The new CircuitCity.com is already disappointing customers, this time by shipping a half-complete TV mount that looks like it was wrapped by an over-caffeinated octopus. Unsurprisingly, our anonymous tipster had to slog his way through two customer service departments before extracting a promise to ship out the missing parts. Why can’t CircuitCity.com just ship him a new mount? Apparently, they have to first botch the parts shipment. Our tipster decided this wasn’t worth his time, and instead ordered a second mount. Circuit City promises to refund his money once they receive back the defective mount…

Our tipster writes:

Being a fan of Circuit City before it went under, I was excited to learn that a website bearing the company name was going to be coming back up. I was hoping they would carry over the same service I had gotten from them for the 10 years I shopped at CCity prior to the closing. I just finished redoing my basement and found a great deal on a TV mount at circuitcity.com so i decided to give it a try. They advertise same day shipping on items and quick delivery, can you ask for more?

I ordered my item on May 25th, package was shipped May 26th, not the same day, but the order was placed at 2 p.m. so mayyyyybe it needs to be done earlier in the day for same day shipping. According to UPS Tracking the item had an “origin scan” done at 11:12 PM on the 26th, the day after it was ordered (that’s 33 hours). I received the item today, May 29th and was a bit confused about the box it came in. It just looked like someone had wrapped cardboard around the product and taped it until it stuck. A little put off by the box, I opened it to find that there was no box from the manufacturer. They had simply wrapped cardboard around the mount and taped it shut.

Immediately I thought, having worked in retail, some items just don’t have boxes, this must be how it came. As I unload the “box” I start pulling things out and realize, the mount is missing half the pieces. It is advertised to come with a stud finder, and the hardware needed to hang it, and well… an actual mount for a TV. The main part that attaches to the wall was in the “box”, along with one of the brackets for the TV and half a pack of screws, a destroyed manual and some random Data CD, which I’m sure is just a digital version of the Instruction Manual.

Annoyed, I called the infamous 1-800-THECITY, which lead me to long conversations with a computer that never really seemed to stop talking. Finally when I got a hold of a person, they basically told me I was to call a second “parts” number and the person would ship me the rest of the parts for the mount. Being an experienced Retail Sales Manager, I understand when the more people get involved with a problem, the more problems it causes in the long run. So I asked her if we could just skip that step, and let me just return the mount so they can send me a brand new one. She then explained to me that if I talked to them and they end up sending me the wrong pieces, or not enough pieces, I am to call 1800THECITY again, and they will do a return for me. I clearly stated that I wasn’t going to wait another week for parts, just to get the hardware and have to send everything back to them because I didn’t get the pieces I needed. She finally gave in and agreed, but then told me I would have to pay for a second mount, and they would return my money for the first one when they received the package. Furious and just wanting to get off the phone, I agreed.

So currently I am out 200 bucks for both the mounts. The woman on the phone told me it would be shipped out today, just like they advertise on their website, so I am interested to see if that actually happens. Also if a “new” mount will actually be in a box, and if it is, why would they ship me the half put together one, and if they can do it with a mount, they can do it with a TV. It’s funny how the kids at my local Circuit City worked extremely hard to make me happy for 10 years and I was sad to see them go. Just one experience like this makes all of that work go away, and I am now on the “I Hate CCity” bandwagon.

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