My Experience with Circuit City's 24/24 Guarantee

Alright, as promised I finally tried the Circuit City 24/24 Guarantee. To refresh your memory, the 24/24 Guarantee is pretty simple. Basically, you order your Circuit City items online and specify in-store pickup. The items will then be ready to pick up within 24 minutes of receiving your confirmation email. If your order isn't ready for pick-up within 24 minutes, you'll get a $24 gift card. Here's the actual fine print at Circuit City's website:

The 24 minute Guarantee applies from timestamp on order confirmation email until the time order is ready for customer pickup. Guarantee excludes customer wait time in store lines. Offer valid on orders placed at circuitcity.com or by phone during pickup store's normal operating hours up to 30 minutes prior to closing. Guarantee not valid the day after Thanksgiving, 12/26 or 12/27. $25 minimum purchase. One $24 gift card offered per qualifying in-store pickup ticket, which must be claimed at time of pickup and is good for future purchases.

In the interest of disclosure: Circuit City contacted me and asked me to try the 24/24 guarantee and then write about my experience. They provided me with a gift card in order to try the service. They asked that I post honestly about my experience with no editorial input from Circuit City. Because I received the card by mail, my local Circuit City was unaware of the experiment.

I'll start by sharing the online shopping experience. The Circuit City site is pretty easy to navigate. The best part is that you put in your zip code and then when you look at a product, it will tell you if the product is available or not:

Overall, I found most of what I was looking for was available in the store. Probably the weakest point I encountered while shopping on Circuit City's website is the fact that almost all of the movies and music available online aren't available for in-store pick-up. Besides the issue with the movies and music, everything else went smoothly while placing my order.

When you checkout, you'll choose whether you want to have each item shipped or if you'll pick it up.

Order Placed: 17:50

Placing the order was pretty easy and typical for online shopping. I entered my Circuit City gift card number and then my credit card (since I went well over the gift card amount). I submitted the order and waited for my confirmation email.

Order Confirmation Received: 17:52

I was pretty impressed how fast I received my confirmation email. As you can see from the image below, the timestamp was 17:52 which meant that my order was guaranteed to be ready within 24 minutes or by by 18:16

Arrived at Circuit City Front Counter: 18:13 (21 minutes after order confirmation)

When I arrived at my local Circuit City (Store #3217), the store was pretty busy in general but the customer service counter wasn't busy at all. There was one cashier (Dan) who was on the phone at the time. After less then a minute, he greeted me in the expected friendly manner. I handed Dan my printed email confirmation and he asked me for my drivers license and the credit card I used to place the order with (make sure you bring those items when you use the pick-up service). He told me my order would be ready in a few minutes and in the meantime he dealt with several customers that were behind me. After a few moments, an employee with some paperwork started to speak to Dan about not being able to find an item. I assumed it had to do with my order, but I wasn't sure. Dan asked the employee to go check for the item one more time.

Informed There Was a Problem with my Order: 18:23
The employee that was speaking to Dan earlier came back to the front counter and he and Dan came over to speak to me. Dan apologized for my order taking so long to fill. He explained that they could not find an item on my order (an XM radio car kit). He said that normally they wouldn't have kept me waiting but since their inventory showed 2 car kits left, they figured they were they were there somewhere. They informed that the rest of my order was ready and they would have to reimburse me for the car charger.

Received a Gift Card with Credit for the Missing Item: 18:24

Dan said he was going to reimburse me for the amount of the car charger onto a gift card. he didn't mention anything about the $24 gift card, nor did I because of wanted to see if Circuit City would honor their 24/24 policy without the customer reminding them. As Dan handed me the card, he stated:

"I'm really sorry you had to wait for your order. Here is your card with $69.21 credited back for the XM car kit that we didn't have in stock. I've also included $24 credit since you're order wasn't ready within 24 minutes. Again, I'm sorry about that. If you'd like, you can order the car kit online and since shipping is free for items over $25, you can use the $24 to get the overnight shipping if you'd like or just get yourself something extra for Christmas."

Even the warehouse guy who was looking for my items apologized for making me wait.

Left Store with Items: 18:26

Overall, I was pleased with my experience with Circuit City's 24/24 Guarantee. While I didn't get my merchandise within 24 minutes, the customer service was excellent and I received my $24 gift card without having to ask for it. Based on how busy Circuit City was, if I had done all of my shopping in the store it probably would of taken over an hour; so 34 minutes from the time I placed my order to the time I left, plus receiving a $24 gift card make the experience more than bearable. The key thing for me was that I didn't have to ask for the gift card. If I would have had to ask them to honor the guarantee, even with the excellent customer service, It would definitely have made the visit less than satisfactory.

Now I'm sure there are some conspiracy theorists out there who will say:

"Yeah, but the people who asked you to take the 24/24 challenge told the employees you were coming so that's why they treated you the way they did."

I guess that's a possibility, but I really doubt it. If they knew I was coming and wanted to impress me with speed, I assume they would have given up looking for my item so that my order was completed within the 24 minute timeframe. Nothing in the fineprint says they guarantee your item will be available or you'll get the gift card. So what the employess did was basically decide my business was worth the extra $24 and they still continued to look for my item after the time limit was up. That kind of "silent" customer service is what impressed me the most.

I really think the 24/24 plan is a win/win for Circuit City. Customers can get their orders quickly and be right out the door without dealing with the Christmas crowds (Circuit City even has special parking for 24/24 customers). If you're order is delayed, I think most customers will still walk out happy because they just got another $24 to Christmas shop with. As I mentioned earlier, my only real complaint is the fact that you can't get movies or music for in-store pickup.

