Below is an email I shared with 5 email addresses at BB 4 days ago and I have not gotten 1 call or email or response
I would like to share my absolutely horrible experiences I have had with Best Buy and my Sprint cell phone. I purchased a Samsung Moment back in February from the online Sprint Store and received the phone, contracts, etc without any problems. On February 9th I was in the Chandler Best Buy to purchase some camera accessories and stopped by the mobile phone center and spoke with Philip who sold me on the advantages of Best Buy’s Black Tie Service plan and was convinced and coached that Best Buy was the way to go and how to return my Samsung Moment Phone to Sprint’s Online store, purchase the phone and Black Tie program from Best Buy and I would be “better off.” So, I made arrangements to return my cell phone to the Sprint Online store and laid out $179.00 for a new phone (recpt XXXXXXX), signed up for the 2 year most expensive Sprint Plan available and $169 for my new “just bring the phone in, no matter what happens, we will either fix it or replace it and give you a loaner” Black Tie 2+ yrs PRE-PAID Black Tie Protection Plan. Well, within 3 weeks I had problems with my Moment so I brought it back to Best Buy Chandler and dealt with James, who is a very nice and knowledgeable young man. He made arrangements for me to return the phone and the Black Tie Service Plan, and provided me with a new phone and contract #, (recpt XXXXXXX dated 2/24/2010). No problems because it was within the first 30 days! In addition, I purchase the ghost Armor package to protect my new investment even more. So, for $179 for the new phone, 169 for the Black Tie Protection and 20 for the Ghost Armor, I am now out $389, plus over $100/month and I now have my new Samsung Moment Android phone on the Sprint Network with Black Tie Protection, wrapped in Ghost Armor and purchased from Best Buy in Chandler. Whoo, Hoo. I am one efficient mobile guy now!
Over the next 7 months things go pretty smoothly, I have a few hick-ups but nothing Sprint can’t solve and I am sent to the local Sprint store for minor tweaks and repairs. Well, around 9/1/2010 I started having problems with the touch screen not responding but the phone was also “resetting itself” in the middle of a conversation, using the GPS or while communicating via the WWW. So, I took all of my paperwork, brought my phone and my Black Tie Protection Plan back to the Chandler Best Buy for my “just bring the phone in, no matter what happens, we will either fix it or replace it and give you a loaner” Black Tie 2+ yrs PRE-PAID Black Tie Protection Plan. Well, I am met with news that the loaner will be a basic flip phone…a BASIC PHONE? (Why not give me a Brick Phone?) I paid $169 to be given a flip phone that does not have the Web capabilities I need and is incapable of performing the tasks I need. So, Store Manager Angie {removed per forum guidelines} comes to assist me and “makes an exception”, which I appreciate, and gives me a smart phone…but a BlackBerry Curve. I look at the phone like it is an unknown Darwinian species and protest to Angie that all of my software, programs, contacts, etc. are on the Android and I really need and Android phone. She tells me that the store does not have any loaner Android phones and that I am lucky to be getting a smart phone at all. Again I protest and am given 2 options, “either take a basic flip phone and use that or take the BlackBerry and learn to use it while your phone is sent off to be repaired.” I am given a 30 day time frame to fix my phone…30 days?! All Sprint does is ask for $100, take the broken phone and they give you a new or refurbished one, that’s all I wanted, now I have to wait for 30 days to get my phone back AND learn to speak a language I have no idea how to speak called BlackBerry! Not only is this proposal insane but insulting. Best Buy has taken my money for a phone in February plus the Black Tie Service cost me as much as another phone AND now I have to leave ANOTHER $150 as a deposit for this loaner phone that I have no idea how to use, just in case I don’t return it!?! I don’t want it and I have to pay, OK, so out comes the credit card and they charge another $150…On this “Smart Phone” I cannot access any of the apps I have paid for and use daily in my personal and business life so I spend another hour at the store with another phone tech trying to assist me in making heads or tails of this phone. He “sets it up” for me but I have no idea how to make calls, access my voicemail, answer calls, put people on hold, use multiple lines, surf the web and basically, just use the phone. To make matters even worse, I wear bi-focal glasses and can barely see the keys and have osteoarthritis so trying to hit those tiny keys on this BlackBerry is quite the challenge. The #1 reason I purchased the Moment was because it is an Android…the #2 because it has a QWERTY keyboard which makes typing so much easier for me.
