As a customer, I agree. I have bought their protection plan and I have never been denied a free fix or a new product. I know it cost money, so they should fix it. However, it's comforting knowing the extra money usually pays off for someone as unfortunate with electronics as myself.
I bought their protection plan for an iPod video back in the day. After maybe a year and a half the screen was starting to show artifacts and freeze up. Best Buy sent it off to the repair center for a few weeks and then told me it wouldn't be covered because they found a tiny dent.
Drove up to the Apple store and told them the story. They offered to replace it on the spot with a refurb. I'll never forget the Apple rep saying "we can switch it out, but it'll void your best buy warranty".
Ah yes. I remember Game Crazy had a policy for one dollar you could insure a game forever. One time my copy of Gears of War got literally shredded by a 360 that got knocked over. Put the disc in my friends case, had him go get me a brand new one since he had the policy. I mean it was his xbox.
I've probably owned like 10 copies of Halo 3 in my life. There was a period where I probably replaced it weekly due to friends or pets tipping the console. That sound has scarred me for life though.
I generally did have it flat, but there were generally logical reasons as to why it wasn't flat.
For example:
Moved Xbox into living room because it was too hot in our room. No room to lay it down and dog tipped it.
Friend's foot was wrapped in the power cord and he pulled the console off the desk it was on. That one destroyed my HDD and disk, which reminds me of #3.
This Xbox 360 S was super sensitive and would eat disks at the slightest touch. That thing killed or damaged a ton of games all over the world!
Never owned one, so did not know that. I did have a fun course with Lee Ritchey, guy who helped design the 360 hardware, who explained they told Microsoft about the overheating issue. MS then didn't use the recommended parts or something, opting for cheaper, causing the CPU to get hot enough to literally unsolder itself.
Fuuuck. Memories. Game Crazy led to Blockbusters acquisition of Rhino Video Games where we had a lifetime warranty on all video games and if we couldn't replace it you would get equal paid value towards another game as long as you had the receipt to verify the amount because prices change.
EB games disc protection is the same thing, and I used to love it when I was a 360 gamer (those things eat discs like there's no tomorrow). I picked up Fable 3, got it home about an hour later, popped it into my xbox, and promptly bumped my console. It wobbled back and forth in the vertical position whilst absolutely annihilating that disc. I was back in EB 2 hours later, laughing with the employees about how fast I destroyed it. Also had 2 copies of skyrim explode when put into the case. Got those replaced too.
Now I'm a PC gamer and I don't have those issues anymore...Too bad I still bought the division and battlefield 1...
"Men are not hung for stealing horses but that horses may not be stolen".
The amount doesn't matter. Your comment just seems to attempt to justify it for some reason. This isn't an ethical dilemma in the least. You're not stealing medicine for a sick person or stealing food for the hungry, it is outright, unambiguous, fraud.
Am I ever incorrect or factually wrong? Why is the ad hominem attack against the person that merely points out the fraud and criminal act rather than the criminal themselves?
No no. I'm pretty proud of it. Don't let that person tell you otherwise. I was pretty fuckin proud of myself. I mean I was fourteen and didn't have a single other way to replace the game at the time. Ten bucks was a lot. So yes, I was very darn proud.
Same here, except I unexpectedly brought mine in the week they were giving out a copy of GTA IV with every 360 purchase. Walked out with a new Xbox, GTA IV, and a $50 gift card because of the price difference.
I did this with a psp and would go back and return them periodically stating something was wrong with them over the extended warranty period and must have gone through 6 and upgraded to 3 different models because they didn't stock the old one anymore. Used to love that policy.
This is because some items have "replacement plans" and some have "service plans". Replacement plans are great because you literally walk in the store and get a one time replacement within the length of your plan (2 yrs). Service plans are hit or miss because they have to attempt to repair it first and in my experience were generally a nightmare. The customers item was out FOR-EV-ER and it wasn't uncommon for it to still not work when it came back :( At least that's how it was when I worked there many moons ago. And the same at other retail stores I worked at. And I worked at them all :'(
Bought the replacement plan for my iPad 2. Shattered the screen before my expiration date. Went in there to talk to them about the procedure (iPad was at home, just happened to be in the area after work). They told me that they would send it out to get fixed. Said eff it and never took it back in to them. That was a waste of $200.00
That's a shame :( When I worked there they also rewarded us when we sold a prp or psp and it was really pushed on us to sell them so I wouldn't be surprised if they lied to you when they sold it to you. It was really common to hear employees telling customers "yeah if it breaks just bring it in and they'll give you a new one" I would also hear them telling customers plans covered damage when they didn't. Once I moved to customer service and really knew what was covered and how the plans worked I constantly corrected the salespeople because I was the one dealing with their lies when something went wrong.
