CircuitCity

[Zathros]

About 6 years ago I purchased a Sony Surround Dolby Digital Home theater receiver. I purchased a protection plan. Every now and then circuit City would offer a an extension of the plan at a nominal price. I figured what the heck. I owned an electronics repair shop for 8 years but get tired of fixing stuff. I fixed the output amps (push/pull) as the solders cracked once, the Sony's run hot. That was two years ago. The amp went into overload protection 2 weeks ago and I found that I still had till Jan 2008 so I returned the amp to Circuit City. 10 days later I called them and they said the repair was done and I could pick up the amp. When I asked them to verify that it was there they said they could not find it. It took them 4 days to find it so I finally went in and picked it up. A few days later when I went to install it I removed the plastic bubble wrap to find the metal side cover was placed on incorrectly and had pushed into the smashed face. They had obviously stacked something very heavy on it. Here's were it gets good.

They refunded me the full purchase price of the amp from 6 years ago. The Ops manager said it was not fair to make me wait any longer. I immediately went to the back and purchased an Onkyo TXSR 505 by adding a little money to the $265 they refunded me. This is the second time Circuit City has really taken care of me the last time was with an Canon Digital Elph that broke the 2nd week I had it, they just ave me a new one. So I can say that the Circuit City in Danbury Connecticut does take care of their customers and thought I would share this experience.

[cgutzmer]

I had a very similar experience her in Madsion WI digital camcorder good folks there :D
Chris

[Ashrunner]

Circuit City? Wazzat? 8v) We just got a Best Buy in this area around two years ago, and every time I have dealt with them, it ain't been good.

[cgutzmer]

I had a great experience with an olympus z700 with best buy about jeez, must be 6 or 7 years ago. Got a free double upgrade because of the extended plan.
About a year ago it was horrible - made me jump through a ton of hoops to get any service done properly. Just recently had same issue with a canon digital camcorder couldnt get anything done without jumping through hoops - called canon and they said "sounds like a defect - mail it to us for a free repair. They sent us a paid label in the mail - we shipped it within 2 weeks we had it back good as new. Great on Canon, bad on best buy.

[Mechanic]

To quote one news site:

"When Circuit City laid off 3,400 hourly employees to boost profitability, nine employees at the Santa Cruz store lost their jobs. . .

All of the employees laid off were paid more than "the company's established range" They will be replaced by employees who will be paid less, or as Foreman put it, "within the established range" "

I guess they can afford to do nice things like that now that they don't pay their employees as much any more. You might consider it good "customer service" because they gave you a refund, but wouldn't it have actually been better customer service if they had done the job right in the first place?

Is YOUR job at risk for no other reason than you "make too much money"?

[cgutzmer]

They did their job right, it was someone else's product, not theirs. They gave me excellent customer service, that goes unchanged. It sucks they laid people off but that does not change the fact they gave good service.
Chris

[Zathros]

@Mechanic, I can understand your sentiment. I was a toolmaker/machinists with many years in CNC prototype manufacturing. I also got an electronics's technician certificate from the State of Connecticut after going to school for a couple of years. To be honest I have found that most of the people I have dealt with at Circuit City do not know what they are talking about. I can understand why they trimmed the fat. When you have salespeople with no training making the same money as highly trained technicians you will create redundancies. All business must have established ranges or where would it stop. We (Americans) have given out production to other countries. Not one TV is made in America. There are virtually no affordable electronics made in America. Everybody's job who makes too much money is at risk. Your job and every job I ever had was at risk. If you ever shop at Walmart you mine as well just send the cash too China. It is the stockholders who make money in the end. Circuit City's service department smashed the amp, Circuit City in Danbury Ct. took responsibility and properly reimbursed me. I personally think 6 years out of a Receiver (Solid State) is pretty good. Sony makes some pretty good products and that amp was on for much of those 6 years. I don't believe Circuit City did anything "nice", I believe they did, without any hassle, what they should have done, and that is getting harder to find these days. On the other hand states like mine (Connecticut) are making it impossible for working people to live as the wages do not support home ownership or Condo ownership or even sufficient amounts of income to pay rent for the average working person, of which I was till my Spinal Cord injury. I definitely know where your are coming from. I am holding onto my home with my teeth. I am one of those walking the razor's edge

