Complaint Review: Circuit City - Columbus Ohio

The posts since my last update have been very informative and for the most part accurate. The extended warranty is thru Circuit City, not the manufacturer (who has been as helpful as they can be since it is no longer under their warranty) I agree. Circuit City and their contracted warranty representatives are responsible. However, they refuse to accept that responsibility. Their apparent position is so what - you cant do anything to force us to honor our warranty obligations, so get lost. Due to the cost and distance involved in dealing with the warranty provider, they may be right most of the time. I come back to the conclusion that the most cost effective recourse to deprive CC of the source of their income - me and those I can influence. That will cost them much, much more in the long run than the few hundred dollars which they have scammed from me.

And have them find a local contractor to help you with your situation AS stated, take it up with the District Manager, then the Area manager, up the ladder until you are rectified. At this point, handing it over to "techs" is not solving the problem. So, fight it until you get someone to listen. Or you can take it to a local company to fix it for you, and then issue a complaintant letter to CC to have them pay you for the extra costs involved in order to get it fixed. Contact your local BBB location, as well as speak to a lawyer to get a notarized legal letter drafted for you. Get an estimate of what a local shop would charge to fix the machine for you; take it to the Local CC store in your area, speak to a manager, pull out a copy of your warranty and tell them that after sending it ###'s times to them, this is the "probleM' that a local vendor/repair shop caught that they didn't; and that you WANT them to cover the cost of the reapair from the local shop since their WARRANTY program has had how many chances to fix itl. Two eyes are better than one; four eyese are better than two. Get a lawyer involved (will cost you all ove $150 to get a letter written up).

alright all the other employees that posted here im seriously ashamed of you guys, this man got CA and your telling him to go talk to the software creator. if you could come to my store we would gladly look at it for you, and if the problem persisted after our techs looked at it and tryed a system restore we would just either swap it out for you or have one special ordered, but you live in ohio and i higly doubt you would like to take the trip down here heh. as far as your comment about growing public awareness, go see the complaints about best buy and compusa. complaints about a company are common. i for one actually keep track of compaints against myself and out of all the three times i've been called a "a*s" or the one time i was told "i was on drugs", all my CA customers never had a problem with their CA as i personally took care of them if they had a problem. i even had a customer freak out when she found out that one of my CA sales was not credited to my report that day because of a return mix up and she ran to the other store and stood there till the CSA fixed it.

alright all the other employees that posted here im seriously ashamed of you guys, this man got CA and your telling him to go talk to the software creator. if you could come to my store we would gladly look at it for you, and if the problem persisted after our techs looked at it and tryed a system restore we would just either swap it out for you or have one special ordered, but you live in ohio and i higly doubt you would like to take the trip down here heh. as far as your comment about growing public awareness, go see the complaints about best buy and compusa. complaints about a company are common. i for one actually keep track of compaints against myself and out of all the three times i've been called a "a*s" or the one time i was told "i was on drugs", all my CA customers never had a problem with their CA as i personally took care of them if they had a problem. i even had a customer freak out when she found out that one of my CA sales was not credited to my report that day because of a return mix up and she ran to the other store and stood there till the CSA fixed it.

alright all the other employees that posted here im seriously ashamed of you guys, this man got CA and your telling him to go talk to the software creator. if you could come to my store we would gladly look at it for you, and if the problem persisted after our techs looked at it and tryed a system restore we would just either swap it out for you or have one special ordered, but you live in ohio and i higly doubt you would like to take the trip down here heh. as far as your comment about growing public awareness, go see the complaints about best buy and compusa. complaints about a company are common. i for one actually keep track of compaints against myself and out of all the three times i've been called a "a*s" or the one time i was told "i was on drugs", all my CA customers never had a problem with their CA as i personally took care of them if they had a problem. i even had a customer freak out when she found out that one of my CA sales was not credited to my report that day because of a return mix up and she ran to the other store and stood there till the CSA fixed it.

alright all the other employees that posted here im seriously ashamed of you guys, this man got CA and your telling him to go talk to the software creator. if you could come to my store we would gladly look at it for you, and if the problem persisted after our techs looked at it and tryed a system restore we would just either swap it out for you or have one special ordered, but you live in ohio and i higly doubt you would like to take the trip down here heh. as far as your comment about growing public awareness, go see the complaints about best buy and compusa. complaints about a company are common. i for one actually keep track of compaints against myself and out of all the three times i've been called a "a*s" or the one time i was told "i was on drugs", all my CA customers never had a problem with their CA as i personally took care of them if they had a problem. i even had a customer freak out when she found out that one of my CA sales was not credited to my report that day because of a return mix up and she ran to the other store and stood there till the CSA fixed it.

