Circuit City Refuses to Honor Call of Duty 4 Deal
By Jonathan on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 9:07 PM PST In Call of Duty, Computer, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Gamer Life, Games, Games Industry, Microsoft, Sony
It should come as no surprise to seasoned game shoppers to hear that Circuit City has apparently refused to honor yet another of their own promotions. Several people saw an ad for Call of Duty 4 saying they could get a free copy of CoD3 if they went to Circuit City to make their purchase and happily made the trek there earlier today. But, as Adam, a reader of The Consumerist, reports:
Today, like many anxious gamers, I went to Circuit City (Store # 3111) to pick up the highly anticipated “Call of Duty 4″ for the XBox 360. I chose to pick it up at Circuit City as this week’s circular ad listed a free copy of the previous game “Call of Duty 3″ with purchase. When I went to check out, I was told that it was a misprint and that they refused to honor it. Myself, along with about half a dozen co-workers were rightfully angry that we wasted our lunch hour on this Circuit City bait-and-switch, that has become too common with this outlet lately.
To make things weirder, that ad in question is still listed on their website for Naperville, IL, and it clearly mentions a free copy of CoD3 not once but twice; not exactly something that can be explained as a simple misprint. My own experiences with Circuit City have been less than pleasant, so I’ve known to avoid them for awhile now. But still, that sort of bait-and-switch tactic is pretty tacky in itself.
Via The Consumerist
Sucks that C&C is fucking you over.
Just bring the ad to Best Buy, they’ll honor it like they did for me. Only thing is, you won’t get the poster
. That brought tears to my eyes. Anyway, I only shopped at the B&B& after I found out that all the local C&C ran out of COD4 & COD3.
matt, its jackass’s like you who I took pleasure in telling No, Go use your penny pinching, ass-hattery somewhere else, I dont give a shit if you do spend your money somewhere else.
Go eat a gun
@exccemployee
people need money to live man, part of being a smart gamer is getting the best deal.
hey buddy such a good website but i am surprised that why i did’t know about your website i think u never post your stories on http://www.laadi.com my all friends use laadi.com to search for new and latest stories anyway good work Keep it up i will tell all my friends about your website.
Aryan, keep your spam the fuck out.
I bought Battlefield 2142 in a similar promotion last fall at CC.
The day after the mayhem, I went to get my game and was told, “we never got them”.
I had prepaid and waited another week before buying the game elsewhere.
They tried to stop me from getting a refund saying “your game is on its way”.
After just about shouting at the manager I got a refund.
But I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING AT CC AGAIN.
Every time I buy something at Best Buy lately, the register rings up for less $$ than the price tag. I am not telling them.
Exccemployee, did you just get fired? An hour ago you were ccemployee… Sorry for your loss.
CC.is pretty cool. I got my deal. let alone the players guide.
Haven’t shopped at a Circuit city for almost three years now. The last straw was December 2004, when I was trying to track down a copy of the then-elusive World of Warcraft, found the closest one at a Circuit City some 45 minutes away, called them and received a verbal confirmation that they would hold their last remaining copy for two hours while I made the tedious drive to their location. Got there, asked for the copy they had on hold, and twiddled my thumbs for twenty minutes while the incompetant at the desk shuffled around the back room before finally returning to tell me they had sold their last copy a half hour ago.
People complain about GameStop customer service, but GS is a dream compared to trying to deal with the bait-and-switch bullshit they try to foist on you at Circuit City.
No problems for me!
I went to my local Circuit City, here in Mesa Arizona. I’ve been playing COD4 for a day now, and will wait to open up my free copy of COD3.
I repeat – I received both games for buying COD4.
LoL I trained at that circuit city a few months back and still work for that at 2468.
It is even listed as free with purchase on the Circuit City website as a bundle:
http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/oid/190733/bundleId/15255/rpem/ccd/bundleDetail.do
I LOVe CC because they ARE lame brained idiots.
I have price matched their ads for years & end up spending less than I should.
Its gotten so funny that when I walk into my local CC the manager just smiles and asks me what I have to price match today.
while supplies last, would have been easier to tell you ” we ran out “
i worked at CC for years, and sometimes shit happens. we’d have honored the free call of duty thing until we ran out of CoD3, which would have been about 6 or 7 customers into the day. you can’t show up to a store at noon and expect the promo you’d get at 10, it doesn’t work that way.
First of all Bait and Switch is the following (PLEASE Stop mis-using the term). Advertising an item for a price and then not having available for sale, AND then offering and more expensive item in-place of that. Hence the word BAIT to bring you in with a temptation of an item and Switch, to offer you a more expensive item in its place when stock is not available.
