Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[srzakhary]

My Name is Sharif and I'm posting to this forum in the hopes that someone will assist me where Best Buy has failed to do so...

I purchased a 46" Samsung A750 series with a Touch of Color in the Summer of 2008 with a 2 year PSP plan from Best Buy.  I do not Generally purchase extended warranties, but I thought since I was spending so much money and because Samsung's warranty wasn't as good that I would go for it.

The TV worked flawlessly until January 18th 2010.  At that time 2 vertical yellow lines began to appear on the screen in certain dark pictures.  The Timeline follows below

Jan 18th - Called BB and told them the problem, they said they would send a tech.

Jan 28th - Tech Comes, Takes apart my TV, puts it back together and tells me I need a new LCD Screen. He Orders it.

Feb 4th -  A different tech comes, replaces my LCD Screen and completely ruins the TV.  What was 2 yellow bars in now a completely dead TV.

At this point I have made well over a dozen several Calls with geeksquad.  No one at Best buy calls me back to get a status on this part.  I called several times and was told a multitude of things over the past 3 weeks which all equate to one thing...

We don't have this part and we don't want to replace your television no matter how long it takes us to find this part....   We don't care if it takes forever...  Deal with it!

This is completely unacceptable.  I did no purchase a warranty so that I could wait for over a month so that I could have a fully functional TV.  Geek Squad agents have repeatedly told me on the phone that the most that I should ever have to wait is 14 business days before Best Buy will call of the search and replace my set.  It has now been 15 days and that statement is obviously not true.

Today   -  I spoke with a Supervisor, who told me that my current status was that the part was "Being Ordered" and that we would know in a few days whether it was "Actually Ordered", then another week for that part to be sent to my area, and on top of that Best Buy's locally  contracted group is in Alabama (I am in TN) so they only make Tuesday and Thursday visits to Nashville.   (This alone, is completely ridicoulous...  I just got a new Job and you can't ever meet me on a weekend, ever?)

Can anyone in this forum assist me?  Geek Squad has been unqualified to help me and I don't know how to further escalate this problem.  I am a Rewards Silver Member which means I spend too much money in this store.  I can tell everyone that If I don't have a solution to this problem by this weekend, In as much as I can not watch TV in my house, I will post my story everywhere possible on the Internet, Report this incident to the BBB, and write reviews on every product I have ever purchased at Best Buy assisting others in the right choice not to ever purchase Best Buy Warranties.

Thank you

-Sharif Z{removed per forum guidelines}

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Good afternoon srzakhary -

Allan, from our Community Connector team, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern.  I appreciate your continued patience until he is able to reach out to you.  Thank you!

[srzakhary]

Thank you for your quick Reply,

However, patience is the very thing I have run out of.  It is now Sunday at noon and Allan has not contacted me.  This is exactly what I expected.    By this Thursday I will have gone one full month without a TV in my house.

-Thank you

[Nokia]

Average response time is 3-5 business days.

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi srzakhary,

Being without a working TV for this long would be upsetting for anyone, and I can completely understand you being upset with how long this repair is taking.

I looked into your repair, and I show that the LCD panel (that was installed on 2/4/2010) didn’t resolve the issue with the TV. Because this panel didn’t fix your TV the service center ordered a new Mainboard on 2/5/2010.

It does look like we don’t have our own technician that services your area, and this repair was requested to be done by a local service center. Going by your account of this it sounds like this service center only services your area on Tuesday s and Thursday s, and if this is true your TV would have to be serviced on one of those two days.

I would like to work with you towards getting you a working TV as soon as possible, and I am sending you a private message to start that conversation. 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,

[srzakhary]

Just wanted to give an update thus far.  Alan has responded to my email and I have learned a few things.

A part for my TV is being shipped to my area after nearly one month of searching.  If my set is not repaired with this part I have been told I will recieve a replacement.  I asked about reasonable wait times and this is what I found

       "No one at Best Buy® is allowed to divulge our guidelines as to when we would replace a TV for a repair taking too long. These are internal guidelines, and as such are not public knowledge."     -Allan | Best Buy® Community Connector

Best Buy will make you wait for a part as long as they want before they finally give up and replace your product.  They will not give you a cutt off date.

Also, I asked if he beleived I had personally waited too long, or If I had exceeded this elusive "Guidline".  BecauseI believe I had and am expecting that particular issue to be handled as well.  We will see if this company feels like it has done all it needs to to remedy my situation or not.

Thanks!

[Nokia]

I believe it is 30 days for computers and 45 days for TVs.