We just needed a little help, Circuit City!

Yep, I don't blame you for being "ticked off" at Circuit City. A
store that doesn't stand behind their products is not a store to be
shopped in. If you do then it's like "rolling the dice" when buying
their products. Circuit City should have done the software repair at
no charge and then notified Toshiba of their screw up.

To begin with, I'm confused as to who is writing this letter. The
letter is posted by a "Stacy S." but is signed by a "Stacy L."

From someone who has a lot of computer experience, the letter reads as
one with very little sense.

To begin with, the WIFI connectivity within the laptop, responsible
for connecting to a wireless net signal, has absolutely nothing to do
with a computer's "drives". If the drives were not properly
installed, as Stacy explains, the system wouldn't even boot up.

The only thing I could decipher is that something was set within the
operating system, which did not allow the WIFI connection to operate
correctly. This is part of the software and preinstalled from the
factory. One unit wouldn't ship differently from any other of the
same model. The only explanation is that the driver settings were
changed unknowingly from the end user. As such, I wouldn't expect the
retailer to burden the cost of service.

With this insight, I think it can be agreed that the product was not
defective. In this case, user error played into the equation. This
is an area that many people are reluctant to admit. When they simply
don't have the skills to handle certain areas of the computer, they
complain that the equipment is defective and then further try to shift
responsibility to the manufacturer or retailer.

There is a lot missing!!! chrismas present:

today is Jan 17 now the software is broken???

so, the laptop worked ok for better than 3 weeks, circuit city said no
hardware problems, and offered to restore the laptop to original
specs, at a charge of course, technicians are not free. Toshiba
covers the hardware of the laptop, not the software(programs). You
are lucky that Toshiba has agreed not to charge you to reload the
laptop, only for you to pay to ship it to them. FYI Best buy also
charges 15% restocking fees, but of course you would not be able to
return the laptop because you have exceeded the fourteen day return
policy. Wlamart I won't shop there so I don't know.

I simply feel a retailer should stand behind their products they sell.
Period. If you were to buy, say a camera, from CC and you dicovered a
few weeks later, the first time you needed to use it, AFTER opening it
, of course, that it wouldn't take pictures because the company forgot
to put that certain part in it, would you want to mail it back to the
company? No, you would want to simply return it to the store you
bought it at, and have it replaced with one that works. However, if
you bought it at Circuit City, you would be charged an extra 15% for a
"restocking fee". Is this fair? No. I simply feel this policy is
unfair and wrong, so I will NEVER buy from CC again. Period. That is
simply my opinion.

If it was within a reasonable time after I bought it, yes, I would
want to return it. I would expect either a refund or a replacement
with the same product. I don't know what CC's return policy is on
laptops, so I don't know about timing on a refund. The second option
wasn't an option. I don't know what you expected CC to do.

The retailers have return policies for a reason- technology changes
quickly and they can't always get compensation from the manufacturer
after a given amount of time. I don't see why CC should be
responsible for servicing the items they sell.

It sounds like CC asked you to pay $120 for Toshiba's screw-up - maybe
it's just me but I think that this is Toshiba's problem, not CC - if
they had the same one in stock it would be a no-bainer but it wasn't.
Maybe the question should be why is Toshiba charging you shipping fees
for what they, as you stated, admitted was their mistake in the first
place? Best of luck to you!!

I, too, think that CC goofed this one up. While it's fair for them to
be out-of-stock on the item, having it repaired seems reasonable.

What I do want to comment on is the ASSUMPTION that Wal-Mart or Best
Buy would have done better. Maybe. Maybe not. Judging by the
letters I've seen, I think this problem is shared by most large
retailers.

It does sound like Circuit City dropped the ball on this one. I would
be pretty mad at being told I had to pay $120 for something that
should have been done when I bought it too! I'm glad you were able to
get it fixed without giving in to their demands and I hope they get
back to you with some sort of explanation. Good luck!