That said, you run a business and make a mistake and I’ll piss on your cornflakes also. Gee seems no one can be falible. Granted I am not sticking up for the CIty, but I would rather focus on the real problems with that business.
So before you cry wolf, get you legal interruptation correct, because technically CC could claim “slander” against you, and BTW don’t hide under the Blogger guise its not consider under the freedom of speech
or
In law, defamation is the communication of a statement that makes a false claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may harm the reputation of an individual, business, product, group, government or nation. Most jurisdictions allow legal actions, civil and/or criminal, to deter various kinds of defamation and retaliate against criticism.
http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/oid/190733/bundleId/15255/rpem/ccd/bundleDetail.do
@ Chris
how is blogger not under freedom of speech? Just wondering.
Sorry Chris, you are wrong.
From the FTC:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/baitads-gd.htm
Sec. 238.0 Bait advertising defined.1
Bait advertising is an alluring but insincere offer to sell a product or service which the advertiser in truth does not intend or want to sell. Its purpose is to switch consumers from buying the advertised merchandise, in order to sell something else, usually at a higher price or on a basis more advantageous to the advertiser. The primary aim of a bait advertisement is to obtain leads as to persons interested in buying merchandise of the type so advertised.
Clearly the advertising is Bait, and the purpose was to get the customers in to Purchase the game and get an item free, as in a Bundle. Instead they said that it was a mistake and you can not get the Bundle that includes CoD 3, and must instead purchase them separately if you want both. You are, in effect, getting a different product than what you went in for. You went in for a bundle, you got a single item or had to buy both. And the basis is more advantageous to Circuit City because their cost is lower by not giving you the free game.
Go to CompUSA. they’re doing the same thing, only they wont bone you on it. plus you get 25 or 50% off an accessory, i dont remember which, so you can get a 360 controller and play it the way your meant too
Its rather simple people, if its a misprint and trust me I work in retail and it happens often, not just my store but every store. All the store needs to do it print out a piece of paper saying sorry for the misprint and the correction of the add and put it up in their store and its covered. How do I know this? On a couple occations ive had to put these signs up so we couldn’t get sued, those were the words from my manager.
Anyone anti circuit city is silly because most places in retail all work the same way, for people hating employees?? Well buddy thats just life and everywhere ya go people are who they are no company will change that.
To Oh fo sho:
EB Games does not exist anymore. They were bought out by Gamestop over a year ago.
I heard from a friend (AKA unconfirmed) that CC employees are treated like crud, they will hire you until they get someone else who will take the job for less, anyone else heard of this, or is this an isolated incident. I know businesses are in it to make money but hiring and firring employees like stocks?
It wasn’t a misprint, just a system error. Sounds like you went to a bad store. Emails were sent from corporate to manually adjust the price to honor the ad. If something is a misprint, then there will be a corporate written Ad Correction. You should have gotten a manager involved.
MR Croup…. have you not read most CC are actually honoring the ad, As for the FTC great you can quote, BUT Bait and Switch means CC never meant to sell to the CoD 4, which is what they offered not at a lower price same price, they just added a freebie. Which is not consider Bait and Switch trust me I work with people who file and adjudicate these types of cases. And example would be to say I have a Call of Duty 4 for 34.99, yet when you call or come to buy it I say sorry we don’t have that, BUT I do have another version Call of Duty 3 for 49.99. That’s why they always have some disclaimer that states “as supplies last.” it saves them from the BAIT and SWITCH argument. MR Coup don’t just cut and past interpret what you read or ask a lawyer…. someone thats trained to know law. Hell I can act like a doctor by looking up symptoms on web pages also.
Ok as for the Blogging, unless you really want to press the Freedom of Speech, read it. It doesn’t offer immunity from defamation. If you write or defame someone they have the right to prosecute. Does it happen a lot no, but when the statement affects the person, business or group they do have the right to press against it.
I love how people can cut and paste information from the web.
What I am trying to state is this, CC isn’t the only company that make these types of claims it won’t be the last. Flaming them and calling them names doesn’t change this. You can choose not to shop there (just as I have banned Domino’s Pizza for my own reasons.) To condemn them in a public form and make false statements is not what our Free Speech is about.
Even it was a misprint, Circuit City still has to honor the ad and give you the free game (and the poster if they have any left). Contact the BBB or consult a lawyer.
Yea same thing happened to me today. went there and they had cod4 but never had cod3. it wasn’t that they selled out or anything just never had it. said “others” might. even on the online store they are out of stock wow. i’m very upset about this as others are.
