Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[brettm08]

• April 2006 - Bought a 61" Samsung HDTV
• August 27, 2009 - Best Buy send Don's out to look at our tv even though they are not authorized to work on samsungs according to their website. They ended up not being able to find the problem so they ended up having to take it. So then I told them that if they took it we had to have it back by September 18th for my dad's 50th birthday. They told me it would only take up to two weeks to be done, September 18th would be 22 days
• September 3, 2009 - Called Don's to find out he has been meaning to talk to me, but never decided to pick up the phone and call me. He just sat around and waited for me to call real professional.
• September 10, 2009 - Called Don's and they had finally found the problem after two weeks and just ordered teh part. Later that day called Best Buy to see if they could speed up the process to get me the part and they told me there was nothing they could do. They also told me I would get a follow up call in 48 hours.
• September 13, 2009 - Never got a follow up call so i called Best Buy again and the lady told me she would expedit the part we needed. Also told me I would get a follow up call in 24 hours.
• Sptember 16, 2009 - Never got the follow up call. Also called Don's to find out they got the part but it was defected and they were goign to have to reorder it. Again unprofessionally Don's didn't call to tell us even though they know we need teh tv by the 18th. Later that day called Best Buy again and was told by the lady that she would do whatever she could to get the part to us so we could have our tv. Alos found out that Don's said they probably won't have time to install the part even if they get it on or before the 18th
• September 17 - I still haven't gotten a response to my email complaint. Got the follow up call and they said it was going to take another 5-7 days to get the part and the guy that called Thomas would contact us everyday so we would know what was going on with our tv. So we decide to call Don's to ask if they can put the old part because when that was in the tv worked it just shut off on its own every now and then, but it was still watchable. Don's told us that they didn't know if they would do that and they would call us right back, this was at 5 and they close at 5:30. They also said they estimate the part to take 5-7 days to arrive which is what Best Buy said. 5:45 comes around and still no call from Don's. We call them and luckily someone is still there, but it was different from the first person I talked to. He told us that because of Best Buy they cannot return the product until the problem is fixed. They also said they think they will get the part in by tomorrow, completely contridicting the person we just talked to.
• September 18 - Called Don's, they didn't call us what a surprise, and the part didn't arrive.
• September 19 - My dad's party without the tv. It's fun stuffing 20 people into a small room and watching the game on a 30" tv instead of in a bigger room and on a 61" tv. Later that day talked to some former best buy employees and they said they see this stuff all the time at Best Buy. They don't do anything to hurry up the process and they never check in with the customers and let them know what is going on.
• September 21 - Thomas who was supposed to call everyday, has still only called once. I also have still not gotten a response to the complaint I emailed. Allen is supposed to start working on this today, after three weeks. Let's see where this gets me.

Update

• September 27 - Finally got our tv back.  Don's brought it over, hooked it up, had me turn the tv on and make sure it works. I could not tell if the problem was still there because it takes time for it to shut off by itself.  So Don's gave me the paper to sign and said "This is just saying we brought the tv back with everything they took and that it works". So I signed it.
• September 28 - Got a call from Bill from corporate about the email I sent.  He is very helpful and we talked for a while nothing to important because our tv was already back, but he told me to call him if I have anymore problems.
• September 30 - Noticed a 5 inch scratch on the screen and a little chip next to it (you could put your finger nail in the scratch) and there was also a scratch on the box that goes around the screen (not sure of the name for it) This scratch is about 20 inches long.
• October 1 - Called 1-888-best-buy and they told me that it is Don's fault so they are reliable and they connected me with Don's.  This is what Don's told me on the phone "We show no remarks on our papers when we took it that there were scratches and we show no remarks on our papers that there were no scratches when we returned it." They also said, "The paper you signed says that you inspected it which makes us (Don's) not responsible.  I then call Bill from corporate and tell him about the problem and he said he agrees with me that Don's probably did it and he would check with his supervisor to see what they can do since they employ Don's.  He also told me that Best Buy requires Don's has insurance just incase stuff like this happens.
• October 1 (Cont) - I drive up to Don's to talk to them in person, and I get the same lady who talked to me on the phone.  She told me she had already talked to Best Buy about it and that we talk to the same people from Best Buy.  She then said we both talk to the people in Montana. I responded with I don't know who you are talking to because I talk to the people in Minnesota. I then told her it looks like it could of happend when the brought it back in the truck because the scratches up top and bottom line up and she said they already looked at the quilt and there is no damage.  I really doubt that because the truck was not there when I arrived.  I then told her the quilt did not have to have damage something could of poked through and scratched the screen and not put a giant gash in the quilt.  She told me that she doubts that. I also found the paper that I signed from Don's and took that in.  Nowhere on it does it say I inspected the tv all it says is that the service was satisfactorily completed.  The service was the tv was satisfactory, the transportation or storage was done poorly.  When I was in the store the lady said "Nowhere on the paper does it say you inspected it." When I asked her why she told me that on the phone she did not have a response. 