So if you're looking for a easy way to shop for electronics this year, I'd definitely consider using the Circuit City Pick-up Service. With the 24/24 guarantee, if you have to wait you'll still walk out of Circuit City a winner.

Areas of Excellence:

Great Customer Service
Gave me $24 Gift Card without me asking

Areas of Possible Improvement:

Only one person behind the counter to deal with phones and customers
Most Movies and Music not available for in-store pickup

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Posted by William Hungerford at November 22, 2006 5:57 PM

I had pretty bad exp at CC.

We got there at Circuit City Bellevue to pick up Canon SD870 (Black), around 4 days after we ordered online on 11/27/07.

We registered at pick up counter at store.
To our surprise, firstly the item was not available for pick up even after around 15 minutes!

When we asked the store assistant, we were told that the item is being getting ready. When I asked about 24/24 pick up guarentee, we were told that it starts from the time stamp we registered at the pick up counter at store.

What is this? Am I supposed to argue and explain the 24/24 guarantee to store people?

Doesn't it clearly say that the time starts when I get confirmation email? Moreover, I went to pick up after around 4 days!!

But what next? The item was not avaialble at the store at all.

After much explanation, store assitant agreed to offer us the $24 gift card.

The assistant offered us for a refund or a wait time of a week!!

What am I supposed to do now? Firstly, I don't get my item when I needed it during this festive season. Second I have to explain the 24/24 guarantee to store people themselves. And third I am being offered a refund!

Now at the end I am given camera in an opened pack with different color and asked to wait for a week.

I am wondering who is going to compensate for the extra travel I have to make to the store again and the lost credibity in Circuit City?

I will nevr shop there again :-(

Posted by: Jain at December 10, 2007 1:23 AM

The only reason they do not really like to offer the music and movies as 24 min pickup is because you could order like 12 movies, and the only place they have them is out on the floor, since noone is specifically trained to knwo where all the movies are they would have to pull a sales man or somethin that new absolutely nothing abotu movies and music to look for them, as for most the other stuff the department people know where it is or its available in back and them guys know there stuff.

Posted by: Joro at December 15, 2006 1:29 PM

I am disappointed in the lack of customer service I received through the buy online and pick up in the store. I ordered a media storage case and then went to the store to pick it up, they tried to hand me 2 smaller cases as if that is what I had ordered. Then they were confused for awhile and went back to try to find the correct item. They couldnt find it and then said they would refund me the money. I then asked about the $24 gift card, and they said that doesn't apply. Tried to tell me how the time starts from when i hand them my info in the store. I read the sign together with them and they were still confused so I asked to speak to the manager. Finally he came and went and looked for it himself and spoke to everyone and finally gave me a gift card. Total time wasted: about 15 min driving to the store, 45 min in the store. Now I remember why I buy most stuff on ebay.

Posted by: John at April 11, 2007 10:11 PM

I too have not had any luck with the 24 minute rule. even after an hour when they don't have the right items pulled and you point out to them that they should honor the 24 minute guarantee the "customer service manager" who's name was William refused to honor the 24 minute rule. (he said the customer had to be waiting in the store for 24 minutes, and that an hour since the e-mail confirmation was sent was not enough to get the $24 credit)

Bad exp with Circuit City. It has really gotten worse since their cut backs releasing all the "highest paid" people may have also laid off all of their best people.

Posted by: Freiberg at October 1, 2007 11:21 PM

I also had bad experience with 24/24. On 2007-10-16, around 8:10pm, at Bellevue WA store, after reading the 24/24 rules together with store clerk, he still said the time started when I arrived. Apparently, he had trouble understanding simple written English. Would you trust them with your technology purchases? A few minutes later, warehouse guy came out and said he couldn't find the item. Now he HAD to give me the $24 gift card. I then walked into the store and took one (that they couldn't find) from the display shelf and checked out with the gift card I just received. I would never shop at circuitcity again.

Posted by: Sean at October 17, 2007 7:12 PM

The bad experiences go on:

There might have been a policy change (attention: conspiracy theory!): Ordered three camcorders and two cameras online to be picked up from two different stores. Got the order confirmations from all items of one store, but no order confirmation from the other. Picked up items from the first store without a problem. Day later confirmations still not arrived. Called the store to ask for status. First information: I don't need the confirmation email to pick the items up. That's good. My next question: are the items ready? Put on hold by 4 different people, for about 15 minutes, then I gave up. Not one of them was even able to ask for my order number. So I drove to the store. One item was ready (while packaging looked like they might have used the display unit), but the second item they did not have in stock. They ordered it for me online with expedited shipping for free (that's good!). $24 credit was not offered (why should they: remember - no order confirmation...) Promised to get the shipping confirmation the next day - so far no luck. Receipt states I can check my order status online using the order number on top of the receipt. Guess what - there is no order number. All in all I came to the conclusion that, if you can proove they are out of there 24 minute guarantee, you have it already to do with a store full of jerks. Because it seems to me that they can (at least now) even locally influence whether confirmation emails go out or not. Without an email, no timestamp. Without timestamp - no money. The first thing would be for them to get their inventory straight. Then they would have way more happy customers than with any $24 promisses they don't keep.

Posted by: Stefan at January 29, 2008 7:57 AM

Update to my post above: the Circuitcity hotline was able to find my order and to give me the correct order number, so I was able to check on the status online. This order number, as I stated before, was not on the store order confirmation. The item meanwhile arrived, on the second business day after ordered. I'm happy with the result now. But not really with the way how I got there...

Posted by: Stefan at January 30, 2008 9:41 AM