Whats With Circuit City's Low Prices The Last Few Months? (1 Viewer)

[JustinCleveland]

I agree about the stocking problem. I go on SUNDAY when their flyer is released, about an hour after they open, and they are out of half of the items on their Buy 2 for 20 deal. That's routine, and they won't give me a raincheck. It's pathetic! Unless it's a new release, I won't even bother going there. A shame, too, since I bought my TV from them and got great service.

 

[TravisR]

I think what we can learn from this thread is that some Best Buys suck and some Circuit Cities suck. Suckitude may vary by store

 

[Mike Frezon]

Travis: Or, we (the members of the HTF community) are just a very discriminating lot!

 

[Malcolm R]

I think it's more that we expect basic competency in our retailers and are so often disappointed.

 

[JohnRice]

I had gotten to the point where I refused to go into CC. Once I went there on release day to pick up something that was on sale. Release day also happened to be New Year's day. I was told by a clerk who simply didn't want to take a minute to find out the truth that since it was New Year's, the releases were delayeed a day. A blatant lie, paprticularly since their flyer specifically stated the DVD would be available on the 1st. Then when he saw the empty slot with the title of the DVD on it, he decided they had stocked them and sold out.

The next time I went there a couple years later, it took them 30 minutes to accept my check. They said it was the wrong checking account, even though it was the same one I'd had for several years. How on earth they thought they knew what was my account is beyond me. The clerk actually had to contact the home office and have them call back 20 minutes later with a special approval. Strangest buying experience I've ever had.

Since then, I have been there twice, including this past Monday, and both times I received surprisingly good service. On both occasions at least one person went to great lengths to make sure every little thing was taken care of without me even asking. Problem is, I am unlikely to ever buy any electronics from them, I use a Mac, so the only computer item they even carry I might buy is hard drives, which is what I bought Monday, and their DVD selection still sucks. So, even though the service has gotten very good, there's rarely anything for me to get there.

 

[Yohan Pamudji]

Count me in as another one who generally avoids CC because of the way they have their DVD section laid out. It's a wreck. Same thing (worse) with their console game section. These guys are clueless.

 

[Rocky F]

For month's I thought it was just my local CC that had such a crappy DVD selection. I do buy from them quite often, both CC and BB are within a few blocks from my job, so I go in to each on my lunch break a couple of times a week. If CC has the best price, and actually has it in stock, I'll go ahead a get it there instead of price matching at BB. Every receipt has one of those codes to do a survey and enter to win a gift certificate, so I always make a point to mention the bad DVD section on the survey. At least twice were times I went in on a Tuesday to buy couple of new releases, and they would have one but not the other. The latest was Incredibles and ST: First Contact. They had plenty of Incredibles and the free basketball, but not one copy of ST.

 

[DaveB]

Count me as one who chooses CC over BB at every opportunity. Between the obnoxious blaring "music", rude and impatient employees, and being eyed suspiciously and spoken to like some shoplifting teenager, shopping at Best Buy has become a miserable experience.

With customer service gone the way of the spotted owl at BB, having such positive experiences with CC's customer service has been refreshing. I really don't know how long it will last though, the way everyone continues to vote against quality service with their dollars by patronizing places like BB to save an extra $.99 on a DVD.

David

 

[TravisR]

Your Best Buy experiences describe my Circuit City experiences. Except the part about the employees interaction. They don't stop talking to each other long enough to talk to me or anyone else. I think I could walk out the CC with cases of DVDs and no one would be bothered to stop me. Anyone want some free discs?

Out of curiosity, how often do you guys need help at BB or CC? I couldn't care less how rude people are or aren't to me. Granted that's just me and everyone should be treated right but is it really that big of a deal when a stoned teenager can't help you find a movie?

 

[george kaplan]

Well count me as a member of the "I know longer buy dvds at Circuit City" club. But it's not because I'm trying to save a little bit of money for which I'm willing to forgo CC's "quality service". It's that, as many people have pointed out, when it comes to dvds, CC has the complete opposite of "quality service". The stupid way they stack their dvds means it takes forever to try to find a title. And after searching for a half hour for some catalog title, which I can't find, I still don't know if it's because it's hidden somewhere on the shelves that I just can't find, or if they haven't stocked it.

I used to go every week to CC as part of my search for dvds. At one point (a long time ago), they often had what I wanted for a good price. But each week, it became harder and harder to find anything, and I got more and more frustrated, and eventually I just crossed them off my list. Haven't been their in years. And it sounds from this thread, like they haven't done anything to improve the dvd shopping experience which would entice me back.

 

[TravisR]

I would have to imagine that CC is planning on changing their DVD setup. Of course I thought that about 3 or 4 years ago too and nothing's really changed so...

The funniest thing is that there are CC corporate employees in charge of those displays that probably make six figures and they think that setup looks good. I wonder if I can apply for that gig.

 

[Greg Thomas]

I just came back from CC and was looking for Sideways in widescreen. All I saw the Fullscreen versions. They did have a small selection of $5.99 DVD's in their bargain bin though and I bought one movie.

I ended buying Sideways at Fry's, which was $14.99 and $1 less than CC.

I also hate the way CC stocks their DVD's. But if I can get in/out quickly and find what I'm looking for and it cost less, I'll put up with it.

 

[Eve Brown]

Well I usually go to CC or Target since they are right next to each other. BB is about 20 miles away. Lateily I have had problems getting an item advestised in the ad. For example Wonderfalls, Bug's Life and The Pretender 1. Wonderfalls I was there Tuesday afternoon and the Pretender Thursday night.

The thing that really annonyed me was Bug's Life. I waited about half an hour at least and then they took my name to call me and never called. The next week I go in to pick up the Pretender since they have the lowest price and they still have no Bug's Life but the sale sign is still up. So they are out of the new release and still have no Bug's Life. Customer service takes my name since they get a shipment Saturday. I get a call but they didn't get either item.

I realize The Pretender and Wonderfalls are probably not going to be popular items to stock alot of. But there was no excuse I feel not to have a Bug's Life when running a sale when the Incediables came out.

 

[John Carr]

Locally, my CC closed shop about 5 years ago -- good riddance. Terrible service and their DVD shelves were always a mess...

My closest BB (Porter Ranch) is next to a Walmart and recently I've noticed that they have 'special' sales on most of BB's advertised specials, at least for TV Shows on DVD. (I don't buy many movies since I'm holding off for HD DVD: I've re-purchased my music collection 4 to 5 times. I won't do it again!)

So lately I've been buying most of my DVDs at Walmart, especially since I've noticed the catalogue prices (for older releases) edging higher and higher at BB! What really frosted me was finding The Definitive Twilight Zone, Season II priced at $103.95! This was the week it came out, for god's sake!!! As of last week, it was still at that price. I bought it from Amazon for $30.00 less.

Recently, I went to BB to buy Miracles and they didn't have it. When I had a clerk look it up (a story in and of itself!), she told me they wouldn't have it for another week and the price would be $44.99 -- $10 more than Amazon! No new release discount, either. That evening I ordered it from Amazon, saved money and had it in my hands by Friday! I haven't been back to BB since. Will probably go there next month for the May releases and I recently got a RZ $5.00 coupon.

Now, I compare prices with Wallmart on every new release. Target, too.