[remilard]

I took my tv (broken tube) to circuit city to have it repaired (at my expense) because, get this, I trusted them.

I was told the repair would take 1-2 weeks. On Friday, after 5.5 weeks I called to ask what was up, they said they were waiting on a part. I sent an email to customer service stating that I thought it was unacceptable to give me a 2 week time frame and not communicated delays to me and that I wanted the deposit I paid towards repair cost refunded and I wanted my unrepaired tv back. They told me they had 'escalated' my claim to the corporate customer service. Yesterday I get a call stating exactly what the store told me friday plus the part had been ordered april 11, four weeks after I dropped the tv off. The call was on the machine and the woman didn't leave a number so I cannot follow up with her. I emailed again saying that I was upset that the woman who called didn't take the time to understand the situation (I already knew the tv was waiting for a part, I wanted it back and a refund) and she didn't leave a number for me to get back.

So I now know that I was given a 2 week maximum repair time, the repair wasn't even attempted for four weeks, and nobody had contacted me after 5.5 weeks. The repair hasn't been done and I don't think it is unreasonable for me to ask for the unrepaired tv back and a refund, I am a little pissed that I have had to ask more than once. I aim to dispute the charge on my credit card tommorrow if they don't agree (or otherwise resolve the problem).

I hope you guys take this into consideration before doing repairs, or any business, with circuit city. This is my first problem as a circuit city customer and they have handled it dismally.

 

[rickcr42]

This is not only a Circuit city problem but a "Discount Electronics" problem.

Paying less for a product means shortcuts are made to bring it in at that price and not just volume purchasing either.

Go to a retailer and you will usually find a full in house service department,a stock of common replacements parts and salesperson with some actual knowledge.Any repair parts they do not have will usually be on the truck the next day.

go to a discount store and you will find unskilled low paid workers who know zip about the products other than what they are told to "push" and tout as must haves plus most times they farm out the repair work to a central facility.

just the way stuff works

 

[tkam]

I have to agree with rickcr42, this is very common among the large retailers (electronic or otherwise). The only time you'll get good service from circuit city or best buy is if you buy those extended warranties and that only works out well because they almost always just replace the item straight up instead of trying to fix it.

 

[gloco]

I had a Sony 35" tv die on me on Saturday. It lasted only 6 1/2 years and after a bad situation in the 90's with a tv repair, i tossed the ****er out and bought a new 32" wega. I don't see any need to repair a tv unless it cost a pretty penny and is worth repairing.

 

[nikongod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gloco I don't see any need to repair a tv unless it cost a pretty penny and is worth repairing.

a tv that cost enough to be worth the effort to repair is either not practically repairable (modern tv with many chips, and smt parts) or outdated, and thus not actually worth anything anymore.

when it breaks, buy a new one.

 

[fr4c]

Circuit City is absolute crap with customer service. a while back i brought a all-in-one scanner/printer and i ended up with a faulty unit. for some reason everytime i try to scan something, the motor of the "scan strip" makes this loud clicking noise like its stuck on the track or something. took it back for a exchange the same day and they actually had the nerve to question me about the whole situation and actually took the unit out to "check" the problem, wasting a good 40 minutes of my time. in the end i left with a good unit, but this whole experience has put a bad reputation in my mind about Circuit City.

 

[micaela]

I have had a different experience with my Sony Tv. It went out - all of a sudden one day. I took it to a private repair shop. They fixed it for around $100 & said it was a power module that was a very common part to go out on this particular Sony (about 10 yrs old). We had gone to look at new TV's and couldn't come close to a new one for a decent price. So in this case it was well worth it to have it fixed - but at a small private repair shop that seemed to know what they were doing.

 

[remilard]

To clear up a couple of issues. The TV was 9 months old, had a 6 month warranty. I know what was wrong, the tube broke, I heard it. Presumably that is easily fixable and a quick look online indicated that the repair should be under $100, the tv was $500.

Circuit city called shortly after I posted this hear (did one of you guys call in a favor or something?) and offered me a new tv. That is a very generous resolution so I thought it would be unfair of me to not mention it.

