How does the anti-theft device work at Circuit City?

[Shelly21]

I was driving to Circuit City trying to get them to PM CompUSSR's PC2100 DDR price for lunch today. And of course they don't have any on the shelves even thou I called earlier and they confirmed that they have 4 sticks!

WTF! The CSR end up going to the back to play with himself and pretend to look for more. of course they don't have any... he said the reason might be because someone stole them so the inventory is wrong. So I raised hell about their anti-theft device that's so visible at the front of their store for being useless.

Long story short..(too late?) I pick up a cd (Christmas present), paid for it and about to leave when the anti-theft device went off on me... It felt like I was zapped by a bolt of electricity, and of course, there are buzzers too....

But I was wondering... is that how it works? shocks you and disable you so they can search you? No one stopped me so I managed to walk out of the store after my disorientation. (again, proves that the device is almost useless)

 

[Spoooon]

It actually shocked you?

 

[Bulk Beef]

Yeah let's clear that up, b/c if it did that to me, I would go ballistic. Those things go off all the time.

 

[The Stigenator]

It does not shock you.. if it did there would be so many lawsuits.. what shock you got was from static electriciy..

the thing works by magentic field.. that is why they got to swipe the thing on a demagnetizer before giving it to you.

 

[Ketteringo]

Sounds kinda fishy. These things are just supposed to beep?

 

[StageLeft]

It didn't shock you

 

[imported_Mike]

what i think your talking about is in the front of the stores, its just a detector. we put metalic stickers on all the products, when you buy something, we are supposed to scan the thing to disable the sticker. im sorry your ram wasnt there even though you called. although the CSR sounds like an ass, he has some truth to him. if you call, and all the person did was type the model number in, that tells them how many we are supposed to have. do to theft, the system can be wrong, though 4 sticks gone sounds fishy. whenever you call to check on stock, just ask for a spot check. that way they go look at the shelf to make sure the computer systems matches actual stock.

 

[Pepsei]

You were shocked by the buzzer...not electricity itself....


stealing is bad...

 

[BatmanNate]

The devices are called EAS tags, electronic area survelience I think. A decently powerful magnet will disable them, unless they are the beefy gator tag kind that clothing stores use. The posts at the door use an electromagnetic field to detect ative EAS tags leaving the door.

 

[BillGates]

It didn't shock you, heh. Those devices are only able to shoot out lasers, flames, and poison gas depending on the particular store's choice of security.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: BillGates
It didn't shock you, heh. Those devices are only able to shoot out lasers, flames, and poison gas depending on the particular store's choice of security.

LOL

 

[poopaskoopa]

Take off the collar before you leave the house.

 

[Shelly21]

Ok than... that's what I thought... even thou it really did felt like a shock....

Maybe I was sweating too much?

This is the store at Virginia center commons. So if anyone is going there for the ram, they don't have any.


CheapArse: Since it also show them in stock on the webpage, what happen if I order it from the website for in store pick up?

 

[Kevin]

I got shocked today from the faucet. I just took my sweater off and went to wash my hands. Right when the water hit my hand it was like "zzzzzz" and felt real weird...

 

[ATLien247]

Originally posted by: BatmanNate
The devices are called EAS tags, electronic area survelience I think. A decently powerful magnet will disable them, unless they are the beefy gator tag kind that clothing stores use. The posts at the door use an electromagnetic field to detect ative EAS tags leaving the door.

Ah, but will that "decently powerful magnet" set off the alarm?

 

[Analog]

Originally posted by: poopaskoopa
Take off the collar before you leave the house.

heh

 

[imported_Mike]

in stock when you called and online. sounds like that store has a bunch of lazy mofos. theft will usually account for 1 or 2 missing....depending on the item. if you really want to PM the ram, call back, talk to someone that is actually willing to look for the ram. 4 missing is possible due to theft, but unlikely. i hate when the comp system is wrong, whenever you check stock or buy something from a different location than the one you are in, always ask for a spot check. although if you just have lazy employees....spot check wont do much good

also, if you want to try again. ask if they can sell out of web location (9848 i think) that way, you can PM at the B&M, but the ram will be sent for free to your house.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I don't like to call ahead to confirm stock, except to particular stores, I've had employees buy stuff out from under me when they see the price while checking stock...

Set off the Wal Mart alarm today, real nice voice told me to wait for an associate, no one was there, so I just left. I had ~$300 worth of crap & wasn't about to have them go through it all again to find the offending tag...

 

[edro]

When I worked at Wal-Mart in High School, I worked in the Electonics Dept. We used to take the little magnetic sticky tags and throw them in people's hoods or bags! Then we would go up front to "get our returns" and watch the poor bastards get checked 40 times!

HahAHahaHA!

 

[Deeko]

You did not get shocked by the Circuit City security device. Most products have a device on it that set off the alarm when you walk through the sensor. If you actually got shocked by the sensors, then there would be alot of fried employees, because we carry product through the same sensors in the back all the time, not to mention all of the keys have alarms on them too. And there isn't a whole lot that the store can do if inventory is wrong. It could be theft, or maybe an employee messed up the last cycle count. If the website says the store has it in stock, that doesn't mean anything else, it is linked to the same inventory. So if you ordered it for web pickup, you would not be able to get it in the store. If the website says it is available for direct ship, you could order it, and you could have it shipped directly to your house free of charge from the web warehouse. They also can order things out of that warehouse for you, like someone mentioned above, just by putting inventory location as 9848. The CSA should have checked that warehouse, but I can't say if he did or not. Now you say he went to the back and "played with himself"....there is another section of the warehouse, known as the "cage", where floor items are stored. So if it says its in stock and is not on the floor, if the CSA went to the back to look, he likely was checking the cage, not "playing with himself". And it is quite possible that all 4 were stolen....we had a crime ring at our store, a guy that stole PS2 games, he would take 5-10 copies in a single run. We knew who he was, and his techniques(cuz he would send in other people after we found him out), and have neutralized that, but we aren't allowed to physically stop a customer from walking out of the store. So stealing 4 little sticks of RAM is not that impossible.

 

[acidvoodoo]

Originally posted by: edro13
When I worked at Wal-Mart in High School, I worked in the Electonics Dept. We used to take the little magnetic sticky tags and throw them in people's hoods or bags! Then we would go up front to "get our returns" and watch the poor bastards get checked 40 times!

HahAHahaHA!

lol

 

[Rudee]

Originally posted by: Shelly21
... It felt like I was zapped by a bolt of electricity

You're full of crap.

 

[fr]

Someone could have just had 4 in their hand and just dumped them behind a TV when he changed his mind about getting them.

 

[fr]

Originally posted by: Shelly21
It felt like I was zapped by a bolt of electricity, and of course, there are buzzers too....

I think it was more of the shock you felt by having the alarm go off when you didn't expect it to.

 

[Tab]

Hmm, so all you have to do is take off the magnetic strip? Hmm, the ideas...