Circuit City Restocking Fees

Circuit City Restocking Fees

August 20, 2005

WARNING: CIRCUIT CITY WILL NOT GIVE YOU A FULL REFUND FOR A DEFECTIVE DESKTOP PC, NOTEBOOK PC, MONITOR, PRINTER, SCANNER, DIGITAL CAMERA, CAMCORDER, OR RADAR DETECTOR. CIRCUIT CITY’S POLICY IS TO CHARGE YOU A 15% RESTOCKING FEE EXCEPT WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. In effect, if you pay $500 on a new Digital Camera, and when you get it home the camera does not function properly, you cannot receive a full refund! You would only get back $425! That’s a $75 PROFIT that Circuit City made by selling you a defective item! Circuit City's restocking fee for defective products may be waived under the following conditions: (Notice that all the waivers to the restocking fee, except one, entail Circuit City keeping the money you spent on the defective product purchased.) 1) A defective item is being exchanged for a like item of equal or greater value. 2) The product is being upgraded for an item of equal or greater value. 3) If a defective item is being exchanged for a like item and the exact model is not available for exchange: a. A gift card may be issued b. Under extraordinary circumstances a refund may be given. Circuit City ALLEGES that they are committed to providing excellent customer service. However, as a customer returning an item that DOES NOT FUNCTION PROPERLY, I expect a full refund. I have the following issues with their policies above: 1) When I purchase a product that does not function properly, I generally do not want that product replaced with a “like item.” I want an item that DOES function properly, generally in a different line. That may have to come from a different retailer altogether. 2) Why would I want a gift card? I didn’t PAY for the product with a gift card. 3) As for Upgrading… Buy one defective product and then be asked to upgrade to a more expensive product? Sounds like bait and switch. 4) And… what exactly are those “extraordinary circumstances”? CIRCUIT CITY CUSTOMER SUPPORT IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA STATED: "The restocking fee is a measured change in our policy, but is in line with return policies at several other national retailers. We hope that you will understand that we made this decision based on sound financial analysis, in hopes of being fiscally responsible to our customers, associates, and shareholders alike. Please remember that most products sold at Circuit City Stores, Inc. can still be returned for a full refund." MY OPINION: Yes sir, a measured (deliberate) decision in policy was made in hopes of being fiscally (financially) responsible (in charge) to (concerning) the customers. Put another way, a deliberate policy decision was made to be financially in charge concerning the customer by legally extorting money from the customer through "restocking fees" in states where the practice is not prohibited by law. That's excellent customer service? I THINK NOT! And when a policy is technically legal because it is not prohibited by law does not necessarily make the policy right. I purchased a scanner from the Medford, Oregon Circuit City store Friday, August 12, 2005. When I purchased the scanner, I inquired about the store return policy for defective products. I was informed that the store had a 14 day return policy. The scanner could not be made to operate even with assistance from the manufacturer's support technician. The day after the defective scanner was purchased, Circuit City refused to give me a full refund because the package had been opened and the 15% restocking fee applied. I defy anyone to attempt to use a product without first opening the package which contains that product. If a retailer's policy makes the customer feel like he/she is being ripped off, that is not excellent customer service. I am unhappy with Circuit City and refuse to purchase anything from Circuit City in the future. ALSO AT ISSUE: FOR WHAT PURPOSE WOULD ANY RETAIL OUTLET RESTOCK DEFECTIVE ITEMS? MY OPINION: GREED! When a retailer knows it can legally keep a percentage of a defective item's selling price, a retailer can make huge profits extorting customers by deliberately reselling defective items. And if the retailer is not restocking the defective items to resell, then what is the purpose for charging restocking fee? A 15% restocking fee on a defective $1500 computer is $225. The returned defective computer can be restocked by simply repackaging it with new packing materials, which cost under $10 dollars. This leaves a $215 profit for the retailer. That is a huge profit. Simply repackaging a defective item in new packaging materials to make it appear it has never been opened, and a retailer can continue restocking and re-selling that same defective item. This also can be labeled as recycling. The customers returning defective items pay for this restocking and pay for the retailer profits by consenting to the restocking fees. Am I saying that this is what Circuit City is practicing? No, but how can one be sure? It is said in business that perception is everything. The restocking fee policy is cause for a perception such as mine because the restocking fee policy provides the opportunity for such practices. By charging the customer a "restocking fee" for returning a defective item, the retailer is actually demanding a bonus for selling the customer the defective product. Restocking fees are nothing more than consumer fraud. Some may even call them statutory extortion. But, this is just my opinion.

Randall Click this link to e-mail the message author: Email User

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Add me to the list. I purchased a Gateway Desktop via their online store. When I tried to turn it on it was dead. Brought it to the store and they wanted to charge me a restocking fee. I couldn't beleive that here I had a dead computer and they wanted to restock it.

When I pulled out my CC rewards credit card the manager look at the card then said to the clerk "refund him the entire amount he has our rewards card". Glad I had the card but I know I won't purchase from them again ever.

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I agree with you completely a restocking fee should only be allowed if the item is returned unopened or unused..if a item is defective then the restocking fee should not even be a part of the picture (why restock something that is of no use to anyone)..money should be returned in full or item exchanged, but that should be up to the buyer not the seller..a gift card should be offered if and only if there is no receipt or if the customer requests one! if damage is seen on a dvd or cd then offer to exchange it or refund the price give the Buyer the choice..if damage is not seen then give a exchange only no refund..I think all restocking rules should be revised..

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I totally agree that retail stores should not be charging anybody re-stocking fee for defective products and in my opinion this is illegal to do. You should get more people and file a Class Action Law Suite and make them pay multi million dollar fine. Only then they would revisit their policies.

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I got scammed this way to, on a 1200.00 notebook. I will never buy from them again, and im writing a review on them.

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Purchased a hi def digital camcorder. Image stabalization was terrible and I was completely dissatified with the product. 15% restocking fee for selling me an inferior product. Would give a full credit if I spent an additional $500 for a better camera. This is why CompUSA is closing.

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I'm just as angry as you. I was sold a product that was already open, and they still charged me the restocking fee! Talk about a racket. I'll never buy from them again. Is it legal to picket out front? When I mentioned the clerk did not inform me about the restocking fee, the store manager actually took me to a sign on the wall that had (in tiny print) the re-stocking fee notice!

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I would like to add to this complaint--Circuit City employee was not honest with us on the purchase & as as result, we not only lost out on memories from a wedding we attended, but were also hit with their 15% stupid restocking fee, after only owning the camera for l0 days. We relied on the expertise of their employee & were informed later on, that he had no experience in that department at all. I would like to tell anyone & everyone that this store has no right to charge a fee for a return, especially when it is their own fault that their merchandise is not up to par, with what they claim to be their knowledge!!!!!!!!!