Is there a difference between a Sony TZ ultraportable laptop and an Asus Eee PC? Reader Ignacio bought Best Buy’s accidental damage protection plan for his $2200 Sony TZ laptop, and when he did, indeed, drop it — Best Buy threatened to replace it with a $600 Asus Eee PC, and finally decided to issue a $1200 gift card — the price of a 15″ Dell notebook. Fair?
Ignacio says:
I would like anyone who has considered buying this plan for a computer or has one to be aware that this warranty is useless and a waste of money. Don’t buy it.
I had purchased a Sony Vaio TZ laptop about a year ago with the accidental protection damage (ACH) for several reasons, but mainly because the sales man suggested it for such a small laptop and for how expensive it was ($2200). Buying this warranty was a peace of mind that the sales man a year ago assured me of.
Jumping forward in time, a year later, I accidentally dropped my laptop and took in for repairs at the Geek Squad. The gentleman who attended me was very helpful and assured me that I would be taken care of with what he called “a high end laptop”. As a side note he even admired the size and weight of the laptop, which was the main selling factor for these laptops from Sony and why they were so expensive.
I received a call yesterday (10/31/08) from Best Buy saying the repairs were too costly and that my laptop would be replaced under warranty. I drove there today (11/1/08) to pick up a replacement. The attendant showed me a what she referred to as a comparable model (Vaio Z) and said I could take that as a replacement or use that money($2000) towards another computer , in essence store credit. I picked out a computer that was more expensive and she said it was fine, but I had to pay the difference. When we got to the register and as she started to ring me up, she stated that she had not done this type of return before and she asked a colleague to help her. She was told it was being done incorrectly and we were sent to talk to the supervisor of the computer department. This is where the trouble began.
I was told because of the specs of my computer the most comparable model was $600, which was an Asus EEE pc, but they would do me a favor and give me $1200 for a 15” Dell. When I stated to them that neither of them were comparable, because the sized and features that the TZ, they replied that they do it spec for spec and that my laptop only had 1gig of ram, a 1ghz processor and 100gig hard drive, and that was the closest computer. When I tried to explain to them that this computer was expensive because of the size features and ultra-portability; they ignored me and threatened to make my in-store credit less than $400 for some other netbook. I said that was not fair, the supervisor printed a gift card for $1200 gave it to me walked away. I asked to speak with the store manager.
The store manager, Huff, came and I explained to him what had happened in the last hour. He tried to understand what had happened and brought the supervisor from the Geek Squad department to help him out because he admittedly said, “I am not good with computers.” The supervisor told me the same as the rest that spec for spec there is no comparable computer, and that was the best they could do and I should be happy with that and instead of $600. I asked him to check Sony’s website so he can see that even a year later the TZ models are in fact cheaper, but more than $1200, and just as comparable with the one I bought. He said that he would not check any “junk” websites and only base his decision on what they had in the store. He told me to call Best Buy, and then yelled at the manager behind me, “This conversation is over,” and left. I was left standing at the cash register in the Customer Service area.
I called Best Buy customer relations from within the store, but they were of no help. They said they would not replace base on purchase price but “comparable technology.” When I said they were being unfair about comparing my computer the attendant on the phone said that was policy and there was nothing she could do.
So basically, to summarize, I bought a premium ultra portable laptop from Sony and it was compared to an Asus EEE netbook, under replacement, or a 15” Dell brick of a laptop that is worthless and not comparable. Salesmen are misleading when they are trying to sell you something. Good thing I didn’t order my laptop with the solid state hard dive, or else a comparable model would only have 60gigs of hard dive space. That is how “knowledgeable” the Geek Squad employees are, especially when the supervisor compares a premium notebook to a netbook.
I will not buy anything from Best Buy again. I spend thousands of dollars personally and more through my business, and I often refer my friends there as well. Not anymore, customer service is bad, the prices are more expensive when compared to internet shopping, and they rip you off. I encourage anyone not to buy from Best Buy and if you have to buy something there don’t waste your money any “peace of mind” insurance plans.
