Ian writes:
Last Thursday 2/14, I ordered a 32GB iPod touch from CircuitCity.com at $474 + tax for a total of about $514. After thinking about it for a bit, I logged back in and canceled the order – just a bit too steep for an iPod, you know? I figured I’d have to wait a while for the price to drop, and left it at that. Well, believe it or not, I received a call at work today from a Circuit City sales rep at corporate telling me he’d offer me the iPod at a discount, so CC could keep my business. I was baffled – nothing like this has ever happened to me before, but the price he gave me $420 + tax… was too good to pass up.
I wondered if this wasn’t just a bit fishy, except the man did have all my previous order information… only Circuit City could possibly have that. When the man asked for my CC number, I told him I just don’t give it out to random people who called me (hehe), and asked him for a number where I could call him back – he gave me the number, and when I called back, it was very clearly a Circuit City number.
So I gave the rep my credit card number, and he told me the final charge would be about $469.
Seconds after I hung up, I realized that $420 plus tax was $455, NOT $469, so I called the number back so the rep could make an adjustment.
No answer, of course… just voicemail. I tried calling back several times throughout the morning and early afternoon as well, but still… just voicemail.
I started to get the feeling that something was wrong… so I logged on to the Circuit City site to see my order, ready to be picked up later that day in Midtown Manhattan – and was shocked to see that my card was charged for the amount of $550 – full retail plus tax. $100 more than he had quoted me over the phone!!!
I kept calm and called customer service, who escalated the problem to corporate. Corporate told me that they had no record of this gentleman offering me a discount, and all they could do was cancel my order.
There was no one else I could speak to, and due to “policy,” they couldn’t – read, “wouldn’t” honor the price I was given.
I calmly explained that they might as well cancel all of my FUTURE orders as well. What an outrageous business practice to have a rep call me and offer me one price for an item, only to charge my card nearly $100 more. What a great disappointment, as I had been a customer for many, many years. Still, nothing more than a half-hearted apology and a “we’ll look into it.”
I immediately called Amex to cancel my card – clearly, there’s some fraudulent activity going on at the City. Just a warning to other potential Circuit City customers out there. If it sounds too good to be true, it most definitely is.
Buyers beware!
- Ian
Very strange. Do stores do this, try to “retain” your online sale if you cancel it? First I’ve ever heard of it. Maybe the guy needed one last “save” before going home for the night and getting you to redo your order under false pretenses fit the bill.
(Photo: Vince Brown (attila))
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I know a guy who buys lists of people who were in the “checkout line” on a website but then never completed the purchase. He then calls the people and convinces them to buy the products at a discounted rate. This is probably the work of him or someone like him. Your order may have been subject to taxes from a diff state / city which would explain the disparity in the price.
Isn’t bait and switch when they tell him they don’t have the discounted product that was advertised (or it sucks) and get him to buy a different, more expensive product? This post is about overcharging, not bait-and-switch.
“When the man asked for my CC number, I told him I just don’t give it out to random people who called me (hehe), and asked him for a number where I could call him back – he gave me the number, and when I called back, it was very clearly a Circuit City number.”
(long, drawn-out sigh)
No offense, OP, but that completely misses the point of call verification. Did you check online to see if it’s registered to Circuit City? Did you call back the official CC customer care number?
If not, then you might as well have given the credit card info during the first call. Any dupe can set up a legitimate-sounding automated voice menu (in many cases, better than the actual company, for shame!).
If you’re going to use CC as “Circuit City” please don’t use it again as “Credit Card”.
“I received a call at work today from a Circuit City sales rep at corporate telling me he’d offer me the iPod at a discount, so CC could keep my business”
“When the man asked for my CC number, I told him I just don’t give it out to random people who called me”
Unless CC is Circuit City in both??
@crazylady: I prefer to buy direct I have had bad xp with circuit city and their “super warranty” basically they can change the terms of the deluxe warranty when I signed up if something went wrong I was supposed to get a gift card for the purchase amt, then they got a deal with apple and instead refurbished ipod would be sent by mail.
They never notified me, I found this out after, so now I buy direct. If there is a problem I get a new ipod right then and there.
I am more concerned about warranties then how cheap it is.
As for the Ipod touch I wouldnt Touch them (no pun intended) until they get the same mem capacity as the regular Ipods $300 bucks for a 8gp touch is a rip off.
I have two ipods a 60gb and a 80 gb the 60 hold my music and is half full the 80 my video and it is full. I would love a touch but its worthless to me for video because of how little memory it has
@hi: It’s pretty obvious at this point. The rep didn’t ask for a Circuit City number and the OP didn’t get a call from credit card wanting to keep his business. Context, context.
I bought a Touch last week. I originally went to Circuit City because they had an ad on their website “All iPods on sale!” Turns out that was a giant lie, every iPod in the store was at regular retail price with a red SALE sticker. When I called the sales rep on it, he claimed Apple was having the sale, and they (Apple) were going to raise the prices soon. “You know how Apple is.”
I ended up going to another store and paying the same price Circuit City had, but I really didn’t want to give them business after fibbing.
I don’t think Ipods ever go on sale (so any “sale” involving Ipods is obviously a scam), or at least that is what I heard a while ago, it might have changed now. I have heard apple has fixed pricing on them and does not allow sales.
I work at Circuit City, and it is shit like this that makes me happy it’s just a college job and not where I’m trying to have a career.
@trillium: The heck? What business is it of theirs where you bought something? I wasn’t aware that national chains only support your purchase in the state where you originally bought your gizmo. I bought a Macbook Pro (I’m typing this on it) in DE over the summer due to the lack of tax, and Apple has given me no grief whatsoever about tying it to my appleID which has my home address plugged in for billing purposes.
As for the “ipods on sale!” thing, well, by store logic, you can buy them, so they are out for sale, hence on sale? I guess that’s their excuse.
Its obvious that “trillium” if full of S%^&*. The warranty is considered a “service” and therefore tax-free anyway. You have 30 days to return it to them if it goes out. If you were trying to get a different TV tax-free in a tax charging state…good luck you cheap bastard. The price of saving money is very high