[WhyFi]

This is more to vent than anything else, but I had an unforgettable experience at Circuit City the other day. I didn't go there specifically, I just wandered in...

The Price Match -
I'd been thinking about getting a new 1TB internal hard drive for movie storage, so I thought that I'd see what they had on offer. What they had on offer was outrageously overpriced, so, after some online browsing from my phone, I decided to see if they would price match. It took the girl about 10 minutes to let me know that they wouldn't price match B&H. She couldn't tell me why, just that they wouldn't. I asked to see their written price match policy. She said that they didn't have any copies on hand despite the huge sign behind her that indicated otherwise. I ended up looking it up online, with my phone, at which point I spoke with a manager. They tried insisting that B&H wasn't a "local" store, until I pointed out that B&H was less than 10 miles away and about 4 stops on the Q train. After about 20 minutes of waiting and talking, they finally gave in - I saved $80.

The Repack -
When I got home, I opened the box only to realize that the box contained a used, 800 GB, IDE hard drive, NOT a shiny, new 1TB SATA hard drive. I immediately went back to exchange the drive. The exchange was pretty painless, until...

Drive #2, Manufacturing Defect -
I opened the new box while still in the store, to ensure that it wasn't another repack. The model number was correct, but I something was wrong... I realized, much to my amusement, that the entire PCB (printed circuit board - and thus, power/data connections) was missing from the bottom of the drive. Not CC's fault, obviously, but they didn't handle it well...

The Non-Tech-Savvy Tech -
Exasperated, I brought the drive back to the front counter to notify the cashier of the defect. Some manager-type nearby, wearing a "FireDog" (their tech support division) t-shirt, jumped in - "that drive do not include connectors! If you have a problem with that, you have to take it up with Western Digital (the manufacturer). We are not going to open another box just because it don't meet your wants. Also, where in the manual do it say that it includes the connectors?"

I was infuriated. "IT'S A SATA DRIVE! Have you ever SEEN an internal hard drive?! How can a SATA drive not include SATA connections?!" Turning, and shouting to the store in general, "GET SOMEONE OVER HERE THAT ACTUALLY BUILDS COMPUTERS!"

Mr. FireDog Manager-Type, "I build computers, sir!"

"Oh really?" Reaching in to the box, I grabbed the red SATA cable included with the drive. "We can agree that this is a SATA cable, right?! Why don't you show me where this SATA cable connects to this SATA drive?"

He actually looked at the thing for about 30 seconds, which is along time to look at something that's hardly bigger than a wallet. He finally went to the shelves to get another box in hopes of showing me an identical drive, missing PCB and all.

Box #3 -
Upon opening the box, he saw a blue SATA cable with an extra little dongle that Western Digital likes to put on their cables - he thought that it was a completely different type of cable... he hands me the cable and says, "sorry sir, your box was missing this cable, you should be all set now."

I exploded. "THIS IS THE SAME FUCKIN' CABLE! Why don't you show me where THIS cable connects to the drive?!?!" He actually started to reexamine the drive, blue cable in hand... I shouted "look at the other damn drive!!! Look at that - it's got a damn PCB!!! And look - SATA connectors!!! Whodathunkit?!?!"

Head down, he finally gave in, gave me the third and final box, and I was on my way. My 1TB drive only cost me $150... and about 4 hours of my life, about 30 minutes of which consisted of shouting, my heart hammering in rage.

No, I'm not going to be wandering back any time soon.
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...not that there's anything wrong with that.

[LincolnAnnex]

Share that with consumerist.com! CC is on its way out anyhow. They royally screwed up their business model and soon will collapse - much like tweeter. Consumerist has been writing of their downfall in the recent weeks.

[Whatchuwant]

Wow- so aside from your story being completely in Greek to me, it sounds like you had a freak out.

Can we talk about make-up? Cause I have some stories....
_________________
Thanks for reminding me how truly awesome my life is.

"...you can choose the rain....but I choose the sun..." - N. Costa

[Drano]

[hitokiri]

[WhyFi]

^^^ I'm not seeing a message board - would I just email to one of the Editors?
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...not that there's anything wrong with that.

[hitokiri]

i think you need to sign up first ... not sure. im not part of it

[WhyFi]

[sweet tea]

sucks that the end of this story is that CC still got your $. wish it was "so i said, 'screw you' and went to B&H. AND i got to watch their ceiling trolley in action."
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That's right, I'm not from Brooklyn.
But Brooklyn wants me anyway.

