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+--- Thread: Radio Shack is now Circuit City? (/thread-6257.html)
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Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - DeeBye - 06-06-2005
I was walking around my local mall, when I noticed that what used to be Radio Shack had a giant sign stating that they are now known as
![[Image: source0eh.gif]](http://img56.echo.cx/img56/6489/source0eh.gif)
After checking out Radio Shack's Canadian website (radioshack.ca), I see that
Quote:Circuit City Stores, Inc., today announced that on or before July 1, 2005, that it will re-brand all of its stores currently operated by InterTAN Canada Ltd., under license from RadioShack Corporation as THE SOURCE BY CIRCUIT CITY.
Radio Shack ain't the greatest place in the world ("You've got questions. We've got blank stares."), but at least I know that I can buy any kind of electrical adapter gizmo widget there if I look around enough and avoid the salesdrones. Plus, they have cheap batteries that I can buy in bulk from a giant bin.
I'm now worried about the Circuit City thing, based on what's happened to Future Shop when Best Buy took them over here in Canada. Future Shop used to be a great place to buy anything techie at dirt-cheap prices, but now they all suck. Sure, the prices are still cheap but I always feel like a convicted felon when I shop there due to all of the inane security procedures in place. Plus, now the Future Shop employees are always trying to upsell WAY OVERPRICED stuff (ie. Monster Cables) to me every ten feet. It used to be a consumer-friendly place, but ever since Best Buy came around it seems like they went out of their way to make it the most inhostpitable store ever.
I have no experience with Circuit City, but please someone tell me that they are not as awful as Best Buy :(
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Doc - 06-06-2005
DeeBye,Jun 5 2005, 10:17 PM Wrote:I was walking around my local mall, when I noticed that what used to be Radio Shack had a giant sign stating that they are now known as
After checking out Radio Shack's Canadian website (radioshack.ca), I see that
Radio Shack ain't the greatest place in the world ("You've got questions. We've got blank stares."), but at least I know that I can buy any kind of electrical adapter gizmo widget there if I look around enough and avoid the salesdrones. Plus, they have cheap batteries that I can buy in bulk from a giant bin.
I'm now worried about the Circuit City thing, based on what's happened to Future Shop when Best Buy took them over here in Canada. Future Shop used to be a great place to buy anything techie at dirt-cheap prices, but now they all suck. Sure, the prices are still cheap but I always feel like a convicted felon when I shop there due to all of the inane security procedures in place. Plus, now the Future Shop employees are always trying to upsell WAY OVERPRICED stuff (ie. Monster Cables) to me every ten feet. It used to be a consumer-friendly place, but ever since Best Buy came around it seems like they went out of their way to make it the most inhostpitable store ever.
I have no experience with Circuit City, but please someone tell me that they are not as awful as Best Buy :(
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They are, in MOHO, even worse. Circuit City sucks Wookie balls. I bought a tv from them. They delivered the wrong tv. I called, damanded they make it right. They delivered another tv, but did not pick the old one up. I find out my check card has been charged twice for the same tv, and when I tell them that I still had the tv the first delivered, and they need to come and pick it up, they charged me for that too. So I had 2 tvs and 3 charges to my account.
Needless to say, I was pissed, and went down to the store to deal with the manager in person, after calling the bank to alert them of fraud.
Me dealing with the manager involved pulling him down to my eye level and quite nearly shaking the life out of him. Let me tell you, you have never been truly shaken unless you have been shook so hard that spittle flies out of your mouth and snaps around to hit you in the back of your own head. Every time he said he didn't know how to fix it, I shook him some more. I informed him that I had a pair of pliers in my sporran and that his fingernails would be the first thing to go, followed by his perfect teeth, one at a time. He informed me that he just remembered how to fix everything and make it right. He also pissed his pants, which I am sure was embarassing because his own underlings were watching him.
The fixed the charges. I was charged once, properly for the tv that I wanted. They never did come out and pick up the other tv. I was informed that it was a free gift, mine to keep, from the store, to make up for the mistakes they had made.
I have no plans to ever make another purchase from them ever again.
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Mithrandir - 06-06-2005
Yeah, Circuit City is pretty damn horrible. I had one good experience from them buying - ironically enough - a TV. But in my experience their prices are not good at all and I think that the one time I purchased a TV from them was the only time I left a Circuit City saying to myself, "Alright, that wasn't *too* bad."
I don't know why everyone rags on Best Buy though. I don't think I have ever had a negative trip to a Best Buy. Except for the "Would you like 8 risk-free issues of..." - NO I DON'T WANT A SUBSCRIPTION STOP ASKING ME EVERY TIME I BUY SOMETHING. Then again, the Best Buy people usually leave me alone when I'm browsing DVDs, CDs, printer cartridges, etc. which is a huge plus. My policy is that unless I go up to you and ask where something is, just let me browse and we'll both be happier for it.
