Circuit City Returns Under Systemax

animeking503 was one of several readers to send word that after closing its doors earlier this year, CircuitCity.com is alive and kicking once again. Systemax Inc., the company that owns TigerDirect and CompUSA, purchased the Circuit City e-commerce brand name last month, and has now re-launched the website with promises of lower prices and better service. The Consumerist points out that the new site's return policies leave something to be desired.

Comments

opt out

[renegade600]

Were you a customer of circuit city? Did you give your email address at the store? or Did you have an online account with them? If you do not want your personal data be transferred to systemax you need to opt out by June 9

See the following for the opt out page

http://mail.circuitcity.com/p/Circuit_City_Backup/cc_web_optout

see the following for more information about opting out

http://www.circuitcity.com/sectors/opt-outv2.asp

what's the point?

[cashman73]

So, the new site is basically Tigerdirect underneath with the usual Circuit City logo on the main page? I bet when you order, the stuff comes out of the same warehouse as Tigerdirect. So, why not just order from Tigerdirect? These guys did the exact same thing with compusa.com. If they were going to do something new and different with the brand, then I'd say go for it, but this is hardly creative at all. They've basically just put Circuit City on an eternal life support machine,...

Re:Visited the site

[ScottCooperDotNet]

MWave is a nice NewEgg alternative.

Re:Tiget Direct == Better Customer Service?

[ion.simon.c]

Sometimes, even at the best places, you get a bad egg...

Speaking of eggs, newegg.com is the best online store that I've had the pleasure of doing business with. :)

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

are you paying attention?

[damn_registrars]

Why shops at retail stores for electronics anymore?

There are no locations for the new circuit city. All their retail stores are still closed. The new circuitcity.com is online-only.

Re:Stand by your guns

[Electrawn]

Or ALWAYS pay with a credit card (not a debit card). One call to the bank, and it becomes the store's problem to prove you are wrong. Also, it costs them $25 to $50 from Visa to deal with a dispute.

Re:really

[pecosdave]

You forgot "heavy stuff" and "breakable stuff".

If it's heavy, it's expensive to ship. Monitors (especially back in the CRT days), automotive parts (I know, off topic), and anything the exact right model are important on is best left to an in person deal if possible.

(when you're a Linux user and you buy by the chip - the exact right model revisions is important sometimes)

Re:really

[mysidia]

This is similar to the reason newer printers have chips on the cartridge, and the printer rejects cartridges that can't be digitally identified as being the same manufacturer,

And why in many cases cartridges have "timebombs", i.e. after X pages, the printer will declare the cartridge empty and refuse to use (even if there's still lots of ink in it)

More revenue for the printer manufacturer who got you the printer for cheap so they could sell lots of ridiculously overpriced ink.

Re:Tiget Direct == Better Customer Service?

[Eugene]

mwave.com is also pretty good for online shopping.

Re:Stand by your guns

[evilviper]

One call to the bank, and it becomes the store's problem to prove you are wrong. Also, it costs them $25 to $50 from Visa to deal with a dispute.

Have you actually tried this on more than one occasion, or are you just parroting something you've heard somewhere?

After returning a clearly defective product that I had spent over an hour testing (specifically, a cable from the bastards at cableclub.com, found via pricewatch), I was told the received product was NOT DEFECTIVE, and I would be given a store credit for the price of the product, minus shipping & handling... in short, less than I paid to ship the item back, and less than it would cost to buy (including shipping) ANYTHING from them again. I tried repeatedly to explain that there's no way they could be correct, and pointed out a handful of factual errors in the info they provided, and still got a steadfast refusal to even return the "defective" item.

I contacted the bank that issued my MasterCard, and explained the situation. They told me that there's no way to prove the product was, in fact, defective, and that because they have a stated policy which allows them to do this, my challenge would be declined, and suggested I just stop shopping there. It took me 5 more minutes to convince the rep I still wanted to challenge the charge, and get him to fill out the paperwork. Of course, the refund never showed up on my card, and the paperwork for me to fill out never arrived.

That's the gist of my experience with CC companies. Their "fraud" protection applies only to a very narrowly defined scenario of fraud, and you'll still probably have to take them to court...