I have a first generation Nintendo Wii and I recently bought the game Boom Blox for it. When I put the game in to start playing it would often lock up at the health warning screen and I would have to restart my Wii by unplugging it since no other method would work.
repairs
Nintendo Repairs Out-Of-Warranty Wii In One Day, For Free
By 9.12.08
Chairman Of Advantage Rent-A-Car Investigates 49-Day Repair Claim, Waives It
By 9.11.08
Earlier this summer, we wrote about how Paul was being gouged by Advantage Rent-A-Car on repairs that had to be made after his rental was damaged in a hit and run. Paul was willing to pay the repairs on the vehicle, but Advantage wanted almost double the amount. After we posted his story, Paul was able to get in touch with a higher-up at Advantage who passed him along directly to the Chairman. Here’s what happened.
Why I Quit Staples Easy Tech
By 9.11.08
Sick of seeing customers screwed over and billed for unnecessary repairs by undertrained technicians, a Staples tech writes in to tell the incident that made him quit. See this picture? This is the floor model computer where he was told to copy all of a customer’s hard drive data as part of their diagnostic process, then he had to leave the area and leave all the data up on the screen for any customer to see or snag with a thumb drive. The full story, inside…
GE Promises Free Inspection And Repair, Then Charges You, Then Threatens To Send You To Collections
By 8.14.08
Reader Zack is frustrated with General Electric because they offered to inspect and repair his washing machine as a courtesy, then after they came by they stuck him with the bill. Now they’re threatening to send him to a collection agency.
Whatever Acer Is Doing To Your Laptop Is The Opposite Of Repairing It
By 8.13.08
Reader Alex bought an Acer laptop with a 3 year extended warranty, and honestly, we lost count of how many times he’s sent it in to Acer for repairs — but every time Acer sends it back it seems to get a little bit less functional. Now he’s finally had enough and is demanding a replacement. This has lead to a 5 month stand-off in which Acer is refusing to send him a replacement because it would be a “downgrade” from his current broken laptop. Alex has already replaced the laptop and was going to give up. We’re his last hope…
CompUSA Repairs Laptop After New TAP Company Refuses
By 8.7.08
Assurant Solutions, the company that’s supposed to be honoring any outstanding TAP agreements with former CompUSA customers, likes to refuse service for arbitrary reasons. Luckily for TAP-holders, CompUSA has said it will honor any TAP agreements if Assurant doesn’t. The guy with the broken laptop wrote back to let us know that CompUSA indeed came through for him after every attempt he made with Assurant ended in rejection.
Geek Squad Cuts The Cables Inside Your Computer Instead Of Backing Up Your Data?
By 7.31.08
Reader Kevin forwarded us this story from Dave, a I.T. consultant friend of his who helps people with their computer problems in exchange for hardware donations to the school he works at. Dave’s “propane guy” said he recently took a desktop computer to Geek Squad after it failed, and “great Geek Squad guys were AWESOME and had been able to retrieve all of his family pictures for him,” before selling him a new laptop. Dave offered to take a look at the desktop and try to retrieve the rest of the important files– the “7 years of QuickBooks 2005 data” that Best Buy wasn’t able to save, but when Dave opened up the computer he says he was surprised to see that someone had cut some important cables.
Thanks, Creative Labs, For Returning My Subwoofer. May I Please Have My Other 7 Speakers Now?
By 7.26.08
Creative Labs might have fixed Bernard’s GigaWorks S750 sound system after he sent it back a second time for repairs, but Bernard won’t know anytime soon because Creative only returned his subwoofer. Missing in action are the seven other speakers Creative asked him to return, along with the system’s power cord, cables, and control pod.
What Is CompUSA's TAP Service Like, Post-CompUSA? Not So Great
By 7.22.08
(Update: The new CompUSA contacted us to say they will make sure all TAP agreements from the previous incarnation of the company are properly honored.) Remember when CompUSA shut down? Before it emerged from its ashes to fill my inbox with daily email circulars, it announced that Assurant Solutions, the company that underwrote its Technology Assurant Plan (TAP) extended-warranty service, would be honoring all remaining TAP agreements. Now a Consumerist reader, Tom, has a problem with the power cable on his laptop, and Assurant Solutions says they won’t replace the frayed cable: “[The CSR] tells me that he is unable to help me any further since the damage isn’t accidental.” Apparently “honoring” means “we’ll take your calls, but turn you down.”
