It's comforting (in a sick, humorous way) that I'm not alone with all the grief that Geeksquad causes their customers. Here's MY ordeal....
Somewhere around mid July, I called Geeksquad to come and fix my brand new (not even a month old) 50" Samsung plasma TV. It was pixelating all over the place and the picture was turning black. I called GS and was told that the first available date for an appointment was in about 2-3 weeks. I told her that was too long to wait, so she said she would send a request to a scheduling specialist to squeeze me in somewhere quicker and I would get a call back within 24 hours. That was on a Friday....so I waited....until Tuesday. I called them back and was given an afternoon appointment date that was more suitable and closer to the actual date.
I would have written these dates down if I had known what was to come......
On the date of the (afternoon) appointment, I received a call at 9:30am from the tech. I was not home but he said he would be at the house between 11am and 1pm. Not sure how afternoon appointments can be before noon but anyway, I raced home to get there by 11am. I didn't receive a phone call to say he was running late but he finally showed up at 1:55pm. Not that big of a deal, at least he showed up. He took it apart, played with some stuff on the back of the TV and said In order to get the pixels to disappear, he was having to turn the voltage as far up as he could before the TV shut off....which it did 3 times while he was trying to get it to the farthest setting before it shut off. It made a loud popping sound and I (and he) thought he got electrocuted the first time it happened...it happened three times. He said he couldn't leave it like that since it would shorten the lifespan of the TV and would have to order a new part. He got the picture looking OK...not HD ok but ok. Great. When he left he said he would order the part and call me with a new appointment date. He called me back that night and said the next available appointment was around 2 weeks later. Ok....at least I can watch a crappy picture in the meantime...I'm easy.
I had my Father in Law come over for the next appointment and he got here at 8am since it was a morning appointment. He was here until 12pm and nobody called or showed up. When I got home that afternoon, I called Geeksquad and the CSR told me that the part that was ordered was not in yet. She had no explanation as to why nobody would share that information with the customer, who's usually the one taking time off and patiently waiting for a tech!! Had to schedule another appointment and the same thing...3 weeks out. I told her that wasn't good enough and then she said she would submit it to a scheduling specialist (sound familiar?) and they would get back to me within 24 hours. I started laughing and she assured me they would. About 26 hours later, I get a call saying if the part wasn't in by that Friday (that was on a Wednesday), they would replace the TV. Ok, sounds good. The next day, they left a message on my answering machine saying the part had come in and the next available appointment was in about a week. Ok...whatever.
That time, my Wife stayed home from work (wasted a vacation day) and at 9am, Geeksquad called and said the Tech had called in sick and we would have to reschedule AGAIN!! The next date was 3 weeks out. I called them back and was told that it was the best they could do. Their tech calls in sick and I have to wait three more weeks?!?! Sounds fair to me! NOT! I told the rep that I wanted the TV replaced because now the TV has been running with the setting higher than normal that was going to ruin the lifespan of the TV, ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN TECH and she said she could put in a request to have the TV replaced. I told her I didn't want this one anymore, it's damaged goods. She said it would take 3-5 days to get a response but she would be shocked if it wasn't replaced. She said she couldn't guarantee it but she thought for sure it would be.....so I wait again......
Got a call from Seth in MN who told me that the request had been denied since the part was already ordered/received and there was an appointment already scheduled. After venting with him, all I got was a bunch of apologies and blah blah blah. He said he was going to email the tech and ask him about the voltage issue and after I asked him how that's going to help me, he didn't have an answer!!! He's probably going to email him and tell him never to share that kind of info (that it'll shorten the lifespan of the TV) with a customer.
I have 2 or 3 protection plans with Geeksquad that are active but I can guarantee you, there won't be another one!! Almost two months with a TV that has been running at a higher voltage, shortening the lifespan, that won't be replaced.
They're supposed to be out September 5th........supposed to be. I'm sure I'll have to call them to find out why they never showed up....AGAIN!
@Dorothy_BestBuy
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