[Mechanic]

cgutzmer: I'm not entirely sure what your responding to/about; Zathos originaly stated:

"When I asked them to verify that it was there they said they could not find it. It took them 4 days to find it so I finally went in and picked it up. A few days later when I went to install it I removed the plastic bubble wrap to find the metal side cover was placed on incorrectly and had pushed into the smashed face"

As I said before, wouldn't it have been better service done right the first time?

Zathros -"To be honest I have found that most of the people I have dealt with at Circuit City do not know what they are talking about."

That is a symptom of the problem. Inexperience pays, retailers don't want someone that's been with the company for more than a couple of years. The older your staff is the more concerned they are about things like Health Care and retirement (the things that start costing a lot). Retailers know the profits are higher with lower paid untrained sales floor, if customers think they're saving $2, they will put up with the ignorance.

Zathros - "I can understand why they trimmed the fat. When you have salespeople with no training making the same money as highly trained technicians you will create redundancies."

These were not redundancies and highly trained technicians are almost as safe as management. The jobs lost were the crappy unskilled like cashier, stocker, warehouse and non-commision sales. The ONLY basis for these people being laid off was how much they made, and it was ONLY hourly employees. Oh, but they were offered their jobs back after a waiting period of 30 days and, of course, at the reduced wage.

Zathos - "I don't believe Circuit City did anything "nice", I believe they did, without any hassle, what they should have done, and that is getting harder to find these days."

Seems to me that you are pretty aware this situation could have easily gone the other way. I'd say that was nice, even if it was what they should have done.

[Zathros]

I have met senior salespeople at Circuit City but have never met a highly trained technician. The situation could not have gone the other way as per agreement on the contract. It could ave taken a week longer but since the PCB was cracked in AMP was irreparable. I was the highest paid machinists in every machine shop I ever worked in within 1 or 2 years. If I did not get paid what I wanted I moved on. I do feel empathy for unskilled workers especially in Connecticut. Any young people reading this should know how important it is to get trained either in school or by vocation. The "nice" part was the courteous way in which the situation was handled. I remember when Circuit City laid off all those people, look at Ford and GM making all those SUV'x and the 10's of thousands they are letting go. I think retail is a little different than manufacturing. The management is responsible for making all of those big useless vehicles. If the salespeople at Circuit City were paid on commission most would not be able to make a living in that business even though electronics has a ridiculous mark up.

P.S> I have always had the most positive experience with Canon Corporation, even after warranty ran out their technicians were most helpful. I wish Canon made a TV.

[Stev0]

Interesting ... this is the opposite of what I usually hear about Circuit City.

Their recent bust was a secret website. You go online to price check a product and compare it to other retailers and when you go into Circuit City and go to buy it the price is higher than the website. They then use their inhouse connection to go to the website to show you the price for proof to make you think you looked at the wrong thing and voila they pulled you in.

Big write up on CNN one day.

There are other nefarious warranty stories I have heard including RMA's sold as retail new stock which caused Manufacturers to actually label RMA products for retail with 'Remanufactured' right on the box.

Here we have a boon of Big Box retail and service is exceptionally poor with customers having to serve themselves most of the time with staff on hand to pretty much watch for people walking out the door with unpaid merchandise. Poor Stock Runs, Abscent to Scarce Staff, Dishonorable Warranty Practices, Claiming a Beat All Prices with no commitment to claim... I can go on about poor retail experiences because I think I have pretty much seen it and experienced it all. From buying simple batteries to a car.

Try buying a car from a GM Dealer with the salesman giving you attitude like he doesn't care if your buying a car or not, screws up giving you the correct VIN number over the phone and when you call back later tells you he's leaving work and will give it to you the next day... =\

(don't even get me started on Canon... )