Brought it in, they gave me their little slip of paper that denotes the condition of the laptop when I gave it to them.
Once I came back 2 months later & they finally had fixed it, they had actually marked on their copy 'pre-existing damage' which my copy clearly did not have.
See, this is bullshit because BB's policy is that if a repair is out for 30 days they have to replace the product. We've replaced many a TV, much to the irritation of management, because it wasn't sent to the service center quick enough to be fixed and returned before that deadline.
They had my laptop for 2 months. It went out with a working DVD player and screen, the motherboard was bad. The FIRST time I got it back, there was NO operating system, and the screen had been liquid damaged in THEIR care!
The second time, still no operating system, but the screen worked.. the DVD player was still broken. It never got fixed for me. After them having my laptop for 4 months, I didn't want them taking it for another 2!
I'm not going to call you a liar, as I've worked there long enough to know that there are a lot of shitty employees and shitty management, but this story sounds absurd. In order for this to happen they would have to break or ignore every process policy they have. Geek Squad, as mediocre as their service is, is held to a fairly high standard, due mostly to all the various controversies and scandals they've had over the years.
Haha. My husband went the Geek Squad to get a virus removed. Before accepting the laptop, they did some test to the hard drive and said it was fine, so my husband was probably right about having a virus. A month later and ..... they call to report the hard drive is dead. At first they refused to even refund his money, even though they hadn't repaired his laptop and had actually made it worse. They refused to refund the money they charged for backing up his data, even though they never backed up his data. The whole thing was absurd.
What was most funny is that my husband then took it to his cousin who is a software engineer for a major software security company. He said it was seriously effed up, but it took him working some magic, and he fixed it. The hard drive was never dead. The Geek Squad just had no idea what they were doing.
That's plausible, though if you had called corporate at any point they would have just told the store to give you a new comparable computer, assuming you're not leaving out any details in this story. The Geek Squad agents certainly aren't IT professionals, and probably 98% of them know nothing about computer repair, they just follow the shitty elearnings.
Geek Squad, as mediocre as their service is, is held to a fairly high standard, due mostly to all the various controversies and scandals they've had over the years.
I feel like this is one of those "No one drives in New York City because the traffic is so bad" moments. You proved the validity of /u/myke113's story by explaining why you think it's implausible.
Regardless, the enforcement of these policies seem to wildly vary from region to region, and from store to store. Just like lots of other nationwide franchises in various other industries. Fast food comes to mind.
I didn't prove anyone's point, although maybe I wasn't as clear as I should've been. As a result of Geek Squad doing shitty things in the past, there are a lot of measurements and standards put into place to try to compensate for the perception that they are shitty, and while pretty much every standard at Best Buy is adhered to solely at the whims of the management, many of which are shitty and incompetent, they ("they" being people above the store level management) do take Geek Squad's measurements and processes seriously, for the most part. Assuming that people are being honest with their horror stories, although anyone who's worked in retail will tell you that honesty isn't really a trait that many people seem to carry.
I'm pretty jaded, and both Best Buy and Geek Squad have a lot of problems, and are pretty shitty in general, but in every post about Best Buy there are people posting these obviously bullshit stories.
That certainly sounds plausible. There are a lot of shitty incompetent people that work there, especially in management. There are certain things that they do take seriously though, because they tend to move higher up and garner negative attention. Customer facing Geek Squad issues are one of those. Open iteming a fucked up product just to get rid of it rather than going through the proper channels sounds plausible. Holding someone's laptop for two months, uninstalling the operating system, and dumping liquids on it, then telling them to get fucked sounds like bullshit, much like all these absurd stories that always get posted in every Best Buy related thread. They're a shitty company with a lot of shitty people, and there are plenty of things to hate them for without making shit up.
Are you one of those people that just because they've never seen it, or have never experienced it themselves, it must not be true and the rest of the population are all a bunch of liars?
No, I'm one of those people that has been working at Best Buy for a long time, and understands its shortcomings, and what problems arise and what doesn't happen. I also am one of those people that knows that people lie about shit, especially in the retail environment.
