Bye-bye, Circuit City

Trapper John said:
Hope that works out OK for you. I feel sorry for the 30,000 employees about to lose their jobs...


Trapper John
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This is gonna hit a bunch of people in every moderately sized or larger city across the country. On a personal note, I bought a Gateway laptop from CC a year and a half ago and when it died about a week after the one year warranty expired CC wouldn't even take a look at it, said I had to find service elsewhere. IOW I won't miss them too much.
 
Hang it up Troy; extended warranties are contractual obligations, typically repudiated in bankruptcy.

Did you actually write a check, or pay by credit card? If by CC, you might be able to dispute charges.

Edit: LOL, brilliant minds think alike. Kenny agrees with me.
 
KennyFlys said:
Troy, was it by check or credit card? If by CC, take a shot at disputing with your card issuer.
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If you go online to circuitcity.com you get redirected to a webpage that describes the closing. On there it is explained that all warranty coverage (even for stuff bought on closeout after today) will be honored and is/will be handled by a third party. It doesn't say much about how/where you go for service.
 
Your warranty is still good.
[/quote]
Are Circuit City's extended warranties affected by the liquidation?

  • No. Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans® (extended warranties) have been backed by third-party independent companies for more than 15 years and as a result, are not impacted by Circuit City's closing.
  • Currently, all Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans are fully backed by the Assurant Solutions companies. Assurant Solutions operates as Federal Warranty Service Corporation, Sureway, Inc., and United Service Protection, Inc. Assurant Solutions is part of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE: AIZ), and its extended service contacts are backed by an Assurant insurance subsidiary rated A "Excellent" by A.M. Best Co. [/quote]
 
lancefisher said:
If you go online to circuitcity.com you get redirected to a webpage that describes the closing. On there it is explained that all warranty coverage (even for stuff bought on closeout after today) will be honored and is/will be handled by a third party. It doesn't say much about how/where you go for service.
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Pi1otguy said:
Your warranty is still good.
Are Circuit City's extended warranties affected by the liquidation?

  • No. Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans® (extended warranties) have been backed by third-party independent companies for more than 15 years and as a result, are not impacted by Circuit City's closing.
  • Currently, all Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans are fully backed by the Assurant Solutions companies. Assurant Solutions operates as Federal Warranty Service Corporation, Sureway, Inc., and United Service Protection, Inc. Assurant Solutions is part of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE: AIZ), and its extended service contacts are backed by an Assurant insurance subsidiary rated A "Excellent" by A.M. Best Co.
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Good deal, guys! Thanks!
 
lancefisher said:
This is gonna hit a bunch of people in every moderately sized or larger city across the country. On a personal note, I bought a Gateway laptop from CC a year and a half ago and when it died about a week after the one year warranty expired CC wouldn't even take a look at it, said I had to find service elsewhere. IOW I won't miss them too much.
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I had crappy results with warranty work on an HP I bought from them. Neither would do anything about my failed motherboard still under the 1yr warranty. Never bought a thing from either since.
 
I've had great success with extended warranty work from Best Buy, on the other hand, on two items. Even when presented at a store in a different state than where originally purchased.
 
It's going to be ugly down here in Richmond. CC is closing up, Genworth just dumped out a bunch, Altria and Phillip Morris are about to drop one in the bowl... and I just played my part in our little bit, too.

Sigh.

-Andrew
 
TangoWhiskey said:
I've had great success with extended warranty work from Best Buy, on the other hand, on two items. Even when presented at a store in a different state than where originally purchased.
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I'm having an interesting experience with warranty work at Best Buy. It's a long story though. I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
astanley said:
It's going to be ugly down here in Richmond. CC is closing up, Genworth just dumped out a bunch, Altria and Phillip Morris are about to drop one in the bowl... and I just played my part in our little bit, too.

Sigh.

-Andrew
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And Clear Channel's about to do another round of job cuts to "save" $400 million a year. That should amount to 12-15% of the workforce. They'll do the cuts on Tuesday in the hope that the news will be buried by the Inauguration (they think no one will notice)....
 
wsuffa said:
And Clear Channel's about to do another round of job cuts to "save" $400 million a year. That should amount to 12-15% of the workforce. They'll do the cuts on Tuesday in the hope that the news will be buried by the Inauguration (they think no one will notice)....
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I'm kind of hoping CC goes TU. As the ones most responsible for "homogenizing" radio, bringing us hour upon hour of pablumesque, lowest common denominator programming they deserve to go down the bowl.

Bring back independent radio!
 
Chip Sylverne said:
I'm kind of hoping CC goes TU. As the ones most responsible for "homogenizing" radio, bringing us hour upon hour of pablumesque, lowest common denominator programming they deserve to go down the bowl.

Bring back independent radio!
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Oh, it's going to get worse. CC is moving to "centralized programming" instead of local control (which is what the company really did have, despite the press reports - and we all know how accurate the press is). If you think it's bad now, just wait.

