that is awesome.

Update... I forgot to mention this:


What I neglected to mention was that the Department Manager, prior to the arrival of his Store Director, made reference to an email that was sent out. He said something along the lines of (I apologize if I cannot quote directly, it was a heated debate) "We got an email on this. It's a mistake." I asked him "Is it your mistake" - "No!". "Is it CSR1's mistake??". "No." "Is it my mistake??" "No.". "Ok, fine. Did you tell CSR1 about this? When you got this email did you think to get everyone together and tell them about it?" "No, he didn't know." - "Ok. If he didn't know, and it wasn't his mistake.... did you send me the email?"

That was about the point the veins in his forehead begin losing structural integrity.

Woah!! That's bas a**! This is just me speaking, but I would infer that a very large plasma TV with all the trimmings delivered and installed would make the whole situation go away nicely See what that does to CCs bottom line!!

Holy crap,I'd tell them to stick the apology up their bunghole.
File the charges,hope you got names of people that witnessed this,and definately call your lawyer.
I'd settle for nothing less the his job.
Fark corprate,they need to let him me the poster child for incompetence.
He should have called cops if he thought he was in the right,rather than assult you.
He was lucky it wasn't someone with a short fuse,he might have got the crap beat out of him.

nice job undefined. You showed them not to mess with FW.

Make sure to take his job at the least. If it's not safe to shop at F**kin CC then where are you suppose to shop?

MSUtiny

*PS*
If it were me I would have knocked his F**KING HEAD OFF in "Self Defense".

nice work op!

Nice. You really put the red chilli (as in your avatar) up the CC manager's <u know where>

By the way, blocking your way and not allowing you to leave the store could be interpreted as unlawful imprisonment. The local prosecutor may be interested in this...

Good luck with this. If it was me, I would demand that they make this right with an apology plus some form of tangible benefit to account for your distress.

You should have called the police right after he assaulted you. Without impartial witnesses, its your word against the employee. Nothing will result from your complaints.

Rath

Let's see:

Civil: Assault, battery, false imprisonment
Criminal: Assault, false imprisonment, robbery

I'd personally demand at the minimum that CC fire the "store director".

I soooo hate CC...Went to a CC once to look at a laptop, decided I didn't want to purchase the laptop. I ended up going to the Office Depot next door, in there for 5 minutes and I'm being paged; go to the Service Counter and it's the salesman from the CC next door trying to get me to come back and purchase the laptop. That was over 5 yrs ago, and last time I stepped foot in a CC; now just ocasionally I take advantage of their free shipping for $9.99 CD's. Hope you take every legal action towards CC you can, noone deserves to be assaulted and embarassed like this in a store over $4.99 video games.  Message edited by: Rowan on 2004-12-13 21:31:24

follow up with your lawyer and a lawsuit, AND press charges. don't let them get away with physically assaulting customers. not only should the director lose his job he should get plenty of hours of community service from a judge. and Circuit City is financially responsible for their employee physically attacking a customer.

take them down dude.
this is really outrageous. if possible get the local news involve.
i mean really what right do they have touching u and making u return for items u bought

Wow, kudos for keeping your cool. Did any of the other spectating customers do anything to help you?

Just curious, which CC was this?

I hate all of these stores, BB,CC,Cusa,omax,odepot,Staples etc. They all are run by a bunch of people who don't have a clue. They do not teach manners, these kids don't give a crap about the customers. I hope CC gets what they deserve. It is futile to ask questions, every time I ask they either pick up the box and start reading or just read what is on the tag, hell I can do that. I commend the op on his resolve, it is not your fault they are idiots. Fatwallet catches these jerks when they make mistakes and I love it.

I would file a police report right away. I'd also suggest that the police collect any surveillance tapes as evidence (if the manager hasn't already destroyed them). If what you've told us is the complete story, the manager was obviously out of control (and a criminal to boot), so I'd hope that your combination of complaining and filing a police report would help CC do the right thing.

CC may or may not be an "evil corporation" but I can guarantee you that they don't want clowns like the one described working for them.

I applaud your levelheadedness (sp?) and think you did the right thing. I am in total agreement about getting an apology and letting it go. Excellent work turning the other cheek, did you have your WWJD bracelet on?

If through the legal wranglings of all of this the video of the confrontation is made available, you've just got to share it with us FWers. I wish that I was there. I applaud your strong character and level-headedness.

also, OP keep us updated....

