PriceRunner > Circuit City Stores, Inc. > Reviews

Circuit City Stores, Inc.: reviews
	Information	Reviews	Products

Details on the retailer Information on grade averages Important information about reviews Write your own review Report errors and make suggestions

Reviews older than 6 months are automatically removed to reflect the retailer's current standards.

In reviewing this retailer you agree that it is based on your actual buying experience and that (except as fully disclosed in your review) (i) neither you nor any immediate family member is employed by the retailer; (ii) you have not received any payment or any other consideration for submitting this review; and (iii) our users may properly rely upon your review as an unbiased representation of your buying experience.

Review by shalgham, submitted 6/24/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I ordered an AC on a Thursday. The next day, I received a delivery from FedEx. I was very impressed. But when I opened the packaging, I found a freezer! I mean come on! It was not even a different AC model, just completely a different thing! How they can make such a mistake? Anyways, I contacted them right away, explained what happened, and they told me a "case manager" will contact me very soon to resolve the issue. 14 days has passed, no "case manager" has contacted me. Every time I call circuit city, they tell me I have to wait until that mystery person, who I seriously doubt his/her existence, contacts me. They will not ship what I have ordered, or give me a refund, until that mystery person picks up the wrong item they have sent me. I have to sit in my hot room and sweat and stare at that big ugly freezer which occupies too much space. I am going to stay away from circuit city now. Even if they promise to send me a free HDTV, I won’t accept. Because they might send me an elephant instead, and in my room right now there is only enough space for me and that ugly freezer.

Review by dotNet07, submitted 6/20/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I bought a camera (canon Xsi) on June 3rd, for $854.99, and I used my 8% off coupon to lower it to $786.59. On June 19th, CircuitCity lowered the camera price to $799.99, so I went there to do a price adjustment, which should bring the price down to $799.99*0.92=735.99, but they asked me to bring a valid coupon back, so I printed out my coupon and went back there. but this time the store manager refused to adjust the price with my coupon. The policy didn't say that a customer can't price match with a coupon. This is a very bad experience. The economy is very bad and they still treat customer like this.

Review by marknewton, submitted 6/18/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I wanted to share a very disappointing experience I had today at my local Circuit City. I own a small computer consulting business and sometimes have to purchase items locally. Yesterday I purchased some Kingston memory online using the web ordering system and picked up my items this morning Order ID 4417-3609141 and I was actually quite happy with the service. So as a happy customer I returned to the website again to purchase some more memory. I went the website and found what I was looking for and was happy to see that the price was good. KGT KVR4001GR I started to order it and picked my local store again for pickup. I then decided that because my pervious customer had paid me cash that I would just go to the store and pay cash for it. So I went the the store and I discovered that the price in the store was $99 instead of $44.99 that was on the website. A customer service person came and asked me if I needed help and I explained to him the price difference. He went over to the computer and confirmed that they were in fact both the same items. He told me if I went to the service desk that they would honor the price. When I went to the service desk the person helping me was confused but then went and asked (who I later found out was the store manager) how to handle the transaction. She told me that because of the difference in price she would not sell me 4 of them. Upset I said well what difference does it make if I buy them here or online then pick them up. On the way out the store I ran into a man who's name badge said assistant manager. I told him what was going on and he agreed with me. However he then went to the service counter again and the associate told him what happened. He then talked to woman (who I assume was the store manager) and came back and told me that he could not do it. I then went to my car and logged into the website to place the order. When I went to place the order all of a sudden there was no memory available to pickup in Brighton. Suspicious? Yes. Now I have to drive 20 miles to Novi to pickup the RAM (Order Number: 4420-833677) . I know what happened. I know that there were 7 of these instock in the Brighton Store. I have a hard time believing that all of a sudden within a few minutes they were gone. I just wanted to share this with you. I certainly do not feel good about the manager of that store. I have purchased a lot from this store including the Laptop I am using and all the accessories. I can assure you that this store will not be my first choice again when shopping and I will share this story every chance I get. I think there are some really good people at that store that wanted to help but the manager of the store obviously didn’t see it that way.

Review by OMG000, submitted 6/15/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I bought a laptop from Circuit City with a three-year warranty, and tried to have it repaired before the warranty expired. It took them three weeks to tell me they wouldn't repair it, and didn't provide an understandable explanation until I called their "Customer Advantage" number. There the agent read to me the huge list of exclusions from their repair list - I could hardly think of anything that was covered. From his explanation, damage to the case, even thought it broke from wear, is not covered, and because it wasn't covered, nothing was covered because it's an all or nothing situation. I was an idiot to have purchased their warranty. They offer it to you at checkout time, but it is full of tiny print legalese. I feel it was $225 wasted. I have had plenty of warranty situations, where the rule was one of integrity: "If it breaks during the warranty, we'll repair or replace it", and they have been usually quite satisfactory. That's why I blindly trusted Circuit City. I can't see myself buying anything from them again, after this adventure. I feel that if they were honest, they would put the innumerable restrictions in large type on the wall near their checkout counter, so people could make informed decisions easily.