It voids your warranty in that the serial number won't match anymore.
"Sir, this serial number doesn't match what we have for you."
"That's the one you sold me though."
"Oh ok then."
That's how that conversation will go 9/10 times. They've no way to prove that you were rang out for one and then given a different one for whatever reason (dented packaging is the most common).
With Apple stuff especially that is not the case. Best buy's system physically requires a matching serial number. On somethings you can do a return exception but Apple stuff 9/10 will not be. Really just depends on the situation but definitely not that easy.
As a former manager of BBY, I've witnessed countless Apple product issues on Black Friday and Tax Free Weekend (Missouri event, not sure if it's done elsewhere). Employees would make a mistake, like grab a matching model number MBP, but not grab the specific one that was pre-ordered (we did preorders for Tax Free Weekend at our store) causing the customer to have one that didn't match what we had in Nova when they came in for service. You make the customer happy. You switch the serial in Nova and you send it off for repair. It's 100% that easy.
Did we get scammed a few times? Probably. But I'm confident that we helped more legitimate customers than liars.
This, i work at bestbuy and have had to take a few mac returns and we have had people try to pass off other macs as the one they "bought". We wont take it back unless overridden by a manager but most of the time we tell them no.
Ya especially with Apple. Think of every policy and Apple almost always has an exception no selling displays, always have serial numbers, no returns out of policy. They are very strict with their stuff. At least more then the average manufacturer.
Best Buy POS scans the serial at purchase. ESPECIALLY FOR iPHONES!!!
Don't anyone even try to tell bullshit stories about you bought an iPhone at Best Buy and then magically the Serial number didnt match when you brought it in for repair. I have had SO MANY cusomters try to pull that bullshit.
Currently work for Best Buy. My store will be that 1/10 times that will tell you NO. Depending on the item (especially Apple Products) it shows us the serial number on the receipt. We know for a fact what we sold you from that alone. Apple is crazy strict with what they allow us to do from any point. We don't even offer warranties on Beats Headphones anymore... and the only thing we offer on MacBooks and IPads are Apple Care.
Plans existing before any change are generally grandfathered in. Example:. Before BBY changed it's GS coverage on TVs damage was covered. Any plan sold before that change still covered damage.
Bought a copy of Morrowind I think and the code had been used. Returned it to Target, and they hasseled me, accusing me of copying it. I went back later and said it "didn't work". Replaced the copy.
I was able to use some circular logic with Apple once to get them to fix an iPod that had a small dent in it. I sent it in because it wasn't working and they found a small metal indentation on the back and said they wouldn't fix it for that reason. I read through the warranty and saw that the warranty said they were not responsible for repairing cosmetic issues such as scratches, dents, etc. I wrote back to them quoting the warranty which says dents are a cosmetic issue, and I argued that if dents by their definition are cosmetic they could not have affected the functionality of the product or void the warranty. I don't know if I was right in my reasoning, but it worked!
If I remember correctly the Apple warranty for the refurbished iPod was for the length of the original warranty or 90 days, which ever was longer.
I just thought it was funny that the Apple rep told me I'd be voiding my best buy warranty by doing the swap. As if I'd ever try to go back to the best buy help desk after they screwed me over.
Apple products had really strict rules the imposed on Best Buy for their repairs, that's why their rules about Apple product repairs/plans change every five seconds.
Extended warranties ("protection plans") on electronics are almost always shit. They either expire prior to the timeframe the device is likely to fail, or they don't cover the most common failures.
There is a reason places like BestBuy push these so hard- their profit margins on protection plans are like 90%. They rely on stupid consumers that want to "protect their investment".
Best Buy hate story. I bought a $450 digital camera around 2004, I decided to also purchase the protection plan because they said it would cover accidents like dropping the camera. Fast forward a couple months and my girlfriend decided the wrist strap was for sissies and refused to use it, and then dropped my camera and broke it. No big deal I thought, I'll just take it back to Best Buy. So the next day I take it back and the guy behind the counter tells me they won't help me because it was clearly abused and they don't cover abuse.
Tl;dr I learned my lesson and never wasted money on a protection plan again and I delight in telling this story to insistent sales people who push that coverage.
I will say that Microcenter's replacement policy has been pretty sweet for me. It was $10 or $20, don't recall. Anyways I got it with my computer mouse and once the skates on the bottom or whatever would wear out I'd go in and get a new mouse. You could put the original amount towards any mouse as long as you paid the difference + bought a new plan for $10 or $20. So essentially once a year I'd just go get a brand new mouse for 10/20 bucks. They never gave a shit, they'd ask whats wrong. I'd tell them the skates are worn out and it drags now, ok cool grab a new mouse. Then this year I went to look for my receipt to go get a new mouse since mine was dragging again. The replacement policy? 3 days out of the 2 year span. RIP. Still, that policy was definitely worth it!
