Circuit City Price Gouging on Installation Fees

Reader Ben sends us this camera phone shot of the in-store Circuit City price list for their various home installation services. Holy Shit!

•Remote Programming: $129.99 ?!
•Stand Alone DVR: $149.99?! !##%@$#!

One Hundred and Thirty Dollars to program a REMOTE? Allow us to announce the Consumerist Home Installation Service… where for only $800.00… nevermind. Or, as reader Ben says:

“That involves hooking up some A/V cables to your television and turning the thing on– Maximum time… what, 10 minutes?? Excuse the poor camera phone quality, but you’ll notice that the prices are on stickers, clearly covering up an older, probably more reasonable price. My question is, does Circuit City regulate what their stores charge for home installation?”

Good question! Does anyone work for Circuit City? What’s the deal? Ben’s email inside.


    “I was at the Santa Monica, CA Circuit City today, and noticed how ridiculous their prices were for home theater installation. Plasma wall mounting is clearly complicated and requires skill, so it’s hardto argue what is reasonable, but things like DVR installation for $149.99?!?! That involves hooking up some A/V cables to your television and turning the thing on– Maximum time… what, 10 minutes?? Excuse the poor camera phone quality, but you’ll notice that the prices are on stickers, clearly covering up an older, probably more reasonable price. My question is, does Circuit City regulate what their stores charge for home installation? Going to the Circuit City website, they only list prices for the “big jobs” like plasma mounting and surround sound setup. These Halliburton-priced a la carte items like DVR Setup don’t make any appearance on the website.”

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