Carsumer Advocacy: Circuit City does right by damaged Civic Si owner
You may recall a Carsumer Advocacy post we published a couple weeks ago about an 8thcivic.com forum member whose new Honda Civic Si suffered $12,199.64 worth of damage after Circuit City employees botched the install of a $3,000+ stereo in his car. At the time, Circuit City had decided to only refund the cost of the stereo. The owner, who goes by the handle VTECnical, took his cause to the internet and once again, the internet came through. VTECnical has posted on 8thcivic.com that Circuit City has stepped up and will take care of the car. He told Autoblog in an email that he wasn't at liberty to discuss the matter further, but we've been in contact with some people repping Circuit City who told us that the consumer electronics store's third-party insurance provider covered $10,158.45 of the repair cost and the store itself paid for the rest out of its own pocket. On top of that, Circuit City gave VTECnical a brand new Pioneer AVIC Z2 valued at over $2,000. Congrats to VTECnical and props to Circuit City for doing the right thing.[Source: 8thcivic.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
John Johnson 1:36PM (4/15/2008)
D3 > Z2
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Allan 1:56PM (4/15/2008)
free > not free
John R 1:41PM (4/15/2008)
It would appear Circuit City understands the consequences of negative press better than some BMW dealerships.
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Ben 1:45PM (4/15/2008)
Insurance covered the mishap whereas the other debacle was more about idiocy.
John R 1:51PM (4/15/2008)
"...the store itself paid for the rest out of its own pocket."
I'm wondering if they were compelled to do so or if the store did this out of its own volition.
Fernando 2:09PM (4/15/2008)
I'm surprised they didn't dispute the charges. I mean, $12k in damages on a Civic interior? Did you guys see the pictures and the estimates the guy posted? You'd think they'd almost total the car out for this.
sfast 11:08PM (4/15/2008)
yeah, I wonder the same thing. If that Civic was say..22k, then just buy a new one and sell ruined one for parts. Between the engine and all the body parts there has to be 10k there.
Dave 9:16AM (4/16/2008)
What, no instore credet?
R 1:43PM (4/15/2008)
The lesson here:
If someone else is paying the bill, get a bloated repair estimate from the dealership. Haha.
Second lesson:
Don't go to Circuit City for mobile electronics installation.
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dewfish 2:01PM (4/15/2008)
actually, I view this as a reason to go to circuit city. No matter where you go, mistakes can happen. What matters is how the company handles the situation after the mistake. I usually don't go to circuit city myself (I prefer best buy), but they did the right thing here.
gfxdave99 2:50PM (4/15/2008)
Circuit Cities are just like any other nationwide chain there are good ones and bad ones as far as the mobile electronics section goes. I just had the local CC do some amp and speaker cable wiring for me on my car and they did a professional job and everything was put back together correctly and charged me much less then any of the other local shops wanted. You just have to talk to the actual installer to get a feel if hes a tool or not.
2004m3driver 1:44PM (4/15/2008)
Awesome. Its good to have the internet on your side.
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Andre 2:21PM (4/15/2008)
No doubt, No doubt, Internet and Forums FTW
Joshua ... 1:51PM (4/15/2008)
Well atleast they did right.
Lets face it, sometimes these things happen.
Its unpleasant, but good to see the company do the right thing.
The downside is though, they should have done right before it hit the net.
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Joshua 2:31PM (4/15/2008)
totally awesome - for VTECnical and Circuit City!
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J. D. Billiford 2:50PM (4/15/2008)
>>> Score one for the consumer!
But in all fairness I have to also give kudos to Circuit City for stepping up to the plate and doing the right thing for the customer.
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Dustin Wyatt 3:03PM (4/15/2008)
I give no "props" to CC.
The fact that it took an internet campaign to get them to do the right thing is stupid.
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Richard S. 3:17PM (4/15/2008)
Agree. Had it not been the bad publicity, the higher-ups at Circuit City would not have 1)know of the situation and 2)be forced to act to avoid a bad reputation.
But what Circuit City should have done was sit down with the Civic owner, apologized and then told him that they will take care of him but what they would like is to find maybe another qualified dealer or service center to give a second estimate for the repairs.
MajorGeek 3:50PM (4/15/2008)
13k in damage to a what, 16k car or so? Ive had work done at the chains once, no huge hassles, but frankly, while you can get screwed anywhere going to a chain for your car is like going to a Super Cuts expecting a great haircut.
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matt 10:14PM (4/15/2008)
try $23k base.