var json_comments = new Array("
\"user-pic\"
Eldritch
January 16, 2009 4:16 PM
Moderate | Flag for review

Firing those employees was the catalyst. I think that gave them a ton of bad press, and just stuck stupid teenagers in the store who didn't know a laptop from their own asses.

Reply
6 replies
\"user-pic\"
Skunky
January 16, 2009 11:36 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@Eldritch: Hey, there are some instances where a nice teenage ass is a very welcome thing to have in ones lap.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
cunninglinguine
January 16, 2009 4:32 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@Eldritch: I worked at CC for about two weeks while I was waiting for a real job. While not the worst two weeks of my life, they were the worst two weeks of employment in my life.

Scam scam scam, lie lie lie, push push push. Their service plans and in-house warranties were a joke (as they always are at these places) but if you didn't sell them you'd get disciplined and eventually fired. I had real problems with trying to get people to buy a $500 service package (which covered basically nothing at all) on a $999 laptop.

I had the same problem working for CompUSA years earlier. And we all know what happened to CompUSA.

The sooner CC is finally laid to rest, the sooner I can toast its total demise. So, hurry up and die, CC.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
andystep12
January 16, 2009 4:48 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@cunninglinguine:
Funny enough, I've worked for CompUSA and BestBuy, and your observations are correct.
So the only warranty cramming lie factory left is BestBuy.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
Ghede
January 16, 2009 5:41 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@andystep12: I wonder how long they will stick around? Will they collapse, due to a failed business model? Will they thrive, because some people just want a warranty cramming lie factory, and they no longer have competition in that market?

Reply
\"user-pic\"
ojzitro
January 16, 2009 4:31 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@Eldritch: I think that assessment is a tad simplistic. It takes years of poor management decisions to sink a boat that big. Those decisions (coupled with the state of our economy, Internet based Tech sales, and Best buy stomping them at every turn) eventually broke the bow.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
Alessar
January 16, 2009 8:44 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@ojzitro: He said catalyst, not cause. I agree. It touched off a chain reaction; I know that I resolved to never buy anything from them again because of what they did to those workers and I have friends who said the same thing; and others who said they'd try to not buy from them unless they were desperate. (Thanks to Newegg, I don't think they ever were.) Add in lower customer service and everything else and ... well the slippery slope is pretty much drawn right there in the graph.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
Prince of Zemunda
January 16, 2009 4:55 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@ojzitro: Yes the fall started before that. The first wave of layoffs back in 2002 showed me how inept the company. This is when they went from commission to hourly. They took what you made on commission and converted it to an hourly rate. So basically if you were a good sales person you were canned. They allowed me to stay through Christmas (I was in college and worked during the summers & Christmas break) and I saw then how the plan was going to back fire. The sales people they let go built great rapport with customers so when they left, so did their regular customers. They were trying desperately to be like BB. Sometimes you just have to accept that you are #2 and do that right (i.e. Target to Walmart). The funny thing is that one of the managers they let go went to BB and hired all of those former CC employees.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
chauncy that billups
January 16, 2009 4:21 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

I'd like to see the timeline before 2007. Was it relatively stable? In other words, did they fire higher-paid workers in order to stem a drop that was already occurring, a strategy which ultimately did not work; OR, did firing these workers CAUSE the decline over the next couple years?

Reply
8 replies
\"user-pic\"
Zyada
January 16, 2009 9:59 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@bilups:


Here's another 5 year chart. It shows that their share value was 225% higher at the beginning of 2006 versus the beginning of 2004, kept it up through most of 2006 then started falling badly.


Philip J. Schoonover took over as Chairman of the Board on June 27, 2006. Just how long before a person gets in charge of a company does that person's management show an effect?

