The panic comes from the danger that a company might declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy — which means they are being liquidated. Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, there is a chance that a consumer holding a gift card can be considered an "unsecured creditor" — placing them nearly last on the list to get their money back.

The Sharper Image debacle alerted consumers to this possibility — and the after effects of this panic are still with us. Thankfully, retailers seem to have learned from this experience and many companies that are entering bankruptcy are taking steps to ensure that they are able to continue selling and redeeming gift cards.

Snopes gives a rundown of some current bankrupt companies and what they are doing in regards to gift cards.

So are gift cards safe? Well, they're exactly as safe as they always were — but it wouldn't be a bad idea to buy gift cards only from companies that are financially secure.

(Photo: The Joy Of The Mundane )

[Failblog] (Thanks, Rob!)

A posting on the internal Circuit City forums from an irate store manager upset over having to shrug his shoulders in response to a customer who had a $2,500 CC refund check bounce elicited this response from the CC accounting team:

Due to the Ch 11 filing, the bank had to put a stop on all checks that had not been deposited. We WILL be reissuing all bounced checks. I don't have an exact date to tell you, but we intend to make good on every single mail refund that bounced.

Adjust your spreadsheets accordingly.

James says:

I'm sure you can surmise that I never signed up for email alerts to anything from Circuit City. I merely use their website to manage my (rarely used) Circuit City card. It's good to see they still have the customer in mind.

The best part of the email is where they inform James that, in the future, he'll get advance notice about "grand openings." Isn't that sweet?

[Bloomberg]
(Photo: tagurity )

Scott says:

Not really any deals to be had there. As you can see from the picture, apparently someone there doesn't know how to calculate "5% off"...

Scott was wondering if this was a widespread issue or something endemic to this store?

In any case, we searched the internet for a tool that can help them and found this neat sale price calculator.

(Photo: corsec67 )

L says:

When we were told we our store was be closed, the liquidator told us that we would get a big bonus for sticking around until Dec. 31st instead of looking for a new job. Of course all the associates were very excited. The liquidator told us we would find out in about a week what that bonus is. We we found our on Sunday. They lied to us about it being big. It is only 75 cent an hour. If you are part time and work 20 hours a week, that is about $120 over two months before taxes. If you are full time and work around 40 hours a week, that is $240 over two months before taxes. Calling these big bonuses are an insult to the employees who are busting their asses while the stores are finally busy again, because of the liquidation.

After our manager heard that, he decided to give everyone unlimited hours, since he does not report to Circuit City anymore and to screw with the liquidator, since they are paying us right now. I've heard the horror stories about this liquidator in this forum before, but this is a new low to deceive the front line employees who have nothing to do with the mismanagement of this company that ultimately brought it down.

By the way, the liquidator raised many prices. True TV's are 10% off the MSRP, but in many cases Circuit City was already selling them for 30% off the MSRP. Smart customers are simply going to the Circuit City 5 miles away which is not closing and offering lower prices.

(Photo: Getty)

Will Circuit City's bankruptcy affect your shopping plans?

Circuit City, Electronics Retailer, Seeks Bankruptcy [Bloomberg] (Thanks to Ken!)
Circuit City Stores, Inc. to Reorganize Under Chapter 11 [Press Release] (Photo: corsec67)

TWICE says:

Liquidation sales on $300 million worth of inventory that began yesterday at 154 Circuit City stores are being conducted by Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, a government filing shows.

An additional store will be closed by Circuit City on its own.

According to an 8-K filing by Circuit City with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dated Oct. 31, the retailer will be paid a guaranteed amount equal to 72 percent of the cost value of the merchandise included in the sales.

The liquidators, which formed a joint venture, will receive an agent’s fee equal to 3.5 percent of the cost value of the merchandise.

The stores are accepting cash and credit cards, but not selling gift cards or accepting checks.

Send your first hand accounts of the Circuit City liquidation to tips@consumerist.com and/or upload your photos to our flickr group.

Hilco, Gordon Bros. Handling Circuit City Fire Sales [TWICE] (Thanks, Klay!)

If an item does not have a price tag, don't buy it. You more than likely won't be getting much of a discount, you may actually be paying more than normal for it. The way Circuit Citys price tag system works is basically all the tags should be pretty much the same in every store.

So if the liquidator wants the price to be higher, they can't print a tag (easily at least). So basically what they do is just not put a tag on it, raise the price, then give you the 10-30% discount. So really the customer is just paying normal or higher prices. They suspect it to be like that for a while depending on how fast they sell through inventory. If they aren't selling through product, then they should start giving real discounts.

If there's a high dollar product you want, I would just keep checking back every day or so because of the limited inventory, until you can get the best price possible.

With "Few Deals To Be Had At Circuit City Liquidation Sales", and a number of the items available online for the same price, savvy dealseekers need to go into the 155 closing Circuit Citys cautiously and armed with price research about the goods they want to buy.

(Photo: Xurble)

Tom says:

We immediately notice that everything is between 10-30% off. Ok, 30% off isn’t that bad, it’s still a business that has some stores open, they still need to try to make some money. Typical stuff like movies and music were 20% off, video games were 10% off and TV’s were about 20% off. Nothing was particularly cheap considering everything was set at almost MSRP with a percentage taken off, making things about the same price they would be on any other normal sale day. The only things we saw that might have been worth it were TV stands. They were nice looking stands with a good amount taken off.

Tom also noticed a bored newspaper photographer waiting for someone to actually buy something.

Maybe it was our fault for expecting more from this “sale”, but I’d rather just order the stuff online for the same price (or cheaper) and have it delivered to my doorstep.


Best part of the whole thing was seeing the local newspaper photographer sitting outside the store waiting for someone to come out with merchandise. He’d been sitting there for at least 20-25 minutes while we were in the store and still didn’t have a single picture of someone walking out with a bag in their hands.

