I am very dissatisfied with the lack of service I have received from Best Buy and the Geek Squad. I purchased a Toshiba laptop in July 2008. The store (and nearby stores we called) did not have any new models, so we reluctantly bought the floor model (big mistake!). The laptop has been sent to repair 4 times. All they do is replace the hard drive, but do not figure out the root cause of what is causing the hard drives to fail. They are simply putting a band-aid on the symptom of the problem, but not resolving the root cause. Here's a summary.
1st crash:
Laptop crashed in November 2008. I took it to the Best Buy store and they replaced the hard drive in the store.
2nd crash:
Laptop crashed again in December 2008. Again, I took it to the Best Buy store. I stated that this was the 2nd crash and I wanted them to perform a detailed diagnostic of the laptop to determine the root cause and not just replace the hard drive. They stated they would send it to the manufacturer (which I later found was only the Geek Squad Service Center) and request a full diagnostic. A few weeks later, the laptop was returned to the store and all they did was replace the hard drive (another band-aid).
3rd and 4th crash:
In April 2009, the laptop crashed again! I took it back to Best Buy, explained the history and requested that they swap it out. All I received from both the Geek Squad Agent and customer service agent was attitude, arrogance and robotic explanations of their policies. When I asked for the store manager, he was unavailable. I left with the laptop and contacted the store manager the following day. He was very courteous and sympathized with the situation. I explained the history and he suggested we send the laptop to the repair center with an escalation requesting they do a full diagnostic. I asked him the hypothetical quesiton of what would happen if all they do is replace the hard drive again. He said they would then look at swapping it out. I agreed to try this route. He put me in contact with the Geek Squad manager to coordinate the return. He was equally courteous.
In May, a few weeks after sending the laptop back, I received a call from the Geek Squad manager. He said all they did was replace the hard drive (another band-aid). He also said the laptop would not even boot up when he got it back. He said he was going to resend it to the repair facility stating that the "unit is still unrepaired" and request the unit be "junked out." A few weeks later, the unit was returned back to the store. Apparently, it booted up for them and they could find nothing wrong with it. The service order states the following:
"unable to find any issues with unit. Attempted to contact store about unit via email to several Agents but no replies. If unit is returned please note clearly what is wrong with unit and not just 'Unit is still unrepaired'".
Despite the lack of communication and coordination described in the service order above, I was contacted by the store stating that my laptop is repaired and ready for pickup. I talked with the Geek Squad manager and requested they swap it out. He basically said there was nothing else he could do. I told him I wanted to discuss with the store manager since he had helped out before. He said he would have him call me. I never received that call. It took several days for me to finally reach the manager. I explained that I was dissatisfied with the service I had received. I reminded him of his statement in our previous discussion that he would look at swapping out the unit if they only replaced the hard drive. He basically said there was nothing else he could do. I suggested 3 options that would satisfy me: swap out the laptop (my first choice), allow me to return it for full refund, or allow me to add an extended service plan to the laptop which I even offered to pay for (even though I think that is more than I should have to do given the circumstances). He said the 3rd option may work. He agreed to check into it and call me back the next day. I never received that call, so I started trying to contact him. After leaving several messages over about 5 days, I finally received a returned call only to find out he couldn't even add an extended warranty to it.
So now it appears I'm stuck with an unrepaired laptop. Yes, it has another band-aid on it, but the root cause is unrepaired. It WILL crash again, but it will probably be after the manufacturer's warranty expires.
To add insult to injury, I received a letter from Best Buy stating that I needed to pick up my laptop immediately. It stated that if I didn't pick it up within 30 days, they would dispose of it. Nice!
By the way, when I first purchased the laptop, I was very happy with it. So much so that I referred 2 other customers which bought the same laptop. Neither of them have had any problems with theirs. Unless Best Buy resolves the problem here, that will be the last 2 customers I ever refer to Best Buy. Additionally, I have and will continue to tell anyone and everyone about the problems I had and the complete lack of service I received. CAN ANYONE AT BEST BUY HELP ME PLEASE !!!!!!!!
For reference, here are the service order numbers: {removed per forum guidelines}
To add more insult to injury, after typing my complaint into the forum and clicking on "post" I received an authentication error. Looks like what I wrote was lost. Guess it took me to long to write it. So this is the 2nd time I've written my complaint (saving a copy this time just in case!). If this post somehow miraculously posts twice, I apologize.
Message Edited by Elizabeth-BBY on 06-24-2009 12:19 PM
Elizabeth-BBY
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