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Circut City Stinks!

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Jakalwarrior

2[H]4U
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Aug 6, 2005
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3,189
I was off at a funeral and my mother decided to go buy a computer (Oh NO!). She went to circut city and they ripped her off. The computer was actually decently priced... but they convinced her she needed a bunch of extra crap and needed them to install it. As well as some bells and whistles she didnt even ask for. They were as shady as car dealers. As soon as I got home I took her up there to cancel the order and they said sure... but there will be a 15% restocking fee and 140 dollar labor charge. All one hour after ordering it and before ever touching it. Made a stink and even talked to the manager. All we could manage was getting the warranty BS they tacked on refunded.
Only upside to this was I jacked the 17 LCD for my computer (good bye viewsonic CRT) and the little Acer has a Venice 3200+. Did I mention the bios has overclocking!!!!!!!!!!?!!? lol. No voltage control or dividers, but there is HTT control. Wonder if there are any hacked bios for it.
 
"I was off at a funeral" so I couldnt go, and I had my cell off.
All is fair, therefore so is bad mouthing their bad business practices to create a minute impact on their future proffits.
 
I don't get how it's 'bad buisness practice' She obviously said yes to the price. You convinced her after the fact that she didn't need some of the items.

So, how is it Circuit City's fault that your mother bought items which you don't think she needed?
 
EQTakeOffense said:
I don't get how it's 'bad buisness practice' She obviously said yes to the price. You convinced her after the fact that she didn't need some of the items.

So, how is it Circuit City's fault that your mother bought items which you don't think she needed?

I'd start with the non-refundable $140 "labor charge" on a computer they hadn't touched yet. ;)
 
I agree with the OP... they were probably licking their chops when they saw an old (forgive me, but I'm assuming she's probably not exactly young) woman come in for a new computer and knew they could take advantage of her. It is true the saying "buyer beware" but I bet they knew they could convince her to buy a bunch of software she had no idea she "needed". And a $140 labor fee??? Gimme a break. :rolleyes:
 
Damn 140 bucks for something not necessary, now thats a rip. Seems as of late, there are many people who are complaining about CC and their sales strategies
 
CC sucks ass i went in there a few sundays ago because I knew they had DSL modems as mine had take a crap. I only needed the modem but they kept telling me I had to sign up for DSL at the store or it wouldnt work., tried to tell em I needed the hardware. but the 4th grade
diploma holder kept saying i'll see you back here in an hour. guess what? I win. :rolleyes:
 
you have no idea.

i dont mind $8.50 incompidence, i mean really what can you do. but managers... i go there to return this product.
"oh you have to go to Surry Central Mall to return that"
so i go to surry central
"oh no you have to return it at your local branch"
... ok so i go back to the local branch....
"oh no there wrong they need to return it"
......."umm ok well why dont you call them"
"oh no we cant do that"

then i got a tad angry. something about the goods and services act and how i would get everyone i know to boycott circuit city if they didnt do this. i ended up with a dude who made about 45mins worth of phone calls before getting me my refund, as i recall it was just a defective phone.

and whats there name currently anywho? Circuit city? radioshack? the Source? sucks-R-us?
 
At the BB where I live, the emps are always quick to point out that they "don't work on commission". Across the street, at the CC?... I don't think I've ever heard that said.

Regardless, I've seen both push equally as hard to make a sale. But I'd have to give the Vulture Award to CC. I don't even go in there anymore - can't stand all the relentless knobs dragging along behind me trying to push crap on me when I'm not interested.

But most people like, no offense, your Mom who don't know thing one about computers? Those are the people they devour. Everything's posted - everything's in fine print. Doesn't make it cool, but it doesn't make it a "bad business practice" either. People need to educate themselves....and, as a result, build their own, or have their son do it for them :D

At least she didn't buy a 9800Pro for $400. Our BB had one for that price a few weeks ago. I just stood and stared, my mouth hanging open...
 
