Expecting Circuit City to have knowledgeable people is unfair.
I doubt any store of that caliber could pay the right salary for an expert. [emphasis added] I always tell people to take a knowledgeable friend with them to buy electronics. I would gladly go with anyone that needed help. I don't know why someone would hold their tongue about Denon. I would have taken the opportunity to explain to him that Denon is one of the top AVR brands and actually makes better products than Sony in the audio area. I couldn't leave a guy in ignorance like that. Of course I would also steer people away from Denon as a salesperson because the manuals suck. Most people need a good manual to setup their system.
It is interesting that people complain about the lack of knowledge of the staff of a place that is cheap, and complain about the high prices at places with knowledge. If you want knowledgeable salespeople, you should expect to pay for it. If you are going to a budget store, you should not expect knowledgeable people.
Now, what gets me, is going to an expensive store, and the "knowledgeable" people get things wrong, particularly in the direction of trying to sell you overpriced wires and other BS nonsense. I don't mind paying a bit more for useful advice, but I don't like them trying to cheat me out of extra money for worthless nonsense. It is because of stuff like that that I tend to avoid the boutique stores.
As for CC, I stopped buying from them when they screwed their employees years ago by firing them, only to rehire some of them later at reduced pay. Any company that does crap like that deserves to go out of business. And, of course, when they are going for the cheapest labor possible, you should especially expect that they are not going to have too many of them who know much about what they are selling. Anyone who expects knowledgeable salespeople at CC obviously doesn't know much about the store they are visiting.