For CC to complain and fight against satellite radio and then to turn their stations into the functional equivalent thereof is IMHO disingenuous.

See this article

OTOH - and I don't want this to go to Spin - Rush Limbaugh is one of their most expensive pieces of talent.... wonder if he'll be cut. :p
 
Everskyward said:
I'm having an interesting experience with warranty work at Best Buy. It's a long story though. I'll let you know how it turns out.
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My thought. If Best Buy follows suit into oblivion, it will be a really good thing for U. S. Consumers.

I'm laughing at the ads Best Buy bought on TiVo touting their "expertise" in HDTV and the importance of paying them $500 to calibrate it.
 
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mikea said:
My thought. If best buy follows suit into oblvion, it will be a really good thing for U. S. Consumers.
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Actually I like Best Buy, even though it's obvious other people don't share that opinion.

As far as my warranty story goes, I bought a laptop almost 3 years ago that was an impulse buy. I liked it because it was very small, even thought I had never heard of the brand (Averatec). However, I think they were being discontinued and the only one they had was the demo unit. I asked if they could give me more of a discount but they said no, however, they said they would give me a free extended warranty. I said OK since I probably would have bought it anyway. A couple months ago something happened to the computer and it would no longer boot. I forget the details, but I tried to reload Windows and it didn't work. I figured it was now a piece of junk so I threw it in the closet and bought another laptop. Then a few weeks ago I got a notice in the mail asking if I wanted to extend my warranty which by now I forgot I had. Luckily I had not thrown the thing out and I still had the receipt, so I took it back. I thought it was the hard drive but they thought it was the RAM, which they replaced. Then when I went to pick it up it still would not boot (don't they test this first?). Anyway, they are back to running tests on it. The people are very pleasant to deal with but incompetent IMHO. I figure that if I get anything out of it I will be ahead since I had written the computer off and I like the new one better anyway. We'll see.
 
Interesting. Going out of business = sale. Good plan since I need memory cards for my camera...well it was sort of a good plan anyway.

A month ago they were selling 8GB CF cards for $79. I was driving right past the place so what the heck, go look. Today they're $89.99 after the sale markdown according to the label on the shelf. So I ask the sales slime. Yep $89.99 sale price, good deal, buy buy buy, want more, we can look in back for you too yadda yadda.

You can get the same exact card anywhere else for $59 regular price. Hmmm.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Circuit-City-to-close-567-apf-14086602.html

We just wrote a check to them a couple months ago for the extended warranty on my wife's 1-year old laptop. Arrrgh. Will have to call and see if it's serviced by Circuit City or a 3rd party company that will still honor it.
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Personally, I avoid these "extended warranty" deals. They are a large source of profit for merchants, which means that you're likely not going to get the benefit out of it that you wanted.

There's cheaper sources of added warranty protection. My Amex cards, for example, double the standard warranty as long as I pay with the card. Doesn't cost me a thing. And I always, always use a credit card. The dispute process is incredibly simple, and has saved me quite a few headaches. As long as you pay it off in full every months, you even get free interest out of the deal. Debit cards/checks don't make sense to me....

-Felix
 
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sba55 said:
And I always, always use a credit card. The dispute process is incredibly simple, and has saved me quite a few headaches. As long as you pay it off in full every months, you even get free interest out of the deal.
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And there's the rub. :)

A lot of folks simply do not have the discipline to a) put on the card only what they can pay off quickly and b) pay it off every month.
 
fgcason said:
Interesting. Going out of business = sale. Good plan since I need memory cards for my camera...well it was sort of a good plan anyway.

A month ago they were selling 8GB CF cards for $79. I was driving right past the place so what the heck, go look. Today they're $89.99 after the sale markdown according to the label on the shelf. So I ask the sales slime. Yep $89.99 sale price, good deal, buy buy buy, want more, we can look in back for you too yadda yadda.

You can get the same exact card anywhere else for $59 regular price. Hmmm.
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I think it was Good Morning America that did a piece on liquidation sales. They found that prices were higher than the stores original pricing. In some cases the prices were much higher than the product sells for in other stores. Consumers are caught up in the idea that "liquidation sale" has to mean great deals.
 
Gmaper said:
I think it was Good Morning America that did a piece on liquidation sales. They found that prices were higher than the stores original pricing. In some cases the prices were much higher than the product sells for in other stores. Consumers are caught up in the idea that "liquidation sale" has to mean great deals.
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I passed by the local Circuit City yesterday while taking the kids to breakfast at McDonald's, shortly before CC opened. The line for the "liquidation savings" was snaking around the building.

On the way back, people were streaming from the store -- empty-handed.

-Rich
 
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Back in the 70's my sister worked the back office for Biederman Furniture in Cape Girardeau, MO. About a year after she left their business took a downturn. They were based out of St. Louis, if I recall. They announced a going-out-of-business sale. The sale lasted for something like four or five months before officials caught on. It was discovered they were still bringing in new product for resale. They were then given the option of being true to form or face prosecution for fraud. Within a month, their doors were closed.
 
