We purchased an AKAI Plasma TV from Circuit City in March. It was an open box purchase, which means someone else had returned it, and it was offered to us at a lower rate since it was not technically brand new. We also purchased the $250 city advantage protection plan as an added security if we should have any problems with the TV. We received no copy of the terms and conditions of the protection plan.
Just after the 30 day return period lapsed the TV started to have some problems with overheating. We called Circuit city, and they couldn't send someone to the home to fix it as we were told would be possible when we bought the plan. We were in the process of moving and thought it would be easier to deal with in our new city.
In August we moved and began the process over again. We notified C. City of our new address and contact information and were told they would take care of it. A few days later we were notified that we had an appointment to bring the TV in ourselves to the repair shop in the city we moved from, 9 hours away. We called circuit city again and had them correct the error.
In September a repair person finally came to the house to look at the TV, he needed to order a part, and about a month later came back and replaced it, but it did not fix the problem. We called circuit city again, they said they could send someone out again, and they would notify us of the appointment. We never heard back from them.
We called again, the case had been closed. C. City claimed that the TV was fixed. We explained the problem to them yet again.
This has gone on for a year and a half. We have been sent from C. City to Akai, to Samsung (Akai's parent company) then back to C. City. Everyone says the responsibility is not theirs to fix the TV.
About six months ago (a year after we began the process) they issued us a merchandise return slip, which would allow us to take the TV in to any C. City and receive a comparable TV as areplacement.
When we attempted to do this, the TV dept. Manager as well as the store managers at two different stores laughed at us and said there was no way they would give us a straight exchange. They would only give us store credit for the price we spent on the TV.
Because we bought the TV open box the price was low, and is not enough for us to buy a new TV. They warranty claims that if they cannot fix the item, they will exchange it for something comparable.
We called C. City again, and finally got a hold of someone who was willing to help. She said she would speak to the store managers and explain the situation to them. According to this representative she said the terms and conditions require them to exchange the TV.
We took her name and contact number so we could continue to work with her, but when we tried to call back, we reached another person who had no idea who we were talking about. The only person we had contacted who was the slightest bit helpful apparently didin't exist.
I called the claims escalation department and got a hold of a woman who essentially told me that buying an open box item is buyers risk, and it's not their problem they sold us a faulty TV.
She claims that the contract we apparently "signed" by leaving the store with the item only promises something comprable if they have something that qualifies as comprable.in other words, they say they carry no TBV which could be exchanged for our broken TV.
Basically, we bought a faulty TV and it was our fault, even though we bought City advantage to secure our investment. We cannot be given a comparable TV because no working TV is comparable to our broken TV. C. City will refund our money only in store credit, and we do not ever want to do business with them again.
Through the course of this we have had people continually fail to call us back, case managers who haven't worked there in months, yet our case has not been transferred from their care. We have even had people call us back and when we give them the reference number they hang up on us as soon as they see the extent of the issue.
They have falsely closed our case, scheduled appointments in the wrong city, lied to us on the phone, failed to return phone calls, and said the TV was broken because we took a risk in buying from their company. We have spoken to people who do not exist and been hung up on. It will be two years this march and we are still dealing with this issue.
Do not buy from them! This has been such a nightmare. It has been awful, my blood pressure goes through the roof everytime I have to call them because the incompetance is just ridiculous, and the lies and fraud they are allowed to operate under should be illegal, but they get away with it because they have the money.
Please heed this warning, we have had other things bought previously through them that needed warranty repairs and it has been an absolute nightmare as well. Please, if you can help us, all we want is a TV that works. That is what we paid for, and that is why we paid for the city advantage to guarentee. I don't think it is too much to ask.
Michelle
San Diego, California
U.S.A.
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