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27 Confessions Of A Big Electronics Store Employee
I had worked at Circuit City for quite some time, until recently when I
could no longer stand the shady operations of its business. While
working at Circuit City I worked in the Media and Technology
department. I believe there are a few things that people should know
about Circuit City...
1. When buying any product, expect the salesmen to tell you that after
around 13 months, a certain part or battery will need replacing. The
common manufacturers warranty only covers 12 months parts and
labor, so the customer is pushed to buy the extended warranty under
the impression it will fail later...
2. If you do get an extended warranty (Circuit City Advantage
Protection Plan), push for a lower rate. Nearly half of the cost is profit,
so if you're buying a 2 year plan for you laptop that's running you say
200 bones, you could easily talk them down to 170, possibly 150.
3. Every salesman is ranked individually (unlike Best Buy) by the
number of accessories they sell. When you pick up that desktop,
salesmen are expected to add several hundred dollars in accessories
and protection plans. If you opt to buy just the computer "naked"
(meaning no attachments or extended warranty), prepare to be
hammered. While being asked to buy certain items such as a wireless
mouse, ask for a discount. Also, as for a "deal" on the protection plan
covering it. For the salesman, it's a win-win situation; all the salesman
has to do is discount that 30 dollar mouse 5 dollars or so, and throw in
the protection plan. This brings up the next point.
4. Every salesman is ranked by the number of protection plans (or
extended warranties) that they sell. At my store all the time we would
throw on scratch protection plans to CD's, since they're only a buck,
most people don't notice. During the $9.99 CD special days, customers
who weren't aware of the sale were easy prey.
5. If you get an extended warranty, for the remainder of the
manufacture's warranty you will be asked to ship it to them. We have
all been trained to tell people to ship their defective computers back
to the manufacturer, claiming that it will be "quicker." If the customer
refuses, we may send it back to the manufacturer, only on the
customer's part. Also, to avoid having to pay for fixing the computer
themselves, see the next point.
6. For Compaq and HP computers, the "firedog" (Circuit's answer to
Geek Squad) technicians are now certified to work on them, all paid
by the manufacturer. For any defective Compaq or HP computer that
is still under manufacturer warranty, you can take it in to Circuit City
for work free of charge. HP pays "firedog" to work on their customers'
computers. So whether you buy that extended warranty or not on that
HP or Compaq of yours, for the remainder of the manufacturers
warranty you have free rights to the technical use at "firedog." If you
purchased a laptop, feel free to ask for accessories such as a remote
or headphones, we can order them for free. This applies to mice,
keyboards, and sometimes remotes for desktops.
7. If you want to try and save money, get an expensive protection plan
and return it. The most expensive protection plan I remember seeing
on a laptop was around $600, and when thrown on ask for a big
discount, expect up to 150 to be knocked off the price of the
computer. Then as soon as possible, return the protection plan, and
keep the discount on the computer. All discount will always be applied
to the product, not the protection plan itself.
8. When being pushed for additional products and services, there are
a few different tactics. One is that once you refuse it, it is thrown in
anyways. The other is one common at Best Buy, called "Code Green",
in which we have another associate ring you up, and hammer harder
to get the additional plans or accessories. Also while pushing sales
associates will say that they're not on commission (true) and it's all
from personal experience (not true).
9. When pressing customers to buy a software installation, we would
tell a customer that they need to buy it because it has the AntiVirus
and Personal Firewall by Norton, and Spysweeper by Webroot, all for
$110. In reality if you want the firewall, you must pay additionally for
Norton Internet security. Also, it's $110 after mail in rebates. The mail
in rebate requires that you had purchased their software before or a
competitor's, and have the UPC to mail in. When you're spending a
grand, you will probably not notice an extra bit of a charge.
10. When buying a PC you will be asked to have a backup DVD made
for a charge of $30. This is done through an application found on all
computers, sometimes hidden. You could do it yourself for free. Also,
it was very common to sell this on Toshiba laptops. Little do the
customers know, it's already in the box. So we would charge, and do
nothing.
11. Don't bother calling in to check if we have a CD, DVD or game in
stock, chances are they'll say "no" regardless whether we have it or
not. Just laziness.
12. Tags are often in the wrong place, so miss-tagged items are very
common. You can use this to your advantage, and move some of
those high speed SD cards onto a peg of cheaper SD cards. Customer
service associates ringing up customers don't know jack about
anything, so they will follow you back to the product, and then
apologize and give you the right discount, just you may need to look a
bit upset. Biggest discount I witnessed was an item that was $69
discounted to $12. Also you can look behind the tag on the peg, often
people just put new tags in front of old, and leave the sale prices in
the peg. Use that to get the (old) sale price.
Click HERE for the rest of the list
Click HERE and read the 43 McRules to know when you are at the
drive-thru. The employee was fired after these were posted.
