Circuit City Is Done March 8th

If you’ve been waiting for the last minute to get that great deal before Circuit City shuts their doors forever, you better do it this weekend. Circuit City will be closing for good Sunday March 8th at the end of Business day.

So farewell old friend, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass.

[Engadget]

Final Words from Circuit City Employee

I saw this great article that was a letter from an employee at Circuit City.  As someone who has worked for a liquidator for the past 8 years, I know this persons plight.  The article is here Their Final Words as The Grunts of Circuit City [Circuit City]

Circuit City Trying To Screw Customers One Last Time

With Circuit City making its slow walk towards the big retailer in the sky; it seems that they’ve chosen to screw their customers on the way out the door. With the announcement that Circuit City will be closing 155 stores, the retailer has moved to liquidate all inventories within the outlets that are going bye bye. The only problem is the scam that Circuit City is trying to get over on the consumer. Reports have come in stating that they are marking merchandise up, only to receive 10% discount on said item. This is what they are calling an in-store liquidation “sale”, even though prices on the same item from their website are lower. This goes against their “One Price Guarantee” claim that they’re been throwing around.

So why would you shop Circuit City when their “liquidation sale” isn’t really a sale after all? This kind of decision making is the reason that they’re going the way of the do-do bird.

[Crunchgear]

Circuit City Might Be Going Bye Bye

It looking like Circuit City is a step away from the big retailer in the sky. A firm that advises merchandisers if it's a good idea to ship to certain retailers has yanked Circuit City off the list. This pretty much tells those merchandisers that you might not get paid if you ship to Circuit City. This news follows close behind the $239 million loss and seeing their stock fall below 50 cents a share.

Not good....

[WaPo via Gizmodo]

Best Buy, Circuit City Will Haggle Price With You

Photo Courtesy of Gizmodo
I wish I had known this before I bought both of my game consoles, but it is unofficially official that Besy Buy and Circuit City will haggle prices with you.

That's right, Chinatown style!!!

Seems that internet shopping and making price comparisons are so easy, the brick and mortar stores are trying to stay competitive. This type of haggling has been going on in the NY area for some time now, and according to employees, this isn't something new. According to a tipster who works at one of the Big Box stores:

"This is not new. The discount ability has been in the POS system for years. Associates have always been encouraged to close a sale, even if that means marking down the price a little. People just need to learn not to take no as an answer."

Of course I had to try it out. With my wireless router dying on me yesterday, it seemed like the perfect time. I found a new model Linksys router that had just hit the store on Tuesday. I asked the guy for a price check on it and he tells me $59.99, to which I tell him "I need this to be $49.99, come on man, I know you guys do it.". The guy scans it again and tells me that he can take only $5.00 off since its only been here for a day.

Might not seem like much but it's $5.00 less that I had to pay, and it proves that they will haggle with you.

Give it a try.

[NYT via Gizmodo]

Why Criminals Should Install Their Own PC Hardware

This kind of story makes me feel all icky inside, because I know that the rights of individuals should be respected, no matter how sick they are. Such is the case with Kenneth Sodomsky who in 2004 brought his computer into Circuit City to have a DVD Burner installed. While they installed the drive and the software that comes with it, the techs test to see if it works. While doing the testing, (for some reason) the Circuit City tech pulled up an Windows XP search box and scanned the users hard drive for video files to ensure that the drive was working properly. The tech found a file containing child pornography on the computer, contacted the police and Sodomsky was arrested.

Sodomsky said that his privacy was violated, and a lower court agreed with him. But an appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court said that because he voluntarily turned his computer over to the techs, and the search was "routine", no laws were violated in discovering the file.

Now why would Circuit City need to do a "routine" search for video files to install a DVD burner? I can't tell you how many burners I've installed on many different OS platforms, and not once did it require, need, or want you to do a search for video files on a hard drive. There is no reason to do this search, unless the tech wanted to see if there was some porn that he didn't have in his own collection. This is why you should install your own hardware components yourself.