Sad.

Circuit City Liquidation Sale Experience [ACSlater]

"Contrary to consumer perception, you don't typically see tremendous deals" at liquidation sales, said Stephen Baker, a vice president at market researcher The NPD Group.

In fact, some liquidation companies actually raise prices before slapping clearance stickers on the merchandise. Circuit City may not resort to that tactic, but don't assume you're getting a good deal just because the store is closing.

Speaking of Circuit City stores, the WSJ also pointed out that the stores that aren't going under might be empty. As in, nothing to buy.

The "credit noose is tightening," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Scot Ciccarelli, who noted that it's unlikely Circuit City will be able to get the inventory it needs for its remaining stores during the holidays.

The paper also suggested that Circuit City might actually be too broke to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and is trying to stay afloat in order to avoid liquidation.

Circuit City Braces for Dismal Holiday [WSJ]

Sean writes:

1) The e-mail I sent to customer service did nothing. They replied that they could do nothing.

2) The store manager called me back the next day to tell me the district manager had given approval to have the store contact the original purchaser, explain the mistake, and ask if they could recharge his card. Once this was completed, they would issue me a gift card for the original amount. She did "apologize for all he craziness" at the store the night of the incident.

3) About a week later I received a call from the district manager asking if everything had been resolved. I said I hadn't heard any updates. He told me that everything had been taken care of (the original purchaser's card had been re-charged) and that my gift card was waiting at the store. I could either pick it up, or they could mail it to me. I asked him to mail it to me.

4) A few days later I received the gift card in the mail. I called the number on the card to check the balance, and it said it couldn't because the card wasn't active. This concerned me, but I thought it could be due to the circumstances it was issued, etc.

5) A few days later, I went to the store to use my gift card. I first stopped at the customer service desk to have them check the balance on the card. They said it wasn't active, and asked if I'd already used it. I said no and that it was a long story, and they went to get the manager. She came out a few moments later (it was the same manager from the night of the original incident) and issued me a new card, which I used immediately.

So, in the end, it all turned out. I was a bit surprised that they didn't offer me anything for the trouble or at least a more sincere apology. But, I guess I should just be happy that they took responsibility and corrected the mistake.

In the future, I'll be much more explicit when making exchanges or returns as to what I want before I hand over the product. And, even though I don't think I should have to, I'll no longer assume the clerk will understand that I'm not the original purchaser if I'm using a gift receipt.

PREVIOUSLY: Circuit City Credits Wrong Card For $130 Return, Sends You Away With Nothing
(Photo: qnr - Gone for a while)

David launched an EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) on Circuit City and CC'd us. Let's listen in:

I came to Circuit City hoping to purchase Guitar Hero: World Tour Complete Band Set for my wife's birthday. I had tried several other stores before coming to Circuit City, but all were sold out. When I arrived and asked an associate if they had the complete band set in stock, I was pleased to learn that they had one left. However, when they attempted to ring the item up, instead of the $189.99 list price, the item rang up at $10,000.00. We all had a good laugh at this as the associate went for a manager to clear up the error.

The manager looked at the price and told me that that normally happens when an item is marked unavailable because the item was not yet at its release date. Of course, this game was released last Tuesday, Oct. 28, and the manager and various sales associates told me that they had already sold a ton of them. After speaking to his supervisor on the phone (I believe it was a district manager), I was told that they could do a price adjustment to the correct price, but since that would throw off some numbers, would it be all right with me if they set the item available online, where the price is correct, and just pay for it on the web with immediate "in-store" pickup? I was happy to do whatever was needed, and did not mind helping, so I said sure.

Unfortunately, for the next 45 minutes I waited as the employee trying to make this happen ran back and forth from computer to computer trying to get the inventory and the website to match up. Finally, as I had been in the store over an hour at that point, I asked that the manager just do the price adjustment and let me buy the game. He got back on the phone with the district or regional manager, and I was the told that the Guitar Hero: World Tour Complete Band Set was not supposed to be released until NEXT Tuesday, so they could not sell it to me. This is untrue. Multiple CC employees told me that they had sold many of the sets earlier in the week. Also, here is a small list of stores and sites selling the set as of RIGHT NOW:

—WalMart
—Best Buy
—Target
—Amazon
—CIRCUIT CITY (At multiple stores, according to the website)

When I told the manager this was not true and that the manager had in fact earlier offered to simply price adjust the price, the truth emerged. The district manager told the store manager that a price adjustment that large would make their numbers look really bad, so they could not do it. The "It hasn't been released yet" line was just that, a lie to tell me so I would leave. This is unacceptable.

This is what I would like from Circuit City:

1. An explanation why Circuit City's internal variance numbers are more important than a customer trying to spend several hundred dollars at your store, and why I was lied to.

2. An acknowledgment that the item I was trying to buy was in fact available, and that I should have been allowed to purchase it.

3. A phone call from the District Manager, Regional Manager, or higher up at corporate to explain 1. and 2. to me.

Finally, one personal observation...perhaps it is customer service like this that is forcing you to close 155 of your stores?

Sincerely,

David

UPDATE:
David has an update and a happy ending!

David says:

I wanted to give you an update for my Circuit City issue. This morning I got a phone call from the District Manager for the Memphis stores and surrounding areas, Michael. He was "mortified" and had investigated the issue with the store in question as well as the asset manager that the store called. He went over what happened with me and addressed all my points. Apparently, there was a company-wide glitch that goofed up the price for my item. He apologized profusely during our 15 minute conversation, and though I did not ask for it, he gave me the complete band set for free. I just got back from Circuit City, and the game was waiting for me there. So, Circuit City, or at least Michael, really went over and above to address my issue.