Review by erz2000, submitted 6/7/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I placed an online order. When I arrived to the store (4 hours later) the order wasn't ready, they didn't have the product in stock despite of the web site assuring me they had it and charged my credit card. I had to cancel the order.

Review by me0123456789, submitted 5/16/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I purchased a wii & some other items from circuit city online. One package with the wii games, controller, & other items arrived. The wii console did not. After running down the tracking number & calling the post office they told me the package never arrived. Calling circuit city, I had to wait a full 15 days to report the item as lost. I waited the 15 days, reported the item as lost, got authorization to send the other stuff back. Mailed the other stuff back. It's been over a month & I still haven't gotten credit back. I get the runaround everytime I speak to someone. One rep told me they didn't have where I reported it as lost I gave her the reference number & she said her computer was down. Next person told me I had to talk to corporate because they're the only ones to do refunds. Wouldn't give me a direct number to corporate just transferred me. Spoke with corporate said it would be 3 to 5 business days. That was about 20 days ago. Still no refund. Called today, it still hasn't been sent to a case manager, can't give me a name of a supervisor or case manager. Told me they would e-mail it as priority to call back in 3 business days to get status update. Any ideas of what to do? I just hope this doesn't hurt my credit! I guess I can explain to someone about this blemish if I ever apply for a loan.

Review by OldSkoolMadSkilz, submitted 5/15/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I placed an online order and attempted to pick it up 3 days later. They ended up not having the item in the store because of an inventory error, but neglected to tell me. All orders are supposed to be picked within 24 minutes, so they should have known. I offered to let them sell me an equivalent item for the same price, but apparently not losing money on an order is more important than satisfying a customer that drove 30 miles to pick up an item. Luckily Best Buy hasn't pissed me off yet, so I still have somewhere to shop for now. UPDATE: I called customer service expecting them to be able to do something. Wrong. Neither they nor the store would do anything beyond a "sincere" apology. That won't fill my tank, get me back my lost time, or get me photo paper. They told me that they would lose money if they sold me equivalent paper at the price they advertised. Hmm, lose a little money on a small order, or lose a customer. Seems like a no-brainer to me, but what do I know.

Review by lwoods111, submitted 5/10/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I wish I'd read these reviews placing my order for a new PC this past week. I placed my order on Tuesday, paid $50 extra for express shipping (Thurs delivery), got my e-mail confirmation that it had been shipped out and would arrive by 3 p.m. on Thurs. When no package came by 7 p.m. I contacted Fed-Ex and was told though Circuit City had electronically sent a label they'd not given them the box for shipment yet. I call Circuit City and they say wait to see if it shows up and, if not, call back on Friday. I call Circuit City on Friday morning and am first told to wait a few days then call back. When I insist on speaking to a supervisor they say they will "escalate" this to a case manager who will get back in touch w/ me in THREE TO SEVEN DAYS. Helloooo???? I paid the extra $$ for Fed-Ex because I NEED the computer. I could order another one and get it before they'll even call me back about my missing computer??? The customer-rep recited "Circuit City's guidelines" more times than I could take. After reading other reviews here, I see this is a very common issue for CC. I, too, am thinking there must be a big theft problem (or just a lot of ineptness) in their distribution center. Their customer service is some of the worst I've ever seen! I'd cancel this order but I can't even do that until my escalated case is actually reviewed and researched by the case manager... GRRRRRRRRR..... This is my first and last dealing with Circuit City.

Review by Bubka, submitted 4/29/08.

Rating   5 / 5 Comment I ordered a Farberware cooking pan (FRB 50011)online on Tuesday and received it the next Monday. I had searched online after my wife had decided that she needed this particular pan and of all places Circuit City came out the cheapest. It was almost $20 less than the best price on Amazon. I've had a problem or two with Circuit City in the past, but this time the transaction was perfect.