Now don't get me wrong, I think Sodomsky should burn in hell, but why is Circuit City "routinely" violating privacy every time a customer brings in a computer? Why are they searching computers for video files if that isn't required? And how stupid are the lawyers if they don't ask someone if this is necessary or required to install a DVD Burner.

Morons all around!!!


Court: Privacy no defense when Circuit City finds child porn [Ars via Crunchgear]

Scams You Should Know About

This subject has been a hot button with me for quite awhile, mainly because the victims seem to always be family or friends. People who go and buy a nice HDTV from the Best Buys and Circuit City's of the world get taken by the "expensive cables are better" scam. And to this day, I do not believe that the $100 HDMI Monster cable is any better than the $6 HDMI cable that you can find on-line.

But what Gizmo Republic uncovered at a big box store is just all out wrong!!!

This demo for Monster cable shows the "Monster difference" between their cables and a inferior competitors. So why was the competitors image inferior to Monsters image? Because Monster is using an HDMI cable on the left, compared to the composite cables on the right. What blows my mind is how they're getting away with this. Check the quote:

"Monster brand has been running this scam for years. The big box retailers have found outrageously priced accessories to be a good way to recoup profits from the pencil thin profit margins on big ticket consumer electronics like HDTVs."

Please people, don't get sucked into this Monster scam that's been going on for an awful long time.

Monster HDMI Cable Scam [GizmoRepublic via Crunchgear]

Circuit City's Black Friday Stuff

Circuit City doesn't want to be left out of the 'Black Friday' fun, so they've put together a pretty impressive list. Check it out:

Compaq Presario Laptop w/Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor and 1GB RAM - $299.99
Toshiba Satelillite Laptop with AMD Athlon 64 X2 Duel Core - $399.99
HP Pavilion Media Center PC with AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 5200+ - $499.97 AR

A bunch of digital cameras < $200 Fairly reasonably priced GPS units

Onkyo 5.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver - $149.99
Samsung 5.1 Channel 800W Home Theater System - $149.99
Kingston 1GB Notebook DDR2 Memory - $14.99
Wireless-G Router Free with Any Laptop - $0.00
Seagate 500GB External Hard Drive - $79.99
Western Digital 1TB My Book Essential External 3.5 USB Hard Drive - $199.99
XBox 360 Pro w/Free Wireless Controller & Two Games - $349.99

This list is courtesy of Gizmodo, thanks guys for doing the leg work for us.

[BlackFriday.info via Gizmodo]

CB Deal: HD DVD For $197 + 5 Free Movies

It looks like you don't have to wait for the Wal-Mart sale for the $198 HD DVD player. Circuit City has the same player for the same price, and they're throwing in 5 HD DVD movies with it. You get the Toshiba HD-A2 and your pick from a selection of HD DVD flicks, which isn't a bad deal. No word on if Circuit City will only have limited stock, like Wal-Mart will.

That's a nice deal

[Circuit City via Gizmodo]

Circuit City Ad Confirmes Price Drop On All Xbox 360s

As quick as I can report these changes, another one comes down with different information, as is the case with the Xbox 360 core system.

Circuit City ad that has surfaced is showing the price cuts for not only the Premium edition, but for the Elite, and the Core system as well. The Elite will get a $30 cut and price at $449.99, the Premium drops to $349.99, and the Core comes in at $279.99 after the $20 price break.

Weather or not Microsoft plans on phasing the Core system out is still up in the air. I'm sure that we will be finding out soon.

Of Course this is all still rumors. But if you want to read more check it out here. [Joystiq via Crunchgear]

Cirucuit City Cutting Prices On HDTV 's In September

If you haven't jumped on the HDTV bandwagon, your time might be right now. Crunchgear is reporting that an in-side source stated that Circuit City is cutting prices company-wide, in response to compete with their rival Best Buy starting in September.

Just in time for football season.

Read the rest here. [Crunchgear]