Sutori - Stories Tagged With 'Circuit'

Circuit City, Complaint, False Advertising, Bait and Switch, Illegal Selling Practices

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:22:05 -0800

On Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 in my home delivered newspaper was a Circuit City advertising 8-page flyer from Circuit City. Looking at the front as bold as can be (there are only 2 items listed) was a laptop computer with the features I have been looking for to buy, one for my wife and another one for my son Anthony who will be starting college in September. I went to my local Circuit City store at 7001 Sunrise Highway, Holbrook, NY 11741 to purchase two of these laptops at $649.99, price quoted in advertising flyer. I walked to the Computer dept.; ask for assistants in locating two of these laptops in the flyer. The salesman looked for about 5 minutes, then was gone for another 15 minutes. When he came back he told me that was a misprint. The price is $849.99. I told him I want the laptops for $649.99 the price quoted in the flyer. He refused. I asked for the store manager (Najee). I was told he was in a meeting there in the store and couldn't come see me and that they are not responsible for advertising misprints. I again asked for the store manager and was told he was home now. I then asked for whoever was acting manager presently. After another 15 minutes Andrew came to see me. He told me the same thing about misprints. He said he would give me $50.00 off another computer. I told him I want to buy two of the ones in the flyer for the price quoted at $649.99. He refused to sell it to me. I have contacted CEO Philip J. Schoonover who doesn't return my calls but has his supposedly Executive Assistant Mr. Dagenhart called me to tell me that Circuit City is only standing behind the $50.00 off offer given to me at the store. I feel I should be given the offer stated in the advertising flyer. Also speaking to Circuit City's consumer service people I was given case number 547209. Are large corporations allowed to lure consumers into their store with false advertising and should consumers have to deal with these horrible selling practices?

State of Virginia, Office of Consumer Affairs, VDACS Customer Service, transcript of chat session.

Below is the complete transcript of your chat session:

Company: virginia.gov
Department: Office of Consumer Affairs
Operator: VDACS Customer Service
Teresa.Finch@vdacs.virginia.gov
Visitor: Dennis
Chat Info: Wed 01/31/07 10:27 am

Dennis: What action can I take against a large company who advertized in their weekly flyer a price and will not honor the price quoted in the flyer? This companies headquarters is in VA, the store is here in NY.
You are now speaking with VDACS Customer Service of Office of Consumer Affairs.
VDACS Customer Service: Did they print a retraction at any time?
Dennis: A retraction to a flyer?
Dennis: No
Dennis: The flyer came out yesterday morning I was at my store at 3 pm.
Dennis: When I went to the store the salesman went looking for this partucular laptop and couldn't find it.
VDACS Customer Service: You may download a copy of our complaint form from our website http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/forms-pdf/cp/oca/complaint/oca1complaint.pdf
Dennis: Do I file also with the NY Attorney General?
VDACS Customer Service: Where is the store located? Where are you located?
Dennis: The company headquarters is in Richmond, VA.
Dennis: The store was in Long Island, NY
VDACS Customer Service: You would file with us then.
Dennis: Seeing how this company is handling me, there must be many filed against them. Circuit City
VDACS Customer Service: Hold on and I'll check.
Dennis: Thank You.
VDACS Customer Service: Our complaint database separates them by store location. Which location did you go to?
Dennis: The store is here in Long Island, NY
VDACS Customer Service: I have 85 a total of 85 complaints.
Dennis: 7001 Sunrise Highway, Holbrook, NY 11741
Dennis: Anything to do with false advertising?
VDACS Customer Service: I have a total of 85 complaints.
VDACS Customer Service: Most of them are asking for a refund or a rebate did not arrive as promised.
Dennis: The product I wanted to buy were 2 laptops at $ 649.99 each. They told me after I went to buy them that they are $ 849.99 each.
VDACS Customer Service: Fill out the complaint form and send a copy of the flyer and we'll see what we can do.
Dennis: I have tried to reach CEO Philip Schoonover but he refuses to talk to me.
Dennis: Thank You.
VDACS Customer Service: You're welcome.
Dennis: For your help. Have a great day.
VDACS Customer Service: You, too.
Dennis: Should I file here in NY as well?
VDACS Customer Service: No, sir.
Dennis: OK

Dennis - Ronkonkoma, New York
U.S.A.

