Do Not buy from Circuit City
Gerald Newton
wanted my daughter to pick up the computer and software in Wayne, New
Jersey. My daughter teaches school in New Jersey and needed the
computer before the weekend so I thought she could pick it up at the
store. I called Circuit City and got someone in manila (I asked) and
explained the situation. They said it would be up to the store. So I
tried to call the store and after going through about 6 of those press
this number or that I finally got someone that said to call back and
press 0 for customer service. I called back and pressed 0 and got
some girl that put me on hold. I called back again and asked for the
store manager and again was put on hold. I called my daughter in New
Jersey and she said her Mom lived right next to the store and she
would try to pick up the computer. So the next day (Saturday) I
called the store five times and five times customer service placed me
on hold or hung up. My x-wife was at the store at the time and she
called me and said there was no way she could pick up the computer and
that I would have to cancel the order and wire her the money. So I
cancelled the order and wired her $1400 using Western Union. She
bought the computer using the very same order that I had done online.
The store tried to charge her $29 instead of the $19 on the order for
the wireless mouse and they left the Microsoft Office $149 software
out of the bag and she caught it so they then said they had forgotten
the software.
Now the bummer. The original order was paid for by debit card and the
money was given to Circuit City as shown in my online bank record. It
now has been 7 days and they still have my money for the canceled
order. I called yesterday and again got some guy in Manila who said
the money for the canceled order would not go back into my bank
account for 2 to 5 business days and that they still have until
tomorrow, Friday to put the money back in. Funny how they can
immediately take the money, but have to wait a week to put the money
back. Do Not Buy From Circuit City! I making this post all over the
Internet to teach these bums a lesson.
PaPaPeng
<elect...@electrician2.com> wrote:
>Funny how they can
>immediately take the money, but have to wait a week to put the money
>back. Do Not Buy From Circuit City! I making this post all over the
>Internet to teach these bums a lesson.
These big box stores push boxes. Their staff earn commissions.
Phone calls do not generate comissions for the person who answers the
phone. If he is not on duty when you turn up to pay, or you use the
first salesman you come across because he's the only guy available,
the phone guy gets nothing. The person who brings the box to the
cashier gets the performance credit and the commission. The lowest
performing commission salesmen get kicked out each month and new ones
brought in. Very few can keep up the high pace and sales performance
indefinitely. So no one stays around for long to build up staff
loyalty, sales or technical experience.
The guy processing the refunds follows procedure and has no link to
the guy who accepted the return. This prevents collusion to rip off
the store. Only mom and pop shops can make an instant refund.
That's modern mass marketing and the everyday lowest prices thing.
Its life.
Don K
news:ed9a36d5-a52f-4f4b...@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
You seem to be expecting a lot of special attention and services
from a discount store during their busiest time of the year.
Especially considering you then cancelled the order when you
found that you couldn't arrange to have anyone pick it up after all.
The scenario doesn't reflect badly at all on Circuit City, but on
you as an unreasonable customer.
Don
Al Bundy
> "Gerald Newton" <electric...@electrician2.com> wrote in message
Do you think the X put the $1400 in her purse and bought a $600
computer instead?
Using a credit card is much safer than a debit too.
Bill
Don K wrote:
>
> You seem to be expecting a lot of special attention and services
> from a discount store during their busiest time of the year.
>
> Especially considering you then cancelled the order when you
> found that you couldn't arrange to have anyone pick it up after all.
>
> The scenario doesn't reflect badly at all on Circuit City, but on
> you as an unreasonable customer.
>
> Don
Circuit City's website very clearly states that you need to be
able to show the credit card used when you pick up the order,
and show photo id. They are not equipped to allow you to order
and have someone else pick it up.
As you state, he is an unreasonable customer who does not know
how to pay attention. He should have had his daughter buy it
with her own credit card and then sent her the money.
Sadly, the moron has posted this in numerous newsgroups without
crossposting, so there will be several parallel discussions
going on.
Bill
George Grapman
I went to a business meeting once and the topic was avoiding the
PITA customer which stands for pain in the ass.These are the customers
that you wish you never had and often wind up being a losing
proposition. This poster fits that category.
In retail you pretty much have to deal with almost anything that
walks in the door but in business to business sales one has more
control. I had one prospect who was in the process of moving her office.
Each time that I called she was interested but the opening was being
delayed because of problems with contractor/electrician/building
inspector/bank. I realized that I was auditioning to be on that list
and stopped calling. Hopefully one of our competitors is spending time
with her that would otherwise be spent trying to generate new business.
JL
>> Especially considering you then cancelled the order when you
>> found that you couldn't arrange to have anyone pick it up after all.
>>
>> The scenario doesn't reflect badly at all on Circuit City, but on
>> you as an unreasonable customer.
>>
>> Don
My wife works at a Buick dealership and sees a lot of demanding
customers everyday. Some people expect to buy the car for $50-$100 over
dealer cost and to have their asses kissed thoroughly and completely the
entire transaction.
As far as Circuit City, I haven't shopped there in years. I think the
last item I bought there was a video card for my friend's PC (was an
emergency situation). It was overpriced but had the advantage of being
readily available. I usually order my PC parts from newegg.
