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Phillip J. Scoonover President, CEO and Chief Executive Circuit City Stores, Inc.

How can you possibly accept $17.1M for fiscal 2007 when your customers are being treated like this?

On February 26, 2006 we purchased a 50 Inch Plasma TV, model no. (LG 50PX1D) for $3,299.99, at store #3164 in Salisbury, Maryland. We also purchased a specific TV mount for $403.99 along with a five-year “Advantage” Service Protection Plan for $549.99 (on the advice of the salesmen, (D. Abbott). We purchased this plan in good faith and expected “hassle-free” certified service.

This purchase was made after extensive research on purchasing a quality plasma TV with the correct dimensions. Our home had been recently remodeled and the family room fireplace and custom cabinetry had been made to fit the TV dimensions. The TV was professionally installed on March 6, 2006.

On Friday, May 12th, 2006 (two months later) the TV lost its picture quality and the screen showed large black spots. We were unable to watch the TV. We called Circuit City’s Service Department on Monday, May 15th at 1-800-787-0750 and were given a call reference no. 5925646, confirmation no. IHR605220412 and DUC no. 5927591. We were instructed to call Appliance Unlimited, (Circuit City’s Authorized Service Provider) at 1-800-448-3997 to set up a repair appointment. Jim, the technician (410-587-4945) called back a few days later to set up an appointment. We were given ID No. 6106800.

On June 6th, two weeks later, the technician arrived and quickly stated that the he needed to order a digital board for the TV. He told us that it could take a short time for the part to come in or up to two weeks. Two weeks pass and we call the service technician. He informs us that the part is on national backorder and that it could take up to another two weeks. We wait another two weeks and call the service tech again. He does not return our calls. We call Appliance Unlimited and talk to the secretary and she acknowledges that the service technician is having a hard time finding the part.

We decide to call LG (the TV manufacturer) and they inform us that they have plenty of digital board parts. We then call Circuit City (Jesse, tv/salesmanager at the time) with the hope of having him help resolve this matter. It’s now been over two months that TV is unviewable. After a few more days of no answers, we call LG the TV manufacturer again and they inform us that Circuit City’s service provider “Appliance Unlimited” is UNAUTHORIZED to work on LG TV’s. They will not sell Circuit City’s service provider the parts. We call Jesse, the TV manager from Circuit City and explain the situation to him and he acts odd when we explain to him that LG stated the service company that was sent to our home is unauthorized to work on the TV. We ask to speak with the store manager. Lauren Palmer/CSA #1 who offers no solution. We contacted Circuit City Corp. and they put us on hold for two hours.

We felt deceived. Is this a scam or a tactic of Circuit City? We again contacted Circuit City Corporation and spoke with Marilyn Pando, and finally were given a contact ID Number 2205897. I never heard from Circuit City again. We contacted the Better Business Bureau. They were working on getting a replacement TV for us and checking into the unauthorized service provider issue. A few weeks later we speak with the store manager again, and she states that they are working on getting authorized service.

On July 14th, after several months of misleading information from Circuit City and their service provider, we returned the TV to the store. We were issued an exchange for our original TV on July 31, 2006 under ticket no. 14150118491 only after the Better Business intervened. However, we did not take the 50” LG exchange TV that was offered to us because of the unresolved service protection plan issue. In addition, by this time, our original model TV was no longer available and the exchange LG model was not similar in dimensions to our original TV. . We were told by store manager, Paul Renshaw/CSA #2 that we could wait a few weeks to see if any new models arrive while the service issue is being resolved.

February 2007, we still have no TV. I again call Circuit City and speak with new store manager, Tracy Sgon/CSA #3, and return to the store to consider a different brand TV. This brand was a Sony 46” LCD TV (Model No. KDL46XBR2), with similar dimensions as our original TV and was priced at $3,609.99. It was not a 50 Inch Plasma TV. We were however, willing to pay the difference between our $3,299.99 original purchase and this particular exchange TV, but when we arrived, Tracy informed us that we had only been authorized an exchange value of $2,800.00. We never agreed to this amount, especially when the original TV only worked for two months. She also informed us that she still had not been authorized to refund our service agreement fee, and stated that “the corporate office should not be selling those service contracts when they know that we’re not certified”. We did not take the exchange TV. I called Circuit City Corp. and spoke with Amos Forman, and waited on the phone for over two hours, and was finally told that there was nothing he could do for me.

On February 16th, 2007 we contacted the Maryland Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Affairs to help resolve the issue. As of March 3rd, the office had not heard from Circuit City or had returned their calls.