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Rinnhart - 06-06-2005
Mithrandir,Jun 5 2005, 08:06 PM Wrote:Yeah, Circuit City is pretty damn horrible. I had one good experience from them buying - ironically enough - a TV. But in my experience their prices are not good at all and I think that the one time I purchased a TV from them was the only time I left a Circuit City saying to myself, "Alright, that wasn't *too* bad."
I don't know why everyone rags on Best Buy though. I don't think I have ever had a negative trip to a Best Buy. Except for the "Would you like 8 risk-free issues of..." - NO I DON'T WANT A SUBSCRIPTION STOP ASKING ME EVERY TIME I BUY SOMETHING. Then again, the Best Buy people usually leave me alone when I'm browsing DVDs, CDs, printer cartridges, etc. which is a huge plus. My policy is that unless I go up to you and ask where something is, just let me browse and we'll both be happier for it.
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I don't like Best Buys. They give me the creeps. I'm just waiting for Wal-Mart to buy them and a few other places out before they construct the endless mobilehome arcologies.
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - DeeBye - 06-06-2005
Mithrandir,Jun 6 2005, 12:06 AM Wrote:I don't know why everyone rags on Best Buy though. I don't think I have ever had a negative trip to a Best Buy.
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My beef with Best Buy is that it is simply NOT a nice store to browse around in. Your local store miight be different, but mine is really bad. I can't even say what my worst experience with Best Buy is, because they all seem the same.
Here's an example. One Sunday morning, my wife and I decided to go to a Toys 'R Us store in the hopes of finding a Thomas the Tank Engine toy for my son. We were a bit early and Toys 'R Us wouldn't open for another half hour. Best Buy was right across the street, so I suggested we go there to kill some time. I like looking at their really cool HDTVs.
Best Buy has a security goon parked right inside the entrance, and his job is to look you up and down every time you come anywhere near him. My family and I walked into Best Buy at 9:30am on a Sunday morning. I was pushing my son's stroller, and this security goon made a big show about checking into every nook and cranny of that stroller. He actually got up off his barstool and craned his neck down to look at what might be underneath the stroller (a bottle, a blanket, and an extra diaper). You see, a husband and wife and a 2 year old enterring a Best Buy at 9:30am on a Sunday morning are prime shoplifting targets.
He eventually deemed us "safe" enough to enter the store proper. WHEEE! I went to look at some of the TVs, but I really got embarassed by all of the random security pages. "SECURITY SCAN SECTION 8A! SECURITY SCAN SECTION 4!" There were maybe 2 other shoppers in the store, and these crazy security pages were going off every five minutes. I eventually decided that enough was enough. I know when I am not welcome. We went to leave the store, only to be stopped by the security goon. He wanted to have a last look at what he had packed into our stroller. He seriously would not let us leave until he had a look at everything. With a really smug look on his face he said, "See you guys later".
The tragedy of this tale is that it is common. Every time I go to Best Buy (which is not very often these days), I am treated the same way.
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - gekko - 06-06-2005
I've been working at Radio Shack for about 2 years now. Two of the three stores in my city (including the one I work at) were 'changed over' about 2 weeks ago. And I can tell you that, at least in the near future, very little is changing.
There are big signs announcing 'big changes' and all, but really, it's the same store. It looks like we will be getting into LCD TV's and such, but frankly, unless they do a total overhaul of the way they sell, it won't take off. People come to us and buy cables and stuff because the people at Future Shop are too stupid to figure out what the people need. However, everyone I talk seems to "know" (and they're right more often than they're wrong) that we're simply never the cheapest. If they go to Future Shop, they know they won't be paying MORE than what they would pay at Radio Shack. And since they don't allow us to match prices...
*shrugs* For what it's worth, Circuit City bought Intertan - the company that operates Radio Shack stores (and now The Source by Circuit City stores) in Canada - about 8 months ago. So while the name is new, being owned by Circuit City is not.
gekko
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - WarLocke - 06-06-2005
DeeBye,Jun 5 2005, 11:39 PM Wrote:goon
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:shuriken:
(Also, Best Buy is a cesspit and I refuse to shop there)
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Sailboat - 06-06-2005
Mithrandir,Jun 5 2005, 11:06 PM Wrote:I don't know why everyone rags on Best Buy though.
Elsewhere on this forum are the tales of Best Buy calling the police on a man writing down prices -- and talking them into actually arresting him; and Best Buy calling the police on a man paying with completely legal $2 bills -- and talking them into arresting HIM as well. Not only are both actions outrageous in the United States under both law and longstanding social customs, it's downright creepy that the police are so easily drawn into illegal arrests.
