Circuit City Closing all US operations

Sailchaser · 01-16-2009, 04:16 PM

Customer Service is the key to every business and with the huge cuts in labor at most big boxes it will just be a matter of time before we see others fall to the wayside.

01-16-2009, 04:17 PM

I feel bad for all those who lost their jobs, but to me it seems like Circuit City has had one foot out the door for the better part of a decade. That chain is one of the worst priced, IMO.

01-16-2009, 04:58 PM

While I feel bad for all of the employees, I don't think that it could have happened to a better company.
Two years ago, my wife was let go from there during their "Restructuring" She and I both worked there for 10+ years. I luckily got a state job about 2 months prior to the cuts, otherwise I would have been gone too. When she was let go, she had been a manager, a lead and a trainer, and she was let go without so much as an "I'm sorry" or a "Thank you for all your hard work" pretty much a slap in the face and a shove out the door. They wouldn't even let her walk out unescorted, like she was some sort of criminal 9same with the other 10 people that were let go. Needless to say, we are still feeling the reprecussions of that, since she could only get a part-time job paying minimum wage, because places were not able to work with her college schedule.
But at least she got to spend more time at home with our son, who was only 3 months old at the time.
Rant over
Again, I honestly do feel horrible for the 35k employes who will now be without jobs. I do wonder though, what will become of the money that CC would not release to her that ws part of her "retirement"? She was told at the time that they could not release it to her since it was over $5K

RGD. · 01-16-2009, 07:22 PM

Actually I guess I am one of the few who preferred Circuit City over Best Buy.

I would normally order online then drive over and pick it up. Both places are close to each other - but Circuit City has a large parking lot - while Best Buy has an extremely small lot shared by about 20 other businesses. Half the time I have to park at the mall and walk across 6 lanes of traffic.

As for pricing - they always seemed to beat Best Buy. Just bought my wife a Toshiba LCD TV - lower price at Circuit City. Same thing for the Canon camera and HP laptop bought for my daughters.

In addition the first (and only time) time I ordered online for Best Buy - I needed a video card asap. Placed the order - only to get a message stating that it was not in stock - anywhere. Kicker is this: Since I had extra cash I used my debit card. Best Buy charged my card - and after calling the 1-800 number was informed it would be three weeks before my card would be credited. So yeah - out almost $300 bucks for 3 weeks. Pretty much just the same as calling them up and saying here - take my money and hold it but don't give me anything. Ended up using my credit card at Circuit City. Since then I have refused to deal with Best Buy. Guess I'm stuck now with ordering online from Newegg, Crutchfield, etc. from now on.

So I for one am going to miss them.

Ron

N2Advnture · 01-19-2009, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RGD.

Actually I guess I am one of the few who preferred Circuit City over Best Buy.

Nope, I'm with you Ron. Best Buy has nothing but inexperienced kids working there and if you're lucky to find one, it's never "my area" so just getting a secured product to checkout with is impossible.

I can't tell you how many times I went to CC and had nothing but stellar service. At least at mine, they were awesome.

BTW - I could care less about what a store looks like inside but agree that CC's marketing dropped the ball in retaining a large portion of the market share.

jjirons69 · 01-19-2009, 09:54 AM

Wait, me too. My last big purchases were from CC. I bought a full home entertainment setup and my TV from there 3 years ago. I liked the atmosphere in the store, too. Never had a problem at all. Sad to see all those folks without jobs now. Poor management can sink you in a minute.

01-19-2009, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by N2Advnture

Nope, I'm with you Ron. Best Buy has nothing but inexperienced kids working there and if you're lucky to find one, it's never "my area" so just getting a secured product to checkout with is impossible.

I can't tell you how many times I went to CC and had nothing but stellar service. At least at mine, they were awesome.

BTW - I could care less about what a store looks like inside but agree that CC's marketing dropped the ball in retaining a large portion of the market share.

We were talking about this today and unfortunately its getting harder and harder to get "help" anywhere.
Society as a whole is demanding fast everything at the expense of service.
There are times I just want to walk in, grab the cheapest whatever and go.
Other times I need advice, assistance and good old fashioned customer service.

Chas

RGD. · 01-19-2009, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by N2Advnture

I can't tell you how many times I went to CC and had nothing but stellar service. At least at mine, they were awesome.

You know I stopped in right after Christmas to pick up a digital optic cable that I needed. As I walked over in the general direction this kid asked if he could help me - I told him what I needed. He said he would show me where they were. Well they were out of them in the main area where they should be - he didn't give up. He checked another area and then another. He told me if I wanted to wait where I was instead of following him all over - he would keep searching. He took off and eventually found one in the PSII gaming section tucked back up amongst the games. That kid didn't give up at all. To bad he is out of job now.

Most of them would have stopped after not finding them in the main cable section.

Ron

Drazzil · 01-21-2009, 10:52 AM

I will say this is 50% the economies fault and 50% Circuit Cities fault. Circuit City was the master of "Bait and Switch" advertising. In other words, the sunday advertisements would announce a crop of really great deals in the store, and then in the store they always had "misprint corrections" to their sunday ad's posted a week in advance to avoid actually having to honor these deals.

