Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[agreen]

Last year, my husband and I purchased another huge flat screen from best buy--problem is, it's been sparatically flashing black.  I've had geek squad come and service the TV at least 5 times, and it still hasn't been fixed.  My even bigger problem is that when we bought the TV, we wanted the black tie protection plan and that's what we thought we were getting, but it's not what we paid for.  I feel like we've been had!  The employee who rang us up obviously did not ring us up for the right plan, because he signed us up and charged us $300 for the buy back program, which he said he was throwing in for free!  I mean, why would we buy a buy back program when we now have two huge flat screens?  Also, he did not add in our rewards membership info and I had to call myself to get the points added on, so I know he was quite incapable of performing his job correctly.  

So, all this time we've been getting our TV serviced by geek squad, the TV has been under the manufacturer's warranty, and we thought it was covered under our black tie protection.  Now our manufacturer's warranty has expired, and we're stuck with this lemon TV.  So we called geek squad and they told us to contact the best buy store we had bought the TV from and have them reinstate our plan to black tie and to "not take 'no' for an answer."  So, that's what we did--and what happened?  The assistant store manager said she couldn't do that because our manufacturer's warranty had already expired and that she couldn't tack on the protection because of that.  She offered no other assistance except to "give us a great deal on a new TV."  She told us the only thing we could do is contact the manufacturer directly to get it replaced!  I couldn't believe this!  I blame this all on the associate who helped us.

We have been loyal customers for many years and this isn't the first time we've been treated this way.  A few years ago, my wallet was also stolen and my credit card was used at a bestbuy and was charged $700 and the associate who rang up the theif didn't bother to ID the person!  She walked out the door with two cameras, two memory cards, then went back in for a new phone case.--and I never received an apology or was offered any assistance.   I need to find out who I need to talk to, write letters to, call, etc to get this taken care of because this is absolutely ridiculous.  I can understand that some people are inept or make mistakes, but why should we have to pay for this when this is clearly not our fault.  Can anybody help or does anybody have any advice? 

[hydrogenwv]

The forums here are monitored by Corporate employees (Community Connectors). You're issue will be assigned to one and you'll hear back from them in a few business days after that. From my time here, the forums seem to be the best route toward an acceptable resolution.

I will say, in this case, it seems to be a case of your word against the employees, as you have no proof that you thought you were buying a protection plan. It's really a tough situation since you didn't figure it out until after the MFG warranty expired.

Regarding ID for CC purchases... If the Credit Card is signed on the back, they are not allowed to require ID. I'm pretty sure it's a law, and not a policy. I've read that you can write "See ID" on the back of the card instead of signing it, if you don't want that to happen.

"Why buy a buy back program when we have two huge flat screens"... In case you want to get a better one (for whatever reason.. upgrade to a 3dtv? switch technogology to/from lcd/plasma,etc.), you can get a decent amount out of the current TV. You may not have wanted it, I'm not debating that, but there are perfectly legitimate reasons why people would buy buy-back for a huge flat screen TV.

[agreen]

I know it's completely our word against his and I don't have any hard proof that this is what happened. I just feel like I've been ripped because he told us we were getting one thing and sold us another. I think he didn't know what he was doing because it took forever to ring us up. He had to keep re-doing the transaction.

I can't believe they're not required to ID on that dollar amount and I'm pretty sure my card said "SEE ID" on the back because I do that to all my cards.

When we bought that TV, it was a top of the line 55 inch 3D TV. We bought the whole package, blue ray players, glasses, and all. So why would we upgrade our TV when we now have a 46 inch and 55 inch? That's my only argument. Anyway, I appreciate the feedback. Hopefully somebody from corporate will contact me soon.

[Ryan-BBY Senior Social Media Specialist]

Hello agreen -

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

[Jimmienomam]

Actually I know Visa and MC discourage companies to ask for ID.

Basically their merchant rules that if the back of the card is signed, a merchant may not make giving personal information a condition of making the sale. If the card is not signed, they may ask for identifying information. American Express requires merchants to check only the signature on the back of the card and does not require any additional identification. Discover does not prohibit a merchant from asking. However, if your purchase is flagged for suspicion of fraud at the register, or merchants have reason to suspect you are not the authorized card holder, they may ask for ID.

This is what is found in a majority of CC rules governing stores. I'll see if I can dig up the links to the rules that the major CC put forth on merchants to back up my words.

[agreen]

That's very strange. I would think that it would be encouraged to not only protect the cardholder but the companies and banks as well--because although my bank gave the money back that was fraudulently charged, they had to pursue the perpetrator in order to be reimbursed for their loss. I'm a retail sales associate and I'm required by my company to ID for any transactions exceeding $100.00. If my card said "SEE ID," I wonder if they are required to ask for an ID then? Thanks for your input.

[agreen]

Also, you would assume that all retail stores would ID for credit card transactions to protect their customers. The last thing I'd want is for someone to come in to my place of work and yell at me because I didn't ensure their identity was protected by taking 30 seconds to verify identification on a card. Any retail store should take into consideration the needs of their clients.

[Jimmienomam]

I am not saying they shouldn't, but it has to do with releasing "confidential" information.

Btw Visa and MC actively pursue companies that break their policies found in their contract. Most contracts between merchants say that only a signature is needed and that they cannot REQUIRE you to produce a photo ID. They may ask, but it isn't a requirement.

[agreen]

That's understandable.

[Jimmienomam]

Yeh but "confidential info" is actually easily found at multiple places online, you just need to know where to look. And these aren't even sketchy sights. They're sights like county auditor sights and the like.

The only thing that is harder to find is your social security number. I'm glad they started taking that off DLs and Military IDs