Anti-Best Buy Brigade

by Heidi on October 18, 2007

So two months ago, I sent my laptop away. It wasn’t holding a charge because i had accidentally dropped it. So. I brought it into Best Buy to fix it because i a. thought it was a simple problem. b. thought it could be fixed in store. c. have a 3 year warranty on the laptop that i paid $300 for.Now, given that Best Buy is a multi-million dollar corporation most likely, they probably train their customer service reps to be very detailed oriented.

Over the past two months, i have found that this is not so. It started about three weeks after i sent it away,

lady: “your hard drive needs to be replaced”
me: why?
lady: *giggles* it doesn’t say.
me: well i want to know why it needs to be replaced.
lady: well we can backup any information for a charge starting at $259
me: well, i don’t want to lose all my information before i know exactly why my hard drive needs to be replaced
lady: well can you approve a waiver, i’ll a make a note telling them to call you.
me: i won’t approve anything until i know why it needs to be replaced.
lady: well theyre all gone for the weekend so i’ll have someone call you on monday and explain the problem.

a week later….i call to check the status because no one had called me yet.dude: it says here the hard drive has been replaced me: !!!!!! WHAT?!!??I go ahead and explain the story. This guy sounds not much older than twelve so he tells me to go talk to the store. That i do.During my dealings with the store i became acquainted with a middle aged black dude named Darrell. He’s probably the only one who tried to understand my frustration and im a bit upset that he wasn’t there tonight.So now i know, a. i need to make sure to tell them (whoever them is because no one can ever seem to get in touch with the repair warehouse) to make sure to fix my cord because that was apparently what the original problem was anyhow and b. my hard drive was indeed replaced.Darrell begins to tell me that (this is all while trying to get my hard drive back for me – apparently after they take them out they drill a hole through them then throw them away. Greeeaaatttt) he’ll try to get my hard drive back but most likely it won’t happen. Also, it is possible it may come back without an OS. Okay.

My pissed level has stayed steady at about a 6.5 through all this and now its up to like a 8.So tonight i go in for my once/week visit to best buy to check on my laptop. Its finally back! It was originally due back on October 4th. They finished it on October 5th or so, so they’re running a little behind on the EDA (estimated date of arrival) but thats okay cause i had boyfriends shittacular vaio.

But tonight the dude i dealt with was…simply put the most incompetent fuck ever. EVER. I can’t even describe how frustrating he was because he was apparently outsourced from another store into this one and had no idea what the situation was so by the time he was handing back my laptop i was all kinds of pissed (think a 20 on a scale of 1-10) So i find out in about 45 minutes time, that not only does it NOT have an Operating System, but also, the guy told me to check to see if the battery works with my cord. Uhhh excuse me Mr. I don’t know what i’m doing fucker, buuuttt you have my cord. “well sometimes cords get separated.” THAT IS BEYOND UNACCEPTABLE!!!! I have, over the past two months, signed over my laptop, signed away my rights to my data and lost everything and now you’re telling me you lost my god damned mother fucking cord too??!!!! What the hell!!!!! So he starts telling me to calm down because I’m pissed. I’m beyond pissed, if i had waited another five minutes i would have been like a cat lady in the store throwing bags and shit around. But i didn’t get that far, mostly because i was afraid of getting thrown out of the store. So okay, they find a replacement cord, and then give me my receipt to sign. I didn’t want to sign it only because there was no way to tell if the actual problem had been fixed. “Fine you can take it as is” No dude, i want you to guarantee that this piece of shit is fixed for what i brought it in for TWO MOTHER FUCKING MONTHS AGO!!! He tells me to calm down again. I give in and sign the stupid piece of paper anyhow because i realize it really doesn’t make a damn difference. I’m trying to sell it anyhow. So i grumpily clamp out of the store, vowing never to shop there ever again – not even for the $5 dvd’s – glare at the guy who looks suspiciously at my laptop and think “buddy if you ask me anything i’ll hit you in the face with this 7 lb piece of shit.”

SO i get home, tell boyfriend the story of woe, and we decide to put it up on Ebay. I go find the box, the paperwork and realize, that the dude told me to use the recovery discs. Unfortunately, with the newer HP’s you’re supposed to make your own. Or rather, you don’t need discs. The harddrive, it has a feature where you can press F11 and apparently that takes care of it. But this harddrive is from who knows who’s asshole and that doesn’t work.

