Dang it, Best Buy Can Tick Me Off
Posted on November 10, 2007
7 Comments
Two weeks ago I took my monitor to Best Buy to have it repaired. Originally I thought I had a video card issue, but a bit more digging showed it to be a problem with the LCD. We don’t normally buy extended warranties, but on this one we had so figured I should avail myself of the service.
The excitement started when I learned that no service work is done at the nearby local store (granted, we’re a small town….). They send them to Denver to be repaired.
“How long does that take?” I asked.
“Oh, about two weeks on average,” was the reply.
When I asked about a loaner monitor she just chuckled at me and carried mine off to the back. Heh. I wasn’t joking, but oh well, I guess we were done talking.
I borrowed a 17″ tube from the office and started to wait.
After a week I got a phone call. They’d had a chance to look at it and diagnosed it as a power-supply issue. Turns out that it can be replaced, so they ordered a new one.
A few days later I got another call; the power-supply had arrived and the repair work had commenced. I start to get anxious.
This morning I got the call — exactly 2 weeks later — that I could come down and pick up my monitor. I wasted no time heading to the store! This 17″ tube is driving me nuts.
The Geek Squad lad finds the monitor and lays some paperwork in front of me. It seems I need to sign a piece of paper that says the repairs have been completed to my satisfaction…
“How am I going to sign this when I haven’t even seen the thing out of bubble-wrap yet?” muses myself.
He offers to fire it up on the bench. I ask if he really wants to spend the next hour standing next to me as we wait to see if the problem is still there…. he counters by pointing out that I have the extended support, just come back if there are issues.
I get home and cable it up. Hit the power switch. *nothing*
Swap power cords, hit the power switch. *nothing*
Back to Best Buy I go. After getting the “stupid user” treatment, young Sparky decided that he’ll hook it up on the bench and prove me wrong. Two minutes later young Sparky wanders off to get his boss. Seems that it doesn’t work for either of them either.
Now, if you had just swapped the power supply of a LCD monitor, wouldn’t you at least fire it up on the bench and make sure it works?
Now I start the wait again. I’m assured that since it’s a “redo” it’ll go to the head of the line next week. We’ll see.
As my wife pointed out, the store name is “Best Buy”, not “Best Repair”. What was I expecting?
Tags: BestBuy, GeekSquad, monitor, repair
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7 Responses to “Dang it, Best Buy Can Tick Me Off”
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See… if you hadn’t bought the extended warranty you’d have a new monitor by now. Yeah, you’d have to pay for it, but you wouldn’t've been squinting at some 1990’s sized monitor with a tube(!!!) for the past two weeks with no end in sight.
Now you know why I don’t buy extended warranties.
“Would you like the warranty?”
“Nope. If you sold me crap the first time I just won’t buy from you the second time, and I sure won’t trust you to fix the crap you initially sold me. Thanks tho.”
Yup. I *never* buy the extended warranty. The wife bought this one for me as a gift and figured that $29 seemed reasonable.
Well, we’re getting our money’s worth, eh?
But yeah, there’s definitely a moral in this story.
Wow, I’d expect the manager to take a new one off the shelf to remedy the issue at this point. Customer Service has really hit rock bottom.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper for Best Buy at this point to simply replace it than to send it through another few weeks of pseudo-repair?
Sparky assured me that if it had to be looked at 3 times, then I automatically get a replacement. Until then…
I pulled into the Best Buy parking lot, pulled over some broken glass and immediately got a flat tire. The manager basically said it was not his problem. I’ve not been back since.
Things break, no matter WHO you buy them from, so don’t be stupid and blame Best Buy. I’ve bought crap from Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Target. Guess what? EVERYTHING breaks eventually. It’s not the retailer, it’s the manufacturer. Best Buy’s service plan is better than anybody else’s. If you don’t buy it, then you’ve gotta buy a brand new one when it breaks. So go ahead and waste money by NOT buying a service plan, and when you come in pissed off because it’s broken, we will smile and tell you “Not covered.”
@Derek — I feel your passion and am picking up a vibe that tells me you might have an opinion on the topic.
However, it would warm my heart if you were to read more than just the title before venting.