Best Buy Repair Support

[xionfourteen]

I first brought my laptop in for repair at the beginning of 2020, because it was making a loud buzzing noise (I assumed there was a wire or something rubbing the fan). I was told that they could not replicate the issue and that all they could do was clean it and give it back to me. I agreed and went home. About a day later the noise returned, so I brought it back to the store and asked them to check for any wires rubbing the fan blades. I was met with the exact same result. They couldn't replicate the issue and all they could do was clean it and return it. I again agreed. I get back home and the same noise again, I bring it in, they clean it, I go home. A day later and the noise yet again. At this point I am skeptical of the ability of the geek squad to diagnose issues, so I do some research online and in less that 5 min, I find out this is a common issue with this laptop, and that the fan is what is causing the issue. I bring in my laptop the next day and this time I flat out tell them that the fan is broken and needs to be replaced. They take a look at it and FINALLY discover the issue. It was exactly what I read online, broken cpu fan.

How exactly is it that the people who are supposed to be experts can't find a broken cpu fan before someone who hasn't even opened the case?!?

They say they will need to send it in for repairs, and reluctantly I agree.

Two months later, I see on the ups tracker that my laptop has arrived at the store (I didn't get a message like they said I would). I go in to pick it up and am given a paper to sign stating that I am satisfied with the repair. I turn on the laptop to check the fan noise is fixed and notice something is off. It kept going into sleep mode during startup. I was told by the employee that it was because they added new hardware and windows acts weird with new hardware for a while. The noise was fixed, so I signed the paper and left.

In hindsight, what that person told me was complete nonsense!!!! Windows won't detect a change in the fan, ESPECIALLY if it is replaced with the exact same model!!!! A new fan should not affect windows bootup unless it is higher tech than the stock cooler and even then, the change should be so small that you can't notice it if you try.

Over the course of a month I find that anytime I rest my hand on the palmrest, the screen shuts off. So I bring it in again. This time the guy tells me that whoever put my laptop back together did an extremely poor job and that they would have to sent it off again. I am in the middle of school so I decide to try to suffer through it until classes are over.

A week later I am forced to come back because the problem has gotten worse to the point of making the laptop effectively usable. I am told that they will send it off and place it in a priority que.

One month later I get my laptop back and this time there seems to be no issues. A day later the headphone port somehow just suddenly pops up from the motherboard while I am nowhere near it!

I HAVE TO BRING IN THIS LAPTOP AGAIN BECAUSE THE DAMAGE THEY CAUSED THE FIRST TIME HAS NOT BEEN FIXED!!!!!

I bring it into the store and explain the situation. The lady says she will take a look at it. I take a seat and wait for a few minutes.
When she comes back, she says she plugged in a few different speakers and couldn't get sound out of any of them. Then she says, WITH COMPLETE CONFIDENCE, "You are running low on disk space so it could be a storage issue"

First of all, I am not low on space, I haven't even used 3/4 of the hard drive.
Second of all,
HOW THE HELL DOES LOW STORAGE SPACE CAUSE A PORT TO SUDDENLY POP OFF THE MOTHERBOARD!!!!!!!

I explain this to her, using much nicer language than that, that this cannot be the issue. She gives me a look like I'm stupid and says they will try to fix it in store and if they can't they will contact me before they send it off for repairs.
A week passes and I check the status of my repair. What a surprise! They sent it to be repaired without even attempting to contact me.

To top it all off, throughout this process I keep finding new dents and scratches that I know for a fact were not there when they shipped it to the service center.

I understand COVID is making things more difficult, but it should not take a whole year to complete repairs on a laptop that started off needing nothing more than a new cooling fan.

TL;DR
My laptop has been mishandled by best buy employees.
Best Buy has failed to honor the protection plan that I paid money for when I purchased this laptop.
I have been without a functioning laptop for an entire year now.
Best Buy has proven to me several times that their repair people either have no respect for the customers property or have no idea what they are doing.
My laptop has been damaged by the people who were supposed to repair it.
I have a job starting very soon that requires that I have a laptop capable of supporting high end VR rendering.
I am at the end of my rope.
If something doesn't happen soon, I may lose my only shot at a high paying job.
Please help me fix this problem ASAP.

