Looking to take advantage of the liquidation sales at the 155 closing Circuit City stores to buy yourself an HDTV? According to HD Guru, you should rethink things.
Circuit City is claiming that they are offering 10% off the price off all HDTVS. That discount is an illusion: Circuit City is actually bumping up the pre-discount price to make up the difference. What’s most astonishing is that Circuit City’s own web site lists many of the televisions they are selling at a 10% discount in liquidated stores only for hundreds of dollars less.
And then there’s the “No Return” policy: if you buy one of these televisions, bring it home and it doesn’t work, you’re at the whim of the manufacturer’s warranty.
The good news: it you’re fine with buying a display model, Circuit City will be selling them as “open box” and heaping a negotiable 10% discount on top of it. That could be tempting, and HD Guru has a few good pointers on making sure you don’t get screwed on the transaction, including how to calculate how much of the display life you’ve lost and getting all the parts and materials that originally came with the television.
Circuit City Liquidation Sale Price Switch-Can You Beat It or Will It Beat You? [HD Guru]
So if everyone is saying getting an HDTV from Circuit City and Best Buy is a bad idea, where does one go for a good/great deal on a HDTV? I’m now in the market for one, but an wondering where I should go since the two places I was looking at is a bad idea. Thanks for any leads. Preferably, I’m looking for a Samsung LCD in the 46″ to 50″ + sizes. Thanks in advance.
Jim
The stuff gets sold to liquidators and they do what they want – including selling what they can for high margin. Prices usually drop a little bit over time but there is rarely a deal in the beginning and by the time there are deals, the inventory consists of nonsense.
On the warranty note- if you are a warranty buyer check as they are rarely actually warranted by the actual store. The chains mostly resell another company’s warranty. In that case, you’d still have one with the warranty company even if the retailer closed, assuming the warranty company was in biz.
This morning I was watching CNN and a commercial came on for Circuit City. You know the “all one price” one. Where “we guarantee” that the price you pay is the same as online or in the paper. Kind of goes against that if the price on “liquidation” is actually higher in the store.
But hey, I got burnt by them once and have never shopped there again. They have now done that to enough people that it is catching up with them. I’m not surprised that they would try to screw their customers to the very last…
#13: Look online. Abe’s of Maine or other online retailers like New Egg etc. At Best Buy, they had a Sammy LED DLP that I wanted for $2300 at the time, online it could be purchased for ~$1600. Now you will pay a few hundred in shipping charges, but it’ll still be cheaper than Best Buy or Circuit City. Just make sure you pick a place to order from that’s credible
“Isn’t raising prices right before a sale a crime??
Yeah, but it’s SOP for Circuit City.
And, be careful of what you pick up during the “monstrous going out of business sale” or whatever they’re gonna call it. Like Andrew said, you’re buying stuff from a different company that’s been trucked in just for the sale.
All the good name-brand stuff will get redistributed among the other company stores and you’ll be standing there looking at the “90% markdown” on the SONNY DIGITAL (connectible) TV for only $200!
I got my Rollex watch from one of these “store closing companies.”
Was that “HTDV” assembled in China?
Isn’t raising prices right before a sale a crime?
I’m fairly certain I’ve been told it is in California.
Aliens bought most of the Earth technology to give as cute gag gifts.
http://weeklyworldnews.com/alien-alert/aliens-clear-out-circuit-city/
Wow – I had a feeling this was going to happen. CompUSA did the same thing, and most of their “sale” items ended up being the same price as Best Buy’s normal prices.
These kind of shenanigans is one of the reasons Circuit City is tanking. They just don’t get it.
Why does anybody buy anything from Circuit City or Best Buy anymore?
You’re so likely to get screwed that it’s worse than walking into a car dealership.
Zuzu, I’m ashamed to admit that I have bought from Best Buy recently. The reason? I wanted something today, and they had what I wanted. I did do all my research ahead of time, turned down their warranties, and feel like I came out unscathed. I did have to wash my hands twice afterwards.
So that’s one reason why: they want something today and Best City USA has it in stock.
I feel less bad shopping at Best Buy versus, say, Wal-Mart. Ungh. But again, sometimes I really need a new furnace filter at two o’clock in the morning. Doesn’t everyone??
Just don’t bother with any extended warranties at the non-liquidated CC stores. They’ll all be bankrupt in the new year.
Not that anyone reading BBG would buy an extended warranty anyway.
Seems to me that Circuit Shitty isn’t really liquidating stuff yet. It’s still at a sort of gelatinous phase of the meltdown process.
Although I don’t know the specifics in this case, usually when a company does a mass liquidation like this they have actually sold the inventory to a separate company. If you look at your credit card receipt, it won’t say circuit city but rather XYZ company.
Gordon Brothers is a big company that does this and handled CompUSA’s liquidation among other major players. http://www.gordonbrothers.com/industry/content.cfm?id=retail_trans
So it’s not Circuit City ripping you off, they already took a bath on the inventory, it’s the liquidation company.