[LincolnAnnex]

You have to email stories to the consumerist i think. tips@consumerist.com is where i sent my story.

[hitokiri]

Ok, my bad experience was with Best Buy (shocker!)

I had aheadset for gaming and I got sold on their warranty. It breaks and I bring it back....waited on a long line (about an hour) ... I must have been on drugs that day. They said the warranty did not cover a replacement and I had to send it back to the company. WTF is that warranty for then?!

Anyway...i ate it that day. But I have my revenge.
They sell a great keyboard. A Saitek keyboard that is LED lit around the keys. Approx $60 or so.

I'm kinda rough on keyboards do to gaming so whenever i kill one, I buy another, replace the working one with the broken one and bring it back to BB saying it give me a BSOD. Full refund, new keyboard

[Drano]

[J0518]

was this the Atlantic Center Circuit City? i keep on walking in there thinking it's an actual Circuit City. it's just not, just like the Target bears no resemblance to what an actual Target should look like.

[scarlett]

Actual? So Target is just a mirage?

[whynot_31]

Our Atlantic Center Target pales in comparison to the real ones in the suburbs.

...always out of stock on lots of items, and much too small. I don't really like Target, but when I want to buy 30 items of Rubbermaid type crap, they never have it in stock.

IKEA, on the other hand, seems to be keeping up with demand.
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Many people say that good is the enemy of great. Those who actually get things done believe that great is the enemy of good.

[caaahyoko]

Actually, Ikea has had a lot of stuff out of stock now. When I was trying to buy blinds for my new place, I went there 4 times trying to get the stupid things!! I would check the stock availability on their website, it would say "in stock", and when I got there 15 minutes later, they were nowhere in sight.

After the third time, I finally called their customer service number and when they sent the floor manager over, he couldn't find them anywhere either. Their computer said they had 100 in stock! Can we say "employee shrink" (sticky fingers)? The next day I called their main office and talked to this totally uninterested woman (one of only two people that handles complaints for the Brooklyn store out of the main office) who didn't seem to care all these blinds were missing. She assured me they'd be there the next time. I didn't go back.
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Light me, in the oil saturation 'Wick of Brooklyn.

[OpossumQueen]

I had a bad Fresh Direct experience today and venting could do me some good.

Delivery time slot noon-2 (also had a TWC slot of 10-2, so 2 birds and such with being stuck at home). Some folks seem to go to the neighbors door above the stoop, so in the "special delivery instructions" for such things I put "the door under the stoop".

2:20pm no groceries so I call FD and am told they attempted delivery at 12:20. I was actually near an open window by the front door so would have surely heard the gate and bell. I had ordered food to cook a meal for tonight and needed to start it no later than 2. Customer service seemed friendly and agreed that the guys probably went to the wrong door and let me cancel the order since about $30 worth of the food was now useless as I wouldn't have time to fix it.

I'm leaving around 2:50 and FD guys show up. I say that the order was canceled and they argue that I wasn't here and it's the second time they've come.

Me: Did you come to *this* door?
FD: Well, we went to that door [points to above stoop door NEXT DOOR, another clearly labeled address] and then that door [point to the door above our stoop].
Me: That's not my door. I was right here, did you call?
FD: Yeah, yeah. We called but you didn't answer.
Me: Really? My phone lists no missed calls.
FD: You must not have updated your phone number.
Me: I've had the same number for 3 years and FD has called me before. Like I said, the order was canceled b/c you didn't deliver during the time slot. I have to go. Thanks anyway

I guess it could seem bitchy of me to turn it away (customer service realized they had gone to the wrong address earlier and canceled the order, anyway), but I wanted it on the contingency that it was here during that time slot and it wasn't.

Now I have no dinner or the leftovers that were supposed to feed us for several days :/

I had a much worse situation with TWC a couple of weeks ago where multiple employees gave me horribly wrong information (we're not talking about misunderstandings or vagueness, but very concrete actions) that lead to a loss of service for us. It took 2.5 hours on the phone, and me getting a little pushy but they finally agreed they had really f'd up and fixed the problem by doing something they claimed was impossible (and that I knew was possible and gave them specific examples of how I knew this).

now to figure out dinner...

[Drano]

[whynot_31]