Fraud by Circuit City Salesperson Compounded by Poor Customer Service

Here's my little sad story. On 4/12/2008 I bought an HP External DVD
Drive model 1040e at the Union Square Circuit City story. I wasn't
thinking (or too trusting); at the cash register I was charged $119.20
with tax and paid with my debit card (my first big mistake). Went
home, tossed the bag which unfortunately had the receipt, installed
the drive. Didn't work. Couldn't find the receipt but figured, they
have the record of sale, so it doesn't matter. Took it back the next
day. After a lot of arguing, they agreed to exchange. The cashier
created a gift card and kept it for when I returned. They were out of
HPs so I got an LG. Went to the cashier at customer service and was
told I needed to pay at additional $20. Gave the $20 and left. Went
home and looked online and found the HP was $64.99 not %119.20. The LG
was slightly cheaper. Figure CC owes me $85 back. I was nice at first,
with customer service (at their web site), but since then have gotten
a constant runaround. One rep said he found the sale, but it was for
$64.99. While my bank statement shows $119.20 they show $64.99. Hmm.
Which one did they report to NYS for tax purposes? Emails went round
and round, all designed to frustrate me to abandoning my effort. Which
I have. I didn't lose $226 like this person, just got $85 stolen from
me by CC, so I count myself lucky.

best buy does have a restocking fee. it covers the loss on people
buying stuff and deciding it isn't good enough and returning it.
notice the signs by the customer service area ? they are there for a
reason. The only reason you got the fee waived was you were being
annoying. they figure that losing a customer is not worth the few
dollars of restocking fee.

I returned to the store today to speak with the Operations Manager.
She listened to my explanation of what had happened. She asked if I
was returning the player within the 2 week window for the full refund,
to which I replied I was (or had tried to when I originally went to
the store). She promptly waived the fee and asked for the
salesperson's name again.

I will note that during my first visit I was told by the group of CC
employees at the store that they physically were not able to credit my
card--the computer would automatically deduct the restocking fee and
no one there was able to stop the computer from doing this. The same
cashier smiped her card through and overrode the fee. I dediced to
just let it go. I got my refund.

Since you were not told of the restocking fee, the manager could have
waived it. I used to work at CC for almost two and a half years. The
manager could have waived the fee or even the CSA could have as well.
Also, they could have given you the option to purchase something else
and waived the restocking fee.

I usually told the customer since they were not informed of this, that
we would waive it this time but point out what the restocking fee
would apply to so that they would know in the future.

http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/cat/-13414/edOid/105452/rpem/ccd/lookL
earn.do

The link above is their in-store policy on returns. I can see
plausable reasons why a customer may take two weeks to return an item.
It clearly omits stating DVD players in the exemptions, It says
payment will be made in the form it was made except checks will be
issued 14 days from return when checks are used as payment.

What is unclear and causing some questions is the condition of the
return, but I tend to trust, since Lisa knows the return policy, it's
in the original box with the upc label and all accessories in place.

I think she has a valid gripe and deserves a credit instead of a gift
card (which kind of FORCES the person to shop at a place they no
longer have confidence in) I wouldn't give them MY money after this
mistreatment.

CC's new hiring and restructuring plan (letting seasoned knowledgable
staff go in one fell swoop to be replaced by minimum wage workers)
will lead to more of this type of treatment.

What incentive is there to learn about what you sell if the more you
know puts you at risk of losing your job? The manager, In my opinion,
is wrong too.
Why have a policy if you aren't going to follow it?

Are you the lady that was complaining about buying a laptop and got
being able to get the $700 back in cash (she had used her debit card)?
I don't see why you have to have several people tell you the policy.
One person tells you.. thats that. Nothing they can do about it.

I have two words for you - - "consumer responsibility". It is your
responsibility as the consumer to educate yourself on a retailer's
return and/or restocking fee policies and to take the word of a
commissioned sales person isn't very smart.

It should be clear to you by now that Circuit City is not going to
propose an "acceptable solution" to this issue, which I interpret by
your last sentence as a waiver of the restocking fee.

Live and learn.

Lisa,

The problem here is that you're playing a game of he said, she said.
Whenever you have something that involves your money GET IT IN
WRITING. Regardless of whether the associate misspoke or flagrantly
lied to you, the burden of proof over whether you were told in no
uncertain terms that you would be charged a fee or not lies with you,
not the store who has a posted policy on the wall.

