Circut City - Horrible News

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Working for a professional A/V company myself, when we want a good laugh, we look at Circuit City! The products they sell are junk! Ever try and find a speaker with a woofer size larger than 6 inches in there...it isn't going to happen! Well, at least in the home audio section. In the car audio, they have plenty of those exaggerated bass systems, and plenty of installers ready to hack up your car to install the stuff!

Circuit city is known to have a bunch of inexperienced teenagers working on their sales floor. I can't imagine that they are seeking out even lesser experienced workers. They are totally shooting themselves in the foot. People like informed, experienced sales reps that can give them good, correct information about the products they are selling...that's one of the reasons the company *I* work for is doing so good right now!
 
I haven't darkened the door of a Circuit City in at least 10 years and certainly will not now. I hope this will be the death knell for this sorry company. Not that any of the retail companies are much good for employees, but this is horrendous.

I go to Best Buy from time to time and do fine there, and we also have a store here called "Fry's" which is a total dive, but the help was pleasant and helpful and their prices great.

Back in Minneapolis, there was a store called "Audio King" that I really liked. They were more upscale but really not much more expensive than the big boxes. I'm not sure if they're still around or not, I know they were having some business issues at one point.

Only thing that puzzles me about the article is where they said changing from commission to hourly wages had a negative effect on sales. Best Buy has been a leaps and bounds more pleasant place to shop since they dropped commission. Their sales staff were just vultures prior to that. I went to Sears with Roger and Terry at Thanksgiving time last year and it was like that too.
 
Scott, there are at least a couple Fry's in Houston. Fun place due to the huge assortment of merchandise, but here I don't find the prices to be particularly alluring except for "sale" or "promo" items (which are likely to be quantity-on-hand).
 
Commission vs. Hourly Wage

The reason that extending an hourly wage versus having people working on commission can be somewhat detrimental to sales is that people on commission will do or say ANYTHING to close the deal- because they have to or they won't eat. People on an hourly wage can afford to apply a little more conscience during their time at work.

What I find horrendous about all this is that the people responsible for declining sales at Circuit City are defending their own positions at the expense of sales help. The major reason sales are down at the chain is that not many people who have dealt with Circuit City once are willing to do it a second time. Too many horror stories about credit, too much hard sell on maintenance agreements people don't want, too much weaselling when you want to return the merchandise. Sales are down because word has gotten around, pure if not exactly simple.

And now the masterminds in the front office want to recoup their losses out of the hides of the senior salespeople who have proved they can do the job. Ah, well- you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
 
I am suprised the switch from commissioned to saleried sales workers caused a drop. While yes, the salespeople will do anything to make a sale, they cannot make a sale if someone doesn't even enter the store! I know many people that would not enter the store to look around simply because they would be hounded by annoying salespeople. With more people in the store, they may impulse buy something that they never even thought they needed or wanted, but it's done at their own accord. I know I'm that way. If I go into a shop and have salespeople nagging me, I will tend to leave pretty quickly without looking around. If I go into a shop however, and look around at my own leisure, I tend to walk out with something because I stayed longer and was able to browse more things.

One of the nice things about the saleried workers however is the absence of all the extended warranty B.S. Of course C.C. was the worst one about extended warranties, and if you ever tried to claim on one, forget it! It's an in-store warranty too. Imagine taking your big-screen rear projection TV back to the store you bought it from to get them to repair it. Then, if you did get the TV there, they end up putting it on a truck and shipping it to a regional repair depot several states away. You wouldn't see your TV for several weeks, and when it got back, it probably would have totally new problems!!!
 
Re: Circut City

I know this relate to appliances and retail, but I have to
tell this as this does apply to how management treat employees. I am been in nursing for over 21 years with this
facility. I worked nights so that I could go back to get my BS Degree. Recently a management position came up. I asked my Director of Nursing if I could apply (I have known this person for about 10 years) and she said sure. The interview went well and afterwards she stated that there were 3 more applicants one of these was internal, a guy who has just got out of nursing school with a two year degree. After 4 weeks of not hearing from the DON, I finally called and after giving me some bull **it, this guy was offered this position. I have received very good evaluations (I even kept copies for myself) for the past 20 years. I know I was passed over because of money. The facility simply could pay this fellow less than me. It has taken me over a month along with a antidepressant to get me through this. It all about money and don't think management has your best interest. You have to look after yourself. Thanks so much for letting me vent this one.
John
 
I can't stand stores where they pressure you to buy an extended warranty. When I was tv searching the after Christmas sales I avoided Future Shop (owned by Best Buy)for that reason and went to one of those furniture/appliancy no pay till May 3000 stores.LOL When the kid came over and asked if I needed help I was upfront and I said I was interested in buying a set today but if he even mentioned the words "extended warranty" I would walk, he didn't and I bought the tv.
 
