51 replies to this topic

[jennie_bebe]

I sounds like you were all at our CC in Denver...I saw everything that you are all talking about in my 3 hour stay there. Oh yeah, and I also had to wait 30 min to get in at 6:30!

[rockpzazz]

I was at the one in Columbia, MO and was in line for over an hour. I got there about 6:45 and got in line about 6:55. I finally got out of there about 8:20. It was awful. I usually don't mind lines on BF, because I understand its packed, but when lines DON'T MOVE AT ALL, then it get irritating. The clerks seemed very un organized, and lines were all around the store. I went to Best Buy right after, and was out in under 20 minutes (that included the 15 minutes I was looking for stuff). The lines are very neat at Best Buy, and the lines were neat. I admit it was after 8:30 when I got to BB, but if I'd arrived at CC at 8:30 I think I would have been in line well past 10. Circuit City usually gets the bulk of my business, but lately I've preferred Best Buy more, and after this BF, I doubt I go to CC at all, unless its too good of a deal to pass up.

[DealWanter09]

I think it may be that Circuit City just gets more customers, because of the better sales.

[jennie_bebe]

I think it may be that Circuit City just gets more customers, because of the better sales.

I disagree. Every time I've been to both stores on BF and BB always has more people than CC.

[kubla77]

I think it may be that Circuit City just gets more customers, because of the better sales.

CC lures people with their crappy mail-in rebates.

Though I agree that CC had better deals (on paper) than BB on a lot of things, I saw way more people at BB this year.

It's just that CC's tend to be smaller stores so they can't deal as well with bigger volume, and as a whole, they are much MUCH less organized than BB.

BB frustrates me for other reasons, but at least they know how to organize a Black Friday like no other.

[KrisinTn]

I was in line for 3 hours last year at CC on bf and I swore I never would go back through the doors. I haven't been... I preordered Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii system from them (mainly because of the free shipping, and the free guitar stand) had it shipped to my home. Still wouldn't have to go through the doors to the store. Guess what? I have the stand, but no guitar hero 3. The post office claims they never got it... I have been fighting with Circuit City for close to a month now for a refund... NEVER AGAIN!

[vbamother]

Hate Circuit City after our experience there and will not do business with them again ever. Worse customer service (toll free and online) EVER. Cannot speak English and will not let you talk to a supervisor...asks over and over "what is problem?" when I had already explained (in very "small" words") six times that one of my items is missing. Best Buy is opening soon so will give them a try.

[Steakgoddess]

This whole weekend sucked at Circuit City. Sunday there were still lines that we throughout the store and only one register to check out in. The manager was a numpty. He would allow a pet dog (NOT a service animal) into the store, but wouldn't price match something for me. Customers were dropping things in the aisles and walking out or getting in the customer service line to check out. A lot of angry people./

[vbamother]

I've only gone to CC as my 3rd or 4th stop around 7:30 ish in the am. The secret to checking out is the guy back in the auto/stereo installation corner. He has a cash register and will try to hide on BF, but i always use that register and only spend a couple of minutes there. The main problem i have is they have limited stock and it is hard to get the doorbusters. I have only found movies and cds on BF which if you go to WM you can price match

Great info, thank you!

[vbamother]

Not really. This place is the worst!

Totally agree with you...CC is the PITS.

[vbamother]

I was in and out of CC (got my laptop) in less than three minutes...oh, wait,..... that was online;).

Just pray you don't have any problems...I ordered online too, then had to contact customer service (in Manila) about a problem. All I got was tons of lies, was not permitted to speak to a supervisor no matter how many times I requested one, and finally gave up about forty minutes later with no satisfaction. Good luck to you.

[vbamother]

I absolutely agree. Circuit City is THE worst on BF. They seriously need to learn from Best Buy. We went to BB at opening and got out in 45 minutes. We went to CC at 6, and it took 2 hours and 45 minutes! and all we got were a few blank CDs and flash drives! We looked at items for about 5 minutes and were in line for two hours!

Best Buy has ONE line for check-out. It works very smoothly, it is VERY clear where that line starts and ends. One BB employee actually holds a balloon to show you where the end of the line is, and my BB blocks off the line with merchandise so people cannot jump in and out of line. CC has multiple lines with no clear end to the line. One line I stood in moved 4 people in an hour because they had one register and the girl at the register was manually entering the UPC codes!

It doesn't help that my CC has a 250 customer limit so when we got there at 6, we had to wait in line for 40 minutes and when we left at 8:45 a.m., there was STILL a line!

I'm so glad y'all are posting info about Best Buy. We had a terrible CC experience this BF, and I will never go back. We do not have a Best Buy quite yet...it is being built as I write this, but after reading everyone's posts, I'll definitely be taking my business their after it opens!

