Circuit City.

That's a pre-holiday consumer downer if I ever heard one, but hey, at least the whole strip mall didn't go down alongside the electronics retailer. Oh wait, it did. [Thanks Kevin!]

Anyone who's been employed by any big retailer has probably been locked in a room for a few days and forced to watch videos like these. There's just something so equally sad and funny about seeing a failed company's (and specifically Circuit City's) lame-ass attempt to rally the troops...especially when it involves the high fives and arm-based gyrations of upper management. [Consumerist via BBG]

From their return policy page:

Some manufacturers have implemented returns restrictions that prevent CircuitCity.com from being able to accept returns or offer exchanges, replacements or credits on their products for any reason. Please check the item listing on our website to determine if special return policies are applicable to your products. Support as well as exchanges or replacements for products with manufacturer or supplier restrictions, including within the first 30 days of ownership, must be handled directly with the product manufacturer or supplier. You can find the manufacturer or suppliers contact information in your product manual, in the item listing, on the manufacturer's website or at our help center .

Apparently, select products from major manufacturers like Compaq, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, Epson, Nintendo, Kodak and others fall into this list—but, as they noted, Circuit City does lay out the return policy for each item on its respective product page. I don't think it's something that should drive you away from CircuitCity.com altogether—but it is something that you should pay attention to should you ever make a purchase there. [Crunchgear]

In a video embedded on the temporary splash page, the Systemax CEO claims that the new Circuit City will feature lower prices, a wider selection, 24/7 customer service and faster shipping (starting at $1.99). We shall know if they are talking out of their ass or not soon—the launch of the site is imminent. [Circuit City / Thanks Aaron!]

A senior VP for the company was blunt about their ambitions, exclaiming "Circuit City's business is up for grabs right now and we expect to get our share." Their plan includes all the mainstay techniques of their competitors: dedicated brand displays for brands like Apple; aggressive bids for new phone offerings, including, contrary to some reports, the Palm Pre; a full embrace of the netbook craze; the addition of eye-catching, higher-end TV sets and home theater equipment.

The new fixtures, displays and directives will start making their way to stores this week. This is good news for communities once served exclusively by Circuit City, and could help drive down electronics prices for everyone. That said, it'll definitely make a lot of people squirm a little bit. The report explains why: despite Circuit City's demise, Best Buy isn't doing that well, as they—like most electronics stores—struggle to get people through the doors in leaner economic times. Thing is, Walmart is doing very well, and will probably continue to do so no matter how bad the economy gets. It's happened before, people. [WSJ—Photo by Brandon Thibodeaux for the WSJ]

This all comes out of a lawsuit that was just granted class action status. Internal documents, plus depositions from past and current Best Buy employees reveal just how evil Best Buy is. A price match is when, say, Circuit City advertised a Sharp HDTV for cheaper than Best Buy, Best Buy's public policy is to match that price.

But Best Buy actually trains employees in New York how to deny legitimate price match requests, and the average Best Buy store denies 100 price matches a week. You even get paid bonuses based on how many price matches you deny!

Here's how it works, according to Phil Britton, a member of Best Buy's Competitive Strategies Group:

What is the first thing we do when a customer comes in to our humble box brandishing a competitor's ad asking for a price match? We attempt to build a case against the price match. (Trust me, I've done it too). Let's walk through the "Refused Price Match Greatest Hits:

"Not same model? Not in stock at the competitor? Do we have free widget with purchase? Is it from a warehouse club (they have membership fees, you know)? Limited Quantities? That competitor is across town? We've got financing! Is it an internet price? It's below cost!….."

If you live in NY state, and you've been screwed by Best Buy's anti-price matching, HD Guru has further info on the attorney to contact so you can take a piece out of Best Buy. What a bunch of scum.

Update: Giz reader Jake reveals how they scam you on model numbers to avoid price matching:

Example: A few months ago my wife and I were looking at a Frigidaire Washer. The model we were interested was the ATF8000FS. At Best Buy, we found the washer there however it was displayed as the ATF8000FSL. At first I figured "Oh this must be some variation on the original model number, like how manufacturers sometimes add a letter to the end of the model to indicate the product color." Anyways, to make a long story short, this ATF8000FSL was not available from the manufacturer.

The "L" was added on by Best Buy in order for them to skirt around price matching. This is so no one can come to Best Buy and claim to have found a lower price of this product because no one else sells the product under the model number ATF8000FSL. It's ATF8000FS everywhere else. Best Buy will tell people that its simply a different product, so therefore, no price matching. Even on the manufacturer's sticker on the washer, it said ATF8000FS, as it was supposed to. Upon further investigation I could see that Best Buy's internal computers even listed the model as ATF8000FSL.