Email I received 1/31/07 from Chairman, President, and CEO Philip J. Schoonover

Subj:
Date: 1/31/07 11:09:58 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: Chief_Executive@circuitcity.com
Sent from the Internet

January 31, 2007

Mr. Dennis

Thank you for contacting my office with concerns about an advertising error. As Chairman, President, and CEO,
I welcome information that helps us evaluate our performance and wished to offer this brief response. My assistant, Jerry Dagenhart, relayed the details of your recent phone conversation.

I can understand your frustration when our store advised that they were unable to sell you the Toshiba model A135S4407 computer
for the incorrectly-advertised price of $649.99.

Unfortunately, due to Circuit City's volume of advertising, errors are sometimes unavoidable. It is our policy not to honor prices or special offers, which appear either in print or broadcast advertisements or special promotions, when the prices or special offers are in error.

Naturally, we never intend to mislead or disappoint our patrons and apologize for any inconvenience you or other valued customers
experienced as a result of the misprint.

I understand that Mr. Dagenhart offered you a fifty dollar price adjustment toward any Laptop computer purchase , not already on sale or reduced in price, and I am extending that offer for thirty days from your receipt of this letter.

Thank you again for taking the time to offer candid feedback, Mr. Dennis. We hope you'll give us an opportunity to regain your confidence in one of our over 600 stores nationwide or on the Web at circuitcity.com.

Sincerely,
Philip J. Schoonover
PJS/me

Dennis - Ronkonkoma, New York
U.S.A.
Email I sent to Circuit City Chairman, President, and CEO Philip J. Schoonover

Subj: Re: Dennis , case number 547209
Date: 1/31/07 11:50:45 AM Eastern Standard Time
From:
To: Chief_Executive@circuitcity.com

Dear Philip J. Schoonover:

The laptop in question states in the advertising flyer: Toshiba Satellite Notebook features Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5200. Windows Vista Premium Edition, Intel Pro/Wireless 802.11 a/b/g Lan, Burns and plays DVD's & CD's, 1024MB DDR2 memory. 160GB hard drive, 5x1 media reader for fast, easy file transfers. These features are on the Toshiba model number A135S4467. This is the model I want two units for $649.99 each. I have filed a complaints with the Richmond Better Business Bureau and Virginia Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Consumer Affairs. As follows: On Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 in my home delivered newspaper was a Circuit City advertising 8-page flyer from Circuit City. Looking at the front as bold as can be (there are only 2 items listed) was a laptop computer with the features I have been looking for to buy, one for my wife and another one for my son Anthony who will be starting college in September. I went to my local Circuit City store at 7001 Sunrise Highway, Holbrook, NY 11741 to purchase two of these laptops at $649.99, price quoted in advertising flyer. I walked to the Computer dept.; ask for assistants in locating two of these laptops in the flyer. The salesman looked for about 5 minutes, then was gone for another 15 minutes. When he came back he told me that was a misprint. The price is $849.99. I told him I want the laptops for $649.99 the price quoted in the flyer. He refused. I asked for the store manager (Najee). I was told he was in a meeting there in the store and couldn't come see me and that they are not responsible for advertising misprints. I again asked for the store manager and was told he was home now. I then asked for whoever was acting manager presently. After another 15 minutes Andrew came to see me. He told me the same thing about misprints. He said he would give me $50.00 off another computer. I told him I want to buy two of the ones in the flyer for the price quoted at $649.99. He refused to sell it to me. I have contacted CEO Philip J. Schoonover who doesn't return my calls but has his supposedly Executive Assistant Mr. Dagenhart called me to tell me that Circuit City is only standing behind the $50.00 off offer given to me at the store. I feel I should be given the offer stated in the advertising flyer. Also speaking to Circuit City's consumer service people I was given case number 547209. Are large corporations allowed to lure consumers into their store with false advertising and should consumers have to deal with these horrible selling practices?