-Ignacio
We think Ignacio should launch an EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) and see what Best Buy has to say, but we thought we’d throw this one out to the crowd first.
So, what do you think?
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I feel for the guy, but the service plan is very clear on the spec-for-spec, not to exceed the original purchase price clause. It’s printed on the warranty brochure in the same font type and size as the rest of the contract stipulations.
That said, an eeePC is a bullshit replacement for a high-end Vaio. Comparable model would be the new HP Blue Label at 13.3 inches, a Macbook, a 13.3 Toshiba. The new comparable Vaio is $2000 at BBY and has blu-ray and 1080p which is a significant upgrade. Hells, the first DVD player we ever bought was $600. I can get a blu-ray for $200 and a regular DVD player for $30. There is depreciation and consumers must understand and expect that. If I crash my 2006 BMW, State Farm isn’t cutting me a check for $50000.
@wellfleet: Well said.
As technology improves, the cost of existing tech declines until it’s previous price point is now saturated with superior replacements. A desktop computer I bought 18 months ago for $1400 can be matched by some selling for $500. My TV is now comparable to ones on the market for less than half what I paid for mine. It’s just the way it works.
The problem with this case is that the Sony ultraportables don’t really have comparable models elsewhere in the market (Fujitsu and Kohjinsha, the latter not sold in the US and neither sold at Best Buy). Seeing as they have to work with the resources at hand, there wasn’t much they could do.
By the way – Silver Reward Zone member here. As I am a fan of sticking up for someone who gets screwed, it looks like I’ll be doing more shopping on Amazon.com this year and unless this person is helped and I see it on this website, I’ll be telling others of all the great deals I get on Amazon. Good job Best Buy.
I see absolutely no problem in this.
At the retailer I work for, our warranty doesn’t cover accidental damage (even if you’re willing to pay extra) but in the situations where the laptop is exchanged, we follow two basic rules for the swap:
1. a laptop with the same specs
2. a laptop with better specs
Screen size must remain the same, however, brand, and color are not considered. It’s purely based off the specifications.
Unfortunately, while it may seem that he plunked down $2000+ for a computer to only get a laptop worth $1200, spec-wise, it’s the same.
While brand is not considered, or original price paid, I do feel for the OP in that he should at least get something from Sony or a comparable brand as a goodwill gesture.
@gatewaytoheaven: Ok, so dimensions are not in the “specifications.” You people are really shooting the margins on this one just to be able to say “gotcha!”
@WBrink: Size is a hard one to argue as the benefit is subjective.
The processors may have similar clocks, but their architectures are likely to differ greatly. The Via C-7 and Intel’s Celeron-m and Atom processors are designed with power consumption in mind and won’t deliver the same performance as a more mainstream mobile CPU.
If you have a full model number for the Vaio TZ, you may be able to look up specifics about the chipsets in each. For instance, the EEE PCs use their only MiniPCIe for wifi, whereas the Vaio might have a free one. Probe about expansion ports (internal and external). Try to find details about the chipsets in each as a gimped down integrated video chipset or memory controller might grant you some leverage as you resume your battle. If there is a spec out there, it could help you.
Good luck,
sakanagai
The replacement is unfair. You can purchase the Asus Eee with 1GB RAM and a 120GB HD at Staples for $359.
Anything like this tends to match spec for spec, for most things a similar brand is preferred.
Screen size and the like for televisions tends to be the same or a little bigger, but with laptops you should be able to request a preference as it’s directly related to how portable the product is.
Failing that, find some obscure feature and use that as an arguing point. I’ve seen that one done before in my former job, if the replacement doesn’t have it you can use that as the justifcation for a different model – you can say “oh, but this one doesn’t have an xyz port so it can’t do what I purchased the original one for” – as long as there’s something which does what the original did and has that you should be ok.
