Circuit City has a serious identity crisis. On the one hand, it usually has pretty good prices and decent service. On the other, it's sometimes the official electronics store of SATAN.
This troubles me. Most stores are either one or the other. They're either really good (like Goody's or Target) or really evil (Radio Shack or Abercrombie & Fitch).
But Circuit City seems to flounder back and forth. I must admit that I've had mostly good experiences there. Until tonight, the biggest negative I had against them was how they will stop at nothing to try and talk you into getting an extended service plan (read as "waste of money so I get more commission").
Tuesday night I went to buy my long-awaited CD changer (I've been talking about getting it for almost two months, but just never had). It was the last piece in the puzzle of my entertainment center. Anyhow, I found what I wanted (I had researched this purchase extensively). First off, the one I wanted as on sale, which is a good thing. But they had an Open Box item of it (that's their term for one that was a display model or had been returned, but still had all the warranties and stuff). It was $30 cheaper, and I had previously had good luck with Open Box items from Circuit City (my microwave and a car stereo I bought back in the Camaro days). I was a little leery, but I decided to go ahead and buy the Open Box item.
After much laboring, I finally got the thing in my entertainment center and hooked up (satellite photos indicate I have approximately 12 miles of cables in my living room). I loaded in some CDs, and started playing them and entering in the names of the CDs (a not-so-fun but necessary process). Anyhow, I noticed a weird clicking sound coming out through the speakers along with the music. It sounded like a bad connection, so I jiggled the cable (which was one of those new digital optical cables...supposedly the best there is). That didn't help. "Maybe the cable's messed up", I thought. So I tried a normal RCA cable, which obviously plugged into a different slot on my home theater. Nope, the sound was still there. The problem had to be with the changer. ARG!
I spent a surprisingly long amount of time trying to decide what to do. I absolutely HATE returning things, plus I wasn't really looking forward to disconnecting all those cables and prying it out of my entertainment center. Plus I wasn't sure if I could even return it since it was an Open Box item. I decided I'd never forgive myself if I just tried to live with an annoying clicking sound every time I listened to a CD, so I loaded it in the car and drove to Circuit City.
The most pleasant event of the night was returning it...the girl didn't give me any hassle about returning it, and simply gave me a slip to give to the salesman out on the floor once I'd picked out what I wanted instead. She didn't even ask my what was wrong with it (note this for later).
I wanted the same model, but obviously had to get a brand new one. At this point, I really didn't mind paying the extra $30. So the guy rings up the brand new one, and despite what the tag says, the computer says it's no longer on sale. But since it was still tagged as on sale, the guy disappeared for a while to get the manager to change the price. So another plus to them for fixing the price.
So anyhow, I've got the new one set up and everything seems to be working okay.
They get props for not hasseling me about the return, and for fixing the price of the new one.
However, they get MAJOR evil points for putting that Open Box item out for sale in the first place when it didn't work. They guarantee that they've been closely inspected to make sure they work. It didn't. One should note that they didn't ask me what was wrong with it when I returned it. What should we bet that the one I returned is back on the shelves very soon, for at least the third time? Perhaps they do actually try to test them and make sure they work, and granted, everything seemed to work on it. But you wouldn't have to listen too hard to notice that clicking sound. This is not a good business practice. They also lose points for making me wait forever before a salesman acknowledged my existence both times.
So with this balance of goods and bads, I just can't decide whether or not to hate Circuit City now. Hmmmm...