BB deserves that, and more.

In my experience with them, they are the WORST. They have tactics that would make a Mafia movie seem like a kids story.

I have had some nasty experiences with them. The last happened when I tried to buy a computer with them (in Tucson), and after I refused to buy the extended service, they told me that the item had been already sold, and they didn’t have any other computer like that.

Later that same day, I returned to the store, and saw them selling the same item.

I then decided that that would be the last time I would buy from them. And I have kept my self made promise without any regret.

Alberto

“It wasn’t until she filed the lawsuit that Best Buy seemed willing to offer something more.”

Hah, well obviously a company won’t take her seriously unless she takes out the big guns. Unfortunately, it had to come to a lawsuit when what they should have done in the first place was a) find the laptop, b) if not, then refund the full price + more. They didn’t do the first one (stolen maybe? If so, own up to it at least…) and they didn’t even refund her the full price of the laptop.

#23, +1. It’s likely not the fact that the files are gone, rather that they’re now in somebody else’s hands. The potential costs of recovering from identity theft start to mount very quickly. I, like most others, don’t condone frivolous lawsuits, however, she has already said that the number is strictly to get their attention. Not only was she mistreated, but they lost her laptop, gave her a runaround that shouldn’t have happened, and let her personal data loose in the world for weeks without telling anybody. It’s apparent that she wants people to know what type of business practices Best Buy uses when dealing with their customers; not to mention, any personal data that the customer has no means of controlling while their equipment is in the hands of the store. If any of you have never worked in a technical environment where you are dealing with non-technical people, then it may be tough to realize that there are very few people that know how to do a backup, let alone wipe a disk. People who are technically-minded tend to take it for granted that since they would wipe a disk before sending it in for service, that everybody would. It’s simply not true. Us technical folks have jobs because of the non-technical folks, just like a chef has a job because some of us can’t cook. Helping your customer is job #1. Best Buy obviously doesn’t follow this most basic of rules.

Since they eventually did The Right Thing, I will spare the maker of my laptop a mention of their name. While waiting to board a flight from Newark Airport to Sydney, AU, I discovered that the screen on my 4-month-old ultra lightweight $2,100 laptop was dead. I’d done nothing to cause that. I had treated it like a newborn baby.

When I got to SYD I contacted US Support. They gave the address of the Australian branch. When got there and handed it over, I encountered a fool who tried to tell me it was my fault but could come up with any action on my part that might have caused the problem. So I insisted he submit it to a service engineer. I got a receipt. As a long time business man I was firm in requiring, over his objection, that the receipt be detailed as to serial number, his name, his sig and on their letter-head.

A few days later an unidentified woman left a message on the answering machine at the home where I was staying. She said they were sending the laptop back unrepaired because the issue was not covered by warranty. She was specific that the unit was being sent to the address the Sydney address I’d provided.

After a week passed without a computer, I called. I couldn’t get through to anyone who knew anything about my laptop. I should mention that it also contained a great deal of software, backups, email, etc. used to manage hundreds of web sites that I host for clients in 7 countries.

When almost 3 weeks had passed and I was ready to move on, I contacted the USA support people and gave them the details of my itinerary during the next four weeks in major cities in Thailand, Malaysia and India. When I was ready to leave India for London, I emailed the USA HQ that if they failed to return my laptop by the time I got home to Jersey City in ten days, I would file a lawsuit the very next day after my arrival.

They didn’t; I did.

I sent an overnight FedEx of the suit to the computer maker. I sued for the value of the computer, the software, the information, the loss of access to the data that were important to the purpose of the trip, the added expenses of renting equipment and buying replacement software, plus a fat dollar amount for the shear annoyance of it all.

Within an hour after reported delivery of the FedEx I got phone call from their corporate attorney. He asked me to drop the suit in exchange for a replacement computer. I told him to send me a settlement agreement in draft.

That launched a ballet of exchanging revised agreements that went on for ten days until I got what I wanted, including an extended warranty of all parts and labor for 2 years. Along the way, their lawyer tried every weasel-word-game in the book, including trying to date the warranty on the new computer forom the date of the lost one and another provision that, I had I signed it, would have barred me from ever again suing them again, anywhere in the world and for any reason. They wanted me to pay the shipping cost. They refused to discuss cash compensation.

On a Thursday some ten days later I ran out of patiernce demands and set a deadline saying if I did not have a signed agreement, and the replacement computer, on my terms, in hand by Saturday morning, our discussions were over and we would only talk again at trial.

They came through.

Point is, as frivolous as that woman’s multimillion dollar suit may seem, a well-founded, solidly documented complaint in support of a legal action is the only thing a corporation respects. You can threaten all you want and have the most solid case in the world. But until they get served with a summons, you are just wasting time.

