Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[Krazykev1]

So this is to vent my frustration a little.. I purchased an Apple Ipod classic 80 Gig in 2008. Low and behold my IPOD decided to crash at the end of July 2010. Luckily (I guess.. ) I purchased the 3 year PSP Warranty. I took my IPOD back to the store and they sent it off to be repaired at no cost. A few days later at I received a refurbished one or a "Refreshed" at my house.. one which I was somewhat disappointed with due to the fact it wasnt my original one.. and it was refurbished.. but figured it was OK since it worked... Or at least that's what I thought... I charged it.. then went to plug it in to sync it.. and it came up with disc errors. I believe the HD had failure.. So I took it back to the store .. and they stated they HAD to send off again.. So a few days pass and I hadnt heard anything nor had I received another at my house.. so I called the store yesterday and they told me it had just arrived at the store.. so I made the drive back to the store to pick it up.. brought it home.. charged it.. then sync'ed it.. and it worked.. so I was OK again.. I left it charging all night.. Took it off the charger this morning with a full charge as I typically use it for my commute to/from the office.. and low and behold about 45 mins into my commute.. I look down and see the battery indicator states it only has about 1/2 life left.. Once I got to the office I left it playing to see how long the battery would actually last.. and I got about a total of 2 hours of play time on a full charge.. so I went back to the store this afternoon again.. and explained the issues and they stated they HAD to send it back AGAIN... I'm not one to blow up at the individuals that works at the stores.. as I know they are just following policy and I would like to point out the 3 separate individuals that helped me on each occasion were very polite and nice people.. but the PSP policy is a royal pain the the rear!!! In total we're talking weeks without my player .. A lot of mile going back and forth to the store.. and its just time consuming.. For the amount of time and miles spent with this hassle.. I dont know if the warranty was worth it.... Now I'm without my player for another 3-5 days again.. and I've gotta leave town again tomorrow night with nothing to travel with.. in hopes that they actually send one that works without fault... I'm really just annoyed with the policy and procedures.. Not the employees that have to face the consumer to have to take care of the issues.. I figured after having to return two (2) replacement ipods that were faulty straight out of the box.. there should have been a different outcome other than HAVING to send it back.. If this replacement has problems.. I'm going to be extremely bent out of shape and disappointed.. For future purchases like these.. I'm going to seriously consider whether or not I will be purchasing extended warranties in retail stores again.. if in retail stores as all.. I might as well purchase these items online from web base companies for a cheaper price, no taxes, and expect to receive the same results.. I started purchasing cameras and computers online a few years ago.. and have been successful with these purchase for a 30%-50% cost savings compared to retail... On one of the computer I purchased online I purchased the extended warranty.. and when I had an issue. .they sent an empty box over night.. I placed the computer in it minus the hard drive.. and they paid for shipping over night to them.. and by the end of the week I had my computer repaired with the broken parts in there to show me it was repaired... I was extremely satisfied with those results.. I've actually have schedule a service call next week for Best Buy to come repair my one of my flat panel tv's under the extended warranty.. We'll see how much time this service calls will take up out of my day as well as number of trips.

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Good afternoon Krazykev1 -

Justin, from our Community Connector team, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern.  I appreciate your patience until he is able to connect with you.

[Justin-BBY Community Connector]

Hi Krazykev1,

Welcome to the forums! 

I don't blame you for venting your aggravation with us here on the forums; in fact, I'm pleased that you addressed your concerns with us.  I will do my best in providing clarification to your unanswered questions.

If and when your iPod encounters problems within your PSP coverage plan, like you have; you can choose to either have it repaired or have a Rapid Exchange repair performed.  As you've noticed, the Rapid Exchange provides you with a refurbished model within 3-5 business days; whereas having your iPod undergo a service repair generally takes 2-4 weeks.  Also, if you have 3 certified RE or service repairs performed, and a 4th one is needed before your coverage expires; then you'll receive a new iPod out of the box.  In case you don't have yours handy, you can consult a sample of the terms and conditions here for additional questions about your coverage.  I'm sorry for any inconvenience that you've experienced up to this point. 

I have the necessary information I need, and will keep you posted with any updates to your service order.  If you'd like, you may also check status updates by visiting http://www.geeksquad.com/ and clicking on the "check repair status" tab near the top of the page, then enter your service order number.  

Let us know if there's anything else we can help you with by responding to this topic, or if you wish, you may send me a private message by clicking on the "Private Message" link within my signature bar. 

Thank you for sharing your experience with us here on the forums!

Regards,

[Krazykev1]

Justin, I appreciate the response and I do understand the terms and conditions of the warranty, but the frustrations comes from the fact that I'm receiving faulty products straight out of the box as a replacement. Its not like the replacement was sent to me which I used for several week/months and then it failed. Its that a faulty product was sent to me.. TWICE!! Both as replacements and both straight out of the box. I'm not questioning your testing procedures as to what qualifies as a "refreshed" item, but for me to receive (2) back to back that were faulty, there appears to be an issue with the QA/QC or the procedure itself. Maybe its the sub vendor who is refurbishing these items. Either way there is something wrong there. Now I'm having to go back to the Best Buy for the 5th time within the last 3-4 weeks to pick up the same item whenever it comes in, which I'm anticipating Sunday or Monday. Again I'm not upset with the individuals that work at the store as they are more of a pass though and they have all been very respectful and nice each time. But after receiving (2) BROKEN ones straight out of the box and then having to listen to "WE HAVE TO SEND IT BACK AGAIN" in hopes this replacement which is the replacement for the two (2) prior replacements will work.. One starts to lose a little faith in what was actually sold which was the extended warranty and the company that supports the warranty. To top it off, I called the 1-888-Bestbuy today during lunch to try to schedule a service tech to come out to look at my Plasma TV as it seems to be losing all the setting (Clock, Alarm, Display setting) and going back to the default. I'm anticipating there's a battery on the circuit board that keeps these setting and probably died.. But after going through the phone rotation, I got a live person. But low and behold I got THAT person on the other end of the phone that everyone is annoyed with!! The person who has 4 million questions, of which they have no clue to what they are asking..Rolling through their standard line by line conversation. and I'm assuming they are searching through a database for an answer to try to resolve it.. I explained what was wrong, and her response was Well are you in front of the tv, I was like no I'm at lunch. She was like is there someone at the location of the tv that could tell her what its doing. I was like I just told you what it was doing. Its not like I just bought the TV and I didn't know how go through the setting. I've had the TV for over 3 year and its just having some recent issues. She was like well you're going to have to be at the tv. At that point I was like FORGET IT!!! I was like never mind, I'll just call back later and hung up. I should have just told her the TV wont power on, but she probably would told me to check if the TV was plugged in!! I purchase an I-touch with the extended warranty a couple weeks ago for my nieces birthday and I'm contemplating returning it to Best buy and re-purchasing at the Apple store. At least if/when there is a problem they can just get it fixed/changed at the store and leave with a product in hand. I've had pretty decent result through the Apple store with warranty and product support for my Iphones and other apple products.