So, I try very patiently to use the BlackBerry for 10 days and yesterday was the last straw when I had a call come in regarding an urgent matter and missed it b/c I don’t know how to put a call on hold and switch to another incoming call. I should have saved the message for you because I got the royal butt chewing of my life because I was not available at the time like I told my boss I would be. What will it take to get an Android phone or my phone back NOW? I called Black Tie Service yesterday at the 1-800 GEEKSQUAD # and spoke to Beth, and was told they cannot help me because I pre-paid for my Black Tie Service and they are only set up to assist people who pay monthly. WHAT? I PRE-PAY…put ALL of the money in their pockets without having to bill, hassle or worry about late payments, etc. only to purchase a “Black Tie” service and only to be told they can’t help me because I already pre-paid for the service and they are set up to only assist those who are set up on monthly contracts. WTH? I have now officially changed the name of MY plan from The Black Tie Plan to The Black Eye Plan! I thought the “Black-Tie” was supposed to infer 1st class, top shelf service. Boy, was I mistaken, I’ll take greasy T-shirts and jeans over this Black Tie any day.
So, I called and spoke with Angie again and again got the broken recording…“You can either take a basic flip phone and use that or take the BlackBerry and learn to use it while your phone is sent off to be repaired.” (Mind you for 30 days.) Angie told me to come down and someone would show me how to use it…I have already spent over 40+ hours fighting with this phone only to feel like I am trying to speak Chinese when I don’t know a word of it. I humbly ask…”How can you get to work, if you don’t have the keys to a car?” When I gave up my Sprint contract with insurance and was talked into buying the new phone, new service plan and Black Tie Service, I thought that I was at least going to get a rental car that I could drive on the right side of the road and read the road signs, not be tossed a YUGO with the steering wheel on the right side and instructions in Yugoslavian.
My Black Tie Folder says “Exhale. We’re here to protect your way of life. You may never need the arsenal of agents at your disposal. But should the need arise, a veritable SWAT team is ready to do “WHATEVER” it takes to keep you and your gear working the way its supposed to.” I was in the store yesterday and the wait was over 30 minutes just to talk to a GeekSquad Agent. (Hmmm, Black Tie Service charges 49.99/hour, I’ve spent over 50+ hours plus 4 trip charges, I calculate you owe me $2,660. I’m waiting to Exhale and for the it takes to kick in because right now, I’ve been holding my breath for 10 days and am about ready to pass out!)
I called BlackTie Geek squad AGAIN and was told, sorry we can’t help you because you pre-paid and have to go to the store and they can help you…NO THEY CAN’T and WON’T! BlackTie told me to go into any Best Buy and the Mobile experts could help me. So, I once again did as I was told and went to the Tempe Best Buy and had to wait 15 minutes before I was even acknowledged only to have to ask for assistance and when I did get assistance, the young lady Alyssa couldn’t even show me where the “on” button was on the BlackBerry much less how to switch between calls and use the smart phone. I wasted another 45 minutes showing her how to use what little I know about this phone and finally asked for someone who knew the Black Berry. I waited another 15 minutes, was asked by the Direct TV guy, not a Best Buy Employee, if he could help me and finally just walked out. I drove back to Chandler Best Buy but should have known I would get the Best Buy Anthem, “I’m sorry we can’t help you!” or “You should be lucky you got what you have because we normally don’t do this and I made an special exception for you.” (Boy don’t I feel special now with a tanned hide and a phone made for people with fingers the size of a 2 year old and eyes of a teenager!)