I can recall a particular brand of cheap LCD TVs, unfortunately over half of them had broken down between and one and two years after purchase, so anybody with an extended warranty invariably had the product written off and ended up with a new 42″ LG for a lot more money as it was the same spec. Unsurprisingly said brand had been dropped.
Doesn’t BB have a list of terms for the warranty he purchased that would clear up the question of what they should do in this situation?
Best buy does this type of thing with the ESP plans all the time. When the battery in my laptop died within 1 year of purchase, all BB could do was replace the battery with a used refurb no-brand-name battery, regardless that the next model up was still for sale.
It’s Best Buy… What were you expecting?
As a Best Buy employee, they were actually in the right. If he never bought the service plan, then he would have been screwed out of it all. When the original goes defective we have to replace with a comparable item (same technology, specs, size, etc). Now, we recently had a new Point of Sale system installed and it is very strict with our returns. We used to be able to allow certain exceptions, but now it won’t even let us return some items when they were outside return policy even with a manager’s approval. However, there is a way around the exchange when the laptop is junked out at the service center. If he was willing to pay for a more expensive laptop and pay the difference then I honestly don’t understand why they didn’t do that. However, he could have been one of those extremely fussy customers and acted like a douche. I know when I get those customers, I certainly won’t go out of my way to help them out and make some exceptions.
@i_love_life:
I’m kind of doubting that the OP was the douche in the situation….you yourself just stated that it’s BB’s official position to tell you to bend over and take it.
The wholesale price of the eeeePC is about what he paid for the warranty, so really, he may have been better off even if he didn’t have the warranty.
I, too, used to work for BB (sigh, I apologize). But in the store I worked, if they couldn’t find an exact match (not something ‘close enough’) they gave you a credit for the original amount you paid. Now THAT seems more than fair, I think. But, in your case, you’re getting Best Boned
This story is slightly fishy. The TZ includes an optical drive and an 11.1″ 1366 x 768 pixel screen, which exceeds the specifications of the eee PC line. And, while the Sony’s processor is only 1GHz, it was an Intel Core 2 Duo, not a single-core Atom. I think the original poster needs to write up a feature by feature comparison between his unit and current offerings at Best Buy and request the unit that is most comparable. If they don’t agree, he should take them to small claims court and demonstrate that his request follows the letter of the extended warranty.
Brands have to be compared. if it is purely on tech specs then you will always get a bad deal.
suppose you had a pc with a 2.4GHz amd 64 processor and your pc broke, and best buy tried to replace it with a pc with a 2.4GHz P4
you will be losing about 1.6GHz worth of performance
brands matter
the asus crap has a shorter battery life, a smaller screen with a poor contrast ratio
the ssd in the assus is pretty slow compared to a 7200 rpm laptop drive. especially when it comes to write speeds (benchmark using everest ultimate edition if you don’t believe me)
ssd drives also don’t last as long
many people who have 1 brand of laptop that they like will often buy accessories for it which wont work with another laptop
I have dealt with companies like this before.
if they don’t have the laptop, they can order one just for you as a replacement and tell you that you will have to wait a week or 2 to get it
no one wants a different pc as a replacement unless it is better. and clock speeds don’t determine performance
my a geforce 6800 runs at 350MHz, while a geforce 6600 can do 600MHz, and yet the 6800 is more than twice as fast
imagine getting a geforce quadro from bestbuy for $2000 then getting it replaced and they give you a geforce 1GB 7600GT because they have the same specs , you would be pissed because you will not have a card thats only a fraction of the speed of the quadro and doesn’t have hardware acceleration rendering support for the render engines used in professional apps like maya
specs mean nothing,
a 2GHz core 2 is more than 3 times faster than a 3GHz pentium D
IBM has created a 300GHz processor in their labs, but it does so little work per clock cycle that it is slower than most desktop cpu’s
clock speed doesn’t matter any more as it doesn’t measure work done per clock cycle
and memory size doesn’t matter much.