MrWizard6600 said:
you have no idea.

i dont mind $8.50 incompidence, i mean really what can you do. but managers... i go there to return this product.
"oh you have to go to Surry Central Mall to return that"
so i go to surry central
"oh no you have to return it at your local branch"
... ok so i go back to the local branch....
"oh no there wrong they need to return it"
......."umm ok well why dont you call them"
"oh no we cant do that"

then i got a tad angry. something about the goods and services act and how i would get everyone i know to boycott circuit city if they didnt do this. i ended up with a dude who made about 45mins worth of phone calls before getting me my refund, as i recall it was just a defective phone.

and whats there name currently anywho? Circuit city? radioshack? the Source? sucks-R-us?

One thing I have to give BB, in deference to CC, is that when I was on month 35 of my 3-year extended warranty for my home theater system (yes, that's right, I got the extended warranty...I can fix comps, but not stereos), they didn't hesitate to replace it, once it petered out with less than a month left on the warranty, with a brand new "equivalent" system that had twice the wattage, and was a better brand name. I was shocked at the ease of it all.

As stated above though, I've never heard anything but bad things about CC regarding returns. I could only imagine how much fun trying to cancel the OP's comp was.
 
I just bought a 42 inch ED Plasma from there... Just cant beat that price. The same make and model is retailing on hte interweb at 1300$... I bought it open box for an even 1000$ plus tax.

That is just unbeatable.
 
Vitamin T said:
As stated above though, I've never heard anything but bad things about CC regarding returns. I could only imagine how much fun trying to cancel the OP's comp was.

Well then here is one for you. When I was in elementary / middle school. My best friend had a computer they had bought from CC. It was wrought with problems, and they had to keep taking it in for repairs. Eventually, eventhough it was out of warranty, CC just gave them a brand new computer to replace the old one.
 
Could, someone please anwser my question though....

So, how is it Circuit City's fault that your mother bought items which you don't think she needed?

But most people like, no offense, your Mom who don't know thing one about computers? Those are the people they devour. Everything's posted - everything's in fine print. Doesn't make it cool, but it doesn't make it a "bad business practice" either. People need to educate themselves....and, as a result, build their own, or have their son do it for them

QFT
 
I do not know where you live, but many states have a 3 day period where you can cancel a contract at no cost...kind of a buyer's remorse clause. I know here in Ga, it at least applies to cars, and I believe it applies to mostr if not all written contracts. You might check your state laws...

And charging labor for work that has not been done would be considered fraud in most states. If they have not done any work, and you did not take delivery it seems they can't charge a restocking fee.

I do not know how your mom paid (I hope not cash), but you could stop payment on a check, and refuse a credit card charge.

It seems like you took delievry so that makes reversing the deal harder. You could box it all back up and take it back if your state has a 3 day contract cancellation law, Otherwise, you may be stuck at this point, but may be wiser for the next time.
 
EQTakeOffense said:
Could, someone please anwser my question though....





QFT

They told her she HAD to have this stuff. Otherwise she would have no warranty and the computer would die or something. Told her she couldnt buy it later. Said it was something the computer had to have but they dont come with anymore (burning the restore CDs, part of the labor charge). Tacked on a 99 dollar 2 year warranty she didnt even ask for either. That was all I was able to get her out of.

Second, I had her call them before they had even started the labor but they wouldnt let her back out. Know what the labor was? installing the software packages. Click Click. I understood the part about being unable to take back the open BS software since it has keys and such. They wouldnt let us do that though. Pretty much it was looking like they would give us back 300 out of 600 and we go home without a computer... and all we get is some software. Hard to tell though since they pushed all the numbers around every which way and made a super confusing reciept. And yes my mother is old. In her 50s and can barely turn a computer on.
 
You want fries with that? :rolleyes:

Seriously, even their Geek Squad are a buncha idiots. :eek:
 
HighTest said:
You want fries with that? :rolleyes:

Seriously, even their Geek Squad are a buncha idiots. :eek:

Is more like... If you dont buy fries your burger will burst into flames and kill you. I swear on my dead uncles grave! There is pushing extra services then there is outright lying.
 
They told her she HAD to have this stuff. Otherwise she would have no warranty and the computer would die or something. Told her she couldnt buy it later. Said it was something the computer had to have but they dont come with anymore (burning the restore CDs, part of the labor charge). Tacked on a 99 dollar 2 year warranty she didnt even ask for either. That was all I was able to get her out of.

