Raelyn Campbell is suing Best Buy for $54 million for losing her laptop and lying to her for months about it. She bought a laptop from Best Buy with an extended warranty, it broke, she sent it in for repairs, months later she didn’t have her laptop and after getting the runaround the store finally said it had lost her laptop and offered her a $900 gift card. She paid over $1,100 for the laptop, she paid for software on it, and it had irreplaceable photos, music, and personal information, including her tax returns. She freely admits she chose the high figure to attract media attention. She tells the Red Tape Chronicles “I can’t help but wonder how many other people have had their computer stolen (or) lost by Best Buy and then been bullied into accepting lowball compensation offers for replacement expenses and no compensation for identity theft protection expenses.” She also has a blog.
A Lost Laptop, A $54 Million Lawsuit [Red Tape Chronicles]
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I agree with her. Shit, if the RIAA can collect the seveal hundred thousand dollars they bilked out of the poor lady who ‘may have’ uploaded 9 or so songs from her computer to the internet, why can’t this lady, who was clearly f$#@ed over by BB (and BB has a SOLID record of f$#@ing over its customers, does it not?) request millions? Makes more sense than the ass who sued McDs for hot coffee on his/her lap.
@randombob: *claps for randombob* Well said. Most people on here are missing the point entirely.
@Jaysyn: Not if I’m on the jury. It would be two cents for punitive damages.
Yeah, you sign that contract you basically say you are “TRANSFERING OWNERSHIP” of your computer to Best Buy, if their resolution was to give you $900 for your computer that you bought in the last 3 years for $1,100, I’d consider that a win for you. What sucks is the guys at the counter don’t always offer backups or explain to you that “more than likely” you’ll never see your data again, and the fact that it takes 3 months to throughly investigate what happened to your notebook.
If your data is important, backup.
If your computer is important, BUY ANOTHER ONE, so when the first breaks down you’ll have a backup computer.
Sorry guys. But you must watch your terminology.
Sure BB may be protected from “deleting” a users data when they repair a laptop.
But, when a company looses your personal information, FEDERAL law mandates they inform you of the possible breach and allow you the opportunity to pretect yourself against ID theft.
The dishonesty in which BB employees used, exposes BB to legal liability. Period.
I cant wait for a company to loose YOUR possessions. I’m sure you would sit back and say oh well. Those TOS’s cover every nitty gritty thing, but im sure they are required to pay the amount of the laptop at the time of purchase. Deprecation is relative to the market, SHE WAS NOT PLANNING ON SELLING therefore it shouldn’t be subjected to depreciation prices. Not to mention the anguish of not having a computer for that long and they don’t tell you its lost. I dunno how on earth you would EVER side with best buy, unless you have stock with them. Also many times the judges like this kind of settlement because one of their requirements often is they give something like 49.5 million to a charity, so the company still gets the nice punch in the gut saying dont mess with us.
@sp00nix: You fail to mention that half that “2 years” was spent with “Best” Buy. Perhaps a better question is to ask what Rent-a-center would charge to lease a laptop for the amount of time “Best” Buy kept it beyond normal term.
…Then $54 million seems within the ballpark.
OH – I just got it: if you fail to backup your hard drive before giving it to “Best” Buy, then it’s perfectly acceptable for the company to lose it and lie to you about that for a year.
Like when I failed to make copies of my registration before giving my car to my mechanic, and he strung me along for a year without a car instead of telling me it was stolen and getting a police report going. Yeah, that makes sense, no compensation for this foolish biatch…