I purchased a Phillips Satellite Receiver/Recorder in Oct. 2001 and also purchased the Extended Service Plan for in home service.in Jan. my receiver broke down and I called the service center to schedule for service. I was first told that they would ship me another unit and I would ship them my broken unit once I received the new unit. Then I was told, that program is no longer available because Circuit City no longer has a contract with Phillips to repair their units.
The service center then instructed me to either contact Phillips directly and pay for the repairs and Circuit City would reimburse me or go to a Circuit City store and they would replace the unit with the same or comparable model. Of course I chose the fastest way to replace my unit and went to Circuit City. Once I was there I was told they do no such thing and the only thing I could do was contact Phillips directly to coordinate the repair.
I explained to the store manager that I purchased an ESP which states specifically if your receiver needs to be serviced the unit will be sent to you within 2 business days using the Advanced Replacement Program. The manager informed me they no longer offer that program and that I would have to call Phillips directly for repairs.
I then contacted Circuit City's corporate office and complained to them that since I purchased the ESP they should replace my unit and they should be the ones responsible for sending my unit to Phillips for repair, that is the whole idea of the ESP. I was then put on a conference call with customer service from corporate and the store manager at Circuit City and he told me that he would replace the unit, however they no longer sell the unit I purchased. The only unit they were currently selling that was comparable to the model I had was a unit for $250. I paid $99 in October. The store manager said he will replace my unit if I paid the difference in the price of the unit at the current price compared to what I originally paid, which of course amounted to $150. Why would I pay $120 for the ESP and then be told to pay an additional $150 for a replacement unit all because they can't service Phillips products and they don't sell the model I purchased.
I feel completely ripped off. All I want is for my unit to be repaired/replaced without having to go through the hassle of dealing directly with the manufacturer, that's what Circuit City should be doing, not the consumer who purchased the ESP.
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