Now, that is shady....
 
they are trained to do that , if the buyer believes it well not the stores fault -.-
 
lol i recently bought 2 gateway amdX2 comps from CC. As soon as this salesman put in the original price on the store computer he started telling me about all of these add-ons i needed. I Could tell the guy knew little about computers, since i had built quite a few myself. He tried selling me the usual software, offering me a backup cd claiming only circuit city can do it. Then i SWEAR he offered me a windows recovery disk, claiming they are no longer included with the price :p , i laughed in his face and he was really starting to get on my nerves. I was trying to be as nice is i could without bursting out with, "Listen you moron, i dont want any of your extra crap so can u please ring up my computer and i will be on my way." Which is what i should have said at that point. Lucky for me, the guy's hours were up so another guy came along and was really discreet and cool about it. Wow, an honest salesman at CC :eek:

I guess it just depends on who u have ringing it up for you. However, some of these guys are very shady, and won't stop talking until it's lunchtime. If they every try to hassle you like that remember, "No means no!" ;)
 
pyro34 said:
lol i recently bought 2 gateway amdX2 comps from CC. As soon as this salesman put in the original price on the store computer he started telling me about all of these add-ons i needed. I Could tell the guy knew little about computers, since i had built quite a few myself. He tried selling me the usual software, offering me a backup cd claiming only circuit city can do it. Then i SWEAR he offered me a windows recovery disk, claiming they are no longer included with the price :p , i laughed in his face and he was really starting to get on my nerves. I was trying to be as nice is i could without bursting out with, "Listen you moron, i dont want any of your extra crap so can u please ring up my computer and i will be on my way." Which is what i should have said at that point. Lucky for me, the guy's hours were up so another guy came along and was really discreet and cool about it. Wow, an honest salesman at CC :eek:

I guess it just depends on who u have ringing it up for you. However, some of these guys are very shady, and won't stop talking until it's lunchtime. If they every try to hassle you like that remember, "No means no!" ;)


he fed my mom that crap about only they can do it, and not included any more. She was like "cant my son do it? its a computer person" "No no no, only we can do it"
F'ing liars. I should report them to better business beaura
 
This may get me in trouble in this thread but i used to be a CC install tech not sales. And i will start off by saying that no one is comission based at CC we did have contests for like $100 giftcards and things for signing people up for internet service. And i agree the prices are high but it was my job and it was what paid me so it didnt bug me. And yes the regular sales staff are like trained monkeys at CC. If you get a senoir member of staff where it says that on there tag they generally arnt stupid but the filler staff on busy days is horrid.

And from my experiance generally the [H] community isnt buying pcs from them only bargins and know what they need. But an inexperianced user will get every thing thrown at them and it would have been good to sell them certain items like an AV install and a spyware tool of some sort. But i never sold the restore Cd install and it wasnt even really set as an install during my time. But Gateways that are sold there do not come with them and do not come with the DVD or CDs to burn them so it is sold to customers who want it.

And for those wondering it was a damn easy job most complicated thing i ever did was remove spyware from PCs because the user who knows nothing can FLOG a machine with spyware. And during my tech time SmithFraud.C has just broke out and had no easy removal tool. So you had a manually clean a machine all day long. Because no one wanted to me reformat.
 
And about the restocking fees and all that blah ask them about the 14 day peroid if i can remember now i was not sales but there is a XX days peroid to return no fee. But as for labor your be screwed there. Once a service order is signed you are locked in even if there to busy to get to it by the time you "rescued" your mother. Thats just business. I am IT development for a car dealership now and they even have shop fees where if we cant find some thing wrong you cant walk away with out paying for our techs time.
 
Typical...

I worked at Circuit City seasonal a couple years back and its sad what they do.
First of all, I was trained by random workers, no manager or anything like that. I was basically taught to do anything to sell insurance with things. Its true, there i no commission at CC, but it tracks everything your ring up and how much insurance you sell. So, there is an incentive.

After working there, I really felt like a prick selling almost useless insurance to unsuspecting people. But that is what I got paid for, so I did it. They lie so much to get people to buy stuff its ridiculous.
 
After working there, I really felt like a prick selling almost useless insurance to unsuspecting people. But that is what I got paid for, so I did it. They lie so much to get people to buy stuff its ridiculous.

