Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[RussAyala]

My wife and I purchased a 42 inch T.V. about 3 years ago with the extended warranty. After about a year we started seeing black vertical lines in the picture, we called best buy and had a tech come out. The tech said the T.V. was bad and could not be fixed, he then said we should hear from the warranty department soon. Weeks went by no word, I then called them back on the 1800 number and they said they had no record of a tech coming out to the house. They then said it would be looked into and they'll call me back, nobody got back to me ever. This happened three times where I called and nobody got back to me. The warranty was coming to the end on the 18th of this month so I thought I should just have another technician come out and get an exchange. The tech declared the T.V. was not fixable and that I'd get a call with in 24 hours. A week went by no call, so I called the 1800 number and again they said they have no record of technician coming out to the house. They person on the phone told me to call the local store and see if they have record of anything, they had no record of any actions being taken on my TV. I gave then invoice number and the name of the second party company that came out to the house. They did call back this time saying that it a third party situation and that they'd get back to me monday. If they don't get back to my by monday, Im supposed call the manager at the store. What burns me up is the fact that twice I've taken hours out of my work schedule to be at home for the tech and twice Best Buy has failed in all respects to the repair or data collected from the customer. I've purchase most of my big household items from Best Buy and the extended warranties. I believe Im fed up with the BS and will look elsewhere for my products. 

[RussAyala]

To all you out there, buy the extended warranty threw the manufacturer. They provide the shipping and usually get better results on exchanges. My wife got the extended accidental damage from Sony on her laptop and has used it 3 times. In all cases they sent the box with shipping and exchange it for a new one with no problems at all.

[redbarron55]

Typical response as far as I can tell.

Poor / no response.

Get this Brian.Dunn (at bestbuy dot com) is planning on expanding the service business since it brings in so much profit. I guess so since they sell the premium Black Tie Protection and then don't do anything!

They are careful to say it is not insurance since that would expose them to legal liability in most states.

Instead they have a contract that they interpret in their favor most of the time.

Try to talk with a manager... Good luck

Reading these post is a series of horror stories.

Don't worry a moderator will get back to you in a week or so.

Best of luck.

[deusexmachina Valued Contributor]

Just like in your own thread, redbarron55, a response generally takes 3-5 business days.

[redbarron55]

I would say it takes 7 to 9 days.

If you count the time from the first contact in the store longer.

Pitiful customer service and response time.

And to think that Mr. Dunn wants to expand the service part of the business!

He should get the existing business working first!

Unacceptable.

[RussAyala]

If I don't hear a reply by monday, I probably walk it into the store and create a big scene. Lol

[deusexmachina Valued Contributor]

Yeah... those are definitely the customers that business want to keep...

[CrimsonRain]

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deusexmachina wrote:
Yeah... those are definitely the customers that business want to keep...

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I would. It's entertaining as both the employee and a random customer.

[APR28]

It's just too bad that customers will never learn that extended warranties are the biggest scam in retail. When I worked at Circuit City in 2005, we had Sunday morning meetings that were 80% on how to sell more warranties. There is a reason they push these warranties so hard.

[AndyH]

It's too bad that customers just think it's nothing but a scam but the second something expensive breaks they start crying about how it's just absolutely ourtrageous that the store won't fix it for them even though they didn't get the protection. I've said before, protection plans are good ideas for some people and for some items and not right for others. I've seen too many expensive things break for customers to say they have no value.