A nice experience – and here’s how to save an extra 2%
Written: Dec 03 '05 (Updated Dec 04 '05)
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A nice experience – and here’s how to save an extra 2%
Pros: They have the stuff I need and it’s ready FAST
Cons: There was a little line in the store
Bottom line: The store has a nice selection of electronics and the 24 minutes or $24 promotion is great.
Today, I wanted to get a replacement universal remote for my wife and some headphones for myself. I thought about Circuit City because they have a current promotion on. If you have a confirmed order for in-store pickup, it has to be ready in 24 minutes from the time the order is accepted or you get a $24 Circuit City giftcard.
I surfed over to the site and got details on the guarantee. You have to create an order of $25 or more. There is no shipping cost. The language does say that not all items are available for pickup.
The Circuit City website is easily laid out. There are two menu lines near the top of the site. One has clickable titles of what’s new, services, outlet, gift cards, shop by brand, weekly ad, store locator and catalog. The next menu is by type of product: TV & Video, Audio/MP3,PCs, Cameras, Car (audio), Home Office and Phones, Games & Toys, Movies and Music. Immediately underneath is the search function, which is basically what I usually use on the site and what I used today.
There are also a number of clickable promotion links. In the upper right corner, there are clickable links for cart, order status, “my account” and help.
The search function is great. I entered “universal remote”, looking for something that would control a TV, VCR and satellite receiver at a moderate price. It returned a summary of number of hits by category, and I clicked on the category, video accessories and it returned items in price order from lowest to highest. I easily selected the item that was the best value to me, and added it to my shopping cart. I felt like the information provided for the item was sufficient, although I did surf to the manufacturer’s web site on my own, to make sure what I had was compatible with the remote.
The next item I wanted was a set of headphones that I could use for listening to peaceful meditations and music before I sleep. I wanted lightweight headphones, ear cups, although open air is ok. I do not like ear buds. A short cord would be ok for my purposes, as would adequate fidelity. I searched and found several items for further research. I then used the site’s great ratings feature to help differentiate. The Sony studio monitors had great fidelity but several users commented that they are uncomfortable – hardly the thing to help peaceful music to get me sleepy. The more expensive headphones did not seem to be worth the extra money. I finally found a two-pack of Koss portable stereophones that were light, inexpensive and suited to my needs.
Booth items were available at my local store, so I completed the order. You do not have to be a site member to complete the order, although they do encourage it. I entered shipping address and my credit card information on a separate screen. I got a warning from Zone Alarm that the site certificate was out of date, but that didn’t bother me because of Circuit City’s reputation and that they guarantee that shopping with them is safe.
I confirmed and printed the order and brought the confirmation. The confirmation said that I had to pick up the items myself and come with a photo ID (drivers license), the credit card I used for the charge.
After running a few errands, I was at the store about half an hour after the order was confirmed. There were a few people ahead of me at customer service, but once at the head of the line, I furnished the confirmation, the drivers license and the credit card. The person swiped the card and gave me the receipt to sign. As soon as that was done, she got my stuff.
For me, knowing they had it, I would get the order in half an our and a $24 gift card if they couldn’t deliver was great. Time is a very precious resource and saving it is valuable.
You can also get an additional 2% rebate for circuitcity.com purchases through the Ebates web site. For more information, please check out my review of the Ebates site.
Ebates web portal
Thanks for reading. God bless!
You might be interested in some of my other reviews:
Sheetmusicplus.com web store
Activemusician.com web store
Chase Perfectcard rebate credit card
JP Morgan Chase Bank
First Midwest Bank
GMAC Mortgage
Like a Monster Movie (on Safeco Home Insurance)
How to Trash Three Years of Hard-earned Goodwill in Two Poorly Planned Weeks(on DHL)
There’s A Reason Why The Justice Department Shut Them Down (on KPMG Tax Services)
What Can Brown Do For Us? Not a Thing (on UPS)
ADP PC Payroll for Windows
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Koss KTX16 headphones; One for all Universal remote 4021
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