a 1GB of ddr3 memory can hit 10GB/s while the same amount of ddr2 800 will only7 do around 5.5GB/s
lower end pcs use poor quality memory and cpu’s with bad timings, lower cache sizes, and less work done per clock cycle
Exactly the same thing happened to me at a Best Buy store a few years ago regarding the warranty of something I bought, but the catch with my product was it was actually DEFECTIVE. After buying the warranty, and returning the item to the store, I had the same type of encounter with a rude, do nothing “customer service” type, and manager, who told me I had bought the last box and there was nothing “comparable” to replace it with. He would not even check the system to see if there was the same item available at another location, he just shrugged me off and refused to honor the company warranty his employee (and stop me if I am wrong to surmise they get a commission on the “warranties” they sling.).
I will *never* buy anything from the crooks at Best Buy if I can help it, but as far as a laptop, this is actually one reason I always refer people to buy a MAC. The customer service is the highest in the industry and most people are within driving distance of an Apple store now. I have had nothing but pleasant experiences at the Genius Bar with the few problems I have had with my Macs, and you know… They do run Windows now. You might be wise to check them out if for no other reason than that.
Best Buy’s warranties suck.
Replacing a Sony Vaio TZ with an Asus Eee PC is wrong because, if nothing else, the Vaio has a dual core CPU and the Eee, of course, does not. Other specs may look similar, but the dual core vs. single core should stop that argument. Also the Vaio has a DVD drive, which the Eee is lacking, and WiFi N, and mobile broadband, and…. You get the point.
When they start saying “Spec for Spec” you need to be able to answer that.
Now, did he get screwed? I don’t think so. Getting $1200 a year later for a broken-by-you year old $2200 computer is not that bad. Now, I don’t know how much he spent on the ACH, but I’m sure it was less than $1200, so he got his money back. If he doesn’t want that $1200 Best Buy gift card, I’ll take it. I might get two of those Eee PCs he doesn’t want.
My experience with BB is in a way worse, because they didn’t even honor the warranty I bought, what they did do was give me a gift card for the pro-rated cost of the warranty. So I’d say he came out far better than I did.
Here’s the thing. Technology always, always, always goes down in price very fast. If you don’t figure in the usefulness you get from the tech – any new tech purchase is going to be a horribly bad investment. I mean, you don’t buy a laptop and hope it will go up in value. That’s just not how tech works. If you get a laptop and break it in a year, a comparable laptop isn’t going to cost anywhere near what you paid for it. That’s a fact.
I’ve already said the Asus comparison was off – but I’m not sure how far off the $1200 was. Maybe it was a little low, but expecting to get $2200 of credit for your year old $2200 machine is stupid. He didn’t get screwed. If he had gotten stuck with the Eee PC, maybe he would have been screwed then – but $1200 isn’t bad. Again, he came out ahead of if he had not bought the coverage in the first place.
In other words, Ignacio, stop bitching and be glad you got anything.
I want to point out that the guy wasn’t left with the Asus Eee PC. He got a $1,200 gift card. The problem is that he had a very unique laptop that may not have comparable specs. I think the $1,200 gift card would solve most people’s replacement problems.
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me 500 times…well, then I’ll come back again and be fooled 501 times.
I might be the only person ever to have a positive experience at Best Buy, but when my HP laptop had 3 hardware failures, they invoked the lemon policy and gave me a new laptop worth what I paid almost 3 years prior, so I got a MUCH better machine for free!
Thank you for sharing this. I knew that any “warranty” BB has is B.S.: They won’t honor it as explained. They always weasel out of it. Again, no warranty is the best warranty at B.B.
File a suit against them in small claims court and report them to your state’s attorney general.
I DO think that after a year the comparable model would be around the $1200 mark. Besides, if you hadn’t bought the warrenty where would you be after you dropped it. You got your moneys worth, right?