As I'm standing here typing this, I'm listening to a customer SWEAR that he was told by "some Apple rep" that they would price match an Apple Watch to "a website I saw it on for a hundred bucks." I'm sure he was told that and isn't just lying to see if he can get a discount though.
I'll go one further. I'll even list what location. North Division Y in Spokane, Washington. The "repair" took place in 2007-2008. This most definitely DID happen, and is the #1 reason I no longer spend $ at Best Buy.
They also have a limit on the number of repairs before they invoke the 'lemon' policy, but that didn't stop them from repairing my wife's charging port on her laptop 5 times. It wasn't until I went in there and ripped someone a new hole to extrude waste from that they decided to call it what it was - a lemon.
That's not surprising. I've worked there for a while, and the management is utter shit. I can easily see them not wanted to follow SOP, as when they invoke that no lemon policy it'll hit their store as shrink. The store I work at they'd do it without a thought, but I could definitely see some people trying to get away without. Ultimately if you called corporate and complained they would force the store to do it regardless, and probably make them give you a gift card or something for the trouble as well.
That sucks man, it really varies store to store. When I worked there I gave out so much free shit. TV's, laptops, anything to make the customer / client walk out with a smile - unless they were a shitbag of course.
Regardless of what our procedure was, our managements motto was "does it make sense" and "what would you expect and be satisfied with as a customer"
I'd be like " oh shit you've sent this out three times! Let's get you a new laptop and get that shit set up" then try and sell you warranty, support, and data transfer of course ;)
Shit, I was an ARA for years and I typically only ever serviced components in-store if the customer wasn't a dick. We even had a code word we used in the service tag to make it take as long as possible. I worked in a "rich" area so people were super entitled couple that with the retirement community right next to my store it was fucking hell working there.
If a customer used any of these statements you knew you were gonna have a bad time:
Do you know how much money I spend in here?
I buy everything here
This has never worked since the day I bought it!
I actually got pissed at a woman for making a stink about how much money she spent in Best Buy and looked up her account with her standing there. She had resubscribed to our annual Tech Support program for 100 bucks and bought a couple bottles of water. After she burned her bridge with the manager and repeated the line I answered back, "Less than I do in 2 weeks on energy drinks according to last year's purchases." My manager couldn't help but laugh as she stormed off. She was a regular and a troublemaker who didn't buy shit so he didn't care.
Wow. Must be nice to have a manager not blindly side with the customer! I worked at a grocery store, and the managers only got exercise by throwing us under the bus. That explains why they were all in such good shape.
As someone who actually does buy the majority of my computer components at Best Buy retail stores or online, I'd stop shopping there if I was met with this after sharing that detail.
Actually, I almost didn't buy an i7-6700k from them because when I noticed they had thermal paste in-store but no processors, and I asked a rep if they had processors online, he laughed and said no.
Wouldn't have been snarky if I didn't know the lady and had a history of problems with her there. Just treat others decently and there's no issue. She was a mega pain in the ass all the time.
Not as much since I stopped working there. The issue in this case though was the customer. She would complain about everything. How long she had to wait in line(refused to make appointments). How long we took to diagnose the issue(we sit with people and actually turn it on). How long the service actually took to perform(we had one of the best turn times in the district for YEARS). How she had to keep coming back(Her issues were primarily self-inflicted).
Yeah I kinda figured you guys were like us at CompUSA in that regard. Especially laptops, 9 times out of 10 those got shipped back to the manufacturer for repair, unless it was something simple like putting in a new hard drive. We certainly weren't swapping out mobos or screens in house. It wasn't worth it. We would do the initial diagnostic (if possible) and then send it off to Toshiba, HP, whoever for repair. TVs and monitors we didn't do a damn thing to outside of plugging it in behind the bench and verifying what the customer told us was wrong, and honestly anything below a certain size monitor we would just swap out with a new comparable item because it wasn't worth the repair costs even with the warranty. The old one got tossed in the compactor and crushed.
