Circuit City
Doesn't honour its return policy

My husband Neil and I purchased a 50 inch Panasonic Plasma TV on December 1 from Circuit City in Algonquin Illinois. We had been in the store a week earlier looking at all the options. We finally decided on the Panasonic. They asked if we were going to take it home. We were so excited with the prospect of the new TV we said yes.in hindsight we should have had it delivered. But that was never offered as an option. We also did not ask. The TV was too big to stand upright in our Jeep. So the two guys that helped load it said it could lie on its side since we were going a short distance. They said just stand it upright and do not use it for about 20 mins once it is upright. I told them no problem because we were not going to install it until later in the week because we needed to get a stand and the new HD receiver from Dish Network. We did not look at the TV before we left the store. We bought it in good faith and figured they would stand by their products. That was an error in judgment on our part.

We got the TV home and I pulled my car out of the driveway so Neil could back the jeep into the garage. We put up one of those sturdy rectangle folding tables that you see in schools or churches. We pulled the TV out of the Jeep on its side onto the table and then put it upright on the table. We then moved it into the house into the family room. That is when I noticed on the box it says to not lay it on its side. We should have opened it then but we did not want the TV exposed until it was when it should be. The TV stayed in the family room until we could purchase a stand and schedule Dish Network to come out and change our receivers. We kept the TV in the box and did not want to open it because we figured until we were ready to set it up it was safe in the box. On Sunday we purchased a stand and put it together on Tuesday. Dish Network was scheduled to come on Friday the 7th. Finally we were going to pull the TV out Thursday night. My husband opened the top of the box. He pulled out the Styrofoam packaging from the top. He then pulled out the pedestal box and the box with the remote. He put together the pedestal and we were getting ready to pick up the TV when we took down the protective wrapping. That is when I noticed that the interior panel was broken. It was upsetting. It was too late to call the store. So we were able to reschedule Dish Network and Fire Dog. They were then coming a week later on December 15. So I figured that I would call Circuit City and they would replace the TV.

I was very wrong. I contacted Circuit City at 10 am on December 7. I was told I would have to wait until the manager got in. He was in around 1pm on Friday. They would have him call me. Well he did not. It was another person at Circuit City that called. He said they could not take back the TV and that Panasonic would have to come and evaluate the TV to see if it was a factory error. At this point I was so upset I said a few expletives and was told that swearing was unnecessary. I did apologize and said I am just so upset that you are not replacing the TV. I said I wanted to talk to the manager. The manager said they can not take back the TV because they have to have it evaluated first. I told him that we did not do anything to the TV and that we should have looked at it in the store to make sure it was not broken. I asked why they did not show us the TV after we bought it to make sure it was not broken from their end. He said we can not open everything before you buy it. So I asked him how do we know if it was broken before it was loaded into our car. It was then implied that he does not know if it was broken after it left the store. So now we are at a stalemate. He is contacting Panasonic to come and evaluate our TV. At this point we are at their mercy. I have a $1700.00 TV that is broken and basically I am being told that because I brought it home that I am at fault. Otherwise my TV would be replaced and I would be watching it today, with the surround sound we had purchased also. So we are now waiting to hear from the Panasonic field rep. So they can come out.

I am not satisfied at all. So I contacted the Circuit City 800 number. I spoke to several people because I was disconnected from the first call. They told me that I had 30 days to return it. I told them that the store manager would not allow me to return it. They could not believe that. They told me to take the TV back to the store and return it. They have to honor the return policy. I told them that they need to tell that to the store. Because now I do not want to transport a broken TV and have them say that I did not repackage it correctly unless I am sure the store would take it back. So they called the store that was where I got disconnected. I called back and they got through to the store. After talking to them they went back on the return policy and said it was the discretion of the store. Now I have to wait for the evaluation. At this point the manager is not retuning my call. Since we do not have a working TV and Circuit City does not believe in customer service on a store level, we returned the cables and surround sound Friday evening after talking to the manager. We also canceled the installation of the surround sound. Because we are already going to be out $1700.00 we did not need to be out an additional $850.00. Since there is a time limit and they can pick and choose what is returned. We did not want to be taken advantage of any more than we already have been.

I am not giving up. I called back on Saturday December 8. I spoke to the manager of the TV area. He was apologetic that I felt that they were blaming us for the broken TV but they have to gather all the information before they can make any decisions. But he would call me back after talking to the manager I had talked to the day before. I never received a call back.

After talking to Circuit City I decided to try Panasonic back. Now I am very upset because I thought that we were scheduled for a Panasonic rep to come out. But nothing was scheduled. So now we have to wait 3 business days to even have anyone call us from Panasonic to set up an appointment. Now it is Christmas and I have a 50 inch TV in its box in my family room along with the TV stand and our old consol TV. I am unable to decorate for the holidays because my house is upside down waiting for some one to tell us what is going to happen. I do not know what else I can do. We were given defective merchandise and we are paying the price.

Company: Circuit City
Country: USA
State: Illinois
City: Algonquin
Site: circuitcity.com

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