Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[jgmankos]

So here's my story...mid November '09 my 50" Samsung DLP (Purchased Feb '07) starts shutting off every 5 to 10 minutes.  Luckily, I have the Best Buy PSP so I call to schedule service.  I spoke with Geek Squad who schedules appointment for Monday 12/1, tells me the repair contractor will be there between 12 and 5.  Fine...I knock off work that day expecting to have a TV Repairman come.  About noon-ish, I get a call from the repair company wanting to schedule the repair.  Huh?  I explained I had already taken a day off of work because I expected a repairman to be here, and now I have to take off another day?  Fine...so they schedule for the next day, Tuesday 12/2.  Tech comes on 12/2 and determined the light engine needs replacement, and has to order the part.  So until the part comes in, it's another week or so until they can get back out there.  So after the part comes in a week later, they call and schedule another service visit.  So I take off work again.  Tech replaces the light engine, set works for about 2 days and same problem...starts shutting off every 5 to 10 minutes.  Wonderful...so I call Geek Squad again, they schedule the appointment for the service tech again.  I said "are they going to show up, or are they going to call me and schedule for another day?"  Geek Squad rep I spoke with ASSURES me they will be there.  So, I take yet another vacation day, and sure enough, I get a call, the next day, not to tell me they're on their way...but they want to schedule the service visit.  So again, I take a FOURTH vacation day so the tech can come out and diagnose the problem.  Again, he determines the light engine is bad and that he'll have to order a new light engine.  It's another week or so and they call to schedule the repair once the part has come in.  So I schedule vacation day FIVE so I can be available for the tech to do the repair.  So I wait, and I wait, and I wait....and it's getting close to 5:00....no tech.  I call the repair company, "We got backed up today...we'll have to reschedule".   So fine, I pitch a fit and they say they'll come out on a Saturday to look at it so I don't have to take anymore time off work.  Tech comes today....replaces the light engine...and fires up the set.  We're talking, he starts cleaning up and you guessed it...5 to 10 minutes and the set shuts off.  Still the same problem with the set.  At this point the tech says the TV is 'condemned' and cannot be repaired, something with the set caused it to burn through 3 light engines that he cannot fix it.

At this point I'm totally frustrated, having no TV for over a month in which I'm paying for cable, paying for a netflix subscription, just got the child a shiny new Xbox for Christmas that she can't use because there's no working TV...and to top it off I've wasted an ENTIRE WEEK of vacation on this.  The tech tells me first thing Monday morning he's going to file the report with the insurance company that they get the work orders from that the set is un-repairable and he's recommending a replacement.  He claims this is the process that I do not need to call Best Buy....that the insurance that covers the Performance Service Plan work will contact me directly probably not before Wednesday.  Wonderful.

I guess I'm concerned on what happens next.  We're going on a month and a half without a working TV set and it looks like at the earliest if all goes well I'm looking at at least another week with no TV.

Now, not having looked at TV's in awhile, because quite frankly, I'd been very happy with this set until this problem reared it's ugly head....I start perusing the best buy site to see what's out there.  I noticed that there's now no more 50" DLP's being made?!?!?!?!?  So I guess I'm also concerned what constitutes an "equivalent" model.  I'm looking at available sets and the cheapest 50 inch TV's are all Plasma...and I do NOT want a Plasma due to burn in with video games which was why I chose DLP over Plasma in the first place, as LCD was much more expensive at the time I bought the set (yes I know they've gotten better, but I've still heard of problems with burn in and I just don't want to deal with it).  I'm afraid this is going to try to be forced on me since the plasma's are the cheaper sets, and there's not an available DLP to replace it with.

At this point I'm totally stressed out about this.  Can someone put my mind at ease that I'll get some sort of resolution on this in the near future?

[starhelper2587]

You'll need to get an approval code from the TV Repair/PSP Department to take to the store to get the TV exchanged.  I looked up your account but since the repairs were handled by a 3rd party, I don't have the system used for scheduling those and can't see any notes (I work in HT scheduling at 1-800-GS, but only for installs, not repairs).  You would need to call 1-800-GS and ask for the TV Repair/PSP Department.  If the tech did note the account as he should have, the rep assisting you should be able to initiate the No Lemon exchange process if it hasn't already been started by the 3rd party company on your behalf.  If the process hasn't been started, sometimes it can take as long as 3-5 business days to make things official.

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hey jgmankos -

Allan, from our Community Connector team, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern.  Thank you for your continued patience!

[jgmankos]

I called the GS 1-800 number today just because I was curious if the tech indeed filed the report today.  The woman I spoke with did not have any recent notes that the tech put in as of today.   I explained the situation, and that the tech said he was going to submit the report back to N.E.W. that the set was unrepairable she did not have this information.  She did say she would open up a request for replacement under the No Lemon guarantee.

[starhelper2587]

I'm glad she started the NL Exchange process for you.  Hopefully a CC can help to speed up that process once one of them responds to your thread!

[jgmankos]

Alright, this is getting much more frustrating at this point.  I just spoke with the 3rd party that did the work on the TV.  They said they submitted the claim back to the insurance company (NEW) that the TV could not be repaired, and that NEW told them they need to order another light engine and try again.  3rd party repair company says they must do what the insurance tells them, so they have ordered the part.  They said the light engine is backordered and there's no ETA on the parts availability.