OP, which city or state this incident happened? Thanks.

Time to involve you local television station. That store director went way too far.

Just about every Circuit City management type personnel I have ever encountered has an elitist and cocky mannerism about themselves. They try so hard to exude this persona that they are so much more intelligent and above the social class that you are in, or could just squish you like a peon bug.

Go get them, OP. What they did to you was just plain disrespectful and despicable.

I'm waiting for the follow up.
I'm shaking mad thinking about it and what I would be feeling at that time.
Sounds like your wife played it perfect also.
This is like a good novel.
I'm waiting for the next chapter

Without giving names of the employees involved, the store I was at was store #3347 in Lakewood, CO.


Please note: my experience does not necessarily reflect the attitude or actions of everyone employee at that store. The CSR I dealt with (CSR1) was a really nice person.

what the CC store director did was just plain wrong and out of line. i would have simply called the police and have this guy taken in for physical assault. if you've done that, he would be facing misdemeanor charges, but something like this an attorney would get it down to a disturbing the peace and he would end up doing community service after getting fired.

undefined, i also applaud you for your level head ness (is that even a word?) and your lack of litigiousness (i'm gonna take cc for a legal ride!). u show that most fw'ers are not some bandits trying to rip off the retailers.
good job and let us know how things turn out. i also whole heartedly agree that most employees at cc or any other store are trying to make a living like u and me and do not need to be punished because some idiot decides he's not going to treat a paying customer right.
kudos man.  Message edited by: miserly on 2004-12-13 22:32:00

wow, just reading this story makes me waanna go there and have the samet hing happen to me, excect ID MAKE A SCENE...A HUGE MOFOING SCENE. get the cops over the, make sure that CC never gets business AGAIN...and i get all their merchandise, GOOD LUCK, put em outta business, what games did you get btw?

I would request an immediate contract termination of the specific employee and formal apology from Circuit City.

don't be so lienent undefined, your already helping them too much by not filing going to CC first, you need that police report, and ask for termination. It was mentioned earlier, by doing this, you are protecting yourself, your family, FW members who shop there, and anyone else who would be hassled by that manager

I cant believe he got so pissed over a few games....

. Undefined, too bad it will take some hours of your time to follow up on this, but it may help the next person in that store, from being hurt. I could just imagine a fiesty old PS2-player granny going toe to toe with those jerks and ending up with a hip replacement.

. makes me feel a lot better seeing CC pick on someone who understand non-violent self defence and knowing CC did only harm to themselves.

. be sure to make it a big harm unto CC. Stupidity should be painful.

Did this happen in the US of A?
I really appreciate your level headedness and composure during the whole thing and afterwards.
your behaviour was really exemplary.
But as others have said don't be lenient, take action bro. They made a mistake and they should pay for it.
would you want this to happen to another member or some nice kid who just wanted games for good $$.
The manager and store director assaulted you. common man, no body can push you around.
If you let them go just for an apology, they are sure to repeat this.
Call you TV station, the PD and keep us updated.

CC manager really sucks...Excellent job from OP!

BTW, Please keep the story "to be continued"  Message edited by: oliva on 2004-12-13 22:59:31

Believe me, I will be following up with this. At the moment, I don't know what the outcome will be. As an American who was raised overseas I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the concept of litigation. What I mean by that (I'm actually looking to go to law school, don't it's not that I don't understand litigation) is that I hope that there is a way to mend fences and prevent this from happening again without going to court, spending a bunch of money (on both parties account), and fighting for a large $$$ value in "punitive" damages. I still retain hope that businesses can learn lessons when given the opportunity to PREVENT litigation.

No matter what happens - I will keep ya'll informed.

One word...wow. I totally agree with what's already been said, assault, imprisonment, etc. Get in touch with your atty and see what you can do about these clowns, it's high time CC gets taught a lesson. Good job so far

They didn't have any management training or what?
This is out of control! OP, hope to get more follow up from you soon...

. make them watch Anger Management, the movie, every morning at the store for a year. Goosfraba!!!

in boulder. this makes me want to drive 30 minutes to lakewood and buy every game they have if they're still at $5

here here, man of the year for undefined, sometimes having the correct attitude and actions are more important than finding hot deals, though it's going to be prety close between a few other deals (400sc for $124, greengamemachine etc etc)

I'm sorry to hear about your encounter, what a jerk. But you certainly handled yourself well, thanks for sharing the story, it's something we can all aspire to.