What I can’t understand is that the first lady was going to give you a credit of $2000. Where did she get her number from? If you were at the till with a computer in hand, told that you’d be getting a credit of $2000 on it, you should get that price!
What’s next? A sales guy is going to tell you you can buy a TV for $500 but when you get to the till raise the price to $1500? wtf??? I’d be pissed at the fact that the girl told you one thing and the manager told you another. If you were quoted a price and you should get that price. It’s verbal agreement like you’ve signed a contract!
Thanks Consumerist for posting this!
One thing to note is that I explained to the Supervisor of Geek Squad that weight, DVD burner, and built in 3G wireless card were factors. His response was, “I have a $400 Acer that you can buy a Sprint card for and I’ll throw in a DVD burner. Do you want that?”
When I then tried to show other specs, he told me I didn’t know what I was talking about and I was not sure what specs to compare the computer on. He refused to print out the specs based on my purchasing SKU. The problem was the store manager left the final decision to the Geek Squad Supervisor, who left me at the register.
I called Customer Relations while still in the store, they called the manager and they sided with him.
So I lost they one. At this point I don’t even care about the money, I just don’t want anyone to fall into this trap and not buy from Best Buy.
Here is my post on their forums:
[www.forums.bestbuy.com]
The Asus may have similar specs, but they are totally different. Anyone who truly knows computers would know that (which only confirms that Geek Squad doesn’t know shit about computers). It is about as absurd as replacing a macbook air with a macbook because they both have 13′ screens, but they are clearly not the same thing.
Rat Bastards. I’m glad Obama said the first thing he would do was nationalize stores with wilted customer service.
So glad I saw this. Buying my daughter a laptop at Christmas and now I know I will not go to Best Buy. Sounds like they were rude when he was unhappy with the replacement. I think if you pay for an insurance policy for a comparable, you should expect to get one. Either that, or they need to ensure that sales people aren’t telling people something that isn’t true just to make the sale.
At this point, Ignacio needs to sit down with the ACH contract and read every single word it of to see exactly how it specifies claims are to be handled- is it at the discretion of some idiot dept mgr or does it say it will replace with a comparable item? Is there any mention of depreciation to be factored in? YES, this will be painfully boring but it MUST be done to make sure our pal Iggy is ready to argue his position based the contract that Best Buy issued to him!
A co-worker recently had a hellish experience trying to get her car repaired under an extended warranty she purchased with the car (I didn’t know her at the time she bought it, or I’d have advised her against the warranty. It was $2295 financed over the 60 month loan and the repair she was trying to get covered was just under $1k. I took the 8-page carbon copies of the warranty contract, sat down at the kitchen table with a legal pad and pen and took notes on the whole damn thing! They love to throw in confusing phrases, even double negatives and the like, to trick even intelligent folks who read the fine print. I basicallly took out all the bullshit and needlessly complicated phrases and had five pages of legal pad filled with very specific and intelligible notes so I actually knew what her warranty contract obligated the dealer to cover!
Armed with my pages of notes, I marched into the dealership service area, past the service desk and took a seat in the visitor’s chair in the Service Manager’s office! He wasn’t in his office at the moment, but I made it clear that I would be waiting for him to see me exactly in that location! When he walked in and sat down across from me, I stepped over and closed his office door. I looked him square in the eye and told him I knew EXACTLY what the contract said would and wouldn’t be convered. Furthermore, I had proof that she fulfilled all requirements set forth in the agreement for it to remain valid (oil changes and tune-ups). Then I told him that his service dept WOULD BE fixing it, under warranty and I WOULD be waiting there in his office until the car was fully repaired and ready to go!
He started trying to interject and began what was going to be some sort of BS, I cut him off and said- either you will comply with the terms of this legally binding contract, or you lied in the original sales contract charging $2395 for a warranty that had absolutely NO VALUE! I told him again to fix the car while I waited or refund the $2395 for the warranty…..he fixed the car.
