Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[furtive1]

I have in the past had good service with Best Buy's protection plans, but you can tell there has been a change due to their poor service.

I had my refrigerator go out 5 days ago completely and I'm still waiting for service.  Supposedly they will be here tomorrow, but who doesn't think the 6th day is too late to save face?

If it were my vacuum cleaner or one of the TVs, I wouldn't be so upset.  Who has extra refrigerators in their house for a backup or need a fridge?  It's over 100 degrees outside and sucks to not have any cold drinks for the family without paying for bagged ice and coolers.

All Best Buy says is they will give you $200 for the groceries that were lost if you keep them.  How long to they expect you to keep ruined food?  I had to throw it all in the trash after 2 days because of the smell.

This same fridge had issues a few months back and someone was out to replace freon within 1.5 days.  Granted they didn't fix the problem because it had to leak from somewhere in the first place.  At least we had somewhere to keep things cold within a somewhat reasonable time.

Basically, you are better off saving your money for if a repair is needed.  You will get much better service and your family will have cold drinks and food.  If you put that money back and draw the interest off it, you will come out ahead the majority of the time.

Hopefully after reading this and the other posts here you will have a better understanding of their "service".

[shrrtrver10]

A few years back our fridge died on dec 22. The repair guy came out on the 24th the compressor was doa and unfortunately he did not have a replacement in his truck nor at the warehouse and he said they would have to order it but that would take way too long for it to arrive. So he called to get us setup with a full replacement. My wife and I said great we were glad we bought the extended warranty ( we only had about 2 months left on it) and we went to the Rego Park BB in queens NY on the 26th. Of course there was a huge huge line of returns.

The store had reps asking the people on line what they were there for and then directed them to various locations relating to their returns. I must say this woman almost made my wife throttle her through the door. First she told my wife that they wouldnt give us the replacement that quickly since it had not been the full 5 or 7 days the plan required. So my wife told her that the part would take well past that time to arrive. Then when told her what day this occured she rudely said well of course no one would come out on Xmas, to which we both said we know that, which is why the repair guy set us up for the replacement. After a few more back and forths I kindly but firmly told the woman to go away and we would talk to a rep at the CS desk. The rep there was nice gave us the $200 for the food and the gift card to replace our fridge. I must say I've never seen my wife so angry in my life. After that we never do go back to that particular BB.

Sorry you didnt get the setup for a replacement sooner. It seems it depends which BB your near as to if you have good service or lousy ones. I do hope you get your new fridge very soon.

[furtive1]

Now we're on day 6 with no fridge.  The geek squad guy just left the house and was not able to fix due to a part not on hand.  He said it could be another 2 to 3 days before the part comes in.

How can Best Buy think this is acceptable customer service with one of their "protection plans"?  I am having to buy ice at least once a day for the coolers I bought to try and have old drinks when it's over 100 degrees outside.  My kids are upset because we can't keep milk or anything else perishable that that. That in itself is hard to explain to small kids.

The geek squad guy was great.  He was extremely nice and couldn't understand why it took so long to get him here.  At least someone in their company  understands their customers.

[shrrtrver10]

What does the fridge replacement plan detail? I think that if your fridge was down for more then 7 days they would set you up to get a replacement. If its day 6 and then another 3 days to get the needed part thats way too long for you guys to be waiting. I think that policy has changed since we had the incident with our fridge. Sorry wish there was more that could be done.

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi furtive1,

No household would be able to function very long without a working refrigerator, and I’m sure this is true for your family. I also agree that six days without a functioning refrigerator would be six days too long.

I can tell you that you should still be able get reimbursed, by your extended service plan, up to $200 for the food that spoiled due to your refrigerator breaking; we do not require you to keep the spoiled food in order to get reimbursed.

I didn’t like reading that because of this experience your perspective of Best Buy® has been turned from a positive one to a negative perspective. I would like to look into this for you and do whatever it takes to get you a working refrigerator. I am sending you a private message, and 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,
Allan
Community Connector
Best Buy® Corporate

[furtive1]

I quit counting days long ago.  As of today I still have no working fridge...

I just spoke with the repair tech and he is going to talk with his supervisor to see about getting my fridge replaced.  The parts they are waiting on still haven't arrived and there's no ETA.  We'll see if this comes to fruition.