Complaint Review: Circuit City And Hitachi HDTV - Racine Wisconsin

In response to the two rebuttals I have received on my situation with Circuit City and Hitachi, please consider the following: I did appreciate the 2/3/03 rebuttal and agree that Circuit City should have made an exception for us. Apparently the Racine store and its manager weren't as generous or helpful as they could have been and I find that rather interesting. As far as the "catching flies" cliche, I agree and I do believe that is true, however, I never said that I was being a b***h. As stated, I work in customer service (and have done so for over 8 years) and know how difficult it is to work with irrate customers... I don't get irrate until I believe that I am not being fairly treated. Perhaps our Racine store could learn from yours and be a bit more accomodating. It is, however, the attitude of the CC employee, Michele, whom responded on 2/13/03 that is precisely the reason why I have trouble with CC. No, Ms. Michele, I did not buy the warranty and, quite frankly, I think these types of warranties are a load of crap, but I won't get into that here. Yes, I am quite aware of Hitachi's standing in the manufacturing arena, but that does not mean that I, as a consumer, have to put up with bad service- again, I won't go there. "As for the store," believe it- it was two days and they did nothing. We tried talking to the floor rep, sales floor supervisor, and the store manager and they could not, nor would not, offer us any assistance. I am rather pleasant and did not "rant or rave" until they blew me off with an attitude quite similar to yours. I did not yell, and my "understanding of corporate policy" also got me "no where fast" as you stated. Your apology is not needed and neither is your attitude- we did call Hitachi. I am also aware that you don't have "elves out back making the tv's," and I think you are being rather trite and rude to suggest I think that and to automatically assume that I ranted and raved my way through the store taking my anger out on the poor members of your employment staff. Please. For anyone else curious- the television has finally been fixed. After blowing yet another tube, the repair service put in a third and discovered some crossed and loose wires in the bottom of the box. All is resolved, but I am still not happy with Hitachi at all. Circuit City is, however, a little closer to being off of my sh*t list...I had a remarkably pleasant experience working with the installation service for some work I had done on our vehicles. They repaired some damage left by Best Buy at no additional charge, and installed my system promptly, correctly, and with great customer service. So, my kudos to Racine's automobile installation center and the two nice gentlemen I worked with.

I just have a few things to say to this woman about her tv. DID YOU BUY THE WARRANTY? I'm sure the sales person told you that it was a good idea...so therefore you do have to deal with Hitachi...and although unfortunatley you had a bad experiance with them....they are a leading manufacture of tv's... no matter what company...there will always be a dud. As for the store...I can't believe that it was "2 days" past the return policy....b/c 1st of all we take things back for up to 45 days for certain issues and sometimes, if you are pleasant, we go above and beyond and take it back way over our return policy. Every upset person puts their own spin on things....and I see it in you. You probably called someone in the store and ranted and raved about tv that you refused to buy the guarantee on and now want us to answer,...well you guessed it...yelling gets you no where fast....Sorry mam, call HItachi. WE DON'T have elves out back making the tv's you know...we sell them for places like Hitachi!

Hitachi is definitely dropping the ball on this one. I can understand your frustrations, but that's why they give you a warranty. CC, like most other retailers, give you 30 days to make sure that it works. In this case, I think they should have made an exception for you though, being only 2 days over the 30. It all depends on what store you go to, and what type of manager you have to deal with. Also, it does depend on your attitude when contacting the store about your problem. You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. If you weren't satisfied with the store decision, did you call the corporate cool line? They can make the decision and have the store replace the set, especially after only a couple of days past the 30. I've known others with similar issues, and the store in my area usually takes care of them. Maybe even moreso now that there's a Best Buy opening soon.