I had worked at Circuit City for quite some time, until recently when I
could no longer stand the shady operations of its business. While
working at Circuit City I worked in the Media and Technology
department. I believe there are a few things that people should know
about Circuit City...
1. When buying any product, expect the salesmen to tell you that after
around 13 months, a certain part or battery will need replacing. The
common manufacturers warranty only covers 12 months parts and
labor, so the customer is pushed to buy the extended warranty under
the impression it will fail later...
2. If you do get an extended warranty (Circuit City Advantage
Protection Plan), push for a lower rate. Nearly half of the cost is profit,
so if you're buying a 2 year plan for you laptop that's running you say
200 bones, you could easily talk them down to 170, possibly 150.
3. Every salesman is ranked individually (unlike Best Buy) by the
number of accessories they sell. When you pick up that desktop,
salesmen are expected to add several hundred dollars in accessories
and protection plans. If you opt to buy just the computer "naked"
(meaning no attachments or extended warranty), prepare to be
hammered. While being asked to buy certain items such as a wireless
mouse, ask for a discount. Also, as for a "deal" on the protection plan
covering it. For the salesman, it's a win-win situation; all the salesman
has to do is discount that 30 dollar mouse 5 dollars or so, and throw in
the protection plan. This brings up the next point.
4. Every salesman is ranked by the number of protection plans (or
extended warranties) that they sell. At my store all the time we would
throw on scratch protection plans to CD's, since they're only a buck,
most people don't notice. During the $9.99 CD special days, customers
who weren't aware of the sale were easy prey.
5. If you get an extended warranty, for the remainder of the
manufacture's warranty you will be asked to ship it to them. We have
all been trained to tell people to ship their defective computers back
to the manufacturer, claiming that it will be "quicker." If the customer
refuses, we may send it back to the manufacturer, only on the
customer's part. Also, to avoid having to pay for fixing the computer
themselves, see the next point.
6. For Compaq and HP computers, the "firedog" (Circuit's answer to
Geek Squad) technicians are now certified to work on them, all paid
by the manufacturer. For any defective Compaq or HP computer that
is still under manufacturer warranty, you can take it in to Circuit City
for work free of charge. HP pays "firedog" to work on their customers'
computers. So whether you buy that extended warranty or not on that
HP or Compaq of yours, for the remainder of the manufacturers
warranty you have free rights to the technical use at "firedog." If you
purchased a laptop, feel free to ask for accessories such as a remote
or headphones, we can order them for free. This applies to mice,
keyboards, and sometimes remotes for desktops.
7. If you want to try and save money, get an expensive protection plan
and return it. The most expensive protection plan I remember seeing
on a laptop was around $600, and when thrown on ask for a big
discount, expect up to 150 to be knocked off the price of the
computer. Then as soon as possible, return the protection plan, and
keep the discount on the computer. All discount will always be applied
to the product, not the protection plan itself.
8. When being pushed for additional products and services, there are
a few different tactics. One is that once you refuse it, it is thrown in
anyways. The other is one common at Best Buy, called "Code Green",
in which we have another associate ring you up, and hammer harder
to get the additional plans or accessories. Also while pushing sales
associates will say that they're not on commission (true) and it's all
from personal experience (not true).
9. When pressing customers to buy a software installation, we would
tell a customer that they need to buy it because it has the AntiVirus
and Personal Firewall by Norton, and Spysweeper by Webroot, all for
$110. In reality if you want the firewall, you must pay additionally for
Norton Internet security. Also, it's $110 after mail in rebates. The mail
in rebate requires that you had purchased their software before or a
competitor's, and have the UPC to mail in. When you're spending a
grand, you will probably not notice an extra bit of a charge.
10. When buying a PC you will be asked to have a backup DVD made
for a charge of $30. This is done through an application found on all
computers, sometimes hidden. You could do it yourself for free. Also,
it was very common to sell this on Toshiba laptops. Little do the
customers know, it's already in the box. So we would charge, and do
nothing.
11. Don't bother calling in to check if we have a CD, DVD or game in
stock, chances are they'll say "no" regardless whether we have it or
not. Just laziness.
12. Tags are often in the wrong place, so miss-tagged items are very
common. You can use this to your advantage, and move some of
those high speed SD cards onto a peg of cheaper SD cards. Customer
service associates ringing up customers don't know jack about
anything, so they will follow you back to the product, and then
apologize and give you the right discount, just you may need to look a
bit upset. Biggest discount I witnessed was an item that was $69
discounted to $12. Also you can look behind the tag on the peg, often
people just put new tags in front of old, and leave the sale prices in
the peg. Use that to get the (old) sale price.
Click HERE for the rest of the list
Click HERE and read the 43 McRules to know when you are at the
drive-thru. The employee was fired after these were posted.