o my paws and whiskers

I thought I was the only one who disliked Circuit City.
If anyone can stand one more horror story, here's mine.
Two years ago I went in to buy the components to build a new computer for my folks. A bit fancy for those days, several thousand dollars worth, in fact. (They were still in the hospital, but I figured it would give them something to do when they got home.)
So I spend a few HOURS finding things...sales folks at the store obviously having been rejected as burger turners by McDonald's...
Finally get to the cash register.
I may not use my bank card in 'debit' mode. Either as a credit card or cash.
Why? I ask.
Company policy.
Accept it or leave!
I left...with several hours worth of components laid out on the cashier's line.
So she calls security.
So I call the cops.
The cops tell the rent-a-cops that it is not a crime to leave when asked to leave...and if they don't accept the debit function of the local bank card, then they shouldn't have it listed on their door and behind the cashier's cage...
Snarl, snarl.
So I went to Best Buy.
There, they assigned a cute guy to follow me around the store for...30 minutes. Yup, all it took, 'cause: He knew more about computers than I did.
Imagine that: A salesman who knows his profession.
Paid with the debit feature of the card, by the way...
Ok, enough rant.
It sucks the big one that the idiot managers who have caused the problem will probably get raises for firing all the workers...
 
GUYS -

DON'T JUST GET MAD AND REFUSE TO PATRONIZE THEM, LOG ONTO THEIR WEBSITE AND SEND A MESSAGE TO THEM THROUGH THE "CONTACT US" LINK. THIS IS IMPORTANT....LET THEM KNOW YOU THINK THEY'RE SCUM FOR WHAT THEY DID AND HOW THEY DID IT.

READ THEIR VALUE STATEMENT ON THEIR WEBSITE...ITS A PURE CROCK OF BULLSHIT....HOW THEIR EMPLOYEES ARE THEIR GREATEST ASSETS, ETC., ETC.

TELL THEM WHAT A BUNCH OF PHONIES THEY ARE, AND HOW YOU WILL NEVER SHOP WITH THEM AGAIN. CORPORATE AMERICA HAS TO GET THE MESSAGE LOUD AND CLEAR.......AND IT STARTS WITH US, THE CONSUMER.

ANDREW
 
I went there

About a couple of weeks ago I went there to look at DVD recorders. I wanted to see the latest models which should have an ATSC tuner, which will pick up the new digital tv broadcasts. They should be available as of March 1, 2007. These are the High Definition signals, but would be recorded as standard definition, but would be clearer than the normal signal. I understand that they would also record in 16x9 format which would fit the new tv's.

The salesman didn't know what I was talking about, but finally told me that all of their DVD recorders were 2006 models! This is in March.

Crudy

And let's face it, many of those experienced sales people are older, and have been there for years.

Please don't buy anything there. You can go there and harrass them about how crummy they are!

Martin
 
It takes quite a bit of experience to learn the audiovisual industry. Yes, you can learn the difference between DLP, LCD and plasma in an afternoon, but to really learn which environments the equipment will work best in takes time and experience. I have been in the A/V trade as as an engineer for about 12 years now and I have become sort of an "old timer" to the stuff. Still, the trade is wide and varied. While new technology is coming out everyday, it basically builds on the old stuff. Like you mentioned Martin, I cannot believe that they are dumping their most experienced workers. CC changes their product lines like most people change underwear, and the odd thing is that most of the stuff they stock no matter how much they have changed it, is not ever really all that desireable...like you found out!

Another thing I have noticed about Circuit City, and even Best Buy is that they now lean towards selling more of the cheaper, lower end products than they used to. Back in the 80's, I remember Circuit City selling audio and video equipment that ran all the way from the "toy" stuff common nowadays all the way to "pro-sumer". You could tell the stuff that bordered on professional because it had rack mount ears, 3-prong power cords, metal chassis, BNC video connectors, etc. The sales reps seemed to be quite knowledgable about the equpiment too, not just to con you into buying something that you didn't want or need, but would typically recommend the more durable stuff from reputable manufacturers. It shows too, as there is a LOT of really nice 80's and earlier vintage AV gear running around here in Richmond, where Circuit City started. I imagine lots of it was purchased here and enjoyed for many years! That's not going to happen anymore, as people buy the low-end junk that's out there now and will be unhappy with it's performance in a few years, if it even lasts that long before malfunctioning! Circuit City has become a price mart, not a place to buy decent AV gear. Luckily, there are a whole host of local shops that are stepping up to the plate to fill the void!!!
 
I was in Sugar Land Circuit City last Friday. RJ bought a 50" Panny plasma with in the last couple weeks, on clearance. He ordered it online, to be fetched at the store. Interestingly, they never sent an invoice via email, but he got an order number. No problem picking it up. The price on their web site dropped by $200 shortly after. He printed the page as evidence. By Friday it had gone back up to the original clearance price, but included a $200-value bonus item of some ilk. I wished him luck on getting the $200.

He got a proper invoice printed from customer service, and then initially the salesdroid girlie refused the refund, said he would had to come in ON the day of the reduced price ... but a manager could override it except they're all in a meeting. We went a few other places, came back. The girlie didn't even remember him from a couple hours prior. The manager with her approved the refund immediately! Shocked me.

I bought a low-end stereo receiver to replace my Mom's that went dead a couple weeks ago, and I also bought a JVC MiniDV camcorder that was on sale. (Calypso videos, anyone? DishDrawer?)
 

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