Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[jamana1]

Ordinarily I would do any preventive, troubleshooting or upgrades myself.  However, my wife passed and I was overwhelmed with my things to do, so I thought I would give the Geek Squad a try and free more of my time to attend to my wife's affairs.  So, I took my asus laptop to best buy for some cleanup, fine tuneing and virus.maleware ect checks...just a tune up.  I received the machine back after 5 days in no better shape than when I left it and slower than when I took it in.  So, in talking to the Geek tech below is what they suggested, did and the horrible results. They recommended more memory and a secondary drive to free up more space on major c drive.

The Geek squad Mchenry Il. installed a secondary drive and added memory to my laptop at my request to upgrade my 1500.00 Asus laptop. Shortly after the installation i started to get the dreaded blue screens.  As it turns out the Geek tech did not secure the drive with the four screws to the motherboard or place a cover over it.  So, the hard drive was never properly seated and or installed. Basically the hard drive was just shoved in and barely making contact.    Their negligence caused  the newly installed drive to fail, (losing data that included pictures and documents of my recently desceased spouse), destroyed newly installed memory, and the motherboard did not pass diagnostics.  So in all I took a working computer to be upgraded and now have a pile of destroyed parts and a failed computer.  The first store has offered my $250.00 in store credit,what an insult.  There were no apologies, no respect and the manager simply said "these things happen"  I cannot afford to have incompetents work on the equipment and tell me these things happen. I contacted corporate geek squad liasons, who  never called me back.  

Considering all the purchases I have made you would think I would be a valued customer, but not so.  Very unprofessional, inept technicians, and a totally unacceptable handling is what I have received.  I was also lied to, misrepresented, and treated poorly.  It would appear that the Geek squad is a very lucrative arm of best buy especially to those who do not have a technical background.  I had a IT consulting firm for 20 years and could never have succeedd doing business like this.  It makes me wonder how many issues that arise may actually be the result of an unqualified or careless technician.  Thus inadvertently or not making more money for best buy

Considering all the purchases I have made you would think I would be a valued customer, but not so.  Very unprofessional, inept technicians, and a totally unacceptable handling is what I have received.  I was also lied to, misrepresented, and treated poorly.  It would appear that the Geek squad is a very lucrative arm of best buy especially to those who do not have a technical background.  I had a IT consulting firm for 20 years and could never have succeedd doing business like this.  It makes me wonder how many issues that arise may actually be the result of an unqualified or careless technician.  Thus inadvertently or not making more money for best buy

Many, many calls to the store manager, geek manager,corporate liasons and and the best they will do is offer me 250..00 dollars of Best Buy in store credit, which anyone knows is not 250.00 cash.  Corporate tells me that managers can make whatever decision they like and are not accountable to corporate for any of their decisions.  So, at the individual managers whim, there is not any rules, policies, etc that these managers have to adhere to.  I find this very hard to believe  However, it does take the pressure off of corporate to pass the buck.  Slick positioning best buy.  .  

I hope this is not the end and I throw a machine in the garbage because of their shoddy workmanship and inability to accept responsibility for their actions.  Although, I am not hopeful.  Let this serve as a how do you feel about recommending the Geek squad and best buy to anyone.  

I know life is not fair, but don't know if it is true but I have heard that best buy may be financially troubled?   Wouldn't surprise me, another electronic chain closing the doors?  Happens all the  time.  But that is just rumour and I wish everyone good luck in their endeavors.  So time will tell.....do the right thing???  Maybe

[Justin-BBY Community Connector]

Hi jamana1, 

Welcome to our forums!

Let me start out by offering my sincerest apologies for the passing of your wife. I can only imagine how stressful it must be to make all the necessary arrangements to handle that situation. I also recognize your displeasure about your current ASUS laptop service repair situation and would be glad to provide insight to you about this issue. 