They also did a restructuring about six months back, firing all their workers who made over $10 dollars an hour. The last time I went into Circuit City I came in looking for a music CD, and in the process of the 17 year old employee finding it for me, he was only too happy to tell me about his ticket for marajuana poessession. I stopped going to Circuit City for anything three years back.

F_ck you Circuit City, may you rot in hell.

01-16-2009, 04:16 PM	#1
Sailchaser Black Ops-SOB Join Date: Oct 2008 First Name: Chris Location: SCS,MI(Somewere Cigar Smoking) Posts: 1,735 Trading: (7)	Re: Circuit City Closing all US operations Customer Service is the key to every business and with the huge cuts in labor at most big boxes it will just be a matter of time before we see others fall to the wayside. __________________ "Sail Fast, Shoot Straight, Fish Hard and Save Time For The Important Things In Life"

01-16-2009, 04:17 PM	#2
Darrell Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Circuit City Closing all US operations I feel bad for all those who lost their jobs, but to me it seems like Circuit City has had one foot out the door for the better part of a decade. That chain is one of the worst priced, IMO.

01-16-2009, 04:58 PM	#3
:eevis Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Circuit City Closing all US operations While I feel bad for all of the employees, I don't think that it could have happened to a better company. Two years ago, my wife was let go from there during their "Restructuring" She and I both worked there for 10+ years. I luckily got a state job about 2 months prior to the cuts, otherwise I would have been gone too. When she was let go, she had been a manager, a lead and a trainer, and she was let go without so much as an "I'm sorry" or a "Thank you for all your hard work" pretty much a slap in the face and a shove out the door. They wouldn't even let her walk out unescorted, like she was some sort of criminal 9same with the other 10 people that were let go. Needless to say, we are still feeling the reprecussions of that, since she could only get a part-time job paying minimum wage, because places were not able to work with her college schedule. But at least she got to spend more time at home with our son, who was only 3 months old at the time. Rant over Again, I honestly do feel horrible for the 35k employes who will now be without jobs. I do wonder though, what will become of the money that CC would not release to her that ws part of her "retirement"? She was told at the time that they could not release it to her since it was over $5K

01-16-2009, 07:22 PM	#4
RGD. God Like Status Join Date: Oct 2008 First Name: Ron Location: Alexandria, Virginia Posts: 971 Trading: (1)	Re: Circuit City Closing all US operations Actually I guess I am one of the few who preferred Circuit City over Best Buy. I would normally order online then drive over and pick it up. Both places are close to each other - but Circuit City has a large parking lot - while Best Buy has an extremely small lot shared by about 20 other businesses. Half the time I have to park at the mall and walk across 6 lanes of traffic. As for pricing - they always seemed to beat Best Buy. Just bought my wife a Toshiba LCD TV - lower price at Circuit City. Same thing for the Canon camera and HP laptop bought for my daughters. In addition the first (and only time) time I ordered online for Best Buy - I needed a video card asap. Placed the order - only to get a message stating that it was not in stock - anywhere. Kicker is this: Since I had extra cash I used my debit card. Best Buy charged my card - and after calling the 1-800 number was informed it would be three weeks before my card would be credited. So yeah - out almost $300 bucks for 3 weeks. Pretty much just the same as calling them up and saying here - take my money and hold it but don't give me anything. Ended up using my credit card at Circuit City. Since then I have refused to deal with Best Buy. Guess I'm stuck now with ordering online from Newegg, Crutchfield, etc. from now on. So I for one am going to miss them. Ron

01-19-2009, 09:54 AM	#6
jjirons69 Haberdasher Join Date: Oct 2008 First Name: Jamie Location: Chucktown, SC Posts: 4,120 Trading: (94)	Re: Circuit City Closing all US operations Wait, me too. My last big purchases were from CC. I bought a full home entertainment setup and my TV from there 3 years ago. I liked the atmosphere in the store, too. Never had a problem at all. Sad to see all those folks without jobs now. Poor management can sink you in a minute. __________________ Somebody has to go back and get a chitload of dimes

01-21-2009, 10:52 AM	#9
Drazzil Adjusting to the Life Join Date: Oct 2008 First Name: David Location: Boozetown Posts: 355 Trading: (31)	Re: Circuit City Closing all US operations I will say this is 50% the economies fault and 50% Circuit Cities fault. Circuit City was the master of "Bait and Switch" advertising. In other words, the sunday advertisements would announce a crop of really great deals in the store, and then in the store they always had "misprint corrections" to their sunday ad's posted a week in advance to avoid actually having to honor these deals. They also did a restructuring about six months back, firing all their workers who made over $10 dollars an hour. The last time I went into Circuit City I came in looking for a music CD, and in the process of the 17 year old employee finding it for me, he was only too happy to tell me about his ticket for marajuana poessession. I stopped going to Circuit City for anything three years back. F_ck you Circuit City, may you rot in hell.