Best Buy Repair Support

[meganlquinones]

A year ago, I paid for Geek Squad to transfer data from an old family computer to a brand new external hard drive, purchased right then and there from the store itself. They succeeded and reported no issues.

I then took my laptop to the Geek Squad so they could transfer my computer's data onto that same, functioning external hard drive. 

The next day, I got a call from an associate informing me that the hard drive had an error and was now completely wiped. The associate explained that their servers had crashed, stopping the data transfer. The cause of the crash was unknown. When I asked if the data on my external hard drive had been saved, they said no - it has been lost. The associate then said they could try to recover the data on the external hard drive, but not without charging me anywhere from $500 - $1,800. The agent did not explain what my options were besides that, and then proceeded to blame my hard drive for their crash.

This is ridiculous considering that the hard drive has only ever been accessed by Geek Squad agents from that same store. Thus, they either messed it up the 1st time and did not tell me (which would back up the associate's claim about my hard drive being the problem - this is highly improbable given that no issues were reported after the 1st data transfer).

OR the Best Buy Geek Squad mishandled my device during this most recent service and the external hard drive is NOT what had an error. In which case, Best Buy Geek Squad is now trying to blame their crash on my device and charge me to recover the data wiped from their own server crash and mishandling. 

I say mishandling because upon further inquiry, the same associate admitted that the external hard drive was indeed COMPLETELY FUNCTIONAL when they checked on it upon receipt, before starting any work on the data transfer.

When I asked for notes on who had handled the external hard drive and what work was done on it, the associate stated they had not kept any ticketing or records like that. How can you work in IT and NOT document your work?

When I asked if anyone was supervising the data transfer, the associate said no and admitted the Geek Squad had left the data transfer to my external hard drive running overnight UNSUPERVISED. The associate states that they did not even notice the crash had happened until they came in the following morning. 

[AndrewB-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Good afternoon, meganlquinones,

Welcome to our community forums. I appreciate you taking the time to let us know about your experience with this data transfer. Having years of data on computers hard drive, I know that any loss to this your data would have a huge impact. We strive to make getting service from the Geek Squad as smooth as possible, I'd like to see what options I may have to assist you moving forward.

I'm a bit confused by your message and have a few questions so I can look further into this. You mentioned that this data transfer happened a year ago, is that correct? Did you follow up with the Geek Squad at the time to explore what options may be available to help? Has something happened recently that reminded you of this experience?

I look forward to hearing back from you so I can continue to review this.

[meganlquinones]

Hello Andrew,

The first data transfer happened 1 year ago. That went along fine and no issues were reported.

The second and most recent data transfer is the one I am referring to in the post above.

[AndrewB-BBY Social Media Specialist]

I see, meganlquinones,

I appreciate you clarifying that. When was this second data transfer?

By chance, did you have the opportunity to speak to a store manager during your visits to this store? Generally, the store that completed this service would be best suited to assist you exploring what options they may have to assist you. 

If you haven'tbeen able to speak to a store manager, I would be more than happy to reach out to them on your behalf.

[meganlquinones]

The 2nd data transfer took place last week on the morning on Thursday, October 14th.

We received the call informing us that the external drive had been damaged on the night of Friday, October 15th.

Several attempts ahve been made to contact the store and Best Buy Customer Support, all met with dead ends and people saying they have no authority or ability to look into this issue. 

I am open to getting in contact with the Store Manager in hopes of a resolution. If you would Andrew, please pass along my contact information. I will post an update as soon as I hear back from them!

[AndrewB-BBY Social Media Specialist · Accepted solution]

Good afternoon, meganlquinones,

Thank you for your patience while I looked into this for you. I've heard back from the management team at this story with some additional information. I'll be sending you a private message shortly.

As a reminder, you can check your inbox by clicking on the orange envelope in the top right corner of your screen after logging into your account. 

[meganlquinones · Accepted solution]

Just wanted to return to my post and thank Andrew as he personally got the ball rolling after many failed attempts on my end. The Store Manager called me, apologized for all inconveniences, sent me a check for $500 to cover data recovery efforts, and provided me a replacement 1 TB hard drive.

[Andy-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Hello, meganlquinones,

Thanks for reaching out again. While AndrewB is away, we appreciate sharing your feedback about this experience, and glad to hear this matter has been resolved. If we can ever be of help with anything else, your know where to find us.

Cheers,

[RPGkeithcollect]

Megan the only time the files are trully gone, is by a fully format, quick format, new files can overwipe older files...

when my old harddrive just one day showed up on my pc that theres nothing, I did nothing at first I unplug the external hd. Search up how to get that back.

Which I did. I got everything thing...