The fact that you asked about the policy up front makes me wonder why
that would be a consideration if you were willing to purchase the unit
without testing it out in-store first.

You said several times that you were looking for "any other solutions
that would be acceptable." They offered you just that - a full
refund, but to a gift card. The only "acceptable" solution you would
agree to was a full refund to your credit card and they already told
you that wasn't going to happen.

Bottom line, as Lee H pointed out, customers scam all the time with
small electronics (and believe me, 9 times out of 10, I would not
agree with him, but he is right on with what he said in his 2nd post
to you - we are our own worst enemy). Just like the camcorder story
he used for illustration, for all they know, you took a trip with your
kids and used the DVD player, then returned it when you got home
claiming you were told there was no restocking fee.

We don't know for sure WHAT is true here because there are always 2
sides to every story and with nothing more than your word to go on,
there is no tangible proof.

Other customers aren't about to pay full price for something thats
been used or at the very least opened (would you??). That's why they
collect the "restocking" fee to offset the fact that they now have to
discount that open item.

I think that realistically, you should step back and look at the
situation objectively. At least part of the blame lies with you
because you took the word of just one person. Not being cautious with
your money is never an acceptable defense.

Best Buy does NOT have a restocking fee for DVD players as seen here
in their policy:

Restocking fee
A restocking fee of 15% will be charged on opened notebook computers,
projectors, camcorders, digital cameras, radar detectors,
GPS/navigation and in-car video systems unless defective or prohibited
by law. A restocking fee of 25% will be charged on Special Order
Products, including appliances unless defective or prohibited by law.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site//olspage.jsp?type=page&categoryId=pcmcat23
800050001&contentId=1117177044087&id=cat12098

Surely this restocking fee thing is mentioned on the receipt?
I hardly ever shop Circuit City so I can't recall.

I saw signs to that effect when I was shoppping for my own portable
DVD player.

Why on EARTH would you buy a portable DVD player without first
checking its screen quality? I don't care what the employee said:
Get a manager and insist on checking out something on which you're
spending so much money. There is absolutely no excuse for this
employee's behavior, but you also had a responsibility to investigate
something you were purchasing.

I got a Sony portable DVD player (about $200) for my birthday in
February and it is GREAT! I take it to the gym several times a week
and am watching "24" for the first time (it sucks me in and makes me
forget how much I dislike working out!). Believe me, my boyfriend
checked it out at the store and compared it to other portable DVD
players (as he should, for the amount of money he was spending).

To wait two weeks is excessive. Couldn't you tell what you thought of
the picture quality once you got it home to watch it, then simply
returned it the next day? It's not like you even had to wait for the
battery to be charged -- just plug the thing in! I immediately tested
mine (the opening scene of "Smilla's Sense of Snow" was an AWESOME
choice and sold me on how my DVD player) and was delighted.

I hate to burst your bubble but Best Buy does charge a restocking fee.
Most retailers who sell electronics do. The main reason for this is
that many people would purchase the item for a specific event, such as
buying a camera for an upcoming party and then returning it after they
were finished with it. Another reason is that once it's returned,
they usually have to sell it as an "open box" item at a significant
discount.

I'm sorry the salesperson lied to you but I can see the manager's
point on this. This is a she said/he said situation. He did offer
you an alternative which is to give you the entire amount back on a
gift card. What is so bad about that? You could have turned around
and used it to purchase another DVD player.

Personally, I think there is a little more to this story. You waited
two weeks to decide you didn't like the picture quality and turned
down their offer of a full refund on a gift card which, as I said,
could have been used to purchase another DVD player. Did you,
perhaps, find one at a better price in the meantime at another
retailer?

Lisa, I think you already know the answer to your questions. That is,
you could have just as easily been the one that was lying. This is to
not say that you were, but we can agree that it is just your word
against his. It could be that neither person was actually lying, just
that you thought you heard something that was not said.

The point is, what was the written policy? Based upon your own
statement, you had waited over two weeks before returning the unit,
this may have been the reason for the problem.

I will tell you that Best Buy charges restocking fees too.

It appears to me that Circuit City did try to offer you some
alternatives. You could get a refund less the restocking fee for
using it the last two weeks. You could further get full credit for
the unit if you wanted to exchange it or even get the amount on a gift
card. This seems very reasonable whereas you didn't like the output
on that particular unit, you could exchange it for an alternative --
that is unless your vacation was over and you were done using it. Or
you could accept the alternative it sounds like you have, you keep the
unit as purchased.