Circuit City's Liquidation "Sale" Still a Rip Off
Posted 01/27/09 at 09:45:11 AM by Paul Lilly
Comments
Print
Email
Tech vultures looking to barnstorm their nearest Circuit City in hopes of plucking the electronics chain's low cost remains are instead finding themselves leaving empty handed. It's not that all the good deals have already been picked over, but there just aren't very many good deals to begin with.
Consumer investigative reporter Nydia Han for ABC Action News sent a camera crew into a local Circuit City to compare the bankrupt chain's liquidation prices to that of Best Buy and other stores. The crew examined 25 items ranging from DVDs to big screen TVs, and in many cases, Circuit City's sales prices ended up being higher. Examples include a TomTom GPS marked down to $180 versus $150 at Best Buy, and a 42-inch Plasma TV marked down to $900 versus $850. Of the 25 items, ABC Action News says 10 of them were cheaper at Best Buy, with other items selling for less at discount chains like Wal-Mart. And all of them could be bought for less online.
According to ABC News, liquidators tasked with getting as much money as possible from store closings are allowed to raise marked prices and bring in outside merchandise. To drive the point home, ABC showed a Sony laptop selling for $800 before the liquidation sale, but now sports a price tag showing it marked down to $837 from it's 'regular price' of $930.
Watch the video here, then hit the jump and tell us if you've found any notable deals at your local Circuit City.
Screw you all
Submitted by Zyse on Thu, 02/19/2009 - 3:09am
Me and 34,000 other people are losing our jobs and all you can do is complain that its a ripoff for the liquidation... were not even circuit city anymore we are manned by dumbass Liquidation idiots, if you retards shopped with us when we had better prices and sales we wouldnt be going out of business.
So shut up and deal with the prices.
see the thing is...
Submitted by nekollx on Thu, 02/19/2009 - 10:03am
you NEVER had better prices.
Ever.
And Buys Buy was always next dore with prices and customer service that beat you with both hands tied behind their back and blind folded.
Submitted by Zyse on Thu, 02/19/2009 - 12:57pm
We always had our unbeatable price garuntee, if they had it lower or you bought it and our price dropped, 60 days for tv and 30 for everything else, we matched it and beat it by 10% of the difference,
And yes we had better prices then this damned liquidation, as stated the f holes who are running it now control the pricing to make their pockets filled.
Im sorry if you never had customer service from CC, but might have been one of our retarded stores, I wont speak as for the entire company being great but my store and almost all in the nw region were good at customer service.
Just irks me that people shop and people buy at these prices then complain that Circuit city is ripping them off, its the Liquidation company not us. They litterally removed all of these.
Returns
exchanges
refunds
we cant do stock checks from our store or other stores over the phone or in store
we cant do price checks over the phone
the disabled all registers except the front 2.
and pretty much told them if they have a problem, leave, (which I dont do cause well thats freeking retarded)
they could hire chimps at a fraction of the cost to do the liquidation.
So dont blame Circuit City cause some nutjobs bought us to liquidate us.
We had better pricing, better sales, better returns, better everything in our region.
(and ill admit there are some bad best buys out there and some good ones, just like CC)
I am not here to say whos better just to understand about pricing, I hate it as much as you do.
(on a side note true story.)
A customer was complaining that a speaker system they bought was broken when they got home and tried to plug it in, they came back asked for an exchange, we appologized and said no we cannot do that due to the liquidation ((they took away our returns trucks too)), that he has to go through the manufacturer, he said okay and went home and tried to contact them, they said take it back to the store theres nothing we can do for you.... upset the guy returned to the store and said its what the manufacturer said to do, the Liquidation manager (a hole), said no sorry youll have to deal with it, when the guy got upset and refused to leave with out a return or exchange, the liquidation manager called the cops had his removed from premisis in cuffs and a police car.
Now thats a lack of customer service...
if you feel like ranting some more, go ahead I wont be back.
Submitted by DRAGONWEEZEL on Wed, 01/28/2009 - 3:52pm
Were being scammed too, no "deals" no real liquidation. but it's early yet. Just wait.