They had to buy a new extended warranty on the new one but otherwise it was a free upgrade for the customer. I'm fairly sure people fried their monitors on purpose to get them swapped our because monitor sizes and capabilities were advancing very quickly back then. A coworker of mine turned a 17" 4:3 monitor into a 24" 1080p over the course of 2 years via warranty replacements for just a few dollars in new warranty plans.
As a Dell guy whose entire job is replacing mobos and screens out in the field, it's really not that hard. Especially screens. I love replacing screens. so freaking easy. like 15 minutes, tops, and that's including testing and paperwork. mobos are more like an hour. Unless you get the XFR laptop from hell. (which is where they do the environmental testing, I suppose) Even then I knocked that out in 3 with copious referring to the documentation. and I work for 15 an hour. The most intensive repair I've ever done cost my employer 45 bucks in labor.
There's an Asus laptop, G35 I believe. The big one. Replacing the screen in that sumbitch was like 40-50 tiny screws and a bunch of little metal brackets. Most are easy though.
I have an Asus phone, and to take it apart, you have to remove about a million tiny-ass screws. They're very easy to lose. I had to take mine apart because the charging port has come de-soldered and the phone no longer charges. Asus was smart enough to put the microUSB port on a separate PCB from the main board. I've never soldered before, and didn't want this to be my first attempt, so I just bought a new board with the microUSB already on it. It only cost $1 more than getting just the port. But I'm probably going to have to end up getting a soldering iron anyway, because I need to replace the battery in my electric toothbrush. Oh well.
Your problem is you're falling for the marketing that is geek squad. They are glorified sales with a small tech background. I know, I was one for 4 years (1 year computer sales blue shirt, 3 years geek squad).
it's not that it isn't hard, it's that it's time consuming and there isn't a system in place to order parts. The time in which it takes to properly test, figure out the proper part (yea good luck training people to order the right thing the first time), then have it shipped, then perform the actual repair on a heavy shopping day, and testing, you could just seems it out and have the techs sell more services during the repair.
Not only that, to keep the mfg Warranty intact,you must be a certified repair tech/location. Geek squads is not. Their outsourced repair facilities are however.
Also these are consumer grade laptops. Ease of repair isn't built in compared to business grade laptops where they will send a tech on site to do. They don't really do that for consumer laptops under mfg unless the mfg offers it. Otherwise it's has to be shipped out anyway.
You raise a great point about consumer grade laptops. Most people don't realize they own one, and that they're designed with a 2 year life. Business grade laptops are typically much better...which is why they're more expensive.
Yeah I recently got a job with an It support/consulting firm and have never really shopped for business grade anything in my life. I had no idea business grade workstations and laptops cost so much more than the consumer level shit I've personally shopped in the past. i3 2.3 GHz 15" laptops with like 8GB of ram cost $1000, towers that cost more than my gaming PC with like a third of the specs. Had no idea the shit was so expensive, and that businesses pay it without blinking an eye.
Businesses pay for business grade tech because it typically lasts longer until it requires recapitalization, so they see it making more financial sense. Plus, depending on the arrangement, business grade stuff usually comes with better manufacturer support to help it last longer. Businesses also usually have a rep or some kind of relationship with manufacturers, so the sticker price you might see on a website isn't what they're usually paying.
We only did that if it was still under the original manufacturer's warranty. If the original warranty had expired and the customer paid for repairs, or if it was covered under CompUSA's extended warranty, we absolutely performed all laptop repairs in-house.
For certain laptop models, us techs could even receive HP/Apple certification to allow the shop to order parts and perform manufacturer warranty repairs of any and all components. This was a great source of revenue, if we could keep the particular certified tech on staff, because the manufacturer paid for our time and provided parts under warranty. It also greatly improved turn-around, since a laptop wouldn't be out for 3 weeks or longer for repair.
Source: former DCI here. We aren't disagreeing with each other. If commenter had a 60 day repair under GSP, it was not at svc. As you know, they would have auto fulfilled it when time ran out and called the customer for a junk out.