I went yesterday and picked up a Nikon digital camera. Wasn't giveaway, but about 20% off other in-store prices and what I've seen on the web.
Clerks were untrained kids and the point of sale system was a joke. The cashier had to discount each item individually, instead of the entire order. Credit card info wouldn't transfer to the receipt, and had to be keyed separately.
No wonder they are BK.
 
fgcason said:
Interesting. Going out of business = sale. Good plan since I need memory cards for my camera...well it was sort of a good plan anyway.

A month ago they were selling 8GB CF cards for $79. I was driving right past the place so what the heck, go look. Today they're $89.99 after the sale markdown according to the label on the shelf. So I ask the sales slime. Yep $89.99 sale price, good deal, buy buy buy, want more, we can look in back for you too yadda yadda.

You can get the same exact card anywhere else for $59 regular price. Hmmm.
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Yep! The liquidation company goes around and marks every item at list price and then shows the n0% off you get, which is still more than you could have bought it for on any day of the week. Stay away.
 
mikea said:
Yep! The liquidation company goes around and marks every item at list price and then shows the n0% off you get, which is still more than you could have bought it for on any day of the week. Stay away.
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IIRC, the liquidation company for CC promised 80% return to the court.
 
I had an actor friend -- played the best Tevye with whom I'd(as Lazar Wolf) ever worked; he had done the role with NYC Opera Company -- whose main occupation was a furniture store owner. He got out of that so he could do regional theater around the United States. When not performing he would sign on to run Going Out of Business sales for furniture stores. Oh, the stories Lou told about that category of "Sales." Scary, and he made a lot of money running them.

HR
 
Ummmm....yeah.....

I just went to the Muskegon Circuit City. It is being run by the liquidation company. I bought an 8Gb SD card on sale at Meijer last week for $15. I could buy one "on clearance" at Circuit City for about $60....

What a sham.

I saw the same thing: Tons of people streaming into the store. Nobody buying anything at all.

--Matt
 
The rogue said:
Ummmm....yeah.....

I just went to the Muskegon Circuit City. It is being run by the liquidation company. I bought an 8Gb SD card on sale at Meijer last week for $15. I could buy one "on clearance" at Circuit City for about $60....

What a sham.

I saw the same thing: Tons of people streaming into the store. Nobody buying anything at all.

--Matt
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??? When the hell did you move to Muskegon.
 
I don't really "live" in Muskegon. We found a killer deal on a place in Grand Haven.

We moved up here in October.

--Matt
 
Several electronic liqidators will be dumping their "factory new" merchandise in the CC stores trying to pass them off as CC merchandise. They are factory refirbs, sceonds, discontinued models, and returns.

Going out business is big business.
 
sba55 said:
Personally, I avoid these "extended warranty" deals. They are a large source of profit for merchants, which means that you're likely not going to get the benefit out of it that you wanted.

There's cheaper sources of added warranty protection. My Amex cards, for example, double the standard warranty as long as I pay with the card. Doesn't cost me a thing. And I always, always use a credit card. The dispute process is incredibly simple, and has saved me quite a few headaches. As long as you pay it off in full every months, you even get free interest out of the deal. Debit cards/checks don't make sense to me....

-Felix
Click to expand...

I agree with you, Felix. I've only ever bought the warranty when the price was really good, and only on electronics that are "mobile" -- laptops, video cameras, digital cameras, etc., and then only if the warranty covers accidental droppage, etc.

If it's something sitting on a desk or shelf at home, I don't buy the warranty. The warranties I HAVE bought, though, I've used... so it works for me!
 
I also avoid the extended warranty deals, which is why I forgot I had this one...

Update on the saga. The computer still will not boot into windows so they are sending it out to the shop again. I think the message is gives is "NTLDR missing". The guy told me that if would work if I installed Windows XP (which they don't even sell there any more). I told him I wasn't going to go somewhere and buy a $200 program just to see if it would work, since the other things they've tried haven't worked. We'll see what happens now.
 
We were in the market for a new LCD HD and decided to stop at CC after church this afternoon. We were in the store for about 90 seconds before leaving. All HD's were full list less 10%. That price is substantially higher than before the BK and most certainly prior to Christmas.

We ended up at BB where we got great service and a no discussion price match from another big box store. Overall, we saved about $500 as a result of NOT buying from CC. Good riddance CC.
 
Geico266 said:
Several electronic liqidators will be dumping their "factory new" merchandise in the CC stores trying to pass them off as CC merchandise. They are factory refirbs, sceonds, discontinued models, and returns.

Going out business is big business.
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Yup; Lou -- previously referenced -- told me that as one of the "handled by him" going-out-of-business-sales would begin running low in "last remaining stock" a new shipment(from the factories) would arrive, allegedly from the store's "other warehouse." That type of tactic became the forerunner of some states legislating laws that "Going Out of Business Sales" can only be run for XX number of days.

HR
 
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