Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[nforseth]

I am entirely frustrated with the PSP plans and the question the quality of merchandise that Best Buy sells.  I am in a situation where Best Buy called to tell me that they are junking out my laptop of just over a year and a half.  After bringing it in over 4 times for problems and feeling like I have been barely able to use it, I am quite displeased with the PSP and the replacement laptop I am being offered. Not only is it less than half the value, I was not given any options in what laptops were considered comparable technology.  I think my experience would not have been as bad had I not already been through this once before with Best Buy for a previous laptop.  So yes, the laptop I recently had junked out was a replacement for another "lemon".  When I was at the Maple Grove store, I asked to speak to a manager to voice my concerns with the poor customer service I have received, the problems with the repairs themselves and how Best Buy might remedy the fact that I now have to accept whatever junk model they are throwing at me.  As a consumer I thought Best Buy would have taken more care and concern with how they handled their customers.  In my case, I was not able to speak to a manager, but rather the Digital Camera Supervisor.  Not only did he tell me I was only going to get a $500 laptop because that was comparable, he then proceeded to explain the PSP policy. Fine. I explained the repeated issues with products I have received from Best Buy and the problems I have had with repairs.  For instance, when my laptop went in for repair (not related to the hard drive) I was called from the geek squad to tell me there was a bad hard drive.  The Geek Squad agent did ask if the drive was recently backed up and I told him no.  My copy was about a month old. He then offered to back up the drive and return my computer contents on a CD.  After a few days, I called on the laptop only to find out that because it had a bad hard drive, the Geek Squad automatically removed it, replaced it with a new one and then drilled out the old one. Apparently the message was lost or not acted upon for getting my data off the system.  After that bad experience, I purchased a 1 TB drive and proceeded to back up the system on a regular basis.  Thereafter, I had the LCD display go bad and yet another hard drive failure.  Even with the back up system in place, I was barely able to recover the data because the hard drive issues were preventing it.  Again, I ended up in Best Buy for the 4th repair for the second time on the LCD. This time the system was considered a junk out and here I sit with the problems I experienced yesterday.  During the episode at the store last night, I was told that if I wanted a different system, I would have to pay the difference.  My laptop was valued at $1250 when it was purchased in 4/07.  The previous laptop was purchased for closer to $3000.  I was dismayed with the attitude and lack of attention I received from the Digital Camera Supervisor, Don at Maple Grove. Not only did he have a nonchalant attitude, he also was more interested in his cell phone which interrupted over 3 times during our conversation than what I had to say as a customer.  Don made me an offer of $709 towards a new system.  I am not sure where he got the number.  I was never shown any systems. When I asked for a higher level of management, I was told to call 888-BEST-BUY which I did.   This leads me to the next problem.  The first person I talked took my information and then told me she would need to escalate it to a supervisor.  I was given over to Jesse who proceeded to tell me I would only get comparable technology and that was that.  He also cared nothing of the repeated problems I have had with Best Buy or my desire to receive a refund of the value of the laptop from 4/07 plus a refund of the PSP.  Clearly, Best Buy has no desire to resolve my issue or hear me as a customer.  They insist that their policies are fair and act like I should be happy about their ability to give me a new computer.  Also, when I asked to speak to someone higher up within the customer complaint division I was told that Jesse was the highest person.  So is Best Buy trying to tell me that the highest person who deals with complaints is Jesse who works in the evening on their 888 number??? At this point I am frustrated after two junked out laptops and one bad digital camera repair where I was blamed for damage to a camera that was clearly caused by the repair, I am fed up with Best Buy.  The products they offer seem to be substandard or are not subject to good quality control processes with the vendors they use.  I do not wish to purchase my consumer electronics from Best Buy and will be voicing my dissatisfaction with every one I know.  Apparently as a customer my opinion is not valued nor do they care to remedy the many issues I have had throughout the years.  I have been an exceedingly patient customer through everything.  I feel that my time has value and worth.  The time spent with out a computer and having to repeat backups and restore data should be worth something. 

Who determines what is comparable and what do they base it off of???

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Dear nforseth, 

Thanks for posting your concern on our Best Buy® Forum.  Your issue has been assigned to one of our Community Connectors for further review and response, and you should be hearing something within a maximum of 3-5 business days.  Please note that it may be sooner depending on the complexity of your issue and the current volume of posts.  Thanks for your continued patience as we work to assist all of the customers who have reached out to us on this forum.

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Good afternoon nforseth -

While I cannot tell you exactly where the $709 figure that Don offered you specifically came from, I can do my part to enlighten you on what the Performance Service Plan covers.  

In the No Lemon Policy covered by your service plan you will find the following information:

After three service repairs have been completed on an individual product and that individual product requires a fourth repair, as determined by us, we will replace it with a product of comparable performance, not to exceed the original purchase price.  Replacement products may be new or rebuilt to meet manufacturer's specifications of the original product at our discretion.  Technological advances may result in a replacement product with a lower selling price than the original product.  

As you mentioned, you purchased your unit a year and a half ago, and unfortunately computers are very susceptible to depreciation.  It is very possible that the $709 would be the cost of a comparable model now with similar features. 

When the store offers you a comparable model there should be several factors taken into consideration.  Size of screen, size of hard drive, amount of ram, and type of processor should all be looked at, and every effort to match up your previous unit to a new unit should be made.  I would suggest you look at the old laptop and think of what features you find to be the most important, and go from that standpoint.  Even if the price is a lower price than you paid, normally you will get more actual computer.

I would like to offer my assistance in working with the store and finding a solution to your dilemma, so I am sending you a private message.  To check your private messages, please ensure you are logged into the forums, then click the envelope in the upper right hand corner. 

I look forward to working with you.

Regards,

Dorothy

Community Connector

Best Buy® Corporate

[nforseth]

I am wondering how long it is going to take to get a reply regarding my reimbursement on the PSP plan. I emailed last week on February 3rd and still no response. Not happy. Also, woke up to the NEW laptop having issues, Windows found some error and then I got the BLUE SCREEN of DEATH. Stupid computers and I hate Vista. This really sucks. Now I have the potential of but a third laptop gone bad. It is has been only 2 weeks since I go the new one. SERIOUSLY. It doesn't get any better. More $$ down the drain.