Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[Aaron_Mc]

I took my laptop in for warranty work.  I thought it was minor-- battery and fan.  No one called or emailed for several weeks, so I called to get the status and was told that the laptop was going to be junked.  That's all fine except I need my Quicken data from my harddrive.  I had thought it was backed up on my thumbdrive, but it wasn't.  I asked if I could get that file (there are others, but that is the only real important one), and was told that it would cost me $250!!!  It's a low end laptop, so it only cost $500 to start with! 

If I had know there was even a chance it would be junked or I couldn't get my stuff off of it, I would have been a little more careful and backed everything up. Shouldn't it be standard protocol when someone brings in a PC to warn them that they may never see it again?

To top it all off, the "Geek Squad" guy was incredulous and irritated that I would want my files back without paying $250 to plug in a flash drive and click "save to."

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hi Aaron_Mc,

Thanks for posting on our Community Forum.  I've asked Matthew, one of our Geek Squad Community Connectors, to offer some explanation and assistance regarding your laptop repair and data recovery.  You should hear from him in the next few business days.

Thanks again!

[caso-matthew]

Aaron,

I'm not a Geek Squad agent, but I often help out at our Precinct when we get busy, so I can maybe explain our policy to you.  (For the record, I'm not the Matthew that our moderator was referring to... it's a great name though!)

Any time we check in a client's computer, there's a form that both you and the agent checking it in has to sign - one of the provisions on there is that we don't back up data unless specifically asked to do so.

Generally, before we get to that signing point, we're supposed to ask you if you've backed up any data - specifically, anything that if lost, would be a devastating loss for you.  If the client has not backed up their data recently, we offer two options - we either wait to check it in and let you back it up on your own, or we offer a data backup service that runs $99.99 for up to 9.4 GB of data.

You're absolutely right that you should have been warned that there may be irrevocable data loss, and I'm surprised that the opportunity to even back that up in store was not offered to you (since, let's be honest, it is an opportunity for us to make money, as a business.)

Without knowing the specifics of your situation, I probably can't comment much further on this, but I would imagine that if the laptop has been selected for exchange authorization, it's been determined that the cost of parts and repair were beyond the value of replacement, and that could include the HDD if it was defective.  I would imagine that the quote of $250.00 was for a higher-tier data recovery service that is offered through our service centers, usually on drives that are defective (oftentimes, this can entail removal of the individual drive platters from the original HDD assembly and putting them into a new HDD assembly - not easy work, which is why it's expensive.)

Again, this is just me commenting on what I know of your situation and how I know we're supposed to process situations like yours; hopefully the moderator who will be in contact with you will be better able to explain and resolve your situation - best of luck!

-Matthew 

[MobileExpert]

Matt, I thought it was 8.5GB, because that's the capacity of a DVD+R DL.

[caso-matthew]

I guess I never thought about it that way, but generally I've always seen multiple discs in any service folder where we've performed a data backup, which equates to 2 DVD-Rs.  Of course, clients have the option to use other return/recovery media, such as an external HDD, but I haven't seen it all that often.

[Aaron_Mc]

What was ironic was that I was there with my bag which had my thumb drive in it, so it would have taken me a matter of seconds to back everything up.  And no, the HDD wasn't messed up at all.

[GeraldRose]

---

Aaron_Mc wrote:

I took my laptop in for warranty work.  I thought it was minor-- battery and fan.  No one called or emailed for several weeks, so I called to get the status and was told that the laptop was going to be junked.  That's all fine except I need my Quicken data from my harddrive.  I had thought it was backed up on my thumbdrive, but it wasn't.  I asked if I could get that file (there are others, but that is the only real important one), and was told that it would cost me $250!!!  It's a low end laptop, so it only cost $500 to start with! 

If I had know there was even a chance it would be junked or I couldn't get my stuff off of it, I would have been a little more careful and backed everything up. Shouldn't it be standard protocol when someone brings in a PC to warn them that they may never see it again?

To top it all off, the "Geek Squad" guy was incredulous and irritated that I would want my files back without paying $250 to plug in a flash drive and click "save to."

---

Tough situation, my only thought on what you wrote is if it is a service plan/Black tie protection plan repair, then you knew there was a chance the item could be swapped, perhaps they didn't explicitly tell you that when you brought it in to have it repaired but you knew about it under the terms of the plan.

It is too bad they wouldn't just let you do what you needed. My question is though if the laptop is "junked out" does it even come back to the store from the service center, or is it kept/destoryed or whatever they do with them there? If it wasnt at the store maybe that is the reason they couldnt allow that.

[Matthew-GS Community Advocate]

That is unfortunate, Aaron_Mc!

At least you are aware of the importance of consistent data management.  Did Quicken fail to save or export the file?  Sounds like you are more diligent than the computer users who tend to click "Skip" or "Cancel" when in a hurry.  Quicken saves file versions by date as a default backup file name.  Perhaps if you have a somewhat recent version of your data file, Quicken's robust features may automate getting you back up and running quickly.  Would an external hard drive with automated backup software be a good solution for your new computer? 

It sounds like the hard drive failed (or was failing) beyond normal backup services, I would have to look at your service order to be sure.  There is a distinct difference between the databackup (from a viable hard drive) and data recovery (damaged or nonviable hard drive) services. The Service Centerwould likely give this data recovery estimate if the drive needed more drastic measures to retrieve data - in which casethe file(s) would not likely be self-accessable anyway.  The data recovery process is labor intensive no matter if it is to retrieve one or one thousand files; this price is competitive with other data recovery services.   We do try to empower customers in knowing that the best opportunity for data backup (on a viable hard drive) is before the computer leaves the store.  We are not required to do this since the service order terms would point out that data backups are the customer's responsibility.

Once this optional last chance notification and estimate from the Service Center is declined and the exchange is completed in the store it is more probable the hard drive (and data) were destroyed per privacy protection procedures.  I am sympathetic to your predicament but I require more information to take a look at your situation.  Please send me your serviceorder number and contact information in a Private Message for further examination.   Let me know how I can be helpful.

Message Edited by Matthew-GS on 03-23-2009 06:23 PM