So thanks to best buy, until further notice, i have a $1,000 paperweight. I will never ever ever ever go there ever again. This was beyond incompetent customer service, it was just unacceptable. The lack of cohesiveness stories. I understand that the dude tonight was outsourced to my store. But, the details on the record, the lack thereof rather, just made dealing with them so difficult and frustrating and just gah.I got so pissed i shook and i cried. Yes i cried in a store. out of anger. I am sucha girl. At least i found this site to make me feel better: best buy sux

So now, i wrote that all last night. Now i am on le hold with Best Buy – for once the customer service girl is actually pleasant and speaks english (double score!)

I guess i’m just disappointed that they:

a. lost my cord. and passed it off as “sometimes that happens”

b. didn’t even give me the option of paying the $300 to back up the info because stupid bitch i talked to didn’t record anything.

c. gave me my laptop back and couldn’t even GUARANTY that it would be fixed. And now it’s not. Seriously…this sucks. A lot.

update i was told to go back into the store. Guh. Stupid stupid stupid stupid.

update again: Now i’m told i’ll have to *most likely* pay for not only the operating system but also them installing it. Uhhhh in your dreams :P

Effing best buy. Haaaa-rumph.

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  • http://www.sixexits.com Ashlie

    My blood pressure shot up just reading you post! Holy crap. I would have done the same exact thing except my husband would of had to pull my claws out of someones neck. People are so incompetent. Next computer I buy will be a Mac.

    • Justin

      Sorry for diggin this out of the grave, but i just read this post. And Ashlie your just about as incompetent as the rest of them. Your ignorance level specificially. Buying a Mac over a PC specifically because of Best Buy customer service, (which sucks ass btw) or the belief that it will last longer, not needing a replacement hard drive, or cord. HAHAHAHahahaha,.,. your so mistaken by Fan boy hype and other ingnorant folks who don’t know. First im going to say the parts in the mac are the same as those in a pc. Second if you purchase parts or anything MAC related your emptying your wallet 4x faster. and Third. the MAC OS OSX 10.4 and beyond work on a pc. as a matter of fact, I have an HP DV7 laptop sitting in front of me now, that dual boots both MAC and PC when you power it on. NATIVELY. So again sorry for diggin this dead post up but seriously I want to punch children in the face for being so ignorant.

  • http://senatorheidi.livejournal.com legallyheidi

    yep. I’m in the process of getting one…soon…ish. like next week. Thank goodness. I just want a functioning laptop :( :( :(

  • http://michelle-and-the-city.blogspot.com Michelle

    that is freakin insane. i hate them for you.

  • http://blonderthanyou.wordpress.com suicide_blond

    omg..i had a reallly similar thing happen a few years ago… and just thinking about it makes me crazy… and now im am crazy from reading this!!…sorrry.. rrrgh.. bahstahds…
    xoxo

  • best buy employee

    Hi to all the people who shop at BESTBUY. I get number of complains to best buy from customers and honestly speaking the customer is right. Best buy does nothing to help out customers they are only intrested in the SERVICE PLANS. They don’t care about people. Store managers are never avalible and managers that are on call are in parking lots or hidden parts of the store FLIRTING with employees and trying to get laid. Yes its true i have seen it with my own eyes. Word of thought don’t shop there. never buy serivce plans.

  • Pingback: ADAM J SCHMIDT

  • HAHAHA

    You shouldn’t have been a dumb ass and dropped your laptop…

  • Best Buy Employee

    You dropped your laptop, and Best Buy warranties explicitly say they don’t cover accidental damage, so don’t be surprised that you have to pay for things.

  • Melissa James

    I had the same experience with Best Buy about 3 years ago, my computer that I bought from them was an HP Pavilion a808x Desktop.

    When I brought it home and got it all hooked up the supposed to be brand new PC would not work!
    So I took it back and yes I did buy the warranty from BB!
    The Geek Squad diagnosed and said that the hard drive was a bad one!
    They replaced and did not partition operating system on the hard drive.
    I also blame HP for selling shit,with no recovery disks, My hp went on the blink the other day, just one week from me starting school and also needing it for my taxes!!
    I call to get recovery disks and when I format and try to install the recovery it will not recover so guess what I need to replace the hard drive again.
    You should not have admitted to dropping the PC, but that is beside the point, when you pay that much for a pc and also buy the warranty from BB they should have been kissing your ass to make things right!!
    It is a screwed up world that is all about money and paperwork! I will not purchase a PC from BB again!

