Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[Nemesiis]

I purchased a 37" LCD TV from Best Buy in October of 2009.

I purchased this TV specifically because it came with what appeared to be a 2-year warranty that included "in-home service for tv's 30in or larger".

When I began having problems with the picture on my TV going out, I called the warranty company and attempted to get my TV fixed in my home. I was told by the Insignia Tech's that this was a common problem with one of the parts in the TV. Unfortunately they didn't manufacture that part so the entire TV would have to be traded in. They would NOT be coming to my home to fix or even look at the TV and it would be my responsibility if I wanted it fixed to bring it back into the store where I had purchased it.

This seemed strange, given the fact that I had specifically sought out and purchased a TV with an IN HOME warranty.

When I called Tech Service again on 10/28/09 they agreed to send a tech out to look at the TV.

On 11/10/09 I received a call from the Tech around 4pm saying that he was en route to my apartment. At 6pm he had still not shown up and was no longer answering his cell phone. I was never able to determine why this person decided not to honor our appointment.

I spoke with Jodi from warranty services on 11/10/09 She was incredibly rude and insisted that it was a waste of time for a tech to come out because they already knew what the problem was and wouldn't I rather just bring my TV back myself, since I had purchased it less than 30 days ago. I refused the offer of returning it myself citing that if they could not fix my TV the warranty specifically stated that they would provide me with a loaner TV. The conversation ended when Jodi set an appointment (with another tech that would never come).

On 11/11/09 Jodi called me at 730am to ask if I was aware that because the TV had been purchased 30 days ago I could return it myself. She also informed me that the loaner TV was only available for 14 days and after that I would have to bring my broken TV back into the store myself.

On 11/12/09 I spoke with Anita from warranty services and she assured me that there was NO timeframe on loaner TV's.

On 11/12/09 I spoke with Markus, an admin with warranty services, he told me that he had spoken with the Store and that the manager from Geek Squad and Home Theater would get back to me the next day.

I never heard from the Store and when I spoke with the manager, Angela, she told me to "quit popping my mouth off" and hung up. I was disinclined to believe that this person was even a real employee until I visited the store and she was even more rude in person.

On 11/15/09 I returned my broken TV to the store for a full refund.

I watched in dismay as the Geek Squad techs plugged the TV in and then proceeded to PUT IT BACK ON THE SALES FLOOR. Presumably to sell it to another person without a useful warranty.

This warranty is not worth the paper it's printed on. Not only that but store associates are completely ignorant of it's existence at all. One employee on the floor told me that I didn't actually own that warranty unless it had been paid for. Another associate at the customer service desk told me that "free warranties don't mean anything, you have to buy ours."

But I DID buy yours! Insignia is a Best Buy brand, the warranty it came with was also through Best Buy.

So the bottom line is this:

Best Buy will NOT honor it's own warranty. They will not come to your home, they will not give you a loaner TV, they will not even fix your TV. New Egg dot com has the same products as best buy but with infinitely better service and free delivery.

Not only will I never shop at Best Buy again but I have printed flyers warning potential customers that the next TV they purchase could be my broken old TV that Best Buy refused to fix. I've told anybody who will listen and I'm surprised that so many people are well, NOT surprised with Best Buy's poor customer service.

Former Best Buy employee,

Candace {Edited per Community Guidelines}

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hello Nemesiis -

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

[iamsam]

Thank you for your post!  I too bought an Insignia TV (32" with built in DVD).  I bought mine at the end of July. In a little over two months it stopped working.  I was not even looking for in home service.  TheTV was returned to the store for an even exchange...to which they have said NO!  They now say there is only a 30 day guarantee on their products.

Before the TV crashed, I returned to Best Buy and bought another 32" TV, a wireless Blue Ray disc player and $300 in gift cards for the purchase of another TV.  I wish I could get my money back and shop elsewhere.

I am sooo extremely disappointed with Best Buy....their policies and the attitudes of the people I spoke with.   I will never shop there again (I need a new washer and dryer, another wireless Blueray player, and a laptop computer---good time to make this decision!)