Breaking News [Circuit City] (Thanks to Cheviot!) (Photo: adria.richards)

A Consumerist commenter on this post says this story is true, and a few posts in Google Finance forums also attest to the store closing. One post there says the store closings will be effective 12/31/08.

The news wouldn't be entirely unexpected as WSJ reported on Oct 20th that the retailer was considering closing 150 stores. On Friday, Oct 31, CC was warned it get delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because its stock price averaged below $1 for 30 days.

You can already start to see which stores are closing by seeing which ones don't show up in Circuit City's online store locator.

Circuit City is officially fried.

UPDATE: A Consumerist commenter on this post and a message in the Google Finance forums have also said that the store closing are going to happen.

UPDATE 2: Another Circuit City insider writes: "A team of liquidators will be coming in and taking control of the store. They will set prices as they see fit, and price match guarantee, employee discounts, CC circulars, and the new one price guarantee are all out the window. The price you see is the price you will pay, although it ought to be at a bit of a discount. Firedog services as well as car audio installation are gone immediately. Returns and warranties have to be taken to a CC that's not closing. No new stock will be delivered, we just gotta crank away and sell off everything, and when it's sold, we hit the road."

UPDATE 3: A CC employee scanned and sent us this letter he received from CC about the store closings:

UPDATE 4: In classy fashion, Chicago CC employees were told the news at what was billed as a "holiday kickoff" meeting that instead became a "holiday layoff" meeting.

UPDATE 5: Another CC insider reports, "Liquidators will be coming in on Tuesday and the affected stores will be shut down. there is likely not going to be a severance package for us being affected by the layoffs but we were given the option to get a bonus based on how many hours we worked under the liquidation process. We are not allowed to transfer to other locations and have to wait out the liquidation process before we can reapply. So essentially, we will have to take a paycut, a position cut, and more than likely an hours cut if we want to still work for the company.

More importantly I tried to find out what was going to happen to all the warranty computers. Customers will be getting a call from their local firedog techs tomorrow (Monday) about either to pick up their computers and take them to a different location to do warranty work, or for those who have already had their computers sent out for repair be told where they can pick it up. As far as I've been told everything that is out at our repair depots has already been set in motion and will not be shipping back to the stores that are closing. During the liquidation process we will no longer be accepting gift cards, coupons, checks, or circuit city credit cards.

I would tell people to call up their store tomorrow and see where their laptop is being shipped to because obviously that could be a very big hassle for people."

(Photo: heartburn)

CNet explains:

According to a form Circuit City filed with the SEC Thursday, the NYSE said the company's stock was "below criteria" because the average closing price was less than $1 per share for the 30 previous days. NYSE requires any company's minimum average over that time period to be $1.

Circuit City's stock closed Friday down 4 cents to reach 26 cents.

Now that Circuit City has received the notice, it has six months to get the stock's act together. As long as the average 30-day closing price is more than $1 sometime during the next six months, it can stay listed.

Circuit City has 10 days to respond to the NYSE that it plans to get its stock back above $1. In the meantime, the company's CC ticker symbol will be followed by a ".BC" to show it's below continued listing standards.

Things are not looking up for CC.

Circuit City gets delisting notice from NYSE [CNet] (Thanks, dohtem!)
(Photo: cmorran123 )

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to convey my displeasure concerning an ongoing, completely unsatisfactory retail experience with Circuit City. Yesterday, October 28, 2008, I purchased a Nikon D90 Digital SLR camera at store number 854 for $1021.49 ($1134.99 -10% coupon) plus Maryland state sales tax. It was sold as new and unopened. Upon unboxing later that evening, I discovered the camera was in fact counterfeit. A lesser model, the D50, had been altered to appear to be a D90. Crude D90 stickers covered the model badging and a false serial plate was placed on the underside. A number of accessories were also missing and the included product information was entirely Spanish. (If needed, I can provide all serial numbers attributed to the box and its contents and photos to support my statements)

I contacted the store via telephone early this morning and explained my findings to the Floor Leader, Charles. He was immediately suspicious of me and first and foremost explained that I should not expect an immediate refund or exchange, and that they needed the camera to "investigate." I visited the store this afternoon to return the camera and review my options with Charles. Charles again stated he would not refund or exchange the counterfeit camera and stated loss prevention was going to investigate, and that I would be contacted in 24-48 hours. He was not open to, nor would he discuss any alternatives. The Manager on duty made no attempt to address the situation. The Floor Leader simply ran back and forth between me and the manager conveying next steps and my options.

I returned to the store later in the afternoon on October 30, 2008 to take pictures of the counterfeit camera for my reference and to obtain a record from the store stating they were in possession of the merchandise. The gentleman I worked with earlier in the morning, Charles, was "on his way out the door" and would not see me. The Manager on duty would not see me either. The CSA Supervisor stated he was the Manager and would help me. The record I obtained from the store to state they are in possession of the counterfeit camera was a handwritten note and initials on the bottom of my receipt. This is simply unbelievable for a major retail chain. I was told "Nikon was tracking the serial numbers." I frankly do not understand why I am being held "hostage" in this matter. The fact that Circuit City has somehow allowed counterfeit/altered products into its supply chain is not the consumers' problem, yet, the consumer is being held at fault for this issue. The store and it's staff have from my perspective, labeled me guilty until proven innocent.

The customer service staff made no effort to apologize for my inconvenience ( I live 30 miles from the store, and I'm facing four to five trips to take care of this) or for the sheer embarrassment of a major specialty retail outlet selling customers counterfeit merchandise. I am deeply disappointed in Circuit City's handling of this situation thus far.

In the end, I sit here writing this account with no faith in the company or it's store employees, no camera, and Circuit City holding approximately $1100 of my funds.

