Upset by your false advertising!

ele0810 · ‎10-19-2009

Dear Best Buy,

My husband and I received a Canon digital camera from my mother back in Jan of 2008 which was purchased at your Temple, TX store. She selected your store because she had heard so many good things about your service and quality. Along with the camera she also purchased a 2yr PSP warranty on the camera and was given a brochure explaining the coverage that was stapled to the receipt. She wanted us to have peace of mind with the camera since we were starting a family. We have loved our camera and haven't had any problems with it until July of this year. Being as our child was 16mos old at the time the camera was dropped and the lens will no longer retract. We looked over the warranty information in the brochure and felt confident in taking it in to be repaired at our local Best Buy store in College Station, TX. The very first thing the brochure says is covered is "Accidental Damage from Handling Protection." Below that it states "We cover the cost of repair should your product be dropped or encounter a spill due to normal use." We took our camera in on July 31 to be repaired and it was sent to Precision Camera. For several weeks my husband tried finding out what was going on with the repair and finally received an e-mail on Aug 20 from Precision Camera. The e-mail stated that our camera was no longer under warranty and that it would cost us $107.05 to repair it. We let them know that our camera was covered by the PSP plan and they told us to contact Best Buy. We called the store and spoke to a manager who asked us to bring the receipt from purchase in to show that our camera was covered under the warranty.

This past Saturday the 17th of Oct is the first time we were able to get to the store to show them our receipt. After the representative at the Geek Squad counter looked it over he said that our camera was back and was unrepaired. He informed us that the camera was damaged and that they wouldn't cover the repair. We showed him the receipt that had the 2yr PSP warranty on it and the brochure that was stapled to it saying that Accidental Damage was covered. He spoke to the manager about it and then the manager came and informed us that our particular camera was covered for Accidental Damage in 2008 under the PSP plan that was purchased. Of course this was never mentioned to us or to my mother when she made the purchase in 2008 and bought the 2yr warranty. She would never have bought it if she had been given that information. The GS manager said that "there is nothing we can do. It would cost us (best buy) about as much as a new camera to repair it."and led us to a salesperson who said he would give us a discount on a new camera. We asked what the discount would be and he said he could give us $20.00 off of new Canon. This didn't seem like a "deal" to us considering we were under the impression of your brochure that our camera would be covered and we would still be paying more than the price of the repair we were quoted. We left the store so I could confirm with my mother exactly what she was told when she bought the camera in 2008. My mother said that when she purchased the warranty, they handed her the brochure and asked if she would like to buy the extended coverage. No one ever mentioned to her that not all of the information in the brochure would cover the camera she purchased! As far as I see it that is false advertising and you basically sold her a $30.00 brochure. She called the manager at the Temple store who said that they couldn't do anything without seeing the brochure.

I am first of all very upset by your customer service! The GS manager basically blew us off and we feel as though my mother and ourselves were lied to about the PSP coverage for our camera. It seriously seems like a scam! "I'm sorry ma'am but the warranty you purchased does not cover your particular camera so please spend another $120.00 at our store on a new one." Honestly I would rather pay full price at another store than take your $20.00 deal and spend $120.00 of our hard earned money at Best Buy! What we would really like to see happen is that you would admit your mistake and honor your end of our warranty and either repair or replace our camera.

I read some other posts on this forum to see if there was anyone else having similar problems with this. (Apparently there have been several problems because you have had to change the PSP policy to cover Accidental Damage on all of your cameras!) I came across this answer to another problem from 12-30-08:

"For any given product only a PSP or PRP (or now Geek Squad® Black Tie Protection or Gadgets & Gizmos coverage) is available. This has often depended on agreements Best Buy® has with manufacturers or serviceability of a given product, or even just the original retail price. In any case, we want our customers to be properly informed of the plan they are purchasing and what they can expect should they need service. With a PRP, as you know, a replacement product or voucher is offered. With a PSP, Best Buy®’s obligation is to service the unit if possible and replace it if it can’t be repaired. The details of the coverage our customers purchase is provided in a brochure at the time of the sale.

I sincerely apologize for the frustration of the repair situation you are facing. Most repairs are completed within 2-3 weeks. If this is longer than your out-of-town visit, you may wish to consider sending the unit out for service after you’ve returned home. Please know that, having had service issues myself, I’m aware of the inconvenience this represents. If there’s anything I can do to assist you after the unit is sent for repair, please do not hesitate to contact me by private message here on the forum. I’ll be happy to work with you.

Thank you for taking the time to let us know about your experience.

Sincerely,

John | Best Buy® Community Connector"

Apparently this employee is stating that what is listed in the brochure are the details of the coverage. We would really like to see this issue resolved.

Thank you for your time!

Dorothy-BBY · ‎09-29-2008

Hello ele0810 -

Welcome to the Forums! Allan, one of our Community Connectors, will be reaching out to you regarding your concerns. Thank you for your continued patience!

Dorothy

|

Community Supervisor | Best Buy® Corporate

Private Message

Allan-BBY · ‎09-29-2008

Hi ele0810,

Having a broken camera when you have young children in your home would be frustrating for any family, and I’m sure that being told your Performance Service Plan (PSP) doesn’t cover the repair of your camera was very upsetting to hear.

It is true that a standard PSP does not cover Accidental Damage from Handling (ADH), but your mother should have been given the option to purchase a PSP with ADH coverage. I have to assume the store looked into this, and found that ADH coverage was not purchased along with the PSP.

Without actually looking at the brochure that was stapled to your receipt I wouldn’t be able to comment on what coverage’s are spelled out in the brochure, but if I was to guess the brochure you have is a promotional PSP brochure that spells out all the optional coverage’s that our PSP’s had. I did read through the terms and conditions brochure that your mother should also have received at the time of the purchase, and it clearly states that ADH coverage is an option.

I would like the opportunity to try and get you resolution for you in this matter, and I am sending you a private message to gather some personal information. 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

Private Message

ele0810 · ‎10-19-2009

Dear Allan,

Thank you for your prompt response to my message and your willingness to work with our situation. We were told on Saturday that our PSP plan did not cover Accidental Damage. Unfortunately, my mother was not told this when she purchased the plan and did not receive any type of terms and conditions information along with the brochure. If that were the case we would have clearly read that in there and this would not be an issue. My mother was not even given the option to buy Accidental Damage Protection for our camera. So, as far as we were concerned our camera was covered for Accidental Damage or my husband and I would have probably gone and purchased the coverage for ourselves.

I have also sent a private message in response to the message in my inbox.
Thank you!

Best Buy Unboxed

Add Product

Search Results:

Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

Upset by your false advertising!

Re: Upset by your false advertising!

Re: Upset by your false advertising!

Re: Upset by your false advertising!