We all know Circuit City is in the pooper, but Time gives a little back history for those not familiar with Circuit City’s last decade of suck. Best part?
For many consumers, however, Circuit City’s most obvious failing was its customer service. In March 2007, it announced plans to lay off its highest-paid hourly employees, including salespeople, and replace them with cheaper workers. That same year, then CEO Philip Schoonover received some $7 million in compensation. It may come as no surprise, then, that a quick Web search on “Circuit City complaints” brings up hundreds of thousands of entries.
Yup, not a good idea. Lets lay off all the people that understand the product and enjoy their jobs, only to replace them with $10 hour newbs. Good idea, Schoonover.
[thanks for the tip, Akia789]
Circuit City customer service is not just bad, it is horrendous and awful. They did have a good stock of PCs and laptops…but when you compare them with someone like BestBuy…it becomes a joke…BB is soooooo much better …with soooo much better customer service
They can just follow BestBuy to atleast try to survive with what they have left.
http://www.livbit.com
You give CC too much credit for their payscale. I just started at $7.50 per hour. I like the store and I like the people working there but most of them are young kids and they are lazy. I’m the only grown person that would work for $7.50 per hour I guess. You gotta do what you gotta do.
Trust me…Philip Schoonover doesn’t care at this point. He will just move on to become a member of some other board of directors at some other company. He probably hasn’t given a second thought to the scores of families he has affected.
phil schoonover has been gone for quite some time… he screwed up the company, made them lose all kinds of money, then the board pays him 6 million in severence to repay him for his failure… that might be some kind of a clue to why they are in trouble.
I was one of those people who was laid off. I sold all my stock right after that because I knew then that a company could not survive under such devastating stupidity. I am now working for best buy, which is a better company to work for. Best buy said four years ago that they were going to end Circuit City. While the company hasn’t closed down, the ship is low in the water and is still sinking. Idiots.
CEO’s should be given only stock options. When they get paid millions of dollars, they lack accountability. Lehmann Bros, Citi, AIG all the sinking companies started the downward spiral by paying the CEOs tens of millions in cash.
I thought it was just the Florida stores that were bad because all service in Florida is worse than every other state I’ve lived. Prior to moving here I always found better prices and services than Best Buy but now I have to convert from a CC believer to a BB. What is this world coming to?! Oh wait, light at end of tunnel, Tiger Direct with Comp USA local links. Maybe I don’t have to go BB.
If you have questions for service you can talk with the big boss
there at the walnut center
# 909-468-0033 Steve Caplinger
or ask for Jennifer Waller the little boss
good luck, this way you don’t have to be transferred to INDIA>>
BEWARE: Anyone who purchased the $799.99 HP Pavilion Desktop package from Circuit City needs to know they did not get the computer pictured in the newspaper advertisement. The picture shows a computer with the HP Media Bay. The computer in the box does not have a Media Bay and you got a cheaper model than shown in the picture. What CC did was list the correct model number but displayed a picture for a higher priced model in the newspaper advertisement.
I need a new computer but I cannot spend much money. I checked the newspaper ads for Black Friday and saw a desktop package at Circuit City that looked reasonable. I went after the big rush on 11/28/2008 because I figured this package would be still available and no there would be no reason to be involved with the early morning chaos. The package included an HP Pavilion Desktop Model A6658F with 6GB memory and 640GB Hard Drive, an HP 19″ monitor, and a HP all-in-one printer.
Sure enough CC had the package in stock but the HP Pavilion computer was not on display. I finally managed to get a salesperson who tried to talk me into buying the package without seeing the acutal computer. I finally told him that I would not buy the package without seeing the computer. Well to no surprise the computer that came with the package did not match the computer that was pictured in the paper advertisement. The paper picture was actually a higher priced model. I told them this seemed like a bait-in-switch tactic. Even though the salespeople said that I was correct about the picture not matching the actual computer nobody at CC seemed to care. Then before leaving the store, I asked to talk with a manager. Of course no manager would talk with me but they took my name and telephone number with a promise to call within several hours. Of course nobody called and I imagine my contact information went in the circular file. They understood that I had wasted 1.75 hours and over a gallon of gas to go to the store just to find out that what was advertised was not what I would get.
