citcuit city warranty change

[whiskers]

:evil: circuit city has changed their policy where if your ipaq breaks you now have to call a phone number which is an insurance company. they will then direct you to do everything to determine if it is broke including a hard reset, then if it still won't work, you have to send it in to them and they will try to repair it. If they can't then they will give you one COMPATIBLE to what you had. this is a radical change from what they used to do. does anyone know if best buy will still do it at the store and let you have credit for any one that you want, not what they want to give you. thanks no more circuit city for me

[kidA]

i would say this is probably a reaction to the people who take advantage of and abuse the plans. it's the easiest way for them to keep people honest.

[Talldog]

i would say this is probably a reaction to the people who take advantage of and abuse the plans.
Unfortunately, you're probably right.

[esc76]

Their warranty change affects the cell phones as well. I have to settle for a phone of their choosing, regardless of the original agreement or warranty. The replacement phone has no games (not a "feature" in their book) and worse yet, the sound quality is half of my original phone.

I agree with the above post, it is a reaction to the abuse of the earlier warranties. I'm still very dissappointed however with the way it is turning out for me. I've decided not to shop at Circuit City anymore.

[Mitch D]

Their warranty change affects the cell phones as well. I have to settle for a phone of their choosing, regardless of the original agreement or warranty. The replacement phone has no games (not a "feature" in their book) and worse yet, the sound quality is half of my original phone.

I agree with the above post, it is a reaction to the abuse of the earlier warranties. I'm still very dissappointed however with the way it is turning out for me. I've decided not to shop at Circuit City anymore.

The retailer I work for here in Calgary has an extended warranty service as well and there have been times when our warranty partner has slipped up but I would never stand for a customer getting shafted with a product of thier choice. If the agreement says replacement value than it should be just that, if you spend $500 on a phone/PDA then the replacement should be a unit that is on the market that has the same features for the same price.

If someone bought a iPaq 3835 for example and it dies than the logical replacement should be something like the iPaq 221X not a Palm Zire. A game may not be a feature to them but it is marketed as a feature by the maker of said device. If you checked into it you would find this is not an insurance company at all but a company CC has hired to save them money.

Sorry for the rant but companies that pull this really peeve me off, I will get off my soapbox now.

:soapbox:

[Fzara]

Their warranty change affects the cell phones as well. I have to settle for a phone of their choosing, regardless of the original agreement or warranty. The replacement phone has no games (not a "feature" in their book) and worse yet, the sound quality is half of my original phone.

I agree with the above post, it is a reaction to the abuse of the earlier warranties. I'm still very dissappointed however with the way it is turning out for me. I've decided not to shop at Circuit City anymore.

I've never understood why people on this site go to places like Compusa/Best Buy and buy PDA's or other expensive electronics since these stores usually have list prices without any coupons/sales. When I bought my Palm M500 a while back, I went to Cnet and got some shops which offered it cheaper than the retail stores, and bought it from them.

Kind of OT, but I went in to Circuit City last week to get my radio fixed. (I have a Kenwood FM Modulator, and I wasn't getting radio reception) and the sales rep/mechanic told me to simply "buy" a new Kenwood head unit which is compatible with my changer. He told me if it doesn't work, I can return it for a full rebate, -the $35 labor. Rather stupid if a sales rep can't try out a test/demo unit in the car and see if it works by pulling out the radio. I guess he's just trying to get a sale out of it.

[xerxers]

I recently went to Best Buy as I was having a battery issue with my 3955. This was the second one within two months. I explained the issue and they were cool about it. I then asked if I could upgrade to the HP5555 as they have the ability to have easily replaced batteries and as I travel overseas frequently I wanted to ensure that I had continuous use of my PDA. I also asked as I have had my warranty now for 30 months if I could also obtain a new warranty. There was no issue with that. As I was about to leave the service counter I asked was there any difference in the old warranty and the new version and the response was::::::

YES

That now they would not replace the PDA automatically but would try to repair it first or hold it for a period to ascertain / confirm the issue and then if they could not find anything wrong they would return it to you. If they did find an issue they would send it away to be repaired and then return it and then their "lemon" policy would come into play in that if you returned the same machine three times with verifible issues they would then replace the machine with a similar valued machine or you would be required to pay the difference on a higher valued machine.

The above is a significant change from their previous polcy.....

Xerxers