Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[pixelsmith]

I cannot wait to be done with Best Buy and the "Black Tie Protection" plan. I purchased a Sony a700 with the BTP and had to send it in for sevice. I was told it was purchased by someone else and needed their ok to complete repairs. They said my ex wife whom I had been divorced from for 11 years was the person who purchased the camera and also another camera, accessories, rewards program etc.. I said that was not true to which they said their computer could not be wrong, I asked if they were calling me a liar and they said their computer does not lie... so... (they all but called me a liar to my face)  so I had to drive 20 miles to find my cancelled check. I returned with cancelled check, orginal receipt and also found the clerk who sold me the $3,000+ worth of items and went back to the Geek Squad desk... very reluctantly they decided I must have indeed made the purchase and sent the camera in. I was told 3-5 weeks to return my camera which was my primary studio photography camera...after 3 weeks they said it would be back any day... later that week they said the same thing... fast forward to around 3 months later and they emailed me saying they junked my camera and issued a store credit. So... my vertical grip, compact flash cards and 5 spare batteries are now worthless.. I go to the camera department and the only camera available is a consumer grade a55 that will not work with my studio strobes but worked with all my Zeiss lenses. NOW that camera needs repair and I was forced to go back to the GS for repairs... i tried to track my repair on the GS "track your repair" service and it said my iPhone is now being repaired! So I call Geek Squad this morning and they said that was a glitch and that my camera should be back tomorrow or thursday, I quickly called back a client who I had to cancel with and told them they could come in friday for their family photo shoot... then it dawned on me that being that the Geek Squad has a history of lying to me I decided to call the place that has the camera to verify this information. They said it was checked in and that they should be able to fix it in 5-10 days, it could take a week to receive any parts, then a week to return it.... it will hardly be back by thursday so I had to call back the client and cancel again with NO idea when I can reschedule a shoot. There is a LOT more to this whole experience but my notes, dates and names are at home. Bottom line is that the Geek Squad has basically called me a liar, lied to me about my previous service, then lied to me this morning so I went in to the store and personally spoke to them. I asked if I could please just return my camera for a full cash refund because I do not wish to do business with a company that calls a loyal cusotmer who has been coming in since the store opened in the 70's or so a liar. I was told NO WAY that will happen because they would lose money. So far I have lost about 4 grand in lost business and unusable accesories. I am so bummed out because I used to LOVE my trips to best buy..  right now, I need a HDTV, a gaming console, an iPad, a 24" iMac, another hard drive and a new vacuum, I asked for nothing but Best Buy gift cards for xmas to help pay for all these things, now I am looking for someone to buy my cards from me because it costs me too much money to buy from "Best Buy" and far too much stress.

[Mbrguy Emerging Expert]

My Guess ( and I'll bet that I'm right ). Your ex wife probably still has her name under your phone number for reward zone. And when you made the purchase, it shows up on the keypad to ensure the info is accurate. Most people just press "correct" rather than looking at the contact info/name on the keypad. If your ex wife's name was there and you hit correct, this would give the impression that she was the purchaser. They didn't want to call you a liar, but if your ex wife's name was on the purchase, what do you expect them to believe?

I am curious though. You have a business where you use your camera and yet you have no backup camera at all? For the future, I would recommend always having a backup of ANY equipment that you rely on for income.

When I used to work for Geek Squad, we had a gentlemen come in ine day with a computer tht had a virus. He said tht he used his computer for work and couldn't be without a computer. Unfortunately the computer would require a couple of days for repairs dodo you know what he did immediately? He then asked where the computers were and went to buy a new computer. A business that runs solely off a compute would be smart to have a backup computer.

If you would lost thousands of dollars in business if you are without a camera, it would be cheaper to purchase a spare.

[pixelsmith]

sorry but you are wrong. she got everything in the divorce including the phone number.  

my back up camera and bag was stolen last summer, i had planned on making this a55 my back up camera when a Sony a77 is available. i do have a film camera but do not want to use film.

If BB had an a77 I would have bought it. the ONLY Sony camera BB has is the one I purchased. They did offer to hold a NEW replacement at another store for me but then I would have to buy another BTP plan. 

your answers seem a bit snarky, that does not surprise me since you said you were a GS Agent at one time.  

[Anita_G]

... and isn't it funny that he doesn't admit that he was wrong about the whole situation!  I just got back from my WORST EXPERIENCE WITH any Geek let alone a Best Buy geek- they have had my computer for an entire month and didn't fix it. Even though they called me and told me that it was repaired... I am an attorney charging $250 an hour- are they going to reimburse me for the goose chase they just put me through?  Absolutely not, but you know what?  You vote with your dollars.  I used to spend more than 10k per year in their stores.  Let's see if they ever get another dime out of me after the way I was treated tonight!

[pixelsmith]

Anita, sorry to hear you are having problems as well. Their lack of concern has cost them several thousand dollars that my friends and family would have spent there. I will be very sad to never shop there again as I have been a customer since they first opened. 

[Mariel-BBY Retired: Community Connector]

Hello pixelsmith-

Doug, from our Social Media team, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern. Thank you for your continued patience!

[pixelsmith]

I should mention that my rewards program card was also changed into my ex wifes name, again i was called a liar and that a problem like that could NOT possibly happen. I got the rewards card WITH my $3,000 plus purchase and after several attempts at resolving the situation they finally realized I was telling the truth and put my name back on the rewards card.... BUT they took away ALL my points in doing so. I should get all my points because it was best buy's problem not mine.

Why does BB act like this to thier customers? Why would they call me a liar TWICE even tho I had a cancelled check in my hand, my original receipt AND the employee that sold everything to me backing up everything I said? 

[Anita_G]

... and the attitude that you get when you go in a store?  Why do they behave that way?  Because they work apparently unchecked.

[Douglas-BBY Community Connector]

Hello pixelsmith,

Thank you for all of your patience while we work to repair your camera.  It sounds like there were quite a few speed bumps trying to get the right information for your Protection Plan updated into our computer and that we haven’t really given you a clear picture of how long the repair will take. I apologize for all of the confusion and appreciate your time in bringing it to our attention.  We want to make the repair as quick and hassle free for you as possible, but clearly there has been a breakdown in communication in this case.

Camera repairs typically take 2-4 weeks total for shipping to our partne, diagnosis, repair, and shipping back to your local store. I’m not sure why our agent would have quoted you 5-10 days for a repair that isn’t taking place on site as it can take almost that much time just to ship.  Again, I’m sorry for the miscommunication.  Your camera has been repaired and is currently en route to your local Best Buy store. From the UPS tracking information, I would expect it to arrive back in store tomorrow and you should receive a call to confirm that it is ready to pick up in the next day or two.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns moving forward either here or by private message.

Regards,

[pixelsmith]

Thanks for the message. I am SO HAPPY!!! Now that my crappy little camera is back, this will be the last time I and at least a dozen friends will ever do business with best buy again. After my last camera problem where i was called a liar and repeatedly lied to I thought my troubles were over... NOT. best buy proved two times in a row that they are not a customer service oriented business and people should just use the store to handle products then get their true best buy at VANS.com.

darn... i just realized i have 200 bucks in credit and gift cards left... maybe i can sell my cards online somewhere.