I then called HP Headquarters and the receptionist did not care. She took down my name and number with a promise of someone getting in touch with me on 12/01/2008. Most likely nobody will call. However, the receptionist did connect me with the store. I again explained the situation and again the person at the store did not care. He took my name and number and promised that a district manager that evening (11/28/2008) or early on 11/29/2008. You guessed it – nobody called.
I would like to get compensated for my time and gas. What Circuit City did was wrong. They keep saying that it was just a simple mistake and they have tried to make me look like a mean person. It sure appears as if CC intentionally placed a picture of the higher priced computer with the Media Bay in their paper newspaper advertisement.
I wonder how many people have bought this package without opening the box? Won’t they be surprised when the boxed is opened on Christmas to find out the computer has no Media Bay as shown in the picture. Most likely they will not remember and CC will again get away with their unethical advertising practices. Just a word of advice – open the box and look at the computer.
Sincerely, Barry Warry
I won’t argue that the CEO’s decision was a good one. It was obviously short-sided, and probably straight from the playbook of Wal-Mart. Lower your expenses=higher profits. The problem was they weren’t selling toasters. People don’t buy expensive electronics from people who don’t know anything about them. However, I’m surprised that everyone thinks that Best Buy has the market cornered. I have found employees at Best Buy are just as ignorant about their products. In fact, I would even suggest that many are ignorant and somewhat predatory. I have watched numerous people in the computer department of Best Buy prey on consumers and up sale them products that they can’t benefit from. Are you going to be taking digital pictures? If yes, you will need our memory/storage package. It includes a better video card 2 additional gig of ram and a 500 gb hard drive for an additional $299. Seriously? For a pocket camera. In addition, the standard prices of items at Best Buy exceed nearly any other Store in town. I will really miss Circuit City, and now will have to buy online more often.
I think CC sunk there ship long ago. Letting go your sale folks was the stupidest idea they had. People are not going to buy a high end item with someone that really doesn’t know a lot about that product. I shopped at Best Buy and I just dont find them much better. There sales people are arrogant and have a attitude about them. The attitude is were the only high end store in town. I look at products at Best buy then buy at New Egg.com New egg rocks. IF I dont have to have it right then and there its New Egg for me. BB and CC can go to you know where.
New Egg.com is awsome, better customer service then Circus City and Newegg is done online. BB has a pretty good website tied in with their stores. Sears is terrible, they treat their online store as a seperate entity from their stores. I found that if you go to sears and ask them about something you purchased online, they can’t tell you when the product will be shipped to their store.
What I’m saying is that the stores that intergrate the internet the best are going to be the ones to survive. And, rightly so.
Say no to CEOs! American workers really need to wake up an hold CEOs accountable. These people are sucking huge amounts of cash from the economy with no return in value.
The only idea most can come up with these days is to outsource. Yeah place one more level of BS between you and your customer. That will help.
I can remember when CC was the place to buy electronics but there was a lot of cheese that came with the purchase. When BB came along I though great I can walk-in and walk-out without talking to a salesperson. But no . I went to BB years ago to purchase a computer for my mom and ended up walking out with nothing. I told the salesperson over and over I didn’t need to buy $50 anti-virus software and a $35 gold-plated printer cable from BB. They wouldn’t stop.
It is a waste of time to go to these places and get help from a human. The use of bait and switch and selling you stuff you don’t need is rampant. If they receive any training that is where it is at. These people aren’t there to help you but to screw you just like CEOs are screwing this whole country.
I do my research on the Internet and then purchase on the Internet. Dell for computers and Amazon for everything else.
Well I do go to the grocery store every now and then.
I worked for Circuit City for a year back in early 2007 and quit in 2008. Let me tell you something … it was a blast in the very beginning, but as the year went on, my managers were laying off some of the best workers. It was rediculous. Enough said.
My husband and I both worked at Circuit City. We were transfered from one state to another, just to get laid off 1 year later. My husband was with the company for 7 years. Then had to train someone just so that they could keep his job. This happened when the first major lay-offs started. CC screwed us pretty bad.