Circuit City Vs Best Buy

So, it's the day after Thanksgiving. Better known as Black Friday, it's the busiest shopping day of the year! My roomate is set to close on his house in a week, and once he leaves, so will his Samsung HDTV DLP go with him. Now, I have to make the grand investment of my personal entertainment. I begin my mission to get a HDTV.

Buyers Research - no remorse.
First, there is the research. I have to do my due diligence to be an educated shopper. Per J.D. Power and Associates, there are three TVs at the top of the list in terms of total quality. Samsung, Sony, and Pioneer.

If you get a DLP, the best for your money is Samsung. If you get a LCD TV, the best deal for your money is Sony. If you choose a Plasma, then you have to get a Pioneer. So how do you choose between a DLP, LCD, and Plasma?
If you have a room with a lot of light invading it, your best bet is the LCD. The other two models will reflect to much light, and you won't be able to see them well in direct light.
If you have a room of small size, you need the thin tv models, either LCD or Plasma. The DLP requires more space, and can't be hung on the wall.
If you have the room, and you are a sports fanatic, go for the DLP. It provides the best clarity for HD Sports. You can see blades of grass on the football field.

Me, I have a room with a lot of windows. Including a huge window in the foyer that just bleeds over with sunlight at certain times of the day. So I have no choice but to get the LCD. The Sony Bravis XBR 52" 1080p Flat-Panel LCD to be exact.

Online Research - Compare Prices.
My hypothesis was, that the best price would be via Best Buy. That's how I formed a habit of buying most movies, dvds, etc from Best Buy. After years of dependability, I have a Pavlovian response that sends me to Best Buy.
But this time, I check up on it via the interweb. Best Buy has the dream tv priced to kill at $3,999.99. Not to be outdone, Circuit City has the same price of $3,999.99. Then, I checked out H.H. Gregg. They had the same TV at $3,199.99. That is eight hundred dollars less! Eight Hundred Dollars savings.

Bias
Ok, my bias got the better of me. Two factors to consider.
Factor One. Best Buy and Circuit City claim to price match. So this price shouldn't be a concern.
Factor Two. I don't like H.H. Gregg. (Because, years ago I worked at Sears as a repair technician- repairing your home appliances. It was a grueling, dirty, job. But at least Sears gave me two months of training, while they payed me $15/hr. Payed Training.) When I did my comparative research, I found out that H.H. Gregg doesn't train their repair tech. They expect them to get trained elsewhere before they hire them. Then, on top of that, cheap @ss H.H. Gregg want their techs to have their own tools and transportation. The company doesn't pay for that. So like the Union Guy I am, I sorta took my personal boycott against H.H. Gregg.

Shopping Time

Best Buy - Peachtree City - GA.
4:15am and my alarm goes off. The nearest Best Buy, which is in a very affluent neighborhood, was set to open at 5am. I get there about 5:15am, and it's packed. No parking spaces left, I have to drive around until one becomes vacant. I finally make it into the store, and into the Magnolia Room. The Magnolia Room is the Best Buy room with the top notch Home Entertainment Equipment. Where the ballers get their stuff.
The store was beyond crowded, but the lady in the Magnolia Room was without any customers. I guess the early risers were there for laptops and cheap deals, not high priced stuff. She asks to help me, I tell her exactly what I want. She says they don't keep it in stock, they have to order the 52" LCD TV and it'll be here in 2 days. I'm cool with that, but then I ask her about the price matching. She assures me they will price match, until she hears I saw the TV for $800 dollars less. Then she sorta back peddles. She says they price match, "except they don't price match on doorbusters." I tell her "lady, I don't know if it's a doorbuster or not. I want to buy the T.V." Some associate comes over, asking her to ring up some other guys on some TV they are ready to buy. She acted too clumsy to search online right that moment to check on my tv and see if they can match the price. She said she'll get back with me in just a moment. Bullcrap. I'm not wasting my money on some snotty establishment that puts me on the back burner and tries not to meet their obligation. It's 5 something in the morning, and I'm cranky. I leave.