If it was on their ad, they still have to honor it even if it is a misprint. I used to work at Circuit City when I was younger and the place I worked at honored every occasional misprints. It all depends on the location and if their number 1 priority is to the customer.
the markup on a video game is 20 dollars. they buy the xbox360 game for 40 dollars.
# Joelteon7 says:
November 7th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Dunno in the US, but in the UK if there is a price or offer listing, be it in-store or on an ad, evne if it wasn’t the correct one, they are obligated to follow it (a kind of, you have to ask, but they can’t say no thing). Pretty bad that you’re not getting your free game.
In Portugal they are also obligated…
I got mine! wooo… Sometimes you just have to be nice and persuasive.. I had the store manager ring up mine…
I got my COD3 without incident.
I use the in-store pickup all the time with Circuit City. I take the gamble my order will not be ready. Unfortunately for me, out of the past ten orders I have made during the past few months, only once has my order not be ready [ready means it is already pulled and in the area behind the customer service desk which is behind a wall by their in-store warehouse].
For all you ding-a-lings who do not understand the Circuit City 24 minute in-store pickup guarantee, here is the exact wording that is printed on your on-line order confirmation receipt…
Circuit City in-store pickup:
Print this page or your confirmation email, which will arrive momentarily and includes a coupon good for future purchases.
Bring your printed confirmation to the service counter at the Circuit City store listed below, along with your driver’s license or other government-issued ID and the credit card used for this purchase.
Only you or an authorized user of the credit card used to make this purchase may pick up the merchandise at the store.
If your order of $25 or more is not ready for pickup 24 minutes after the timestamp on your confirmation email, we’ll give you a $24 Circuit City gift card.
Please note: The 24-minute guarantee excludes time spent waiting in line. Read the details here.
Please pick up your order within 14 days. After 14 days, your order will be cancelled and your money refunded.
I was on the Circuit City website, and when you add Call of Duty 3 as the promotion, it automatically gives the discount. The store is full of shit.
My brother works at Circuit City, and after asking him about it, he said they received shipments of BOTH COD4 AND COD3 specifically for this exact reason. His store is honoring the ad and he says it is NOT a misprint. Someone got screwed.
I guess we now know why they retired their old motto “”Where Service is State of the Art”
I will admit that Circuit city is pritty crapy, actually….really crappy, but i agree with “exccemployee”, couldn’t have said it better, lol. Oh and getting fired from CC isn’t a loss. ;p
My roommate works at another Circuit City, so I asked him about it. The store that did not honor the deal (3111) was just confused because the register system did not ring up the promotion. When this did not show up in the system clearly that store thought it was a misprint. Unlike that particular store my friend’s store honored the deal, simply making the necessary price adjusts to customers’ tickets. The only problem was that they ran out of copies of CoD3 relatively quickly. An email was sent out part way through the day yesterday telling employees about the mistake in the system and it basically told everyone to price adjust CoD3 to honor the deal. Sorry you had a bad experience, but it sounds to me like they just made a mistake and I’m sure if you went back they’d be able to help you out.
@Chris
MR Croup’s “quote” was a definition found in a regulation. It’s not simply a random thought someone threw together and slapped on the internet. Regulations carry the weight of law.
Also, you act as if defamation is the easiest thing in the world to win. Circuit City would have the burden of proving that it did not intend to bait and switch. And if they can do that (which they likely can in the COD3/4 instance), they’ll open themselves up to evidence surrounding countless other ads that are believable enough to get people into a store only to be denied (Go to CC today and look at the wall by the circulars; count how many sheets of paper are up indicating which ads are “misprints”).
Even if CC can prove that allegations of bait and switch and misleading advertising are false, they would then have to prove that the folks who made these claims KNEW they were false, and made the statements with Malice, or the specific intent to hurt CC.
Yes, the First Amendment does not protect someone from all speech, but there are significant hurdles to jump if you want to overcome that protection.
Finally, the claim that “CC isn’t the only company that make these types of claims it won’t be the last” doesn’t somehow absolve CC of any wrongdoing.
i used to work at circuit city and they pulled this stunt everyweek. especially with promising free items and never coming through. we used to tell customers that the shipment never came just to get them off our backs. an old man once told me he was going to report this to the attorney general (on an advertising mistake) and i just laughed in his face until he left the store. retail is truely the end of our values as a society
@Chris
It doesn’t matter how many stores comply with the ad. The fact still remains that the stores that Do NOT comply are breaking the law and as such can be prosecuted. It doesn’t change the fact that while corporate is saying it is a genuine ad, there are stores that are going against corporate wishes to pad their bottom line.
