Circuit City Calls The Cops On Customer Who Requests A Price Match
Emmett writes: Dear Mr. Schoonover:
I would like to make you aware of an incident that occurred in your Burnsville, MN Circuit City yesterday. I read about your Unbeatable Price Guarantee on your website. I had an ad from Costco for a Magellan GPS that was significantly less than the Circuit City price. Before driving 20 miles in a snow storm, I called your Burnsville store and spoke with Tom. Tom told me that because Costco is a local retailer, I would be eligible for the Unbeatable Price Guarantee...
So I drove down to the store, brought the GPS and the Costco ad to the checkout. The teller called for a manager to override the price. The manager declined to do so. So I asked to speak with the store manager. I was introduced to Brad, who later refused to give his last name. I explained the situation to Brad, and he said he would not match the Costco price because it was a club. I told him that I looked on the CC website and that it didn't say club prices were not eligible; and I reminded him that one of his employees ensured me that the price would be matched. Brad said there are more limitations to the policy in a pamphlet. I asked to see the pamphlet and he refused. He then said it didn't matter what the pamphlet stated, because he made the rules in “his store” I persisted. I asked again to see in writing where club prices wouldn't be matched. He told me there was no way he was going to match the price and that I should leave. I said I would gladly leave once he proved to me that the club portion of the policy existed. He response: he called the police! I was there with my 5 year old son, who became very scared by Brad's irrational behavior. Of course, out of concern for my child, we left immediately.
I hope you are as outraged by Brad's irrational and arrogant behavior as I am. I have always been treated well by your employees in the past. I am interested in the true policy about price matching clubs. Does CC match Costco ads? If so, I would still be interested in purchasing the GPS from Circuit City.
Thank you for your attention to this matter,
Emmett
Don't ever let stores bully you around by conjuring up nonexistent policies. When a store denies a reasonable request, whip out your phone and call the corporate office. Even if the manager was correct, he should have known that calling the cops is the worst possibly way to resolve a customer service issue.
At the very least, Circuit City should honor the price match and apologize to both Emmett and his son for their manager's egregious behavior.
(Photo: Xurble)
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Comments:
Why do you think that somehow you know the store policy better than they do? No store has to "show you their policy in writing." I would've told you to hit the road also. Sounds like the guy you spoke to on the phone was clueless. Once you spoke to the store manager and he said, "No.", then you should have just hit the road.
Was the guy afraid of Brad's increasingly irrational behavior, or did he have Warrants and bugged out when he heard the PoPo were called!!
I say the latter.
Driving 40 miles round trip in a snow storm with a 5 year old in the car for a PRICE MATCH?
Now that's irrational behavior.
I've been told at Circuit City numerous times that Costco is ineligible for price matching as well, so perhaps they were not making it up (however, they still handled the situation quite badly).
That is in fact standard policy. Because Circuit City affords you the courtesy of entering their store without having to pay them for the privledge. I might have matched the price if he had bought four of them, and paid a $50 "shopping fee"
I think CC over-reacted but when a customer remains in the store after the mgr. has asked the customer to leave, that's called trespassing.
@RetailGuy83: BTW, I'm not a Circuit City manager, but I am a manager for a big-box electronics retailer.
@stanfrombrooklyn:
If it's store policy, it's expressed in writing, subsequently why is it so hard for a manager to point out where this writing exists? (Especially after saying there's an actual brochure with it in writing)
@RetailGuy83:
Is the policy that excludes price-matching to club stores expressed in writing for the big-box retailer where you manage?
I'm sure the customer has left out the part where he appeared threatening to the store manager. There are always two sides of the story.
I think the manager treated you terribly. If that is their policy, then they should be able to prove it. I have also had a number of problems with customer service in the past at Circuit City and I now refuse to shop there (even if they do have a better price on something). Just move on to somewhere where they still actually believe "the customer is always right"!
@corporateamericabites:
Yes, but your assumption that the customer somehow deserved this treatment is completely unsubstantiated. I'm not saying it's not true, but you throw it out there like it's absolute truth and the customer deserved it.
In a word... Bull!
Store managers try every way possible to get out of price guarantees, even going as far as not to honor the guarantee when they don't feel like taking that big a margin hit.
If the manager is telling the truth, and he's following the policy, why can't the customer see it? Perhaps because the manager is lying?