I hope to expedite the handling of this issue and pass along my observations of store personnel and vague policies that continue to damage the reputation of your company.

Respectfully,

Ronald P.

"Great selection" - Maybe what you're looking for is on the shelves, maybe it's not.

"Friendly advice" - Try gum-popping and monotone.

"We'll beat any price from any other store, any membership club, anybody." - We beat ANYONE, except for retailers who are online or farther than 10 miles away.

"We all have one goal: pleasing you" - We all have one goal: spiffs.

"Service is state of the art" - No, but the cigarette sculpture people are help building in the alley out back is pretty amazing.

More reasons why Circuit City is dead.

This is more to vent than anything else, but I had an unforgettable experience at Circuit City the other day. I didn't go there specifically, I just wandered in...

The Price Match
I'd been thinking about getting a new 1TB internal hard drive for movie storage, so I thought that I'd see what they had on offer. What they had on offer was outrageously overpriced, so, after some online browsing from my phone, I decided to see if they would price match. It took the girl about 10 minutes to let me know that they wouldn't price match B&H. She couldn't tell me why, just that they wouldn't. I asked to see their written price match policy. She said that they didn't have any copies on hand despite the huge sign behind her that indicated otherwise. I ended up looking it up online, with my phone, at which point I spoke with a manager. They tried insisting that B&H wasn't a "local" store, until I pointed out that B&H was less than 10 miles away and about 4 stops on the Q train. After about 20 minutes of waiting and talking, they finally gave in - I saved $80.

The Repack
When I got home, I opened the box only to realize that the box contained a used, 800 GB, IDE hard drive, NOT a shiny, new 1TB SATA hard drive. I immediately went back to exchange the drive. The exchange was pretty painless, until...

Drive #2, Manufacturing Defect
I opened the new box while still in the store, to ensure that it wasn't another repack. The model number was correct, but I something was wrong... I realized, much to my amusement, that the entire PCB (printed circuit board - and thus, power/data connections) was missing from the bottom of the drive. Not CC's fault, obviously, but they didn't handle it well...

The Non-Tech-Savvy Tech
Exasperated, I brought the drive back to the front counter to notify the cashier of the defect. Some manager-type nearby, wearing a "FireDog" (their tech support division) t-shirt, jumped in - "that drive do not include connectors! If you have a problem with that, you have to take it up with Western Digital (the manufacturer). We are not going to open another box just because it don't meet your wants. Also, where in the manual do it say that it includes the connectors?"

I was infuriated. "IT'S A SATA DRIVE! Have you ever SEEN an internal hard drive?! How can a SATA drive not include SATA connections?!" Turning, and shouting to the store in general, "GET SOMEONE OVER HERE THAT ACTUALLY BUILDS COMPUTERS!"

Mr. FireDog Manager-Type, "I build computers, sir!"

"Oh really?" Reaching in to the box, I grabbed the red SATA cable included with the drive. "We can agree that this is a SATA cable, right?! Why don't you show me where this SATA cable connects to this SATA drive?"

He actually looked at the thing for about 30 seconds, which is along time to look at something that's hardly bigger than a wallet. He finally went to the shelves to get another box in hopes of showing me an identical drive, missing PCB and all.

Box #3
Upon opening the box, he saw a blue SATA cable with an extra little dongle that Western Digital likes to put on their cables - he thought that it was a completely different type of cable... he hands me the cable and says, "sorry sir, your box was missing this cable, you should be all set now."

I exploded. "THIS IS THE SAME FUCKIN' CABLE! Why don't you show me where THIS cable connects to the drive?!?!" He actually started to reexamine the drive, blue cable in hand... I shouted "look at the other damn drive!!! Look at that - it's got a damn PCB!!! And look - SATA connectors!!! Whodathunkit?!?!"

Head down, he finally gave in, gave me the third and final box, and I was on my way. My 1TB drive only cost me $150... and about 4 hours of my life, about 30 minutes of which consisted of shouting, my heart hammering in rage.

No, I'm not going to be wandering back any time soon.

Retail Nightmares - What's Your Worst? [Brooklynian]

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!

One out-of-court solution the company is studying would likely lead to the closing of at least 150 stores and the elimination of thousands of jobs, said people familiar with the company's plans. This would let the retailer liquidate about $350 million in inventory, which it could use to pay off certain real-estate costs, such as leases on abandoned sites. It would then hope to press existing landlords to renegotiate leases, many of which Circuit City regards as overpriced. Circuit City's investors have homed in on those leases as a threat to the company's health.

Many were negotiated when real-estate prices were booming earlier this decade. Roughly 90% of the leases don't expire until 2014 or later, and about 80 are for vacant locations.

Circuit City's stock has plummeted since July, when Blockbuster Inc. rescinded an offer to buy the company for at least $6 a share. In 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading Friday, Circuit City shares closed at 39 cents, down from a 52-week high of $8.72. It hasn't had a profitable quarter in more than a year.

The company has hired the same lawfirm that took Kmart through bankruptcy, but is trying to avoid that option because of (fairly reasonable) concerns that consumers will not trust warranties from a company that is currently bankrupt.

Circuit City Weighs Broad Cuts (subscription) [WSJ]

Sean writes:

I returned a product [yesterday] to the Appleton, WI Circuit City with a gift receipt. The clerk accepted the returned product, but mistakenly credited the original purchaser's credit card (I am not the original purchaser) for the return. After informing me of this, I told her that I did not purchase this product, it was given to me (thus, the gift receipt) and that I intended to return it for store credit so I could purchase a different product. I was told that since the return had been processed and credited to the original purchaser's credit card, nothing could be done. I was advised to contact the original purchaser and try to collect the money myself.

After much debate with the clerk, the supervisor, and the operations manager, I was told there was nothing that could be done, and the only option I had was to go back to the person who bought it, and ask for the money. This is unacceptable.

