I have had a very disturbing experience with Circuit City, and mostly because they messed up more than once, would not admit it, and refuse now to even communicate with me. I feel they absolutely misled me then refused to step up to the plate to resolve my complaint.
I will let my email to the Chief Executive of Circuit City explain the situation:
To the Executive Response Team Associate:
I wrote the following email to you 2 weeks ago and have not received a response. I would appreciate acknowledgment and a resolution to this problem. Thank you!
Here is my original email sent to you January 17th, 2007.
I am writing to you because I purchased a laptop on December 15, 2006, and since have had a very disappointing experience with your customer service department and I think you should be aware of it. I am also requesting some action on your part.
I purchased an Acer laptop on December 15, and was very pleased that I ordered it online with the offers involved. According to the website the purchase of the laptop would include a free printer, free wireless router, and an Internet Security Suite software. I ordered it and received the laptop in a very timely manner. However, I did not receive the free items above that were free with purchase.
The day after Christmas, I spoke with a customer service representative and was told that I did not receive the free items because I did not place them in the shopping cart. I am convinced that when I ordered, there was no absolute way to know that that was the expected course of action to receive the items. I explained that it looked to me that the items would be added automatically, and he connected me with the supervisor's dept.
Yusafa (sp?) in the supervisor's dept told me that indeed the items were added automatically and I should expect to receive them soon. He explained that they all come from different warehouses, and may take longer to receive. He said to wait a few more days, and if I did not receive them, to call back.
I waited and called back the day after the New Year's weekend, and spoke with another rep in the supervisors' dept. He said that I would not receive the items above because I had not put them in the shopping cart.
I told him what Yusafa had said, and he said, sorry, he was mistaken.
I was quite shocked to see I had been told something wrong but no action to resolve the situation. I was told that I could not get the promotion anymore and that it was unfortunate but I did not place the items in the shopping cart. I again explained that it appeared to be automatic and looking at the site again I still did not see a certain plan of action to obtain rebate-items (as I was informed they were.)
I order online very frequently and I must say that I read everything at the site, and the links you had were not clearly marked as links (not high-lighted or underlined) and when I clicked on the free items link it simply listed the items I would receive.
I was told nothing could be done. I was pretty dismayed, because I find it unacceptable to tell a customer it's too bad, when there were ways to resolve this.
I was cut off from the phone call, and called back the next day and spoke with David, in the supervisor's dept, and he again said there was nothing to be done, but offered me a $25 gift card, which I was thankful for, but I said it would not cover the cost of the router and printer which I still wanted to receive.
We also were cut off and I called again and was told that my situation would be submitted to the supervisor's dept and that they would call me with their decision. I waited a week and no call.
I called at that point and spoke with Margaret who told me the supervisor's decision was that I did not place the items in the shopping cart and therefore could not apply the free offer.
I was astonished to hear that! It was obviously already established that I did not place items in the shopping cart. My stance is that it was not due to my fault, or at least the website had extenuating circumstances with uncertain or no directions on how to receive these items.
I have asked and I am asking you to make an exception for me, because I was misled the first call I made and ended up opening the product, which I would have returned had I known my offer was not valid.
I am asking for Circuit City to reconcile this mishap by stepping up to accommodate the expectations I had and send to me the items I did not receive. I purchased the laptop on December 15 in order to receive the items, and that has never been accepted or considered, I feel, and I spent well over 1000 dollars. (I purchased other items as well.)
I am sure that you who are in an executive position are more concerned with customer satisfaction and sales. That is why I am submitting this concern and request to you.
I do want to say that the representatives I spoke with on the phone were courteous and did speak in a nice way. Some of the reps are obviously not English speaking as a first language, and that made it a bit difficult at times. My major complaint is that the supervisors who investigated did not take into consideration all the details of this unfortunate miscommunication and mistake.
On an interesting note, I have been back to the CircuitCity.com website and have noticed improvements to making links more clear and even putting "Click Here" which was not present during my ordering time. Please keep this in mind.
I have all my receipts and will supply them if you need.
I am trusting that you will see my perspective and help to resolve this as soon as possible. Thank you,
Sincerely,
Laura
Cleveland, Ohio
U.S.A.
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