BS: Geek Squad Nightmare

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: frogprince
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 06:20 PM

From my experience, and that of numerous people I know, "Best Buy Customer Service" is an oxymoron.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 06:20 PM

Aha! They're called Future Sh*t! That's what you get when you try to obtain after sales service!

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: CarolC
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 06:13 PM

Thanks guys!

JtS went to the store with the power cord and checked out the computer. He says it works as good as it did before, meaning the ports are still malfunctioning, but it doesn't appear that they did any additional damage. So he's bringing it home and we'll get someone else to fix the ports and the inlet. And I think I'll be doing some online reviews and alerting consumer organizations about our experiences with Best Buy.

(JtS now calls them "Best Lie".)

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 08:49 AM

Just bought a Whirlpool duet front loading He washer drier at Best Buy. The salesman didn't take into account which way we needed the doors to open so we got it backwards. We were promised extra long cords and pipes for each machine - didn't get them. The delivery guy came early complaining of his 20 deliveries he had to make and couldn't spend the time to install our machines well. His attitude cost him twice the time it would have taken to be diligent and courteous.

The machines are cool though and spin over 1000 RPM and are virtually silent.

So all in all it was typical of America today.
The new American service economy is a testament and tribute to stupidity and arrogance, combined with a need to order spare parts from China with the conveinience of an added turn around time.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 07:26 AM

Unfortunately in my area there really is only one "computer shop" that carries significant in house stock. The "next best" would be one or the other of numerous "Office Supply" outlets, and their selections are rather limited.

(We do have Circuit City and a few other big box stores, but I don't, and never did, consider them a suitable place to look for things of that sort.)

I must give CompUSA credit for being meticulous about provided all the paperwork for rebates, including "rebate duplicate" receipts, and for having their registers programmed to automatically spit out the rebate vouchers - even for things that showed no indication on the shelf that a rebate is offered.

I am extremely annoyed that there is no place I can go to get computer related items (and a lot of other things) where I don't have to screw with a rebate on virtually everything I need.

In many areas where there are state and local sales taxes, the sales tax is assessed on the amount before rebate. That means, in my area, that when you get an $8,000 "rebate" (claimed in today's adds in my newspaper) on your new car, you pay sales tax on the price including that $8,000; and there's no way of getting it back, even though the actual "price" (always quoted "after rebate") of the item supposedly doesn't include it.

Currently, in my area, the "sales tax" on that extra $8,000 is $680, which the buyer would not pay if the dealers were allowed to deliver the item with the after rebate price, which they claim is "what you really pay," shown on the sales contract.

(A proposal to exempt the "rebate" from state sales tax was introduced in the current legislature here, but has been "tabled for study" and has no chance even of being considered for a vote in the current session.)

A rebate just means that the maker planned to overcharge you, but found out he couldn't sell it at the original price. So he decided to cheat you a little less than he thought he could.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: artbrooks
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 10:07 PM

I have bought at BestBuy, but only software (in sealed boxes) or things like cables. We have a local electronics store that can almost always beat their prices on electronics.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 09:28 PM

Aha! We do have Future Shop. They're all over the place.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: GUEST,Bardford
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 09:01 PM

I wish you well CarolC. Oooooh, those guys.

In Canada, Best Buy and Future Shop are owned by the same crew. I bought a hard drive from Future Shop a couple years ago that had a mail-in rebate. I know, I should have known better. There was even a sign on the counter that absolves FS of any problems with the rebate. Of course, after dutifully filling out the forms and mailing them in,I have yet to see the rebate. Because of my stellar organizational skills, I cannot find the copies of the receipts, etc. I need to support a complaint to either FS or the makers of the hard drive, who I am sure are in collusion in this practice.

Lessons learned:
1. I will never, ever purchase something because it offers a mail-in rebate. If a store has a product they are trying to entice me to buy with a rebate, they can bloody well sell it to me off the floor at that price.

2. I will never, ever again shop at Future Shop. If I found myself chased, wounded and exhausted, to the door of a Future Shop by a pack of rabid weasels, I would not enter the store even if I knew it contained the last available can of weasel repellent.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 06:24 PM

Also, LH, doing the water damage themselves makes it possible for them to declare the service contract void and not do any service on the computer at all, even though we paid extra for the extended service contract.