[brettm08]

Now I have to have Don's come out to my house again at the beginning of the week to look at my screen even though the lady told me that they do not plan on fixing it.  If nothing is done on Monday I will be talking to a lawyer the next day.  What I think I would be entitled to if I have to go that far is, everything that they did to my fixed, the same amount of payment that Best Buy pays Don's for an hour of work (I have probably spent around four hours messing with this), the cost that Don's charges to come out to your house (since I had to drive out to them), and lawyer fees.  I really hope it does not have to come to that

[mstng87gt Trusted Contributor]

Did you inspect the TV when it was brought back and if not why not?  I don't understand how it took 3 days to notice a 5" scratch and a chip unless its so barely noticable but your not making it like it is. 

I wouldn't doubt the damage was caused by them though.

[brettm08]

The scratch is hard to see when the tv is on, but once you notice it you always see it.  I did not inspect the tv because there were two guys who brought the tv over to carry it in.  They carried it in and then they set the wires up.  We have a stand and then a tower on each side of the tv.  Once it was set up they told me to turn it on I did that and the remote was on the couch which is about 12 feet away from the tv.  I turned it on and it worked.  So the guy told me to sign the paper saying that everything they took was returned and that the tv was working.  I did and then he left.  I never really had time to inspect it and did not even think of it because everythign they did was on the inside of the tv.  I was just ready to get our tv back after a month that it did not cross my mind.

[brettm08]

October 2 - Got a call at 9:30 and talked to someone from corporate and she asked me the same questions I have been asked 100 times and then told me she would call Don's to talk to them.  Got a call back from her at 1:30 and she grilled me on why I waited a week to call in the scratch.  I told her we did not see it at first and we called as soon as possible.  She told me since it has been so long they will not hold Don's accountable.

I will still wait until Monday to see what Bill find out about it and then if not I will have to go talk to our lawyer

[mstng87gt Trusted Contributor]

I get what your saying like I said the time period hurt you but I can see what your saying and picture what took place.  I have been screwed by things like this happening that I go over everything with a fine tooth comb.  A CC should be getting to you about this but it may take a couple of days.  Once a lawyer is involved though I think they cannot help you or comment on this site.  Good luck and Don's (the repair shop) should have some kind of LCD scratch remover. I don't know if they work but a repair place should know.

[brettm08]

There is no lawyer involved right now.  Here are some more reasons I did not thoroughly.  I have never actually had to use a service plan like this and I am also a pretty laid back and trusting person.  So I trusted that if they did something like this they would just do the right thing and admit it. They have insurance for this so why don't they use it.  I am tempted to go out there and see if they will let me look inside of there vans to see if there is anything inside them that would leave these type of scratches, although I doubt they will because they probably know they did it and just hoped I would not see it for a while

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hey brettm08 -

Sorry to hear your repair did not go as smoothly as we might have wanted it to.  I have made Allan aware of your continued issue, and you should hear from him shortly.  Thanks for letting us know.

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi brettm08,

Getting your TV back damaged from the service center after such a long repair would be too much for anyone, and I can assure you that I will do my best to get this resolved for you.

I show that we requested the service on your TV to be done by a local service center, and it is true that if this service center damaged your TV they would be responsible to repair the damage to your TV. We do require that the service center’s we use for TV repairs to have insurance for just this type of situation.

I would like to look into this for you and try to get you resolution in this matter. I am sending you a private message, and to check your messages you should log into the forum; then click on the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Thanks for posting,