Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[lhunter06]

I am going to cut to the chase here, and make a frustrating long story short. On February 7th 2009 I dropped of a center channel speaker at my local Best Buy in Augusta Maine. The issue with my speaker was that the mounting post on the back had completely broke away from the main frame of the speaker. I know for a fact as did the "Geek Squad" that this could not be fixed. The manufacturer warranty is for 5yrs so I was going to send it to Klipsch,.......here is where it gets awesome. The gentleman at Best Buy assured me that it would be much quicker to send it from their store and use them as the middle man. I thought this was a valid point and agreed. So I left the store grinning and feeling warm and fuzzy inside that the "Geek Squad" just took care of me.

After a couple days I checked the Best Buy site to track my item, it stated that the item had been shipped to a service center. I thought this must of been a mistake of some sort, but when I called the local store I was informed it was not and that it was procedure to send it to the service center first to diagnose the issue. As soon as I heard this I knew this was not going to be a quick turn around nor was it a good idea to use Best Buy as my middle man. Since then I have contacted consumer relations online, who have assured me they would send out a request for escalation on my item. I have also spoke to the "Geek Squad" at my local store several times and have been given the same response that it shouldn't be much longer and that it is at the service center.

Well it is February 25th 2009 and I just got off the phone with my local store, they told me that from the system they are looking at the speaker just arrived at the service center today. 20 days after I dropped it off and 17days since it was shipped, from Maine to NJ. The website says 2 -7 days max.

Now I have been told several times that my item was already at the service center, so I am not sure if it is even there as of yet. The online tracker says its still in transit,...who knows!!!

I am beyond frustrated, I spent quite a large sum of money at Best Buy a few months ago setting up my home theater, and now I can honestly tell you I will not buy another item from this store. It is the worse experience I have had with communication on any level.

I really think the employees are just telling the consumer what they think they want to hear to get them out the door or off the phone. What I am really upset about is that I paid for this item and it belongs to me, so for these people to tell me they can't track it. Well this in my eyes means they lost it!

 think twice before dropping cash on anyhting at a Best Buy store, they are eager to take your money but not so helpful when you have issues with a product.

~Ticked off prior-customer!

[MobileExpert]

I know that I'd never use BB to send something back under the manu. warranty. Not because I don't trust our shipping network, but because I believe too many cooks spoil the soup.

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hi lhunter06, 

Thanks for posting your concern on our Best Buy® Forum.  Your issue has been assigned to one of our Community Connectors for further review and response, and you should be hearing something within the next few business days.  Thanks for your continued patience as we work to assist all of the customers who have reached out to us on this forum.

[Aaron-GS Community Connector]

Hey lhunter06,

I’m not quite sure why you would have been informed that your speaker would need to be sent directly to the manufacturer for repairs, but I certainly do apologize for any miscommunication that may have occurred. Best Buy® is Klipsch authorized service provider, which means that the majority of repairs on their products are addressed at one of our off-site service centers.

Depending on the nature of the problem, customers can typically expect a 2-3 week turnaround time for repairs to be completed. I can imagine how frustrated you must feel, however, if it took nearly that long just to arrive at the repair facility.

I’d like to provide you some additional information, so please keep an eye on your private messages (the letter icon at the top right of the page) for further communication.

Agent Aaron
Geek Squad® Community Connector
Go Ahead. Use Us.

[lhunter06]

I was called on 03-10-09, 35 days after sending out my speaker through local Best Buy here in Augusta Maine. The service center actually called me on 03-03-09 to let me know that they fixed my speaker and would be sending it back to me. I asked how they managed to fix a broken screw mount on a plastic casing,.....response "We glued it". Well that was about what I expected for waiting 35 days, a freaking band aid fix. So now after contacting the Klipsch rep. I am sending it directly to the manufacturer for an exchange, no questions asked. (Lesson learned, if you have a manufacturer warranty when purchasing from Best Buy ALWAYS go through the manufacturer) I could of glued the thing back together myself, I didn't need a technician to do it)

Just another note when I went to pick up the speaker the Geek squad associate wanted me to sign a paper saying that I received my item and was satisfied witht the fix. I told him I did not want to sign the paper and thought that the glue fix was unacceptable. This gentleman became some what rude and condesending towards me. I explained to him it was nothing personal towards him but I was not happy with the fix nor was I signing something that said I was. He then told me that he would not be able to give me my item unless I signed it. (this ticked me off considerably since it was my speaker) at this point if I wasn't havin the speaker replaced by Klipsch I would of told him to keep the glued speakr and just buy a whole new set online. But I signed the paper and made a note stating my 2 cents worth how I am not satisfied with having my electronics glued back together etc.

Just wanted to vent and let people know how my Best Buy adventure turned out, I will now wrap my glued speaker up (Poorly glued at that), and ship back out for a real fix,...a replacement. 35 days, from what I am reading is a pretty good turn around, good thing they didn't have tostaple something to my speaker to.