Comments on: Last days of Circuit City: Lousy bargains, rumpled salespeople

Don Reisinger spent a few hours at Circuit City over the weekend and he didn't like what he saw.

[heeroy7]

Everytime i see an article written by Don Reisinger i have to read it because im guaranteed to watch him make an ass out of himeslf. Well Don in case you did'nt realize it the liguidation companies are controlling EVERYTHING! The people who are coming in to the store now are mostly what i like to call "Vultures"! They nevers hopped at CC over the years and the only thing that brings them into the store is the discounts. Im not suprised that people dont understand how liquidation works because the average american can't even balance there check book. The point of liquidation is not to have a fire sale and blow through inventory but to maximize proftits. They want to sell a ton of merchandise as fast as possible at as high a price which means they make more money. They dont care if you can find it cheaper somewhere else becuase they know that someone else will come and buy it. Now i do agree with you that you can find better prices online but i think it all depends on what you are looking for and how badly you need said item. Now that employee that you dealt with should have been wearing some kind of CC approved polo to identify himself to customers. Now your wondering whyr CC does not price match? Remember CC still has to pay back there vendors, pay the liquidation company, pay back there creditors and pay there employees so there not gonna lose money if they dont have to. Oh Don maybe if you wait till 3/6/09 and the price will be right where you want it to be then you can get the lower price!

[heeroy7]

oops i meant shopped not hopped!

You make an ass out of yourself when you write "there" when you mean "their."

[heeroy7]

Oh no i spelled a word wrong!

I still can't believe that you were trying to make the point that Best Buy is still vital and Circuit is a mess like it's a surprising fact. They're going out of business, of course they are a mess. Seriously, Don? Try telling us something we don't know.

[tons1988]

"Rumpled salespeople"? Try waking up, going to work only to know that you have your job for a month longer in the biggest recession since the great depression. I can understand your beef with the liquidators prices and so-called "bargains", but give the employees a break. Trying to find sugar-coated salesmen to sell you something at a dieing company is just ridiculous.

[barakuda1223]

Thank you, I feel the same way. I am an employee and going in to work everyday knowing that in another week your going to lose ur job, might not find another one, or pay ur house payments and inturn lose your house.

[b_baggins]

I think you mean the biggest recession since 1982. But that doesn't sound as dramatic.

[lavern]

I agree on some level, but at the heart of it don't you at some point take some pride in yourself and the job you do? I know it's idealistic but in many cases a symptom of a greater problem today...

[iceman721]

I was a regular shopper @ CC. Its sad to see them going out of business. I found many good competitive prices there over the last several years. I bought a Samsung 50 inch plasma (650 TOC) last Oct there and couldn't be happier. The television was 1650.00 at that time. It is currently 1500.00 on Amazon. BB at the time I purchased it wanted 2200.00 for the same set.

I am very surprised that your BB would match an Amazon price I have been told time & time again by BB personnel that they WILL NOT match a price from an online retailer. Since CC fall I have bought many more items from Amazon. No tax + free shipping on most things = My business.

I have been in CC lately and about 3 weeks ago I bought a Xbox 360 Arcade for 148.00 including the 6% tax (MI) after about 30% off. That was a deal. (I already had a 1st generation model that I added my own 120gb HD to.) I picked up 4 Blu-Ray's (15.00 a piece), 2 CD's (about 5.50 a piece) and a 360 game (15.00) for around 90.00 with tax. That was also a deal. Its scary when BB is about the only National electronics retailer left. I WILL NOT shop @ Wal-Mart so I guess I can only hope that Target expands their electronics section so I can have a walk in option. Otherwise I will continue to point & click on Amazon and try to stay out of BB.

Agree 100% on Amazon and Bestbuy. At Christmas my sister bought 40" Samsung from Amazon for $1200. Same set at Bestbuy was $1800 + she would have had to pay tax as well. Oh and Hdmi cables were advertised in BB sales flyer for $149.95 while she got hers for 10 bucks from Amazon.

CC was never as good as Amazon but they were always better than BB so I honestly would have though BB would have been the one going under. But If they don't change their ways, Amazon will take them out.

[jjmaxwel]

The description of the author needs to be changed to:

"Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who seemingly doesn't put any research into what he is writing about..."

If you are going to write about liquidation sales, espeically only about one in particular, how about getting yourself a little knowledge on them first. The only thing odd about your story is the uniform thing. I'm sure the poor employee has already answered your seemingly stupid (why wuld the liquidation company that now owns that product care about pricematching) question about pricematching. Also, I can tell you as a past retail employee you question was even more idiotic in that no place is supposed to match online prices. Websites like that are not a part of anyone's pricematching policies. So even if it was a going out of business sale they likely still would not match it.

You stumble into a retail store clearly not knowing a single thing about business and simple ideas like price margins. Did you expect to hear "sure we'll slash that TV below our cost for you, cuz because Amazon has different operating costs and chooses to take a bath on that we should too..."