Reply
\"user-pic\"
dallasmay
January 16, 2009 6:54 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@bilups: Yeah, Consumerist should show the 5 year plot. That Even makes their point more outstanding.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
MightyDwarf56
January 16, 2009 5:59 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@bilups: The way it looked from that chart, around the time they made the switch from commission to hourly, they lost a bit a stock value. But they slowly got it back to what it was before the 2007 firings. Odd to say the least. But this doesn't tell the whole story. There had to be a reason for the drastic measures that we don't know about. But, what ever the reason, it didn't work.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
chauncy that billups
January 16, 2009 5:08 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@HurtsSoGood: Woah....yeah, that definitely indicates the 2007 firings was more of a cause than effect.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
thnkwhatyouthnk
January 16, 2009 4:35 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@HurtsSoGood: Wow. They obviously broke the number one rule of everything: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
courtarro
January 16, 2009 4:33 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@HurtsSoGood: They were definitely hurting before the March 2007 date quoted for the firings, but it's not hard to believe that the firings had a lot to do with their continued decline.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
KhaiJB
January 16, 2009 4:23 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

and the Execs that killed the company by incompetence are already at other jobs getting fat bonuses...

Reply
2 replies
\"user-pic\"
Mike_Hawk
January 17, 2009 1:33 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@KhaiJB: Welcome to America and the new caste system comrade.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
ExtraCelestial
January 16, 2009 7:17 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@KhaiJB: Thats the thing that always pisses me off about these things. It's always the little guy that gets it the worst.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
spoco
January 16, 2009 4:24 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

I stopped shopping at Circuit City after during the summer of 2007, a jackass told me that a 20 GHz Celeron processor was just as good as a 2.0 Dual core processor.

Reply
4 replies
\"user-pic\"
cunninglinguine
January 16, 2009 4:33 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@spoco: I'd like to have that 20GHz Celeron. That is, you know, pretty amazingly fast.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
DePaulBlueDemon
January 16, 2009 5:42 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@cunninglinguine:

I imagine a 20 GHz Celeron might be faster that a 2.0 Dual Core. But what would I know? I'm not a jackass.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
LiquidGravity
January 18, 2009 6:37 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@DePaulBlueDemon:
@cunninglinguine:
I'm sure s/he meant 2.0 GHz Celeron processor vs 2.0 Dual core processor

Reply
\"user-pic\"
kathyl
January 16, 2009 4:31 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@spoco: Yeah, I got similar \"advice\" while shopping there for the final time. Then I went to Best Buy for the final time (didn't know that when I walked in, obviously) and had the salesman there repeatedly tell the cashier that I would be buying the extended warranty while I was simultaneously telling her I would not be doing so. Three times he tried to talk over me before I walked out, went home, and bought the item I'd been trying to buy in person online.

Way to go, brick and mortars!

Reply
\"user-pic\"
cabjf
January 16, 2009 4:43 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@kathyl: Yeah, there are only two advantages to brick and mortars over online: customer service and immediate gratification. More and more people are willing to forgo the latter when they realize that the former is not offered in most big box stores, especially when they can get a better price and a wider selection online already.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
pterrell
January 16, 2009 4:25 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

In yesterday's mail was a Discover Card promo for Circuit City...

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
shadax
January 16, 2009 4:26 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

I would have rather seen Best Buy go under. Biggest scam artists in major retail.

Reply
2 replies
\"user-pic\"
Anonymous
January 16, 2009 8:17 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@shadax: This may be the first time that I've ever heard someone think that Circuit City is better than Best Buy--maybe it's just your local one that stinks. Even the worst BB I've been in is better than the best CC.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
Raiders757
January 17, 2009 5:46 AM
Moderate |Flag for review

@DarianKliker:


I agree. The Circuit City near me is pathetic in every way when compared to the Best Buy across the street. Better selection, better staff, better stuff. I've never had a problem with Best Buy.


