Circuit Sh-City, not so Sh-City!

[GreenJelly]

Well I went down to circuit sh-city to look at TV's... I had no intention of buying one, because their prices are so high. People have recommended that I change my decision from LCD to Plasma for a range of reasons. I walked around the store looking for 37" tv's, which their wasnt many of. I was looking at the brands they carry... Sony (LCD), Philips, Panasonic, Sharp, and a few others.

Eventually after a half hour or more, someone came up to me and asked if I needed help. I was NOT going to approach them...

I said I did... that I was looking at TV's for a long time, and wanted to know his take on plasmas and LCD's. This was a test of his knowledge... and he passed. So he gained my confidence. I asked him what he thought were the best Plasma Brands he had, and what were their quality/return/defect rate... again he was honest and told me what he thought, Panasonic and a few others where exceptional... however he had no idea about defects, for they dont come around. I asked him to show me these tv's, and we played a bit with their features... Never did he talk about the speakers or the remote (thank god). I eventually sprung on him that I would love to buy a TV right now, except that your prices are ALLOT more then the online competitors, and that I was going to buy online.

He asked me what price the online sales were running. So I asked him to look it up. We started at NewEgg, and then moved to Froogle. I wasnt going to suggest pricegrabber cause I didnt want him to look or think about shipping costs.

He found the price 1299, and turned to me and said that he would see what he could do... I sat their for about 5 minutes as he bounced from manager to manager... Finally coming back to me with a "Yep", we can do that....

So I sat their and thought... I could go online, buy a TV locally (tax, yikes) or pay the tax and have the ability to get easy support. I asked him about extended warrenty plans... they had a five year that was 500 and a 3 year that was slightly above 200... I then asked him to look at neweggs options... This time the extended warrenty was MORE at new egg. He also slipped in that circuit sh-city offered a protection against burned out pixels for the full 3 years...

So I said I would buy it... (duh)...

Now comes the fun part... got to call the bank and find out if I got the money in that account, or if I have to wait for the 700 in ebay and other checks that was sitting in my pocket, waiting to be deposited (my next trip), to have enough money... DOH... Nope...

But wait... Sales Pitch 3... No Intrest for 18 Months on a Credit Card... I dont have a Credit Card, dont like them, and dont use them... but I thought... No way, will they approve me for a Card... So, again I fill out my info... wait... smoke a cig... then wait... then BAMB, Im approved (I dont know how, since I dont even have a job)... So now I am taking the money I spent on this TV, and I am going to put it in a money market account for 1 1/2 years... which earns around 5-6% interest... Sales tax is 8% here... so I just negated the sales tax...

Then I hear about free installation... Wait... I need someone to come into my house to adjust my TV for me... sure, why not... But I am moving in 1/2 months, so that cant be good... Sales man chimes in... well we can have them come in when you move...

YEAH!!!

Sure I can setup a TV... but lets see how they do it... he said they will work on cable management and everything else... hmm... Lets see what happens...

Of course they dont have my TV in stock... but wait, Im not going to use my TV for another month anyways... so when they get it in stock Ill delay them an additional week to pick it up... Thats when the warrenty kicks in...

So, I got everything I want.. Perfect warrenty, great price, no shipping, and no sales tax... even got some poor shmo to come in and try to manage my cables...

HAHA...

Mike

PS, NEVER DID THE SALES MAN TRY TO SELL ME CABLES!!! OHH GOD IM IN HEAVEN!.

 

[Seth=L]

This is heaven, don't you remember the white light at the end of the tunnel moments before you entered CC.

Seriously, that is fantastic they handled that so well. Maybe they can still hold their own against the evil Best Buy for a bit longer.

 

[GreenJelly]

Man, I hate Circuit Sh-City so bad... I always felt like I was talking to a man that thought he was a GOD...

and then I had to deal with his EGO, and the constant crap that they feed us...

This man didnt even turn on the speakers on the TV, Hell I dont even know if they were attached... I was so HAPPY! This man was on the same level as me... he knew what he was doing, and was happy about doing it...

He wasnt going to push me sh-cit... Just what I wanted... Though I will probably need a bigger TV stand

I have to say, this is the first time, and probably the last time I buy an extended warrenty. The ONLY reason I bought this one, was that consumer reports recomended it, if it was under 20% of the cost. This was a bit over that, but the pixle repair/replacement is worth the extra 1 or 2%

And no MONSTER cable...

