helped me wasn't
from the computer section so he can't be expected to know a rebate ends. I
told him that wasn't my problem and that his refusal to honor the price was
a "stupid decision." Then he tells me he isn't stupid and get ****ed off. I
as ked him how he was ****ed off when I was getting screwed? He insisted he
wasn't screwing me and that he was trying to work with me. I asked him how,
by now tralking me into paying $1349 for the same computer I wanted to walk
out the door with on Monday?

I then had to tell him to listen carefully as I didn't say he was stupid. I
said he was making a stupid managerial decision as I walked in the door
with cash, his salesman [who suddenly wasn't a real salesman] spoke to me
about the two different notebooks, and I said I'be be back to buy one
Wednesday. I had to explain to him that if the sale ended Monday [now
another saleman intervenes and tells me it ended Monday not Sunday] then
the onus is on the salesman to try to sell me one Monday by telling me the
rebate ended.

He goes back into "I can't manufacture a store rebate." to which I told him
he could do whatever he wanted to do and write up an explanation. His
comment then was that at $1199 he was losing money. I asked how he was
losing money if he was selling it at that price all last week!

Avoid Circuit City. They remind me of a place called TOPS in NJ years ago.
They just wanted to sell you a service contract and be out the door with
you.

Mike

I haven't bought ANYTHING from Circuit City after they screwed me out of
an extended warranty that I [thought I] paid for. When talking to the
salesman, I agreed to get the extended warranty. He put his signature
on the ticket and I went through the line to pay and then picked up the
stuff. Later when I came in because of a problem, they then tell me the
extended warranty was never purchased. The salesman had marked his name
and the ticket to have me charged for the warranty. I still had that
ticket (it's the warranty). However, the cashier didn't charge me for
it. How would I know whether the whole damn bundle over $1000 included
her charging me for the warranty. The cashier tells me how to pay and
that's what I pay. All items were listed on the ticket that she was
supposed to mark up.

The warranty was all filled out with salesman signature and the length
of the warranty. They screwed up by not charging me for an agreed upon
service. Their mistake. Nope, no warranty repair. Nope, never been
back again. They don't have anything that I cannot get easily from
another local and equally nearby retailer. They are stupid because they
didn't lose one sale (or the cost for warranty repair) but instead have
lost ALL my subsequent purchases that have instead gone to Target,
OfficeMax, OfficeDepot, Best Buy, or anywhere else since I'll never go
to Circuit City because nothing they have is unique. Save a sale (or
discount or warranty cost) and lose a customer (and engender bad
word-of-mouth or negative advertising), yeah, that's good business ...
not!

"*Vanguard*" wrote in
news
Their mistake. Nope, no warranty repair.

Let me introduce you to Stacey. I'm sure she'll tell you that you screwed
yourself. You see, being 49 years of age I actually received an education
and thought that I was speaking in the store, and here, with people who had
a modicum of brains as to how things are supposed to work when both sides
have integrity. I see from a few here now that the "me generation" has no
problem with taking the sides of fools.

MikeW

MikeW said in :
"*Vanguard*" wrote in
news
Their mistake. Nope, no warranty repair.

Let me introduce you to Stacey. I'm sure she'll tell you that you
screwed yourself. You see, being 49 years of age I actually received
an education and thought that I was speaking in the store, and here,
with people who had a modicum of brains as to how things are supposed
to work when both sides have integrity. I see from a few here now
that the "me generation" has no problem with taking the sides of
fools.

MikeW

Yeah, most responses here have been "if they can get away with it then
it is okay", "no one's word can be trusted", or "they know about the
offer but they don't know about the offer (i.e., they knew it existed
but miraculously are too stupid to know or bother to look as to when it
ends). Based on responses to your post, every salesman must be assumed
to be an idiot and their word is as potent as a gnat's fart. In my
case, I was given a warranty contract that was all filled out. It had
the store number, it had their legal representative's signature (the
saleman), all terms defined along with all blanks filled in, and
everything that looked to all purposes to be a completed contract
between me and the store. They forgot to charge me when checking out.
Do you go through your grocery receipt to ensure that they charged you
for every item that was supposed to get included in the sale? No, they
tell you the total price and that's what you pay. They claim that THEIR
mistake in not charging me for the service meant that the contract
wasn't valid, and instead said it was my mistake for not ensuring THEY
had charged for THEIR service as per the COMPLETED contract. I didn't
find out they didn't charge me until I returned to exercise that
contract.