Review by ICe_BOi, submitted 4/21/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I am totally unsatisfied with the service of Circuit City.I bought 2 wireless routers and one cable from Circuit City. At first, I only wanted the 2 wireless routers but I had a $15 off coupon from a previous purchase that only works with a purchase of $100 or more. My two wireless routers cost 99.98 so they said the coupon cannot be used. I spent 2 hours trying to find something that I can add to my cart and at the same time, something that would be useful for me.When I went to pick up in-store, they said the cable is out of stock and the $15 discount is not eligible anymore. My point is that it wasn't my responsibility that they don't have the cable in stock. I purchased it online and there was an option for me to pick up at this store. Not only did they waste my studying time, I had to go through shit for nothing. NEVER EVER BUY FROM CIRCUIT CITY!!!! Their company's shares deserve to be going down. I am even surprised their company is not bankrupt yet. They are the kind of dogs that bite the hand that feeds them.

Review by MonkRX, submitted 3/27/08.

Rating   5 / 5 Comment I ordered earphones online for in store pick up. I quickly received an order confirmation E-mail. They have a 24-minute guarantee that your item will be ready for pick up once your order is placed. However, this also means that Circuit City has no obligation to actually inform you that your order is ready for pick up. No big issue, though. I was fine with just an order confirmation E-mail. I picked up my item about 2 hours later and the whole process was a breeze.

Review by azkwest, submitted 3/21/08.

Rating   4 / 5 Comment My purchase experience was telling. I purchased the Regza from Beach Camera(beachcamera.com) and was thoroughly pleased with service and price... The absence of shipping fees and sales tax was that much more an advantage. As a matter of course, I did check Circuit City and Best Buy to see if they could compete. The experiences were telling. The representatives at Circuit City tried, but acknowledged that I was getting a great deal they couldn't match. I came away feeling they appreciated my business and recognized my effort to shop around for a good deal. The representative at Best Buy laughed at me, stating "you can't get that for that much." I came away feeling at the least disrespected, moreso ridiculed. I will be returning to Beach Camera and Circuit City for major purchases in the future. I will not be returning to Best Buy for such purchases. Instead, I will be returning to Best Buy only for their loss leaders... selectively purchasing those items they have deeply discounted to draw in customers... and then leaving for Beach Camera and Circuit City for the stuff that matters... that is, it appears, what Best Buy wants.

Review by Dronnis, submitted 3/10/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I ordered 3 g-15 logitech keyboards from circuit city. The order was shipped but no recipt was included, or sent to me online. I called and asked for receipt to be sent in mail, they said it would take 12-15 days. I never received the receit. Finally after hours of calling and being put on hold by hard to understand people I got patched thru to corporate and they said the rebate was expired. I was out of luck for the 3 30 and 3 20 dollar rebate. The merchandise was inproperly packed in a box 2x the size of the order with no packing material.

Review by soundman4507, submitted 3/5/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I purchased a Sony SR42 Camcorder from Circuit City's website, to be picked up in our local store, which was on State Street in Rockford, IL. When I got the box home and opened it, it was then I found that the screen on the camcorder was defective and this item will need to be returned. Now...time to take a Valium!! I took the item back to the store, less than 15 hours from purchase, and told them it was defective. They agreed that the item was defective, and offered to exchange for another camcorder. .. SO FAR SO GOOD.. I told them that I really didn't want another one, as I was not impressed with the quality of this item, and would just like my money returned to me. They said sure, but it will cost you a $64.50 restocking fee (15%). This is where the ripoff starts.... They were not "restocking" this item, they are returning it to the manufacturer as a defective item. So, why am I being shang-hied into another purchase, when I don't want anything else? This amounts to strong arm robbery, or better yet, plain stealing from their customer base. I will NEVER buy anything from them again, and I will tell every person I know or see, not to shop at Circuit City.

Review by YAVUZ CAN, submitted 2/22/08.

Quality of retailer website   1 / 5 Standard of service - items in stock   1 / 5 Quality of sales service and warranty   1 / 5 Standard of service - ordering   1 / 5 Summary Does Circuit City sell used laptops under the new brand? I was ordered a Sony VAIO Laptop on 01/29/2008 to Circuitcity by internet with paying shipment cost. But It never arrived to my home. After 10 days, I had to gone another city and taken it from Fedex. Other hand, my real story was begun at this point. When I opened to box, I was shocked. Because it was including an used laptop like a bad joke but also it was a reality of Circuitcity. After this shock I went to nearest store and gave it back, in fact I changed it with another laptop paying exstra 200 $. Because that one was not at stock. Than, I applied to CC a lot of times by emails but nobody returned me for any explanation. Like a Silent Wall ! My question is what would you do if you were me? Does Circuitcity sell Used things like a Junk Dealer but takes new brand prices? Whats name of this ?. Thanks.. YAVUZ CAN Do you recommend this retailer? Yes