I entered the store in possession of a product (my property, I was the owner). I gave the product and gift receipt to the clerk to process a return. The clerk accepted my return and gave my money (the monetary value of the product - the original purchase price) to the wrong person (someone other than me). I left the store without my property or the monetary value of the property.

I would like either my property (the original product - a Logitech Harmony remote control) returned to me or store credit (gift card) for the orignal purchase price (approximately $130) of the product.

That's the letter Sean sent to Circuit City's customer service department, although Seans says he has yet to hear back from them. He adds, "What can I do? Isn't this illegal? They accept my returned product and mistakenly give the money to someone else, and then refuse to give me either the product or the money (store credit)? Isn't this theft of some sort? Should I contact the police?"

What do you guys think? Will the police take his report seriously? This certainly sounds like the definition of theft to us.

In the meantime, Sean, you may want to send that same letter to these Circuit City executive email addresses. What happened to you sounds to us like a fireable offense for that supervisor, and you need to make sure your story reaches the people who can see to it that you're compensated.

(Photo: Getty Images)

"One Price Promise assures Circuit City shoppers that they will be treated fairly and equally regardless of how they shop with us," said Jeff Maynard, vice president, marketing at Circuit City Stores, Inc. in a press release. "Customers have been telling us how important this is to them, and we want to give them a strong and competitive value proposition when making purchases."

"We plan to let consumers know about One Price Promise in a big way," added Maynard. "We are launching an aggressive national advertising campaign that includes print, broadcast, Internet and in-store marketing tools, and we believe this message of consistency, simplicity and transparency will resonate strongly with consumers in today's world."

This flies in the face of conventional electronic retailing wisdom — where its considered "ok" (if not legal) for stores to set up special "fake" websites that look like the real ones but feature "in store" prices and the most common policy is to refuse to price match all websites— even their own.

Will this be thing that saves Circuit City?

Circuit City Launches 'One Price Promise' to Assure Consistent, Dependable Pricing in All Sales Channels [Circuit City]

Motley Fool thinks so. They placed Circuit City at the top of a short list of retailers that you could "kiss goodbye."

The new CEO recently hired some independent advisers who will presumably work to save the company from itself, but is it just too late?

Circuit City's shares are currently trading at $0.42. You might want to use up your remaining gift cards... just in case.

First, he tried firing everyone who knew anything about the products that Circuit City sold (about 3,400 experienced salespeople) then, he responded to the inevitable tsunami of blood that followed... (2nd quarter losses of $62.8 million, and 3rd quarter losses of $207.3 million) by unveiling a retention program that would reward each top executive with $1 million.

Meanwhile, Circuit City's human resources department was wading through their own entrails and trying to hire their own fired employees back.

Finally, Blockbuster tried to move in and take over Circuit City — hoping to "differentiate products in both Blockbuster and Circuit City stores by offering exclusive content and content-enabled devices." Whatever that means. After taking a good hard look at Circuit City's books, Blockbuster decided that whatever Circuit City had, they didn't want to catch it, and called the deal off.

It's clear that Circuit City's new CEO, James "Tourniquet" Marcum, has his work cut out for him, but here at Consumerist we're pro-success. In the spirit of a new beginning, we've decided to share your suggestions with Mr. Marcum.

These comments were all written by you, the shopper. If Marcum wants to turn it around, he'd better listen up.

• CC lost their best employees, which in turn meant they lost their best trainers for new employees.

  How would I fix it? Hire arsonists and collect the insurance money. You're going down in flames, you may as well get paid.
  

• Firing competent, experienced staff so they can hire incompetent inexperienced staff at a lower hourly rate is only one step above off-shoring (which is kind of difficult to do if you want your store staffed with live people on-site!). Scumbags, that's what Circuit City's upper management are: Scumbags. And honestly, I'm insulting scumbags by making the comparison.
  
• When spending at least $2,000 on a HDTV or Plasma TV, I don't think that I can trust the expertise of a 17 year old high school dropout to guide me into choosing which one might be best for me.
  
• Fix the damn CD and DVD sections. Seriously, can anyone find one thing they're looking for?... Highlight the gadgets! I hear people like little handheld things these days. Maybe make them easier to find, easier to fondle etc... Blow everyone away with friendly returns/customer service. Unlike Best Buy where they like to accuse you of committing a crime when returning something.
  
• Stop selling Monster Cable! They would sell exponentially more cables if they didn't want $103 for 6' of HDMI cable. If I see a retailer selling Monster Cable, I will usually look for an excuse not to buy something from them.
  
• The only *good* thing about Circuit City customer service is that it's SO bad, they usually just ignore you. And ironically, I count that as a plus, as there's no faster way to turning me off in a store than to be pestered by incompetent customer service. At least when I walk into a Circuit City, I know that the reps are all going to be huddled together in the part of the store farthest away from me, so I'll be left alone to browse at my leisure.
  
• Make the executives work for a month at random Circuit City stores, with no power or authority to make changes. Spend one week at each in the "Customer Service Booth", and require them to provide responses to each and every inquiry.
  

• What do I find wrong with Circuit City?
  They have higher prices than their competitors, and most of the time they don't have what I want. How do you fix that?
  Cheaper prices. Better selection. Aggressively letting people know that they have both.
  

• Reduce the size of the stores and aim for the higher end customers. Make sure everyone selling an item is an expert on that item, or at least on that category. Spend money on wages, benefits and training to attract and retain those people.In other words, become the opposite of what Circuit City is now, because you're not the best at that and you probably never will be.
  
• Integrate the CircuitCity stores with the CircuitCity website, with the goal of making shopping easier and less stressful.
  