The point sharing that experience- know the facts, in this case the written terms of the contract. Knowledge is power! Then use these facts as weapons to cut down any SOB that tries to rip you off, as these BB drones did. If you fail to get resoultion by doing that, FACTS and written contracts are very useful in a Court of Law. If their policy of replacing spec for spec isn’t written in a BB-sanctioned policy manual, it has no legal merit vs. your written agreeement.
When I’ve been in these situations, I go in with CLAWS extended, FANGS showing and with the absolute resolve that I will not back down until I WIN!!! I’m really a nice guy 99.9% of the time, but when someone is trying to screw me over, I turn into an evil %#&@ (rhymes with RUNT).
Final note, regarding the actual configuration of your Sony TZ- this model is only offered with Intel “Ultra Low Voltage” processors (ideal for a ultramobile notebook because they don’t create as much heat as a regular mobile processor AND the use a fraction of the power that even a high-end Intel mobile processor uses, which helps extend battery life). Just the tiny processor chip of the 1.33GHz Intel U7700 costs $529!!! Using the logic of BB dumbass manager and the spec for spec replacement- the Intel Atom in the ASUS Eeee and most other netbooks costs about $45 in comparison and has none of the advanced technology of the U7700. What about comparable display types and resolution, wireless capabilities, graphics processors, integrated webcams and fingerprint readers, Bluetooth….does that fancy ASUS Eeee has similar battery life to the Sony? I’m seeing a helluva lot more BLATANT DIFFERENCES than similarities. That this cretin is advising shoppers on tech purchases is sickening!
Best Buy has a Sony VGN-TT160N/B on their website (Online Order Only) with a 11.1″ display and a price of $2199. When you bought the Sony TZ originally, did they carry those models in store? If the ASUS Eee and no other netbooks were in the store at the time you came in, what then? Maybe a Blackberry?
Unless the contract says the replacement is completely at the store mgrs discretion, you’ve got a lot to work with…..Look for words such as “comparable” or “of equivalent value”- if Best Buy doens’t understand what those mean, an attorney who speciailzes in consumer rights will spell it out in language they’ll can’t ignore.
And, if alll else fails and the $1200 gift card is all you end up with…..you could always do what I’d do- go back in one day and look at those gorgeous MacBooks that Best Buys sellls now. The 17″ Pro sells for $2799 or so…..go when mr. mgr is not working and chat with the person working tehh computer area for a while, ask him to remove the MacBook from it’s lock/bar so you can check out the bottom, the battery, the weigjht…..
THEN SEE IF IT WILL BOUNCE ON A CONCRETE FLOOR!!!
I would not accept the EEE pc or the 15″ Dell. If the conditions were to either fix it or replace it with an equivalent model, then that’s what they should do. I agree with some other posters that stated Screen and weight as being specifications of the laptop, and thus a 15″ dell would not be equivalent by any means.
Read over the fine print of the Extended warranty. If all else fails, Small Claims Court could be very profitable. Just dont forget to sue for Court Costs AND Punitive damages. There’s no harm in asking for punitive is there
If you ask me the physical properties IE the size shape and weight of the laptop are a part of specifications. In fact it would be easy to argue that fact in a small claims court. IF the service warranty does not explicitly define which components are considered when selecting a comparable replacement. Even if the contract does in detail list what is included but not what is excluded the argument could still easily stand. Did I mention that it would cost best buy more than replacement cost of the laptop to even appear in court (which at some level we are debating their liability and effectively total cost for the transaction). Even with lawyers on retainer flights court costs and time all must be considered as an expense to the business. The most likely outcome would be for them to settle after receiving a letter from your attorney, that is unless your lawyer makes some unreasonable demands for his own compensation either out of your pocket or theirs. Don’t sue them, just threaten to with an attorney that CAN win the case. Im not a JD but I had a short lived stint in law school so definitely consult with an attorney but do not take this post as legal advice.
