goodguys vs circuit city
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Discription: General Mobile Electronics Questions and Answers
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=30896
Printed Date: May 15, 2024 at 2:24 AM
Topic: goodguys vs circuit city
Posted By: saleengt
Subject: goodguys vs circuit city
Date Posted: April 23, 2004 at 4:20 AM
im just curious what the general consensus is out there, i guess its mainly directed toward west coast installers since there are no good guys stores located on the east coast, but what are the general dislikes and likes about working for the two shops?
Replies:
Posted By: Teamrf
Date Posted: April 23, 2004 at 2:16 PM
Circuit City solders all connections...at least the bay i use to work at did.
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~The Rookie~
Rookie of the year that is...
Don't let the smoke out of your equiptment..it doesn't go back in.
Posted By: MAXST
Date Posted: April 23, 2004 at 4:11 PM
DIY is the only way.
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I need quality equipment, feel free to donate.
Posted By: One_Evil_Necro
Date Posted: April 24, 2004 at 7:40 PM
I'll never purchase anything or have ANYTHING installed at a Circuit City ever again. I purchased an alarm there for specific features which AFTER it was installed I was told were not available, that they would be happy to take the alarm back out and return it.. minus the install fee of course. When I got home, going over the wiring, it was sloppy as hell, they used so much electical tape it was rediculous, it took me 2 hours to clean it up. The only reason I had it installed there is I did not want to spend my day putting in an alarm, something I have always hated.
Posted By: flynntech
Date Posted: April 25, 2004 at 3:49 AM
Circuit City soldering all connections..........funny... Infact, I don't even believe you. Good joke though! I have two experiences with CC, one time was with an Alpine HU (sold installed only) ofcourse, they BROKE my trimplate. When I asked the manager what the problem was.....he backed his installer and told me that it was because he used a cordless drill and the plastic was weak..............................NO SH!T!! Circuit City in Saugus, MA.......you suck! Second..........I should've learned my lesson the first time.....but, I found an amp I really liked and the install fee seemed reasonable at the time. I was also at a different Circuit City! So......I get my car and everything is cool.....except the four 3" drywall screws though the bottom of my trunk..........no need for that! Then, the power wire was 'flopped' right over the engine, in there with all 8 plug wires......nice one. I asked for the install fee back, since I obvously could've done it better myself. Ofcourse, the fat greedy manager wasn't interested in what I had to say... Circuit City in Salem, NH........you suck! number three.........ok, I learned my lesson, but this wasn't my choice....... The same amp burnt out........so I returned it to Circuit City in Norfolk, VA for my warranty repair. They had it repaired alright......but when I got it back....it was missing ALL of the terminal screws. To top it off...they just so happened to be the wierdest sized screw, I could never match it up....I ended up soldering my wires directly to the terminals. It worked fine....but why...oh why? CIRCUIT CITYS EVERYWHERE.....YOU SUCK!
Posted By: saleengt
Date Posted: April 25, 2004 at 6:25 AM
yea i was just wondering, i just moved from circuit city to good guys as an installer
Posted By: Greg S
Date Posted: April 28, 2004 at 9:33 AM
There about the same I spent 15 years installing and managing for Circuit Cityand had many friends at the various Good Guys which would be across the street from the stres I ran and it all ending up about the same. It has a lot more to do with the location manager than the company. If you have a good manager who trains and encourages the employees hten you will have a nice shop to work in with good pay, if not then not. ------------- Greg Stoddard
Posted By: chasesaccessori
Date Posted: April 29, 2004 at 9:26 AM
I personally would not do either. I have seen and had to repair enough stuff from CC that they are now formally know around these parts as sucky city.
My nephew works for a Best Buy. I think the prices are fair. but, my nephew couldn't install anything to save his life. He introduced me to the install staff and my opionion was that they worked there after high school got out and had no real experience. As for the install mgr., All he seemed to care about was numbers. Just how many cars can you move through your install bay???
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(owner/installer)
Chase's Accessories
Ridgecrest, CA
in business since 92
Posted By: deviousjoker
Date Posted: May 01, 2004 at 1:04 PM
I worked for best buy for 5 yrs and now when I look back, it was the biggest mistake I've made. chaseaccessori is right they just wanted to get as many cars done as possible.....best buy depends on making all the service plans and accessories numbers to stay alive. I've seen a lot of hack installers at best buy and I still wonder how they have a good reputation. they treat their employees bad and continue to take their pay away. in the 5 yrs I worked there I went through 3 different pay structures. Now I benifit from the amount of work I do instead of busting my ass to get some numbers and get a small thank you when you're in the top 5 in the company.
Posted By: DataMan
Date Posted: May 02, 2004 at 10:16 AM
so finally??? where is the best choice! it seems that no one is good...