Just a question for those who believe this was the consumer's fault:
What prevented the manager from showing the policy forbidding pricematching from club stores in writing to the customer after they requested to see it?
If a manager is so ineffective that he can't keep his employees up-to-date on the policy (especially the employee answering questions on the telephone), he should be personally responsible for the price-match, in my opinion. That is extremely poor/shoddy customer service to tell a potential customer one thing on the phone, then tell them something different when they arrive and try to make a purchase. It borders on bait-and-switch. If I were the D.M., I would not only make managers responsible for their poor management when it happened, I'd force them to answer each and every policy question from a customer PERSONALLY until he had re-trained his entire staff. A store's image is THAT important.
The Circuit City website clearly states their policy and even has an FAQ to help clarify it. Nowhere does it mention that warehouse clubs are excluded from there "Unbeatable Price Guarantee".
I don't get the guy, Costco extends your warranty by 1 year and has great after-sale service. And the item is CHEAPER.
So tell me : ''WHY price-match at CC????'' If for the same amount (suppose they give you the price match), you get a lot less.
....it does say they will match a "retail" store so maybe CC doesn't consider a warehouse club to be "retail". If this is the case, they should just add another sentence to their policy saying that warehouse clubs are excluded so it will be crystal clear to the everyone (since they already list other exclusions anyway it shouldn't be a big deal to add one more line).
@stanfrombrooklyn:
"Thank you for writing to Circuit City...
Please note that Circuit City stores will match/beat advertised warehouse club prices (Costco, Sam's, etc.) under our Price Match Guarantee."
Gee, what a surprise. The store manager was lying.
stanfrombrooklyn, what do you have to say now, or are you just going to stop posting comments to this article?
I was just amazed that it was snowing on memorial day weekend lol
Color me blaming the consumer, but I don't think that the manager was in the wrong here. Emmett opted to argue and persist, even after being informed he wouldn't get a pricematch, and refused to leave when he was asked to do so. Had I been a customer in this store at the time, I'd have found Emmett's behavior irrational and arrogant, especially if his crusade was stopping me from checking out.
As for CC's non-existent policies....
Q: What do you consider to be a "local store?"
A: "Local store" refers to a competitor's retail store that is in the same market and/or within a reasonable distance of our store.
I don't consider Costco a retail store -- it's a wholesale club, they sell at wholesale prices, and these prices are only available to the small group that pays for membership.
Given what I've heard about Costco, and what I know about CC, I can't see WHY one would choose the latter over the former... unless he's not a Costco member (thus attempting to pricematch a price that wasn't offered to him to begin with!). Convenience of location could be a factor, but if you're willing to drive 20 miles in a snowstorm, I can't imagine that you care.
@corporateamericabites: Wrong. There are THREE sides to every story. In this case, there will surely be the consumer's side, the manager's side, and the truth.
@stanfrombrooklyn: You're kidding, right? He just quotes this magical, invisible "story policy" and all of a sudden advertised guaranteed price matches don't exist? Sounds like fraudulent advertising, bait and switch and misrepresentation at the least to me.
@unravel: If you call corporate, they will confirm that YES, they price-match Costco. Check your facts FIST. (Costo technically isn't a wholesale, besides food, everything else is ''Ã la carte''.)
And if a manager does not respect his company's policy, that make him incompetent. If unsure, he could have called corporate to verify. That's called customer service.
@unravel:
I'm not arguing against the policy itself, as it's true that club wholesale places like Costco can charge less for the same item.
But it's a reasonable request to ask for such things in writing. The manager could have pointed to the specific passage you cite and explain like you did. Instead, the manager called the cops.
My problem is the manager's conduct, not the rationale behind the caveat to pricematching.
@unravel: However, I don't understand why the customer insists on shopping in a store reputed for bad customer service, low paid jobs and higher that elsewhere prices.
Costco treats its employees and customers with a lot of respect. Every time it's possible, I try to buy small electronics there.
Step 1: Return the GPS to CC.
Step 2: Go to Costco and buy it from them.
If you do not have a Costco membership, go to Costco.com and buy it online. You'll pay a little bit more because you have no membership, but it'll still probably cheaper than what you paid for at CC
@Victo: I wish we had one that was closer than 100 miles away from where I live. Costco customers, consider yourself lucky.
@Victo: My thoughts exactly - I would MUCH rather do business at Costco than anywhere else on the planet. CC is sick!
