Replies

I’m sorry people are losing their jobs. But they ripped me off 2 out of 2 encounters, and swore I’d never consider being a customer for a 3rd time.
Based on an advertisement went to see them about a monitor.
The price advertised however was based on a $75 ‘rebate’ they failed to mention. A bit steamed, but having traveled a distance and needing the monitor, I bought the item. once home I discovered the rebate directions were the most arduous I could have imagined. It involved 2 copies of the receipt, cutting out 3 different parts of the box, paste this to that, stable this but not that, etc etc. But, hey, I wanted my $75 bucks back. So I sent it in exactly as requested to the letter of their law. Supposedly, you could then track the rebate process ‘on line’. We’ll for the first few weeks the web site would say it was processing the rebate. Then suddenly the web site was no longer accessible. I waited a while, but it never came back on line. So I went to the store and got up to the manager and he never apologizing, just said that ‘rebates’ were a different department and couldnt help me in the least. No new phone number, no next person I could talk to nothing. Well needless to say, the site never re-materialized and I neveer got the rebate.
Fast forward another 2 years or so, and being the careful add searcher I was, I found another computer item advertised well below other retailers. Getting there once again, I found the price included, you guess it, a ‘rebate’. So actually this time I was a little more curious than I was cautious. The rebate was $50. Again, the directions were insanely complicated, but again I was determined to do it exactly.
And, blow me over with a feather, the exact same thing happened on their website. Go figure. I went back to the store (this time a different manager) and got the same no-help response. Even after telling him it was the second time and now totalled $125. (plus the tax on the extra $$)
So that was that. NOt my department, cant help you.
Fool me twice.....uh.....see ya. Hope you melt.

I can only imagine this happened perhaps tens of thousands of times. I also wonder if it was some evil plot somewhere high up in the organization. It seems the perfect ruse.
Steal money $50 at a time in some invisible detached dark corner of the organization. Dont give the managers any info or ability to rectify so monies really cant be retreived. Certainly those behind this scheme had to know that such a policy over time would erode any chance of sustainability. They must have collected a huge amount of (taxes already paid) free money to perhaps a small amount of the people involved in the scheme.

I cant help but wonder if this ruse will be someday revealed or pursued with a class action suit.
Plus, the employees should be pretty pissed, cuz this could be very well a large part of the reason their company failed and their now unemployed.

Anyone else?

I did not shop at Circuit City very often, but I bought a laptop there several years ago that had a rebate included in the discounted price. As I remember, I did receive the rebate, but I am sure that what happened to you also happened to many others. There are also customers that forget to send it in or will just not take the time to do so when they realize how complicated it is.

Here in Jacksonville, NC, our store was always busy due to the presence of the military so we were shocked when we learned that it was closing. It was busy even after Best Buy built a store right across the street. I have a student who works in the computer department at Best Buy and he says that they have been swamped ever since Circuit City began its liquidation sale, so the bargains on the computers must not have been too good.

Based on my personal experience, here is my theory about these types of rebates/scams. Their purpose is to be able to advertise the lower price, thus bringing in customers who wouldn’t otherwise buy. As you said, they make the rebate process so arduous, most people either blow it off or fail to do it right and get rejected. The company makes a lot of extra money. BUT, suppose a lot of people do apply correctly, that is a lot of money the company thought they could keep. Voila!, web-site shutdown, lips sealed and customer irked, but not over enough to go after a law suit.

My policy is .... I look at the price I pay in the store, if I am happy to pay it fine. Then if there is a rebate, I will apply. But I don’t let the rebate influence my purchase decision.

I purchased a laptop from them several years ago. I stressed to the salesperson that I am a very active freelance photographer and a laptop is essential to my business, that I wanted warranty coverage that would protect me against anything short of nuclear war, even if I had to pay a premium for the coverage. Hey, no problem! I spent an additional $300 plus dollars for their top of the line ‘extended’ warranty. Even covered batteries!

Less than a week later I dropped the laptop and destroyed the screen. Yup, you guessed it! The warranty was useless in this case. I'm pretty sure it would have been useless regardless of what had happened to it, but never had the chance to prove my theory.

Went back to the Circuit City store, willing to pay whatever it cost to get it repaired, I really needed it. They wouldn't even take it to honor the factory warranty!

Never stepped foot in their store again. Hate to see people lose their jobs, but as for a company it couldn't happen to a more-deserving bunch of bastards. They certainly didn't give a damn about my job and how they were adversely impacting my ability to earn a living.