Only crapy sales people have to lie, that, or they have no souls.

If you're selling something and have to LIE to get somethign sold, well, you just plain SUCK! Like, honestly, how crappy of a person do you have to be to lie to people in order to sell something?

People in my store have sold thousands of dollars in installs a day (literally) but never LIED ONCE to anyone. How do you explain that? Oh, wait, we're truthful and honest?! Amazing how far honesty goes....

I hate people like the above poster who give CC a f'in bad name. You don't have to f'in LIE to sell stuff, and if you do, I hope you burn in hell, not only for giving CC a bad name, but for not being honest with yourself.

I'll be more civil in my future posts, but get ONE thing strait

Not everyone at CC is a liar! To assume so makes an ass of you, and everyone else. To base the entire CC store on what horrible sales reps who have to LIE to get anything sold is a horrible sterotype!

*sigh* I'm done.....
 
I'll let you in on a little secret.

If you shop at "any" store that has commision based or "vendor spifs" provided to the employees, they'll hard sell you. It's how they make money.

Go to a store where there is a set wage, and a decent wage, and you'll get much better service every time.

The problem is that the later is in serious decline and likely to disappear in the long run, so get used to hardsell outside of internet sales.
 
Go to a store where there is a set wage, and a decent wage, and you'll get much better service every time.

Circuit City, Best Buy....?

CC starts at $8.75/hr. That's decent by my standards. Techs make $10-12/hr. Our in-home tech makes roughly $25/hr.

Actually....

PST - 6.50 HR
CSA - 8.25 HR
PC - 8.75 HR
Wherehouse - 9.00 HR
ENT - 9.00hr
PC Tech - 9.50 HR
Roadshop PS - 8.50 HR
Roadshop INST - 9.50 HR Receive bonus of up to 3.65 PER HR worked
Seniors and leads add 1-2 per HR
Roadshop , Tech , ENT Mangers - 34,000 SAL + up too 2,200 month bonus
Ops Manager - 40,000 SAL + up too 2,500 month bonus
Store director - 65,000 SAL + up too 3,200 month bonus
DM - 84,000 SAL + up too 4,400 month bonus + Car / food allowence
HR - 50,000 SAL + Car / food / travel allowence
LP - 45,000 SAL + Car/food/travel allowence + up too 12,000 a year bonus after inventory
Regional Roadshop manager - 70,000 SAL + car/food/travel + Up too 4,000 month bonus
Regional Manager - 90,000 SAL + car/food/travel/assistant + up too 5,200 month bonus
Regional LP - 80,000 SAL + Car/food/travel/assistant + up too 4,600 month bonus + year end bonus with inventory
VP - 140,000 SAL + Car/food/travel/assistant/private jet/living expensises + up too 10,000 month bonus + Year end bonus

Edit: CC USE to be Commisioned based, but they got ride of it, so you statement about the later being in decline, is wrong... So

Please, don't post false information....
 
EQTakeOffense said:
Edit: CC USE to be Commisioned based, but they got ride of it, so you statement about the later being in decline, is wrong... So

Please, don't post false information....

Hmm, I may have been wrong, but "Do you still want fries with that, you need them or it'll quit working" is still way to prevalent there. If you know the salaries, perhaps you could pass on the need for more honesty in their sales approaches.
 
Best Buy usually has better prices on things since they bully there suppliers so i usually go there
 
Hmm, I may have been wrong, but "Do you still want fries with that, you need them or it'll quit working" is still way to prevalent there. If you know the salaries, perhaps you could pass on the need for more honesty in their sales approaches.

All I can say is this: not all CC's are created equal. Go to a CC you trust, because, I can honestly say that we have people come from other CC's into my store complaining how crappy other ones are.

Now, having said that, CC could be SOO much better then it is. It's not because of the Sales REP, but mostly uper management, and their complete LACK of any know how when it comes to running a buisness. And, part of that is telling people not to lie to customers. All the managers say is 'Sell it' They never will really say how they'll just say 'Sell it'. It's up the the Associate to determine how to sell it. And like, I said, when you have to lie to sell something, you're not doing anyone a favor.
 
