Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[nealstermc]

I bought a Garmin 305 Edge GPS for my road bike in October through the Best Buy online site.  Because cycling sometimes involves falls and/or bad weather I thought it would be a good idea to protect my investment with the purchase of a 2 year product replacement warranty.

Now my family and I have literally spent thousands at Best Buy to include product replacement warranties.  This came in handy last year when the power supply in our Wii fizzled out.  My wife went into the store with the broken Wii and walked out with a new Wii.

In mid April my GPS started shutting off inexplicably during rides.  This is very frustrating for a cyclist who hordes his training data, counts every mile, nuance and detail of his training rides.

I printed out my Order Receipt and went to my local Best Buy to get a replacement.  The service representative was very helpful.  She went and pulled a new GPS from the display case and started to process my order. She then had to call the warranty deparment and this is where my horrific experience began.  

The warranty department informed her that she could not simply replace my GPS off the shelf.  Instead, a gift certificate for the amount of the original purchase price would be mailed to my home address.  The service associate confirmed my address and repeated to me from the warranty department that I should expect to see my gift certificate within 3-5 business days.

Two weeks later, no gift certificate.  Round II

I call the warranty department and am informed by a representative, that there was some sort of mistake and the request for my gift certificate was not processed.  He told me he would place the request but I would have to wait an additional 10-15 business days from the date of our conversation.  Needless to say I was not happy with the situation and asked for assurances.  The service representative then at that time told me to call back in 3 business days for a status update.

10 Business days later, no gift certificate so I call for a status update by which I am informed there is no means for the Warranty Department to know the status of a Gift Certificate and that only the Gift Certificate Department would know.  I asked to be transferred to the Gift Certificate department and was then told "there is no phone number for that department."  

I then asked to speak with a supervisor to see if something could be done to escalate my situation given I am now 6 weeks into this ordeal.  

Round III The Supervisor

The supervisor was very polite but completely unhelpful.  She informed me that she had no means of internally contacting the Gift Certificate department via phone.  So I asked her, "how do you communicate?  Do you simply send off requests into a black hole and hope a gift certificate comes out on the other side?" She then informed me that they do communicate by email.  I asked her to send an email to check the status of my request.  She promptly refused and informed me that I was still within my 15 business day window.  I curtly informed her that was the 15 day window from the second request because they screwed up the first request!  In truth I was sitting in total on 30 business days since the ordeal started.  

The supervisor informed me there was nothing she could do except to wait for another five business days.  If I had not received my gift card by then, I should call back. 

I asked her what would happen if I called back, it was then that she informed me that I would need to provide her an "alternative address" and the clock would be reset for another 15 business days where I would have to check somebody elses mail (my alternative address) for my gift card.  I then asked her what would happen if the gift card did not arrive at the "alternative address", what would my recourse be then?  Her only answer was that we would have to "keep trying"!  

I then bluntly asked her, if she had the choice to purchase an item with a Product Replacement Warranty online or in a store which would she choose.  She refused to answer my question stating that I was trying to "trick her" into putting down the Best Buy online store.  I told her there was no trickery involved at all, I simply wanted to know if she would ever purchase a product with a Product Replacement Warranty  from the online site.  She still refused to answer.  I then let her know that her non answer was all the answer I ever needed.

Lesson Learned, never, ever, ever buy anything from Best Buy Online if you desire to have a Product Replacement Warranty attached to your purchase!!!

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hi nealstermc,

I've asked John, one of our Community Connectors, to look into this and follow up with you.  You should hear from him within the next day or two at the most.

Thanks for posting!

[John-BBY Community Connector]

Hello nealstermc,

I was disheartened to read about your experience seeking a replacement for your Garmin GPS navigator.  I wholly understand your frustration, especially given your enthusiastic description of how you use it daily.  Product replacement should be far more painless than what you describe and for that I offer my personal apology.

When the associate with whom you worked at the store called Product Replacement Plan (PRP) claims, she should have been provided, to my understanding, with information to complete your transaction, not a new set of directions that would lead to further inconvenience. 

In researching your concern, I note that you’re working with Nichol in our Consumer Relations department and I encourage you to continue to do so.  Please know that if needed, I’d be glad to offer my assistance as well, so feel free to send me a private message at any time.  To send me a private message, click on my user name and then on “Send this user a private message” under Contact on the next screen.

Sincerely,