Best Buy Tries To Install Remote Starter, Wrecks New Nissan Altima
By 7.19.08
While cramming a remote starter into Andrew’s new Nissan Altima, Best Buy managed to break the car’s locking system, window controls, and a brake light. Andrew hauled the crippled car back to the dealership, which immediately blamed Best Buy for burning out the car’s wiring, and told Andrew that the parasitic system had to go. Best Buy defended their quality workmanship, and refused to issue a refund unless Andrew signed a waiver absolving them of any responsibility for damaging the car.
10 Secrets To Getting Better Tech Support From Asus
By 7.16.08 — Updated: 3.18.13
An Asus technician has stepped forward out the shadows to give us the 10 insider tips for getting through and getting better and faster tech support from the computer and computer parts maker. Some things just can’t be fixed though, but it’s at least to know the soul-crushing math they’re using to destroy the customer experience. Considering how bad their tech support is, you’re definitely going to need these tips…
Car Stereo Company Tries To Install GPS, Causes $12,398.54 Damage To Your Car
By 6.30.08
Reader Brandon took his recently purchased 1996 BMW M3 to a car stereo installation company to have a stereo, speaker set, and GPS system installed. When he got his car back, he noticed that the climate control system was no longer functioning the way it used to. Hot air was leaking from his air ducts when he selected cold air. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get the car stereo installation shop to repair the damage they caused, Brandon took the car to some BMW experts and found out that the botched installation had caused over $10,000 in damage to his car. Brandon then tried to get the car stereo shop’s insurance company to pay for the repairs, but they denied his claim on the basis that procedures used for the installation were typical. Brandon says he then took the car stereo shop to small claims court. but the judge ruled against him because the car stereo shop employees claimed that he entered into a oral contract to release them from liability in exchange for a partial refund. Brandon claims he never entered into such a contract. Read his story inside.
This Repaired Acer Laptop Needs More Screen Smudge
By 6.21.08
Joelle expected Acer to repair her chronically overheating laptop, not coat the inside of its screen with “a sort of brown dripping.” Acer insists that their shipping company caused the internal screen damage, and won’t repair the laptop unless Joelle pays up.
Simplehuman's Excellent Customer Service Makes Other Companies Look Like Garbage
By 6.12.08
Pani just had an astoundingly good bit of customer service from aptly-named simplehuman—makers of those elegant-but-expensive trash cans—and wrote to let us know about it. Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, and every cable, cellular, and telephone company, you might want to print this out and pass it around your CSR executive offices.
Hungry HP Repair Dept Captures Another Laptop
By 6.12.08
You gotta hand it to Hewlett Packard—they’re able to improvise quickly when it comes to making up excuses. Dustin wrote to let us know that so far, over the three weeks that HP has had his laptop in for repair, he’s heard these reasons for why they haven’t sent it back yet:
- laptop warranty voided because of dog hair under keyboard
- repair placed on hold because they need to reformat the hard drive
- hard drive needs to be replaced
- OS could not be replaced because product sticker in back was gone
It may not surprise you to find out that Dustin sent in the notebook to have the AC jack repaired, because it had started to come loose and the power cord wouldn’t stay securely connected. The keyboard, hard drive, and OS were all just fine.
Sears Auto Sucks As Hard As Sears Repair
By 6.10.08
While Sears Auto may not be the division of Sears that leaves you without hot water for three weeks, or refuses to refund the money on the TV they never delivered, they are the division that magnificently screws up changing a tire then tries to bill you for the labor it took them to fix their mistake. Reader R writes in to tell us when he needed to replace a damaged tire, Sears Auto had the cheapest price. After three hours and two different tires, he left Sears Auto with the damaged tire he drove in with. Sears botched the first attempt at a tire change by giving him a tire in the wrong size, then presented him with a bill for the additional labor it took them to get it right. When R balked at paying to fix their mistake, the manager on duty put the busted tire back on the car. Classy! Read his story, inside.
Advantage Rent-A-Car Says 49 Hours In Shop Equals 22 Days
By 6.9.08
Paul is being cheated by Advantage Rent-A-Car in one of the most transparent, odious scams we’ve seen a rental car company try to pull. After a thief damaged his rental on a recent trip, Advantage says because the car was in the shop for 49 hours, he owes them 22 days worth of rent. “I asked how they got that number and they said they use a 4 hour work day, which is laughable! Even with that it would only be 12 days. Even if you are generous and give them 2 weekends it only gets to 16!”