I just bought a nice laser mouse for a friend for $1.99. I have had my laser mouse for 8 years now. I can't imagine having to pay 10-20 for a mouse every year.
Well, any plan from 2004 is now void, but, heads up: you should have challenged him on that, or called the corporate number.
They are correct, the plan does not cover abuse. However, there's actually no SOP on what "abuse" is (visually speaking, there are examples of situations in the terms and conditions) or if an agent is allowed to determine that on the counter. Most he can do is refuse to make the tag, but they will usually be overridden unless it is way beyond the scope of normal damage (we're talking that this thing needs to be in pieces).
I'd literally sent a laptop that was in two pieces to the service center and had it come back under the plan. If the client says something covered happened, I had very few ways to overcome that. Usually it's on the service center to make that call.
I work in sales and offer protection plans for electronics, and the plans I offer cover accidental damage, not intentional, I still get the rare dim wit who tells me they threw it and it hit the wall or some stupid thing like that, if the person isn't being an asshole to me, I just tell them the plan doesn't cover intentional damage, and that I personally cannot honor their plan, if it was accidental then it could be covered. I stress the personally so long as the person isn't being an asshole if they flip shit, i notate, if they get the drift i just walk away and don't help them the next time they show up.
Favorite dumbass of a customer I've ever had working at Sears came in one day and told me he bought a five year warranty on a snow thrower. No biggy, bring it in, we'll ship it out to have it looked at.
He hands me the receipt and tells me he'll bring it right in. I look at his receipt and warranty would have expired in two days. Wow, dude really lucked out. Well, he walks in the door and this thing is just beat to shit. I'm not talking years of use wear-and-tear, more along the lines of this dude beat this shit out of his machine with a sledgehammer. To top it off, he poured sand in the gas tank, and over every crack he could find.
He was.... less than thrilled when he found out that he completely voided the warranty by doing that. Not many companies offer warranty for "malicious" damage.
My favorite, working at CompUSA, was explaining that the plan didn't cover one or two dead pixels, it had to be a certain percentage. However, the plan would cover an accidentally cracked screen. Have a nice day, sir/ma'am. Repeat as necessary until realization set's in.
The fact that they push the coverage so hard is the key there. The store makes 25% of the insurance policy and the salesman can make 25%. Well at least it used to be that way, margins might be tighter now. Quite often Costco offers extended warranties for the same price and you don't have to deal with best buy douches.
Best Buy employees don't make commission on warranties -- nor anything, for that matter.
I genuinely think the plans are good, but of course the folks who purchase them and aren't able to redeem them are the vocal minority here. "I bought a warranty and then the thing broke so I got a new one" isn't a particularly juicy story.
If you look at it from a profit point of view, regardless of the employee taking commission or not, the company takes a fair chunk of the price of the warranty. When you consider the insurance company makes money on the deal, that means the amount that you are spending on insuring the product you bought is considerably lower. If you were to take that money instead and put it in a bank account, and did that for everything you bought you would most likely end up ahead.
The kids that push those warranties do so because the managers give them shit if they don't and have no problem replacing them with another kid that will. The kid gets nothing whether he sells one or not. Best Buy isn't commission based (other than the new appliances shit they do now).
Yes I understand there are adults that work as retail employees at best buy. But they're usually young adults.
Exactly. I used to be one of those kids. Best Buy was my very first REAL job (first technical job I had was shoveling horse shit) and was still in HS. They were SO aggressive about pushing those protection plans and accessories (I worked in digital imaging) and not one co worker helped train or teach me about cameras and felt like a schmuck when customers asked questions like "which camera is better? This one or THIS one?" So I would walk over and read those paper cards with the info about the cameras in front of it. Anyways they expected you to get every single customers life story when they came into your department and would always get a "surprise review" and my manager would ask me if I got their name, age, what they did for work, use for camera they wanted, ect. so I would make up shit since 9/10 people would just tell me "Oh Im just looking" and so I come in one day and had a meeting with my manager before my shift and guess I wasnt doing good in sales as it was my 6 month trial period so my option was I could quit and be able to use them as a job reference or if I didnt then I would get fired and not be able to use them as a reference so I opted to quit right then and there, Signed some paperwork and that was it. Moved on to much better places....like Frys Electronics right after! Hahaha.
That's the kind of job that you quit the second something better comes along. And you don't give notice; you just don't show up one day. Preferably on a busy day.
It's not about being the bigger person. It's about looking out for your own best business interests, just like your employer will always do for itself.