There's also the fact that you keep calling it Circuit City. Sure that's probably what the sign outside says, but as a "technology columnist" I figured you'd actually read a report or two, you know do some research beforehand, about this company's demise before writing about it. They were sold to liquidation companies. Meaning circuit City technically doesn't exist. The name and building are owned by someone else and are essentially a hollow shell for selling product on the inside that again doesn't belong to Circuit City anymore.

[heeroy7]

I must say that this is an excellent response to Dons column.

[exostencil]

Liquidation strategy and/or price matching policy aside -- Circuit City has never impressed me. In my experience, their prices were always higher than the competition and their sales staff was always snooty and unhelpful. I'm surprised that they lasted for so long!

[myselfgeorge]

Yes...I too felt EXACTLY the same with Circuitcity. Almost none of the items on display is sold at any significant discount. At the same time, I find people buying things in bulk: I felt people are made to think that they get a great deal just because circuit city advertises that 'everything must go'!

[romodoc]

"Usually, I buy my HDTVs from Amazon.com ..." really??, you said that like saying: " I Usually buy milk at 7 eleven", let me know where you put your garbage, so I may go and look for some of your old and used HDTVs which I "usually" cant afford, LOL.

[cboath]

Who really thinks this store is going to disappear? First, they've already announced that their Canadian stores will remain open. Also, it's always been talked about that they would probably resurface as an online only retailer. We all remember CompUSA. The same thing happened with them. Items were sold by a liquidator. Then a few months later they came back on the scene as a mostly online store with about 8 actual store locations. The same thing will happen here.

[dragontsd]

oh...i dont think so.

From what I understand the company's US operation as a whole is being liquidated...not just the retail branch, but we'll see. Maybe they can offer the same crappy deals they've always offered online in a few months.

Basically, the people there are working, they have no excuse for being jerks. I dont care if you're losing your job, that doesnt mean you have to act like a child, you think i've never lost a job before? Cry me a river, people are losing their houses.

[romodoc]

That's because Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecommunications guy bought compusa back then.

[nasmartt]

Did the columnist is forgetting to state in his article is that Circuit City is now owned be a liquidator. They are not setting the prices. They do not even pay the employees. The Liquidator does. The Liquidator sets the store, the prices and the closing of the store. And what they don't sell they will probably see to another liquidator or wholesale company.

[rufustel]

There is a reason CC is going out of business. Part of it is its unjustified higher prices, in the face of Best Buy, Staples, Offices Depot and Max, Wal-Mart, etc. The only nice/fair deals I've gotten from CC in recent years have been Black Friday specials ... I've also received rude service (from a store manager), making me avoid the store, sadly for it.

[Bozco11]

I'm sorry but this is a poorly written article. The stores aren't run by Circuit City anymore, they're owned by the liquidator. And while you can be upset over the price offered somebody will buy the TV. The liquidator is looking to get the most money they can, if not at this price, lowered 5% more till someone bites. They don't care that you offered $200 less.

Also, Best Buy doesn't price match Amazon like you claim in your article, completely fabricated. I'm a sales rep for Panasonic and work in Best Buys every weekend. I've seen them turn down any online retailer hundreds of times, including Amazon. To quote you "Even in its dying days when it should be the price leader and the most willing to sell products, Circuit City still doesn't "get" it." Sounds like it's you that doesn't get it.

[islands0n]

Ditto with your experience at CC. Same thing happened to me when I asked about the amazon price matching for a 52" Samsung LCD. I never cared too much for CC anyway, i just liked walking around at the technological eye candy! I'm just hoping whatever company springs up to compete with Best Buy actually tries to compete. At the very least use, common sense like "YES We CAN" price matching with reputable online dealers like Amazon. Down with the weaklings at CC and from its ashes may a worthy opponent arise!!! =)

[mjd420nova]

Yes, Circuit City has been in liquidation for some time now. Fisrt they liquidated their most experienced and knowledgable people and the customers liquidated their them from their list of retail outlets. Now they are stuck with this huge inventory that they can't get rid of. Maybe when it gets close to the actual closing date they'll drop the prices some but will most likely have to dump the stuff to a wholesaler for just a bit under what it cost them.

[barakuda1223]

When writing this piece, I dont think you realized how many CircuitCity associates would be pissed off. I am an associate of the Circuit City in Florida, and I don't think you realize that no one that works for the company really cares about anything about the store or what the store used to stand for, let alone price matching. We are all losing our jobs, some that worked for the company for months and some for years. With the economy the way it is no one understands that we are all going to go through a hardship. We all have to find new jobs, which will be damn near impossible. Even you as a customer only cares about writing about the prices and the " great" deals you are going to get. You should have shopped when we had sales every week, which were better than the liquidating prices. If you and every other customer out there did that then maybe Circuit City would stay in business and could have possible matched Amazon.com for you. So with that thank you so much for having consideration for all the employees that are losing their jobs. Jack@$$....