The other thing that just makes it all so obvious was the fact that the manager wouldn't sign anything guaranteeing that the computer is in at least as good condition now as it was when we brought it in. If they didn't do any damage to the computer, he shouldn't have any problem with signing something saying that they didn't do any damage to the computer.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 06:10 PM

Precisely, LH.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 05:01 PM

It doesn't cover accidental damage? How convenient. All they have to do is "accidentally" damage it then...and charge you for the results.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 04:57 PM

We bought a Sony Vaio laptop online from a company called Clearance Club (.com) for $999, and we've had excellent customer service from them. We've had to send it back two or three times to get it serviced, but each time, they fixed the problem quickly and well, and returned the computer to us in less than two weeks. And they paid the shipping each time.

One of the reasons JtS bought the Compaq at Best Buy is because the sales person at Best Buy told him the extended service contract covered accidental damage. He says he would have paid more for a different computer at Circuit City had the sales lady at Best Buy not told him that. He's had good experiences at Circuit City.

At Best Buy, you can't read the fine print in the service contract until after you buy it (smart of you not to buy it for your microwave, Sinsull), but you find out, long after you've bought the extended service contract, that it does not cover accidental damage. I did a little looking around online to see if other people have had problems with being mislead about the extended service contract, and it looks like a pretty chronic problem for them.

We didn't ask them to fix anything related to water damage, because there was no water damage when we brought the computer in for service. All we asked them to do was fix the ports and the power inlet. We are willing to just take the computer back in the same condition it was in when we dropped it off. But we will know better than to shop there ever again. They have been very dishonest with us evey step of the way, from the false claims about the service contract, to the form they wanted us to sign saying things that were not true. Based on their track record of dishonesty, and the fact that there was nothing wrong with the computer besides the ports and the inlet when we brought the computer in, we have every reason to expect they are lying to us when they say there was water damage to the computer (or that they caused the damage themselves).

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Don Firth
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 04:17 PM

Maybe I've been lucky.

A few years ago we were in the market for an inkjet printer. I researched them pretty thoroughly in computer magazines and on the internet, and decided that the Canon S630 would best suit our needs. Among other things, it uses separated ink cartridges for each color so you don't wind up wasting a lot of ink (and money) when only one color poops out. At the time, one of the few stores around that had them in stock was a Best Buy, so that's where we got it. Never had a problem with it. But that's the only thing we've ever bought there.

Both Barbara and I have HP Pavilion zv5000z notebook computers. We blew the budget and paid around $1,800 apiece for them, ordering directly from the Hewlett-Packard shopping web site, which gave us the opportunity to customized:   AMD Athlon 64 CPUs, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB hard drives, internal CD/DVD player/burners, and internal 1.44 MB floppy drives, wireless ready. And both laptops have 15.4" WXGA high-definition widescreen Brightview displays:   great for watching movies on DVD (we recently signed up for Netflix, and are catching up on a lot of movies we've missed).

Blowing the budget even further, we popped for a cable internet connection and got a wireless router, so we have our own wireless network in our apartment. Our desktop, put together in a local "screwdriver shop," is sick right now and out of the loop—it picked up a lot of spyware and crap that I can't get rid of (burrowed into the registry), so as soon as I get what I need off the hard drive, it's going into the shop for reformatting and upgrading). Once it's all fixed, complete with wireless module, it'll join the party.

Anyway, after a few teething problems, the HP laptops are working just fine. My hard drive went hinky a week or so after it arrived, so I sent it back, and they returned it within about a week with a new hard drive, no charge, and they paid the postage both ways. We both had a problem with some programs (like Microsoft Word!) refusing to load, so I called HP tech support. The young woman I talked to had an Indian accent (not surprising). She was quite knowledgeable and we got it all sorted out fairly quickly. It wasn't the computer, it was the "Data Execution Prevention" security feature of Mickeysoft's SP2 being paranoid. She asked me if I had activated my Norton Security System firewall, and when I said yes, she had me drill into the system, pull up an obscure Microsoft screen, and uncheck a box. From then on, everything worked fine.

Perfectly satisfactory service as far as I'm concerned. But as I say, maybe I've been lucky.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 03:13 PM

Oh, how could you possibly pass up such a golden opportunity, SINSULL????? ;-)

I think most of those machines are programmed to break down on or after the 53rd week of use, aren't they?

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 03:10 PM

I just bought a microwave from them. It cost all of $59.95 and suits my purposes. Had to laugh though when they tried to sell me a $19.95 service contract for one year. DOH!