I bought a $1600 laptop from Best Buy in 2004 and got the service plan. It broke once and they never fixed it right, lost it for months at a time, and tried to tell me the motherboard was liquid damaged even though they had just put a new one in a repair just before… in the end it was replaced and I was granted store credit for the amount I originally paid. I bought a new laptop with that for $1450 and got a new service plan. This time when it broke and they never could fix it right they tried to give me a $400 laptop and I complained til I got them up to $750 and took a gift card for it. Absolutely ridiculous, bought a TV, no service plan and will never buy anything else there again.
Sony TZ computer-$2,200
Accidental service plan-$350
Manufacture’s warranty-Not gonna cover squat
Asus EEE PC-not comparable in the least
$1,200 credit towards new computer-$850 more towards a new computer, that you didn’t have before.
Personally working in both computers and customer service I would have probably given him a little more towards his computer maybe around $1,400-1,500.
I can argue for best buy service plans all day if you would like too. They have saved my hide a few times;not to mention 1 free battery replacement/free diagnosis/ free parts/ free labor.
As Geek Squad Agent, the policy is “comparable technology” and all of our sales people are trained to tell that to customers. I’m sorry you had an unfavorable experience, and just for future reference, if you don’t like what one Best Buy tells you, take your service plan to another one. Most stores I’ve worked for will give you a computer for the same price as you paid 2 or 3 years ago. The way the system works, from a technical standpoint is that we can let the customer spend up to the amount of their initial purchase. Some general managers are good at leading, but might not be so great with technology unfortunately.
I can feel his pain, but people, seriously STOP BUYING YOUR COMPUTERS FROM THESE PLACES!!!
You can buy direct from the mfg these days and in all likeliness, get an equal computer on a warranty swap. Probably a better deal as well.
Buy from the mfg website, get the accidental damage warranty and if it breaks let them handle it.
This makes me wonder if you could exploit this the other way, find some old refurb computer they have with a 3 GHz P4, buy the warranty, then conveniently a week later it drops off your desk. Need to bring it in to another store, and they give you one with a 3 GHz C2D. “Woops”.
I work at Bestbuy Geeksquad not for! They tell us to give customers the lowest end computer possible and etc. I’m totally not down with that. I always make sure the customer gets what is best for them because I’m tired of seeing bestbuy screw customers as an employee. They want me to charge customer 129.99 for someone that is missing 2 drivers and it’s total BS + a RIP dont do it. If anything I’ll do it for free or charge them 29.99 at most. If you ask why i still work there it’s because the discount.
Having worked at best buy years ago, you just need to know how to work the system. The wording used to say “Feature for Feature” and “Comparable Model”, just bring them to the attention that you NEED TO HAVE the feature of a Sony Media Stick reader built in to the computer. Don’t all Sony’s have those? I damn sure know EeePC doesn’t. Find the little features that you “require” based on what PC you want, up to purchase price. Then bring these to the attention of the manager. If the wording is still the same, which is probably is, or at least close, you have a good argument to say the least.
This policy is also available on the build your own as well. How do I know? Because years ago, I traded in my 3 year old HP laptop under their “no lemon” clause. I was lucky enough to have a strange feature on it – cd controls usable when the lid was closed. I then found the only other laptop at the time with that same feature. It cost $1600. Using that I took the $1600 credit and purchased a $2200 TZ for $600. You should be able to do something similar. Good luck!
I’ve had success posting on Tom’s Hardware.com’s forum.
While everyone there ususally builds their own PC, they do buy printers, cameras, stereos etc.
In other words, they’re all potential Best Buy Customers.
you’ll be amazed how soon you’ll hear from the Best Buy Execuitive branch.
Good luck!
As much as the situation sounds terrible what annoys me most is the “I spent thousands of dollars with them” line at the end of the article.
The amount of money you spent does not entitle you to anything nor does it make a dent in the store or company.