Marsha
> My wife works at a Buick dealership and sees a lot of demanding
> customers everyday. Some people expect to buy the car for $50-$100 over
> dealer cost and to have their asses kissed thoroughly and completely the
> entire transaction.
What does your wife consider a fair offer for a new car?
Marsha/Ohio
SMS 斯蒂文• 夏
> Now the bummer. The original order was paid for by debit card and the
> money was given to Circuit City as shown in my online bank record. It
> now has been 7 days and they still have my money for the canceled
> order. I called yesterday and again got some guy in Manila who said
> the money for the canceled order would not go back into my bank
> account for 2 to 5 business days and that they still have until
> tomorrow, Friday to put the money back in. Funny how they can
> immediately take the money, but have to wait a week to put the money
> back. Do Not Buy From Circuit City! I making this post all over the
> Internet to teach these bums a lesson.
The bigger lesson you should have learned is to _never_ use a debit card
for big ticket items. You lose all the consumer protection that the Fair
Credit Billing Act extends to credit card purchases. _You_ have to fight
to get your money back in your account, rather than have the store fight
to get the money from the credit card issuer.
Always use a credit card for big ticket items. You gain important
consumer protections, plus if you return or cancel the order within the
same billing period, you're not out any money at all.
Don Klipstein
>
>>> Especially considering you then cancelled the order when you
>>> found that you couldn't arrange to have anyone pick it up after all.
>>>
>>> The scenario doesn't reflect badly at all on Circuit City, but on
>>> you as an unreasonable customer.
>>>
>>> Don
>
>My wife works at a Buick dealership and sees a lot of demanding
>customers everyday. Some people expect to buy the car for $50-$100 over
>dealer cost and to have their asses kissed thoroughly and completely the
>entire transaction.
I wish that someone going to a "stealership" to buy a new car and
offering $1,000 over dealer cost for an "express transaction" would get
such a thing rather than have no choice better than a "time wasting
contest" or a "urinating contest" against a "stealership" salescretin who
is eager to waste time into negotiating a deal good for him into some
sort of improvement to him at expense of waste of everyone's time, due to
car "stealership" "urinating contests" requiring some uptick of payoff to
the "stealership" even at expense of "stealership" salescretins trying for
other customers.
I speak from experience of having a close friend who spent some time
working for a "stealership". He makes me feel good by having every car I
ever owned being used cars that I bought from private individual sellers.
Who would I buy a used car from? Someone trained to sell cars, or other
than that such as a friend or Joe Blow or Joe Sixpack? Oh, and who among
these choices is trained to sell cars at expense of buyer - I would blame
someone trained to sell cars, especially someone selling new ones!
I would not want to buy a new car from anyone I would not want to buy a
used car from, unless I saved lots of ads for good deals in writing (in a
newspaper) and preferably also had someone in my family working in a law
firm.
I have an immediate blood relative being a lawyer and another not a
lawyer but working in a law firm and I still have spent the 11 years of my
life with car ownership being owning cheaper used ones that I bought from
friends or Joe Sixpack.
- Don Klipstein (d...@misty.com)
George Grapman
Some suggestions-
Walk into the dealership and tell them you will pay no more than
$------- including taxes and fees. If they can not immediately meet your
needs begin to walk away. If they ask if you are financing or paying
cash ask them why that matters since it is illegal to have two sets of
prices. Eyeball the number of cars on the lot versus the number of
customers and note that fact to them. Tell them as you walk away that if
they can not meet a simple request you will never return.
When they do the "need to talk to my manager" routine tell them that
you are the decision maker on your end and you will only deal with a
decision maker on their end. Give them these choices:
The manager comes out to see you
You go into the managers office with the rep.
You leave.
If you are invited in to an office and left alone assume they are
listening. Talk to the person who you came with or pretend to make a
call. Say something like," this is not worth the hassle . I think I will
just keep the car I have" or ," you know, Jim is buying a new car, I
guess I should warn him about these assholes".
If you leave without buying tell the sales rep that if they are going
to call you the first thing they need to say when you answer is,"we are
taking $----------off the price we quoted" and if they say anything else
you will hang up.
George Grapman
been high pressure jobs a la "Tin Men" where you close them now or never
see them again.
I try to follow a few basics:
Let the customer do most of the talking. Ask them what their needs
are. I have walked out of places where O have been told," you don't was
this one,you want that one".
Encourage people to shop around.
Tell them some good reasons to buy from us.
Never denigrate the competition.
I sometimes give prospects my home phone so they know I can be
contacted if there is a problem. They never call it but it reassures.
them.
Instead on of package at one price give them choices and,most
importantly, give them time to think about it.
Three words give me more credibility than anything else I say. "I
don't know". So many sales reps will not admit this so they make things up.
Bill
SMS ???• ? wrote:
>
> The bigger lesson you should have learned is to _never_ use a debit card
> for big ticket items. You lose all the consumer protection that the Fair
> Credit Billing Act extends to credit card purchases. _You_ have to fight
> to get your money back in your account, rather than have the store fight
> to get the money from the credit card issuer.
>
> Always use a credit card for big ticket items. You gain important
> consumer protections, plus if you return or cancel the order within the
> same billing period, you're not out any money at all.
That is especially true for anything with a warranty since most
credit cards will double your warranty up to a full extra year.
It's a no-brainer for electronics.
Bill