• Does anyone get that good feeling that they get in BB when they walk into Circuit City? No. The stores look ancient, the cust. service is just piss poor, there are never any cash registers open at any store.
  
• Most of these kinds of stores put a bunch of cheap ass computers on display, then hire a moron to help customers. Real computer experts only go to CC or Best Buy because they are in a pinch- not because they want to. I could go to Target and get the same stuff they sell at CC, but it is cheaper.
  
• Stop selling the same thing as Best Buy. Switch to high-end computer parts and systems only. At least then you'd have something different... as it is, there is nothing different between Circuit City and Best Buy.
  

• I would love it if I could feel like when I go in and need to ask a question, it's not being answered by someone who just picks up the box and reads what I just read.

Hire people who know what they're doing. Offer a better selection of products that will interest high-end cash-heavy consumers, and staff your store with people who know at least as much as they do. Clean your stores. Hire enough people so that you can have a register open at all times. Concentrate on the products that people actually want to buy, like handheld devices, cameras, consoles, and other gadgets. Mop the floor and tidy up. Don't let your employees huddle in the back of the store. Make shopping through the website easy. Lower the prices on your accessories to compete with Best Buy. Find friendly people and put them to work behind the customer service desk.

Good luck.

Their new CEO, James A. Marcum, who has only been on the job a week, said:
"We realize the performance of this company is unacceptable to all of our stakeholders and that it is imperative that we take the right steps to accelerate our turnaround."

And so, as is our habit, we ask you, the consumer, to tell us what is wrong with Circuit City and how they can fix it. We'll choose the best comments and share them with Mr. Marcum.

What's wrong with Circuit City?!

Circuit City Posts Wider Loss [Washington Post]

I purchased a Sony Notebook computer from Circuit City and added the CityAdvantage extended warranty when I paid for it. One day it died and would not power up so I sent it in. They sent the computer back to me and denied the repairs stating that the computer shows signs of water damage.

This was April 2008 so I contacted CityAdvantage and the repair center, they said they would email photos of the alleged water damage. I waited 2 months and never received the photos so I contacted them again in June 2008, once again they said they would email photos proving water damage and once again I did not receive them.

In Sept 2008, I contacted them again and requested the photos but this time the person was very helpful and had me hold while they took care of the request to make sure it was done right. That night I received the photos and I am shocked that they are claiming this is water damage. To me it appears to be some type of electrostatic dust attraction rather than water damage. There isn't a single dried up water droplet anywhere!

The type of damage they are claiming would mean that I literally submerged the computer in water. If I had been careless enough to spill water on it, it certainly would not look like this. Just to be sure, I ran the photos by every IT/computer tech geek I could find and all of them said that it is not water damage. Water damage shows up as dried up water spots, calcium deposits, corroded terminals, etc. The circuit board is clean, and as hard as they looked, they could not find a single dried up water droplet either.

As God is my witness, this computer has never seen water. I have a feeling this is a scam to deny warranty claims on computers they can't repair or are too costly to repair. Here is a link to a similar story.

We're not sure the link is much help, because it doesn't have enough details about the "water damage" claim and there are no pictures. But Robert has plenty of pictures of his allegedly damaged computer, which we'll share below. What's your opinion? Does water damage ever look like this, or is Circuit City in the wrong?

[AP] (Thanks to CJ!0

We're thinking CC might be on to something in this new economy. Next up, "Sign up for credit today and get a free bag of flour! Bring a friend and get a packet of yeast and a potato!" If you let Firedog delete your unwanted desktop icons you'll probably get a free bowl of soup.

Chris writes:

I never imagined a simple videogame purchase would turn out to be such a nightmare!

Two days ago I came across Circuit City's online ad, advertising God of War 2 was on sale AGAIN! for $9.99. Vowing not to miss this second chance I telephoned my local store - #0421 the Van Nuys location the following day. [redacted] said they had just sold their last copy, but according to the system the Woodland Hills ( #0419 ) store held 2 copies.

I high-tailed it over there, but not before speaking with [redacted] there to confirm. I arrived at the store to find their Playstation 2 shelves in utter disarray, but after a rather quick search found God of War. The sequel was not there.

I flagged down a young lady and asked her if they held any copies, citing my previous conversation with [redacted]. She mentioned sometimes the computer was inaccurate, but went to check in the back and sent another associate to browse along with me. After flipping through all their games I returned to the front whereupon she told me they had none.

I politely asked if she would assist me in locating a copy. Her first result was that Van Nuys had 8! I told her I'd just spoken with someone from that store to no avail. While she called around I called back [redacted] at Van Nuys & told her I was in their Woodland Hills store without the game. She offered another location - Hollywood.

After assuring me she could do nothing more than offer me their number I took down the Hollywood number and hung up. I noticed the young lady helping me seemed somewhat flustered at this point. She told me that upon inquiring at another store the associate was bold enough to tell her they were "not going to waste their time looking for a $10 game" and hung up.

I called up store #0401 - Hollywood. While on hold she told me their Glendale store not only had a copy but was willing to hold it for me. She took my name & printed out directions for me. I hung up with the Hollywood store & thanked her for all her help.

I arrived at store #3361 hours later after battling traffic, to find a couple of copies on the shelf and another game, Namco Museum ( PS2 ) and happily traipsed to the register to checkout. I paid and left thinking that would be the end of it.

After arriving home battling a second wave of traffic I sat down to enjoy the spoils of war. I first noticed a chalky substance on the top surface of the game where the wrapping closes & then how the container seemed rather light. I shook the box and was able to hear something shifting about inside. I wrote this off realizing the game was a 2 disc set. Imagine my rage when upon tearing off the wrapper & opening the cart to find the registration card & disc 2 - the special features! No game. No manual.

