Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[mkg]

We purchased a Samsung Model LN32A330JID for the Best Buy in Columbia, MO on August 10,2008 with the Extended Warranty.

On September 21,2009 the TV would not turn on either by remote or using the On/Off button.  We called the Best Buy in Columbia, MO  and an appointment was made for late afternoon on Friday, September 25, 2009 and the technician would call to confirm the time.  Approximately at 2 PM  we had not heard from him or the store and I called and found out his was “sick” (which we have our suspicions about as there was a large Blues Festival in Columbia that afternoon and evening and also the Mizzou/Nevada football game was on tv that evening.)  And that would reschedule for October 2, 2009. I We asked that if we were being placed at the front of the list or if he was keeping other scheduled calls for the next week and told that at that time we were not being placed at the front of his appointment schedule but would have to wait until October 2.  We find it appalling that his missed calls were not put at the top of the list instead of at the bottom of the list.  One would think that if you had missed calls they would be the first to be answered instead of last

October 2, 2009 the technician did call and he said he knew what the problem was and would have to order a part.  And rescheduled for October 12, 2009.

October 12, 2009 we received a  call from the technician and the part was backordered and would not be for shipping until  October 29th.  Needless to say we were infuriated and my husband went to the store and did speak to a “floor manager” who was less than helpful.  We had looked into filing a complaint with the  Missouri Attorney General’s Office about a consumer complaint  and found out that the 3 missed appointments would fall under the consumer fraud.  When the floor manager was told was told we were looking at contacting the AG office  he walked away.  

There have been 3 appointments and the TV has not been even been touched and how do we know definitely the part that is “backordered”is the problem?  Would the part been backordered had he first showed up on September 25th?

My experience has been a fiasco to say the least.

As one who had been in the retail business for over 50 years I can tell you that when a item is backordered about half of the time the date given to be available to ship is not the correct date.

Had my customers had the fiasco with our business that I have had with Best Buy over a simple repair issue and the excuses that we have been given I would not blame them for shopping someplace else.  Maybe our regards for our customers were set at a  higher standard than you have for your customers as we have even been called out of Christmas Day.

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hello mkg -

Allan, one of our Community Connectors, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern over your television repair.  You can expect to hear from him in the next few business days.  I appreciate your continued patience!

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi mkg,

Three weeks without a working TV would be too long for most people, and I’m sure the delay that was caused by our technician being sick was very frustrating. Hopefully I can provide some clarification in this matter, but more importantly help resolve this for you.

When a technician calls in sick we try to have their service calls for the day performed by another technician that services that technician’s area. Unfortunately this is difficult to get done since most technicians’s have a full schedule every day, and would not have the time to run another technician’s service calls.

It sounds like this was the case when your technician called in sick, and you should then have been given the next available appointment we have for a technician that services your area. I do have to say that we would never cancel another customer’s repair appointment to fit a different customer’s repair into a technician’s schedule.

It does sound like you are well aware of what it means when a part is on backorder, but I do need to clarify that the date of 10/29/2009 is an estimated date that this part should ship by. We are never given a definite date, from the manufacturer of the part, in which we will receive a part when the part is on backorder.

With all that being said I would like to personally look into this repair, and do whatever is within my power to get you a resolution. I am sending you a private message to gather some personal information. To check your messages you should log into the forum, and then click on the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Thanks for posting,