Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[prochnsm]

First, I'd like to say that I am a Best Buy Premier Black member and have never had issues with Best Buy until now... but this is so ridiculous I'm going to do everything I can to warn those interested in this plan. 

On October 8, 2008 I purchased a 16GB iPhone 3G from Best Buy.  I was very happy with the service I received the day of the purchase.  I have friends who have broken their iPhones so my fiance and I decided to sign up for their iPhone protection plan.   The Best Buy Mobile rep told us that if we dropped our phone and it broke, we'd be able to bring it back to the store and we'd receive a new one.   Sounded great to us. 

Sunday, March 29, 2009 I dropped my phone on the sidewalk and the screen cracked.  I was so relieved I had purchased the protection plan.  I went to Best Buy and stood in line for customer service who then directed me to stand in line for Geek Squad.  I thought I'd be getting a new phone that day but they told me it would take about a week.  Ok, no problem..  I had a backup phone so I used that while I waited.  

April 2, 2009 I received a call that my iPhone was ready.  It was a bit faster than a week.  I noticed that the phone wasn't a new phone, but a refurbished phone.   As a software engineer, this didn't really worry me but I decided to check to make sure it worked.   It didn't.  It didn't identify the 3G network.  I told the Geek Squad that it didn't appear to be working and they said it was my SIM card and to go talk to Best Buy Mobile.  After checking my SIM card at the Best Buy Mobile station, they told me it was the phone.  They also told me that this 'never happens' and they would make sure the next phone I receive is perfect, if not a totally new iPhone.   

 After spending 2 hours in the store, I left without an iPhone again.  

April 7, 2009 I received a call that a new phone had come in for me.   I stood in line for 45 minutes waiting to pick up the phone but was excited to have the phone back.  When I put in my SIM card, I realized that the week before when Best Buy Mobile had been checking my SIM card they had given me a new one and had lost all my contacts.  I had some on my backup phone which I had to go back to.  I spent an hour at Best Buy mobile after receiving my 2nd refurbished phone trying to figure out why I had lost my contacts.  

I left the store happy that the phone at least seemed to be working this time.  I was about to plug in the phone to my computer and was checking the memory on the phone when I realized they had replaced my 16GB phone with an 8GB phone!!  

I went back to Best Buy and asked to immediately speak to a manager.  I wasn't yelling or being snappy but the manager was very rude to me upon hearing my problem and told me that he couldn't help me because that was Best Buy Mobile and not regular Best Buy.  So I went to the Best Buy Mobile station again and had to wait over an hour until it was my turn to speak to the rep about my problem.  Meanwhile the manager I had spoken to before had seen me waiting and waiting and hadn't done anything.  (I had mentioned that I had spent over 6 unreasonable hours in the store trying to replace my phone).  

When I talked to the representative at Best Buy mobile (an hour later), he told me he would have to call customer service.  He left a message with RMS (?) and told me we'd have to wait until they called him back.  Well, they never did.  I was in the store until 9:30pm (over 2 hrs now) and no results.  I gave the rep my # and told him to please call me when they called him back.  He said he would, but then said that I would probably have to come back again or the issue wouldn't get resolved. He said that he is so busy he probably wouldn't have time to call me back and that the department is busy so it would be best if I was the one to follow up.  

I am appalled that I was treated this way.  I still have the 8GB phone and don't want to load all my data on it, since this isn't the phone I paid for.   I'm annoyed that I was told I would have to follow up.  I'm upset that they had 16GB iPhones in stock but couldn't give me a new phone.  After spending almost 8 full hours waiting in line and troubleshooting the wrong phones they have given me, I feel like it is at the point where they should just replace my phone with one they know will be the correct phone.  I'm tired of dealing with this, and am really upset that I'm going to have to "follow-up" with them to fix something they should have IMMEDIATELY fixed.  

BE WARNED.. the iPhone protection plan is not as simple as the Best Buy Mobile dealer make it seem.  It's really not worth it.  They are unprofessional, and don't even check their products before replacing yours.   Whoever Best Buy deals with to get their refurbished iPhones is going to seriously screw up their business.  I'm assuming this is where the problem started both times, but if anything Geek Squad should have checked the product to make sure it was correct and working.   I really thought after having a problem the first time they would have at least CHECKED the product they were giving me.  

If a Best Buy employee or manager reads this.. please contact me.  This issue is still unresolved.  It is really sad nobody has been able to help. 

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hi prochnsm,

I've asked Dorothy, one of our Community Connectors, to look into this and follow up with you.  You should be hearing from her in the next few business days.

Thanks for your continued patience,

[GeraldRose]

That is a bad situation which seems to have got progressively worse, when the employee had such a dismissive attitude.

Hopefully they get it right, and I hope you give BBY another chance.

[prochnsm]

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge Best Buy fan.  But, I'm really really disappointed in their Geek Squad protection.   I don't think I'll ever purchase insurance or any kind of warrenty through Best Buy again.   I'm currently looking into other ways to insure my iPhone... if I ever get my 16GB phone back. 

 The fact that they send your phone away to a 3rd party service is fine, but they should check the product when it arrives.  That is completely the Geek Squad's fault.  If they had checked it, they could have sent it back... without ever involving me.  I should be called when my correct and working product has arrived.  