I would rather niether one of them go under. Competition is always a great thing for the consumer, and now we're going to have another large empty store to look at in my town.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
Brian Deuel
January 17, 2009 10:43 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@Raiders757:

There is more competition than just brick and mortar stores. Personally, I would rather see all of the big box electronics retailers disappear; at least the ones that used to shove those damn extended warranties in my face (I no longer buy from those stores). I can get a decent TV from a Walmart or Meijer, and everything else not as large through an online retailer.

They really need to change some of their policies or none of them will survive.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
mac-phisto
January 16, 2009 4:26 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

c'mon now, that's some very selective reporting there. the stock was actually on the decline for almost 12 months prior to the decision to layoff their workforce. you guys are making it sound like that decision is what caused all this.

don't get me wrong, laying off all those people definitely did not help, but you don't just wake up one day & say, \"hey, i'm gonna can all my employees & hire new ones for 50¢/hr less & save millions. BWAHAHAHAHA!\"

ok, maybe a few people do that, but that's certainly not what caused this decline...

Reply
2 replies
\"user-pic\"
lyim
January 16, 2009 7:25 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@mac-phisto:


Actually look at the 5-year chart before you say something wrong...

Reply
\"user-pic\"
mac-phisto
January 17, 2009 11:04 AM
Moderate |Flag for review

@lyim: i did. trading closed at 18.42 on 03/29/07. trading was around $25-$30 for almost all of 2006. then, starting in Q4 2006, the stock lost 30% of its value (probably on poor sales expectations for the holiday season). the decline continued into Q1 2007 (probably on even worse realizations of those poor expectations for holiday sales).

if you are referring to the 5-yr that HurtsSoGood linked, i think you need to look a little closer. notice how the tick marks indicating price are compressed - this is what's known as a \"logarithmic scale\" - this chart type focuses more on percentage change than price difference. here's a link to the SAME DATA represented in a linear format--> [finance.yahoo.com]

tells a completely different story, doesn't it?

Reply
","","
\"user-pic\"
Ash78 ain't got time to bleed
January 16, 2009 4:28 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Anyone else remember the long-time jingle \"Welcome to Circuit City, where service is state of the art\"?


I never really saw that in action.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
heybtbm
January 16, 2009 4:30 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

I just bought a laptop there last night. Good thing I passed on the extended warranty...lol.

Reply
","","","
\"user-pic\"
ADismalScience
January 16, 2009 4:31 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Yes, because the most important thing that happened to Circuit City's business model in 2007 was the firing of expensive retail employees.


Let the record show that Circuit City is a high profile victim of the credit crisis. It overheated based on easy money in the boom period, and could not adjust quickly enough when consumers pulled back.

Reply
2 replies
\"user-pic\"
Zyada
January 17, 2009 12:03 AM
Moderate |Flag for review

@ADismalScience:


Actually, I disagree, after looking at other charts. In stock value at least, CC was doing much better than retail in general through 2006, and fared much worse starting in late 2006, just a few months after a new Chairman of the Board was hired.


I doubt that the firing was the only change to the business model from that period, but I suspect it was the most visible event that was symptomatic of the managerial change that occurred.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
zibby
January 16, 2009 5:39 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@ADismalScience: Oh you and your fancypants college-boy analysis. It was the fatcats which done it, and they done it because they wanted to screw the little guy. C'mon, it's right there on the chart!

Reply
","","","","
\"user-pic\"
lifestar
January 16, 2009 4:34 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Sad really for CC, sadder for the consumer that BB will be one of the only available stores in the area to shop for electronics.

I used to love going to CC over BB, but the last two years CC has been more of a test new electronics store. I'd go in, buy a new Blu-ray player, try it at home, decide that I want to keep it, but want it at a cheaper price. Go to Amazon etc... return CC one, enjoy Amazon one at cheaper price.