On April, 9th, 2007 John Rekinburg, Circuit City’s new TV Manager calls to say that he has a different “lower-end” 46” Sony LCD model priced at $2,249.99 and asked if we were interested. Since Circuit City had still not addressed the service protection plan issue, and the quality and value of their TV offer was continuing to go down, we informed him that we were not interested. We also told him that we sent our complaint to the Maryland Attorney General’s Office and were taking steps to file in Small Claims Court. A week or two later, another TV salesmen from Circuit City called to say that 46” TV we ordered was in. We informed him that we did not order a TV.

After a year of explaining our case over and over again to different store managers, TV sales managers, customer service reps, making numerous telephone calls to the corporate office, typing emails, and sending many letters without resolve, we feel victimized. The Circuit City “Advantage Protection Plan” states that it provides you with the best product coverage and customer service available. “Relax with a peace of mind” only seems like an “Advantage” to Circuit City. I have spoken with hundreds of people on the internet that seem to be going through the same problems with Circuit City. The consumer should be made aware of this.

We would like to add that Circuit City is misleading the average consumer, with the intent to deceive. This is an unfair and deceptive business practice. They sell a service contract knowing that they can send anyone (an unauthorized service tech) to your home and say that they “attempted to fix it”, or actually fix it and make matters worse, and then after weeks and months of the consumer trying to get this resolved, they begrudgingly offer you an exchange that “is similar” … a new item with far less value or even worse, a TV that someone else returned, and then offer you nothing for the service contract fee.

Circuit City sold us a fraudulent protection plan. It is unacceptable that they are now only offering ($2,659.96)? exchange value for a $3,299.95 TV that only worked two months. As a customer, we have done everything possible to resolve this issue in a patient, timely manner. Circuit City’s customer service policy prolonged this situation by not being honest and forthright from the start.

In the interest of consumerism, we now expect Circuit City to refund the full amount of our original TV purchase, in addition to the service protection plan refund. If this cannot be resolved we will have no choice but to file in small claims court for the total amount of the TV, the protection, plan, the custom mount, installation and repairs, and possible attorney fees.

You got a horror store there, you should read mine. Even though i do have a protection plan on my tv, the techs are refusing to look at it because its a HD tube tv and "they all have that issue, live with it"

Circuit city really sucks. I am starting to think the CEOs running that company want it to fail miserably. It's clear they don't give a rats @$$ about their customers, I speak from experience.

Totally understand your initial frustration, but the reality is that companies make mistakes, and it sounds like the price of the laptop you wanted was one such mistake. They do have the right not to honor a mistake you know? Was it really worth all that complaining and escalating when you weren't even out a dollar? A couple of the other posts about Circuit City seem far more deserving of dissatisfaction than this one.

I am in the process of contacting the "BIG BOYS" at CC headquarters about a computer repair issue. I only lost $100.00 but after reading your post and others I am beginning to believe that the whole company is in it to rip people off. I will also contact my BBB and AG. I commend you for standing your ground. I am in NJ.

Here is a comment I sent to Apple regarding a scam they just pulled on me:

To whom it may concern, about 2 weeks ago I went into a Circuit City Retail Store in Racine, Wisconsin to pre-order a new iPod Touch, as I saw it on their website available for pre-order.

When I told the sales associate that I wanted to place a pre-order, along with purchasing a few other items, and the accidental protection plan for the iPod, he told the iPod was currently coming up at a sale price of $199.00 for the 8GB version. I didn’t ask questions only because he stated it was a SALE price. I figured it was an un-advertised pre-order special, so I bought it, and my expectations were exceeded.

I got a call from someone at the retail store last Saturday stating their had been a mix up on Circuit City’s end and the price should have been $299, rather than $199, and they cannot honor the price. So, they left me with the option of paying the full price for it, or cancelling the pre-order. I don’t think this is fair. I didn’t go there to put $199 down on a new iPod and pay the remainder when the device arrived. I went there to pay in full, and I did, because the full price and the time of purchase was $199. I understand that it was a mistake on their part, but I also think Circuit City should own that mistake and eat the $100 loss, I don’t believe myself, or Apple is responsible for this mix-up. I also think Circuit City should have better auditing processes before selling products at 33% less than MSRP.

