Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[otherbeing]

I purchased an iPhone 3G on 11/23/2008 from the Best Buy in Orlando on Alafaya Dr along with a Product Service Plan for $15.96 a month after taxes. On 12/18/2008 I came back to the store to have the phone looked at because the headphone jack was not working on the device. The representative decided to just exchange the phone for another because it was within 30-days from the original purchase. Before leaving, he asked me for my credit card and charged it for $15.96. He said he needed to charge me for a new Product Service Plan because of the new phone / serial number. He promised me that I would not be double charged each month for the plan because the original plan would be canceled. Well, that never happened.

I was looking through my bank statement yesterday to see if my tax refund had came in yet. I saw a pending charge for $15.96 on 04/23/2009 from Best Buy which was odd because they had already charged me this month on 04/18/2009. By going back through past statements I found that they had been double charging me on the 18'th and 23'rd of each month since December! I went to the Best Buy location I purchased the phone from to inquire. They reprinted my receipts and told me to call 1-888-BESTBUY to have the original plan canceled and refunded to my card.

I called customer service today and spoke with Pam. She canceled the original plan but said she could not refund me for the charges they had billed me in error for the last 5 months. I asked for a supervisor and she declined to let me speak with a supervisor. She said it was my responsibility to cancel the first plan, and that because I never did, they don't owe me anything.

How is this my responsibility? How am I to know the internal working of Best Buy's Product Service Plan? The rep who swapped the phone assured me it would not be a problem and that the original plan would be automatically canceled because of the swap for the same product. Of course this never happened, and now Best Buy is holding me responsible for either one of their reps giving out false information, or not completing his job during the swap!

So now I'm out $79.80, paid to Best Buy for nothing and Pam says there's nothing she can do about it. I would have even accepted the refund back in the form of a Gift Card as I had planned on purchasing a new laptop computer from Best Buy over the next two weeks. However, considering this situation, I seriously doubt I'll be purchasing anything from Best Buy again.

[Miranda]

Call 888 Best buy again, and ask for the Mobile department. We'll still have to transfer you to our mobile PSP department (oops GSBTP), but we should be able to get it sorted out for you. Maybe you'll even get me on the phone! :-)

This seems like a pretty straightfoward thing, where the store rep didn't properly cancel the original plan. The store rep was right that he needed to set you up on a new plan, becuase of the serial numbers for the phones, but he should have cancelled the original plan at the time, rather than just saying it won't charge you. The new one does not over ride the old one. It still has to be cancelled out.

So, yeah, call in, ask for mobile and we can help you out from there. :-)

[starhelper2587]

This sounds like a huge glitch or something.  Anytime a product covered by a PSP is replaced, the PSP no longer is valid and a new one must be purchased, like you had to do with your new phone.  I have no clue how you could still be getting charged for the original plan!  Hopefully a Community Connector can address this soon.

[otherbeing]

I did tell the lady (Pam) that the rep at the store assured me that the original plan would be cancelled, and that I wouldn't have to do anything, but she wouldn't budge, and told me she would have a supervisor call me back within 24 hours. It's been over 24 hours, and I haven't received any calls yet. I actually work for an AT&T Customer Care call center, and I know how busy and hectic these types of centers can be. But, I always follow-up on all of my customers to make sure they're issues have been resolved in the timeframe I promised them.

[starhelper2587]

We have an AT&T call center where I live.  Are you in MO?  I work at the call center level for Best Buy and I always follow up with my clients, too.  It's frustrating to be told someone will call you back and you never receive anything.

Try calling 1-888-BESTBUY and asking for Consumer Relations.  That's the highest department you can speak to for the most part until a Community Connector on here can address the issue, which may not be until Monday.

[Miranda]

I also used to work for AT&T Business Care, and I too would always follow up with my customer's. Even now, working in a Best Buy call center, I too, if I make a commitment to contact a customer back, will do so, within the time frame that I said I would.

I really do want to help out...see if there's something I can do. But my best advise is to contact the 888 number for Best Buy, and ask for the Mobile department. There's only, like, 20 of us in the department, and any one of us can help you out.

And as for Pam....I'm not sure who Pam is, but they're NOT in the mobile department. There's bound to be something we can do for you.

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hi otherbeing,

I've asked Dorothy from my team to dig into this and offer her assistance.  You should hear from her within the next few business days.

Thanks for your continued patience,

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Good afternoon otherbeing -

I know how frustrating it can be to check your bank statement or credit card and see a bunch of charges on it that you were not aware of.  That happened to me a few months ago from some free trial I ordered on some vitamins, and let me tell you I was not happy when I had to spend the better part of a day arguing to get the charges removed!  Please allow me to offer my apologies for this oversight.

I would like to do my utmost to have these removed and credited back, so I am sending you a private message.  To check your private messages, first ensure you are logged into the forum, then click the envelope in the upper right hand corner.

I look forward to assisting you!

Thank you!

Dorothy

Community Connector

Best Buy®

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

I would like to publicly thank Miranda for the avenue she suggested in getting this resolved.

Worked like a charm!

Kudos to you Miranda!!

~Dorothy