I guess I'm one of those who contributed to their downfall. :P

Reply
2 replies
\"user-pic\"
paco
January 16, 2009 6:00 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@lifestar: Sad for Richmond, VA too. I know many people who've worked at Circuit City over the past few years, and several of them are now going to be on the unemployment line. Along with laid-off employees of Genworth, LandAmerica, Wachovia Securities, and others, not to mention the vendors and other related businesses. Uncertain times, indeed.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
f3rg
January 16, 2009 5:39 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@lifestar: I did a similar thing once, and I don't feel a bit of guilt. Needed a new HDD right away, Newegg had it for $60, CC for $130. I bought it at CC, went home and fixed my horrible computer issue, then ordered the very same model from Newegg. When it arrived a couple days later, I returned the Newegg drive to CC and got a refund. Had CC sold it for a reasonable price (say, $80), I wouldn't have done that, but for more than double an online price?? No way. RIP, CC. I won't miss you except for the hands-on time I occasionally get with products I then buy elsewhere.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
JGKojak
January 16, 2009 4:34 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Laying off the workforce was the beginning of the end. They took all the people that knew how things worked, got rid of 'em, and expected to make the same money. A complete disregard for the value of employee experience and local knowledge-- a poor way to run a company.

Reply
","","
\"user-pic\"
FreeShaggy
January 16, 2009 4:37 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Check out the 5 year stock chart. Try finance at yahoo.com.


At least the stock was doing quite well before then, and from my personal experience, Circuit City was still pretty solid.


You can see a slight decrease before the firing of the employees, so perhaps the firings were an emergency measure to offset any losses. I donno. But it can't be solely blamed on that. Can it?

Reply
","","
\"user-pic\"
TouchMyMonkey
January 16, 2009 4:43 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Anyway, FARK is reporting that CC has just gone tits-up.
[forums.fark.com]

Reply
1 replies
\"user-pic\"
snowburnt
January 16, 2009 6:17 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@HurtsSoGood: and the site you're looking at now reported it 43 minutes before your post...11 minutes before this thread was started

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
larrymac808
January 16, 2009 4:47 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

The timeline shows 6/20 occurring before 6/1.


It's a nasty blow to the local (Richmond VA) workforce; I know several people who will be affected. Still, the attempt at reinvention was too little, too late.

Reply
","","","
\"user-pic\"
SecureLocation
January 16, 2009 5:05 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

For more than a year their stores have ha no inventory. They didn't even stock a line of cell phone chargers. I stopped bothering.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
lastingsmilledge
January 16, 2009 5:05 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

so who is there to compete with bestbuy now on a national level? sears? sams/costco? it's not going to be pretty.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
AcceleratedDragon
January 16, 2009 5:05 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Paying retention bonuses to keep \"quality executives\" from leaving a sinking ship, has that EVER worked?

Reply
2 replies
\"user-pic\"
catnapped
January 16, 2009 5:18 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@AcceleratedDragon: Made them rich, didn't it? I'd say in THEIR case, it definitely did some good.

Reply
\"user-pic\"
failurate
January 16, 2009 5:12 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@AcceleratedDragon: My guess is that was an attempt to clean the last bits of meat off the carcass... with the $208 million loss reported the same day, they were probably getting ready for what is happening now, thinking that it was going to happen sooner.

Reply
","","","","
\"user-pic\"
starrion
January 16, 2009 5:21 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Every time. The executives will take that bonus and ride the ship right down to it's grave.


They can't lose those execs- who will drill the holes to let the water out?

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
Anonymous
January 16, 2009 5:26 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Everyone seems to be forgetting the massive layoffs in 2003. They did the exact same thing in 2003 as 2007. Either it didn't matter then or people don't seem to care. I left the company in 2001 but had a lot of friends working there in 2003. All the good sales people who made enough money to live were laid off. Some went to work at Best Buy for more than a 50% pay cut. That was the end of commissioned sales. All those who did not sell enough to be laidoff were converted to hourly and given raises. The 2007 layoffs were based on hourly rates that were considered \"too high\" but the idea was the same. Anyone who made more than the average Wal mart employee was let go.