THERE ARE ONLY 11 TYPES OF PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD. Those that think binary jokes are funny, those that don't, and those that don't know binary
Submitted by ez223 on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 1:47pm
I was just at my local CC in Lynnwood, WA. As I was walking through the store and checking stuff out, I quickly thought to myself, jeez, their advertised 10%- 30% off, going out of business sale has most prices STILL higher than the competition does.
I've always thought CC was way overpriced, of course they ended up going out of business. When Best Buy is right next door how would any reasonable business expect to ever sell anything when the average difference between their competition's prices, on high-end items, would commonly be $100 or even more.
EZ
Submitted by N25PHILLY on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 1:30pm
My laptop got knocked off a table at work this morning. It works perfectly, but the screen is cracked. Contacted HP about fixing it and they want $700. That is rediculous so I figured I would pop into Circuit City since they were the only brick and mortor that carries it. (it's a tablet) Well, I get there and it's marked at $980 after 10% off. Not great but about the same I originally payed for it so not really a rip off. They were sold out so I asked about the floor model to save money. They are selling the floor models at full price. What a ripoff, but judging from all of the empty spots people are buying them.
Circuit City Liquidation Scam
Submitted by Simonian on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 1:51pm
A lot of the big chains are using the term liquidation to draw in traffic, despite near retail pricing. And it's working. I started http://LiquidationMob.com to out these false liquidation sales and to highlight the best liquidation sales which are usually nearby mom & pop stores.
Brick and mortar stores? what are those?
Submitted by Darth Ninja on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 1:23pm
Who still shops at brick and motar stores anyway?
The only time I've ever bought anything eletronics related from a non-online store is when I needed it "Now" or in some cases, "Yesterday" like when my power supply or graphics card decided to take a dirt nap.Newegg all the way :P
____________________
DarthNinja
www.NinjaNews.com
I love Newegg for its wide
Submitted by horzo on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 6:05pm
I love Newegg for its wide selection, but sadly those of us in California have to pay sales tax for Newegg orders. Add shipping to that, and I can sometimes get common items for the same price or less at Fry's.
But back to the point... Circuit City is about the last place I think of for computer equipment. As for electronics, I bought my HDTV from Amazon. :)
Submitted by etsugua on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 1:07pm
I actually did get a really good deal on a high-end tv when the local Circuit City started doing it's death rattle way back in November and I STILL haven't seen a better sale price for a comparable model at Best Buy or any other store (but I have since seen a few online that beat mine by about $100 and one of those had free shipping). DVD's and CD's were also marked down a few bucks cheaper than elsewhere.
But true to what has been said here - the "original" price was suspiciously (often laughably) high and there were definitely no good deals that I saw on the computer side.
Bottom line: don't buy the hype. Do your research.
Submitted by mrlhxc on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 12:57pm
No Deals at my CC. I agree with the article. They are going back to their MSRP and then marking down from there.
Give it a month or two.
Submitted by averageGrod on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 12:02pm
My Circuit city was still selling most of the PC games for $50 long after others marked them down to $30. The Orange Box was $50 in December when it was $30 or cheaper everywhere else. If it isn't in thier weekly add it isn't going to be worth going in. I went in last year when they had WoW time cards for $20 vs the normal $30 and the clerk(teenager with a nametag) told me "Uh I don't know I guess they are all gone. That's wierd we usually have a couple right here." I don't think he was aware of the sale or how to offer a rain check. Unless I have to visit other shops in the area I won't be making a special trip to CC. I am sorry for all the people at the bottom of the pyramid who are losing thier jobs because a few greedies at the top couldn't do thier job right. The worst part is they are the ones who can afford to take time off before they are offered 6 figure jobs running other corps into the ground.
Submitted by hogkill on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 5:28pm
XD
Submitted by kevjohn on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 11:05am
I was excited to see a big "50% OFF ALL CAMERA ITEMS" sign right above the racks of memory cards and batteries. I searched to find a spare battery for my Nikon D80, only to find one priced at $49 -- marked down 50% from $70! Now, I'm no math whiz but that just didn't add up too cleanly in my head. I put that thing down and walked right out the front door.
Good riddance, CC (and retail in general).
