Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[dubi1]

I'm another disappointed customer with the PSP, Best Buy, and Geek Squad.  The facts:

4/26/2006: Purchase HP laptop

12/7/2007: Battery wouldn't hold its charge, got a new battery (service order ends in 0206).

8/14/2008: Laptop performance has become slower than slow.  Hard drive makes very strange sounds.  Lighscribe DVD writer not "scribing."  Went to local Best Buy/Geek Squad to fix (service order ends in 0210).

8/22/2008: Laptop was returned with *NOTHING* done.  Supposedly, 180 viruses were taken-off -- ROFL.  I *DO* have up-to-date anti-virus.  I smell BS.

8/30/2008: After my last trip, the laptop battery started falling out -- helping me lose as much work as possible.  Hard drive is still dirt slow and still making noise.  Nope, Lightscribe still not scribing (service order ends in 8666 -- must be a bad omen).

About a MONTH goes by until I get a laptop back!  Not ONE phone call, although I've been calling and yelling incessantly.  I'm generally furious, but just glad to have it back.  They claim a new Lightscribe was installed.  The first time I try, it doesn't work.  I have a lot of travel and no time to be without a laptop...

12/5/2008: Battery continues falling out.  Lightscribe STILL doesn't scribe.  I've learned to ignore the hard drive noise, but the slowness is becoming intolerable, even though I've uninstalled as much as I could.  Touchpad sometimes doesn't work and/or bounced the pointer around the screen.  I do type fast and keyboard has progressively been missing more of my keystrokes.  Service order ends in 8707.

12/20/2008: I CALL and am told (as usual), "Oh yeah, it's here."  This time I brought a brand new Lightscribe disk to try.  Of course IT DOES NOT WORK so I can't/don't even take the laptop off the counter.  I'm beyond anger and must be at risk for an aneurysm.  Richard at the desk is scared.  He finds the service manager, Colin, who claims to approve a "junk-out” and replace it under no-lemon.  I’m told to call in 2 days, on Monday (today), to get a new one.  I smell more BS, but what else can I do!?  Service order ends in 0631.

12/22/2008: I call the store and am told that no one at my Best Buy in Northbrook, IL can do anything about a no-lemon.  It's up to the service center.  I knew it.  My BS-o-meter was on tilt @ the store a couple days back.

12/22/2008: I submit essentially the above on-line.  Get a response from Agent Heather Dawla and call her.  She tries to pull a fast one, but no, I have way too many years in IT to go for it.  Nice try, Heather.

12/30/2008: Agent Heather Dawla emails me a UPS tracking number for my allegedly "fixed" laptop.

1/2/2009: I repeat the EXACT same thing as I did 12/20/2008 -- IT STILL DOESN'T WORK!  Besides, no one has even looked @ the keyboard or mouse because, "All hardware tests pass."  LOL.  They give me order number ending in 8880.

1/2/2009: I call the number I had from Agent Heather Dawla and yell at Agent Becky.  I apologize -- this isn't her fault.  She's the human shield they put in front of "them" to protect from "me."  She claims she submits a "Level 3" request and someone from the top levels of customer support or whatever would call within 24-48 hours.  I take bets.  The odds are long.

1/6/2009: Well over 48 hours have passed -- even business hours.  No one calls, so I try.  Keep my cool with Agent Maria.  And so it goes...

WHAT THE HECK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO!?!?!?!

[tjon63]

I sent an email to Robert Stephens. Founder and Chief Inspector at The Geek Squad, VP Best Buy.

info@geeksquadcentral.com  In the subject line put  "For Robert"

Tell Robert about your problem. I sent him my contact info and the necessary details for him to verify the problems that I'm having.

I already received a response back not from Robert but from someone who reports to him.

They are already looking into my request (verified because he sent me some of the details) and asked that I keep them informed as well as let any of my friends who are having problems know how to contact them.

The response came within 8 hours!

[dubi1]

---

tjon63 wrote:

I sent an email to Robert Stephens. Founder and Chief Inspector at The Geek Squad, VP Best Buy.

info@geeksquadcentral.com  In the subject line put  "For Robert"

Tell Robert about your problem. I sent him my contact info and the necessary details for him to verify the problems that I'm having.

I already received a response back not from Robert but from someone who reports to him.

They are already looking into my request (verified because he sent me some of the details) and asked that I keep them informed as well as let any of my friends who are having problems know how to contact them.

The response came within 8 hours!

---

Thanks!  I just followed your advice and will post the results here...

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Dear dubi1,

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. 

~Elizabeth

Community Supervisor

Best Buy Corporate

Message Edited by Elizabeth-BBY on 01-07-2009 01:03 PM

[Aaron-BBY Community Connector]

Hey dubi1,

I’m sorry to hear about your recent computer troubles! I understand, however, that you have been in touch with a specialist in our executive offices since your most recent post and that a solution was reached. If you have any additional questions or concerns though, please do not hesitate to let us know – we’d be glad to help you out!

Agent Aaron
Geek Squad® Community Connector
Go Ahead. Use Us.

[MadDog51]

Well, I didn't have any luck with GEEKSQUAD either.  When I took in my newly purchased HP 1270i dvd Writer with Lightscribe that I purchased, and installed in the expansion port, on 6/3/10 from Best Buy AND my Emachines ET1831-07 Desktop tower running Windows 7 Home Premium, factory installed, that I purchased 3/12/10, I could not get any help because GEEKSQUAD had never seen any issues with Lightscribe.  The sales rep at Best Buy told me that both systems are compatible but alas, they wer not!

After 8 days of contacting HP, Microsoft, Emachines, Lightscribe, Nero, NVidia and others, I finally found a sollution on one of the forums.  I attempted many combinations of uploading this or downloading that.  Try this version of this or that version of that.  (I probably need to do a system restore to clean out all the crap!)  Emachines even wanted to charge me an additional $200.00 to MAYBE fix the problem when there shouldn't have been a problem in the first place, not to mention that I just spent quite a bit of cash not even 3 months ago for their "top notch" machine!

Anyway.  I want to let everyone know, including GEEKSQUAD, what my solution was.  It's as simple as this:  Change SATA mode from AHCI to IDE in SETUP under INTEGREATED PERIPHERALS.  Be sure to SAVE and EXIT.  Allow drivers and software to install and re-boot your computer.  It worked for me with the hardware and software I have.  I hope it will work for everyone else.