This will also go all over the Internet. Rip-off Report.com for example.

Sincerely yours,
Dennis

Dennis - Ronkonkoma, New York
U.S.A.

Another Option

I don't know if this will help you, or if it is even the best "ethical" option, but you could take the flyer to another electronics/computer store that does price-matching. You would have to find the same computer though. And I don't know if this would be considered "ripping-off" that vendor, but it is a thought.

Richard - Nottingham, Maryland
U.S.A.

Thank You, Another Option

Thank You for reading my Circuit City Stores, false advertising, selling practices, CEO Philip J. Schoonover, Better Business Bureau, bbb.org , Virginia Attorney General, oag.state.va.us Richmond Virginia. I beleive that Circuit City most act in this matter. To go to another vendor is not the right thing to do. Hopefully this will open up eyes for Government Agencies and consumers to watch over companies such as Circuit City and not allowing them to operate in this nature. If more people would step up to the plate and file complaints with the Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau we can stop big business from ripping us off. We the people run this country not big business with their tax cuts and lobbying. Let's take it back. Unite and fight.

Contact Circuit City if you have any complaints. You must file with Virginia Government Agencies since this is where Circuit City’s headquarters are.

Circuit City
9950 Mayland Dr.
Richmond, VA 23233
Customer Service: 800-251-2665
Fax: 804-527-4164

Philip J. Schoonover, Chairman, President, and CEO
Email: Chief_Executive@circuitcity.com
Phone: 804-527-4000

Bill Cimino, Director Public Relations Circuit City
Phone: 804-418-8163

John Milliron, Executive Response Supervisor
Phone: 800-251-2665
Fax: 804-934-3865

Mikele Ervin, Executive Response Specialist
Office of the Chairman, President, and CEO
Circuit City Stores
804 527-4000, ext. 3221

Mary Louise Roberts
Circuit City Legal Department
Email: Mary_Louise_Roberts@circuitcity.com

Anna Marie Henderson
Circuit City Legal Counsel
Email: amhenderson@kaufcan.com
Fax: 804-418-8248

File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau
www.bbb.org

File a complaint with your credit card company against Circuit City.

File a complaint with your state's Attorney General's office
http://www.naag.org/ag/full_ag_table.php

File a complaint with Virginia's Attorney General's office. This is where Circuit City's corporate office is located.
www.oag.state.va.us

Dennis - Ronkonkoma, New York
U.S.A.

Circuit City "MusicNow" scam

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 08:56:56 -0700

Received a $20 "MusicNow" gift card from a friend. There is no way to redeem it. (The card says it never expires) The page is gone from the circuit city website. After two and 1/2 hours in phone calls I was told to go to emusic.com and I could use it there. After a lengthy COMPLETE, required, registration; the web site declared the card "Invalid". I really didn't think it would work, after all emusic has no reference to circuit city or "musicNow"

The card was purchased at a store in Va. in Dec 2005. There is only a web address www.circuitcity.com/musicnow and no other contact information. When the web address didn't work for the card, I called customer service. SIX phone calls! Two of which, after more than a half hour, ended by being transferred to a non-working number. The sixth call got me to a "real" customer service person that suggested I drive 50 miles to my nearest store. She refused a refund. She transferred me to a store over a 100 miles away who after 15 minutes conversation, sent me to the emusic website.

Amazingly, NO ONE at the customer service locations had heard of the card (It has the circuit city logo). I could not find an email address for circuit city. While visiting various "Complaint" sites on the web to write about this scam I came across an email address for the chief exec, on this website. I'd like a $20 refund and an apology for the hours of work put in on this.

I have spent WAY more time than the $20 is worth, but I just can't let this scam go.

