Jenni’s sister is disabled and bed-bound, and her laptop is her portal to the world. So when her HP laptop had to go in for repair, it was a big deal. It was an even bigger deal after the Geek Squad spent over a month dickering with the repair and while it was in their hands, the warranty ran out. Now Geek Squad won’t give it back unless the full out of warranty price is paid, and HP says it’s not their problem, it’s Geek Squad’s. Meanwhile it’s been almost three months and Jenni’s sister has no computer.

Jenni writes:

My sister bought a computer from Best Buy and purchased their $300 warranty. I need to mention here that my sister is deaf and also bed-bound due to RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy), so her computer is her world. Her world.

So, the computer at some point keeps freezing so she has my mom (a wonderfully sweet woman who works full time as an x-ray technician and also takes care of my sister) take it in to Best Buy for repair. They say they have to ship it off, which they do, and in one month’s time the computer comes back. They call my mom and tell her it is ready for pick up, but then she receives another call before she is able to pick up the computer that they need her to bring in the battery and the AC adapter because they couldn’t get the computer to stay on long enough to put the “restorative information” on it. So, she took them this equipment.

Then they called her and said they needed an “activation key number” and my mom asked them were she could find this information and they said “on the side of the computer” (which, of course, they had in their possession). So they have her call HP to get the computer’s activation number and HP couldn’t give it to her because she couldn’t give them the product number and information that, of course, was on the computer.

So, my mom calls the Geek Squad back at Best Buy and they said they had to send the computer back to the factory to fix it without the activation number.

The next phone call she received from the Geek Squad was that in the time they have had the computer, over a month at this point, the warranty had run out and the AC adapter that had to be repaired the second time they sent the computer in was going to cost $170.

The AC adapter was working fine when my mom initially brought the the computer in for repair. Since then there have been ongoing phone messages back and forth between my poor mom and the Best Buy Geek Squad, my mom trying to talk with a manager, them giving her the run around, them telling her it is an HP issue, HP telling her it is a Best Buy store issue, and so on.

My sister still does not have her computer, it has been in Best Buy’s possession since the end of May.

I have called them myself (I live out of state) trying to get some answers and receive the same run around as my mom.

Either bite the bullet and pay for the repair out of pocket, or try to escalate it up the Best Buy ladder. If the customer sends in the laptop in before the warranty expires in good faith, it shouldn’t be their fault with the servicer runs out the warranty through their inefficiency. Jenni’s mother might have also had better luck going with a local trusted tech with good recommendations or by sending the computer directly to HP for fixing.

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