[kubla77]

I'm so glad y'all are posting info about Best Buy. We had a terrible CC experience this BF, and I will never go back. We do not have a Best Buy quite yet...it is being built as I write this, but after reading everyone's posts, I'll definitely be taking my business their after it opens!

You're welcome. We are here to help each other out! I'm becoming a gottadeal addict like a lot of others around here, so hope to see you around!

I hope your BB experience is better. BB has its issues too, no store is perfect (I get really annoyed with BB on just about every other day but BF! ). They've learned from their mistakes, and tho every BB is different, it does seem that most BB's are extremely organized on BF. Maybe they have corporate policies on dealing with Black Friday. For instance, I've been to two different BB's on BF, and they both do the balloon thing to indicate the end of the line.

[cc1824]

I'm sorry you guys, that stinks that customer svc blows this year. Trust me sears wasn't any better. I waited in line for 3 hours to get in and while we were there some guy came to the door in a van and threatened all of us that he would storm the door at 5:00 a.m. and not wait in line like everyone else, well who did he think he was, before that we were all standing there laughing and telling stories, it was fun until then, what a jerk. He never showed back up though, good for him cause I would of b**t him senseless. anyway the sales guy at the register was trying so hard to help me, so upstairs for cameras, then downstairs to get em, they weren't upstairs, then scanner says merchandise not found. what what, they found it. then the other guy refused to help me lift a 3 tom jack for my hubby for xmas, how rude. how is anyone supposed to lift it? I'm 5ft and don't weigh much so I needed help and to put it in my lifted truck. So I went to the manager and told him and then he chewed the other guy out. ha ha got him in trouble.

[AndreaInNC]

Wow .. I was lucky and ordered online when their site came back up Thursday at 6am. Got everything I wanted mostly Wii accessories - except Smallville on DVD which showed backordered. Got that somewhere else cause I think everyone had those onsale this year.

[Kreepy]

Little secret, the ccity i work at thy over sold the Sharp TV...so many people are not going to see their TV

[dcofsc]

I usually have to wait at CC also but this year they were much better organized. My local CC had formed one line just like Best Buy and had someone moving the line along to the registers and all of the registers were open. We didn't have a long wait in line to checkout at all. This is the first year this has ever happened at my CC but I sure hope they keep it up.

[macfamily]

It wasn't too long ago that Circuit City wasn't all that bad a place to shop. Recently I have had numerous issues with them both on line and in the stores. A call to their corporate office was routed through a call center overseas. As polite as that person was they were just reading scripts that had little or nothing to do with the issue that I was trying to resolve. No amount of asking or pleading would get me transfered to a supervisor or manager. I had to dispute the charges through my credit card company who refused to pay CC. They have done some pretty odd things to eliminate staff or higher paid staff in their stores. Since the managers are rude and unprofessional it's not surprising that everyone else is as well. They may ride the bubble this year, but I would not be surprised if they are the next CompUSA and have another round of store closings. They may do a lot of sales on line but they are still a brick and mortar chain. People have certain expectations and when they are not met time and time again, they stop showing up. I wouldn't care if they had iMac's for $10, they will never get me into one of their stores again. Life is too short to play games with a chain store that clearly no longer understands how to service it's customers or resolve problems when they arise. Everyone has an opinion based upon their own personal experiences but I have a hunch that CC would land someplace near the very bottom of the heap with most people. Okay I'm done :-) L.

[sergiopaty]

Just pray you don't have any problems...I ordered online too, then had to contact customer service (in Manila) about a problem. All I got was tons of lies, was not permitted to speak to a supervisor no matter how many times I requested one, and finally gave up about forty minutes later with no satisfaction. Good luck to you.

I was picking up my stuff that I got on Thrusday online and they did not have the laptop ram memory I have purchased, even the store manager showed up and started screaming at me, I left the store whit out memory, really bad experiencie. BB I was in line really early and got all the items that I wanted, it was really fast.

[studintx]

Camped out at CC got the $299 notebook waited another 4 hours just to check out, they only had ONE REGISTER to check people out for the notebooks. San Antonio, Texas

[AndreaInNC]

While I was waiting to pick up my items that I had selected for instore pickup (were not available for shipping) I can't tell you how many people were told their items were not there and they would not get them. They only offered to refund their purchase price (some were doorbuster items). I would have been pissed if that was me.

[ramonv]

I love CC. Went there last year, on Black Friday, at night. Got a Panasonic 50" plasma for the sale price of a 42". Unbeatable deal. Less than half price, for a top-rated TV. Free wall mount and installation, after rebate, too.