Jim Luciano

Circuit City dishonors Discover card coupon

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 22:31:09 -0700

A few months ago I received a coupon from Discover card stating that I could get $25 off a $200 purchase (including CDs and DVDs) at Circuit City (online and in-store). I went to the nearest location and couldn't find anything I needed, and couldn't get anyone to help me. So, I went online to do my shopping. Upon checkout, I noticed my coupon wasn't being accepted. I called Circuit City and was told my coupon code was good for something like $10 off a $150 purchase, excluding CDs and DVDs. I read EXACTLY what was printed on my coupon and was told that my coupon code did not reflect what was printed on the coupon. I felt as though I was fighting a losing battle, so I called Discover Card. They confirmed that I indeed had the right coupon and that Circuit City was wrong in not honoring my coupon. I called CC again and was told that they (CC) were in the right and Discover was wrong. I wrote a letter and sent a copy of my coupon to the CEO of Circuit City and got no response.

Now I don't even bother looking at the Circuit City ads. I have to compliment Discover Card for dealing with me better than Circuit City did.

Circuity City Misleading/Poor Customer Service

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:38:13 -0700

My complaint can be best summed up in the email I sent to their CEO (which he will probably never see):

I am attempting to contact you using this email after an extensive, exhausting and thoroughly frustrating attempt at reconciliation through your company's "customer service" department.

I recently had an interaction with your company's customer service, which I found highly unsatisfactory. I recently attempted to purchase a laptop computer with a merchandise bundle from the on-line catalog and utilize a rebate that the website and the phone representative guaranteed. The rebate was actually for the merchandise bundle that came with laptop, meaning I would pay for the items upfront, but get the costs back as rebates. I purchased it on the last day of the sale and was told that I could have it shipped to my home or pick it up at a store 40 minutes from my home, as all other nearer stores were out of stock. I opted to pick it up from the store, as I needed this week for classes and was told that it would be 100% OK to pick it up the next day.

I arrived at the store where I was treated quite shabbily by the service reps. Upon arriving, I was told that the laptop was sold out, and that if I didn't want to get a different one (which I most definitely did not, otherwise I would have bought a different one) they could special order the laptop for me, and "release" the other merchandise to me. In order to do that however, she would cancel my previous order, and re-ring the merchandise up, and have me pay for it. This would have been ok, but I was concerned about the rebates, as I was apprehensive about the date on the receipts. I knew the rebate ended the bay before (when I purchased it) and was afraid that because the date on the receipt would be the day after the rebate, it would be invalid. When I expressed this concern to the associate, she said she "didn't know" and that the store wouldn't print up rebate forms, I had to get them online, and she didn't know if the receipt I would be getting that day would qualify for the rebate. She said that if the rebate didn't work, I could return the merchandise for a refund, which honestly completely negates the point of getting that package in the first place. Furthermore, the time it takes to get a rebate back is 4-6 weeks, so it would take at least 4 weeks for me to know if the rebate "Went through", at which point it would have been too late to return the merchandise anyway. I was told that aside from this option, my only other option was to simply cancel the order. When I asked to speak to a manager, I was told that there was no manager I could speak to. The associates supervisor at one point came out to help other customers, and merely repeated that there was nothing else they could do. I merely sought what I was told I could expect, no more, no less. I paid my money and now I expected services rendered. Such services were not forthcoming. The abrasive representative continually answered the service phone in the middle of our discourse, without so much as excusing herself to do so. Further, my requests to reconcile the situation were met with increasing hostility and indifference. Due to the store's inability to solve my problem as I had asked, I asked if it were possible to circumvent the situation in order to make things right in accordance to my guarantee, and again I was rebuffed, told callously that they could not and would not do anything above their current effort to assist me. At this point I had spent almost half of an hour discussing the issue, and being treated quite badly and told that aside from "trying" to do the rebate, all I could do was cancel the order. I was NEVER told that I could contact corporate, or that there were alternatives to the rebate issue. I was never once apologized to, nor treated with any respect. Therefore, being not given any other option, I chose to cancel the order.