[gboess82]

Well said, this is what I've been feeling about all the vultures that come into my store. People will tell me "I can get a better deal at Best Buy! (or amazon.com, or costco, etc.)" and I tell them "I don't care..." They look at me incredulously like How can you say that!! Well, I don't care where you can get a cheap tv. Months ago I would have worked my butt off to help the customer, talking to managers to get them a deal or whatever it took. But do not rub it in my face that we have bad prices (which comparing to retail stores, not online, we have much better deals. People don't realize that the Sony tv they saw at WalMart for $987.97 is completely different from the one we have for $1099 or 1399 or whatever. It's not a ripoff, it's a better model and a higher price).

If the same people that come into our stores now trying to pick at the scraps had been there before, we wouldn't be in this mess and you would have gotten a better deal and much better customer service. Is it the custoemr's fault CC is closing? Absolutely not. But you are all complaining about prices now, 6 months ago the prices were as good or better and it would have made a difference.

[b_baggins]

Good luck on finding another job with such a fine example of professionalism self-discipline in the face of adversity and a wonderfully refreshing work ethic. I'm sure you'll go far, you respond so well to the unpleasant events of life that we all have to deal with.

[ralfthedog]

1. With your current prices and the attitude of your sales people, don't count on any repeat business.
2. I hope that Best Buy picks a better company to strip mine their store when they go out of business.

Seriously, When I went into the Circuit City strip mine, I was looking at the receivers. When I found the price of the product I wanted, I asked if I could use one of their floor computers to check the price at Amazon. The salesman did not have a problem. I told him that if he could get within 10% of the price I would buy on the spot. (They could not). The salesman was quite nice, and I pointed him at a company I knew was hiring.

On a sad note, the Target near my house closed without a sale. They did not even tell the workers it was coming. Just to give credit to the store management, the roof had been ripped off by a tornado so it would have been a bit hard to keep the place open.

[Matt_h]

Repeat business? I laugh at this Comment.

But thank you for your Sympathy

[buffdaddy37]

I'd have to agree with Don on the lack of discounts on most of the high ticket items like TVs and Computers. Was at CC yesterday looking at laptops and they were still only 10% off. But let's face it liquidations are, like many have posted on here, not that great anymore.

I did find good deals on PC games (50% off) and digital picture frames (50% off). If CC had deals like this everyday maybe they would of had a chance.

[Matt_h]

If CCity had deals like 50% off everyday, they would have been losing money all the time Dumb@$$.

[dctech08]

I purchased an item from Circuit City. The item was a wireless network router. It was on sale from $129.99 to $65.00, (50%) off. The router looked to be factory sealed so, thinking that it was a good buy, I purchased it. When I got home, I opened the seemingly new item only to find a used and soiled product! Not only was the item used, it has a different model number! The receipt says, " all sales final, no returns or exchanges ". I thought surely there is something that a manager could do. He told me that there is a table, and pointed to the table where people can go and open their items, after purchase, to make sure everything is right. I never thought to open a plastic sealed box to check for used and inaccurate items. Nevertheless, I never noticed the table nor was I informed of the option by the sales associate. I was completely denied of any compromises and I had to file a police report. I told several potentially unknowing victims as they were leaving the store to check their items. I am trying everything I can to fight this situation. With the economy being the way that it is, I would hate to have wasted my money.

[Matt_h]

You were duped by a dishonest CUSTOMER. unfortunately we have all been caught offguard by this.

[tricolouRR]

I Was the lead In-Home installer for my store and one of the top of my region. I dont blame customers and I dont blame MOST of our employees. I blame our great Corporate Management. I sure wish I had been one of them. I would have joined in on all of their "shenanigans." Everything from misleading and misinforming those below me, but also warning other corporate members to take your vacations now (back in December into January) since we already know we're going down but we cant tell anyone.

To all of you that dont care about almost 40,000 people losing their jobs, I say "thank you" for paying for the unemployment checks we will be getting for the next 9 months =).

IF YOU SEE BIG YELLOW SIGNS THAT SAY "ALL SALES FINAL-NO RETURNS," posted all over the store, Dont come back in threatening people about how you should get an exchange... you'll only be another one of the dozens of people per day that we have the police escort out of the store. I dont think I can keep laughing this hard, so please just go to Walmart where you belong.

[b_baggins]

A job is not a right, nor a charity. So, life threw you a curve ball. Stop whining about it like my three-year old and go find another job. If you're as good a customer rep as you no doubt think you are, it shouldn't be a problem.

[xxxxxx08]

The problem is the customers that have never stepped foot in circuit city and are comming in now to receive the (yes people are correct when they say crappy) prices when they could have saved more money and helped people keep their jobs and the company going. So yes it was poor management by the company and it was the customers. best buy has just as bad if not worse customer service than circuit city. ( I know this firsthand.) There is not a perfect company out there. face it liquidators control everything when they buy out a company. I had manager capabilities in the system and was stripped of them the very day that the liquidators bought us. They make everyone powerless. As for our attitude towards customers.... they are not are customers as someone had stated before..... they are vultures searching to save money i do not have to be nice and care about a customer who doesn't care about me. I am no longer paid to give a customer a great experience I am paid to be a clerk like a wal-mart, I am paid to just ring things up. nothing more.