Live and burn, but learn to not burn again (i.e., don't do that anymore
which, in this case, means don't buy again at Circuit City).

--
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*Vanguard* wrote:

I haven't bought ANYTHING from Circuit City after they screwed me out of
an extended warranty that I [thought I] paid for. When talking to the
salesman, I agreed to get the extended warranty. He put his signature
on the ticket and I went through the line to pay and then picked up the
stuff. Later when I came in because of a problem, they then tell me the
extended warranty was never purchased. The salesman had marked his name
and the ticket to have me charged for the warranty. I still had that
ticket (it's the warranty). However, the cashier didn't charge me for
it. How would I know whether the whole damn bundle over $1000 included
her charging me for the warranty.

By looking at your receipt? I'd think most people spending $1000+ would at
least check to see if they were charged the right amount.


The cashier tells me how to pay and
that's what I pay. All items were listed on the ticket that she was
supposed to mark up.

The warranty was all filled out with salesman signature and the length
of the warranty. They screwed up by not charging me for an agreed upon
service. Their mistake.

No, your mistake for not making sure they charged you for this...


--

Stacey

Totally agree.. they are bad


"MikeW" wrote in message
...
This is unbelievable. IMO, Avoid Circuit City at all costs after what they
just pulled on me.

I went in on Monday to buy an HP Notebook model ZX5160. They were offering
an additional $250 off and with a $100 rebate the price was $1199.

I saw their model ZX5040US for $199 after rebates. That has a dedicated
memory for the video and firewire. But it was out of stock and they didn't
know if any were coming in.

I specifically told the salesman that I'd be back Wednesday after
researching the 2nd computer.

I show up this afternoon and the $250 Circuit City Rebate is gone. I'm
told
it ended Sunday night. This almost came to blows as the sales manager
first
infers I didn't see it,then tells me the guy we found who helped me wasn't
from the computer section so he can't be expected to know a rebate ends. I
told him that wasn't my problem and that his refusal to honor the price
was
a "stupid decision." Then he tells me he isn't stupid and get ****ed off.
I
as ked him how he was ****ed off when I was getting screwed? He insisted
he
wasn't screwing me and that he was trying to work with me. I asked him
how,
by now tralking me into paying $1349 for the same computer I wanted to
walk
out the door with on Monday?

I then had to tell him to listen carefully as I didn't say he was stupid.
I
said he was making a stupid managerial decision as I walked in the door
with cash, his salesman [who suddenly wasn't a real salesman] spoke to me
about the two different notebooks, and I said I'be be back to buy one
Wednesday. I had to explain to him that if the sale ended Monday [now
another saleman intervenes and tells me it ended Monday not Sunday] then
the onus is on the salesman to try to sell me one Monday by telling me the
rebate ended.

He goes back into "I can't manufacture a store rebate." to which I told
him
he could do whatever he wanted to do and write up an explanation. His
comment then was that at $1199 he was losing money. I asked how he was
losing money if he was selling it at that price all last week!

Avoid Circuit City. They remind me of a place called TOPS in NJ years ago.
They just wanted to sell you a service contract and be out the door with
you.

Mike

"MikeW" wrote in message
...
This is unbelievable. IMO, Avoid Circuit City at all costs after what they
just pulled on me.

I went in on Monday to buy an HP Notebook model ZX5160. They were offering
an additional $250 off and with a $100 rebate the price was $1199.

I saw their model ZX5040US for $199 after rebates. That has a dedicated
memory for the video and firewire. But it was out of stock and they didn't
know if any were coming in.

I specifically told the salesman that I'd be back Wednesday after
researching the 2nd computer.