When I worked at Circuit City everyone complained that employees were paid too much and that Best Buy, where workers made close to minimum wage and everything was bulked out, was better for shopping. Then after the second time Circuit City laidoff good employees in 2007, all of a sudden customers start complaining about lack of sales experience of Circuit employees? Interesting. I disagreed with Circuit City's move away from sales people but it WAS what so many people wanted. They did try to react to Best Buy taking over.

Maybe the second round of layoffs was one too many. I don't know. But the 2007 layoffs were not a new thing. They had a complete shift in strategy over the last 8-9 years which included getting rid of high performing workers twice. Heck, I only worked there 1 year, from 2000-2001, and the entire corporate philosophy changed and the store was completely remodeled 3 times ( to reflect the changes in philosophy) in that time period.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
FatLynn
January 16, 2009 5:26 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Who else had to read \"Good to Great\" in Business School?

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
edrebber
January 16, 2009 5:30 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Consumer eletronics have become a commodity. Do you need a sales associate to help you buy a loaf of bread? The sals associate could then sell you a warranty to cover staleness or an expensive knife to cut your sandwich in half.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
Anonymous
January 16, 2009 5:30 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Circuit City Execs have always been money hungry. They rolled out \"ABW\" (A Better Way) back in the 90's, which meant their commissioned sales people made 1/4 as much on product as before. That's when the knowledge started leaving...the switch to cheaper labor in 07 was a continuation of their myopic view of making money at the expense of employees and ultimately customers. What else did the execs expect when they treat people as numbers to be manipulated...Organizations are made up of people and supported by consumers, also people. You can't screw people and expect your business to grow.

Reply
","","","","","","","","","","","
\"user-pic\"
MrEvil
January 16, 2009 7:46 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

I think this year is going to send a message to the B&M Retailers (the ones that are still standing when the smoke clears) that they can no longer ignore online only vendors as competition.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
Matt Peters
January 16, 2009 8:02 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

I am afraid this timeline does not go back far enough. I worked for CC in the late 90's. The fall started when CC stopped selling major appliances causing CC stock to go from $60 to $21. It was a slow downward spiral from there. CC was #2 appliance retailer, only behind Sears. They instead wanted to fill the showroom full of overpriced PDA's and Headphones. Sad to see them go, but it was the worst job I have ever had and the company arrogance was nauseating.

Reply
","","","
\"user-pic\"
Princess Sparkle Pony
January 16, 2009 9:18 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

I blame DIVX.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
vastrightwing
January 16, 2009 9:53 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

bye bye CC. C ya! BB, you're next.

Reply
","","","
\"user-pic\"
Quilt
January 16, 2009 11:00 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

How much did the CEO get after he quit? I hope he bought a decent island.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
Anonymous
January 16, 2009 11:30 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

2007 massive layoff was not the cause of their demise...they had massive layoff around 2k3 and was one of those affected. Since then, everything went down.

FYI...BB is not the only player left. CDW is the largest technology provider in the country and can sell to the public as well.

Reply
","","
\"user-pic\"
Hitchcock
January 16, 2009 11:43 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Also don't forget when they decided to get rid of appliances and replaced them with computer add-on cards and peripherals. That cost a lot of money to remodel the stores, and they found not only were sales lower, but the margins were extremely less than on appliances.

Reply
","","
\"user-pic\"
Anonymous
January 17, 2009 2:14 AM
Moderate |Flag for review

Circuit City's issues started back when they stop selling major appliances, just get out of a $2.0 billion business overnight and not understanding that customers buying major appliances were buy other items. They also failed to tell all the vendors about this, the Maytag's and GE's read this in the newspaper and CC did not even have enough guts to call them first about the exiting plans. Then they sold their cash cow, First National North American Bank, their credit card company after a few stupid decision made by the CFO. Then the firing of the best sales associates like the chart indicated. They did NOT keep their stores up to date or their point of sales systems. Back in the early 90's CC thought BBY was on their way out but they hired a consulting firm the followed their suggestions and look where they are now. CC's executive team are idiots!