  • dAWN

    BTW, dont ever buy anything at best buy. they lie to get you to buy then tell you it sucks to be you when you figure out they sell you a defective rpoduct, assholes, the lady even said i threatened her when all i said was, if i have to bring it back again be prpared, i was like wtf, sweetheart if that a threat then my real threa twould get me 10-20 in leven worth.lmao

  • BB worker

    I work at best buy and also have a lap top and purchased the 300 dollar plan for 3 years, havent had to use it but I do know many of my friends who have gone thru laptops that got new ones of ones replaced easily, sorry to hear that you had a bad experience. I know sometimes when I talk to people about plans or what is covered and such people tune out, not saying you did this but I know that does happen, just sucks u had a bad experience

  • Another Best Buy Employee

    I have to figure that this problem varies from store to store.. you have to remember that employees of any store are people, and a good majority of people are idiots.

    Best Buy isn’t the problem, the problem are the people that you dealt with.. in my experience working at best buy so far, they’ve done nothing to help people out wbith similar problems.. there was actually one dude that bought a laptop along with a service plan, and came back in about a week later claiming that one of his friends spilled a beer and DRENCHED his computer… because he had the warranty, the store replaced it.

    Stores like best buy will always have stories like this because of the simple fact that they’re so massive, and employ so many people.. but to be honest, and speaking from personal experience and not as a best buy employee.. I wouldn’t even bother with a service plan.. spend a little time surfing the web and educating yourself about the technology you invest in, and you should be good to go if you run into a problem.

    (And a side note to Ashlie: Mac vs PC is not the issue here.. the only real difference between the two is the operating system. You’ll run into the same problems with any computer.. no technology is perfect.)

  • Dawn

    I also have had several problems with Best Buy! I have to mention that I have spent thousands of dollars at the store only to be let down. I will after my last experience NEVER buy anything from there again. I recently bought a brand new dvd player which cost $300 and of course when we bought we bought their stupid service plans. We used the dvd player twice and it quit working and wouldn’t read discs, so of course I took it back wanting it to be replaced since it was brand new. Of course they wouldn’t replace it they had to send it to the company. So finally agreeing to send it off to the company I told the lady helping me that the last time I sent something in the get fixed I got it back all scratched up. She said she would make sure that she would make a note that there were no scratches on the dvd player. When I went to go pick it up over a month later because they apparently had to replace the drive, which a new dvd player that costs $300 should work more than twice, the dvd player had two big scratches on the top and the face is all scratched. Me being really pissed off pointed all the scratches out and told her that this is not how I dropped it off and I’m not taking it home like this. She even tried to wipe off the scratches!! Come on! She didn’t even apoligize just said I don’t know how this happened. Well, I do lady! When they were fixing it the were not careful and did not repect that it belonged to someone else. So now they are sending it back to the company so they can now replace the cover!! I have to go another month or longer without a dvd player. So, for $300 I got a dvd player that doesn’t work and is now scratched and haven’t got to use it more than twice. The thing that really makes me mad is that they didn’t even care or try to make things better. Best Buy sucks and don’t buy products from them. Also, I had to send in a Sony digital camera to get fixed and they lost it and I had to fight with them for months before they finally replaced it.

  • no name

    i think it’s funny seeing people saying they are getting a mac. Good luck getting the same performance with a twice as expensive computer. and yes, you can still get viruses.

  • AB

    Two things:

    1) It’s not Best Buy’s fault that your computer didn’t come with a recovery disk. I’m willing to bet they told you that it didn’t come with one upon purchasing it, but you opted not to have them create them for you. Also FYI: Hardly ANY computer manufacturer includes recovery disks anymore. It’s just not standard – and you do need to make them yourself, in case of an issue such as this.

    2) Back up your data. It’s not Best Buy’s, or anyone but your own, responsibility to ensure that you have backed up your data. That is why they make external hard drives – technology is unpredictable and no one can guarantee the safety of your files, photos, etc – unless you back it up regularly.

    3) You should have fought more. I’m willing to bet you could have gotten the computer exchanged for a brand new one if you had asked to speak with a manager or called the corporate office – it WAS actually their fault for taking the cord to begin with, because they’re not supposed to keep them. And it was also their fault if the issue wasn’t fixed. If the issue was, at that point, that the cord wasn’t there – that also could have been taken care of.

  • Justin

    f u for not accepting my post

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