Circuit City's "Advantage Protection Plan" Doesn't Live Up To The Sales Pitch
A reader signing off as "Sucker" wants to let the world know that Circuit City's extended warranties/replacement plans aren't living up to the sales pitch. When he bought his XBOX 360, the salesperson assured "Sucker" that if the XBOX broke (as they tend to) that instead of having to wait around for a replacement -- he could get a refund in the form of a gift card. He accepted. Guess what didn't happen?
Last year in August I bought an Xbox 360 Core unit for $279.99 along with a $99.99 Advantage Protection Plus Plan (the extra good plan, I was told) to replace one Xbox that already three-ringed. Anyhow, the sales representative told me that with this protection plan instead of getting my Xbox fixed (should it ever break) they would just give me a gift card worth the original purchase price. He also gave me a pamphlet that said that backed up his claim in writing. I caved and bought it.
So the day finally came when my Xbox broke this summer. Not wanting/needing to wait around on my giftcard, I went out and purchased a new Xbox. I let my broken Xbox hang around for a little while until today I finally got around to registering for a replacement. While filing the claim, Circuit City's website said that all Xboxes would be replaced with "remanufactured units." That was not what I paid for. I didn't need an extra Xbox.
Before filing the claim I gave customer service a ring. As soon as I mentioned the discrepancy they became somewhat hostile. They must have had this issue many times before. I was told, "Look, I'm not going to argue with you, I'm just telling you; This is how it is." I asked to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor told me that the terms and conditions can change at any time and that they were changed mid-July of this year. I told her that in the documentation that I was given it doesn't say that the terms could change. She asked if there was anything else she could help me with, and then the call was over.
It really seems like some part of this is illegal, but I'm not a lawyer. I guess I know why they call it a "plan" instead of a "contract" these days. Just wanted to let people not to believe the warranties, even when it's in writing.
Even if this doesn't get posted, thanks for listening.
Like they say, only suckers buy extended warranties.
-Sucker
Though this is clearly less convenient than getting a gift card, if you charged the warranty, you could ask your credit card company to get involved. See if they can help you out. Also, there's nothing stopping you from getting your (extra) XBOX repaired by Microsoft. They have a 3 year warranty for that red ring problem.
And, of course, you could always take Circuit City to small claims court. It's fun and educational!
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@yzerman: Problem is, most times it's not Circuit City (or the parent company of whomever sold the warranty) it's some third party warranty company. You can't take Circuit City to court because they don't service the warranties, you have to take that third party company to court.
Given the dire financial straits Circuit City is in right now it doesn't surprise me that they would pull this. They probably figured most people would accept a refurbished unit instead of pushing for a gift card. You will probably have to take them to court though a good ol' fashioned ECCB might be worth pursuing first.
This is why I would never buy anything at Circuit City. Who wants warranty upselling?
Read all the fine print and, if there is nothing saying that the terms can change without warning, file a claim against them in small claims court. Be sure to find out if there is any punitive damages you can ask for in your state as well. Some states will allow for a significant penalty against CC if you win your claim.
Let's itemize what's broken in my household in the last couple of years:
- apple ipod shuffle. Won't charge after a year
- apple ipod nano. Started requiring hard resets one month in and now won't charge after a year.
- RCA mini system with DVD. After a year won't play DVDs any longer.
- SONY 5 speaker DVD theater combo. Won't play left front speaker a little more than a year after purchase.
- Nintendo Wii. Started making weird sounds and scratching disks 6 months in.
- apple powerbook. Gave up the ghost after 8 months.
- SONY mini stereo system. Stopped playing CDs two years in.
... and then yesterday my garage door opener - again just a year old - spit out the chain.
Noticing a pattern here? We're all buying junk nowadays and we don't seem to have a recourse. After the warranty expires, these products either seem to have some "planned obsolescence" timebomb in them, it's just dumb luck.
@mariospants:
"Noticing a pattern here? We're all buying junk nowadays and we don't seem to have a recourse"
Either that or you beat the crap out of the things you own. You are the common link with all those products breaking.