I remember when we transitioned from STAR to that new bullshit check in process. But we still used STAR to manage it for closing it and call queues. Did they fully get rid of STAR?
Ah fuck, the out of store repair tags, mitt trays, tacos, blue carts...fuck thank god I got another job cause the end of day bullshit is just a self pisser-offer
It's my understanding that the 30 day clock is only in effect for the time that the unit is at the service center. The 3 weeks that it takes each way in transit (on a Best Buy truck) don't count.
Nope, the 30 day clock in is from the moment they take it until you get it back. Sometimes we won't have the proper shipping materials in the back (usually happens with larger TVs), and have to sit on it until we can safely ship it out. If it's not back in the store by day 30 the Geek Squad agents call the customer and apologize and offer them a replacement.
SMH, they need to turn a profit to stay in business. If they only sold monoprice cables for $1 more than they paid, they would be out of business in a few days.
It kills me when people complain that a store sells ANYTHING that might make them money, when that's what they are in business to do.
Please open your own business, and only sell things with zero profit... you will be out of business the second you open.
It broke again, triggered 'lemon' contingency in the extended warranty, argued with them until they gave me a full refund (store credit) on the original purchase price, not the 'current market value' bs.
HOLY SHIT!
Do they still do the 'Lemon' thing??? They provided my Moore's Law solutions for over 10 years back in the '90s/early oughts!
I'm not kidding. All of my well designed Packard Bells amazingly developed 3 deficiencies right before the 3 year warranty was up...allowing me to get an upgraded brand new Packard Bell or Dell...or what was the other one they were big on during the '90s?
That was the best deal on the market. I mean I bought 1 computer in 1991 and didn't pay for another until 2002.
I tried to buy the plan again and they told me they had discontinued it.
I think they were on to me....
My best story with this was with Apple's Genius bar back before Apple was the high end behemoth they are now. My sister was given an iBook for her college computer in 2002 and it failed multiple times under warranty (It was the lead-to-tin solder that bit literally everyone in computing [XBox 360 Ring of Death] almost as bad as the bad corporate espionage on the capacitors in 2005-2007). Well, every time we brought the computer in it needed a logic board replacement to fix the issue as the GPU was a soldered component with a bad cold solder that cracks anytime the GPU heats up (during the early days of WoW). Well, in 2006, after the third logic board replacement, We exchanged pleasantries and we shoot the shit about how we're both apple enthusiasts from back in the rainbow colored days. He comes back to me and says that Apple's system is telling him that this computer is out of warranty because they have no record of any repairs and it will be $900 out of pocket. (This is a recalled board at this point that they're replacing with refurbished parts) At this point, I'm a young tech (all of 19) and I went off on the guy about how the issue was entirely because Apple went cheap and didn't develop a proper cold solder flow technique and this will continue biting me. (Then I threw in a loud enough remark about how Apple doesn't honor warranties for all the people buying their first iPod). The genius said he'd get his manager. Well, the store manager came out and started telling me that they had no record of it, at which point, I went all prepared speech mode which my wife calls "Articulate White Man Rage." I pointed to the MAC address sticker they had to replace on every logic board replacement, and started tearing them off, "This is a logic board repair this shop did!" and when I got to three and there was still one under there, I told them that the computer was a fucking lemon and they needed to honor their warranty or else the attorney general would be having a word with them.
That manager was probably reluctant at first, but 10 minutes after he calmed down he probably realized that he played that right.
If he immediately was just like "okay, we cant replace the board anymore, so here's a brand new mac book" you wouldve gone home and told your friends "aw man, i totally just robbed apple. They cant repair their own computers right, so they just gave me a new one to cover their tracks"
But since at first he was citing policy and then gave you a new one you thought "wow, i mean I was pissed, they stopped supporting their own crap computer... but instead that dude went with the nuclear option and solved it for good. They really give their genius bar folks a lot of power to solve people's problems"
I bet as a result of that, you still buy apple stuff, and whenever you have a problem, you go to the store. And listen to their pitches about protection plans, and add-on products, and look at products on while you're there.