HighTest said:
You want fries with that? :rolleyes:

Seriously, even their Geek Squad are a buncha idiots. :eek:

Lol, Geek Squad is BB, not CC. And fourteen posts later no one has noticed... :D

But anyway, here's what I think:

Selling an extended warranty: Okay. Most people can't fix computers on their own.
Selling software: Okay. Many people don't know what software does what.
Saying that you *need* software: Okay for spyware/virus removal, but nothing else.
Selling a recovery CD: Not okay. If the computer doesn't have one it should be included free.
Saying that they're the only ones who can fix it: Kinda deceptive, but I don't think they're allowed to say "you don't need us, it's easy to fix on your own." Then they would get thousands of returns from people saying "I did what you said and it broke" because they did something stupid.
15% restocking fee: Not the best business practice, but it's found at many stores. The store would be better without it.
Charging for labor when none has been done: NOT OKAY!!! They can't charge for labor just because they *would* have done it. I bet that's illegal in many states. That's like taking your car in for a tune-up, then coming back before anything's been done and saying that it's an emergency and you need your car back, and them saying "well, you can have your car back, but we still must charge you for the tune-up we were going to do. Oh, and if you bring your car back in later, you'll have to pay for it again."
 
^^ QFT.

When I get sales people that give me the regular run-around, I tell them that I'm an article writer for a popular online computer forum. That easily shuts them up. I'm a sales person too, I can easily tell when other's like me are lying or being decietful. Someone alot smarter than I once said, "You can't bullshit a bullshitter" and that's, to be honest, really true.

It's great fun, going into stores like CC or BB (future shop is the worst here in Canada IMO) and asking the associates very simple questions and getting wrong, incomplete or frankly totally off the ball responses. Where I work daily, telling someone that they "Need this or else their warranty would be revoked" would be grounds for dismissal, almost on the spot.

Having said this, I agree with the above post. Most computer users are idiots. Even more so in the US than Canada (simply because the volume of people in the US with computers is a million % higher). I agree with these companies installing software, for antivirus and adware protection, and to be honest, charging a fee. I install anti viral and adware software for a fee too, it's how I make money. Now, a full system cleaning at CC is almost (maybe even more) than 100$, whereas I charge 20$ for it, that's highway robbery.
 
Arcygenical said:
Having said this, I agree with the above post. Most computer users are idiots. Even more so in the US than Canada (simply because the volume of people in the US with computers is a million % higher). I agree with these companies installing software, for antivirus and adware protection, and to be honest, charging a fee. I install anti viral and adware software for a fee too, it's how I make money. Now, a full system cleaning at CC is almost (maybe even more) than 100$, whereas I charge 20$ for it, that's highway robbery.

Yes, they do tend to set the prices unreasonably high. It's almost like they are taking advantage of the fact that most people don't realize that it should be cheaper. They think that everything in computers must be expensive.
 
Dude, bottom line is moms/aunts/and all other helpless relatives need our help. Obviously in hindsight, your mom should have called you first before buying anything. It's a pain, but it beats the guilt of seeing relatives/parents getting ripped off by Joe Fuckin Schmoe @ BB/CC/local B&M.

After having my parents get ripped off by these "innocent" Mom & Poppers, I returned to give them an earful. And from that day on, if my parents needed anything, I either built it myself or at least made sure they weren't getting ripped off.
 
It's almost like they are taking advantage of the fact that most people don't realize that it should be cheaper.

PremPC 5 - $195
PremPC 4 - $175
PremPC 3 - $155
PremPC 2 - $135

PremPC 5 - Removal of OEM Crap/System Optimization (Disabling Services). Installation of WebRoot Spy Sweeper/Norton IS. Rebates Completed. Printer Installed. Recovery CD/DVD Made. System Customization (Username/Password/Themes).

Microsoft Offie is $160 Ontop of any price.

(Those are just some of the pc services CC offers)

The other PremPC's are taking one of the installs/services away. So, if you didn't want rebates it would be a PremPC 4. It takes about 2-3 horus to do a full PremPC5. Our store has a current wait time of about 3 days before we'll start on the computer because of how busy we are will our PC services.

We'll sell atleast two or three PremPC 5's a day, with weekends eaisly doing five or six. On Fridays or Saturdays we will eaisly hit $1500 in PC Services. Weekdays we'll usually do $500.