@mariospants: Hahaha, I just gave a lecture to some students on "planned obsolence" not 30 minutes ago...
When they say they don't build them like they used to. They mean it...
However, they weren't building the new electronic items back then either... :(
However, all of those items in your case I think failed sooner than the manufacturer would have preferred...
Double or triple the time and people would have more of a sense of getting their moneys worth from the item, and would have brought from the manufacturer again...
In your case though, I know / hope you went with different brands...
@the Goat: only 14 minutes till someone blamed you mario, come on consumerist, you guys are slacking off blaming the poster...
/sarcasm
@Triborough: Where can you avoid this? I was offered an extended warranty on eggs at the supermarket.
I'm trying to hand the girl my discount card and she pulls out a brochure spewing info on their ERP for only $.46.
What the hell is it with Circuit City? They are crumbling and have only themselves to blame.
I work for a large warranty administrator, although we don't work with CC. Legally, the warranty company is required to give you a gift card if it was in the terms and conditions when you purchased the plan. When you bought the plan Circuit City entered into a binding contract with you...they can't change the contract without your consent. Take them to court and get your money back!
I took a laptop I purchased at CC in for repair about three years ago. They said they needed to ship it out for extra-heavy-duty repair, or something, but it should be fixed and shipped back in two weeks.
Guess what happened when I called two weeks later? They hadn't even shipped the thing out from the store I dropped it off at! Talk about a bad business model! I REALLY gave it to the manager--and I never do that--and took the laptop home.
Best Buy got it done in a week.
My Xbox 360 is the one thing I've ever purchased a PRP for, and I'm glad I did. Bought it at Best Buy in June of 2007, got the RRoD last week. Brought in my dead 20 gig model, got my gift card, walked out with a brand new Elite (120 gb model) thanks to price cuts.
Sucks that things didn't work out for this guy. I know BB is evil, but they're definitely the lesser evil of big box electronic retailers.
I never get the extended warranty but my wife broke our rule once and we got burned. She got a great deal on the Xbox 360 (50% off when you opened a charge card) from a brick-and-mortar MicroCenter a few years ago and bought the extended warranty for $20. When we got the red ring of death we tried to use the extended warranty only to be told the red ring specifically was NOT covered. WTF? We wound up getting a replacement from Microsoft anyway. ANd I don't she ever used that Visa card again.
there goes Circuit City at its finest.
I regretfully bought an item from CC in NY recently. The salesperson tacked on the extended warranty without even asking - just clicked through it. I brought this to the attention of the "manager" and she clearly knew this was common practice because she was defensive off the bat - "you don't see a charge for it on your receipt, do you"? Um, no, because I knew their reputation and insisted that he remove it, whereas I'm sure many others wouldn't even have noticed it, or would have bought the sales pitch that would typically follow if they refused it.
I wish they would change their business practices, as I would prefer for them not to go bankrupt, but this experience reinforced to me that "never again" was a good idea.
I'm curious...do none of you who get the RRoD bother Microsoft with it? When mine got the RRoD there is a specific online form that you can fill out that Microsoft will repair your console for free. Sure, you're without a 360 for about 2-3 weeks, but when you get it back, it's got new components in it, PLUS a free month to XBox live gold because of the issues. It's well documented online that the RRoD is a hardware failure and Microsoft is now covering those failures. Everybody that I talk to about this does the same thing I did, and has had no issues what-so-ever with having Microsoft repair it.
CC extended warranty screwed me over on my laptop. I purchased a floor model and, knowing that it had been handled on the shelf, an extended warranty to cover any problems that might pop up. I was assured completely that, barring anything intentional or completely stupid, that it would be covered. Well, the outer casing cracked and prevented the computer from coming on. This was apparently from simple opening/closing the unit. Guess what? Not covered, and the warranty people are not technically CC. They simply performed warranty services for CC. And the phone call literally started going around the world. First Texas, then India, then Canada, then back to Texas, then back to India. This was five hours of listening to the volume get absurdly low with transfer after transfer. In the end, they literally offered my $40 of my warranty charge back. I will never buy anything substantial from CC again. Ever.
@ mariospants.