Footnote: two weeks after the settlement, I got a call from USA Tech Support. The lost computer had been returned there. They had no info about where my laptop had been. They asked me if I wanted the data on the drive. When I said yes, they sent me the entire drive and told me to keep it as a spare.

My wife had the screen tank on her laptop and desperately wanted the data available (now!). I pulled out her hard drive
(a 1-screw matter on most laptops) and popped it into a little USB housing (not too expensive, about $20) and copied the data onto our desktop system. (You still have one of *those* around these days, I hope!) The whole process took about 15 minutes and it gave us a chance to recover her files and scratch any personal data before sending the laptop off for repair.

Google for ‘2.5″ usb hd enclosure’ to see the item I’m describing, I find them invaluable…

off topic, but BB has some of the worst store policies i’ve never seen. I bought 4k worth of home audio stuff from them last Christmas, due to a big sale they had. 2 of my tower speakers came in damage and the turn around on shipping would have taken almost a month due to back order. When I saw that they had some in stock at my local store, they wouldn’t let me exchange the speakers.

They said I had to RETURN my online bought speakers from bestbuy.com and then rebuy the store one. The store speakers were 200$ more, and I asked them if they could price match their own product. They said no.

first, as a former employee of best buy, and one of the best performing stores in the country, I can really say some good things about this company. our store worked really hard to make the customers happy and we ALWAYS got compliments. it was very rare that someone had a complaint, and if they did we usually made it right with them. we never gave people grief about their service plan (unless we can see it was abused). so maybe all those stores you all are ripping on have poor management, because ours ran like clock work. our employees (for the most part) were very well educated in what ever they were selling too. I hated when people talked down to us there! if you don’t like our suggestions then get out or say no thank you. we never shoved anything at anyone, in fact the one kid that did, got fired.

so getting back to the article. many computers that need hardware serviced are sent out to a repair center. maybe it was not BB fault at all… maybe it was the shipping company our the repair center. stuff happens… she should have had a backup… and best buy needs to pay for a new computer for her (and not a POS celeron either!)end of story

My friend quit there after a week and a half. He couldn’t take it. He was disgusted when he had to charge someone 40 dollars to run and update their own AV program.

That’s right, the one that was already on their computer. They didn’t do anything but take the machine, power it up, update the AV, then click ‘scan computer.’

Oh and they didn’t give it back for a week. He left after that, he wanted to make sure they actually got the tower back.

#52 Hooray! You hit it !

While I agree that Best Buy has many impure practices, striving to ban them from your life simply makes no sense in many cases. This past weekend, I was hunting for a new monitor. Every place BESIDES Best Buy was either overpriced or out of stock. Why would I let some vendetta prevent me from getting what I needed right then? Boycott Geek Squad and the service plans. Don’t boycott the whole store. They are much better than you people give them credit for.

Folks, I’m NOT talking purses/wallets/briefcases, etc. I’m talking about your registration, insurance, heck – even your license (I’ve seen it done), up to and including any mail and/or misc. important papers, etc., stuffed in your glove box, under/between your seats. The things we don’t normally think of, or expect to be left alone, respected, inviolate. ‘Nice car, fella/ma’am. Now I know where you live/work/play, possibly spend your money (what’s this? A credit card carbon?). ‘Now me and/or my buddies can either rob you blind, connect the dots (if you haven’t just given them all to us) to steal your identity, or both.’ Or,’Now whoda’ thunk that nice valet would rumage through my glove compartment…after all he/she makes how much an hour, dear?’ Some of you are simply exercising a keen eye for the obvious, anyone who troubleshoots knows to look past what’s up in your face to verify the problem is not what’s up in your face. That the Devil truely is in the details. The small ones. The ones people, in general, tend to overlook, or don’t expect. I’m sure she didn’t expect them to lose the laptop, but she did (rightfully) expect them to make good on restitution or put forth an effort to solve the issue honestly.

RE: Dr. Phil – Yes, they are liable depending on just how the car was ‘lost’. You’d be surprised on just how ineffective that piece of paper you signed at the repair shop OR BB is in a Court of Law given the circumstances surrounding your case.

What we get to now is the ethics involved in the Repair Entity informing the owner of said property: ‘Hey Lady, youse left your purse heah, ya might wantsta pick it up. Don’ want nuthin’ ta happen to it – ya might need it later. Have a nice day.’ Behold the power of manners. Yes manners. Will the Lady bring her car back for future repairs? Probably. Why? Because the mechanic has shown her she can TRUST him with her valuable whatevers. After all folks that is what is ‘the elephant in the middle of the room’ here. Trust. We all Trust the places we RELY on to have our best interests at the core of their business, hence the importance of good to excellent customer service = repeat business. This woman trusted BB/Geek Squad to perform their job concerning her request/need with a modicum of business ethics and respestfulness to her as the customer. BB not only destroyed this woman’s trust in their company, they pretty much insulted her roundly in the process and she’s letting the world know it, as loudly as she can. To be warned. She’s also hitting them where it counts. The pocket book you say? No. Public Opinion. This hits the BIG pocket. This will have a much longer lasting effect than if they just threw some cash to shut her up (and heck, they didn’t even do that right). Does anyone remember Sony’s response to being caught with the root kit? Nah, Sony wasn’t hurt by the backlash from that. Whatever do you mean? There is no better advertising than word of mouth and she is getting the word out. Loudly. You go Girl.