Pretty scammy. [HD Guru, Image: bdjsb7/Flickr]

Wow. Really. Just. It makes my head hurt. [Ed Yourdon/Flickr]

We (and others) have already said goodbye quite a bit:

• Best Buy Says Goodbye
• Circuit City Employees' Final Words as Circuit City Employees
• Their Dignity Is Not for Sale... Well, Nevermind
• Why Circuit City Closed (According to Circuit City Employees)
• The Circle of Life: Circuit City Buildings to Become High Schools?
• A Violent Goodbye
• Best Buy Rubs Salt in Circuit City's Gaping Wound
• Why I Shopped at Circuit City (By Choice)
• Even in Death, It Managed to Screw People Over
• The Beginning of the End

Rob at BoingBoing Gadgets has this pretty sad clip of the last straggling item at his local Circuit City:

But what's one more good-bye? Leave your fondest (or most wretched) memories below. [Image: F33/Flickr]

Sean tells us that the store was empty down to 3 carts, which meant Circuit City did the only thing they could: They sold their fixtures.

Those yellow price tags you see in the image below are how much the shelves went for, which is what the BB people were there to buy. Everything was somewhere between $75 and $250, in case you were wondering.

Goodbye Circuit City. You were a store we went to before.

All of Giz's Circuit City coverage - Thanks Sean!

On Tuesday, shoppers looking for some cheap printers, fax machines, furniture, televisions and other electronics gathered at the CC headquarters looking for a deal, but—until they approach the end of the sale sometime in April—liquidation manager Jerry Strong firmly states that all sales on the used electronics are non-negotiable. [RichmondBizSense via BBG]

The winner by a long shot? Treated like crap. Of course.

Other good reasons: overpricing, not having things in stock (it's a liquidation, people) and not "we're morons/stupid". Not quite sure who the "we" in that last one refers to—employees or the customers.

Thanks tipster!

Here's the deal: If you buy the TV with an American Express card, Purchase Protection covers your ass for up to $1,000 for repairs or reimbursement—though they are presuming you broke it after you bought it—within 90 days of purchase. Check out their purchase protection policy here for all the details.

If you guys know of other credit card companies with similar policies that'll rescue hosed Circuit City shoppers, let us know. [American Express - Thanks Gary and Fmuniz!]

When you buy anything from Circuit City's liquidators, it's sold "as is" and can't be returned for any reason. Fine, that's how these things work. The screwjob happens because stores are telling people they can't open anything till they pay for it, meaning you can't check something out before you buy it to make sure it works—or isn't totally busted into a million useless pieces. Consumerist says that they're not optimistic about getting the credit card company to help out if you do get bamboozled, either.

They've got reports from Minnesota as well, where a family paid $1500 for a busted TV after not being allowed to open the box. Fox reporters there were apparently kicked out of the store for trying to investigate. And here's another unreturnable piece of broken merchandise from Kotaku:

Odds are, if you do get a TV from Circuit City, it'll be fine—just remember there's just the very real possibility you could wind up losing a thousand bucks with no real recourse. And there won't even be the dude from Let's Make a Deal there to make you feel better. [Boston Channel via Consumerist, Image: Getty]

Gizmodo scored an interview (as part of our larger series) with one Circuit City employee who was at his breaking point.

Me: Was that you in the video?

Him: Yes it was.

Me: How long did you work at Circuit City?

Him: About 7 months, they wanted me to hold one of their signs outside and i was not having that.

Me: Liquidation signs?

Him: Yes, my manager gave me the option of holding the sign or the door and i chose the door.

Me: Do you feel bad for the guy who had to pick that stuff up?

Him: I talked to my fellow associate who told me that the mangers had to pick it up. And once I heard that I did not feel bad. I must say the managers that i had at this Circuit City were by far some of the worst managers I have ever had.

Me: What were those anyway, Guitar Hero boxes?

Him: Yeah, I wanted to knock over the whole display but it was a spur of moment thing and I didn't pick a good spot to push them over.

Me: So you'd thought ahead of time, I'm gonna stick it to that Guitar Hero display? Or, like, that went through your head in the split second on your way out?

Him: Well, I was always thinking that the day I quit I just want to push over the display of Rock Bands but since that was not set up I just decided to push over whatever was there and I told one of my buddies to have a camera ready cause I was going to do something if they made me go and hold that sign I was just gonna walk out and knock over the Guitar Heroes.

Me: Got it. Thanks for the story.

Him: Yeah, no problem. If you guys use it that would be cool if not i figured you would find it comical anyway, also my buddy said when he is ready to quit he will go all out so if you want that I will make sure to send you that video.

Me: We probably wont post two.

Him: True, but I will definitely send it for personal viewing lol, thanks for your time.