I'd heard the horror stories but thought surely they wouldn't apply to a brand new "sealed" game. And of course as luck would have it I'd just read your article on "What To Do When A Store Sells You Box of Crap". This experience could not have epitomized "caveat emptor" more!

A Very Disgruntled Chris

Wow, what a crappy day you had. We hope you bought the game with a credit card, because then you can do a chargeback and your story can have a happy ending. If not, you might want to launch an EECB on Circuit City and see if they can't help you out. After all, the game was only 10 bucks. Your continued loyalty as a customer should be worth that much? Right?

For more information about launching an EECB, click here.

(Photo: Mach1Power )

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Andy writes:

I've been a DirecTV customer for a good 8-9 years. Other than the last few weeks, and my very first installation (had to pay $700 for a professional install throughout the house, and we made sure to future-proof it by having two available jacks per area where we wanted to access a tv), I've had, for the most part, been very happy with my DirecTV services, and dealing with DirecTV representatives on the phone. I give them a lot of credit, as my past experience with them until lately has been very satisfactory, and they were very accommodating and patient. With that said, let me tell you of my last 4 week experience with them that has gone from worse to a complete disaster.

Here is a little background information for you. About 4 weeks ago, we decided to purchase another HDTV (we, at the time, had two), and decided we would go the HD/DVR route with this one. We had purchased our previous two HD-Receivers from Best Buy, and after the TV-arrived, and we were satisfied with the Picture Quality, so we decided to do the next logical step and get some toys for it. On August 14th, we bought a HD-DVR receiver from Best Buy. It came to about $169.99 before taxes. I call up DirecTV to activate my receiver, but we had a lot of problems getting it to work; the tech decided that the problem was my satellite, and that I needed to order professional installation. He indicated the HD-DVR would only work with a 5-LNB satellite. I went ahead and ordered the installation, and was charged $99 for it. I had also found out that very same that, that none of the equipment we purchased from Best Buy or Circuit City, or any store that sell these receivers at "reduced" price, we were just leasing! You got that right, after doing a little research after the fact, this is a common misconception! But this isn't the point of this e-mail. When we found that out, a light bulb went on in my head, and I had called DirecTV a little bit later that day to ask for a free upgrade on those HD-Receivers I paid Best Buy for, but what I've been leasing this entire time, and were I to cancel my service, I'd have to return it to DirecTV or pay something like $240 bucks! I was granted the free HD-DVR upgrade, and I had asked for a second one. The DirecTV representative was very nice, I had explained to her that I had purchased them from Best Buy, and was very angry that nobody from DirecTV or Best Buy would straight out tell their customer that these equipments were not there's to keep. She said the only way to give me another HD-DVR was to cancel out my first order for the install, and charge my Credit Card for $99+S&H. She would then reimburse me the equipment fee, minus the S&H. So she went ahead and did that, cancelled out my first order, and put in another one. I had also decided to activate the HD-DVR that I purchased just to save myself the trouble.

A week later, on August 23rd, the DirecTV installer comes with a HD-DVR in hand, and the first thing out of his mouth was: did you order a HD-DVR, because I only brought the 3-LNB satellite, you know, the one that doesn't work with your HD-DVR, and is probably only the roof! Yes, even though I know you ordered the HD-DVR which only works with the 5-LNB satellite, I came out here to tell you this anyways, just to waste your time! I was completely dumb-founded and baffled at what I was witnessing. Luckily, the one on the roof was the correct satellite. Luckily, if you want to call it that, the installer decided to look up, on the roof, and figured out it was the correct satellite after all! But here comes the fun part. His work order only shows that he would install the HD-DVR for one he brought out, and not the one I had purchased from Best Buy! He said if I wanted the other rooms installed, it would be $53 per room, and this is most-likely off the books, probably tax-fee, and against DirecTV's contract with these subcontractors. I said I would not install anything, but we went with the install on HD-DVR he brought. He had no face plates. He has no splitters. Nothing. He said DirecTV does not supply us with any of that, it made me wonder, how the hell would they do a typical install? The HD-DVR has 2-tuners, and it needed two coaxial cables for it to work. But like I said, we future-proof our house with 2 coaxial jacks, granted, our face plate only had one of the jacks showing. He removed the face plates, ran both cables to the DVR, and put the face plate back on. I have a cable running on the right side of the face plate, sticking out, looking ridiculous and half-assed, which is probably very unsafe, but hey, at least the DVR works right? When the work was done, I was represented with the work order and a pen. I declined to sign it, and they were pretty outraged, demanded the HD-DVR back that I had purchased through DirecTV, but I said it was mines and paid for it, and shortly stormed out! What did they expect? I got a half-ass install, no install on the DVR I purchased, and no the guy completely came out with the wrong satellite, and I was supposed to be satisfied?

I called to DirecTV. I tried to stay calm, and for the most part was, explained them the situation where 1 room was not finished being installed, and two other rooms needed installs. The phone representative was very sympathetic and understanding and said he would take care of everything. He would waive the install fee, and schedule another install, with all the problems resolved. This was a good hour into the call, and very detailed, so I got off the phone, thinking everything would be okay. Unfortunately the earliest install date I could get from there was September 12th, a whole 3 weeks later, but there was nothing I could of done about it at this point, so I shrugged my shoulder, with a heavy sigh, just said okay. Now, I am usually not the type who thinks he is entitled to anything, or that I should be treated this much better, or compensated for this, but I figured, I've had to go through all the hassle thus far, why not ask for nothing. I called back later, and was given 3 months free HBO and Showtime. I had also inquired about the credit to my credit card for the equipment I paid, and was told I should see that shortly on my credit card, and to call back if there were any problems.