I don’t care who you supposedly work for, you obviously have no clue about legal definition. If you do work at such a firm, you sound like you are just the mail boy. And I can guarantee you that it would hold up in a court of law. It is called “Interpretation” and just about any judge is going to interpret the incident as bait and switch. And just about any person on the jury (Did you forget that you can require a jury on anything that goes to a standard court?) is going to see it as bait and switch.
Had the same problem with a set of speakers. Kicker 12s supposedly buy 1 get 1 according to the mailer and the web. When I got there, no one knew anything about it. That place is worthless.
I too went to get the game.
It seems it was unfortunate that people were told it was a misprint. The ad in my area clearly said, “Minimum 5 per store, while supplies last”
I was number 8 on line, they had 6 copies of COD4/COD3 … after that, supplies of COD3 ran out, and it was COD4 for the rest of us.
It’s also very annoying.. maybe a little off of the free COD3 topic but the employees at my local CC just play around all day and you could sit there forever and know one would come to you, they’d just keep tossing around some toy around the store. And we were there to buy a new labtop (over $1000) and they make commission.. Yet we go to Best Buy where they don’t make commission, yet we are always approached for help at their first chance.
Best Buy is better.
Circuit City has cheated me before.
And this is no surprise that their not honoring what they published.
If your gonna get the game b/c of the free COD3 and they don’t give it to you.
Get the game somewhere else anyways.
Don’t give CC your business.
Just my two cents on this, too… I went to my local CC to get CODD4 and since they did not have any more COD3 left to give away, they offered to take $30 off of another game. At first they said it was only valid on a $59.99 game (excluding Halo3 for some reason), but since I was buying a $49.99 game and a $19.99 game, I was able to get them to take $25 off the first and $5 off the second game (thanks, James!). So, yes (as has been stated before), this is COMPANY-WIDE deal, and should be honored as such. And, hey, look for a store with no more COD3, and get $30 off.
I did get the Call of Duty 3 for free at Bolingbrook,il at Circuit City on Nov 8th
I work as a CSA at circuit city…and people always try to say everything we do is false advertisement. First off the 24/24 guarantee excludes waiting in line in the store…to get the item we have to change the release date and once that is completed then the 24 minutes starts. The minute the order is placed online by a customer we got a ticket for it called a “go-get”. We have 15 minutes to get the “go-get”. If we dont have the item in stock, we have 15 minutes to notify the customer by phone. In regards to COD3 being free with purchase of COD4, 1. rainchecks are not allowed on video games. 2. It is not false advertising if we had the item in stock by the start date on the current ad. 3. I do not know why the store would not honor it, maybe they didnt have it in stock. The store I work in sold out of COD3 in two days…just so you know it is not false advertising. Even though Circuit City has a team of lawyers, they are not going to waste their time trying to screw people over nor do they want the bad press…
Thank you Mike Jones! I work at sears and i get these same customers that bitch about everything. Because they didnt read the sign all the way its instantly false advertising and they should get something free. People need to get a life!
Mike Jones says it all. For the 24/24 if you read the e-mail you receive after placing the order it explains everything. They aren’t going to give you a $24 gift card if you buy the item and then drive 24 minutes to get to the store walk in and its not sitting on the front counter wrapped in a bow for you. Now if they change the date in the system, check your id, swipe your card, have you sign, go to grab the item and then don’t have it stagged for you…yes, in that case you would. COD3 free with the purchase of COD4 was honored, and if it wasn’t then that is that specific stores problem, because corporate offices sent everyone employed at circuit city an email saying that it had to be honored and how to handle it. Don’t take things out on the company because you have one bad experience at a certain store, try going to a different circuit.
I know how you feel about false advertisement. Just today my sister’s boyfriend just bought a Pioneer 6.5″ In-Dash Mobile Viedo and the Pioneer IPod Interface Adapter for the price of $50.87 when the actually price is $649.99. On the website it says that you can get it for the price of $50.87 by adding the IPod Interface Adapter. Many people were able to purchase the item for that price but when I went in store to go get one for myself they said they couldn’t honor it. And now reading your article I understand that Circuit City has some very uneducated employees who are not confirming is this advertise is correct or not. I will never go back to Circuit City even again. The employee and manager who helped me were rude to me when I asked them about the item and they also lied to me. One employee said that they had turned 2 people away earlier about the item but the manager said they turned away 10. She just said that so I would just leave. What kind of a corporation is Circuit City? A very stupid corporation indeed.