I find it very disturbing that your laptop malfunctioned because our technicians did not secure your laptop's hardware components. I'd also be very aggitated if I discovered that this happened and seek additional assistance. It's even more disturbing to hear that after taking it back, you were not extended more compassion from the store. Our store managers are empowered to make discretionary exceptions, such as offering you a $250 store credit for this situation. I have pulled up your service order history and addressed your situation internally with our store management, so such issues will be handled accordingly. If you have any other comments or concerns, feel free to reply to this topic or send me a private message. 

Regards, 

[jamana1]

I appreciate your thoughts and response.  I still have not heard from any of the representatives from best buy.  Adding insult to injury, the geek squad had told me that they would recover data from the secondary drive that was installed without securing it.  I just went to check, they recovered 1.3 gig.  I called the Geek Squad individual and asked him if the 200 gig or so data was located somewhere else on the drive.  He told me that all he was able to back up was a couple of songs. I simply cannot believe the magnitude of damage that keeps on mounting from one inept technician who couldn't do something as basic as install a clean secondary drive.  I will say that the technician that tried to help was not from the same store and not responsible for the problems I am having.  That said just to keep the record straight and honest

Anyone can sell products, it's the measure of a company to see what they do when something goes wrong.  This case the something that went wrong was solely the fault of best buy's geek squad.  

[jamana1]

When can I expect a reply from you or anyone of authority to make things right.

[Justin-BBY Community Connector]

Hello jamana1, 

I've addressed your issue with the upper levels of store management and as soon as I have any feedback, I'll let you know. 

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding. 

[jamana1]

Hi Justin

I was hoping this would not take a world summit at best buy to resolve.  I am needing to purchase a new 50 inch or better smart tv, an ipad, an indash gps for my rv , a remote backup camera for the rv and a few more items.  These are things I need now......I had spoke to Kyle the manager at the alqonquin store about this and he is keeping me posted.  

However I refuse to buy anything at best buy before this issue is resolved in a fair and quitable fashion.  So the clock is ticking for me and best buy.  

Last night I needed to purchase a external backup to backup data on trashed machine's c drive.I needed to get that done before that dry crashes and burns.  I purchased a seagate at walmart for a rather good price..

Just for the record, Kyle the manager at the Algonquin store is a tremendous asset to your company.  He is professional, extremely knowledgeable, personable, will go the extra step for the customer and is excellent at team and staff development.. This is what makes the two stores day and night.  No, Kyle is not my cousin.  He was the manager at the Mchenry store and I dealt with him for a long time.  I was disappointed when he was promoted to the Algonquin store, great for him he deserves it to be rewarded for his great work.  His geek squad manager Matt, is also a big asset to best buy.  

The success of  your stores falls directly on the shoulders of your management team.  Hard to believe with the economy you cannot find more qualified, capable and professional staff.

Please, resolve this issue asap.

Sincerely

jamana1

[jamana1]

Here is Best Buy's lame attempt to make things right.....Jason and corporate didn't do anything but confirm the managers deciscion to offer me $250.00 in "store credit" for damaging my computer through their negligence.  They toasted the drive, memory, and motherboard all confirmed by best buy and have the nerve to offer $250.00 store credit dollars which aren't worth 250.00 to best buy!  More lies and gross customer service and satisfaction.  Jasonthe store manager rendering the decision,  has never seen me or the computer.

Good Morning Jerry, 

I was informed by Jason, the store's Asst Manager, that after assessing your computer for damage, there was no physical damage and will not replace your unit. However, they did offer you a $250 credit towards the purchase of a new computer and if you'd like to do so, you may certainly work with store management to find one that suits your needs. 

Regards, 

Justin

[thebestfishcare]

wow they ...........

[deusexmachina Valued Contributor]

I don't see how the hard drive has anything to do with the memory or mobo...? Unless the new ram installed was defective out of the box or something, it'd have nothing to do with the hard drive. Also, what motherboard diagnostics are you running that have failed?