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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