Review by hbmohr21, submitted 2/22/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment So just before Christmas, my husband and I ordered a video camera as our present from our whole family and to each other, to have for when our baby is born. The box showed up a couple weeks after we ordered it from Circuitcity.com. The FedEx guy put the package on the ground and told my husband to sign for the box. The FedEx guy walked away Tim picked up the box and realized it was empty. He called Circuit City with in minutes of getting the empty package. Two months later, 20+ phone conversations with Circuit City and FedEd, where we were told no one higher than the trained monkey who answers the phone would ever talk to us, and they closed the case without telling us! No refund. CIRCUIT CITY has despicable costumer service, and I will make sure that everyone we know takes pause before purchasing from there again. If you look up reviews on Circuit City, they are horrible. We weren't the first or the last people to get the a raw deal from them. Don't make the same mistake.

Review by zeta, submitted 2/22/08.

Rating   5 / 5 Comment I've had numerous orders with Circuit City, both in-store pickup & delivery. They have good service & good prices on some of their stuff. They're definitely better priced than best buy. No holds, no problems.

Review by rkw624, submitted 2/8/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I purchased a monitor from this store for our home computer that was about 4 years old. The clerk gave me no advice on this puchase. He did not ask any questions either. Why I still went ahead with a purchase is beyond me. I got home and decided I did not want it. The next day I returned the unopened package and was informed that there was a 15% restocking fee. I said the salesman never told me that. They said to bad. You should have read the fine print. They got $28.00 out of me. I was getting to be a pretty good customer with previous purchases of two phone plans, two laptops, a home theatre, and a TV. They still said, too bad we're keeping your $28.00. That was the last $28.00 out of me. This place is a rip off. Beware!The "policy" is not posted anywhere that I can find. Bring a lawyer along on your next purchase. You will need one to complete a transaction at this store.

Review by sunroofguy, submitted 2/7/08.

Rating   5 / 5 Comment Ordered a Siruis satellite converter for a Panisonic deck I was giving my boyfriend for Christams. Delivery was within a week sith standard shipping.

Review by ruthiep, submitted 2/2/08.

Rating   5 / 5 Comment Chris was our Firedog installation rep and he was just wonderful! He called 45 minutes before he was due to make sure the TV had already been delivered. He was ontime and very professional, courteous and extremely pleasant and respectful. He was dressed in his uniform, wore shoe covers, went over the work to be done before starting work, wore gloves, cleaned up after the install and was very thorough in demonstrating the product and making sure it was exactly the way we wanted it. In addition, back in December, I had a need to buy 3 laptop computers and after shopping in MANY stores, ended up at Circuit City, where my purchasing experience was a complete delight. The salesperson was friendly and helpful and the purchase was a breeze. It was because of THAT positive experience that we decided to go STRAIGHT to Circuit City and NO WHERE ELSE! Wow...isn't it significant how a positive experience can cause such an event? Our sales person, ALLAN...for our television purchase was delightful --he was the reason we decided to buy our unit there. He worked with us on financing, and the cashier who entered and processed the paperwork was pleasant and professional as well. In working out the details, I had to call the store a couple of times and the person who answered the phone was bright and friendly and put my call through immediately. Earlier in the week, a guy named SPENCE and another guy came and delivered our TV unit and he was extremely professional and considerate as well. We had a very positive experience at Circuit City and you can be sure...we'll be back! Ruthie & Alan Powell ruthiep@bellsouth.net

Review by Tickedoffgood, submitted 1/23/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I purchased a Diamond Multimedia ATI Radeon S9950 video card for my computer. The e-mail confirmation, box, shipping label, and packing slip agreed with that description. But the product enclosed was an X1050, which a small slip said was a "free upgrade" to a "valued customer." The product was defective, causing the screen to go black with increasing frequency, and eventually required a clean reinstall of my Windows XP operating system -- a two day operation and loss of data since my last backup. The "upgrade" was also inferior. I've since learned that its average retail price is less than the S9950 ordered, and is always less by vendors offering both products. At Staples, for example, the regular selling price for the S9950 is $104.98, which is why I went for the Circuit City deal of $69.99 with free shipping. Staples also sells an X1550 online, superior to the X1050, for $69.99 with free shipping. Same price charged by Circuit City for what I ordered. When I called Circuit City about a refund, they said they'd have to verify that the product was defective, BUT WOULD ONLY ISSUE A REFUND IN ANY CASE UPON RETURN OF THE PRODUCT AS DESCRIBED ON THE BOX AND PACKING SLIP! THAT IS THE PRODUCT THEY NEVER SENT! They advertise a product at a low price, send the right box and shipping information but substitute a cheaper product, and when the cheaper product proves defective they refuse to even consider a refund unless the product ordered is returned to them. That's fraud, egregious fraud.