 

[ricks584]

I don't believe Circuit City has a restock fee on TVs. Buy one to use it as a replacement, and return it in 29 days! "Rent" another one if necessary.
Those electronics merchants push the extended warranties on you, and then provide lousy service. BestBuy seems to be the worst in this regard.

 

[jpr703]

That really stinks. If they've been that bad this far, I'm not sure you even want them completing the repair. I don't think you have any reason to suspect that they'd do a good job at this point. Calling your credit card company might be your best best.

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

Circuit city called shortly after I posted this hear (did one of you guys call in a favor or something?) and offered me a new tv. That is a very generous resolution so I thought it would be unfair of me to not mention it.

I have seen this type of thing many times when a product or a company is being badmouthed.It is even more noriceable by the lack of participation from that quarter until there is a need for damage control but in my mind if they treated folks right to begin with (not C.C. specific but ALL who would take your loot then take you for a ride on the screw you train) damage control would not be required.

It also strikes me that these companies spend far more time on worrying about what people think than they do worrying about the customer which is backwards thinking in my mind (a scary place,very scary

).

BTW-Anyone ever think about how companies have web crawlers out looking for key words so they can "look in" and see what all the fuss is about ?
how "public relations" has taken precedence over "customer satisfaction" in our disposable throw everything out and buy new world ?

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikongod a tv that cost enough to be worth the effort to repair is either not practically repairable (modern tv with many chips, and smt parts) or outdated, and thus not actually worth anything anymore. when it breaks, buy a new one.

I doubt most people would be willing to chuck a plasma or lcd tv if it broke. Otherwise, i gotta agree with you

 

[skullguise]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickcr42 [....]how "public relations" has taken precedence over "customer satisfaction" in our disposable throw everything out and buy new world ?

I'm still paranoid that the breakdowns are planned. What happened to the "good ol' days" when TV's were made better, and they lasted 10-12 or even more years?!

My brother got a console-style Sony from my grandmother when she passed away. The TV was already about 10 years old, but the pic was great, and he used it for perhaps another 7-8 years! I'm pretty sure it was working fine when he got rid of it....

Man, I feel OLD for saying this

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skullguise I'm still paranoid that the breakdowns are planned. What happened to the "good ol' days" when TV's were made better, and they lasted 10-12 or even more years?! My brother got a console-style Sony from my grandmother when she passed away. The TV was already about 10 years old, but the pic was great, and he used it for perhaps another 7-8 years! I'm pretty sure it was working fine when he got rid of it.... Man, I feel OLD for saying this

I'm sure that tv produced a heck of a lot of radiation too.

 

[plus_c]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickcr42 I have seen this type of thing many times when a product or a company is being badmouthed.It is even more noriceable by the lack of participation from that quarter until there is a need for damage control but in my mind if they treated folks right to begin with (not C.C. specific but ALL who would take your loot then take you for a ride on the screw you train) damage control would not be required. It also strikes me that these companies spend far more time on worrying about what people think than they do worrying about the customer which is backwards thinking in my mind (a scary place,very scary ). BTW-Anyone ever think about how companies have web crawlers out looking for key words so they can "look in" and see what all the fuss is about ? how "public relations" has taken precedence over "customer satisfaction" in our disposable throw everything out and buy new world ?

Rick, I don't think the post here and the offer for a new TV were related at all, but rather just a coincidence of timing. Companies have neither the time nor money to check what people think of them on every single msg board on the Internet. What probably happened goes something like this (I'm an operations management major, about to take a final in service operations management, so I would think my guess is pretty good): Our friend remilard was unsatisfied with his repair experience and emailed CC central customer service to tell them so. Each customer contact there is probably entered into some sort of Customer Relationship Management system, and the exchange between the rep and remilard probably got red-flagged and kicked up to a manager, who is empowered to do what's necessary to retain customers. This is called Service Failure Recovery, and it's common practice for any number of reasons - stores happen to hire clueless/impolite CSRs, policies are inflexible and someone just ends up on the wrong side, etc.

Skullguise, I know what you mean about reliability. My parents are still using a Philips TV that they bought in 1988, and a Technics stereo they bought when they got married in 1983. It's sort of interesting to see a stereo that's older than I am whenever I come home from college. They really don't make 'em like they used to anymore.