Again, thanks for your post!

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi Nemesiis,

Having problems with this Insignia TV this soon after purchasing it would be upsetting to anyone, and the fact that you had such a hard time trying to get service on this TV is definitely concerning. I can also understand you expecting this TV to be repaired in your home, as most TV repairs are, and I’m sure being asked to have it repaired in the service center was disappointing.

It is true that TV repairs performed by our technicians are performed in the owner’s home, but occasionally we don’t have a technician that services the customer’s area. When this is the case we request the service be done by a local service center, and although most of them also repair TV’s in a person’s home some of them will only service TV’s in their service center.

It is also true that the warranty on an Insignia TV is for two years, and should provide a customer a loaner TV (to use until the TV is repaired) if the TV isn’t repaired after the initial diagnostic is performed by an authorized service technician. This loaner TV will remain in the customer’s home until their TV is functioning properly.

No representative of Best Buy® that you spoke to should have been rude to you, or have disconnected the phone call until the conversation was finished. I really am sorry that what should have been an easy experience turned out to be so difficult for you.

The store that you returned this TV to should not have put this TV back on the shelf to sell to another customer if there is a diagnosis from an authorized service technician that there is a defect in the TV. I would like to reach out to this stores management to make sure they aren’t selling this defective TV to another customer, and I am sending you a private message to gather some information I would need in order to do this. To check your messages you should log into the forum, and then click on the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Thanks for posting,

[Nemesiis]

Hi Allan,

I purchased the 37" LCD TV (NS-L37Q-10A) from store #133 in Sacramento (916) 925-1212 on October 15, 2009. I did not retain the receipt with the customer service pin on it once I returned the TV. I only held on to the service records so that I could write an accurate letter of complaint. The name on the credit card used that day was Sandford *****(removed per forum terms and conditions). Hopefully you will be able to locate any other necessary details using the info I've given you.

My broken TV was never checked out by an authorized repairman, despite several appointments. The problem with the TV was that the picture periodically went to black, these blackouts increased as the TV got hotter. Once I returned the TV to the store the manager, Angela, simply had it plugged into the wall to verify that it came on. Despite my protests and exploitations, Angela insisted and I watched her employees place it in the open box area.

As a former employee of the home theatre department I'm fairly certain that 'open box' items are exempt from warranties, meaning that anybody buying my broken TV would be getting it 'as-is' unless they bought an extra protection plan.

Also as a former employee I am aware that the manager of the home theater department or even the manager of the store could have chosen at any time to waive the $34.99 delivery fee and have a new, working TV delivered to me.

I expressed this to the warranty department and they agreed that the solution was quite simple. Markus, an admin with the service department, assured me that he had spoken with 2 different gentlemen named Sean from store #133. The Geek Squad manager and the manager from the Home Theater department both failed to follow up with me after speaking with Markus. They also failed to return my phone calls for the next few days until ultimately I was forced to return the TV myself.

I visited the store in person thinking that I would simply explain the misunderstanding to the manager on duty and that they would have either a basic understanding of the warranty sold OR a willingness to retain me as a customer. Unfortunately Angela possessed neither of those things. It is because her her poor management skills and extreme rudeness that this situation escalated. 

It would help in the future if the associates on the sales floor and the management staff were aware of the 2-year warranty they are selling. Clearly they lack training in it's implementation. Customer service and customer retention are an important part of any retail job. Managers like Angela train employees like Angela, who lead to poor customer satisfaction and return. 

Additionally, if a TV is returned because it is "broken" perhaps it should be inspected by a technician before it's returned to the sales floor.

If Best Buy intends to keep distributing this "warranty" you must figure out a way that customers can actually utilize it. I'm no lawyer but I don't think you should be selling a contract for services that you will not provide.

Thanks again Allan, for taking the time to respond. I appreciate that the rumors are true and you are in fact the best of the best when it comes to customer retention. Perhaps you could share some of your secrets with the staff at store #133.