And you did nothing to provoke him to call the cops, right? You just stood there and eloquently requested to see a copy of their price-match policy? If so, then the manager is a total DOUCHE... But I fear there may be more to this story...
Two problems. As soon as the OP was told to leave, and chose not to, he became a trespasser. The manager had every right to call the police at that point. Regardless of the reason for the demand to leave, it was made, OP didn't comply.
Second, what if the policy DID say they would match Costco. The manager could still refuse to do so and the customer would have little or no real recourse. They have no real legal duty to match the price, even if their internal store policies allow it. Putting it in the policy does not make it a contract that they have to follow. If the manager wants to be a jerk and not follow the policy, the customer has no recourse other than calling corporate. If the manager did show him the policy, and the manager still refused, what was he going to do? Call the cops? I'm not endorsing the managers behavior, but the OP's demands were indeed unreasonable in light of the fact that its their store, their policies, and their failure to comply doesn't create any legal problems. Why not go buy it at Costco? Probably because he doesn't have a membership.
Minnesotans drive everywhere in a snowstorm, or else they never get out of the house from October to April.
Certainly Blockbuster can make them see the light and return CC to it's former glory.
All I know is, that I dont shop at CC after spending a year working at one. they rip off employees as well!!!
Yay for retailers calling cops when no crimes have been comitted FTW!
I cant understand why people even do price matches. If its cheaper at Costco, then GO TO COSTCO. In this case however since the guy did decide to not only call the store to ask if they price matched it, but then drove 50 miles in a snowstorm to get it, they should have done the price match.
@Pylon83:
Yeah I didnt even think about that. If he is so cheap that he has to skim through hundreds of ads to find a cheaper price so he can do a price match then Im quite sure he would be too cheap to buy a Costco membership. Another one of those people who dont buy memberships and then try to force all the other companies that do price matches to match Costco prices.
The manager should have ponied up the written proof of the policy instead of acting like a jerk and demanding a customer leave the store.
What I can't believe is this guy still wants to buy something from Circut City after being treated like this and threatened with the police.
Don't the police really have more important things to do rather than being free bouncers for petty retail store managers?
I am so sick of people demanding more! If they said no, we can't price match, just leave. Try another store or maybe even the one that printed the ad!
You are not special, have no rights and they can provide the service or not. It's their store - their game!
Bunch of f**king whiners!
Really comes down to which way the money is flowing. Whoever was at fault really doesn't matter- she's probably not going to go back to CC anytime soon.
@2719:
Wow, way to be productive. Chill out, this is just an internet site, you don't have to get so agitated.
What prevented the manager from showing the written policy where it says they won't price match with Costco?
This is proof that the economy must be good.
It is my theory that when the economy is bad retail chains are able to hire good managers and employees and good customer service follows. But, when times are good, they can only hire morons who are incapable of holding down a good job and thus end up at Circuit City.
Though, I must admit that even in bad times it is possible that good employooes would not seek employment at Circuit City... heck i won't even shop there.
@linbey:
Since when was scouring sites for the cheapest price considered a bad thing? Oh man, I just went on pricegrabber and bought something today that covered dozens of online retailers, I guess I'm "cheap" too.
@linbey: I agree fully, a retailer who has worked hard (bullied their suppliers or met challenging sales quotas) to get lower prices on items should be rewarded for that, and price-matching by other retailers who couldn't or wouldn't work just as hard to get lower prices from their suppliers are just gimmicks to get you into their store, not the lower price store. And the upshot of the gimmick is, they never ever honor the lower price match. There are simply too many loopholes they hide behind to ever win at this gimmick. It's like playing three card monty, and guess who the chump is.
@kizzle:
The difference is that pricegrabber simply shows who has the cheapest price. You would be "cheap" if you used pricegrabber and then took that price to a B&M store and tried to get them to match it. If you simply bought it from the cheapest place then good job :)
@kizzle:
Well people like her make everything a lot harder for the rest of us. They abuse escalation methods (call corporate, EECB etc) for minor issues.
This will only cause corporate contacts to start ignoring requests from everyone - including people with real issues. Costco charges people to get inside, also they are a wholesaler and pass the savings on their customers. You can't take that ad and go to a standard retail store and demand the same discount. Not going to happen.
When I used to work for Best Buy, we were always told that Costco/Sam's/BJ's prices were ineligible for price matches, as they were wholesale clubs... I can only imagine that the same would apply at Circuit City.