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
Anonymous
January 17, 2009 2:57 AM
Moderate |Flag for review

I stopped shopping at Circuit City when they implemented a \"re-stocking\" fee for returning an item, even if the item was defective. The only way around this policy was to take a store credit. What kind of customer service is that? All it did was make me afraid to buy anything there!By the way, Best Buy now has this policy and I no longer shop there either. At least Sears and Walmart stand behind the products they sell and will gladly take a return item without any \"re-stocking\" fee.

Reply
","","
\"user-pic\"
Justifan
January 17, 2009 5:52 AM
Moderate |Flag for review

their stores have been dead zones for the last decade in the bay area. it was a slow death.

Reply
","","","","","
\"user-pic\"
kreatre2009
January 18, 2009 6:12 AM
Moderate |Flag for review

They deserved to die. I hated that place. They had lousy sales staff, lousy customer service and, they tried to act as if they're some kind of high end establishment. I tried to buy a computer there once in 1997. The sales lady totally screwed me over and didn't explain the price properly. Then, she claimed that it was all my fault. I went across the street and bought the exact same machine for less at Best Buy. A year later, I wanted to buy a stereo. They ignored me when I needed help getting the model that I wanted. I left and went across the street to Best Buy where I was greeted almost instantly when I started looking at stereos. I gave them one final chance in 2001 when I went in to buy DVDs. I was ignored yet again. After I made my purchase, I saw that a disk was missing from the case and that someone had the plastic wrapping and pulled the disk out of the case making it look as if the case had never been opened. When I tried to return it, the manager was skeptical. Then, I pointed to the 4 salespeople all grouped around a service counter in the DVD section who were totally ignoring the customers. I suggested that was the reason why the theft occurred. It was because those morons don't bother to talk to customers or acknowledge their presence. I got my refund. Now, almost 8 years later I have never set foot in one of those stores again. I'm glad they're going away.

Reply
","","
\"user-pic\"
jp7570
January 19, 2009 5:54 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

I believe Circuit City's problems began long before the March 2007 firing of their 3,400 knowledgeable hourly staff. I had tried to shop there over the past few years, but usually found the selection of product on the sales floor to be poor (too few choices, older technology, etc.). Employees seemed indifferent at best and usually non-existent (i.e. not on the sales floor). Customer service, in my experience, was very poor.


One of the few items I did purchase was an HP color laser printer in 2004 because it was on sale at $399 ($100 off the regular price - this was not a mail-in rebate) and also came with an additional $50 gift card. When the cashier rang the printer up, she did so at $399 and failed to give me the $50 gift card. Even though I had the ad with me and showed it to her, she insisted that was the price because that's what their computer said it was. I asked the manager to intervene but he was unaware of the sale. He called his boss and after 10 minutes they finally sold the printer at the advertised price and with the $50 gift card.


I took the printer home and opened it up to find it was a not a new printer - it was either a return or a B-stock (demo or factory refurb). There were no toner cartridges in it (even though the box clearly stated that toner cartridges were included) and had obviously been repackaged. Without the cartridges, this particular model would not initialize, so I apparently purchased a used, potentially defective printer which was sold as new. (I re-read the ad to make sure it was for a return or demo item. There was no \"fine print\" that indicated it was anything but a new unopened item.)


In less than an hour, I returned to the store with the printer and requested a replacement (new) or a refund. The same manager that I dealt with earlier now gives me a hard time about returning a open box item, pointing to the return policy on a sign near the \"customer service desk\" (a sign which is not visible when you are buying items). Eventually, the manager agrees to exchange it but there were no more in stock. Apparently this model is a discontinued item (guess I should have seen that coming). Checking on the phone with other area stores yielded no in-stock printers of the same model and the sale price was an in-store-only promotion (meaning that it could not be ordered from the website).


