This month's recipient of my wrath is Circuit City; for their outsourced phone support and poor inventory control process.  Ready for it?...Here we go...

Last week, I went shopping for a Sony PSP. It's a Christmas gift, so I didn't do much research beyond the basics. I know that Sony bundles them in "Packs", but I wasn't so sure which one I wanted. Silly me, I decided to stop by Circuit City and get some advice.

First off, Circuit City around the holidays is the last place you want to shop. The store is overcrowded, and the sales clerks are often hiding. After spending 10 minutes of standing around by the video games, I decided to look for someone. A few hard glances towards the clerks over by the cell phones yielded no help. They just glanced away from my eye contact, and pretended to move boxes around.

Three rows over from the PSP games, I was finally able to locate a sales clerk. She was hiding between the rows, and talking on a cordless phone. A few incriminating glances were all it took to get her off the phone.

I asked if they sold the Sony PSP. (I knew darn well they did, but there wasn't a PSP box evident in the entire store). She responded that "Yes, we do".

I asked about the various "packs", and what they included. She said she didn't know much about them, but she had heard the GigaPack had additional memory. I asked if I could see them and compare features, but she said they weren't allowed to give customers the actual product. She would have to get the product from the back, and then leave it at the cash register. If I wanted to look at, I would have to do this at the register line.

OK STOP. First off, I'm not some damn criminal who would want to risk incarceration for a $250 toy. I have no intention of running off with it; so why not show me the product? Circuit City has $200 memory sticks just hanging on the display shelves. They are the size of postage stamps. If I wanted to rip them off, I would stuff 3 of those in my pants and leave.

OK NEXT. I don't want to hold up the register line during the holidays, but I will do it. Circuit City figures the embarrassment factor will keep people from holding up the line. Too bad they don't know me.

I had other items to purchase, so I told the sales clerk to leave all the various PSP "packs" at the register, and I would make my decision there. I picked up some games, a movie, and then headed over to the register.

Guess what's waiting at the register? Just the basic PSP pack, with hardly anything in it. Apparently, Circuit City doesn't stock the world's most popular handheld at Christmas. I ask if they have the Gigapack, and the checkout clerk says they have none in inventory. I ask about other packs, and she proclaims her ignorance about the entire PSP line. It's obvious that I'm not getting anywhere, so I just purchase the thing. At this point, I'm assuming that the Gigapack is a difficult commodity to locate. I also assume that this will be the same for all stores which carry the PSP, so I get the stupid thing, and head home.

Awaiting my arrival at home is a Circuit City flyer advertising the PSP GigaPack, along with a 10% off coupon. Naturally, I consider this a formal declaration of war.

I jump on my PC and head over to the Circuit City website. I locate the PSP GigaPack, and add it to my shopping cart. I then proceed to checkout, and apply my 10% off coupon. I'm smiling when I hit the "proceed with checkout" button, but then it hits me.

"Item is only available for in store pickup".

WHAT THE FU********!!!!!

If the item isn't available online, then why have it on the website? If I can only get it in the store, then why can I add it to my WEBSITE shopping cart? If I could get it at the store, then I wouldn't be shopping on your stupid website now, would I?

I decide to calm down, and call the 1-800 number for help. If I can't get it online, then they can just ship the item to my nearest Circuit City. After all, any major retail store will gladly do that for their customers. Right?

I call the number, wait a few minutes, and wind up talking to some woman in India. Now I'm not 100% sure she was in India, but I couldn't understand anything she was saying. I also heard foreign voices around her. I also caught the smell of curry.(Ok, that's a joke to see if you were paying attention)

 I explain my situation slowly using small words. She begins to comprehend, and says they have the product.

I say "Great! Let's order it".

She says it's available only at their stores.

I say "Fine, ship it to my nearest store".

She says they can't do that, but it's available at their Brooksville store.

Brooksville is a 100 mile round trip from my house, so I tell her to try a Tampa store.

She tells me that if I purchase the item from her now; Circuit City will 100% guarantee that they will have it for me.

"Ok", I say "But where will the item be located?"

"In the Brooksville store" she says happily. "Do you want to order it now?"

"No", I say "I want it at the Tampa store"

"100% guarantee", she says "Do you want to order now?"

"Can you ship this item to my local store?" I ask.

"This is a great product", she says "let me tell you about our extended warranty"

At this point, she launches into a sales pitch for the Circuit City warranty. While she does this, I start searching the Best Buy website. A few clicks later, I find a Best Buy store in my local area. A few more clicks, and their inventory system tells me that they have the PSP GigaPack in stock. I hang up on the Circuit City girl.

I call Best Buy, and ask them to hold the item for me. They are quick, courteous, and efficient.

30 minutes later, I have returned my Circuit City PSP, and I'm heading into Best Buy.

The place is packed, but I see sales clerks everywhere. I head over to the video games area, but a clerk from mobile phones intercepts me along the way. I tell him I'm here to pick up a PSP, so he offers to find someone to assist me. He then personally takes me to the correct area, and introduces me to the correct person. That person then introduces themselves, and HANDS me a PSP GigaPack.

I have to admit, I stood there astounded for a few seconds.

"Is there anything else?" the clerk asked.

"Not at this time", I replied "But I will definitely be back"

That was it. 30 seconds later, I was heading home. Circuit City lost $250, while Best Buy gained $300 and a happy customer.

I.m not going to beat a dead horse here, so let me just summarize this blog for you.

Circuit City bad

Best Buy good.

Circuit City supports outsourcing to India

Circuit City has terrible inventory control

Circuit City needs better sales clerks

 Ok, I feel better now. Thanks for reading.