Best Buy Repair Support

[Tmr214psu]

1) BBY Beta has a new protection plan named Best Buy Protection. This comes with a service fee for most repairs. Your website does not make it clear whether power surges are covered under non service fee coverage or if power surges are part of the service fee repair structure. Current Geek Squad protection covers power surges but BBY Protection through Beta leaves this ambiguous and undefined. This needs to be clearly stated. Almost no manufacturer covers power surges and I'd be hard pressed to see a valid reason to keep my Beta membership if power surge isn't a default non service fee event. Can you please clarify.

2) Beta member pricing does not reflect when viewing open box items of the same SKU. A new in box should never be cheaper than an open item and the BETA pricing online should apply a discount to open items of that same product as well. The point is inventory management. That's not an effective way to push at risk and EOL by failing to reflect an additional discount on open box. You'd rather me buy the new item and you possibly sit on open box going EOL with vendor chargebacks?

[Tmr214psu]

3) The advertised 24/7 US-based concierge is unavailable. I realize this program is in a pilot rollout but you already have full integration with this future subscription model on bestbuy.com. This includes advertised promises like access to 24/7 chat. When I access the chat it says it is being accessed out of normal chat hours and that chat is unavailable. Don't advertise a feature you aren't yet supporting in the pilot rollout. Let us know it's not currently supported but will be at a future date.

[Tmr214psu]

4) Test pilot aside, I observed no leadership validation of the service pitch. While it's new, a lot of misinformation is being communicated to customers by employees unfamiliar with the exact details. I was told I would receive two years of Geek Squad Protection and Apple are+ included with every purchase. That is not true. We receive two years.of Best Buy Protection and AppleCare+. Best Buy protection is a radically different service and replacement plan than Geek Squad protection with some key important differences such as power surge and pixel repair no longer covered by default without a service fee. Employees are still calling it Geek Squad protection and not making the distribution and change in wording. Using the other service plan name sets up the expectation to customers already familiar with GSP that the plans are the same. The pitch I received didn't include any mention of service fees except for AppleCare+, the use of the name Best Buy Protection, or the differences between the existing and new service plans. Reading the terms and conditions is something almost no one ever does. People rely on the expertise of sales team members to faithfully represent the benefits and differences when asked. I asked and it was represented as the same coverage, when in fact it is not. New information needs time to be learned but the roleplays and management validation during the pilot phase should be on point before anyone is allowed to pitch this. It's the same concept as allowing employees to represent the credit card as a soft credit check, when in fact it is a hard check, for consumers lacking knowledge about credit and scoring. Employees should have to pass a stringent validation on this service before being approved to offer it. This is the future of Best Buy and not something you should half effort roll out

[AndrewB-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Good afternoon, Tmr214psu,

Thank you for taking the time to stop by our community forums and providing your feedback about the Best Buy Beta program. There's quite a lot of great benefits included and I appreciate you letting us know about your experience with this and would be happy to help answer your question.

You can see a full list of what Best Buy Protection covers here. As you mentioned, most manufactures do not cover protection from power surges or fluctuations so it's likely a service fee will be assessed in order to provide assistance with this. 

Generally, open-box products are not compatible with discounts or can be combined with our Price Match Guarantee. Because of this, you should not see an open-box price change when viewing these products.

If you've received incorrect information at your local store I would recommend letting the management team at this location know about this so they can review this. If you'd like, I can reach out to your local store on your behalf. Which location did you visit and when? Do you recall the name of the employee you spoke to? Any additional information would be much appreciated. 

[Tmr214psu]

AndrewB, thank you for your reply. You state: "As you mentioned, most manufactures do not cover protection from power surges or fluctuations so it's likely a service fee will be assessed in order to provide assistance with this".

This is not a specific answer. Even you say it's "likely" a service fee will be assessed. The website says that power surges are covered under mechanical defects, but does not say if mechanical defects are considered standard coverage or service coverage. Here is the statement from the website where it talks about both the standard and fee claim coverage within the same statement. These should be seperate:

As a Best Buy Beta member, you will receive up to 24 months of Best Buy Protection for each of your eligible Best Buy-purchased products. Best Buy will provide you with a repair, replacement, or store credit to purchase a new device if your product suffers from a mechanical failure, or, in some cases, accidental damage from handling. Your membership covers the price of each Best Buy Protection plan. 

At the end of 24 months, you may have the option to extend your protection coverage, by taking on responsibility of paying for the plan.

For claims that are not also covered by the manufacturer warranty, you may make two claims per 12-month period, subject to paying a service fee for each claim.  

Coverage includes hardware failures resulting from:

• Defects in material or workmanship
• Normal wear and tear
• Dust, internal overheating
• Internal humidity/condensation
• Power surge/fluctuation. This includes a surge caused by a lightning strike.
• Accidental damage and handling (select product categories). Protects from unintentional damage while handling your remote control, portable audio or portable DVD player.
• Battery replacement (if applicable). Get a replacement for your original battery if it fails to hold a charge. 

Traditional Geek Squad Protection includes defects, normal wear & tear, dust/internal overheat, humidity, power surge, battery/accessory replacement. I'm a former employee and worked for the company for more than a decade. The Best Buy Protection Beta plan also includes this. With GSP, pixel repair is included, but with Geek Squad Protection pixel repair is relegated to a service fee and not included in the list of covered hardware failures. If pixel repair was included, it would have been in the above list, but it is not. However, power surge is. But the position of the hardware failure list within the above statement makes it difficult to determine whether or not it is included by default or a service fee based claim. This needs to be clarified by Best Buy to either indicate specific elements of this coverage list are covered regardless or asteriked and footnoted that it may be subject to a service fee. This is not nitpicking. It is communicating effectively to your customer. When it comes to legally binding contracts and services, the verbiage needs to be clear and concise. Right now, it's confusing because the FAQ and overall coverage statements are ambiguous.

These suggestions are for Corporate, not for my local store. They are just implementing the rollout and doing the best they can with the limited labor and training gaps they have. Even you say it's "likely", rather than making a definitive statement about that specific coverage question. Beta members should have a direct line for feedback to Corporate. It's not enough to get the store feedback, the customer needs to be involved as well. I came here because if I wanted to talk to my local store, I would have already. That feedback almost never moves up the chain....

[Tmr214psu]

I should add that it indicates what is and isn't covered under standard vs. fee in the document at: http://storage.bestbuy.com/geeksquad/terms/bestbuy_protection/bby_protection_2021_03_31_to_current_e...

The customer facing website needs to be updated to more accurately reflect the production terms of service better. More people use the site or the limited cardboard signage than the legal brochure to determine initial coverages and make their decision to purchase Beta/TTS. Just reflect that a little better on the website is all.

[AndrewB-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Hi there, Tmr214psu,

Thank you for following up with me. You are always welcome to visit our IdeaX page where you can officially make suggestions regarding Best Buy policies or programs. 

I'm glad to hear that you're able to get in contact with your local store, please let me know if I can reach out to them on your behalf!

Regards,