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 02:57 PM

That must have been because they didn't know you yet, eh? ;-)

Well, we don't seem to have any around here. At least, I haven't noticed one.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 02:31 PM

"I guess we don't have "Best Buy" in Ontario, Canada"

Sure we do... There's one across town from me... I've not been in there often, but I've had nothing but really good experiences with them

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 02:21 PM

I've purchased something from Best Buy once. They wanted name, address and such even though I was paying cash. I refused to give it and they backed down, but it left me not wanting to do business with them again.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 02:18 PM

I guess we don't have "Best Buy" in Ontario, Canada. Our good luck, eh? It sounds like they might better change the name to "Worst Buy".

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Peace
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 01:50 PM

Corporate Office phone #s here.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 12:48 PM

My wife bought something at Best Buy and got lucky. (a little printer)....but I was in one of those places once, and it just 'felt' wrong. They carry ONLY stuff they can buy cheap, and I just suspected that they could only operate a store like that if they had a lot of questionable merchandise and policies. I would NOT buy from them under any circumstances...even though 78% of their sales might be 'ok'....I just don't like the odds.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 12:31 PM

We're definitely not going to give Best Buy any more of our business. We've decided not to buy any more Hewlett Packard products either. Compaq is made by HP. Best Buy sent the computer to an HP service center for the repair work. HP's customer service was no better than Best Buy's customer service.

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 12:04 PM

"cheapest ain't everything"

You get what you pay for....

Subject: RE: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: Greg F.
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 12:01 PM

Best Buy, WalMart, Short-Circuit City et. al- sometimes cheapest ain't everything.

In fact, most of the time it ain't.

Try dealing with a real store with a real repair staff with a proven history of SERVICE. i.e., not a Big Box-

But take comfort- your not the only one the magastores have screwed, & you won't be the last.

My condolences...

Subject: BS: Geek Squad Nightmare
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 11:53 AM

Anybody have an experience like this one with the Best Buy?

We bought a Compaq laptop and took it in for service under the manufacturer's warantee because the USB ports and the power cord inlet were malfunctioning through normal wear. At the time we took it in, there was nothing else wrong with the computer.

The people who were working on it told us over the phone that it was going to cost $600 to fix it because they said they found liquid in the computer. The computer only cost $500 dollars to begin with.

We told them we weren't going to spend $600 to fix a $500 dollar computer that didn't even have $600 worth of damage when we brought it in for repairs. So they sent it back to the store without repairing the ports or the inlet.

When we got to the store, the Geek Squad guy told us to sign a form saying they had done the repairs we requested and that we were satisfied with the work that had been done. And the form also said we owed them $50. We said we weren't going to sign that form because, A. it wasn't true, and B. we didn't owe them $50.

They said, "no, you're not signing the form because you owe us any money, you're just signing the form to acknowledge reciept of the computer". We said give us a form to sign that doesn't say the repairs were done, or that we are satisfied with the work that was done.

They also told us the reason they didn't do the repairs on the ports or the inlet was because the liquid they found in the computer voided the warrantee. We said that other than the ports and the power inlet, there was nothing wrong with the computer when we dropped it off, so if there was any liquid in the computer when it got to the shop, someone at the store must have put it there. So we said we wanted the store's manager to sign something guaranteeing that the computer was in at least as good shape when we picked it up as it was when we dropped it off.

The manager was unwilling to do that. We didn't have the power cord for the computer when we went to pick it up, so we couldn't see for ourselves whether or not they had done any damage to it, so we had to leave it at the store. They wouldn't release it to us without our signature saying we were satisfied.

We think they either put liquid in our computer to void the warrantee so they wouldn't have to do any work on it, or someone in their shop accidently spilled something in it, or they're lying about there being liquid in the computer so they wouldn't have to honor the warrantee.

We also had a bad experience with a camera we bought from there. They tried to convince us that the problem was with our computer (another laptop) and not with the camera. We had the laptop with us, so we were able to show them that the problem was with the camera. But had we not had the computer there with us, they wouldn't have honored the warrantee.

Has anybody else had bad experiences with customer service at a Best Buy store? If so, how did you resolve your problems?

We have a friend who had problems with them and eventually, he got hold of the Best Buy president's phone number and got things straightened out. But he's lost the number and doesn't know how to get it back.

We've decided to go back with the power cord and test the computer for ourselves before taking it out of the store. If it doesn't work at least as well as it did before we took it in, we're thinking about suing in small claims court.