The only alternative seemed to be to return the printer and gift card and get my money back. The manager gave me a really hard time on this but eventually took the printer and gift card back. However, I was now charged a 15% restocking fee, which was about $60. I protested the charge but to no avail (I had paid by check - I wish I had paid by credit card because I could have disputed the charge).


As recommended by Consumerist, I began the EECB process, and even contacted every member of the Circuit City Board of Directors. To my surprise, I received a nicely-written response from one Board member that basically apologized but offered no solution. Eventually, I get a telephone call from an assistant in the executive office that says they will make an exception to their restocking policy in this case and send me a gift card in the amount of the restocking fee. I figure that would be the end of it.


A month later, I receive the card. (Seems like a long time to get it, but at least they sent it.) I go to another local Circuit City and find $61 worth of items (I was not about to spend any more than I had to). At checkout, the cashier discovers that the card is \"dead\" - it was never authorized by Circuit City and was worthless! I leave the store with nothing and since it is the weekend, Circuit City's corporate offices are closed. Monday morning I call the assistant that I spoke with and she says the only thing they can do is re-send a new card. I ask for the card I have to be re-authorized, but for some reason that was not possible. After almost 3 weeks, I received the replacement card. I return to Circuit City and have the cashier check the validity of the card before I buy anything. This time it is valid. I use it to get a few cables and DVD's. That was in 2004 and I never purchased from Circuit City again.


The list of errors on Circuit City's part was lengthy - misrepresenting items as \"new\", not honoring an exchange or return, charging a restocking fee for defective products, and totally FUBAR-ing crediting the restocking fee.


That kind of cascading incompetence can only be attributable to poor leadership and management practices. In my experience, Circuit City failed at every level - sales, store management, customer service, and corporate. Anyone that reports that Circuit City failed because of the poor US economy is not reporting the whole story. As the economists say \"a rising tide lifts all ships\", so when the economy was good Circuit City could still just get by. But as Warren Buffet has said, \"when the tide goes out you can see who was swimming naked\". Circuit City's poor management and retail practices did them in.


The only advantage to having Circuit City around was that it was one more competitor for Best Buy. While Sears, Walmart, and others compete at some level, there is no comparable national electronics retailer other than Best Buy. Other regional chains such as Tweeter are also dropping off the map, so there are fewer and fewer choices for the consumer. Hopefully, this will encourage the rise of the local \"mom-and-pop\" stores that were once prevalent, prior to the rise of the Big Box retailers.

Reply
","
\"user-pic\"
Anonymous
February 2, 2009 10:16 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

I worked at Circuit City nearly 8 years ago. They were poorly run even back then. They had a custom computer register/inventory system that used the creepiest terminals and was nearly constantly wrong. I remember they were 'fighting' against Best Buy and Sears at the time with BB pushing their 'packages' for computers. CC refused, at the time, to play the package games BB was playing ans we lost many sales because of that. I worked during the commission days so it kinda sucked that CC wouldn't/couldn't step up and play the games. I even got sent to the managers office because I sent an email in response to a VP's email to 'sell more, sell more now'...

Most of the people that I worked with in store management were great. Our store lead the state for months but I've seen a direct slide downhill for a long time. Sales people that wouldn't help you, merchandise always out of stock, sales people giving out bad advice, reselling defective merchandise. Pushing the 'service plan', which I remember as being company management's mantra in any email, call or meeting. 'Sell the plan'. One guy that I worked with would baldface lie to the customers about 'the plan' and was selling the heck out of it. He outsold most people in the region. Would management dare fire him? Hell no. He was making them BIG MONEY! I quit... Within a few months most of the other people I worked with did to.

I liked working there, hated 'the draw' and met some great people, and one grade 'A' a--hole... The things we do for money...

Reply
");