End rant. No more fun. Gotta go home…

I’ve actually had this exact situation happen to me two times.

The first time I took my wife’s ipod in for service. Waited a month for them to call with a status and nothing. Finally, they confess to losing it and offer a replacement.

The second time was with a 10″ subwoofer for my home theatre. It stopped working so I took it in for replacement and they sent it to the manufacturer for repair. A few weeks later they call and tell it’s in and ready for pickup. I drive to the store and when I get there they can’t seem to find it. Well, I was obviously frustrated because it’s seems like it would be rather hard to lose an item of this size. I let the representative know that I’m not happy and leave. My phone rings before I’m able to get out of the parking lot and they ask me to come back. I come back in and they explain to me that they re-sold my repaired item and would have to give me a new one.

On another occasion, I purchased what was supposed to be a PCI express video card. I get home and try to install the thing and it won’t fit in the slot on my motherboard. I quickly realize that it’s an AGP card that must have been mis-packaged.

Anyhow, I was annoyed but figured I’d just go exchange it and everything would be good to go. Well, that was not the case. I get to the store, they scan the card, and inform me that they can’t take it back because it’s not the card that’s supposed to be in the box. I’m like WTF mate. You can sell me a mis-packaged card but I can’t return it? I quickly requested a manager in hopes that they would be more customer friendly. I was wrong again. They basically called me a liar and accused me of trying to return an item of lesser value for an item that was worth more. I was furious at this point and just left the store.

I understand their reasoning and I’m sure a lot of people try rip them off by taking advantage of their return policy. However, I had spent a lot of money with Best Buy previously and they could of simple looked at my account and taken my word for it.

Long story somewhat short, I ended up contacting their corporate office and finally got one of those guys to “do me a favor” and let me exchange the item. I went in on a day the regional manager was there and luckily for me, they didn’t have any of the same cards in stock say I got a refund (karma does exist). On top of everything, this dude was a complete dick and wouldn’t even look at me during the entire process. I haven’t shopped at Best Buy since.

I hope this women gets as much money as possible.

I think she just wanted to get a boob job out of it.

the store managers comment doesn’t surprise me. I had a real bad experience with Best Buy a year ago in Dallas. I purchased a tv for my daughter and took it out to the car. I opened the box because the tv wouldn’t fit in my car and noticed that the top corner of the tv was crushed. I immediately took it back into the store, showed to the security guy who said they would get me another. Long story short, they did not have a replacement in stock, but did not want to give my money back and basically accused me of dropping the tv. Finally got the store director to assist and yes he also accused me of dropping the tv. Note, they could hardly get the tv out of the box because all the original shipping material was in place, there was no evidence of dropping – ie blacktop residue, and I was not outside more than 3 minutes with the tv. After 30 minutes of arguing, they finally credited my card and I got out of there. I’ve not been back inside Best Buy since and will never ever spend another dollar there. I called the 1-800 Customer Service number and they could care less about my experience. Obviously they have too many other customers that are more than happy to be treated like dirt. I went down the street and bought a more expensive tv for my daughter at Sears and got decent service. In the past year I purchased a new laptop, washer & dryer and microwave and guess what – none of it at Best Buy.

It amazes me that people can complain best buy charges too much for everything, then hope that this lady gets $54 million in the same sentence. Best Buy is a hugh company, they get sued all of the time. Most lawsuits are like this and it’s just an unhappy person that abuses a horribly flawed legal system to get attention. This is why the company has a large highly paid legal staff, and why everything from adapters to cables to paper to ink costs so much.

I don’t like Best Buy. I do not like their management, their business model, or anything they stand for. They are a horrible company to work for and a horrible company to do business with.

Things like this – frivilous lawsuits and the like are the reasons that they are so horrible.

It sucks that this lady lost her laptop. The reality is though, best buy easilty services a combined 10,000 computers a day between their stores and service centers. Mistakes are bound to happen and sometimes stuff gets lost.

Sorry, that doesn’t entitle you to 54 million dollars, but a replacement and something extra for the lost time and effort should be plenty.

As far as not having any data or software backed up, and having things like your social security number and tax returns on it when the computer powered on and was working when you took it in, well, if you that stupid, you should never touch another computer again. Ever.