Posted By: chasesaccessori
Date Posted: May 03, 2004 at 9:37 AM
What I think we are all trying to say here is that you should go to a local shop not the big boys. You will by far have a better experience and better opportunities.
now in addition,
If you choose to go to the big boys for work, keep in mind that you will get experience installing but, If you come to a shop like mine for a job afterwords, I will have you under tighter watch for a much longer time coming from the big boys and will be given only one or two chances to prove yourself before I tell you to hit the road than a rookie new hire.
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(owner/installer)
Chase's Accessories
Ridgecrest, CA
in business since 92
Posted By: chriswallace187
Date Posted: May 03, 2004 at 6:44 PM
I've worked for Circuit City, and for a local shop(for all of a single day), and saw a bit of substandard work in both places. They can get away with it because 98% of the people who get anything installed don't look beyond the surface to see that the wiring is neat, or read the owner's manuals to realize that their product isn't doing something it's supposed to, or even have a basic knowledge of how electricity works.
To be fair to both sides - most of the chains have a lot better technical standards and support available; however you tend to have location managers and higher ups who are horribly risk-averse, and more worried about getting to the next step on the corporate ladder then they are about running an awesome shop.
With local shops, you have a lot of flexibility for sure, but most of the shop owners will look down on you if you can't get jobs done with no technical information and minimal effort, and love to cut corners because if something goes wrong, the customer's not going to want a ton of money back like they would at Circuit City.
Posted By: FYRHWK1
Date Posted: May 04, 2004 at 12:12 AM
It's hit or miss when it comes to retail shops, some places have hard workers who do good jobs and enjoy a product that sounds good when they're done, I know I do. Other times you'll have people who just do it because it's easy (BS if you ask me, this is one of the more stressful jobs i've had) and they can screw around all day. You have to blame the customers partially, when they go to a retail shop they WANT that car back ASAP, they dont give the opportunity for us to take our time. Granted we can tell them to come back later, but that makes us look bad, especially since they probably wouldn't have done it if it would've taken that long, they're simply impatient. If given the chance, I'll take as much time as I need to do the car, I just had one in our shop for 2 & 1/2 days because it simply took that long, the customer told me to take as much time as necessary, within reason of course, and to get it right the first time and make sure it sounded good. If I had customers give me that much time, or even a full day every time, there'd almost never be an unhappy customer returning for whatever reason. For the record, CC policy is solder everything, I will admit, once in a while I've thrown a crimp cap on a remote lead and probably shouldn't have, but I've never just twisted wires & taped them. Every other connection I make is soldered, and except for small gauge crimps I solder the crimp once I'm done with it, never had a ground or power cable come out on me that way and I doubt they ever will.
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: May 11, 2004 at 10:12 AM
I worked at The Good Guys (and before that Federated, dating myself) and can tell you the quality of an install has nothing to do with the store, it has to do with the people who work there. Like mentioned above, if the manager is good and instills a quality work ethic in the installers, then anywhere including Kmart can be a good shop. Good installers = good work. But in general, you tend to find overall better jobs done at independent shops than at a commercial chain store, simply because of time. Chain stores tend to push jobs too hard because they simply try to squeeze too many through in a day, where independent shops tend to give an install the time it needs. You may pay more for the job, but in general it will be higher quality at a shop that is not pressed for time. ------------- Support the12volt.com
Posted By: profuse007
Date Posted: May 12, 2004 at 1:12 AM
Teamrf wrote:
Circuit City solders all connections...at least the bay i use to work at did.
the one in houston tx do a really fine job, yes they do solder all connections. but best buy near here use t-taps all the way. ------------- Houston,TX
"The two most common elements in the universe are H+ and stupidity" (Ellison).
Posted By: CCroadshoptn
Date Posted: May 27, 2004 at 1:06 AM
Like most have already said it really depends on the managers at that location and the installers they have under them. I know that they expect nothing but the best quality work form us at my location. I've had to fix work from our competitors as well as the work done my some of our (cc) other locations. I suggest get some feed back from people you know who have had work done there in your own area, as appossed to someone's bad experienced with another shop houndreds of miles from you. Yes, CC does solder their connections.
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Mecp Certified
Double check advice with your Meter.
Posted By: JungleBadger
Date Posted: June 15, 2004 at 3:36 PM
Personally I wouldn't do either. For big companies it's def all about money. Your better off DIY or finding some low key place to do anything.
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Boooooooom Chack Boooom Booooooom Chack
Posted By: IXJ159
Date Posted: June 15, 2004 at 10:11 PM
One problem w/ installers at our shop is they do not take the time needed because of the commission environment. Which sucks because good installers get paid the same amount as the hacks. This something to watch out for also. people who get paid hourly willl do a better job for the most part.
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