Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[Prettse]

I've purchased a few expensive items from Best Buy in the past.  A TV, a few game systems, and assorted other electronics.  I've never once purchased the warranties for them, no matter how hard an associate tried to push them on me, because "if something goes wrong, you can just bring it back for an exchange, no questions asked!"

Well, I finally bought a warranty when I purchased an air conditioner last year.  Again, when the warranty was pushed, I got the same schpiel. "Bring it back if there is something wrong, we'll exchange it for you."  It performed flawlessly over the summer, and was performing well when I put it back in the window this year.  However, I noticed it wasn't cooling the room as well and was getting slightly weaker over the summer.  I let it slide for a while since i've been busy and having recently had a child, no time to take it to the store.

Well, I finally gave in and did so today when the other day I noticed this horrendous red-colored leakage coming from one of the bottom holes on the air conditioner, and seeing as how it wasn't performing up to snuff, I'd take it in. After all, it'll be a quick exchange and I'll be back home in no time.  So I gather the original package and have my friend help me (its extremely heavy and I can't lift it at all), and off we go.

So the first thing that happens at the store is that they want to test it out.  So much for no questions asked.  Fine with me.  The associate who took it in the back just tells me that its fine, because he can feel cool air coming out.  I told him that wasn't the case.  Of course it still is pushing cool air, its the fact that its not anywhere NEAR as cool as it used to be.  I explain this to him.  Its not exactly something you can test. So he tells us that he's gonna let it run for a while and see how it is.  I have no clue what this will do, seeing as how it won't show what the problem is.  So I humor him and me and my friend browse the store.  We come back up and of course he tells me its working fine and there is no leak other than water.  I told him where the red leak had originated and asked him to check it.  He wouldn't.  All he told me was that he couldn't see a problem with it.   My friend had to offer for him to wheel it back out to the front and lift it and flip it upside down and point out where the red leak had come from and showed him how there was still some of the residue left behind.  All the associate could say was "well nothing came out when I checked." 

My friend asked "is it not feasible that whatever was there already drained?"  The associate just kinda meekly said "yeah" and finally conceeded to set up a work order to ship it out but made it a point to tell us that it probably won't have anything wrong with it and they'll just send it back and I'll be out my warranty.  Wait, hold up.  I told him that I just wanted to exchange it. "You can't exchange it, this is a repair plan. " I ask then why do these warranties get pushed as exchange plans? He says that they only are exchnaged if they can't be repaired and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the air conditioner.  I'm angry, but whatever.  I don't like to fight and its just tasteless, go ahead and fill out the work order.  He says it'll be 2-3 weeks before I get it back.  By then I wont' even need it in my window.  I explain this and that I won't even know if it works and by next year when its time to go back in, the warranty will surely be expired.  "well, you'll just have to try it out early, huh?"  Yeah...I seriously doubt I'm going to need to test an air conditioner unit in May in upstate NY. If we're lucky maybe.

This is terrible treatment.  Seriously.  Why do these warranties get pushed the way they do if I can't get them honored that way?  All I wanted was a fully functional unit, given to me in the way that was stated when I paid for it.  If these warranties are not like that per Best Buy policy, then why do the store clerks push them as such?  And then when I bring it, why did this associate try his best to get me to take it home, refuse to check the thing when I stated where the problem was and only agree to look at it when we offered to lift that 100 pound beast in the air?  Ridiculous! 

And this isn't the first time I've had issues with that store (New Hartford NY, commercial drive).  I avoided it for six months once after they refused to honor a posted price on a game disc.  I instead drove further out of my way to Dewitt, NY and Syracuse, NY and was always met with great service there, but I started going back to New Hartford because it was just easier on me and my gas tank but it seems they have not changed their ways.  I'm serious.  I'm actually afraid that the unit I get back will not be fixed or they will deny anything wrong or worse.  I know the mods read these things, so I'm begging you guys to set that store straight and train everyone at all the stores in the area not to misrepresent the warranties they sell!  I've never bought the plans before and I surely will not be buying them again if this is how I can expect to be treated!

[Mbrguy Emerging Expert]

If this is how you were treated, then I am truly sorry.  Best Buy employees shouldn't behave like this.

As to the Black Tie Plan, this is why you should always read the Terms and Conditions pamphlet that you were given, that way if you see any discrepancies between what you were told and what the Terms lays out as coverage, you can return the plan within 30 days for a full refund.  I always read my Terms and Conditions because it is a legal contract and I know that the actual terms are whats in the Terms and Conditions rather than what an employee tells me.  

Hopefully a Community Connector can take your experience to the GM of the store to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

[Prettse]

Okay you got me on that one, we should all read the TOS when getting into anything. But every Best Buy store in the area I've bought stuff from when I offered the plan recites the same thing about how its a simple swap job. Whether unwittingly or not, I have no idea.

Now, as far as what went down in the New Hartford store, ugh...just ugh.  No one should ever go through that and to be implied that my friend I were lying and then be refused to check on something until we offer to do the work for him? Disgusting. I still have the red mark on the side of my house to prove it and we even overed to take a photo of it to show!  Heck, if anyone wants to see it, I'll put itu p.

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Good afternoon Prettse -

Aaron, from our Community Connector team, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern.  I appreciate your patience until he is able to touch base with you.

[Sinophile]

    To me, it seems as though it depends mainly on who is behind the counter when you go. I have had mixed experiences with extended warranties(I posted about my latest experience regarding a laptop here in the forum). Sometimes they are very courteous and will even give you a superior product to the one you purchased, other times you get talked down to by some pseudo-intellectual. For example, my cousin brought in a Gateway laptop, and essentially got a new one with four times as much RAM. For him, the warranty paid for itself 2-3 times over.

   If I were you, I would bring in my other items under warranty to a different Best Buy, or at least try to go when a less obstinate employee is on duty.

[Aaron-BBY Community Connector]

Hey Prettse,

Like Mbrguy mentioned, our service plans require that repairs be sought first and foremost.  I apologize though if there was any confusion regarding this policy or if it wasn’t fully explained when you purchased your air conditioner.  I was also disheartened to read of your recent experience at our New Hartford store.  Although I do not know why the associate you spoke with wouldn’t have immediately offered to send your air conditioner out for service – or why you would’ve been encouraged to return at a later date – rest assured that store management will be notified of the situation.

I’ve sent you some information regarding your air conditioner’s repairs, so please make sure to check your private messages.  You can do so by signing into the forums and then clicking on the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.