As of July 25, Lorraine still didn’t have her original laptop back from Best Buy. It seems to have vanished into the nether of a 3rd party repair center. Inside, you can read the update to her story posted on July 13th
Interestingly, Lorraine got no response, beyond an automated reply, from the super duper executive service lines set up by Robert Stephen to deal with Consumerist Geek Squad complaints. We’ve heard similar stories of non-responsiveness from this line, which used to be very responsive. Perhaps the coverage of their employee’s joy of stealing porn from customer’s computers wore out our welcome. Oh well, guess someone was only temporarily committed to providing excellent customer service…
Dear Carey and Meghann:
Thanks for your kind request for an update on my experience with Geek Squad. My “resolution” follows.
First, let me say that, as a marketing copywriter, I hear constant buzz about newly empowered consumers, consumer-power in social media and the need for Big Business to see the writing on the wall.
My own experience with Geek Squad/Best Buy proved the opposite: I can’t recall when I’ve felt so powerless, ignored and bereft of options. Nor has the corporate machine ever loomed in my mind as malevolently–and all-powerfully–and as it does today.
My Laptop is Still Missing
Last Monday, June 16, I was on my way to small claims court to file a suit against Geek Squad when I decided to stop into Best Buy to see if–by sheer luck–my computer had been returned from Geek Squad’s third-party repair center.
It had not.
I, once again, recited my story to the Best Buy store manager–I had explained everything several times to him, the Geek Squad Agent and Geek Squad manager over the previous five weeks.
Best Buy Replaces my Laptop–Sort of–then Tries to Nullify my Warranty
This week the Best Buy manager chose to be merciful, honor my warranty and replace my laptop immediately–rather than make me wait until my original laptop returned to the store. Why didn’t he replace the laptop earlier–knowing , as he did, that my income as a copywriter depends on my laptop? Your guess is as good as mine.
Before replacing the laptop, however, Best Buy tried to cheat me out the remaining two years’ service on my warranty: A clerk tried to convince me that my warranty was fulfilled and cancelled because the laptop was replaced after the manufacturer’s warranty ran out.
But I brought in the laptop for repair BEFORE the manufacturer’s warranty ran out, I told him.
No, argued the clerk. The warranty is “activated” the day the product is replaced—-not the day the customer leaves it for repair.
I refused to accept this cockeyed logic and after many delays and in-store conferences the Best Buy powers-that-be recognized their “misunderstanding” of my legal rights and gave me the #$%&%$# laptop.
Why I’m Still Unhappy
I’m still not satisfied, but feel I must take what I can get at this point–a working laptop–so I can get back to work. Why am I still unhappy?
I lost significant income–I am a self-employed freelance copywriter–because of Geek Squad’s incompetence.
My original laptop–and key data– is still missing. It I have a feeling they–Geek Squad, the repair center—have lost my laptop. Geek Squad promised to attempt data retrieval when the laptop came back to Best Buy.
Best Buy made me choose a cheaper laptop than my original. Best Buy explained that they were required to replace the laptop with another that had the same capabilities–RAM, etc.–not the same pricing. My new laptop costs $150 LESS than my original. I’m not thrilled with the new laptop as it runs slower than my original–perhaps because it runs VISTA–and has other ticks.
I have been grossly ignored and treated with heartless indifference throughout this entire ordeal. From the day I left my laptop at Best Buy, I have not received a single email, phone call or other communication from Robert Stephens, Geek Squad or Best Buy.
It shouldn’t take super-human effort to get very basic service and accountability. I can only imagine this situation’s outcome if I was less tenacious, unable to travel to Best Buy in person to pursue my complaint–what if I didn’t own a car or was disabled?–or didn’t speak English well. I would have been screwed.
And Best Buy would have pocketed more than $1,200–original cost of my laptop plus warranty.
Thanks again for listening to me rant. I was going to write you about the newly maddening service at Amazon–but I’ll spare you.
Keep up your excellent work.
Best regards,
Lorraine
PREVIOUSLY: Hey Geek Squad, I Haven’t Seen My Laptop In A Month
(Photo: Carla216)
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@ IDKP
You…really…have no concept of either what you’re talking about, or how to use the English language, do you?
What you have described is the road of someone without PSP, which this person clearly has. She doesn’t get charged anything.
@m4nea:
First of all. I am bilingual. So yes english is not my srtong point and I am sorry that you dont understand that.
Second of all. I was thinking about all the people who has gone to or going to the Geek Squad. Not just one person. So my comment will be more in a general area.