My own experience is limited to my wife buying a car radio from Best Buy. They installed it incorrectly, then tried to charge us for the re-install. We returned to clarify in person that since this was a re-install due to their error, they should not charge us, and they agreed...then submitted the charge again surreptitiously to see if it would stick.
I suppose that some people have managed to avoid encountering this apparently intentional company-wide culture of lying, stealing, and having customers arrested. More power to you. Just take you lawyer with you when you drop by. :)
Sailboat
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Mithrandir - 06-06-2005
Sailboat,Jun 6 2005, 10:38 AM Wrote:Elsewhere on this forum are the tales of Best Buy calling the police on a man writing down prices -- and talking them into actually arresting him; and Best Buy calling the police on a man paying with completely legal $2 bills -- and talking them into arresting HIM as well. Not only are both actions outrageous in the United States under both law and longstanding social customs, it's downright creepy that the police are so easily drawn into illegal arrests.[right][snapback]79838[/snapback][/right]
I remember the story quite well. I think it's unfair to paint all Best Buy stores with the same brush just because of a stupid incident that happend at one of them. Also, I have never been accosted by "Best Buy security goons"... the closest they have come to doing something like that to me was politely asking to look in a bag I was carrying on the way out.
/shrug
So where does everyone shop if you hate these big retail stores? Online? I don't mind buying stuff online *too* much, but it's almost always more expensive to buy online due to S&H (in my experiences) and there's a 3-7 day wait until your order gets to your house. I'd rather just take 30 minutes out of my life to pay less, browse the store, and get what I want immediately.
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Lady Vashj - 06-06-2005
Doc,Jun 5 2005, 11:49 PM Wrote:Me dealing with the manager involved pulling him down to my eye level and quite nearly shaking the life out of him. Let me tell you, you have never been truly shaken unless you have been shook so hard that spittle flies out of your mouth and snaps around to hit you in the back of your own head. Every time he said he didn't know how to fix it, I shook him some more. I informed him that I had a pair of pliers in my sporran and that his fingernails would be the first thing to go, followed by his perfect teeth, one at a time. He informed me that he just remembered how to fix everything and make it right. He also pissed his pants, which I am sure was embarassing because his own underlings were watching him.Civilized negotiation...Sopranos style.
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Remind me never to annoy you.
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Sailboat - 06-06-2005
Mithrandir,Jun 6 2005, 02:46 PM Wrote:I think it's unfair to paint all Best Buy stores with the same brush just because of a stupid incident that happend at one of them.
I'd agree. But the national news wire stories don't concern an "incident" that "happened at one of them."
They concern two unrelated incidents that happened at two Best Buys unrelated in locality, but under the same corporate management. Then there's Dee Bye's personal testimony, and mine, and Doc's; and other people have expressed similar feelings without detailing specific incidents.
So how many "incidents" does it take before a pattern emerges? My thinking is that what all these stores have in common is a training system and a philosophy of management. It's very definitely management philosophy that guides such decisions as "no one is allowed to write down our prices", which led to the first national news story.
But I admit I could be expecting too much.
Sailboat
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Lady Vashj - 06-06-2005
Also, if they could get the police to arrest people for writing down prices or paying with $2 bills, I'm sure that they could and gladly would call the cops on Doc for physically assaulting and threatening the manager. But it seems they didn't. That would indicate that a ) the employees mentioned as watching hated the guy so much that they'd rather blackmail him with the surveillance tape and would sooner have their own fingernails and teeth ripped out than STOP someone from doing so to their boss, or b ) that sort of thing happens all the time, mostly managers doing it to employees, and the employee handbook says that calling the cops will result in immediate termination of your employment.
Either way, that's just wrong.
EDIT: Bloody accidento-smilies (cracks sunglasses).
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Doc - 06-06-2005
Lady Vashj,Jun 6 2005, 03:05 PM Wrote:Also, if they could get the police to arrest people for writing down prices or paying with $2 bills, I'm sure that they could and gladly would call the cops on Doc for physically assaulting and threatening the manager. But it seems they didn't. That would indicate that a ) the employees mentioned as watching hated the guy so much that they'd rather blackmail him with the surveillance tape and would sooner have their own fingernails and teeth ripped out than STOP someone from doing so to their boss, or b ) that sort of thing happens all the time, mostly managers doing it to employees, and the employee handbook says that calling the cops will result in immediate termination of your employment.
Either way, that's just wrong.
EDIT: Bloody accidento-smilies (cracks sunglasses).
