Short Circuit City

IS ALIVE!!!

Need INNNNN-PUUUUUT!

My husband and I had a similar experience a year and a half ago at the
CC near us. We went in to purchase a Sony 50" plasma tv and ended up
walking around the tv section for 45 minutes trying to get someone to
help us. We stood in front of the model we wanted, we asked
associates that passed by for assistance (they said they would be
right with us), I went up to the front of the store and asked that
someone be sent back to help us, and nothing. Needless to say, after
45 minutes of waiting and stewing, we left the store and went to Best
Buy where we bought our tv and all the accessories, and we got
delivery, wall mount installation, and the necessary cables for free.
We have not set foot inside a CC since then. Customer service goes a
LONG way.

They purposely did something that made the TV look like crap in the
store and somehow thought they could convince you it would look great
once you got it home?

That would be enough to deter me. However, the clown who "worked"
there would have also sent me right out the door.

I dont blame you for leaving.

I come from a large family, and every year we choose names from a hat
for Christmas. The name that you pick is the person you have to buy a
present for. Two years ago, I got one of my BIL's names. He lives in
Arizona and really, really wanted a retro (a la 1970/1980s) Brewer's
shirt. Someone told me about an MBA store at a local mall, and I went
there the Saturday before Christmas (think crazy busy). There were
three guys in the store: two at the cashier wrap and one wandering
around the store. Well, wandering is the wrong word. He was really
standing there playing with the remote for the three TVs they had set
up in the store. Not once did he ask the many customers (me included)
if we needed help.

I saw the perfect retro shirt to buy, but it was up on the top rack. I
tried to get it down with one of those pole things, but no dice. The
employee saw me but not once offered to help. To shorten the story (ha
ha), basically I felt like I was interrupting the "poor" guy by
actually asking him to get me the shirt. Of course, it took him a good
five minutes to finish with the TVs before he actually DID help, and
even then I had to explain three times which shirt I wanted.

I went up to the desk to pay for the shirt. The two people I thought
were checking people out was only one; the other guy was sitting on a
chair next to the cashier putting purchases into a bag (because
apparently it takes two people to do this). Would it surprise you to
know he had a "Manager" plate on his shirt? Having worked retail for
many years, I was appalled by the customer service, but I guess it
probably was a trickle-down effect. I vowed I would never set foot in
that store again, and I haven't.

I guess my point is that I completely agree with you. A lot of stores
are feeling the pinch, and I don't think it's all "economy woes." I
think many of these stores need to look inward for more insight.

Remember just a short time ago CC fired all their sales people and
brough in new minium wage laborers to help control costs. Obvioulsy
the services will be poor from now own. CC is a good place if you
already know what you want and already know they have the best price.
In that case just go in and buy what you need. Don't bother asking
them any questions.

This is very sad, bad what I would expect from the stories I have
heard about CC.

The customer service sounds on a par with what I am experiencing at a
local hardware store. It is the second (new) location for this
company, the first has been in a neighboring city for 20 years or
more. This location seems to have been staffed with high school kids
and heaven knows, because the customer service is just as you
described at CC. The salespeople mumble, if they acknowledge you at
all. I dropped off an item for service, knowing it had to go to the
main store for repair. After a week I checked and they told me just
that day it was sent to the main store. After *I* asked about the
delay the CSR was like "yeah, I guess somebody dropped the ball." The
girl running the cash register responded with "hey, I've been here
since 7 this morning" when she greeted me with a complete non-greeting
and seemed perturbed I smiled and said "Hi, how are you today?"

I agree that in this economy it is more important than ever to give
good customer service. If this hardware store were not the only
manufacturer's rep within miles, I would leave in a heartbeat.

One problem is this economy probably makes it hard to attract the kind
of people you want working in your store.

Yep, if all they do is blame outside "forces" which they have no
control over then they will never solve their problem of "declining
performance". They must seriously look at the factors that they do
have control over. In bad economic times customer service becomes all
that much more important. In the past several years they literally
layed off their entire work force and brought them back (if they
wanted to come back) and lower wages. My hunch is that they have a
lot newer and unmotivated employees. If Circuit City is in existence
in the next couple of years I'll be surprised. I swore them off about
a year ago. The service at the store I usually shopped in fell to an
all time low.

Upper level management rarely blame themselves. It's always outside
forces and/or lower level employees who don't implement the directives
of upper level management.

The "halos" appeared on every tv on the wall so I'm pretty sure it was
due to a crummy signal however that begs the question...why in the
world would Circuit City allow that to happen? I mean, the whole
point of having the tvs on display is to WOW us consumers with
pictures that are clearly way beyond what our current tvs offer. In
this case, the picture was way worse than what I watch on my 32" crt
television.

What soured me on the whole experience was this guy's complete lack of
interest in getting me answers, and thereby information, I could use
to finalize a decision. Especially the question about how long the
sale would last. I particularly queried him on that because I wasnt
sure if it was a two day sale or longer. The price of the tv was
actually lower in the store than online so I was curious about any
delivery charges.

It's good to know there's at least one well run Circuit City out there
in the world because this one sure isn't.

And I agree--why would buy a TV that doesn't even look good in the
store?

I love the title of this letter. And I agree with you 100%.

Greg B.,

Good letter.

Can we assume that the part of the letter that goes to the company
that we don't see includes the address of this particular store as
well as the name of the associate?

Stop back and let us know how they respond.

BillR.