Best Buy Store Purchase

[Lukillith]

I recently purchased a laptop from the Mountain View Location in California (new, not open box). The purchase was in July of 2020 and it is currently January of 2021. This puts me well within the 1-year manufacturer’s warranty period. The laptop was failing to boot, and was stuck attempting, and failing startup repair. It would also fail a system reset, and system restore. I checked the BIOS and all drives were healthy. This lead me to believe it was a corrupt operating system. As this is a known issue, and I did nothing to affect this change, I assumed I could be helped under warranty. I scheduled an appointment to bring the laptop in to the location. During my consultation, I explained my conclusions to the representative, and was told it would cost $199.98 to fix, possibly more if there was a need to uninstall any antivirus software. The rep explained that the charge for the installation of an operating system is $99.99, and regardless of whether or not I was correct about the issue, they would have to diagnose the issue themselves, again at the cost of $99.99. The employee then suggested that instead, I just buy into their “Total Tech Support” program which is conveniently priced at $199.99. Given that a diagnostic is completely unnecessary, and all I required was a clean installation of the operating system (which was already an active version of windows on the laptop). There is no reason why they should be unable to perform this simple task under warranty. Especially considering all that is required is a bootable media drive that they most certainly have available to them, and can be used at no cost to them on as many computers as they want. I paid almost $1,800.00 for this laptop, and it hasn’t even worked for a year. A NEW copy of windows, retails for $139.99 and even though my laptop is still under warranty, Best Buy is not willing to service the computer for under $200.00. I do not accept, I am completely unsatisfied and I expect Best Buy to behave honorably with regards to this issue.

[jdogg836 · Accepted solution]

Software issues like a corrupted OS are not covered by a manufacturer's warranty, which is limited to defects in hardware or worksmanship.  As Geek Squad is in the business of solving issues, I agree with their diagnostic requirement.  We don't really have a way to charge you for an OS installation, have it not fix your issue, and then send you on your way without a working computer.  Total Tech Support is there to place Geek Squad as your IT person.  Is it for everyone?  No, I wouldn't offer it to someone who is capable of performing software maintenance or reloading computers on their own.  For everyone else, if the services you request add up to a year long tech support plan it makes sense to offer it.  That way, if you get a virus 6 months down the road you can have that taken care of under the plan vs. paying even more out of pocket. 

Feel free to partner up with the manufacturer directly if you feel the software issue should be covered under manufacturer's warranty, it's not a decision Best Buy is part of as the retailer.  

[Lukillith]

I understand the full scope of the logic behind what is being charged. However, it only makes sense from an IT perspective, if the customer did not come in, and clearly state the service they are requesting. Put simply: my issue is NOT “my PC won’t boot, I don’t know why, I want it fixed”. My issue is: “My OS is corrupted, I need a clean install”. There is no confusion to be had. Ultimately...This was only important to me because I use this laptop only when I travel, and naturally I do not have the tools to handle the situation myself. At this juncture, it’s clear Best Buy, where I have spent thousands of dollars over the years, is unwilling to at the very least, help with a reasonable solution, and not attempt to take me for more money than the retail product is even worth. All in a period of time I know you as people would personally have frustrations with products having issues yourselves. You do not represent the Best Buy corporate office, but you speak as an employee and as such, make it clear my business is not valued, and it will no longer continue. Thank you.

[nckhammond]

The diagnostic is an important first step, as the hard drive bios test is nearly useless and just reports enough data if it can be replaced under warranty. The drives need a full test as they can easily still be considered bad and pass the bios test. The latest windows update has had some compatity issues. Some computers may need a bios update if one is even available. Others would need an older version installed.

Best buy shouldn't have to work for free.

I'm.not an employee, just a customer.

[Lukillith]

You misunderstand. This was never “I hoped they would fix my problem under warranty”. I was perfectly willing to pay for an OS install. I had run a full disk check, and verified all partitions were healthy, and further verified that my system reserve, and recovery partitions were corrupt. I made clear, that the single service I was requesting, was that a clean install of the operating system be performed. No more, no less. In this case, Best Buy is STILL not working for free. They are working for $99.99. I’m aware that this is well above what this would have cost me personally. But I was out of town for a funeral, and my time was understandably limited. I took what little time I had, at a loss to my personal ability to do my job, and balance organizing family issues, to make an appointment. I had expected that the effort I put in, to make sure I was comfortable with making my request clear, concise, and SIMPLE, to not be met with an upsell to a yearly service that costs double the fee of the service I was requesting. If it is not their policy to perform that task without performing a diagnostic, I would even have accepted the suggestion that I just purchase a new copy of windows as a solution. In summation, while I’m perfectly competent enough to handle that situation on my own, not everybody is, and I respect that. But as professionals, it makes sense that you would work backwards from a customers specific needs. After all, that is what a consultation should be. If a clean install had not worked, I’d be open to having the PC diagnosed and working with the representatives to solve my issue from there. I am after all, just a customer as well, looking for nothing more than to not be taken advantage of.