The TV is this one...
Panasonic TH42PX60U Black/Silver 42" 16:9 (Widescreen) Plasma Monitor W/ ATSC Tuner Inside - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824187086

Though I almost a million times sure... I better double check and make absolutely sure its not the....
Panasonic TH42PD60U Silver 42" 16:9 (Widescreen) Plasma TV with Built-In ATSC/QAM/NTSC Tuners - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824187087

 

[JVC]

I used to like Circuit City, but prefered Best Buy. We don't have either one in my town. Notice I said "used to like"? I have spent some money, in the CC in Greenville (about 35 miles away). We bought a $500 digital camera, a few years ago. We bought my $200 Audigy 2 ZS Platinum sound card from them. And bought some smaller items over the years.

Circuit City announced in our newspaper, that they were coming to our town. YAY! You don't usually see a CC without a BB close by, and I really wanted the BB. But even if BB didn't come, CC would have been great! A lot better than what we have. I, and a lot of other folks were excited about it. That was all the talk around town................CC was coming!

Well, about two weeks later, they announced in the newspaper, that they had changed their minds, and weren't coming! Man........talk about somebody being mad! I immediately got online with circuitcity.com, and cussed them out.......BAD! I told them it's one thing to never come, but to announce that you are, and get everyone excited, and then two weeks later, say that you've changed your mind.............that's about as sorry as you can get! I told them I'd never spend another penny at any CC, and anyone else I could get to go to BB instead, I would. That was a year ago, and I will not even go in their store anymore, when I go to Greenville. I go to BB, and that's it. With business practices like that, it's no wonder they are way behind BB, in the retail world. As far as I, and others in my town are concerned, CC doesn't even exist anymore............

 

[emorphien]

Ha. well there are a lot of reasons they might have decided to pass. The least of which being something in the arrangement with your town that they didn't like.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I was in there the other day to pick up a DVD on sale and looked around a bit. I noticed their cable display had other than Monsters at affordable prices. What's going on there? It seems they are not chasing customers anymore. A new methodology to gain some credibility?

 

[100r1]

The stores are only as good as the sales people working there and their managers.

Flash and glitz of ANY store only goes so far with me. Circut City in their last local Newspaper Advertisment had the Samsung LN-S4051D for $ 1,998.00 Thats list price no discounts from CC. I purchased the same LCD off line for $ 1,249.00 delivered to my door and no sales tax. None of my local B&M stores would give me any consideration for trying to price match when I went shopping in town. All I wanted them to do was get with-in $ 100.00 - $ 200.00. BrandsMart was almost there but no cigar.

Bought off the Net on Black Friday, Delivered to my Door on Monday (Ohio to Ft Lauderdale) with no extra cost for delivery time.

It pays to do your research, If you can find a local B&M store to work with you thats almost like finding a best friend.

 

[GreenJelly]

Yeah, I have to say that fore elctronics about 80% of my money goes to NewEgg, 15% to other websites, and 5% to local stores...

8% sales tax... ouch, and I look in the ads for sundays paper, and I always find it cheaper online even after the shipping. Whats also great is that I dont have to get off my sorry ***.

I hate shopping...

 

[GreenJelly]

Take for instance the logitech Harmony 880 I just bought.. \

Circuit Sh-City: $249 (+ 8% sales tax)
Best Buy: $249 (+8% Sales Tax)
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7135977&st=Logiitech+880&type=product&id=1110263641314
CompUSA: $249 (+8% Sales Tax)
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=srch1&Ntt=Logitech+880&N=0&Dx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&D=Logitech+880&Ntk=All&product_code=329333
NewEgg: $199.99 (+$6.13 shipping)

ehqonline.com (4.5+ reseller rating on Pricegrabber): $157 includes Shipping

Sure if I bought Music and DVD's I would go to these stores (or Ebay)... I would be forced too.

However, I dont buy Music and DVD's (or vary rarely)... I claim the 5th...

 

[brikelly]

Oh dear, I just had an "interesting" experience at a Circuit City here in NH.

Wanting to try out a $150 pair of Sony noise-cancellation headphones, I headed to the MP3 player area, where one of them was set up and connected to an iPod.

I put them on, but immediately noticed that they were not doing any noise cancelling. I checked the "on" switch, but no light from the LED! No big deal, the little battery was dead.

