PC Retail

What the letter failed to mention was that the store was out of that model, the only ones left were the ones that had already had the recommended work performed. The store added the charges when they gave the customer one of those that had been done already. Per SOP they should not have charged the customer, that was an honest error.

when the 40 charge is added, the firedogs perform a quickstart in which your computer will run 30-40% faster.. when ccity is out of the laptop you are purchasing, and the only ones left are the optimized laptops, they will charge you for the 40 firedog service then take 40 off the laptop, pretty much giving you FREE labor, as well as a higher performing laptop.. talk about customer service, maybe this was a mistake, but i do know that what i'm stating is the case.. i do it almost on a daily basis being a supervisor for this company.

So what your sayimg is cc then is unethical in how it sells its services. Take the price off the core product to attach services. And you say you do it everyday, at what point do you make money. Sounds to me like cc needs to train its staff a bit better. No wonder there stock is so low.

I used to work as a Firedog PC tech at my local circuit city store. After quitting because of a bad situation there, I must say similar things like this happened more often. We did pre optimize laptops as they came from the truck, about half, and in doing so I noticed that there was a constant defective model from HP. (This was about 3 months ago) HPDv9812us would freeze every time the quick launch was presses, just slow down and get real choppy. The fix was a bios flash and a driver re-install. The laptops that we did optimize had the fix, but the others did not. We were instructed to tell the customer basically get the $40 service or pick another laptop. It was our stores only 17 inch HP laptop at the time.

I used to work as a Firedog PC tech at my local circuit city store. After quitting because of a bad situation there, I must say similar things like this happened more often. We did pre optimize laptops as they came from the truck, about half, and in doing so I noticed that there was a constant defective model from HP. (This was about 3 months ago) HPDv9812us would freeze every time the quick launch was presses, just slow down and get real choppy. The fix was a bios flash and a driver re-install. The laptops that we did optimize had the fix, but the others did not. We were instructed to tell the customer basically get the $40 service or pick another laptop. It was our stores only 17 inch HP laptop at the time.

As a CC customer purchasing more than $100,000 worth of laptops from them I would say they sell all used/returned laptops as new with Firedog sticker on it. Out of every 10 or 20 laptops we had to send them at least one firedog optimized which is basically a used one. To return it I had pay for shipping. One time I got a inferior model of HP on a Firedog optimized laptop and I had to pay my customer $200 for Firedog optimized laptop. Firedog people might have wrongly put a different model on this box. What a shame on CC. But I still like CC because their competitor Bestbuy is a junk company with aweful customer service. CC should also remove their $24 pickup guarantee. They lose lot of money because of that. I don't want them to go bankrupt.

I hate to say it but it is always possible for a few stores to be unethical but I can assure you the company as a whole does not portray that to its stores, it is created from within. The $40 pre-optimization is done on about 1/3 of advertised laptops to make it quicker for the customer and to ad value to the low cost service. This is how it is supposed to be done. THEY ARE NEVER TO BE OPEN BOX OR "USED" PRODUCTS!! Open box products are supposed to be designated with a Firedog Openbox Certified certificaion with all steps through getting it ready for the next customer outlined and initialed by the tech whome performed the work. The Firedog Openbox Certification should have no additional cost. If the inventory of the regular sale laptops are gone and there happen to be only a few pre optomized laptops available, then they try to explain the value of said service to the customer and show them the value of being able to have it all done already for them. If the customer still does not see the value in the service than the service could be discounted to add value or left off of the ticket but it should not be priced out. I hope that tid bit of info helps!

This is just another example of an uninformed customer going to news sources to complain about a problem. Either the customer didn't bother using the appropriate channels to figure out what was going on, or they jumped to conclusions. I visit The Consumerist all the time and most of the problems addressed on the site are a result of customers either not paying attention or dealing with their problems poorly. I worked at Circuit City for 3 years and I understand how things are run. The customer is always shown all charges on the ticket and it is utterly ridiculous for them to not understand what they are paying for.

It is a shame that Circuit City shares fell $.11 because of a mistake on the part of a customer.

I am the same person who mentioned that Firedog optimized laptops bought from their CC website are used (not all but it does have it). I infact took the laptop to my local store to return (to save some shipping charges). CC took the laptop to Firedog. That guy opened everything and turned on the computer and said it is not Firedog optimized but a used one. Returns was asking me $64 for restocking fees. I showed them the tracking number that I received the same day. I also showed them that I buy for more than $100K from CC. But still the stores would not believe me. In fact they were looking at me like a thief. Finally had to call CC and return the item (I can show the tracking number if needed).

Again I love CC like anything. They are one of the best companies to live as I hate BestBuy.

I just think the people at that store were being too pushy by putting that charge on that customer's ticket. I agree with Jeff, If the last computer is Pre-Optimized and the customer wants it but no services they HAVE TO SELL IT as is with no charges attached. The main problem is the amount of pressures that supervisors, sales people and techs are under to have good numbers.

Yet another reason not to believe everything you read on the internet. I've been to my local Circuit City numerous times and have not had a problem. If addressed properly with a manager (temper held in check and respect maintained) all issues can be addressed. It is also against federal law to sell a "used" laptop as a new one. It would be clearly marked as open box if it had in fact, been used. How do I know? I work for consumer protection and have mystery shopped them numerous times all over the country with no problems what so ever.

You all have to employees to be this blind on how crappy CC is doing. They didnt drop 11 points because of a blog about bad customer service, they fell because thats what there worth. Its too hard to compete in the CE retail market if your not an inovative company. CC is not an inovative company. However BB and Walmart are.

I am so glad to see that CC is falling to the ground. I worked there for 3 years, and watched how they claim that Firedog is customer service oriented. This customer is right for making a big stink over 40 dollars. They have very open ended skus in the system, that experienced sales people use to sell you b.s. services. As the head of a Firedog bench in Atlanta, and watched them screw people out of money by giving b.s. reasons for services. I have seen unknowing customers get charged to have an open box pc "checked" before they left the store. I have done in home jobs for customers that were double and triple charged for 1 trip services. They act like they care, but the manager I worked for was promoted to the top Firedog position in that district. He cheated anyone on the way to that position, and is more than willing to fire those that will not walk his way. The store level management is constantly being fired for complaints like these, that is why if you make enough noise, they will take that charge off. Firedog has been and is operating in the red. CC rewards managers with high firedog numbers, and fires those with low numbers. If you continue to shop there remember, the people on the floor have little to no idea what the hell the service will do for your pc. Make the technician remove all the crap bonus software if you want them to do the service, it really gets under their skin, trust me.

The computer in question needed a BIOS flash before it left the store because of a problem that caused the network card to malfunction. Rather than recall them, the manufacturer requested that firedog flash the computers before selling them.
It was company policy to NOT charge for this. Obviously the store in question got it wrong, and should fix it. Personally, when I have a problem, I don't cry to the Consumerist, I handle it with the store like an adult.
No need to blow stuff out of proportion. If you want to trash CC, there are any number of valid reasons besides this stupid crap.