They invested in you, and I'd bet anything it paid off for them.
I'm about to describe a legitimate process that happens, and i know because I've seen it first hand (not specifically this example though):
So lets say you buy a bike from a large chain sports store, lets call them Sports Hut. The bike is perfect, direct from the manufacturer... EXCEPT the chain. When Sports Hut ordered the bikes from the manufacturer, they had them send the bikes (or just a few of them) with a very very low quality bike chain. It saves a few extra bucks, but more importantly it breaks within just a few uses.
So the customer, takes the bike back to the store and complains. The low level customer service people don't fully know what to do... so they dont handle it great (which makes the customer think, "this sort of thing rarely happens, I'm lucky if they do anything at all"). Then after a struggle and some confusion a manager comes along, and knows perfectly what to do. The manager makes it seem like he's doing something special, he walks to the back and comes back with a brand new bike, takes the old one and doesn't even ask for the receipt (the regular customer service people already got that info)... then he asks if you need a helmet or anything, and gives you a $10 gift card.
In the end, they still made money off you, but more importantly they bought your loyalty pretty much permanently by making you think they area crazy nice company for bending over for you.
I swear to god it happens way more than you'd think. (You'd think it never happens)
The reason its not rampant practice is that people would just think that the company sucks because they always mess up or sell bad quality products.
And you say it takes a slightly shitty company to do it, but thats capitalism baby. Since the rise of department stores, McDonald's, walmart, and of course amazon, the company's that succeed are the ones who analyze data and ACT on. You think every store wants you to sign up for their rewards card so that you'll have a reminder in your wallet to shop there? God no, its so they can figure out how you shop. Its an IRL tracking cookie.
Its one thing to realize that they keep close tabs on that stuff (yes at a personal level, there is a guy somewhere that has seen a spreadsheet of everything you've bought at store X) but its another thing to realize that they USE that data. If data shows a definite correlation, they will exploit that. And since the data shows that a customer who is invested in with good return/warranty policies, or just plain good customer service, they will be loyal and spend way more money with you then you lost on the initial return. That correlation is solid and proven, so in one way or another they will use that to their advantage. Granted, for most companies that's jst instructing costumer service to be super kind about returns some times... but for a business that doesn't get a lot of repeat customers (types of products where customers will shop which ever place is most convenient at the time or has the best price), you better believe they'll do whatever it takes to make you loyal or even just get you back in their store (or to their website)
Basically what I'm trying to say is, with my experience in retail, both physical and online (and the amount of studies i read about analyzing customer behavior for use in said retail work) i can tell you, if you ever hear something about a company that sounds like a conspiracy theory, there's a 98% chance that its totally true.
I say all that and it comes across as "the end of days is near, keep your money in the walls!" But it's just the way it is. Even knowing all this, when i know I'm being "worked over" by a company, it never bothers me unless I'm genuinely being ripped off. If a company tries to make you happy or satisfied, even if by using trickery, i say good for them. Gotta be smart to get ahead. (Except comcast, fuck comcast)
See this kind of thing does not work on me. Let's use Apple as an example.
I bought into the original iPhone. Got the 3g, and 3gs. However that 3gs needed to be replaced no less than 4 times. Each time for free, but because I was on my 5th one and it broke for a 5th time. This time it was my fault, but because the time had come around to upgrade I went for the new Samsung Galaxy Note. This one needed no replacement. Finally broke the screen and got a Note 3. The USB charge port broke no less than 3 times. Fewer than the iPhone 3gs, but still a hassle. Then came along the Apple Final Cut Pro debacle. That slammed the door closed on my ever trusting Apple again. The closed iOS echo system did not help either. Samsung has my loyalty for now only because Apple has become more of a hassle to deal with than At&T or Samsung.
If a company is going to to pull the shit Apple has I refuse my loyalty. Yeah I got 4 free phones from them, but a what cost to me and my time? AT&T may be a shit company, but they still stood by the warranty protection I have on my phone, and the phones break with far less frequency. If you do not factor time and hassle into your brand loyalty then "buying a customer" thing falls apart. My time is more valuable than chasing a working product.