I will happily return as a patron of Best Buy when and if I receive a letter of apology from Angela or alternatively, a copy of her resignation.

It has been my experience that Best Buys General Management is quite adept at solving problems within the stores. I trust that it is not your companies intention to defraud anyone on purpose and that this is simply a series of misunderstandings exacerbated by few unskilled employees. It is unusual to see such poor performance from Best Buy and I cannot imagine that you want every customer with a broken TV to go through all of this.

I look forward to hearing about any training or policy changes related to this in the future.

Thank you again for your timely response.

Sincerely,

Candace  

[Nokia]

Interestingly, open box items carry the full mfg. warranty.

Employee matters such as employment status are internal information, so if anything does happen to Angela, only her and her superiors will find out. In addition, training and non-customer-facing policies are also internal information.

[Nemesiis]

Nokia Expert,

What about the part of the manufacturers warrenty that specifically states it is "void if the item has been opened or returned"??

I'm not familiar with the term "non-customer-facing".  Perhaps it is from your internal handbook? If at any time your company chooses to implement policy changes that will affect how I am treated as a customer then I would hope you don't keep it so internal that nobody benefits from it.

I think the general attitude of Allan's letter was "I apologize, we screwed up, anything I can do to get you back to Best Buy?" Your letter contained two statements which almost seem argumentative because there is no acceptable solution suggested

While I appreciate that on some level you might be trying to offer assistance, telling me what you CAN'T tell me is not really helpful. I await your expert opinion on how this can be resolved and what you think Best Buy CAN do.

[Nemesiis]

Private message from Awesome Allan goes public:

Hi Nemesiis,

I never like hearing that because of an experience with our company we have lost a customer’s patronage, and if there is anything I can do to earn your business back I would love to hear about it. This is not to say that anything is within my power to get accomplished, but I can promise to do my best.

With that being said I really would like to pass the account of your experience onto the General Manager of the store you returned this TV at in the expectation that this will not be the experience of future customers, and of course to make sure this store isn’t selling defective merchandise. If you could reply to this message with the phone number that this purchase would be associated with, and the customer service pin number of the front of the purchase/return receipt I would really appreciate it! I look forward to hearing from you!

Allan

Community Connector

Best Buy® Corporate

[Nemesiis]

Private message from Awesome Allan goes public:

Hi Nemesiis,

I never like hearing that because of an experience with our company we have lost a customer’s patronage, and if there is anything I can do to earn your business back I would love to hear about it. This is not to say that anything is within my power to get accomplished, but I can promise to do my best.

With that being said I really would like to pass the account of your experience onto the General Manager of the store you returned this TV at in the expectation that this will not be the experience of future customers, and of course to make sure this store isn’t selling defective merchandise. If you could reply to this message with the phone number that this purchase would be associated with, and the customer service pin number of the front of the purchase/return receipt I would really appreciate it! I look forward to hearing from you!

Allan

Community Connector

Best Buy® Corporate

[Nokia]

I have nothing to do with BB. I'm just another customer posting.

I've never had a problem getting warranty service on any open box item.

"Non-customer-facing" means policies that are not open to the general public. BB's return policy would be a customer-facing policy, while something like employee pay would not. Those are just examples.

I just wanted to clarify what you had said.

[Nemesiis]

Nokia Expert,

While I appreciate that you personally might have never had a problem with Best Buys warranty services I have and describing that issue is the purpose of this thread.

Additionally if you are going to represent yourself as an expert you should be careful about giving out advice that directly conflicts the information givin in the warranty. Telling a customer that all open box items are covered by the manufactureres warranty is simply incorrect as many manufactures warranties specifically state that they are void if the product has been opened or returned.

The type of policy change I'm requesting would certainly be considered "customer facing" even by your own definition.

Thank you for you clarification but I've read over many of your other threads and it appears that your tone is generally argumentative and that you rarely offer sound advice.