FAKE Calibration BEWARE !!!

[Julius]

This has nothing to do with the Avic line but I wanted everyone to be aware of this since we love electronics.This is a letter from a Circuit City employee.

 

I've worked for Circuit City's Firedog for the last 11 months. Since the day I started performing in-home installations I knew that the company was not truly concerned with the service their customer received, but only with the money the customer has in his/her wallet. The point: Purchasing a TV calibration from Circuit City Firedog is a complete waste of money.

 

I knew a lot about installation and repair when I started Firedog, but one of the things I had never done was calibrate a TV. When I checked my appointments for the day and saw that I had to go perform a calibration, I approached one of the managers and said "How do we perform calibrations? Do we have a calibration unit or something?" The manager replied "Come over here and I'll show you." So I followed him to the TV department and he handed me an old Circuit City Advantage TV Care Kit. (These are the pamphlets/packets we USED TO hand out to customers when they purchase an extended warranty.) He pulls out a DVD and "calibration glasses" which were nothing more than those cardboard 3-D glasses you get at the movie theater except there's blue film for both eyes instead of red for one and blue for the other. He says "Put this DVD in their DVD player and follow the instructions." At this point I was bothered by the fact that I had to go to someone's house to perform a task that I'm not even trained to do. Unlike these "bonus-driven" managers, I actually have a conscience. I told the manager that I didn't feel comfortable going to do the job and that he should reschedule it to another installer. His response was "It's not hard, just goto their house, pop in the DVD, look at the test patterns with the glasses, and make believe you're changing some settings. When you're done, tell them how much better their TV looks. Besides, once you perform the calibration, they can't get a refund."

 

At this point I straight out refused to do that, and my manager threatened my job. I was told that if I didn't goto the customer's house and perform a service that I did not know how to perform, that I would be terminated. For fear of losing my job, I went to the customer's home to calibrate his TV. I put in the disc and skipped to the calibration "test patterns". While the patterns were displayed I looked through the glorified 3-D glasses I was given, and made small adjustments to the brightness, tint, sharpness, etc. By the time I was done, I noticed that the levels I ended up with were no different from the levels that were set from the factory. After I was done, the TV looked no better than when I had started, but in following my managers instructions I told the customer how much of a difference I saw in the TV. I left the house after about 10 minutes, and had a horrible feeling in my stomach.

 

Since then I've been arguing with store management about calibrations, and how we should stop selling this service unless we use an actual professional calibration unit. I always get the same answer though, and end up going to the customer's home and playing with their remote control for a few minutes, and then lie to them about how much better I made their TV look. I'm writing this because I can't refuse to perform the job once you pay for it...hopefully you'll read this and think twice before you purchase the service.

[BigFloppy]

Personally, I would advise anyone to get themselves the discwasher DVD home theater setup system - kit (1507)

 

The one I have is Circa 2000

 

Probably one of the best investments I've ever made, you can find them on Amazon for about $10

[iiibdsiil]

I just bought some THX DVD and spent the 10 minutes going through it. I have been watching the TV since Christmas without it, and it really made the colors a lot better.

[LostRacer]

Talk to your DM if and ONLY if you know its a scam. Store managers absolutely hate hearing from them When I worked for CCity Idid the same to my store manager. Within a day we were having a private meeting to "resolve issues" lol. If its really as shady as you beleive and you can't get your store manager to help you then go above him. It will relieve you of the guilt in your stomach some and put egg on your managers face. Keep in mind if yo do go above his head you make damn sure you're plate is clean(no write ups or delinquencies).

[superjet]

Circuit is close to bankruptcy, so they do not spend the money to train their techs for true ISF certification or have the proper equipment.

Calibration does make a pretty big difference, if done properly. Best Buy has ISF certified techs, as well as some high end retailers. Go work for them instead.