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18 million is the number of square feet of retail space vacated by Circuit City. Yikes. [Consumer Reports]
ELECTRONICS
3 Steps To Protect Yourself When Making Major Electronics Purchases
By 2.24.09
Stores like Best Buy like to take advantage of your natural fear that a piece of electronic equipment that you just spent a bunch of money on is going to break. And, let’s face it, it might — but that’s no reason to rely on an expensive extended warranty from the retailer.
Ritz Camera Files For Bankruptcy
By 2.23.09
Ritz Camera, an occasional and colorful character on our blog (scam confessions! feedback bribery!) has just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
When The Economy Gets Tough, The Tough Play Video Games
By 2.19.09
As pretty much every retailer imaginable aside from Walmart loses money — one chain is not only doing fine, it’s actually growing — GameStop. It seems that when the going gets tough — people just want to play video games.
Embezzling Fry's VP Once Gambled Away $8 Million In ONE DAY
By 2.17.09
The LA Times is reporting that former Fry’s executive and accused embezzler, Omar Siddiqui, once gambled away $8 million in a single day. According to the IRS, Mr. Siddiqui financed his gambling by taking at least $65.6 million in kickbacks from Fry’s suppliers. He’s been charged with money laundering and fraud, and if convicted, he faces 140 years in prison.
By 2.13.09
../../../..//2009/02/13/best-buy-is-streamlining-its/
Best Buy is streamlining its high end Magnolia Audio Video stores by closing down Magnolia HQ, disbanding all current Magnolia management positions, and closing 7 of the 13 stores. [TWICE] (Thanks to Klay and Eric!)
Use Potato Chips To Report Bad Best Buy Employees
By 2.3.09
An insider tells us the best way to get back at a bad Best Buy employee is a bag of potato chips:
Seagate Censoring Posts About Barrucada 7200.11 500GB Drive Failures
By 1.29.09
A number of consumers are complaining about their Seagate Barrucada 7200.11 500GB hard drive failures, and the company is censoring them. While Seagate has issued a firmware upgrade, it doesn’t work if your drive has already been affected, like reader Danny, who just lost all his research material and papers for school. According to some posts on MSFN, moderators on the official Seagate forums are deleting user posts about the issue, and even going so far as to disabling links made on the Seagate forums to posts on other forums about the issue. Danny’s letter, inside…
Update: HP Laptop Runs 200°F, Support Says "Buy A Cooling Mat"
By 1.29.09
The boy whose HP was running 200°F and was told by tech support to “buy a cooling mat” used some of the higher-up phone numbers readers posted in the comment on the original post to get in touch with a Senior Case Manager. Despite being out of warranty, they reopened the case and had him send in his laptop. Lo and behold, they fixed it! “It is running great now,” writes Travis. Huzzah!
Helpful Information For Those About To Impulse Buy A TV For The Superbowl
By 1.27.09
We know you just can’t handle the thought of watching the magnificent Arizona Cardinals in standard def, so before you run out and buy the biggest TV at the store — here is some information from Consumer Reports that will help you be set up and ready to go by the time your Larry-Fitzgerald-jersey-wearing friends show up.
Staples Would Tape Your Projector To A Postcard If They Could Manage It
By 1.22.09
Usually our stupid shipping gang entries focus on comically large boxes containing one or two small items, but this time we’ve got the reverse situation. Eli ordered a projector from Staples. As you probably know, projectors are fairly fragile pieces of electronic equipment. This is how Staples sent it. Eli thinks their new slogan should be, “Staples: That Was Easily Damaged.”
Circuit City Puts The Source Up For Sale
By 1.22.09
With the demise of Circuit City, several of you wondered what’s going to happen to The Source (that’s how you say Circuit City in Canadian). The answer is that they’re on the auction block. [Canoe.Money] (Thanks to Mario Pants!)
Best Buy Assembles Washer/Dryer Outside, Delivers It To Your Neighbor
By 1.20.09
John ordered a washer and a dryer from Best Buy. First, he says Best Buy showed up early for the delivery, so naturally, John wasn’t home. Then they assembled the pedestals for the washer and dryer on some gravel in front of his house, damaging them. After that, they left the appliances with his neighbor.
Was Circuit City's Website Pulled Because The Deals Were Too Good?
By 1.20.09
If you’ve tried to check out the so-called liquidation “deals” that might be advertised on Circuit City’s website, you’ve no doubt noticed that the website no longer exists. HDGuru grabbed some prices from the site before it was taken down — and they say that the regular website deals were better than the 10% off being offered at a doomed Circuit City in Massapequa, NY.
"Why Circuit City Failed"
By 1.19.09
Now that Circuit City has finally sputtered out, it’s fun to talk about what did them in—see their firing-your-best-employees stunt a few years back, for example. But what do former Circuit City employees think? This guy worked with them from 1997 to 2002, and he says for one thing, they should have never stopped carrying appliances.
Consumer's FAQ To The Circuit City Liquidation
By 1.16.09
Now that Circuit City is getting liquidated, what happens to your gift cards? What about extended warranties and repairs? These burning questions and more, answered in our Consumers’ FAQ to the Circuit City liquidation extravaganza…
GRAPH: The Decline And Fall Of Circuit City
By 1.16.09
Liquidation is a time for reflection, we guess, so we put together a nice little time line of Circuit City’s precipitous decline over the past 2 years. We begin our journey in March of 2007, when Circuit City announced that it was firing everyone who knew what 1080p meant so that they could hire cheaper labor…
Circuit City Will Completely Liquidate
By 1.16.09
Circuit City has reached an agreement with Gordon Brothers Great American Group LLC, Hudson Capital Partners LLC, SB Capital Group LLC and Tiger Capital Group LLC to start liquidating all of its stores. Sha na na na, na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye, to the dirty, the poorly stocked, the indifferent, the incompetent, the irrelevant. [AP] (Thanks to Jeremey!)