I pulled out the battery and hollered the nearest floor guy. "Excuse me - do you happen to have a new AAA battery for these demo headphones so that I can test them out?"

"Uh, sorry sir, we don't have any batteries".

I replied with disbelief mixed with laughter. "What? Circuit City doesn't stock batteries??"

"No sir, no. We stock them, but I can't open a pack of batteries for a demo".

My disbelief turned to annoyance.

"Are you telling me that you won't put a 50-cent battery into a $150 item so that I can test it before buying it?"

"Yes, sorry sir. Can't do it."

"Despite the fact that there was a AAA battery in here already for the purposes of demoing them?"

"Yes, sorry sir. Can't do it."

"Well, that's a retarded policy. You won't be getting my business."

And I walked out. Hope that super expensive AAA battery sells well.

 

[GreenJelly]

Why do you think I have such a horrible time spelling Circuit Sh-City. I just cant seem to leave of "sh" when I talk about Circuit Sh-City. I try and Try... but It just keeps happening

 

[Nick250]

To expect from BB or CS anything besides a place to view and compare items up close is unrealistic. I not saying it's good or bad, but that's just the way it is, whether we like it or not. Do your homework about the product(s) you are interested in before you get in your car and head to the stores.

Nick

 

[Hipnotic4]

Ahh well i use to work at CC..The managers always push you to sell the warrenty and the credit cards. Ofcourse they get huge bonuses with high sales in that and the workers get nothing.

We had this idiot working in car audio. He basicly broke more things than he did install. And the funny thing was he was becoming a teacher lol..

The guys in home audio was a joke. They basicly just knew what the lil card said and nothing else.

Its not so much the store but the workers. Half the workers have no drive though because they really get nothing out of it. They need to put back the commission in.

 

[GreenJelly]

As for the noise cancling headphones... dont bother, there not going to meet your expectations... buy a pair of grados (I got a pair of SR60's around my kneck right now)... you will be much happier.

 

[tomd51]

GJ;
Every time I read one of your posts containing the "Circuit Sh-City", all I can picture is Darrell Hammond from SNL doing his Sean Connery... -TD

 

[GreenJelly]

Thats funny...

Though I dont say it with the "C" when I talk... Its just that Circuit Shitty is censored...


EDIT! What, What WHAT!

We can Say Circuit SHITTY!

YEA! This is a day that ROCKS!

 

[krabapple]

Take for instance the logitech Harmony 880 I just bought.. \

Circuit Sh-City: $249 (+ 8% sales tax)
Best Buy: $249 (+8% Sales Tax)
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7135977&st=Logiitech+880&type=product&id=1110263641314
CompUSA: $249 (+8% Sales Tax)
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=srch1&Ntt=Logitech+880&N=0&Dx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&D=Logitech+880&Ntk=All&product_code=329333
NewEgg: $199.99 (+$6.13 shipping)

ehqonline.com (4.5+ reseller rating on Pricegrabber): $157 includes Shipping

Cool, I just ordered a Harmony 890 (the next model up) myself. Surprisingly, the best price I found was at....amazon.com ($238 + free shipping). Ehqonline had it for $250, which was a fairly common low price. Circuit City? $359

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Make sure that 18 months no interest deal doesnt require payments, or you'll get a nice black mark on your credit file. Most of those same as cash deals require payments during the "free" period, but if you miss, the interest is retroactive - and don't rely on the finance company to send you a big reminder during month 17. It won't happen.

I knew a few guys who used to work at CC, and boy the discounts they got. It's almost worth working there for a few weeks to get their discounts.

 

[GreenJelly]

I was told no interest and no payments... but if I get a bill for a payment I will make it. I know how many crappy loopholes and tricks they play in these deals... you got to becarefull, or you will end up in a pool of crap.

BTW, I just got the Harmony... Going to leave it charging for a few days... The guy at logitech said to charge it at least over night... lots of people have had battery problems, and its because they dont charge it before using it.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

I was told no interest and no payments... but if I get a bill for a payment I will make it. I know how many crappy loopholes and tricks they play in these deals... you got to becarefull, or you will end up in a pool of crap.

BTW, I just got the Harmony... Going to leave it charging for a few days... The guy at logitech said to charge it at least over night... lots of people have had battery problems, and its because they dont charge it before using it.

Fully charge it, then let it drain ALL THE WAY DOWN. Then recharge it. That's the trick - from what I've read.