H.H. Gregg - Fayetville, GA.
I make a B Line to the nearest H.H. Gregg. About 6am, and they are not nearly as crowded. All the associates in the T.V. department were busy, but one guy - Robert - promised to help me as soon as he finishes with the couple he's helping. I'm patient, and he keeps stopping in with me to let me know he hasn't forgot about me. When the needy couple is finished, he's there like Johnny on the spot.
At H.H. Gregg, the Sony Bravis XBR 52" 1080p Flat-Panel LCD TV was offered at the advertised price. It was also in stock. And I got good customer service. They whooped Best Buy's Butt! I make the purchase, they load it on the back of my truck, and off I go.
Success!

But there's more. I have a Bose 3-2-1 Sound System and I've never really been satisfied with it. Since I'm about to pay someone a gob of money to hang my new LCD TV on the wall, I might as well get my sound system installed for just a few dollars more. And just like that, I'm in the market for Surround Sound Home Theater System.

Home Audio Time
I've begun the online research. I spent a lot of time, which felt like time wasted. I didn't learn too much. J.D. Power & Associates doesn't have a section for Home Audio or Surround Sound. And I'm not subscribed to Consumer Reports.

Circuit City - Newnan, Ga.
I go to Circuit City. I'm there listening to their sound systems. Some of them sound nice. Really nice. They also had some of the brands I want; Denon & Boston. They also had Onkyo, which I saw a lot of talk on line about. The downside, I couldn't get any customer service. They were severely understaffed for the second busies shopping day of the year. And when we did get help, which was in their version of the Magnolia Room, we got an associate that didn't know what the heck she was doing. She was more clueless than me. She said she'd be right back, and fifteen minutes later, me and my roomate are still standing in the expensive audio room. Alone. Without assistance.

Best Buy - Newnan, GA.
So we venture to Best Buy. My roomate recently read an interview in one of his magazines, gaming magazines, about this very thing. Customer service in Best Buy, Circuit City, etc when making a purchase. His article said Best Buy is among the best in customer service. Now, we've teleported to a Best Buy in a very affluent neighborhood. From our perusal, the Best Buy already got a lower rank than Circuit City. This Best Buy didn't have the Magnolia Room. This Best Buy didn't offer any of the brands I was interested in. No Denon, no Boston. Although they had plenty of economic (cheap) stereos, but none of them were hooked up. Customer service was readily available, which gives them a notch above Circuit City. But, I felt like a nuisance for asking this guy to hook up 3 of the stereos on display. If the stereos are on display, and too be sold, why are they not hooked up? Insane! We left that store, and we were willing to swallow our pride and return to Circuit City and beg for help.
Then, on the periphery of the horizon... we saw another H.H. Gregg.

H.H. Gregg - Newnan, GA.
Even after the exceptional treatment I received just a day ago, I'm still reluctant to make a purchase from H.H. Gregg. But, I'll give them a shot since I've been let down by their competitors. And lightening strikes twice. We go into the store, we peruse the audio systems without being hassled. And then an associate shows up just in time. I tell him I'm looking for a surround sound system. I let him know I have the Bose 3-2-1, but I'm not satisfied. He ask what brand I'm interested in, and if I have an idea of what type of system I'm looking for. I let him know I want Denon, or Boston. I let him know I'd like to hear the Onkyo. I tell him that I want a 7.1 receiver, but I'd settle for a 5.1 receiver.

So this dude, Joseph, lets me listen to a Sony, and Onkyo, a Panasonic. He points out the differences of them. He explains why some are better than others. He puts the same jazz cd into all of them, and lets me hear the difference. I clearly hear the separation of frequencies and sounds. I also hear the bass that I feel is necessary if I'm to spend my hard earned cash. He encourages me to get a packaged system, instead of building it myself. He says I'd save money if it's a packaged system. (Good thing I listened to him, because an HDMI cable alone cost $90.) And so, he introduced me to the Harman Kardon Home Theater System. It has rich, deep, bass, from it's powerful subwoofer. And it has high frequencies with separation and crystal clarity.

Now, it's late Sunday Night. I bought the TV on Friday. I bought the Home Audio System on Saturday. On Sunday, I had my system installed by an independent company (not Fire Dog or Geeksquad). My system is awesome. No remorse this time. I sit on my leather couch, watch Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and hear lasers behind me from the right. (Suck on that Bose!) I watch the Justin Timberlake Concert and it sounds like I'm in the audience at Madison Square Garden. Unbelievable! I think I'll stay on the couch, and sleep in front of the Home Theater System tonight. As if you didn't know, the winner is H.H. Gregg. The underdog, the under appreciated - the best!