It was not until I got home that night and then received my "confirmation email" for the original order, that I discovered that the email itself could operate as a receipt, showing the correct order date, and that the receipt from the register, with the incorrect date would not matter. I was NEVER informed of this at the store, nor over the phone during the original purchase. Had I been notified of this, there would have never been a problem.

So not only was your company erring in your inventory systems, telling me that you had an item you did not, but your employees were rude and uninformed. This is all due to your companies negligence, both with inventory and employee training.

Once I realized that I could have gotten the item/rebate without a hassle, I proceeded to call the customer support number I was given by the employee at the store.

My attempts at seeing satisfaction further up the corporate ladder have met repeatedly with frustration and dismissal. At one point, when I finally was able to get a hold of a representative at the corporate office I was explicitly told, almost verbatim that the fact that store did not have the item was "not our fault" (I fail to see how) and also that the fact that the employee did not understand the rebates and therefore told me false information (ultimately causing this issue, which could have easily been avoided) was also "not the companies fault". Furthermore, I was repeatedly told that there was absolutely nothing they could do because the promotion was over and I had already canceled the order. (Although, what else could I have done, under the circumstances?) While I understand that the company can not honor manufactures rebates past their dates, I also cannot believe that there was absolutely no way to reconcile the situation to me. There a number of different this situation could have been handled to both of our benefit. There is a difference between "cannot" and "will not" and I feel that so far, your company has simply chosen to willfully not help reconcile my issue. I do not understand this sort of thinking. You are a business which is dependent on consumers to continue and therefore make a profit. At what benefit is it to you to nearly go out of your way to make a customer unhappy? I have had nothing, *nothing* but frustration in dealing with this situation. I have been treated rudely over and over by your employees, and in the case of the employee at the store, almost lied to. My last recourse, I felt, was to seek your help. And even access to that was not easy to obtain. It is my feeling that someone such as yourself would be dissatisfied with the treatment of any potential customer. I seek some sort of solution that will give me the promotion I was originally offered and in fact, paid for. The treatment I was given at the store is no less than fraud; telling a customer an item is available, receiving payment for the item, and then being completely unable to give the item that was paid for. Again, I would not have minded waiting for the laptop, it was the vast inability to follow through with the promotion I was guaranteed in the first place.

Overall I have experienced nothing but poor business practices from your company, and will not hesitate to file a complaint with both the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General's office, as well as notifying the media outlets of this outrageously bad treatment. It could only benefit your company to help me gain only what I was originally promised.

I await your response,

Customer Satifaction

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:40:38 -0700

I have read a lot of negative stories about Circuit City. I recently had a bad experience with customer service at the store, with the 20-something supposed manager on duty talking down to me and dismissing me. I left the store very upset and swore I would not ever shop there again. I wrote a letter to the company explaining my experience and my dissatisfaction with the customer service and the 20-something store manager named Paul at the Exchange Parkway Store in San Antonio.

After everything I read on your site I did not expect a response, surprisingly this afternoon Scott Harris called, apologized for the actions of Paul, stating he will bring the matter to the attention of the General Manager and gave me his phone number in case I ever had any other problems with Circuit City.

I am now a satisfied customer, I will not let one person cloud my judgement of the whole company. I have been a happy customer up until now, and will continue using their store. All I wanted was to be treated with respect and an apology and Mr. Harris satisfied both.