Review by Memphis, submitted 1/22/08.

Rating   5 / 5 Comment Ordered an HP All-In-One online to pick up at the store. They had the lowest price of anyone with the item actually in stock (TigerDirect had a lower price, but 5 to 7 day delivery.) I went to the store to pick up the item. They had it there, but the computers were down so they couldn't pull my order. Would've been faster to just go and buy it off the floor I suppose, but I just went next door for breakfast, came back 20 minutes later and walked out with my printer. Pretty quick considering their computers being down AND having to deal with X-mas returns at the same time as online order pickup!

Review by afb65, submitted 1/21/08.

Rating   5 / 5 Comment I have been researching various stores for the last 2 months waiting for a good sale on a Sony KDL-40W3000. Not alot of resellers carry it (compared to the V version). I have seen great prices from a number of sites with good reviews on this resellerratings.com, nexttag, etc. But I am partial to CC simply because they are 5mins from my house...but they havent been the best price. So I waited...and researched my options. I have been somewhat turned off by reviews that cover one experience as odds are luck will be on your side... the same goes for single experience negative reviews. So this review, ultimately based on my most recent purchase, also covers my last couple major experiences over the holiday season. The sale price finally came last week that rivaled the online 'deal' sites. It came with free delivery (2 day delivery) which included setup and connecting the TV to your cable as well as removal of the previous husk (in my case a 36" Toshiba tube behemoth). Free delivery on many 'deal' sites only include curbside...charging up to hundreds extra to do the rest. Another good experience was that CC never once tried to upsell a warranty package... I plan to buy directly from Sony. The TV arrived damaged (cosmetic, the picture was fine)...the delivery guy took note of it... now I thought "here is where the pain starts" so I called my local CC to setup an exchange. And it was simple and painless. The replacment came quickly. As far as other in-store experiences, I bought a 32" Element in October to prepare for an XBox360... the CC salesman warned me against it, but it was the cheapest... and yes it was. I returned it because it died within a week and CC made no issue of it. The 2nd one died within another week and CC took it back no question so I upgraded to a Vizio (best low priced HDTV out there). Basically I have had nothing but professional and thankfully good experiences with Circuit City.

Review by Greenman, submitted 1/21/08.

Rating   1 / 5 Comment I ordered a refurb OfficeJet 5610 all-in-one online. I got a 5160 printer. It's not even close, other than two digits are inverse. I took it too the store. They couldn't take it back. They were kind enough to help me get through to a telephone customer relations line that might help. They kept insisting I wanted to get a refund. I kept having to insist I wanted what we contracted for: a 5610. After a month of miscommunication, they said they didn't have any more. What they didn't have any more of was the refurb. The new one was about $30 more, just sitting in the store. For the time, shipping and trouble involved, it would have been cheaper for them to have given me a new one from the store, but no - they couldn't do that. Nobody at Circuit City has the power to see the grievous wrong done by CC to me. Circuit City did not honor its contract. It relied on the byzantine customer escalations department to befuddle me until I finally got tired of it and just asked for my money back. They had the power of accrual of my money while it was not in my hands and delivered only vague distaste and regret - all at my expense. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars are likewise accruing interest in their banks while customers try to sort out wrongly done misdeeds of Circuit City? They are culpable on all fronts. I have no quarrel with the sales reps who work for CC, except that they are not given any power to actually serve customers. They can only take money for the corporate monster. It would appear my order was caught up in Circuit City's recent decision to fire people who cost too much in order to hire others who will work for just over half the pay. In firing their existing expensive employees, they lost all their customer relations stored memory. And they did it during Christmas. Unfortunately, CC has learned it's lesson too late. Read Rachel Beck's story on January 11 about Circuit City from Associated Press http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-01-11-4054125678_x.htm (or google "Rachel Beck Circuity City") I will unlikely buy anything from Circuit City in the near future. They fired good people to hire those who are desperate enough to work for nearly half what they are worth at the cost of relations with customers and to the dissatisfaction of everyone - customers, employees and stockholders alike. How can these employees who work for half be anything but bitter knowing they are worth more but are working for less? Time for a sales rep union. I suggest steering clear of this store, its stock and anything to do with them. Truly, they are headed for nightmares due to the greed of those who have sabotaged good relations from the top. Bad Circuit City. Bad.