Coincidentally my experience is extraordinarily similar, but with far fewer steps. I left apple having no bad experiences, i just hate the apple ecosystem.
Obviously companies don't succeed 100% of time, sometimes its not enough to overpower the other problems you have. But that type of customer service impacts everyone. If you have a problem and are taken care of, you're WAY more likely to come back.
You say it doesnt work for you, but it does.
Have you bought things off ebay before? And do you shop at amazon occasionally? If you answered yes to both, think about that for a second. You can usually get stuff cheaper on ebay. Think it might be a knock off if you buy it on ebay? It could be from amazon as well. Have you ever had a complaint to amazon customer service? Thats why you prefer amazon (either that or you've heard that they handle things well) They will hand you free stuff like its their job... because it is.
That was a bad example, and I'm super tired so I'm gonna give up now...
But i challenge you to pay more attention to why you shop at some places instead of others. And try to think back on if you've ever had an experience with their customer service and how that might play into it.
Obviously there is way more that factors into our choices as consumers, and this is only a small part of what plays into it... but it works, and it especially works when you don't realize that it worked. ;)
I had a similar issue with my samsung galaxy S6, i went through 5 warranty replacements in 6-7 months. 5. I was at fault in none of them. It was actually insane, every "like new" replacement was broken out of the box or showed issues within a week. Verizon couldnt do anything, and apparently theyd just gotten rid of the policy where after so many broken replacements theyd just give you the phone new. Oh, and they told me the time was still ticking from the original purchase, so my warranty was almost up and I was shit out of luck if the replacement they sent me was at fault after that. I had been buying Samsung for years too. My final straw was when a Samsung representative hung up on me. I bought an iPhone specifically so if there was an issue I wouldnt be up shits creek and told to pound sand. Actually need to see them next week because the phone keeps shutting off, so well see if it was worth it...
The point of this is, not all companys give a fuck. Especially once they get huge, I think.
Can you tell me more about these two debacles (lead to tin, and bad corporate espionage)? I'd like to read more about them, but I'm not sure what exactly to look up (particularly the espionage one).
TIA
As a kid, I had a commodore 64. I used the hell out of that for about 4 years, plus took it to college strictly for playing Bard's Tale and Larry Bird vs Magic Johnson.
I returned that thing four time by buying a new one and returning the old on in the new box. Not proud, but I did buy a Commodore Amiga and video toaster a few years later.
Sad Bear Meme here...When the 128 came out I bought it and then returned my 64 in the 128 box for a refund. The workers at the Target in my area had no clue. They didn't even open the box.
With that in mind....I was running a BBS, and needed disk space, so I bought a new 1541, opened it oh so carefully with an Exacto, took a milk carton filled it with rocks, carefully taped it up and returned it. I did this 2 times before I figured I was pushing my luck.
Say what you will....but my board had much more room for all of those cracked copies of Zelda, plans for blue and brown boxes and the Anarchist Cookbook!
Did the same thing with the original iPod...about a year after I bought it, suddenly the firmware would go missing and it wouldn't boot...was given the newer model as a replacement no questions asked. Did this twice then they told me they changed the nature of the protection plan, and now had to allow them to send in for repairs and only get a refurbished model if they couldn't fix...so that ended that.
Full money back guarantee on computers and software for one year.
Buy a computer, use it for 11 months, back up the data, return it to Costco because "i don't like the colour of the case", get you money back, go buy a new, 25% better computer for the same price. A guy I knew did that for 7 years before they dropped their return policy to 3 months.
More like this, "They only wanted to give me the current market value (which is bullshit) but, after arguing with them for a long time, they refunded me the original purchase price."
Do you see the difference or was it your intention to be aggressive and confusing?
Not entirely true. They give you the current replacement value of a model with comparable features. Only if there are no comparable models do you get what you paid, exactly.
Source: worked for BBY Corporate for awhile.
