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Avoid Circuit City



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 20th 04, 12:18 AM
MikeW
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Default 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
  #2  
Old May 20th 04, 01:13 AM
*Vanguard*
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Posts: n/a
Default

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!


  #3  
Old May 20th 04, 02:14 AM
Brandon Brown
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

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



  #4  
Old May 20th 04, 02:56 AM
Bob Day
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"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


  #5  
Old May 20th 04, 04:15 AM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

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.


  #6  
Old May 20th 04, 04:22 AM
Chris Stolworthy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"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 hi

m
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

As a ex-circuit City employee I can honestly say...AVOID that place like the
plague. Unless you are buying accessories like Usb cables etc... Their
warranties are overpriced, suck and are hard to get anything done about.
When I worked there I honestly wanted to help people out as much as possible
but it was because of asshole managers like my store director, who don't
realise that giving away 100 is worth it because that person will keep
coming back for their needs. I also have to tho that it coming *almost* to
blows was bad on your part. Even after hearing your part after a display
like that I wouldn't want to help you either. In short, the more ****ed off
and in my face you get the less you get from me. There are proper channels
for this and blowing up just shows how little control you have emotionally.
I guess my point is this: Circuit City = Good people, Dumbass Managment. I
goto compusa


  #7  
Old May 20th 04, 05:47 AM
ric
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

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
  #8  
Old May 20th 04, 06:11 AM
Grinder
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I generally have to agree with Bob that you have yourself to blame for being
uninformed. This is not to say, as Bob does, that I think it's a decent
place. That's not been my experience, at least.

One of the first things I ask of a salesperson anywhere is: Are you working
on commission? If they hesitate and say no, I follow up with: Is there any
incentive pay in your contract that is tied to your sales performance?

If they admit that one of these scenarios is the case, I resist the urge to
yell "get the f*ck away from me," three inches from their face. Instead, I
calmly and surreptitiously quiz them.

I ask them questions that telegraph a "good" answer that would be totally
fallicious: Ok, so I've heard that eMachines are some of the best quality
machines out there. I mean, it's not so much the components (although they
use the best,) but the *integration* that really puts them over the top. Is
that right?

If the rip out an "absolutely," you immediately know that they're a lying
sack of ****. So far, the only sincere commissioned salespeople I've
encountered are also wearing trainee tags.



  #9  
Old May 20th 04, 07:44 AM
Stacey
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

MikeW wrote:

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.



Did you ask him when the sale/rebate was good through?


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,


Well you obviously didn't!


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.


He can't, that's your job.

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.


As would anyone.

I as ked him how he was ****ed off when I was getting screwed?


You screwed yourself.

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?


But you didn't, you waited till it wasn't on sale anymore.


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.


Sorry, you should have checked this out yourself. Of course it's much easier
to get ****ed off and blame other people for your stupidity. And I'm not
calling you stupid, just your actions were stupid.


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.


No he can't.

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!


Because the store you were at wasn't giving the rebate.


Avoid Circuit City.


I think the advice would be to -run- if you walk into a store! You didn't
even spend a dime yet feel you got "ripped off"? Go buy your stuff
somewhere else if you don't like their price.

--

Stacey
  #10  
Old May 20th 04, 10:12 AM
MikeW
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Grinder" wrote in
news:E5Xqc.36630$6f5.3809494@attbi_s54:

I generally have to agree with Bob that you have yourself to blame for
being uninformed.


Hello? Earth to agent provacatuers....He writes down each model number and
the price next to them for me to go home and research which one I want and
I tell him I'm coming back Wednesday. He does not say that the sale is over
Monday. It wasn't. ANd I'm "uninformed"? Let me introduce a strange concept
to you. maybe you are all too young to understand it. "A Amn's Word is His
Bond." Circuit City refused to adhere to that. End of story.

There was no date on their $250 rebate from them as I considered buying it
online and checked the expirations. I looked at the HP one and the Circuit
City $250 one. If it had said Monday I would have bought the unit Monday.
There is still $100 from HP. Online now shows none of the stores in my area
as having any stock. So what apparently happened is they sold the last one
and then lifted the card. I was not told anything about the $250 possibly
being removed before the day I was returning.

I did not get arrogant with the guy until he told me that he couldn't do
anything fo me and said "What do you want me to do, lose money on the sale
for you?"

What are you people smoking?

Mike
 




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