Just, F.Y.Y, the PC Services work on what they call 'Penatration' which is a percentage of money from installs over the total PC sale. The goal is %10, which means this: %10 of the dollar amount of the sale should be PC Services...

So, if someone spends $1,000 on a computer, $100 of that should be PC Services. Which, IMHO, isn't that much.

As for out Protection Plans, we are expected to be around %10 as well, which, usually isn't hard either.

We also have dollar amounts for budgets, but those aren't as useful as perentages, because we would meet the dollar amount for our protection plans, but only be at say %5 for the total Technology. For example, if Technology is %150 to budget, we could have met the dollar amount of our protection plan, but only be at %5 because of how over budget we are.

I will also tell you this....

For the month of July, our store did close to $10,000 in PC services. With the top three sales people averaging roughly $150, 120, 90 of PC servies per computer. The top two sales Reps combined had a total of $6,000 of PC services.

EDIT: Hahah, if people REALLY wanted to, I could probably scan and post our budgets and such....lol
 
Selling an extended warranty: See nothing wrong with this. If someone can't fix it themselfs then sure it could be worth it.....

Selling software: Why not try to get the customer software to use the computer for more things.

Saying that you *need* software: If they sold her spyware or av software then I see nothing wrong with saying you "need this" as really people do.

Selling a recovery CD: Most systems don't come with this and you have to make them. People will not do this and will bitch later when they need the disk and a tech tells them it needs to be ordered. While it would be nice to see this done for free it would be better to have it in the computers box. I can't really fault them for getting her to have them make them.


Saying that they're the only ones who can fix it: Kinda deceptive, but I don't think they're allowed to say "you don't need us, it's easy to fix on your own." Then they would get thousands of returns from people saying "I did what you said and it broke" because they did something stupid.

Did they really say this though? If they did then yea shame on them. Chances are teh guy was saying something along the lines as most people can't fix them thereselfs and that the mfg wil reguire them to have it mailed back in for some repairs if the consumer tries to make a warranty claim. Not being there I can't say which one happened.

15% restocking fee: Not the best business practice, but it's found at many stores. The store would be better without it.

I was under the impression that unless the box was opened then there was no restocking fee.

Charging for labor when none has been done: NOT OKAY!!! They can't charge for labor just because they *would* have done it. I bet that's illegal in many states. That's like taking your car in for a tune-up, then coming back before anything's been done and saying that it's an emergency and you need your car back, and them saying "well, you can have your car back, but we still must charge you for the tune-up we were going to do. Oh, and if you bring your car back in later, you'll have to pay for it again."

As far as the labor goes yea if they had yet to start on it then I would bitch and scream about the labor. Once a tech starts the labor then it is fair game for whatever they have started. As far as the car being taken to the shop in theroy the shop could want to charge a paperwork fee or a storage fee for the car but not the entire labor. With this being a new machine I wouldn't think this as fair.

Pretty much I would call the regional office and complain. You should be entitled to no restocking fee on any of the software that wasn't opened and you should get a refund on the labor if nothing was done.
 
If, like you said, you wanted to return the computer before opening it, then there is no 15% restocking fee.

I don't agree with them saying that "only they can do it" and so on, but do understand that they are a BUSINESS that is supposed to offer you these extras. Sure, if they make lies about the way they offer it, it's immoral and shouldn't be done, but it's beyond me how some idiots expect to walk into a store like that and not expect to be offered attachments, services, and warranties. These stores are there (believe it or not) to make MONEY off you, not to put a smile on your face.

I'm not writing this as a personal retaliation, but I feel that people have a veeeery skewed perception of why businesses exist in the first place. It is NOT to make your day that much brighter. It's to keep the workers paid and happy. Places like CC and BB aren't even on commission anymore, in case anyone thinks otherwise.
 
These stores are there (believe it or not) to make MONEY off you, not to put a smile on your face.

At my CC, the number one thing is Customer Service. We are EXPECTED to make the customer smile, and take as much time with customers as possible. I've been with customers for 2 hours before they bought anything. Circuit City offers a customer experience, along with a soultion to his or her needs.

Customers are ALWAYS number one. If the customer doesn't leave happy, we didn't do our job.
 
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