Circuit City Begins Legal Action Against Gaming Community
I’ve been a member over at CheapAssGamer.com now for over four years, from the very beginning of the site. Since May 2006, a member by the name of Speedy1961 has given the forums over there a treat by posting all the Sunday ads early for everyone to see, he does it for every store, and usually has them a week or two in advance. Lately, he broke the news of the PS3 price-drop (reported here) and also the Microsoft Points deal, resulting in many people saving hundreds of dollars, myself included. Due to this site, and this member, I’ve spent hundreds of dollars at Circuit City that I never would have otherwise, but now after today, I may have to begin a boycott of the store.
The latest CAGcast brings word that electronics retailer Circuit City has served CAG Productions with a subpoena. CAG Productions is responsible for popular video game shopping community CheapAssGamer.com, which has 100,000 registered members. The retail giant wants CAG to turn over all personal information about registered forum member Speedy1961, who has been posting weekly CC ads prior to their release on the site. Speedy has also posted them on DVDtalk.com, and that site appears to have received legal action as well. The subpoena mentions one CheapAssGamer thread in particular, which prior to E3, revealed that the PS3 would get a price drop. That same thread also included pricing for games at Circuit City as well as game prices at Target and Best Buy. From the thread:
* GAMERS / MOVIE AFFICIANADOS: Please note $100 Price Break on Playstation 3 Game System which brings the price down to $499.99 // Remember that you can get 5 free Blu-Ray DVDs with purchase of any Blu-Ray Player / Game system by going here: http://www.bluraysavings.com/
This was wedged in between details about the Wii and other details. As mentioned above, information about Best Buy and Target was also noted. CAG Productions CEO David Abrams (AKA “CheapyD”) has hired a lawyer. “The CAG community’s trust and respect is very important to me, so I’ve hired legal representation to deal with the situation,” Abrams tells Kotaku.
Remember, you can price-match any sale Circuit City is having over at Best Buy 110%. Like I said in my story about the PS3 price-drop, Sony and Circuit City are very good friends, and it is very likely that Sony is all over Circuit City about how their price-drop got leaked early and took the bang out of their E3. I think that is the reason that the subpoena focuses on the PS3 price-drop, and not the hundreds of others of deals he has exposed early over the past year and a half.
You can also send a message to Circuit City HERE and let them know that this kind of bullying tactic against a site that has helped their sales over the years is not appreciated, and that you will think twice about shopping at their store from now on due to this behavior.
More details here in the CAG forums and the Boycott Circuit City Thread.