First some background. One of the essential Marketing Customer Commandments that’s emerged in the era of the internet has been a total focus on customer retention. My recent experiences with vendors ranging from Valvoline motor oil to Garden of Eatin’s line of organic chips convinces me that it’s not just a throwaway line. But then there are retailers like Circuit City, and this goes to the reason why Best Buy is clobbering The Other Big Red Box.

My relationship with Circuit City goes back a half dozen years or so and includes the usual mix of consumer electronics: tvs, stereos, car audio, satellite radio, still and video cameras. In October of 2004 I picked up a camcorder and a losers bet three-year extended warranty. So what happened this October, 2007 and three years removed?

That’s right. The ccd (business end of the image capture process) fried itself after nearly 90 minutes, give-take, of filming – total. I, believing that this chain would care more about my loyalty than literal Old Testament warranty interpretations, trudged first to camera, then to customer ho-ho! service, then from there listened as Technical Associate Jessica was summoned to inform me that, with all the regret the seemed like a 10th-grader could muster, there was nothing to be done about the fact my warranty had expired two weeks prior. Nothing. We’re so sad, but nothing. Maybe another $50 off the open box same brand same model sitting right over there on the counter? Nope, nothing. But I’ve only shot maybe 90 minutes of video? Yes, it really is sad, isn’t it.

So there I stood, sad little folio of faded receipts rubber-banded inside the Rest Assured We’re With You City Advantage Protection Plan wrapper, out of time, out of road, and out of warranty.

Here’s the thing. CC’s shedding customer base like a white angora on black velvet. There’s a Best Buy literally across the street. Amazon dot com knows how often I change my socks. And there stands the stalwart Jessica, clipboard held firmly in place across her chest, projecting authority and lamenting the sadness of it all. Christ, we’re all in mourning here, and maybe she does feel worse than I do.

But the other thing is, unless she somehow happens to read this she won’t know the outcome as I concentrate my purchasing allegiance for shiny new things on The Big Blue Box that’s one block closer to boot. And where they do understand, at least for now and by not much more of a margin, that it’s not about winning today but surviving to compete tomorrow.