Well, now I’m not shopping at CircuitCity.com or Best Buy. Seriously. The new CircuitCity.com launched under new management last week we found the following statement within the return policy section.
Some manufacturers have implemented returns restrictions that prevent CircuitCity.com from being able to accept returns or offer exchanges, replacements or credits on their products for any reason. Products from manufacturers such as Compaq, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, Epson, and others are not returnable to CircuitCity.com FOR ANY REASON. All support as well as exchanges or replacements for DEFECTIVE merchandise, including within the first 30 days of ownership, must be handled directly with the product manufacturer. CircuitCity.com cannot accept any returns nor offer replacement, exchanges or credit for ANY product missing the UPC code. Only the product manufacturer can replace any DEFECTIVE item missing the UPC sticker.
Terrible, right? Well, the site has since been updated with less intimidating but still anti-consumer wording. We also found that the list of brands under this policy is a lot longer than previously stated.
Some manufacturers have implemented returns restrictions that prevent CircuitCity.com from being able to accept returns or offer exchanges, replacements or credits on their products for any reason. Please check the item listing on our website to determine if special return policies are applicable to your products. Support as well as exchanges or replacements for products with manufacturer or supplier restrictions, including within the first 30 days of ownership, must be handled directly with the product manufacturer or supplier. You can find the manufacturer or suppliers contact information in your product manual, in the item listing, on the manufacturer’s website or at our help center .
I did some looking around and it seems that CircuitCity.com will accept returns on all major purchases like computers, HDTVs, monitors, and most digital cameras. Per the new wording, each product page indicates what the return policy is for the shown item.
Sure enough, if the 30 Day Guarantee logo is shown in the information bar, the product can be returned for a full refund within 30 days.
If that logo is missing though, this section is displayed at the bottom of the page indicating that an exchange can be made, but no refunds will be granted.
NewEgg also has a limited return policy. However, it doesn’t seem to be as prevalent and only a few brands (marked by a *) full under the policy.
These are some of the brands that I found that have restrictions on returns. It seems to be random and not every product from these brands fall under this tough policy. I’m sure there are more and if you find any, drop a note in the comments below and I’ll add it too the list.
- BTI
- imation
- TurtleBeach
- Tritton
- xitel
- Nintendo *
- Microsoft Xbox items *
- Sony Playstation items *
- Kodak *
- Western Digital
- Seagate
- Netgear
- D-Link
- HP
- Cisco
- Linksys
- Genius
- InFocus *
- Epson
After seeing this ridiculous return policy, why would anyone shop at the new CircuitCity.com? I know I’m not going to buy anything from the site. Their prices aren’t that special. I would rather spend a few dollars more at NewEgg or Amazon and have a legitimate return policy.