+ 1.
The decline of quality isn't so much an accident as a well-planned venture into consumer extortion:
"We will produce a crappy product. We will offer a crappy warranty for said crappy product at extra cost. If you don't buy it, we will bone you on non-warranty repairs. If you buy the warranty, it won't matter because it's useless anyway."
Classic example: BMW.
I bought a brand new 2007 X3. It was receiving repairs (under warranty, just a nuisance) almost every other month since new, which is acceptable for a $48,000.00 vehicle. When I investigated extending my warranty they wanted... $2,850.00. PLUS a $50 deductible each time.
Just because people have money doesn't mean they want to throw it away. Any corporate types reading this?
START MAKING QUALITY PRODUCTS.
Having had two televisions from CC, both with the City "Advantage" Protection Plan, I can say that my experiences have NOT been good.
I will never make a large purchase from CC again.
Do! Case in point. I made a typo...should read "unacceptable" not "acceptable".
Usually those plans are Pro-rated so you may be able to just submit for a pro-rated refund. Nothing would hurt them more than to have to give back a piece of the pure profit they made...
except giving you a gift card for 279 bucks I suppose.
What I notice: Nobody wants to fix anything they own anymore.
Many years ago (before I was born!) if you owned a TV and it packed up, you removed the tubes and tested them in the tube tester at Radio Shack (or equivalent). You replaced the dead one and presto! Your TV worked again. Or you resoldered an obviously bad joint, etc...
Nowadays, even for the bloody simplest thing people trash their stuff.
Your iPods: Bust out some tools and replace the batteries. It's probably the perfect thing to test your soldering skills at, it's easy and simple. I bet you'll fix the resetting issue too this way (or will find whatever is causing it, I bet it's obvious with the unit open).
mini system: DVD lens is either dirty or weak. Open the unit and clean lens with alcohol + qtip. If that doesn't work, since the unit is no good as is, boost the laser by adjusting the potentiometer on it (the little dial thingy, you'll find it). Just turn it a bit, too much and you'll definitely blow the laser. You could try replacing the laser itself if that doesn't help, but that's usually impossible at a reasonable price nowadays. :-(
Speaker: Test resistance of speaker. If it shows open, check inside the speaker for what driver is dead and replace it. If it shows good (probably about 6 ohms) inspect the PCB in the stereo for damage and repair.
Wii: Open the unit and unbend the bent part.
Powerbook: Beats me. Laptops suck for doing your own repairs on (replacing parts can be easy, though).
Sony stereo: Same fix as DVD player.
Garage door opener: Check if the the chain is too slack.
None of these things should come as revelations to the average person. I'm not exactly saying people need to know how to troubleshoot what component is busted on a circuit board or anything, but NOBODY wants to open their stuff and try to fix the obvious stuff first. :-( And that means that replacement parts are expensive, because people just trash their stuff today.
The worst part is the tools to do all this work are under $30. You probably already have half of them. You just need cheap screwdrivers ($5), alcohol ($1), qtips ($3), multimeter ($10), soldering iron ($10), and solder ($1).
On the bright side, it means I get lots of "junk" for free! And whatever I own lasts pretty much until you can't buy parts or media for it, or until the performance is so terrible, I can't stand it. I bought a CRT repair book from a used book store the other day; I figure it'll keep me in free TVs for the next few decades. I know I haven't bought a TV for 10+ years, but that's not because I don't have one (or more!). :-D
I don't want to blame the OP, but doesn't it seem silly to go buy a new one because it's "quicker" than taking the old one to the store, getting a gift card, and buying one there with the gift card? CC is definitely in the wrong, no doubt, but it seems like their stance was probably due to a deal with Microsoft to handle replacements of the crappy RROD issue.
That said, I've had CCA coverage on a projection TV and camcorder and both were repaired without too much hassle. On the TV it was worth it, as it was just out of the standard warranty and the power supply ($400 plus labor and shipping otherwise) went bad. CC sent a guy out, ordered board, sent him back to install board and recalibrate TV without charging an extra cent. Is it worthwhile? Depends on the product, the price, standard warranty terms, and the cost of repairs. It's a convenience factor (assuming they follow through), but is ocassionally worth while.
