Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[Blake]

I bought a gateway laptop 2 years ago and still have 1 year left on my warranty.  I had problems and had to run the restore disk.  It didnt work, best buy wont fix it, and they tell me that the restore disk, which came in the box i purchased, isnt covered by them.  Dont buy the warranty!!!!!!!  Its a scam!!!!!!!!!!  If the warranty doesnt cover something that came in the box with the product then why cover anything at all???  Oh yea, they dont.  All they do is point fingers at somebody else.  The only good thing about it is that they told me that if it falls off a desk or I drop it then it is covered for replacement.  Dont you think they would rather people be honest and try to have their stuff fixed instead of making people stoop to their level???????  I am a premier silver member and they just lost my business forever!!!!! 

[HauntedWebby]

Which plan did you have?

Some only cover hardware ... some cover software ... some cover everything.

[HauntedWebby]

I found their terms and conditions

http://www.geeksquad.com/gslibrary/services/content/black_tie_protection/terms_and_conditions/200809...

Read exclusions to coverage: part six, section one. Are you an authorized repair person?

6)

Exclusions to Coverage:This Plan does not cover:

(i) damage to your product caused by accident

(unless you have purchased the optional ADH

Coverage), abuse, neglect, intentional physical

damage, misuse (including faulty installation,

repair, or maintenance by anyone other than

an authorized service provider), unauthorized

modification, viruses, extreme environment

(including extreme temperature or humidity),

external condensation, lightning, static

electricity, fire, flood, insect infestation, rodents,

[Blake]

I have the 3-year parts and labor coverage with Accidental Damage from Handling. 

I realize the disk is considered as software but it is something that came in the box, with the computer and it should be at least handled differently.  Instead when I asked for the manager he snickerd at me and said "who do you think your talking to?"  For $300 I dont think I should be laughed at by him.  Besides I have read my copy of the coverage and it doesnt say anything about software.  Actually it says " This coverage option provides coverage for manufacturer's defects in materials and workmaship."  That disk is a manufactureres defect. 

[Starflyer59]

The hassle that BB geeks gives everyone is terrible, but I have been working with computers for 20+ years and software has never been covered under a warranty. The manufacturer warranty should cover software that was installed on the computer when you purchased it, but they only cover it for usually 1 year.

I have never seen something like the BB Black tie warranty or even CC(RIP) firedog warranties that covered software.

[HauntedWebby]

They shouldn't laugh at you or treat you rudely in anyway. Agreed.

But ya it is a defect, sorta. It's a software defect, not a hardware defect. I'd never touch one of those disks. They mess up computers. Most builders don't send them anymore. The problem you have with software is gateway doesn't write it (for the most part) a different company does. So they don't cover other companies mistakes. Only themselves, that why computer lingo is so specific.

Other then how they treated you I see their point. BUT they should have came up with a solution that you both agreed on. No just sent you home. I mean did they give you any options for a repair?

[HauntedWebby]

Hi Star, they cover software if they install it. According to that terms PDF I posted. They call it ViSpy coverage, but I still don't think it covers a failed recovery done by a end user.

[CrystalWoW Community Veteran]

Why would you ever run a restore disk when you had protection? all you had to do was walk in to a best buy and they would've taken care of anything.

[Starflyer59]

Crystal

Take some time to read the forums before recommending the geek squad. If you read all the threads about the geek sqaud you would see that it would take several managers to figure out if the geeks were actually allowed to run the system restore, then it would take several geeks to check the machine in and they will try and sell you several hundreds of dollars of worth of junk and then the geeks would tell you that it will take them 5-7 days to run the system restore.

It would be alot less hassle to just run the system restore yourself.

[Blake]

The geek squad guy told me that they were going to charge me 39.99 to run the restore cd.  That is why i did it myself.  After I got the call the first time to come pick it up I refused to leave the store till I ran the restore myself and it still failed.  As per my instructions the only way to test to see if it was fixed was to run the restore.  I went over this with him many times and when they sent it in all they did was fix some temp censor.  They still never even tried to run it and I wasted another 100 mile round trip to have them send it back anyways.