When I got to Chandler, I approached Angie and Bob, both Managers at the Chandler Store, yesterday and very nicely asked for a solution…once again, I was told “You can either take a basic flip phone and use that or take the BlackBerry and learn to use it while your phone is sent off to be repaired.” I pleaded with them “Please help me find a solution” and offered to buy (yes spend more money at Best Buy) a new Android phone with Sprint service and was told, “well, you can’t do that and have the phone # tied to your phone #, you can’t add another phone without penalty, blah, blah, blah. I again, PLEADED, please give me SOMETHING I can use and meets my needs. Same song, “You can either take a basic flip phone and use that or take the BlackBerry and learn to use it while your phone is sent off to be repaired” but had it thrown in my face, that if I would have come in at 10:30am when I called and spoke to Angie the first time, I would have been able to get the training I needed to at least use the bare bones basics of this stupid BlackBerry. Hmm, I work, I’m 20 miles away and I’m not even paid what Best Buy charges for the Geek Squad services and I’m supposed to leave work after getting the royal butt chewing of my career to come and go to BlackBerry School? That wasn’t happening.
I resolved myself to “You can either take a basic flip phone and use that or take the BlackBerry and learn to use it while your phone is sent off to be repaired,” learning to use the BlackBerry so, I canceled dinner with my wife, (who I haven’t seen in a week) stayed another 1 ½ hours until my battery ran out and James B{removed per forum guidelines} showed me some of the basics of how to use my phone. Of all the people throughout this entire encounter, it was only James who even tried to help me out. (I acknowledge Angie get me a Smart Phone but I’m not as smart as she.) He was patient, cordial and able to answer almost all of my questions. AH, now that I know how to make a call, I can call Best Buy and tell them my story, except, now I can’t get reception in my house and am dropping calls! (Which, by the way NEVER happened with my Android) UUUUGGGGGHHHHH!
Finally it dawned on me, the light bulb went off, Smart Phones are only as smart as the idiots using them and I am the idiot! 1. For leaving the original Sprint service and program that I know is tried and true and 2. For listening to someone tell me “I would be better off, all I have to do is just bring the phone in, no matter what happens, we will either fix it or replace it and give you a loaner.” My wife has officially named my BlackBerry “My Girlfriend” because I spend more time trying to get to know her than spending time with my wife, that's really sad!
An update from when this was written...I wrote this on 9/21, it is now 9/24 and no one has called me back to update me on the status of my phone despite my requests to have someone update me. As far as I know, the phone is still at the store? This was supposed to be escalated, this email was sent to the store GM, the Mobile department manager and anyone else who's email i could get. I called last eve and spoke with sales Mgr. Colin at the Chandler Store, he could not give me an update and had to put me on hold for close to 10 mins just to tell me that the phone was supposedly received in TX but he couldn't tell for sure?
As an aside, since February, I purchased a $100 Bluetooth headset with BlackTie, consulted my father to purchase an $800 lap-top computer with BlackTie, joined the rewards program, purchased various other electronics and camera supplies and products for both work and personal, totaling at least $2,000, consulted others to purchase from Best Buy…This week I have to purchase a new washing machine and LED TV for work and Best Buy actually has the BEST price on the washing machine…
I also went to the local Sprint Store and shared my story, they told me, they would have given me a new phone if I would have had my phone but Best Buy has it for supposedly 30 days. That's customer service when a store that didn't even sell me the phone offered to help solve my problem! OBTW, they said that what Phil did by advising me to cancel my contract and resign with Best Buy is considered a HUGE NO, NO, but should I expect anything but unethical from a company that misleads their customers and treats the pre-paying customers like dirt?!
Thank you for reading this, hopefully someone will learn something. The CS survey asked if I learned something from this experience...I sure have, I learned a new rhyme. Best Buy is the name of your store and this has been the WORST buy I have ever made! Best Buy = WORST Buy and Black Tie = Black Eye!
Thank you,
Dorothy-BBY
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