Third. As I mention “any price they see fit.” I dont just mean money. I mean any part of the computer too. For example. Warranty dose not cover backup of data. If they have to replace your drive they are not obligated to return the drive or backup your data. They are also not obligated to reimage your drive with the orginal or any OS (Operating System such as Windows). I do hope that you dont have anything important on it. Otherwise they charge you for the service.
Forth. There are a few that are out of concept like mine.
and yet, she’ll probably still shop there….
(sigh).
LEGARRER,
Actually HP will do absolutely nothing for you in a case like this. My experience: HP laptop, Circuit City/FireDog, 3 yr extended warranty service. I purchased it SPECIFICALLY because it had XP on it since it is a backup to my desktop used for my small biz which also runs XP. 6 months after purchase the sound card and the wireless card quit working. Two weeks w/HP’s techs via phone got me nowhere so it had to go to FireDog.
3+ weeks later I’m told HP is going to junk it and they are offering me a replacement with a larger hard drive and Vista. Uh, no, I cannot even use Vista, it’s incompatible with the small biz systems I have in place and it’s not what I purchased. Their attitude: too bad.
Over a week with half a dozen rude unbending contacts at CC/FD during which their script was repeatedly read: no XP, no refund, consider yourself lucky we’re offering the new laptop. Huh? I have a warranty that says if we can’t repair we will replace. It’s only commonsense that if I am incapable of using the replacement you offer based on the OS, if you can’t replace the OS I need which is what I purchased, you are obviously not offering a viable replacement. Hello, anyone there with a functional brain to comprehend this problem? In fact, their bull and stall tactics were endangering my small biz further as I was down one backup machine (still have a moldy oldy laptop but it’s, well, moldy oldy).
Until I reached contact at the VP/Dist Mgr level and informed via messages that in 4 days I was taking this matter to BBB, local TV and high profile net disclosure (they held off returning my calls until they heard that), I was told XP was no longer available to even purchse – huh? Try Pricewatch.com, try Dell and Lenova where they’ll actually sell you a new PC with XP. I was told HP could/would not supply XP for me (still under HP warranty) because “they no longer use it”. And the “Escalations ” dept at corporate CC? Well, they escalated my blood pressure while being more rude and obnoxious even than their store managers and customer service had been in previous calls.
Finally they capitulated and offered a choice: the replacement machine with XP installed (miraculous find in their warehouse, one copy was found on the shelf but also to be jerry-rigged via install on a Virtual PC partition) OR a refund. In discussing the details of how these options would work, they finally disclosed I’d have to pay $200 for them to install XP! I opted for refund and the last tech I spoke with suggested I go to HP’s online small biz site where I could “still buy a pc with XP” ….
The final insult was it took almost an hour at their store to “process” my refund. I charge $80-$150/hr professionally and they have stolen at least 5 hours from me, maybe I should send a bill. When I objected to the “10% or $25 service fee” for cancellation of the warranty and the proration (rather than full refund since they would not completely fulfill their warranty promise to replace), I was told I was lucky because they had not given any refund for a “purchase that long ago” in the 4 and 1/2 years this assistant manager had been working there. OUTRAGEOUS and DISGUSTING to say the least….And I still have to wait for the refund credit/check (card/warranty) via mail.
It’s’ viral – this NON-customer service by many big retailers. It’s sad, really, to think of the abuse dished out all in the name of a buck. Can’t they see we won’t be coming back nor will our friends or family?
now, don’t get me wrong.. I am all about consumer empowerment and I really do love it to see that the average user is getting some kind of leeway when in situations like this because of the web and how fast one can make a story travel.
but the fact of the matter is, I have no sympathy for people who claim that their livelihood relies on their computer.. and they only have ONE and no backup whatsoever. that’s like saying you have a shipping company but only one truck to deliver stuff with. what happens when it breaks for whatever one of a million reasons that could cause it to break? yeah. nothing. you’re hooped and your own terrible decision-making lead you there.
to be perfectly honest, in my opinion, anyone who works in a field that requires a computer and they either don’t Backup their data regularly or doesn’t have at least a bare-bones backup machine, deserves every single bit of bad luck that comes their way.
we’ve been dealing with computers for what? thirty goddamn years and you people STILL don’t get it?! that they are MECHANICAL DEVICES with MOVING PARTS and if you purchase such a delicate machine from a big box retailer that they have a thousand and one other issues to take care of on top of you and your laptop before they can get going on your repair or return or whatever.
this is what you get when you shop at a big box retailer and want to save that extra 50 bucks. deal with it, or go to a REAL computer shop.