First off, you say you bought this computer in 2004 with an extended warranty. Under the usual sales line for these extended warranties, the Circuit City warranty trumps the manufacturers. If some want to argue this out, it is moot anyway. It has been at least a year since purchase so the CC warranty is in full effect. Since I'm sure the manufacturer's warranty was only 90 days to a year. Thus it is now CC's problem. With that said.....now the hardware/software issue....... Hardware and software work hand in hand. Both can cause a complete shutdown and/or reboot if something is wrong with either. A perfect example that other posters on the "cant be software" or "cant be hardware" bandwagon will most likely ignore is...trying to use a video card that needs its own power from the power supply. Many times I have heard of people have a complete "shutdown" when trying to play a high end game and they HAVE a high end video card. Nvidia cards are known for needing power directly from the cases power supply. If your powersupply is overtaxed (ie: using 305w when the supply is only 250w or 300w) you most likely will not notice any problems with the OS at all. BUT when you try running software that really needs that horsepower from the video card.....it tanks and shutsdown or reboots. Just sitting there staring at a windows desktop will be fine, but when you need to render all those graphics, it just cant cut it because the video card is not getting that extra power from the cases power supply. That is just ONE example of how a computer can "act" fine until you really run a program that needs certain resources that the hardware cant deliver. And when I mean cant deliver, I mean...either doesnt have the capacity or is malfunctioning. This is a clear case of the computer malfunctioning. And I agree with the techs that mentioned it "was most likely the motherboard". The motherboard being the main connection to all parts of the computer itself, it is usually the culprit when the "capacity" issue has been ruled out. Trying to run basic programs like Photoshop, Word, Excel etc. certainly would not tax the capacity in any computer these days. And certainly not in a computer that was pre-installed with this software from the manufacturer. I have built all of my computers since the first "IBM Clones" came out in the XT days. I have seen many weird things. While I will agree that things can be really REALLY unlikely.....nothing is really "impossible" when it comes to a computer malfunctioning. With that said....then yes...this computer is malfunctioning on the hardware level in my opinion. With the purchase of the extended warranty that means Circuit City is responsible for making good on the money you put up for this warranty. If they maintain that it is still a "software" issue then they have already shot themselves in the foot when they reinstalled your OS. A complete and fresh install of the OS would have elimintated any issue of viruses, spyware, registry keys, drivers, etc. that may be gumming up the works. If a fresh install of the OS still has not resolved the problem then it is clearly a hardware issue. Especially when such common and low-resource requiring software like the ones you mentioned are being used. Its a simple formula..... Computer-with fresh OS + Common software (Excel, Word, Photoshop) = Shutdown The only option can be hardware failure! There are no viruses, there is no spyware, there is no common bug in ALL of these sofware programs that cause shutdown due to poor coding, or lack of recent patches or updates. The computer normally SHOULD be able to run these programs. The only common denominator is the hardware itself...period. The only other REMOTE possibility is a poorly setup BIOS. But in my opinion this would not be the case. If a BIOS were in such poor shape or settings to cause shutdown during basic use, it most likely would affect the complete bootup and not boot at all. BUT....nothing is "impossible". Either way....... You have the extended warranty.....Circuit City has the responisbility to fix it, or replace it.