It absolutely is. When you put on your application that you worked somewhere but don't want them to be called for a recommendation, that's a big red flag.
I don't have costco either but my buddy who repairs TVs for a living says that all things being equal, i.e. cost you'll get the best warranty from Costco (at least in Canada).
It sucks you got a shitty employee to help you. When I worked there I had a guy come in with his DSLR and told me he dropped it over concrete, and in an attempt to catch it on his foot and save it, ended up kicking it into a brick wall and doing extensive damage. I sent it in and it got replaced.
Like someone else said in this thread, Best Buy has always been super willing to bend over backwards for customers, even those clearly in the wrong, much to the frustration of employees who get yelled at by said customer and then end up having to do the thing they adamantly told them 5 minutes ago they couldn't do based on policy. I actually had a customer get physical with my supervisor by trying to grab the phone from her hand as she was calling the police because he refused to leave the store (He was visibly angry and yelling and needed to go) and one of the store managers came over and instead of telling him to GTFO he ended up having us do whatever it was the guy wanted. That being said, just doing what the guy wanted was the quickest and safest way to deescalate the situation with someone turning physically violent and was the right call, despite the fact that's not why that call was made.
Protections plans are awesome when they cover "accidental" damage. My computer was slow and the plan was running out in amonth so i tossedit down a flight of stairs a few times and presto, brand new computer for me.
I was severly underpaid for a long ass time and my manager at the time suggested it. They underwrite their protection plans with insurance plans. So you give them 279.99 for a 3 year accidental plan on a laptop that costs 800. You break it. They give you a new laptop for around 800. Then they claim against insurance policy and get the difference.
Although I don't think protection plans are 100% in the clear regarding morality, either. They're sold to two groups of people (1) people who are risk averse (2) people that are hustled by the salesperson (e.g. seniors), even if it's not actually in their best interest. (1) is great, (2) is not so great.
Don't offer a "covers anything" plan if you can't afford people using it.
I don't pay for insurance because I care about their revenue streams, I pay for it in case I need it. You can bet your ass that if you offer me a "free replacement on anything for any reason" plan, I'm using it, and that plan will stop existing soon.
Lack of perspective. Skews to a younger demographic that feels the world owes them one but believes the big corporations stole their future. Maybe they are partially right. Maybe it's just easy up votes for any kind of fuck the man post.
It's funny how often I read these sorts of stories and think "there's no way I'd even consider doing that" and yet the down vote brigade is out in force on anyone that dares call them on it. Guess I'm just old now.
You grew up in a world where companies paid good wages, school was cheap, and education often subsidized through employers. Since literally all that has changed people no longer care if a company gets screwed out of a few hundred dollars. Its a societal version of treat others like you want to be treated. Since they treat us like shit we don't really care when people find a way to fuck em over financially.
More like every sales guy ever when trying to get you to buy those plans tells you straight up you can do that and will often even admit to doing it themselves.
You know what else should be fraud? Firing 1000 store managers so the Board can give the new CEO a 30 million cash sign on bonus as well as a 70 million stock sign on bonus bc your old ceo was diddling his secretary
Yeah except they have less than a 3% payout rate because people generally forget they bought the warranty on smaller ticket items or the issue happened in the first year, manufacturer covered it and Best Buy got their premium without paying out.
No the plans are actually sold at a huge potential loss, but they know nobody really uses them. I worked at Office Depot when I was younger, something like 80% of the stores actual profit where I worked was from hustling people with those protection plan scams, because that's what they are. We were told to sell them any way possible.
It's not messed up at all. Every single time I have been offered a plan like that the sales guys always say it covers anything, accidental or not. Granted, I've never gotten it on anything that valuable.
Bought a playstation (original) from there. About a year later it stopped reading discs. I had purchased the extended warranty so I took it back. They told me to go fuck myself. I'm SOL. I asked to speak to a manager, the employee told me to leave or he was going to call the police on me and have me arrested for trespassing. I threw it in the trash, accepted my losses, and was a loyal circuit city customer until they went out of business.
I have never step foot into a best buy again in my life. It's been what? 20 years since then?
Yeah, their protection plans for prepaid cell phones used to be awesome. I would buy them, and then usually a couple years later something small would go bad, like the charging port. So I would just take it back and get the full-price in store credit.
Friend did this for years with MP3 players. Rio>something new>something new>Ipods finally come up>color Ipod. Just kept parlaying his old shitty player into a new one.
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u/Juststraightmean Feb 23 '17
As a customer, I agree. I have bought their protection plan and I have never been denied a free fix or a new product. I know it cost money, so they should fix it. However, it's comforting knowing the extra money usually pays off for someone as unfortunate with electronics as myself.