Circuit City and Black Friday

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 12:51:31 -0800

I went home for Thanksgiving, to Pheonix, AZ. My brother in law, who is an avid Black Friday shopper, expressed his interest in several products that were advertised for Black Friday. Several of them were from the advertisement at Circuit City. One such was the Seagate 500gb external HD, advertised for $79. The fine print said the actual price was $129 minus a $50 rebate. Being the seasoned shopper that he is, my brother in law and I searched for any fine print which indicated any limitations on the item. While other products had astericks with references with the price only being honored with activation or a limit of the number of items that could be purchased, this one didn't. So we set our strageties, clipped the advertisements, and went out boldly into the (somewhat - hey, it's AZ) cold, dark night. I arrived at Circuit city at 3 AM, 2 hours before it's opening, confident that the items I was going to purchase (the only one I was interested in was a laptop cooler from Antec) were not popular enough. Promptly, at 5 AM, we all hustled into the store. I immediately searched for the Seagate drives, which we assumed were going to be the quickest to sell out. I found three, double checked the product number with the ad to make sure they were the right ones, then proceeded to grab the other products. Then, I went into the line for the cameras and camcorders. After 40+ minutes, I finally made it to the store representative, and showed him the camcorder that my sister wanted. He found the item, then assurred me that I could pay for my other products alltogether there. After making my purchases, I headed home for some rest.

After Thanksgiving was over, I drove back to California with my other sister, to finish the semester. At the end of the semester, after having checked to make sure the rebates were not expired, I proceeded to fill them out. However, while filling it out, I noticed that the rebate for the Seagate drives, at the bottom, said (and I paraphrase) "limit one per product type." Being perplexed that Circuit City would have failed to inform me, both in the advertisement and in person, about such a limitation, I called the customer service number present on the rebate form. I spoke with a representative, expressing my concern about what the rebate said, and desiring to return the products if I would only recieve one rebate. The representative assured me that they would honor all three. I asked again, "are you sure." He confidantly told me to ignore what was written on the rebate form, that they printed that on all their rebates and that it would not be cost effective to change it. So, having been assurred, I followed the directions on the rebate, highlighted all three purchases of the Seagate drive on a copy of the receipt, and mailed it in.

Many weeks later, I received an email confirmation for my rebates. No notice was given that anything was denied or refused. Yesterday, I recieved my rebates. I got one $50 rebate for a Seagate 500gb external HD. I looked up the rebate online, and confirmed that only one was being sent to me. I called the customer service line for Circuit City and asked about this issue. At first, the representative said I should have gotten all three, and put me on hold as he investigated what might have happened. After some minutes, he came back on line and informed me that I would have had to purchase three different makes and models of HDs in order to get three rebates. I informed him, again, that I was told by a customer service representative that they would honor all three. He apologized, but informed me that they couldn't do anything. I told him I wanted to return the drives for a full refund then. He told me they couldn't do that.

At this point, I was a bit agitated. I asked to speak with a manager. After dawdling a bit, I was firm that I would not be satisfied. So he put me on hold while he fetched a manager. Later, Marino came on the phone and reaffirmed that Circuit City would only honor one rebate, since it was written as such on the rebate form. I asked for the phone number to their legal department. He told me they had no such thing. I asked to speak with someone higher up who can make these important decisions. He informed me that there was no one higher than he who worked there. I asked for contact information for the CEO. He told me he could only give me an address to send my complaints to. At that point, I, rather angrily, recounted once again my experience from the beginning, including what the advertisement had said and its clear lack of any limitations. He then miraculously found a phone number to the HQ, which he gave me as 800-843-2489. After hanging up with him, I called that number, and eventually connected with their national system again, which just put me back into the queue for their call center.

I don't know about other people, but the reason we shopped at Circuit City on Black Friday, the reason we waited out in the dark and cold when every other sane person was sleeping comfortably, was to get some great deals on products. I purchased those hard drives for my family because they were on sail for $79 dollars, not for $129. I'm a grad student, and $100 makes a big difference to me. They not only misrepresented the price by not posting the limit on the rebate in their advertisement, but also lied to me when I asked them about it. My only remaining avenue is to pressure the higher ups with legal action (which I'm unlikely to be able to persue for time/money reasons) in order to get justice. Never, never, never again will I shop at Circuit City (which I wouldn't have in any regards if not for their Black Friday sale). Be warned.