@hankrearden: They've already subconsciously convinced you. I think that's a great way to sell expensive yet horribly unreliable cars.
Buy a Land Rover, spend more time in our luxurious waiting room!
Wait -- isn't Circuit City basically dead already?
@shepd: Part of the problem, I think, is manufacturers no longer design products that the user can service. Apple's screwless, seamless products are a great example. There's a li-ion battery in there and they eventually die. Every single one of those iPods is an expensive time bomb.
Remember a while ago when Consumerist asked us all to give CC's new CEO some advice on how to salvage his sinking ship of a company? My answer then was to improve customer service... and it seems that advice was ignored. I maintain that bad press such as this is what drives everybody over to BB instead. It seems for every one BB story on Consumerist, there are 2-3 CC stories. This is a perfect example of how not to treat your customers to avoid going out of business. I think it's time that CC's CEO pulled his head out of his rear and realized that.
Well I had issues with CC's Warranty Service. I emailed consumerist a while back but it was never posted, but basically the accused me of fraud and yes the "supervisor" also hung up on me.
I then contacted corporate who did eventually straighten everything out. So I would suggest contact CC Corporate thru email, search on Consumerist and you will find the contact information.
But my advise, is don't buy extended warranty from CC or BestBuy. I bought my Xbox 360 at Target and while I didn't get a gift card the 1st time it broke, they did compromise and gave me one the second time it broke. And my warranty only cost $29.99. My new Xbox runs so much cooler, so getting the refurbs with OLDER chipsets will never help anyone.
Go to a local CC first and see if they might want to deal with it before it goes to small claims. That and email the higher-ups.
@shepd: You are my new best friend.
It makes me so sad to see how much good stuff people chuck because they won't attempt one easy repair. More than that, though, I see people discarding things that work fine just because they want to buy a new one. CRT TVs are the perfect example. Here in San Francisco, in many neighborhoods you find a 27-32" TV sitting on the sidewalk every week or so, no doubt cast off by the latest proud owner of a big ol' LCD. They don't even bother to dispose of them properly, let alone find a way to re-use it such as donating it. Unfortunately, a lot of places like thrift stores and stuff won't take 'em anymore because of the glut created by the consumerism-whores so i don't know what the answer is.
I've decided to at least wait until my CRT TV breaks before getting a fancy new one. I owe it that much after all she's done for me. *tear*
Now here is my own personal "I'm a crazy guy" conspiracy theory, you know those little pads at the store they pass things over after you buy them to deactivate the security device. mabey it does that and also tells the product when it was purchased so it knows when to start failing, so its outside the warranty.
Just a possibility though I'm not sure how they would do that, but just mabey.
If not I'm going to make something that does this and sell it to the company at such cost that it would be better for them t just replace the product. and then I'll make mine product go bad after it is out of the warranty
I wonder if any of the executives will ever admit that CC failed due to poor customer service/relations? I suspect that they will blame the customers for wasting so much of their money on frivolous lawsuits, complaints, returns, charge-backs, etc.
After reading about how wonderful Zappos is, it just makes you think, how dumb are these CC executives?
1) Best Buy won't honor their warranties
2) Circuit City won't honor their warranties
3) CompUSA is ... forget it
4) Sears.. same story
Lesson: Warranties are great profit for the stores and a bad deal for you.
@dougp26364: Even if it says terms can change, it probably won't survive court. Agreements have to be fair and allowing one side to change the terms at any time is not fair.
The reason CC pushes extended warranties so hard is that they make a lot of money from them.
A moment of thought will reveal that the only way they CAN make money this way, is if the $$$ coming in from selling these plans is greater than the $$$ going out from fixing things covered under the plans.
A further iota of thought will lead you to the conclusion that they are betting your stuff won't break, and also making it hard to collect if your stuff DOES break.
...and that means you just should never ever buy one of these extended warranties, except maybe for very trouble-prone types of items.
@hankrearden: That sucks, but it's not exactly a secret that BMW and other European car brands have been having quality problems in recent years. I learned the hard way with my VW.