I show up this afternoon and the $250 Circuit City Rebate is gone. I'm told
it ended Sunday night. This almost came to blows as the sales manager first
infers I didn't see it,then tells me the guy we found who helped me wasn't
from the computer section so he can't be expected to know a rebate ends. I
told him that wasn't my problem and that his refusal to honor the price was
a "stupid decision." Then he tells me he isn't stupid and get ****ed off. I
as ked him how he was ****ed off when I was getting screwed? He insisted he
wasn't screwing me and that he was trying to work with me. I asked him how,
by now tralking me into paying $1349 for the same computer I wanted to walk
out the door with on Monday?

It was on sale on Monday; it wasn't on Wednesday. End of story.
You've only yourself to blame. Personally, I think CircuitCity is
a pretty decent place. They often have brands that competing
stores don't.

-- Bob Day

On Thu, 20 May 2004 01:56:10 GMT, "Bob Day"
wrote:


It was on sale on Monday; it wasn't on Wednesday. End of story.
You've only yourself to blame. Personally, I think CircuitCity is
a pretty decent place. They often have brands that competing
stores don't.

-- Bob Day

I avoided CC for years and years after having an outright incredibly
sleazy thing done on me. Believe it wasnt like the above story where
that could be due just to incompetence.

One lesson - never depend on the salesmen for anything. Get all the
info yourself and reverify by looking it up on the net and calling
too. I usually sign up for a raincheck if they dont have it instock -
ask for one theyll usually give it to you. Or theyll say we dont offer
it for this product.

In the past they were famous for being perhaps one of the sleaziest
stores around - bait and switch was their bread and butter. When I
went in and this was 10 years ago ---- I heard stories then but I was
shocked at the treatment i got. I go for a cd player JVC that was in
an ad in the LA papers cheap. I go for it and the salesman talks to me
for 15 mins trying to drag the process out saying the unit was cheap ,
horrible and I should get another unit. After jousting with him for 15
min I saw I still want that unit, he suddenly says they are out of
stock !!!! Im sooooo ****ed at this point I walk out and go to
another CC in the LA area and talk to the manager asking him for the
unit that was advertised . He listens to my story and says sure and
then tells me to pick it up AT THE STORE THEY SAID THEY WERE OUT OF
STOCK !!!!

I go walking into the store and theres that salesman and he sees me
walking out with the unit.

After that Ive been there intermittently for sales in the LA area and
later in the region Im in now --- they NEVER seem to have whats they
advertise. So Id only go once maybe a year for a laugh to see if they
had it. Sometimes the salesmen would say "That cheap thing? You are
better off not getting it anyway." The usual bait and switch.

About 3 years ago I signed up for a CD burner on sale and waited
around 3 months and then cancelled. They had charged my credit card
right away. Just a long line of sleaze. But after lots complaints
over the years they have finally improved a bit.

They seem to have toned down the outright sleaze - though they still
are a kind of spensarian suvival of the fittest sales oriented outfit.
Theres a kind of desperate atmosphere there. The inventory has gone
from a total joke to having SOME things on salesday not a total scam
and they dont charge your card right away on rainchecks and actually
live up to their rainchecks in general nowadays and are actually good
at fulfilling rebates.

My neighbor though recentlywent there - for one of those $399 for a
whole system with rebates emachine and as usual they were out on sales
day. They said they only had two units in stock at the time.

Bob Day wrote:

It was on sale on Monday; it wasn't on Wednesday. End of story.
You've only yourself to blame. Personally, I think CircuitCity is
a pretty decent place. They often have brands that competing
stores don't.

What? Blame oneself instead of someone else? What a concept! g

"Bob Day" wrote in
:

It was on sale on Monday; it wasn't on Wednesday. End of story.
You've only yourself to blame.

Let's see if I can get into your Kafkaish world of demented reasoning. The
guy tells me the price. He writes it and the model on a piece of paper. I
tell him I'll see him two days later to pick one of the two. I come back
and they won't honor what they stated. You see, legally speaking when I
told him when I wanted to pucrchase the item and he wrote it down he made
me an offer. I'm sure some here are having difficulty with it and think I
should have brought he and his entire family from Punjab to my home so as
to lock in the deal. This is great comedy to see such an utter ability to
reason. No wonder America is screwed. You people learned nothing in school.

Sheesh
MikeW