Two weeks had gone by, and I had been checking my credit card statement to if I was ever reimbursed for the equipment, but alas, it was not there, nor on my DirecTV bill. I called in again, and after an hour or two, after trying to tell the phone representative that I was not credited the equipment. He tried to tell me that the HD-DVR was free, and the $124.90 charge on my account was for the installation fee, which got waived *$99* of it, anyways. Well, no, sir, the $124.99 was for the HD-DVR I ordered, plus Shipping & Handling. He tried to tell me my tax was $25! Seriously, I was like, is this guy kidding? My Credit Card statement even says DirecTV hardware, not install, he finally conceded, said I was right, and that he would credit me the equipment fee minus the S&H. I had asked again about the other HD-DVR I was supposed to receive, and he said it should be in the mail by September 2nd. I would see this credit on my DirecTV bill.

September 2nd had come and passed, and still no receiver. A few days later, I had called DirecTV to get a tracking number for my package, they said there wasn't one, and that the installer that would be coming out. I had confirmed with the phone person that I was suppose to get a FREE HD-DVR upgrade, and that I indeed ordered another one.

A few days later, we decided that we would install the HD-DVR that we purchased from Best Buy ourselves in another room that was already pre-wired properly to receive both signals. It had decided to move it from the basement to the library. I had to call DirecTV again to activate the card and receiver, and there were problems. They were telling me the card did not match the receiver. Are you kidding me? Well, their system was completely messed up because I have the original paperwork in the box that list both the card and the receiver's # *together*. Well, an hour later, the problem was resolved, apparently some sort of error in their system.

Today, the 12th of September, was the install date. The installer was supposed to arrive between noon and 4PM. I had left work a little bit early so I could meet the installer. Around 5PM, the installer came, and the first thing he asked me was if I have a HD-DVR that I owned. I had answered yes. Let me tell you, the installer came to the door, holding a box for an HD-DVR, but soon as I answered, he said, "well, this is for my next customer, and not you. My work order is only to install a customer's owned HD-DVR!" I was dumbfounded. I had to endure this crap the first time; do I really have to do it a 2nd time? I figure I would handle the receiver issue with DirecTV after he finish the install, but he did not have a work order to install the other room (or bring a receiver), nor did he have one to finish the first install (put a face plate on). There you have it, 4 weeks since I decided to get a HD-DVR and to get 2-equipment upgrades, my experience has been a complete and utter failure. The installer drew a big X on the work order, and left.

Here is where the real fun happens. A 3-hour phone call with DirecTV! The explained my situation to the first phone representative, very calmly, and she had indicated that there was no free HD-DVR upgrade in the system and that it would cost me another $99+S&H, with no reimbursement, if I wanted one. Sadly, we got disconnected before anything else happened. That was a good waste of 25 minutes. I called in again, got another person, who was very polite, understanding, but unfortunately there was not a whole lot she could do for me because the way the DirecTV system works, and how it flagged things down, or prevents "abuse" I suppose. After some investigation, and having to explain myself again, she tracked indeed that her system shows a free HD-DVR and paid order for a HD-DVR! She confirmed it with her co-worker/supervisor, but unfortunately, it wasn't like that on the system that goes to the installer. After an hour and a half of trying to figure all this out for me, she said she could order another HD-DVR and reimburse me for it, but then we find out it wouldn't do that, and I had asked to be escalated to a specialist. The specialist was a real jerk, and very stubborn. He said basically you could only get a free upgrade every 6 months. I can agree with that. I can agree or understand DirecTV's rules and policies concerning equipment. He apologized, and said the best he could do for me is to 1) call the local office to try to schedule an install for tomorrow, and 2) reimburse me the equipment charge. I was like, what? I've already been reimbursed the equipment charge, except for S&H! Well, it turns out, I've been lied to from the very beginning, and the middle, and finally got the truth. The first person never initiated a credit for the equipment. I called in again, and the second person said he would credit me the equipment, JUST TO GET ME OFF THE PHONE IT SEEMS, but never did. So all this time, I've been thinking I got a free HD-DVR and another one except I had to pay the upfront cost, and be reimbursed everything but S&H. Turns out I was wrong. Very wrong. This is where I raised my voice. This was where I was angry. You've got to be kidding me! Do DirecTV just tell people that they will do something, but never do, just to get you off the phone? I've seriously been lied to, on numerous occasions by DirecTV's customer support representatives, and misinformed about a lot of things. I was still expecting my other HD-DVR, and well, an actual install, it being 4 weeks later already, because that's all he could do for me, I asked to be escalated further more. I did, and basically was told the same thing. The only arrangement that could be worked out that I would have to buy another HD-DVR receiver from the retail store, because somehow, they are incompletely unable to order one for me through their system, and I would be reimbursed $124.90. That still means I have to pay another $45 dollars, and still pay them a monthly leasing fee for each active receiver, and when you aren't using it anymore (their equipment tend to get upgraded yearly) then send it to them otherwise I'd owe $240. What a crock of—!!! I guess that's better than nothing, considering I cannot get cable television or television from the phone company. At least I got 3 months of Cinema, and 6 months of Starz? Definitely has not been worth the 4 weeks of headaches and pain. 3 hours. I seriously was on the phone with DirecTV for 3 hours. And now I have to wait for another install come October 4th for the HD-DVR I have to buy from Best Buy or Circuit, only to LEASE IT. 2 MONTH INSTALL???? GREAT!!

Why would I pay for a free UPGRADE if it's a free UPGRADE? When I asked for a free upgrade? When it's free? Common sense anyone?

Thank you DirecTV. You earned that #1 Customer Satisfaction Rating… just not today!

I've not wrote a letter to DirecTV, but I think I would be wasting my time. I just wanted to share my experience because I feel like I am going to explode, or destroy pieces of furniture. I've never had it this bad. Never.

Robert B.

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Jim at Circuit City's consumer affairs division wrote,

I have some follow-up inf