I requested a callback from the store manager to discuss the matter, he called me back shortly after. My intent was not to get him to honor the price I paid, my intent was to verify that he was willing to lose the fact that I purchase most of my minor and major electronic devices, he said without a doubt, he is willing to lose my business as well as anyone else in my predicament over this mistake made by their merchandising department. My concern is that I don’t think Apple is looking to lose this kind of business over a mistake made by one of its retailers.

My intent for this communication is not to get Apple to honor the price I paid, and was forced to be refunded, but to make Apple aware that I want an iPod touch very much, but this situation of exceeding my expectations, then confessing to an error, but not owning up to it, has put a poor taste in my mouth over the purchase of the product, but to no fault of Apple, inc. I just Apple to be aware of the lack of responsibility carried on by one of it’s authorized resellers, that is causing Circuit City, and possibly Apple, to lose some valuable business.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for your time.

To whom it may concern,

On Sunday September 16, 2007 I went to Circuit City in Racine, Wisconsin (store number 3177...located at 2710C South Green Bay Road, Racine, WI 53406 ) to pre-order a new iPod Touch. I told the sales associate that I wanted to pre-order a new iPod touch with the accidental protection plan and purchase a Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player. After getting the HD-DVD player the sales man told me the iPod was currently coming up at a sale price of $199.99 for the 8GB version. I was amazed by the sales price and bought two (one for my wife and one for myself). I paid for the player, iPods and the accidental protection plan, totaling $777.69.

On Saturday September 22,2007, while traveling in California on business, I received a message on my cell phone from someone at Circuit City stating there had been an error in their system and the price of the iPod should have been $299.99, rather than the $199.99, and that they would not honor the $199.99 price that I paid.

On Monday September 24, 2007 I went to the store and asked to speak to the store manager. I was told the store manager was out to lunch but I could speak to the entertainment supervisor. The young girl at the customer service desk paged the supervisor, who seemed to be too busy to come speak to me. When the young gentleman finally came to the service desk, he was very rude and proceeded to tell me that the young sales man that I had purchased the merchandise from was "a over zealous seventeen year old kid" that went in and changed the prices in the computer system. I asked the supervisor how a seventeen year old employee had the capability to go in and change the sales price through out the whole system. At first he told me that the young man had only changed it within that location, I called him out and advised him that the Circuit City on 76th Street in Milwaukee had the same $199.99 price on Sunday the 16th. He then changed his story to "all employees have the capability to change any price on any item through out the entire system." For some odd reason I do not believe that a company the size of Circuit City would have the system set up so that any employee can change the price of any item through out the whole system.

While I was in college I worked for two large retail companies, one larger than Circuit City and one a little smaller. At each of these companies I was a Supervisor/Manager, even at this level I did not have the authority to price override any item with out entering my user id (a managers) and password. I honestly do not believe that this kid was able to change the price without some form of manager approval, leading me to believe that it was a programming error on your corporate offices behalf.

I explained to him my back ground and current career and the jist of sales and "customer service". He proceeded to tell me that Circuit City's corporate office's directive was that they were not going to honor the price I paid for the iPods and that they did not care if they lost customers over this. I was presented with two ridiculous options, (1) get a refund for the $199.99 for each iPod and (2) Pay the $100 difference for each when they were delivered.

After speaking to this supervisor I was very irritated and told the girl at the customer service desk I would like to return the Toshiba HD-DVD player, but keep the 2 iPods and accidental protection plan the way they are. She tried to just return the HD-DVD player but the computer system was only showing that I would be receiving $52.54 for the return. She did not understand why the system was doing this, I asked her to page the supervisor again and have him come fix it. He came up and was now being very rude to the young girl at the service desk. I told him he had no reason to be so rude and that I would like this fixed without refunding me the money I had paid for the iPods and protection plan, because I will be discussing this with a lawyer. He proceeded to tell the girl that the computer is automatically applying the remaining $200 for the iPods.He then became very standoffish and had the girl refund me my entire $777.69.

I have all three receipts showing first the purchase in the amount of $777.69 (for a Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player, two Apple iPod Touches and a accidental protection plan), second the return of just the HD-DVD player with a refund of $52.54 and third the receipt showing the return of all the merchandise for a total of $777.69.

I am very dissatisfied with the service I received regarding this whole matter and will no longer be a Circuit City customer. I will also be sending this information and documentation to Apple, the local and national media outlets and the better business bureau. I have contacted an attorney and am willing to spend a little money to have this rectified.

Thank you for your time.

Go to this link and you can read more about Circuit City.......

http://sutori.com/stories/view/272-Circuit-City-NO-Resolution-In-Site-Circuit-City