Less frustrating to shop at B & M: CC or BB?
 

In the past week I've noticed a lot of posts complaining about Best Buy B & M experiences and Circuit City B & M experiences and so I ask:
For the incredibly complicated transactions made by the users of this forum, do you prefer shopping at Best Buy or Circuit City?

-In terms of pricematching-

I've never had a problem pricematching at CC - usually BB investigates my pricematch request like a team of lawyers.

CC + MSN Wallet = :up:

I like shopping for major items at CC (tvs, cameras, etc.) , for little trivalties I don't plan on ever returning (dvds, video games, etc.), I'll cross the street and go to BB.

The main complaint I hear from people shopping at BB is the lack of knowledgeable staff/customer help, since I usually know what I want before I go into the store the most help I need is getting something out of over stock. Whenever I go into CC though it's an onslaught of "helpful" floor clerks who won't leave me alone -ohbfrank- Of course it's been awhile since I've been in one so maybe it's different now...

Best Buy because there isn't a Circuit City near me so I haven't been to one in years.

Best Buy has a larger selection and better prices. However, the customer service at Circuit City is great. I've never had a problem with any returns or pricematches. Plus, the lines are always shorter at CC. When I have to, I'll shop at BB. But in the end, CC gets my vote.

I prefer Best Buy. They rarely run out of stock on the sale items like Circuit City frequently does.

Toss-up. Best Buy has a better selection and better organization, but Circuit City has better customer service and shorter lines.

CC has lately been really great at price-matching. Last year, they PMed "Attack of the Clones" with Toys-R-Us, and I got it for $9.49 without a problem.

Whichever's cheapest.

With price matching in theory they cost the same.

Circuit City is way preferred by me. Best Buy is the Walmart of consumer electronics stores(warehourse style building, stock on the showroom floor, enormous lines with never enough registers open). That combines with the fact that both of the BB stores near me have horribly designed parking lots and one of the stores itself has the narrowest aisles ever(the DVD/Video game aisles are so narrow they're roughly 1 person wide) I always prefer CC.

CC for good CS, no-hassle PM and excellent return policy.

Forgot to mention another reason why I prefer CC. A CS person once gave me a huge hastle about returning a TV that I had purchased at BB. I had kept the box, reciept, manuals and all because I was contemplating upgrading to a better set. The CS person claimed that i damaged the TV (apparently there was a small scratch on the top of the casing which I hadn't even noticed) and tried to prevent me from returning it. After getting semi ticked she caved and said "well i really shouldn't let you do this but I will". When she asked if I wanted to look for something else or just get the money back on my credit card I said "credit card, because there's no way in hell I'm buying another TV set from this place". They had the set I wanted but instead I drove 5 minutes down the road to Bernie's, got a better price on the same set, and much friendlier service.
Conversely, at CC, I once got a defective DVD and they didn't have another copy of the same disc. The CS person let me choose another DVD instead with no hastle.
I don't mind picking up small items at Best Buy, but after that day with the TV hastle, I swore to never buy an item that costs $100 or more at Best Buy.

the people who work at the CC near me (century III) are the biggest dicks in the world, I have never gone in there and asked a question where the people don't treat me like an idiot and look down on me like I was dumb. They allways acted annoyed because you don't know everything there is to know about stuff you are looking at. The best buy near me is great, the guys there usually do everything they can to help me...

For me, its always the opposite. I usually get the background check from CC when I want a pricematch. Best Buy employees never even call the store to check if the price I want is real.

If you ever have problems like that, there's a corporate customer service number available from their front counter. It gets things straightened out really quick normally.

If you know what you want, Best Buy has to be the best place to shop. If you don't need to rely on a salesman for information (and there's no reason why you should if you have access to the internet you can do loads of research on your own fairly quick) BB is the way to go. Mainly because they actually have employees staffed at checkout stands by the doors, where you'd assume they'd go. Makes for quick easy shopping.

I've never been able to go in, grab something, and get out quick from CC. Their checkstands are scattered throughout each dept, and the employee that supposedly staffs it is never at it. They usually hang out in the back room or with one of their friends in the parking lot, I think. CC employees seem to be more knowledgable, but since most of the time they are MIA, the knowledge is worthless.

Let me tell you something. Yesterday I went to Best Buy, and two employess wouldn't give me the time of day when I asked for help in finding "For a Few Dollars More". Now, the third one actually checked the computer and aisle, which neither two before did, but finally had to go when there was nothing more to do. I thanked him. But when turned the corner, I heard him say, "I know, right!"

It's rediculous how they treat you in there. God forbid there's a promotion going on, and I'm looking for one of the included dvds. Unbelievable.

CC always treats their customers better than BB B&Ms in my area. BB tends to have the better prices but it's never a hassle to go in CC and get a PM. PMs at BB require me to go stand in the customer service cha-cha line. There are never lines in CC and I can usually get in and out of CC in alot less time than BB.