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Actually, when confronted with the "I'm gonna call the police" bit, I was screaming at them to go ahead and call the bloody cops. And reminded them in a very obcene manner that fraud and theft had just been committed, theft in the thousands, and who wanted to go to jail first when the fuzz showed up. None of the employees present seemed to particularly concerned with calling the fuzz once I mentioned this. People stood around slack jawed and stupid. Pretty much how they always are. Most of the sorts brought into low level sales positions are easy enough to manage.
And to be completely fair, before physically dealing with the situation, I asked the store manager three times to fix the situation. He told me I was going to have to call up and deal with the cooperate offices, that this was no longer an issue that the store could deal with. Which was, as we can clearly see, an outright lie, as the store could deal with it just fine. There are people who would feel so intimidated at the thought of having to file a complant against the cooperate offices that many would have bowed out right there, and just chalk it up as a bad deal. Not me. I knew the punk was lying and I shook the truth out of him.
And before anybody asks... I do infact keep a Leatherman tool in my sporran. It comes with me everywhere I go. Thankfully, when dealing with some public service type folks, it has never come to that. If I had to, I am pretty sure if it came right down to it, me pulling it out and opening it up very very slowly would be enough to change their minds.
It is not something I would do though. But they don't have to know that.
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Lady Vashj - 06-06-2005
Doc,Jun 6 2005, 04:20 PM Wrote:Actually, when confronted with the "I'm gonna call the police" bit, I was screaming at them to go ahead and call the bloody cops. And reminded them in a very obcene manner that fraud and theft had just been committed, theft in the thousands, and who wanted to go to jail first when the fuzz showed up.[right][snapback]79875[/snapback][/right]Point. Although I would have started a paper trail that would lead to a class action lawsuit that would destroy the company, or at least the franchise.
I have a Leatherman in my pocket too. It's a small one, but it does have pliers. I figure it should serve all right if I ever have to extract any teeth or fingernails.
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Doc - 06-06-2005
Lady Vashj,Jun 6 2005, 04:01 PM Wrote:Point. Although I would have started a paper trail that would lead to a class action lawsuit that would destroy the company, or at least the franchise.
I have a Leatherman in my pocket too. It's a small one, but it does have pliers. I figure it should serve all right if I ever have to extract any teeth or fingernails.
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I have dropped the issue, to many other things on my plate.
My bank has not. They are about to open up a can of whoopass for the deliberate fraud on my debit cards. This is not the first time it has happened with that particular Circuit City store location. The first few times, people cried "oops accident." Now it's on like Donkey Kong.
BTW, it takes about 40 to 80 pounds of pull to wretch a tooth loose from it's socket. It helps if you twist it a few times before pulling.
Just thought you should know.
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Occhidiangela - 06-06-2005
Mithrandir,Jun 6 2005, 01:46 PM Wrote:I remember the story quite well. I think it's unfair to paint all Best Buy stores with the same brush just because of a stupid incident that happend at one of them. Also, I have never been accosted by "Best Buy security goons"... the closest they have come to doing something like that to me was politely asking to look in a bag I was carrying on the way out.
/shrug
So where does everyone shop if you hate these big retail stores? Online? I don't mind buying stuff online *too* much, but it's almost always more expensive to buy online due to S&H (in my experiences) and there's a 3-7 day wait until your order gets to your house. I'd rather just take 30 minutes out of my life to pay less, browse the store, and get what I want immediately.
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Best Buy has not seen a single dollar of mine, or my wife's, for two years. I intend to keep it that way.
Occhi
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Any1 - 06-06-2005
Doc,Jun 6 2005, 03:49 AM Wrote:...Let me tell you, you have never been truly shaken unless you have been shook so hard that spittle flies out of your mouth and snaps around to hit you in the back of your own head...[right][snapback]79799[/snapback][/right]
This is "signature" material. ;)
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Doc - 06-06-2005
Any1,Jun 6 2005, 06:14 PM Wrote:This is "signature" material. ;)
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I am glad somebody got it.
The Swan. :wub:
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Rinnhart - 06-07-2005
Doc,Jun 6 2005, 01:22 PM Wrote:I have dropped the issue, to many other things on my plate.
My bank has not. They are about to open up a can of whoopass for the deliberate fraud on my debit cards. This is not the first time it has happened with that particular Circuit City store location. The first few times, people cried "oops accident." Now it's on like Donkey Kong.
BTW, it takes about 40 to 80 pounds of pull to wretch a tooth loose from it's socket. It helps if you twist it a few times before pulling.
Just thought you should know.
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Easier to just break the tooth out.
Radio Shack is now Circuit City? - Any1 - 06-07-2005
Rinnhart,Jun 7 2005, 02:13 AM Wrote:Easier to just break the tooth out.
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If you break the tooth, you're not doing as much trauma to the nerve as wrenching it out of the socket...uhhh...I hear.