It's ridicilous. I mean, I was surprised at what BB did (made a lady return 1-cent strategy guides, see other thread), but this is pushing the limits. As others said, I suggest contacting local newspapers/TV/radio. I don't think just filing police report will do. Most companies (other than *cough* BB *cough*) are afraid of bad publicity and will do much more than if you just kept this on the down-low.

You're a class act, undefined. Best of luck to you.

too lienient, police report good, but if u talk to public relations, they'll give u a GC and reprimand the manager, ask for his termination and protect future customers from harassment. Publicity is nice too!

edit: Oh yea, and criminal charges! gotta love criminal charges. Seriously, get this guy good. The FW community supports you, the law supports you, CC coporate will probally support you, get this store director into the unemployment line  Message edited by: crovax4444 on 2004-12-14 01:16:32

LOLOLOL

Too bad your wife didn't have a camera phone ready



Although I think that cashier who sold them prob got fired that night  Message edited by: inda on 2004-12-14 01:32:32

That's an awesome story. I would've gone postal about the time they decided to block my avenue of exit. Idiots.

That's outrageous. I cannot believe he would do that. What was he thinking?!@# If you make a mistake business-wise you toughen up and swallow your losses. Those store managers were pathetic. I still say you should have filed a police report reguardless. At least put yourself in a position to have leverage. Getting assaulted is enough to wave prior commitments. You cannot let them get away with this type of behavior!

The OP did everything right in this incident.

The manager and director were just to slow in acting. Had the sale been stopped anytime before checkout was completed, with the credit slip signed and the OP getting his merchandise, then the store would have been able to block the transaction.

But, since this did not happen, they should have just let the OP leave.

In California, where I live, the CC manager and director could be charged with false imprisonment, theft, and battery.

OP..make sure you ask the police department to go to the store and collect the video footage as soon as possible. Most companies have a policy of re-recording over the tapes after a certain time period has passed. I would not put it past the store director to leave the tape in and tape over everything the next day. The police also need to get an employee roster of who was working during the incident and take witness statements. An employee confirming your story will be powerful evidence against CC. Once corporate gets word of this they may advise the employees to not speak with the police. GET THE POLICE TO DO THE REPORT FIRST AND GET THE STATMENTS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE ALONG WITH THOSE TAPES!

I understand where you are coming from with not wanting to go to court. CC corporate office/public relations may not respond to you for a couple of days.

Act now to cement your case by getting the police report. Just because you file a police report does not mean there will be any court case. And YES, you do desire prosecution against the CC employee(s). You can always decide later, after you get a satisfactory resolution from CC corporate to "Not desire prosecution"

If the shoe was on the other foot, CC would have definitely called the police and had you arrested. So cover your bases, file your reports, then call CC corporate and let them know what happened. Most likely, the store director is not going to rat himself out to corporate and is hoping that this will all magically go away.

Oh, and yes, I would go to another CC and start looking at plasma TV痴 or some other goodies that you think would be satisfactory COMPENSATION for CC's intentional infliction of emotional distress and physical harm to you, and your wife who witnessed these actions.

For all you FW folks...if you ever end up in a similar situation...remember to start yelling "False imprisonment" and tell people to dial 911 and call the police. Watch how fast the "smart" employee moves out of the way and you are free to leave. Do not be intimidated! This sale was totally completed and the OP was 100% right. And like the other FW member stated, get the names and telephone numbers of those in the audience for your independent witnesses, or if the police are coming ask them to stay and give a statement. Those witnesses are worth their weight in gold, especially if they don稚 know either party (independent witness).

Please keep us posted and do this one right for all of the FW members who have been screwed over by CC.

Oh, by the way, I missed out on quite a few .01 PC games at CC when CSR1 was ringing them up just fine and applying the discounts as posted on FW. Then CSR2 went and got the manager to cancel the sale before the games were totaled and I could pay for them. Yep, they did it right with me, and there was nothing I could do.

So...OP....we at FW will live vicariously through you...now go get em...we are counting on you to get the biggest toys you can...and yes once you explain this to corporate they will offer you something. Just remember the first offer may be a low ball; so don't settle unless it looks really, really good. Of course this is in addition to the other things you want done with managerial training etc..