I understand you may have been mislead. That’s why you should always ask for paperwork for ANY type of plan. At the same time you were MUCH better off than if you didn’t get the plan. You broke the computer and you got a 1200 store credit?
It’s all about perspective isn’t it?
_paranoidArtemus
SONY is a brand name. He paid 2200 for a brand name so you can’t replace it with junk and say its the same thing. It’s like buying a ROLEX and the store replaces it with a FOLEX telling him its the same.
If you ask me, the 1200 is more than a fair deal. By Moor’s law, you can assume that an average computer will be worth about 50% of its purchase price after 18 months. This gets significantly worse for “premium” models where profit margins are steep. It may have been worth 2200 a year ago, but a comparable machine nowadays would probably cost about 800 or so. If they were valued at more than that, places would still be selling them. Please don’t try saying that a 2.0 Ghz CPU is “comparable” even if it is only a t3200. He should have taken the 1200 gift card and been happy with it. He paid a premium to be on the bleeding edge but in the world of computers that doesn’t last very long. The EEE PC was pretty silly, but the second offer was more than fair IMO
Here’s the rub. During the most important shopping season of the entire fiscal year for this chain store this article hits the WWW. I for one am going to copy it into my email and send it to everyone I know and advise them to skip Best Buy this year and as long as they keep up these absurd practices. Customer Service is cheap when you risk ending up before a global audience with an article like this one! Of course the marraige between Best Buy and The Goof Squad is poor and they (TGS) are screwing up the reputation of BB badly. They are ignorant of all customer service practices and they deal with people like crap. They have very limited repair skills and send out anything outside the reloading of software ‘fixes’.
In this current financial environment one would think that Best Buy would make every effort to bring in the buyer who is willing to buy at both discount and full price. I can hear the soft and distant sound of taps that has been so loudly heard at Circuit City if this remains “Store Policy”.
I’ve owned older ultra-portables from 3 and 5 years ago and have this to say: Except for the (lack of) DVD burner, an Asus EEE hard drive XP edition matches your barely-out-of-warranty super expensive ultraportable. Is this disappointing? Yes. Is it fair? Not if you expected technology to stop shrinking. Is a $1200 gift card more valuable? Yes. Was it wise to buy one-shot insurance? Definitely not, you almost got a $400 computer from it.
I bought a Sony laptop from Best Buy for the same price along with the accidental damage. The salesman said that even if a bullet went through it they would replace it. only 3 months after I started using it it kept crashing and rebooting then crashing again. I took it in. Got it back and then it wouldn’t turn on unless it sat open for 20 minutes and then would crash again. I took it back to them they sent it out and said they had to replace the motherboard and the hard drive. I asked them for a new laptop since I had been having problems with it. They said no, there were stipulations. I could only get a replacement if it was in for repair over 3 times in 90 days. WTH? When I got it back with the replaced motherboard and hard drive, there was NOTHING on it. I asked them to reinstall software like windows so I could use my computer. My laptop did not come with a copy and since they deleted it I expected them to replace it. They finally did, but it wasn’t the same version that Sony originally had on that model of lap top. So it was functional, but I couldn’t use all of the functions. I hate Best Buy and won’t spend a dime in their store, neither will my mother who owns her own business. She had the Geek Squad install wireless that never worked and then they tried to charge her for coming out to fix the problem!! (both incidents were at the same time.)
PLEASE SHOP ELSE WHERE.
Best Buy has always had a “Screw the customer” policy. What’s laughable is they always have a sign saying “Customer Service” over the area where they treat people the worst.
There is no way I will ever purchase anything from Best Buy ever again. They shafted me once in 1997 and wouldn’t even respond to my complaints. To this day, I am still trying to persuade people not to patronize these jerks. I’m sure that I have cost them many times what it would have to simply do the right thing.
The point is, “It’s always cheaper to make a customer happy than it is to make him angry.” The fools at Best Buy can’t seem to understand that.