@DeeJayQueue: Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I'd just sue Circuit City and let Circuit City implead the warranty company if that's how their arrangement works (means you don't have to figure it out yourself).
Lies lies lies.. They will give you a WORKING xbox360 OR a gift certificate. Up to their discretion. No one finds it funny that the customer just waited and bought one, then went to get a gift card? Why not go to the store, and get a replacement? This is a typical scammer.. nothing else.
That is a good question, why buy something then go back and decide to complain about not getting their giftcard. So instead of waiting for a repair they decided to blow more money on another system, then only expecting a gift card got pissed when they didn't get it. Obviously this person was looking to buy something else from cc and then got angry when things didn't go as planned. If you have a warranty through microsoft they are going to replace it with refurbished or repair it, same policy as store. Also everyone who looks into 360 knows about rrod, it's been well documented by media. Don't blame a store because you were "forced" to buy a warranty, have the stones to admit you bought it cuz you thought it was a good investment. Don't blame a store, they didn't put a gun to your head.
@HootieMac:
The exact same thing happened to me when my PSP extended warranty was up. I had a dead pixel on the screen. ONE dead pixel. It annoyed me to no end. The 2 year extended warranty was set to expire in two weeks. I called the number and started a claim. 5 days later a gift card showed up for the FULL AMOUNT PLUS TAX! The PSP dropped almost 75.00 dollars in that time. So I got a free xbox game and a brand new PSP. I never buy the warranties but I'm happy I did here. And guess what? IT WAS BEST BUY ...........fainted
In addition to terms changing (which they always manage to do) Nestled in there on page 12 of the "terms and conditions" leaflet (NOT the brochure!!) given when you buy the protection plan, it says something along the lines of "at their discretion, CC may give you a refurbished unit if a comparable product is available."
Of course, it still says no less than 10 times that you get a gift card. I went through this with an iPod in July of 06 and the guy at the store, the NEXT guy at the store, and the first two people I talked to on the phone told me I was getting a gift card and lo and behold, a refurbished ipod of a model they didn't even sell anymore. Much like OP, I also bought a new unit, expecting a gift card and was then stuck with an extra ipod.
This all happened before I found the Consumerist, so I was at an absolute loss when, even escalating the problem, someone finally told me no, there was nothing to be done about it, suck it up. Enraging.
My first job out of college was working for Circuit City's credit card bank, FNANB (First North American National Bank). I was a supervisor in the credit extension department, whose primary function was to open credit accounts and authorize purchases that didn't process automatically.
We were instructed to ALWAYS authorize purchases that exceeded the credit limit if the overage was ESP (Extended Service Plan). The rationale was that ESP was "pure profit", or "gravy" as one exec called it. At the time (nine years ago), the payout (in dollars) was barely 1% of total ESP sales annually.
For the poor souls that bought ESP over their credit limit, there was another nasty side-effect. Their account was reported to the credit bureaus as being over-limit or over-utilized based on the balance to credit limit ratio.
@Party Boy: I had the exact same problem with micro center. I bought a 360 back before the RRoD was specifically covered under an extended MS warranty, but knew of the problem. When I bought my 360 at micro center, I asked about an extended replacement program etc as I didn't want to be without my 360 for 3+ weeks. Of course, they said that if it RRoD it would be covered.
Cut to about 2 years later, after MS had extended their RRoD warranty, and my extended protection plan was about to run out. Brought the 360 in to MS with a RRoD, left it there overnight, and they informed me the next day that because it was still under 'manufactuer's warranty' it wouldn't be covered. Walked to the UPS store next door and had to send the 360 off to MS.
Take them to court. Thats a signed agreement and I would have to say contract and if they change the terms they have to notify you.
Personally I had a home stereo when it died near the 3 year mark and CC turned around and gave me full price of what I paid for the stereo and let me buy a new model with the features I wanted. It was great. No hassle and was one of the first times a extended rebate paid for itself.
Also I have had a problem with satellite radio receivers dying so I just bought another to cover it as I am getting sick of buying new receivers every year.