Here's the whole story.
My boyfriend and I have a Haier refrigerator. It was purchased in 2005, and the extended warranty was purchased with it.
Model Number: HTQ21JABRSS-01
Serial Number: 13026110011210030035
Most recent work order number: 763611
The fridge worked fine up until May of last year.
March 31, 2008
I prepared all the food for my first dinner party, and stored it in the fridge overnight. Come down the next morning, the fridge had died. All the food has now spoiled. We toss everything in it, call Best Buy.
April 3, 2008
A tech comes out to the house. He says we need a part. He orders the part. He tells me to schedule another tech when the part comes in. (service reference number 18285109)
April 7, 2008
Part comes in. Call Best buy to schedule the replacement of the part.
April 11, 2008
Guy comes out to replace part. Cool. My fridge works again.
April 25, 2008
Oh s#!t. Fridge is broke. Again. Call best buy, he says "sorry, we're not gonna have any techs available till Tuesday." He promises me that a manager will call me back within the first two business hours (never happened). Furthermore, he says he'll submit a request for an "EMERGENCY REPLACEMENT UNIT" and we'll be contacted within 2 days with their decision (that never happened either).
April 30, 2008
My boyfriend comes home at lunch to meet the repair guy. He doesn't understand what the guy is saying so he puts him on the phone. The guy is really rude to me. VERY rude. Defrosts the fridge a bit, says "it's fixed". Leaves. (service reference number 18807725)
May 1-4, 2008
We're out of town
May 4, 2008
Come home, open the fridge. It's not warm. In fact, it's very, VERY cold. Everything in it has frozen. Eggs, sodas, anything liquid has exploded. Call best buy. They're all just as rude as they were. Says the best they can do is for me is to make me wait another 3 days, they'll send someone else out. Asked to speak to the manager. Spoke to John (ID 152918). He says he won't offer any alternative solutions or repairs. Asked for his manager. He says no. Tells me to submit a complaint in writing if I have a problem with it.
May 8, 2008
Another rude tech comes out, I take off work to come meet him. He tells me that we're not shutting the doors (we are. it's not that complicated). Defrosts fridge, leaves. (service reference number 18973811)
May - November
We deal with it. Food intermittently freezes in the refrigerator portion, Food intermittently thaws in the freezer. Neat. We eat out alot.
December 5, 2008
Neat. Now EVERYTHING freezes ALL THE TIME. Call in so they can come fix it again.
December 6, 2008
Call in...again. they schedule a repair...again. This one is scheduled for the 9th.
December 9, 2008
The day of our scheduled repair. The guy calls us at noon and says "whoa. I don't know how to fix fridges, i only fix tv's. sorry. i'd call customer service and see if they can get someone else out." I call customer service, I speak with a CSR that doesn't help me. Then I speak with Shaliq, who is the rudest employee of your company that I've ever encountered. Neat. She basically tells me "tough s#!t. we sent the wrong guy. deal with it. we don't have anyone available until the 12th." I ask for her supervisor. She tells me no. Says she'll submit a request for a call back and it takes 4 business hours (never happens).
December 12, 2008
Guy comes out, tells me the "doors aren't aligned right." He rips the doors off, puts them back on, says "problem fixed" and leaves. (repair order number 763611)
December 13, 2008
Problem ain't fixed. Not even a little. Even set on 1 (warmest setting), things in the fridge (eggs, glass bottles, soda) freeze and explode. Cool if you're into science experiments. Not cool if you paid money for those groceries.
December 27, 2008
Everything is still freezing. Call in so the guys can come out...again. I ask Best Buy if they can at least ask the tech to bring flowers if he's going to continue screwing me. A girl has standards, you know. (Also ask for another management level call back....it'll take four hours.....also known as "infinity" because it never happens)
December 30, 2008
Tech comes out. Says we're missing a part that directs airflow between the freezer and the fridge. Says he will order the part. We should have it in a day or two. Let customer service know when it arrives. (repair order 630195)
December 31, 2008
No part.
January 1, 2009
No part.
January 2, 2009
No part.
January 3, 2009
Nyet.
January 4, 2009
Nope.
January 5, 2009
Nada.
January 6, 2009
Nothing
January 7, 2009
Zilch.
January 8, 2009
You guessed it. No-o part-o.
January 9, 2009
This is getting absurd. I call customer service again. Ask them what the heck is up with the part not arriving. Speak to a VERY (serious, not sarcastic) nice gal named Martha (too bad she's full of crap...more on that later). She tells me that it's absurd that it's been so long and we still don't have a fridge that works right. She tells me that since she's a Geek Squad supervisor that she can "expedite a replacement request", and that we'll get a call back within 24 hours to let us know the status.
January 10, 2009
No part....and no callback.