Then, when the problem arrises that I have been brought in multiple times, and they have attempted to give me non-working or less memory phones  they should have been more helpful with the situation.  As it stands right now, they have 'closed' my geek squad case.. which means it's my responsibility to follow-up... even though I spent my whole evening off of work on Tuesday night sitting in Best Buy.  (At which point I was told I'd have to be the one to come back ... but why is that fair? I spent hours waiting to get this resolved.. what is to make me think this wouldn't repeat itself when I came back again?)

I've met the GM at the Best Buy Reston and he is sooo nice.  But the other managers were kind of rude to me... and talked down to me.  I feel as if they think they know more about technology than any of their customers.  They don't realize that I work as a software engineer... on touch enabled technologies.  I brought my phone in the 1st time because I had the protection plan.  The only problem with the phone was a cracked screen, everything else worked fine.  Now, I'm fighting to get my 16GB back, and a phone that works as my old one did.  

Just very sad.  The guys at Best Buy mobile know my fiance and I because we shop at Best Buy a lot.  But even then, I feel like they think we'll cut them some slack since we're nice people.. but it gets to a point where I don't want to get walked all over.  I just want this problem fixed... and of course I want to warn other people that Geek Squad does not check their products once they get shipped in from 3rd parties... at least not in the Best Buy Reston. 

[GeraldRose]

I hear you, and your complaint is completely valid and I think it is part of a bigger problem at BBY.

While the service plans do offer value, unfortunately there seems to be problems fufiling these plans.

Like you mentioned as well, the salespeople sell the plan one way and sometimes it turns out to be a different way, and I don't know if the salespeople know there are these problems or if they are told this is how the plan works and dont get to see when things go badly.

[prochnsm]

The problem definitely stems from whatever 3rd party service BBY uses to get their refurbished iPhones.  However, customer service does need to improve when there is a problem such as this.  Once the refurbished phones come in to BBY, they are putting their name on it and giving it to the customers. It's their responsibility to have test procedures before the product reaches the end user. Because this issue has escilated to be a repeat problem (and with the same customer) it is BBYs resposiblitiy to fix it as soon as possible. BBY makes $30 dollars a month off my fiance and I for providing this service.  It's going to be rediculous if for this whole month, I end up paying my $15 dollars without every having the actual iPhone I purchased. 

I have paperwork BBY gave me which states the serial # of my current phone and states that it is 16GB.  Then on my iPhone I can go to Settings->About and on the same exact screen show the serial number and capacity of the phone!  (It also says 8GB clear as day on the back of the phone). 

I'll update this post when the problem is resolved! Still no word yet, from customer service, Best Buy Mobile in Reston who said they'd call, or the person 'Elizabeth-BBY' said would contact me. 

[GeraldRose]

The MODS here do a great job, so hopefully they will get a resolution for you

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor · Accepted solution]

Good afternoon prochnsm -

A service plan should provide you protection and peace of mind, however it appears that your service plan gave you neither of these two.  I would like to offer my sincere apologies for the inconvenience you have encountered.  It does sound like you have been more than patient and have gotten really nothing positive in return. 

I would like the opportunity to try to turn this situation around.  I am sending you a private message, so please keep an eye out for it.  You can check your private messages by first ensuring you are logged into the forums, then click the envelope in the upper right hand corner.  

Thank you, and I look forward to righting this poor situation. 

Regards,

Dorothy

Community Connector

Best Buy® Corporate

[prochnsm]

Update:

Received a call from the manager at Best Buy mobile and said I could come in and they'd just give me a new 16GB iPhone.... great! 

Unfortunately, (again I know) it took over an hour as there were tons of issues switching over my phone. First AT&T wanted to extend my plan another 2 yrs since I was getting a new phone. After a few phone calls, it seems they got this sorted out.  Then the BBY protection plan makes you pay upfront, and since mine had just gone through I had to pay again.  We solved this with a 15 gift card... because I really didn't want to double pay for something twice. 

It's been a day now and I thought things were going well.... but texting isn't working. It's not just not working on my phone now, but also my fiance's (we share a family plan).  Texting hasn't worked since I was in the store last night.  I'm not positive but it seems like something with our plan got changed yesterday because we haven't been able to send or receive texts since being in the store.  

Well this is just the never ending battle I guess.... 

Can someone contact me again?  I just need my plan set back the way it was.. I'm not sure why it changed.... or why texting isn't working... I can access the internet and make calls.. but no dice on the texting..and my fiance's phone is now not sending/receiving either. 

[Miranda]

You're best bet with the text messaging plan is to contact AT&T and have them double check the provisioning on your account. It's probable that something happened (more than likely inadvertently), that has created problems with your text messaging. Sometimes it's a simple thing like a little code on AT&T's end of things.

Also, it's a possibility (albeit slim) that AT&T is having a text messaging outage in the area (It happened in my area a few weeks ago when they were putting up 3G towers...go figure). 

I know it's probably not what you're wanting to hear, but in all honesty, it's probably gonna be the quickest way to get the texting issue resolved.