Circuit City has a policy/protocol that any returned computers will be sent to the Manufacturer to be clean of any information left by the prior customer. At least that is what they tell you.
Saturday I purchased a laptop computer from the Circuit City in Rome, Ga and found they had a better deal in their weekly sales add the next week. So, I returned the laptop that was purchased the Saturday before to purchase the upgraded version. During my return of the laptop the employee informed me that all computers are returned to the manufacturer in order to delete any personal information that the customer may have missed and to check for any errors in the system.
On Tuesday I returned to the Circuit City to purchase an optical mouse to use with the new laptop I had purchased the day before. When a friend of mine brought to my attention that, while she was looking through the laptops she noticed that my login to Yahoo messenger was opened on the main screen with the password included. I began looking through the laptop and noticed that it was the laptop that I returned, set out on a special display ready for sell.
I then reported the laptop to the store manager for Circuit City and he insured me that all laptops are returned to the manufacturer to verify any information or additional software was removed before ever displaying or reselling the pc. I then explained that his explanation was not the case that the laptop I had return the previous day was on display for customers to use. He stated that displaying a computer that had not been sent back to the manufacturer was strictly against policy/protocol.
As I watched he went and found the computer and then removed it from the display. The least he could do after my information was made available to the customer and employee base for that Circuit City.
Today I returned to make sure that the computer was out of the store (at least on Display) and the manager again stated that the laptop was never to be put out on display because of the possibility that personal information could be stolen. Then he switches to it is my fault for not verifying everything was removed. I am not an IT professional and had a done a complete drive reset it would have affected the other systems and then any warranties would have been void.
My question is do you have to be an IT professional in order to keep your information safe or do you need to wait until the truck comes to pick up your computer to make sure that the correct procedures are followed. (That an employee and manager explained to me). Or you can lose your money or warranties for trying to protect your identity.
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