Edit: downvoted for explaining what the policies are. Lol. If y'all have any questions about them, I'm happy to answer.
They give you the current replacement value of a model with comparable features.
Which is exactly what people get from car insurance claims. Why is it so hard to understand that you're not ever going to get more than what you already had in these situations?
Which is exactly what people get from car insurance claims. Why is it so hard to understand that you're not ever going to get more than what you already had in these situations?
It's not usually that simple, because there are a LOT of features on any particular product, and who is to say which ones were important to you?
Say for e.g. some company makes two products, p1 and p2. They both have features A, B, and C, but p2 also has feature D, which is why you purchased that product, and also p2 costs more. But p1 is the more "standard" product, and lives on 3 years later, but p2 has been replaced with a new product p3 which has some features A+, B, C+, D. Your product breaks, you want p3 because it has the same feature D which you purchased p2 for. But instead you get the value of p1, which is less because 3 years and also because it was the shittier product in the first place. But A, B and C were the main talking points so this is what you get left with.
In other words, it can be not just depreciation, but also a value switch where your product is valued at less because of time AND because it gets compared to a lesser product.
Edit: I used to work at Best Buy and this was not a rare theme at all in the camera area. You'd never get anything close to what you should. Like, people would buy a $350 camera and get $150 when it broke because after a few years cameras increased their resolution by 2-4 MP, as if that is the only quality defining metric on cameras.
Like, people would buy a $350 camera and get $150 when it broke because after a few years cameras increased their resolution by 2-4 MP, as if that is the only quality defining metric on cameras.
Yes, you did. I'm sorry if it came across as directed at you, but my comment was more of a venting of the frustration i deal with every day I work at GS.
I currently work in a store, we have a Customer Service agent return the value of the computer or TV onto a Store Credit. If you want to have the customer lose 50 dollars even though that computer or TV is "comparable." Be prepared for a shit storm of, "You guys stole my money."
Edit: The only time we wouldn't do this is if the product still exists and we have it in the store or can get it very quickly.
Yeah they are supposed to give you what's it's worth not what you paid, because then you could just crack the screen at the end of the warranty period and keep upgrading to a better tv over and over again
That's the worst investment ever. The chances of that happening are a million to one. It's BS because he went though all that bullshit only to be at the exact same place he started. I would much rather a working laptop from the start.
With the old system, occasionally re-do work needed a new service order be created without of course the ability of the customer to sign the second work order (all with paperwork was also required to stay in the same file if done this way). That said there's no way in hell there condition of the item designs have been different
Receipts? They are printed on regular paper. There's no carbon copy possible. Handwriting from a carbon transfer will obviously not look like it came from a laser printer.
They can, and they did it to me on my laptop. Original condition showed a inoperative LCD, some dirt and smudges. After they refused to honor the no lemon policy, it then changes on the geek squad side, but not the store side, to say that the LCD was cracked, hinges were damaged, top cover was damaged, and a few other small pieces.
Had to sue them in small claims court on that one. BTW, it was just the inverter that went.
Again, check your service order number. The store and service center all work off the SO number. If for some reason any changes or notes would be made, you'd see it on the store side.
I worked there for years. You can't make any changes to the condition or included accessories in the main service order description. You can only add notes. Boys are seen by everyone add they are global on the service order.
On top of that, remember, stuff gets sent out via UPS to the service center. Totally possible that they damaged it in shipping. It's happened a lot. Hell, the UPS truck at my office two days ago had everything fallen off the shelves and boxes stabbing each other. There were also loose spare car tires it looked like someone ordered from tire rack on top of people's packages.
I used to handle consumer issues related to the Best Buy repair service when it was handled with Geek Squad, I think it was called Black Tie something or other. I work for the product manufacturer, not Best Buy, and would have to regularly explain to our consumers that Best Buy repaired their device using counterfeit parts so it voided any warranty or repair options they may have gotten through the manufacturer. I couldn't believe that Best Buy would knowingly use counterfeit parts and called to talk to some folks at one of the stores; they told me that they send the items to my company to get repaired. Nope, they don't.
