Sometimes we think Gamestop is run by some sort of secret cabal of anti-videogame fanatics, and they use the store as a front to spread hatred of games and game purchasing across America.
broken
TiVo Warranty Charges $49 To Replace Defective Units After 90 Days
By 4.29.09
Sam emailed us with a complaint about TiVo: he says the customer service rep wants to charge him $50 to repair a defective HDMI port on his 5-month-old TiVo HD DVR. Sam can’t understand why he’d have to pay an additional, uncategorized fee when his box is still under warranty. We checked out the warranty details and called TiVo, and it looks like it’s a flat fee (the TiVo rep we spoke with said it was $49) that covers the cost of replacing the unit entirely—in other words, TiVo isn’t going to repair just the port and send it back to you. Note that this only covers boxes outside the first 90 days. If you’re still in the first 90 day window, replacement is free.
Dell Breaks Customer's New Laptop Remotely, Won't Send Him Replacement
By 4.20.09
Anthony has been a long-time Dell customer and has shared his positive experiences with friends and family, but that’s come to an end thanks to Dell’s abysmal customer service. It’s been one month since he first received his new Studio 15 Laptop, which worked correctly for 4 days. Since then, he’s been on the phone with Dell for a total of 14 hours, he’s watched a Dell CSR remotely break his laptop by interrupting the BIOS flash, he’s been locked out of the data on his hard drive, and there’s still no replacement laptop on the way to him. When he copied us on this email, he added, “All I wanted was the computer that I paid for long ago.”
Guitar Center Ships Broken Guitar From Another Store's Inventory, Says Too Bad, Now It's Yours
By 2.12.09
Did you know Guitar Center, Musician’s Friend, and “a few other online music retailers” all share the same centralized distribution center? That’s the explanation a Musician’s Friend CSR gave Mitch when he tried to solve the mystery of the dented, twisted-neck, not-even-from-the-right-store Fender Telecaster. It looks like Guitar Center shipped him another company’s returned item. That’s bad enough, but now Guitar Center says they won’t make good on his order because it’s beyond the 30 day return period. Hey, Guitar Center: What return period? Mitch never got the product he ordered in the first place.
Update: Musician’s Friend has responded with an apology.
KitchenAid Knives Are No Match For Lemon Grass
By 2.2.09
Max writes in: “While cutting lemon grass – yes, lemon grass, the blade of my knife snapped off in a clean shear from the handle. Keep in mind there is no bone in lemon grass.”
Samsung Stalls And Lies For A Year Over Broken Photo Frame
By 1.22.09
Dave bought his mother a Samsung digital photo frame for Christmas—Christmas a year ago, and it stopped working after just a few weeks. Since then, Dave has tried regular customer service and executive customer service, he’s waited on hold for up to 2 hours at a time, and he’s waited patiently for RMAs that are promised but never sent. Now it looks like he’s throwing in the towel: “I no longer have the time or energy to waste with them.” You win this battle, Samsung! But you do realize that Dave—a small business owner who has made large Samsung purchases in the past—will never buy another one of your products, right?
Is Silicon Solar Ripping Off Its Customers, Or Is It Just Incompetent?
By 1.12.09
Update: company co-founder Matt addresses some of the accusations in a comment below. Why are there so many complaints online about Silicon Solar? One customer, Dennis, told us how he was lied to by a salesman, then strung along by a woman in customer support until the 14-day return period had expired. A quick Google search turns up dozens of similar stories about being treated badly by customer service, receiving products that don’t work as advertised, and never being given the RMAs necessary to send items back. Writes one reviewer on DavesGarden.com, “I can’t express the anger and frustration I felt when dealing with this company.”
14 Weeks And Counting, But Limited Edition Zune Still Not Fixed
By 1.5.09
The 30-gig Zunes may have temporarily revolted last week, but Brooke’s limited edition 80-gig Zune has been MIA for over three months now, apparently lost in that magical ever-transitioning Zune world from the commercials. (It just keeps falling through floors and walls and swimming pools.) Maybe someone at Microsoft can take a look at what Brooke’s had to go through so far, and get back to her with a real answer?
Don't Even Think Of Ordering A Pizza Stone From Amazon
By 12.31.08
We’d like to share a personal story: it involves Amazon, Christmas presents, and three broken pizza stones.
Casio Stops Claiming Fingerprint Found Inside New Camera, Repairs Fully
By 10.30.08
Update on “Casio Voids Warranty, Claims There’s A Fingerprint Inside New Camera“: After Sam’s story went live on Consumerist and he got escalated at Casio, they repaired his camera fully under warranty, acknowledged their mistake, and gave him a free 8 Gig Class III SD card. Sam writes, “Once the right people found out things moved around quickly.”
Want More Than One Account On Your 'Spore' Game? Buy Another Copy
By 9.11.08
EA’s DRM spyware on the long-awaited game Spore turns out to have an added side-effect: if you live in a household with multiple players, you all have to share the same account. The game’s manual says otherwise, but after repeated queries on the EA forum, a company spokesperson confirmed this. That’s right—if you’re in a household with several potential Spore players, and you want each of them to have their own account, you will have to buy multiple copies of the game.
FedEx Breaks Your MacBook, Doesn't Deliver It, Says Your Questions Are Irrelevant
By 4.24.08
We get that accidents happen. What we don’t get is why FedEx won’t tell this guy what happened to his laptop—why it went out for delivery, why it got returned back to the warehouse, why it was then reported damaged and undeliverable, and finally why the person he was sent to for help keeps stonewalling him by responding that his questions are irrelevant.
CompUSA Sells Shattered LCD With "May Have Minor Damage" Tag
By 2.25.08
Reader and blogger John writes in to let us know that not only is CompUSA selling a broken Sony DVD player for $179.98 (that’s 40% off the sticker price,) they also have the above-picture completely %$#@ing broken LCD for only $100.
Xbox 360 Breaks Down 5 Times In A Row, But Microsoft Refuses To Replace It
By 1.22.08
Greg writes in to tell us that on January 2nd, his Xbox 360 unit broke down for the fifth time—it lasted eleven days this time, setting a new record for Shortest Period of Functionality. In the past year, it’s been out of commission for over 12 weeks total. He’s now asking for a new or refurbished unit, or else a refund, but Microsoft is determined to keep him in an extended warranty repair cycle indefinitely and won’t negotiate. Surely by this point it’s just cheaper to replace the defective unit, isn’t it?
"Courtesy Overdraft Fees" Are Bad For Consumers
By 12.21.07
Bankrate has an extensive article on “courtesy overdraft” services tied to debit cards. These services prevent your debit card transactions from being denied, but have the unpleasant effect of charging you anywhere from $20-$35 for this “courtesy.”
Amazon Is Unable To Ship A Hard Drive In Proper Packaging
By 12.19.07
Amazon should take a closer look at how they’re shipping hard drives, because the current plan just isn’t working.