I'm pressed for time and can't read the whole thread, but I thought I'd offer this suggestion in case no one else mentioned it:

Have you contacted any local or national news outlets yet? They would love a story like this.

And I would love to see them humiliated.

I definitely agree that something should be done with those CC managers! I had problems in all the 3 times that I have entered my local CC, right across the street from my house, from PM to returns. They are a bunch of atrocious managers who are probably picked on random or by seniority but have not had proper lessons in getting the correct manners for a business person. Better get this case on the way and quick since who knows what those people would be covering if you wait another day!

OP, I would hate to think what would have happened, if your wife had been the one holding the bag, and the store director had pushed his way into her, as she turned to leave, and ripped the bag out of her hand?
Funny, you mentioned in your second post on this thread, OP, that the store had receive an e-mail about this price mistake, but failed to pass it on down to all the CSRs. I would think the store management would be in trouble when this is brought out in the open to corporate. Poor management to ignore a company e-mail on something like this. At least post a sign informing customers, and most definitely, speak to all the CSRs. I would think the store director has one more thing to worry about tomorrow?  Message edited by: kelly53s on 2004-12-14 03:32:54

yo that story was nuts yo. take it to em!!!!!!!!!1

For all those who want to read more on this, here is the link to the thread at 'Hot Deals', where this little incident first started to generate much discussion. Posted First At Hot Deals-Link  Message edited by: kelly53s on 2004-12-14 04:11:25

Actually the one person at the store who was the cause of all this trouble and for causing this thread to happen was 'tattletale' CSR2.

{As he (CSR1) was bagging the games up another associate (CSR2) comes up and says "Hey, [CSR name], those are ringing up wrong - they're 2 for 30". My CSR (CSR1) replied "Uh, little late, I just sold them.". CSR2 responds: 'I'm getting the manager'."}  Message edited by: kelly53s on 2004-12-14 04:35:40

Undefined, this is totally insane. CC is my fav store, i wish it was BB where it happened and milk up' for all that they got.

Why dont you wait until end of this week to file the complaint, so we can completely clean out their video game collection on your bahalf

IS there specific compen$a$ation are you looking for?

How about a 15min shopping spree at the same store? That be too hilarious...

Just something to think about...

I applaud undefined. Don't bother with their useless internal PR department though. I'd think a local network affiliated tv station could easily find a great angle for a 3-minute spot or something; with the holiday shopping period & being just days away from the biggest money-making day of the year for all the box stores, the Saturday before xmas. Any station can take pictures of packed parking lots-big deal; But this is a meaty story- they could tell your story & maybe make a difference. They could play up the 'bad santa' / holiday (un)cheer of some of these retailers & then cap it off with a final blow tie-in description of BB's 'devil customer' attitude (which I'll bet still most people never read or heard about). Also, a wide open story like this could be the best protection from termination for the innocent CC CSR you had. But yes, first stop the local police department to go on record. And then if their PR dept wants to talk to you have them do so through your attorney! Don't play it down. Me and Ma and all the people of fatwalletville are countin' on ya!  Message edited by: fibo610 on 2004-12-14 04:45:44

I wish this had happened to me. I'll be damned if I let anyone assault me, imprison me, rob me, humiliate me in public, and let them get away with it. Not calling the police was the worst thing you could have done. They're going to ask "why didn't you report this when it happened". By the time you report this, chances are you will no longer have any proof of what happened. As far as not wanting to go to court, do you really think it would have gone to court? If you're going to study law, you've got alot to learn. CC would do anything to prevent a court trial. At least you could have been handsomely compensated for your ordeal. But, as it stands, you probably paved the way for this to happen again in the future (HOPEFULLY TO ME) by not doing anything immediately. More than likely, even if the manager is charged, he will not get fired, just transfered. After all he was just protecting CC's profit margin. They will probably commend him for being such a company man.
Wish you the best but please don't be a putz, defend your rights and your dignity and don't let them get away with this.

I hope the first help CC CSR doesn't get any backlash from this incident and ends up being a scapegoat. How does one with that terrible behavior get to be a store director?

Good luck op.

I can't wait for some updates by the OP. This is a great thread. Good job undefined!

Great story, you did the right thing by not backing down and I would file the police report so it is on record.

I had a similar incident a few years back at 6th Avenue Electronics in NJ. Store manager who was easily 100 pounds more than me shoved me over a television that was on special. I told the 911 dispatcher I was being assaulted, 5 cop cars show up. In the end the store manager gave me the tv in exchange for not pressing charges.