Submitted by nekollx on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 11:47am
it's that new math don'cha know
Rip-offs
Submitted by quicks0rt on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 10:56am
Yeah, this sounds about right. I went to a local Virgin record store a few weeks ago when it was going out of business. It had some marked off sales items (50% off) that were inflated 200% before the mark down. I laughed at the obvious attempt to swindle, but surprisingly enough I saw many people holding onto stacked CDs for purchase. All I can say is that that the Virgin store as well as Circuit City deserves to go out of business. Even at normal times, their prices were way out of competition. Good bye, we won't miss you.
Same ol' "Liquidation" scam
Submitted by stovk64 on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 10:42am
CompUSA did the same thing in the San Diego area. I checked my local CircuitCity and it was a rip off. $249 for a 1 TB HDD? Went across the street to my local Office Depot and got the same one for $119.
No wonder Circuit City is going out of bidness; it was overpriced crap then, it's overpriced crap now. Good riddance. Don’t let the door slam you in the arse on the way out.
Submitted by Severian on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 9:58am
Yeah, I went to my local Circuit City last week. I was looking at their netbooks to see if I could get a good deal on one, and both the MSI Wind and Acer Aspire One were marked "down" 20% to $399. Made me laugh. I never go to electronics stores anymore, I can get everything from Newegg or ZipZoomFly where things are cheaper, and they don't treat me like a criminal after I give them a large bundle of cash. Circuit City, Best Buy, Fry's; they're all the same rip off. They never have the computer parts I want either.
- If I ever become famous, I'm changing my name to a string of expletives so I can watch newspeople struggle when they talk about me.
I was frankly happy to wait
Submitted by Cache on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 9:50am
I was frankly happy to wait unti later on--when Circuit City feels the cold hand of death on it's throat that is sells everything because the staff is too expensive and they need to cut every possible product out with a rusty blade.
Oh yeah, the pickings will be sweet, but no one in their right might tries to get in on the first shot with this stuff.
Submitted by kkern on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 9:47am
Was at Circuit City over the weekend and found the Logitech Marble Mouse "marked down" to $16 ... so I went to buy two of them (home and office). Got up the register, and the price came up at $26. I told the cashier that they were marked at the shelf at $16. Their response, "It must be mismarked .. we can't control that." The mark down price was clearly in front of the right mouse. The entire display of mice were marked down and all the tags were marked and lined up. Oh well ... only got one at $26 .. which is about what I would have paid online with shipping. A nationwide chain office supply business is also closing a store around here. The prices were not that great there either. Especially after a few weeks of being marked down 2 or 3 times. It was amusing looking at the "Clearance" tag with the line printed on it "Final Price - no further reductions" ... yet the price was crossed out 2 times and lowered.
SALE?
Submitted by Bravo_18 on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 9:34am
So whats the point of the " S A L E " word?
its a rip-off actually making people believe they got a real bargain...
This is typical liquidation
Submitted by icebird on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 9:03am
This is typical liquidation broker tactics. We've had several large retail stores go out of business in our area and they all did the same thing. The companies they hire to do the liquidation have complete control, and they're not above using a few underhanded tricks to get you to buy things. Don't bother with liquidation sales until the final week.
Submitted by jtrpop on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 9:46am
No wonder they went out of business. All sales are final too, so be sure of anything there before you buy it. They also damaged my car when installing a car stereo. Though I am no Circuit City fan, this gives no major competition to Best Buy, and their prices may go up, and their service go even lower.
Must Read Articles
Feature
Review
Feature
Feature
Feature
Most Popular Articles
This Month's Issue
FEATURE Build a Crazy-Fast $647 PCFEATURE Six Single-Band 802.11n Routers ReviewedHOW TOTweak BitTorrent and FirefoxFEATUREClose Look at ClarkdaleWHITE PAPERLCD Panel Technology
Technology News
Computer Cooling Fans
Computer Cases
PC Game Controllers
PC Games
Computer Hardware
Headphones
MP3 Players
Stream Video
Computer Mouse
Monitors
Motherboards
NAS Storage
Networking
Laptop Computers
DVD Burner
Digital Cameras
Portable Storage
Computer Accessories
Smartphone
Antivirus Software
Sound Cards
Speakers
Computer Systems
Thumb Drives
Video Cameras
Video Card Reviews
Water Cooling
Gadgets
- Keyboards
© 2010 Future US, Inc. All rights reserved.