I am generally a paitent man....but this is getting extremely frustrating and I'm at my wits end.  I have been without a working TV set for over 6 weeks.  I've missed college bowl games, NFL Playoff games, had friends and family over at my house over the holidays and nobody could watch TV.

Bottom line is, this is unacceptable.  I just want a working TV at this point.

[starhelper2587 · Accepted solution]

Sometimes if a part takes more than 30 days to be received by the 3rd party facility or by the GS to repair the client's TV, the TV will automatically be approved for a NL exchange for that reason.  If what you were told was true, maybe the CC assisting you could work towards a NL exchange based on the new part delay circumstances instead of under the old reason of the tech stating the TV was unrepairable.

[jgmankos]

And the saga just gets weirder.  After speaking with Phillips Electronics (the 3rd party tech that's been handling this), we called 1800GeekSquad AGAIN.  I got up to getting a supervisor on the line to try and escalate this.  So they called Phillips and spoke with the woman in the office there.  Woman in the office tells THEM, that "Oh, the technician feels the set can be repaired, we just need the parts... that we were sent the wrong part last time".   So after telling us, not 15 minutes before this, that NEW was forcing another repair attempt even though the tech deemed the set junk, the woman turns around and tells Best Buy that the tech can fix it and they had the wrong part.

So we have a tech that says the set can't be repaired, someone in the tech company's office speaking out of both sides of her mouth, and my family sitting with no tv.

So the supervisor says we can call back after the 19th because at that point the part will have been on backorder for 30 days.   All I know is this is getting ridiculous. This has been going on since November 22nd.   Looks like yet another weekend of no TV at my house.  Unreal!

All I know is if this is not resovled SOON, I'll be telling everyone I know of my experience and be telling everyone and anyone who will listen not to buy these Service Plans....since if I add up the cost of the service plan, the cost of 2 months of cable service I've paid for and not been able to use, and add on what the 5 vacation days I've used is worth...I could have bought a new 50 inch set and been done with it...and had plenty of money to spare

[jgmankos]

Well...I'm very happy to report that this saga is resolved.   I called the 1-800-GS number AGAIN tonight because I just wasn't going to let this rest.  As I said before...I would have been very happy to have my 50" DLP repaired.  However after the running around I got from the repair company, blown vacation days, no-show appointments, and going on 2 months without a TV...I have had enough. 

I spoke with a rep again today after work, and it wound up getting escalated to Cindy who was a supervisor.  I asked her to look very carefully at the service record, and asked if she thought I was being unreasonable expecting some sort of resolution in the near future.  She called and checked with the service company to see if there was an ETA on the new DLP light engine.  No ETA.  Cindy carefully put herself in my shoes and she agreed to do whatever she could to get me a new set, that she sees by the repair notes that this has been going on 2 months with no TV and she agreed this was not a reasonable expectation to be kept waiting this long.   She told me to give her a day or so to get it straightened out.  I was happy that she agreed to do this...but I was skeptical anything would get done.

Much to my delight and surprise...about 20 minutes later I got a call from someone named Justin (I think) at Geek Squad...with a replacement code for a new set!  FINALLY!!!  He said I could take the old set, along with  this code...to my nearest best buy and get hooked up.  This was about 7:15 this evening EST...I told my wife get your shoes on, Best Buy is open until 9, we're getting the TV replaced...so we loaded the DLP up in the van and were on our way.

The replacement process was surprisingly painless...took my documents to customer service, they printed out the replacement ticket...and after about a 10 minute wait over in home theater section, a manager set us up with a sales rep with instructions on how to help us.  Basically told us we could get the equivalent of a 50" Samsung Plasma which was priced at $850 on sale.  I told him I really didn't want a plasma and what were my other options.  He told me to look around and find a set and we'd see what we could do.  So I asked him about an LG 47" LCD that was similarly priced...he spoke with the manager and that's what we got done.

So...in the end, Best Buy stood behind their service plan.  Was it worth it?  Maybe...I don't know.  I still think with what I paid for the service plan, the paying for unused cable, and taking 5 vacation days to deal with these technicians, plus all the aggravation...would add up to more than the cost of the new TV I was given.

If you have a service plan and are experiencing difficulties such as I had...all I can say is be persistent.  If you get the right person to take ownership of the issue Best Buy will take care of you if your expectations are reasonable.   I would have been happy if they would have fixed my set.  Since they couldn't do that and had no timeframe of when they would be able to...I thought replacing the set was a reasonable expectation...and Cindy agreed with me.

All in all...I am very happy with Best Buy right now.   They did come through in the end.  Thank you CINDY!!!!

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi jgmankos,

This sounds like an extremely frustrating repair, and I truly do apologize for how long it took this local service center to repair your TV. I can also say that you shouldn’t have been promised appointments that were not actually scheduled to happen.

I was glad to read that Cindy finally went to bat for you, and got your TV approved to be replaced by your Performance Service Plan (PSP). I was also happy to read you were taken care of to your satisfaction at the store that processed this replacement for you.

I am sending you a private message. 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,