So it sounds like store managers and directors need a little bit of anger management training!

GRR... okay I am going to explain a few things here but I doubt it will get through any of the thick skulls around here.

1) This was a localized incident. It may have happened in a few other places, but this is NOT company wide practice. Circuit City just like every other major business out there does try to instill and teach it's proper business practices amoungst it's employee's. There is abosulutely no reason to "hate" a company as a whole for what ONE employee did.

2) Bad employees can be found everywhere and I've seen them everywhere. From your local convienance market to our Military. True, the higher up the chain you go you typically, and hopefully, run into less bad apples. The reality is people are dumb, make mistakes, and are ruled by their emotions at times. This may have been an accident or on purpose. Either way, it was one man's screw up.

3) True, a manager working for a store does represent that store, just like any other employee. The company is held accountable in only so far they screwed up by hiring that person. Sueing CC or a company over this doesn't do anything. You can sue that individual but sueing the company only will result in a loss lawsuit or if you do win, they will just sue the guy responsible and definately win in the first place.

4) The manager's actions were inexcuseable. You NEED to follow through and make sure his actions meet with the consequences they deserve. Failing to do so will only result in worse outcomes such as the employee that rung your order up may get fired instead as a possible outcome. Believe me, that kind of thing can and does happen. Manager makes the mistake but someone lower on the totem poll takes the hit. Remember shyte rolls downhill.

5) After working at CC for 2 years, Bestbuy for a year and CompUSA for a year, I've seen my fair share of good and bad managers. The bad ones are the reason I never stayed at a store long. When I worked for bestbuy the store director was embezzling funds and employee paychecks. I had to get the IRS to get some of my money back. Never got it all back, only a small fraction at $500. That guy seriously screwed me over. People like this need to learn the lesson of receiving consequences for their actions.

I've already stated in the other thread, there WERE camera's rolling. It is mandatory at CC to have a camera rolling film on all registerts. If you stepped away from the register you may not be on camera but if you were nearby then everything definately caught on film. Make sure the police and/or your attorney know this.

And don't believe those stupid rumors about America being a "sue" happy country. That stupid rumor was started by companies to guilt people into NOT sueing them when they deserve it. Seriously. And if someone brings up that coffee lawsuit against McDonalds one more time without ever actually reading the case over I'm going to scream.

Last night I emailed cnet and a few other news sites regarding this story. I encourage all of you who support undefined to do the same. If you have an anecdote of your own to share about how out of line the giant retailers are getting, please do. It's not fair that corporations like BestBuy can demonize regular paying customers in the press without a rebuttal. Undefined and Fatwalleters who have been similarly treated need to tell their side of the story.

Excellent post docg, except for the "thick skulls" remark.

In any organization of a significant size, there will always be incompetent people. In fact, you're pretty much guaranteed to find incompetent people (see also "peter principle" - employees are promoted to a level of incompetence), but those people don't make up the entire organization. It's just that stories like this spread more quickly than the story about how a CC employee helped you successfully make a purchase.

I, for one, will continue to shop at CC (just not the Lakewood, CO location).

Crovax4444, it hasn't hit the morning news yet, but I bet if enough people write in to discuss it, one of the sites will surely do a write up. Here are a couple of links to get you started:

Slashdot. Submit a story.

send-us-news-tipsatcnet.com (Replace the word ''at' with the @ symbol).

lettersatmsnbc.com (Replace the word ''at' with the @ symbol).

I wonder if Best Buy is hiring managers in the area. They'd love to have this guy around to enforce their new policy of getting rid of bad customers.

Good job keeping your cool, undefined.

Update:

I spoke with Circuit City Executive Response (and their Public Relations... and their Legal Department). The individuals I spoke with sounded as appalled as everyone here about what happened. There is no resolution yet, but it is being forwarded up the chain. I informed that I would like a response, even if it is preliminary, today. My preference (as relayed to CC) was to deal with them directly in working out a solution to remedy the situation and prevent it from happening again. I specifically told them I would prefer for them to address this on their own, rather than as a result of me filing charges (to happen after work today) and this being sent to local media outlets. Denver has a lot of radio stations, news channels, and even two major newspapers. Right before the holidays this is not what they need.

All things considered - there is nothing at CC I need/want. What I want is to know is that this won't happen to another shopper.