Last week we got a call from some marketing types from Circuit City asking us to try out the Circuit City 24/24 guarantee. The 24/24 is Circuit City’s plan for the holidays where you go the Circuit City website and choose items that are in stock and available at your local store.

Add them to your cart as you normally would and checkout. Once you get your confirmation email from Circuit City that your order was received you are supposed to be able to pick your order up within 24 minutes at your chosen store or you get a free $24 gift card.

Armed with a gift card I set upon the Circuit City website to find some cool gear in stock at my local store. I ended up with a digital camera and a photo printer. I must say that the Circuit City website is well laid out and easy to use and navigate. Being a proper geek, I do lots of online shopping and e-window shopping and you can’t say that about all the websites out there.

Once I had my gear in my shopping cart and had entered my card info and printed out my confirmations, which you need to pick up the stuff at the local store, I sat back and waited for my email confirmation.

After about 10 minutes, the confirmation arrived and as soon as it hit my inbox, I started my stopwatch and headed to the store for pickup. It took me 15:21 seconds to print my confirmation and drive to the store to get my order. Once I arrived I stood in line at the pick up counter for about three minutes to hand the clerk my papers and show photo ID and the card I used to pay for the items on the website.

After that bit was completed, I stood to the side waiting for the person pulling the order to bring it out to me. I did get some odd looks standing there with my stopwatch in hand, but I was certainly going to be sure they lived up to every aspect of their guarantee.

I waited for about three more minutes and the person that pulled my order walked out and handed it to me. It took Circuit City exactly 21 minutes and 16 seconds from the time I received my confirmation to the time I walked into the store and was handed my order. Exactly what I had ordered too, no mistakes at all.

The funny part was the look on the guys face when he walked out with my stuff fin hand and saw me standing there with my stopwatch. “You were timing me” he exclaimed, “You bet I was" I retorted, "and you made it with a couple minutes to spare.”

I did leave wondering how they would decide when an order was over the 24-minute mark, I assume it to be based on the time stamp on the email confirmation. On the other hand, perhaps when it was check into the local stores system. At any rate I was impressed that they were able to get my order, pull the three items and have it packaged and in my hand in under 24 minutes. This great service will save shoppers lots of time this holiday season.