Upset with Best Buy.... You betcha. So upset that they lost me as an ardent customer. All over an accusation that I damaged a product and was refused a repair that the manufacturer still covers, as I am under the 1 year warranty. Now to further explain.
I purchased a Transformer T101 in July of 2011. So worried about its care I also bought a Targus leather cover that was recommended by a Tech person at BestBuy. She showed me how to accomodate (slit the sides of the hard lip to encase the Tablet). There was not a case available at that time for this was a new product. I didn't want a sleeve, as it wasn't enough protection. So, I've been using and caring for this product as if it were a newborn. Kept it charged, clean and always protected from harm. About 2 weeks ago a line began to appear in the middle of the screen that ran about halfway across it -on the horizonatal. This was about a week after ICS was d/l and updated. I dropped by BB in Spring Hill, FL and spoke with a tech about this new issue and they said to bring it in and they will exchange it and/or ship it off to their repair center, it was probably an LCD issue. The following day, I boxed everything (oh they even printed out a new receipt for me). With everything in hand I brought it into the store and explained to a Geek guy what was up. He verified the warranty was still in place and began inspecting the tablet for scratches, dents, etc. He then said the product was dropped!!! I said it was never dropped. He argued the point and showed me the corner edges (x2) which were in fact somewhat dented. Denying that I dropped, banged or somehow damaged this he said he would speak with an assistant store manager!. Never inspecting this tablet before (there was no need to) I did in fact see the denting and discoloring that he was referring to. Once the manager looked at it he emphatically stated he would not attempt to send this to the service center because this was customer damaged and they (BestBuy) would have to absorb the cost of the product in total. !! I had, over this past year spend almost 10K at this store and couldn't believe that I was being called a liar. I explained about a dozen times how the metal encased in leather around the 'targus' case which was supposed to protect the tablet could have in fact actually caused the damage! I argued this with him for several aggravating minutes, he woud concede on NOTHING. All he saw was the damage. I even pulled a case from their shelf and showed what was shown to me on how to adapt it to the transformer. His comment was, this was an unauthorized use. I explained it was Best Buy's technician who showed me how and what to do!!!! Livid was an understatement. He refused to accomodate me in any manner. He said I was to contact the manufacturer (ASUS) and they would send me a box to send it to them to be repaired... They gave me a telephone number, to which I called immediately outside the store.. It was a computer repair organization 24/7. Couldn't even understand them as they wanted to charge me for doing verbal/on the phone repair, saying this was a hardware issue and it could be fixed on the phone. After to speaking to about 5 different "foreign languaged" technician it was realized that they were not ASUS but a company solicited by Best Buy! I searched for the ASUS number, spoke with the technician there and they said I was responsible to backup up my programs on an SD card (which I now had to purchase) and they would not guarantee they would not have to erase EVERYTHING. It would also take 10-14 days to do the repair. and that doesn't include the shipping to and from..! This was last week and I have yet to have had an opportunity to package and ship this product (at my expense) my work hours and post office hours are not in sync.
Did Best Buy in any way shape or form accommodate my needs as one of their premier silver customers, NO. Did they at the least show concern to my needs as a consumer, NO. Would this have been a loss to them, NO. If they were willing to switch the product, which they ordinarily do when under the manufacturers warranty I was going to upgrade to the Prime! Instead, I was virtually called a liar, give misinformation to have my product repaired at my own cost and loss.
Shame on you Best Buy. It will be a cold day before I purchase or recommend a product from your stores.
Ryan-BBY
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