Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[Luster7576]

On October 14th (while in Memphis on a business trip), my computer crashed and would not reboot.  I took it to the local Best Buy in Memphis.  After running a few tests, I was told that the computer had a virus.  They would remove the virus and repair my laptop for $199 (Plus tax).  I paid and the Geek Squad told me my laptop would be ready the next afternoon. 

October 15th at 8:00pm I called to check on my laptop and they informed me they were backed up and did not get to my computer yet.  They promised it would be ready any time after noon the next day,

October 16th at 10:00am I received a call from Rebecca with the Geek Squad.  She told me they removed the viruses but the viruses left some "holes" in my operating system and they needed to delete everything and reinstall.  I agreed.  Rebecca immediately called back and said she needed the recovery discs.  I told her I did not have the recovery discs.  Rebecca said they could order them but it would take 3-4 days to come in.  I told her this would not work because I live in Louisiana and I was leaving to go home in 4 hours.  At this point I went into the store to talk to someone.  They told me I could take my computer to the Best Buy in my hometown and have them order the discs and finish the repair for free.  I took my non-operational laptop and left.

October 19th, I took my laptop to the Best Buy in Louisiana and explained my situation.  They told me they could not tranfers repair services between stores and I needed to pay $129 for them to delete and reinstall.  I explained to them I already paid for this in Memphis ($70 for virus removal + $129 for repair and reinstall=$199).  After 2 hours (and talking to 3 managers) they agreed to finish the repairs for free.  Then they asked me for the recovery discs.  I explained (AGAIN) that I did not have them and that was the reason Memphis could not finish the job.  Geek Squad told me they could not longer order discs for customers.  They told me to go home and order the discs from Sony and bring the computer back when the discs came in.

October 20th, I contacted Sony to order the recovery discs.  They informed me that I do not need to order the discs because Sony Vaios have a hidden recovery center in the computer.  The recovery center on the computer can do the same thing as the recovery discs.  Sony guided me through the process.  I accessed the hidden recovery center and deleted and restored my laptop on my own.

Best Buy owes me $129!!!!!  They did not repair anything!!!!!  Furthermore, why didn't these "computer experts" know about the recovery center IN the computer?!?!?!?!?!?

I called the Louisiana store and they told me to contact the Memphis store.  I contacted the Memphis store and all I get is the run around.  I have a new found respect for Sony and their products but I am disgusted with Best Buy and will no longer buy from this company.  I encourage everyone I meet to use a more customer-friendly company.  Apparently customers do not matter to Best Buy.

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hello Luster7576 -

Welcome to the Community! Sarah, one of our Community Connectors, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern.  I appreciate your patience until she is able to contact you. 

[Sarah-BBY Retired: Community Connector]

Hi Luster7576,

I apologize for any confusion involved in your laptop repair.    Please be assured that we strive to provide the best products and services at all times, and I will make sure your comments are reviewed for future quality purposes!

I also wanted to let you know that I am currently researching this situation with our stores and repair personnel to determine how we can help best help you at this time, and will follow up with you again by private message as soon as I have more information.  Therefore, please keep your eyes open for a “new message” alert in the upper right-hand corner of the page to follow shortly.

Thank you for your patience in the meantime!

Hang in there!

[Agent_Will]

I just want to start off by thanking you for bringing your computer into  Geek Squad for service, and assure you that the experience you had is not a typical one.  Geek Squads policy is to charge for services prior to the work being performed however, if the work cannot be completed it is usually refunded to the client (minus diagnostic fees, deposits, shipping, etc).  When I was a senior agent in one of our retail stores there were numerous times that a client purchased the Diagnostic and Repair for $199 and we refunded $130 because we could not resolve operating system corruption. 

What the agent in Louisiana told you is correct, Geek Squad is not authorized to order, store, or own any recovery media (with a few exceptions); the only way they could get those is to call the manufacturer and pretend to be you, which is shady at best.  The most likely reason for not using the recovery partition (which almost all PCs have nowadays) is that if the virus corrupted your OS, it is very likely that it also damaged the recovery partition, or that some virus files are present in it.  It's generally best not to take chances with things like this, but they could have atleast tried it, considering your time situation.

As far as services not being transferable between stores, this is generally the case.  When you pay for a Geek Squad service you're paying for labor, so the agents in Louisiana have not been paid for any work they have done; its a judgmenet call on the part of the manager, but its always best to take care of the client. 

I'm sorry that we did not live up to your expectations (or our own) in this instance and I hope everything is resolved in a way that you still continue to be a client of the Geek Squad.