January 11, 2009
Gave them the benefit of the doubt, waited till afternoon to call and check on the status. Talked to Michael (non-supervisor). Really nice guy, one of the few real humans that i've talked to so far. He tells me that it really sucks what we've been through. He also tells me he doesn't know why Martha told me 24 hours, because the Replacement Department is closed on weekends. Tells me that he will personally ensure that I get a callback the following day (Monday) with a status. Super nice guy. Give him a raise.
January 12, 2009
Holy crap! Someone at Best Buy followed through! I get a call from someone, just as Michael promised the day before. She tells me that it usually takes 3-5 business days to get a replacement request authorized. She also tells me that they've sent emails to my tech and his supervisor requesting a callback, and that's what's holding the replacement request up at the moment. As soon as they call in, we should be able to get this cleared up.
January 14, 2009
I haven't heard anything yet, so I give them a call. Speak to someone who sounds...we'll call it....slow....and then eventually to his supervisor. After a half hour on the phone, he tells me "well, we must be updating our system or something, because I can't even pull up the screen to check status on your replacement request." Maybe try calling tomorrow.
January 15, 2009
I call back in. Takes me a solid 35 minutes for just the regular CSR rep to TRY to check on the replacement request. All I really get out of her is that the tech or the supervisor still have not called back in. She asks if I want to speak to a supervisor, but since this has already taken so long I have to leave because I have plans.
January 16, 2009
Today. Today, I will be proactive. I get up in the morning and I call in. This isn't going to go into another weekend and another week, so help me god. I call in, I end up speaking with someone named Becky. Becky, bless her heart, should be sainted. Or knighted. Or given a raise. Or a promotion above all of the other evil corporate robots that best buy employs. Becky steps outside her cubicle for just a second, she CALLS the tech herself. Finds out from him that he was planning on calling in today to the replacement department to confirm that the parts had been on order and that they had never arrived. I ask Becky at what point should I call back in to make sure this gets handled today? She tells me to call back in by 3 PST, so they still have time to call the tech if he hasn't gotten in touch with them yet.
3:00 comes, I call in. I speak with Stephanie. She is a supervisor. She is also an evil troll. She tells me that <snotty voice> "I have NOOO idea WHYYY Martha would have told you that. This CLEEEARLY doesn't qualify for replacement.</snotty voice> I then ask her why the HECK (since I apparently can't express my true feelings in "this community") another geek squad supervisor told me that it DID qualify for replacement. she doesn't know. Of course. Evil troll tells me that the parts order had been cancelled and that <snotty and evil>"They were just $1.00 suction cups ANYWAY....it's not like they'd affect the performance of your fridge."</snotty and evil> At this point, I lose it. I burst into tears. The full weight of the frustration of the past 9 months catches up to me, and I break down on the phone. I BEG the evil troll to just step outside her evil troll cage for a second and take the TIME to call the tech, talk to her boss, SOMETHING. Nope. Not happening. She tells me that she'll send an email to the tech and his supervisor (because they responded to the last emails so well). They'll check on the status of what's going on and I'll hear something from them by noon tomorrow (a Saturday). I confirmed 3 times that I'd hear something from them TOMORROW. Yes. I will.
I tried to call Best Buy corporate. Missed them by 10 minutes. They're already closed, thanks to my epic battle against the evil troll.
Still frustrated, still in tears, and still determined to speak to a HUMAN at Best Buy, I call back, and again i wait the 25 minutes that it takes to get to a supervisor. I talk to Don. He's a robot too. He gives me the "I do apologize for the inconvenience" and "I can certainly understand why this would be frustrating to you." You know, same schtick that you get from EVERYONE. The same stuff that they play over and over, while they make you drink the Kool Aid and watch the flashing lights and images that are a part of the Best Buy Employee Brainwashing Proceedure. He also tells me that there's "nothing else they can do". He also tells me that he doesn't know why Evil Troll told me i'd get a callback, that it was in his experience that it would be Monday before i got a call. He's no nicer than Evil Troll was. He tells me again that we haven't had the fridge repaired enough times to qualify. I give him the whole rundown (including dates) of everything that has occurred. Turns out he couldn't see all that history. Now, Don thinks we qualify for another replacement request. He says he'll put it in. 3-5 more days. You know the drill. I beg him to just call someone. Make it happen. Figure it out. Nope. No way, no how. I tell him that I want to file a complaint. Against John. Against Shaliq, against Stephanie....well, while he's at it...against himself too.
So, here's the cliff notes: My fridge has been in some state of broken since April...There is no resolution in sight. Oh, and the final kicker. They keep telling me that my fridge will be replaced after 4 "qualifying repairs". Apparently if they never fix it right in the first place, then keep having to come out to try to figure it out, that is a "follow up to an existing repair". At this rate, we'll never get to 4, we'll never get it replaced, we'll just to continue to follow up incompetence with more incompetence.
Message Edited by projectfilly on 01-17-2009 03:14 AM
Message Edited by projectfilly on 01-20-2009 02:01 PM
Message Edited by projectfilly on 01-20-2009 02:01 PM