[Meg-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Hey, xionfourteen,

Thank you for reaching out to us here on the Best Buy Forums. Now more than ever, a laptop is practically essential to daily life. I can completely understand your frustration that it has taken so long to get a resolution and get your laptop back to 100%!

We don't want any part of the repair process to feel like a surprise, and we provide ourselves on being experts. It sounds like you haven't received the level of service that we strive for, and I apologize for any inconvenience as a result.

Please send us a private message with your full name, email, phone number, and service order number and I would be happy to take a closer look into this.

Best,

[xionfourteen]

After finally getting a response from an agent, I was told they were in the process of repairing my laptop, but it might not be back in time despite this repair having been uncompleted for an entire year. I have reexplained my situation and my need for a more appropriate solution, but I have yet to receive a response. I am updating this thread in order to keep my experience out in the open as evidence of the reliability (or lack their of) of Best Buy customer support, and Geek Squad repair.

[xionfourteen]

It has been three hours now since I sent my last message and I have received no reply which means one of two things.

Either Meg is working on helping me out, which would make them the first person to try to resolve this issue properly in over a year.

Or Meg is treating my issue as solved despite the obvious lack of said solution.

Classes start on the 19th. Best Buy has until then to resolve this before I look for other avenues to get compensated for the laptop that they have not only failed to repair, but have also severely damaged in their lackluster attempts at doing so.

[xionfourteen]

Meg-BBY just sent me this:

“At this time, our next steps would be to keep an eye on your inbox for repair updates, or you may check on the status of your repair using our repair tracker here. I understand it's not ideal to go any length of time without a laptop, but I can only ask for your patience as Geek Squad works to find you a resolution and works on your repair.

Best,

Meg
Social Media Specialist
Best Buy Customer Care”

[xionfourteen]

Meg either did not read my message all the way through or does not care that the people who were supposed to repair my device damaged it and then refused to replace it despite admitting to causing the damage.

I do not trust Best Buy to FULLY repair my device. It was damaged by the repair tech and will need to be replaced or refunded.

And to the employees who may be reading this. DO NOT respond to me with a copy pasted message about the repair tracker for the THIRD time IN A ROW.
THAT IS NOT THE PROBLEM THAT YOU NEED TO SOLVE!

What little time and patience I have left is wearing thin.

[jdogg836]

That message from Meg-BBY is Best Buy's official answer, she is a moderator and works out of our corporate headquarters.  It sounds as they have determined that they will first attempt repair of your computer, which is almost always the case with computers.  If, at their discretion, they determine a replacement is in order, you will receive an update to that effect.  

[xionfourteen]

I understand that.

However.
They have already tried six times over the course of a year. I do not have time to keep bringing my device in because they either missed something or broke something new.

What are they going to do if it gets back to the store and is not repaired properly? I can’t afford to let them send it off again so I can not rest easy until I have an alternative.

[Elle-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Hey there, xionfourteen,

Meg is currently out of the office, but I'm happy to step in to help you with this! As someone who uses my computer daily for work, I can imagine how tough it would be to try and do schoolwork and start a new job when your computer is consistently out for repairs. We know that it's a big deal that you trusted us with your computer, so it makes me sad to learn that your repairs haven't been the stress-free process we had hoped to provide.

Our goal is to provide the best experience we can for our customers; we know an important part of that is listening to feedback from the times where we could have done better so we can improve. Thanks for taking the time to share this experience with us so we can continue to work on this process! 

I'll respond to your Private Messages shortly so we can talk more about next steps to try and turn your time with us around!

Cheers,

[xionfourteen]

Elle’s responses so far have me more optimistic that after a year this will finally reach its resolution.