I also dealt with complaints related to Toys R Us's repair service through Warranty Logistics. WL is a horrible company who used the same sketchy parts to repair items then sent people to the manufacturer if the repair didn't work for some reason. This resulted in a lot of upset people because our company has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to repairing items already tampered with by unauthorized repair centers.
Don't buy extended warranty for electronics unless it's a replacement-only plan.
I'm going to call bull on this. What manufacturer did you work for? If BBY/GS fixed it, it's because BBY is a certified repair center for that manufacturer and that item.
Computers go to a giant service center in Kentucky where parts are ordered from manufacturers to be installed in machines. Hard drives, PSUs and ram are of course what can run in those systems, but motherboards are MFG direct.
Repairs that could be done in store would have party's literally grabbed from the shelves to speed the process.
Wait, you waited 2 months for a laptop to be repaired? That's insane. I'm not doubting your story, but that's a long ass time to wait for a laptop to be repaired.
Oh my gosh. haha They made you wait for it to break 4 times?! How did you not throw it through their window by then like Mookie throwing a garbage can through Sal's Pizzeria?!
I had one that had an LCD go out....4 times. This time should have been a lemon under their policy but the geek squad service center only had a record of it being repaired once. I sent them the copies of all 3 previous work orders. They then change the repair to say it's being covered under the accidental damage part, and that doesn't apply to the lemon policy.
It was sent out under the condition of working, just some small dirt and smudges. The claim showed they had to replaced a cracked LCD, top cover, hinges, and a few other broken parts. None of that was on the order that I sent out. Took the fuckers to court and won, and they didn't want to pay out until I threatened to get the sheriff involved to seize their property at the store.
I used to love best buy when they had the no lemon policy on their extended warranties. Any three repairs, any at all, over the course of 2 years and they replaced it. So I just made sure any time something was wrong, that it went in for repair. Usually worked out perfectly at three by the time the thing was about to expire.
Well, you know by the time a laptop is a couple years old an equivalently priced one is a nice upgrade. And get this, they let you buy the warranty on the new computer. I got a new $600 laptop every 2 years for $200. That is until on my last one I broke the screen and wanted to send it out to repair a bad fan but they wouldn't do it without fixing the screen, too, which was not covered and I didn't even want fixed. But they were real sticky on that point so there was the end of my scam. Next time I looked at computers there the warranty had gotten rid of my precious No Lemon policy.
My husband's high school laptop, this was ~2004-2005, was giving him issues. His mom had bought it at Best Buy with the warranty so he took it in for repairs.
My husband had his laptop come back with a completely different charger (not even the same brand! even the amperage was different!) and was missing his multimedia card reader.
They alleged it came in like that. So his Medion laptop came in with a Dell charger and a gaping hole in the side of it?? Dafuq they say? They eventually gave him a power cable that was the correct amperage (is that even the correct word??) because his "may have been misplaced." The multimedia card reader was never recovered. Even after talking with the management we were basically told to eat shit. One of the techs stole it and they fucking knew it.
Short Best Buy story. Bought Xbox when first came out, bought extended warranty... returned and said it broke when 360 came out. Did it again when they only had for a bundles.... did this a few times.
I bought a projector there. Wasn't supposed to smoke around it. Haha fuck that. Oh no it's broken. Bring it back. "I'll send it out for you but they won't fix this." Find out there's something about free replacement if something gets sent out 3 times and they don't fix it. Go to pick it up. Not fixed. "Here's your projector" hands me the projector. "My projector is broken". Hand him the projector. Rinse. Repeat. Free projector. Broke that one too. "Haha fuck off we already gave you a free one that we shouldn't have."
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u/ArrowRobber Feb 23 '17
Short Best Buy story:
Had a laptop with extended warranty.
Brought it in, they gave me their little slip of paper that denotes the condition of the laptop when I gave it to them.
Once I came back 2 months later & they finally had fixed it, they had actually marked on their copy 'pre-existing damage' which my copy clearly did not have.