If your extended warranty is with only Circuit City, then unfortunately, from a warranty stand point, you have to deal with them. However, if your warranty is thru Hewlett Packard, then you should be able to take your laptop to any HP authorized warranty repair facility. There are a number of them in Columbus, Sarcom is one, up off Greenlawn Ave up by Polaris Parkway east of 23N. Furthermore, if you have contacted HP tech support, have them give you a case# and have them give you a list of authorized warranty providers in the area. Years ago, I used to work for Best Buy, and Best Buy's extended warranty's on their laptops were not at that time treated the same way as an extended warranty with the direct vendor. I don't know if that is still the case with BB and CC but I hope for you sake it's not. If the warranty is for only CC to work on, then they may have a different understanding and agreement on what they can and can't do. Generally speaking, a good way to test this problem, would be to do a clean install (partition, format, install XP) and therefore leave no residual traces of your old software. If you have done all that, and not put anything on the computer from the old data onto the new clean load, then I would install just Office. Run Word, start typing random stuff, and see if it crashes. If you have already done this, then HP should have given you a Case# which identifies you for previous calls. Again, it may not be that CC doesn't "believe" HP, but because their perhaps their warranty is only for themselves and not HP, then yes; I can understand why they will not trust HP's word. First level techs can and do make mistakes, and rarely is a 1st level phone technician A+ Certified (a requirement for any HP certified technician). Any HP technician will also have whats called a "CZ" number. This number is updated as an HP technican passes model specific series tests. I know, because I have both an A+ certification, and a CZ number that's authorized for well over 150 lines of HP systems. Unfortunately, having an HP certification is not enough to repair your laptop, you still have to have an agreement with HP itself as a business with working capital to offer warranty repair.

In answer toi the lest several responses. 1. The is no local service at the store and you are required to send it to their warranty service company. They send you a box and you ship it to them. As I said before, you are not even allowed to speak to an actual tech much less physically see one. 2. Attempts to get the store to become involved met with hostility and a flat out refusal.

Dont you hand your comp/laptop over to a physical person? Or is your laptop being sent out? IF so, then complain and tell them that you wont accept anyone unless its a local vendor allowed to fix the laptop at your house, or at the local CC store.

I just wanted to say that I highly doubt this is a hardware problem. Hardware isnt really going to know the difference between Windows and another program so I doubt it would cause it to crash. Maybe your laptop is overheating or has a bad power supply, dunno. Take the laptop to the store and have the manager get involved with CA. It couldnt hurt.

Great idea except that under their warranty program the techs are 1/2 a country away. You are only permitted to talk to a customer service person with a foreign accent and located in another country. They wont allow any direct contact with the techs. That might actually result in confirmation of the problem and a repair which would cost them money!

Then take your laptop with your software installed and work with them. Show them what happens. I never "leave" anything with a tech until I show them exactly what happens, and I will stay there until they see that its a problem. Take it to another CC location and work with the techs there. Take an afternoon off from work if you have to. When i had a mother board problem with a desktip computer, I SHOWED the tech what was not working. I DIDN"T have him do it. I got a new motherboard the next day.

We trouble shot the problem with HP online and they told us that it is definitely a hardware problem, probably a short on the mother board. I advised the CCadvantage people of this. They said they cant accept HPs word for it - they do there own evaluation (not). I sent it back to them with the software still on it and told them to open a program and try to run it and the machine will shut down within minutes. They did not do this. They simply wiped it clean, reloaded the operating system and started up the computer and let it sit there! Of course it stayed on - as I told them it would. It only shuts down when you try to use a program (ie word, excell, photoshop) It does it every time!

Denny are you serious, you are going to try to convince this person that Circuit city is not allowed to replace the software on the system that was there when it was purchased? And that CC is not responsible for anything that came pre-installed to the point that the system just has to boot and then it is out of their hands? That is complete BS and you have to know it. I would suggest taking the laptop to a CC store and asking for a manager and then showing the manager what it does, then ask him what he will do about it since he sold you the warranty but the warranty will not fix it. Please make sure it is reproducible, which from your description sounds like it is, and have all your paperwork with you including anything from when the warranty people tried to repair it. As a last resort, if you are serious about going after your money you can always file in small claims court. Don't do this until you are ready and do not mention it to the CC manager or whoever because once you do they will not talk to you anymore in the store and will force you to communicate with their legal deprtment. It will probably cost money to get it diagnosed but If you have a diagnosis done by a professional repair shop you will have documented prof of the problem you describe and CC will be left in a very tough spot. Other things you can do are go to local newspapers and TV news shows that have "Consumer Watch" but these are also last resorts as CC will probalby no longer communicate with you via normal means.

If its a shutdown problem because of software, then you will have to contact hte software manufacturer. CC techs cannot load software onto your computer, legally. And of course, sending your software to them is out of the question. Did you do the updates for your software? Microsoft updates their office software quite regularly? If its a software problem that is not associated with the OS, CC (and even the laptop makers) are not responsible. YOU will have to contact those who made the software.