Best Buys Woes

[brett_day]

So lets share our horror stories about Best buy! Here is my current situation!

i have the extended warranty on my 7 month old sammy lcd, and thats where the problem lies! originally the panel went out, then the main board went out. Well turns out BB cannot get the mainboard that works with my new panel, and sammy no longer makes the mainboard i need to fix my set, which makes the tv un-repairable! BB told me they had done all they can and that i need samsung to fix the TV with their warranty! Well Sammy is refusing to look at the tv because Best Buy has tried to fix it. I hav a main board that is not compatible with my panel and my HD pic look like SD

i have been speaking with in home service and corp for best buy, they want to get me a replacement set but samsung are saying no go. Sammy are saying, if i see a picture then it is working within their spec even though my picture looks like crap!

Best buy have said they have done all they can do because they have replaced the parts and samsung are saying they will not repair because it is best buys problem! Best buy say it is sammy who needs to fix it...anyway...huge mess and i am stuck in the middle. BB corp does not know what to do now! they will not replace my set because they think sammy should, and sammy will not replace or repair because they believe Best Buy Should

I have been working with a great gal from BB in home service though and she is kicking some ass! she found direct numbers to sammy ERC and got them to say well if the BB tech calls us back and says the tv is not repairable then they will replace the TV. Now that the tech has done that, Samsung wants to get a 3rd part out to verify the set it not repairable, when before they did not want to even touch it! I have had BB deny replacement 2 times now because technically under their warranty it is not a lemon (has to be same problem fixed 3 times apparently) tomorrow is supposedly D -Day and i should find out either way! I have a feeling both BB and Sammy will refuse to replace the set! What are my options then? I guess contact my DA Consumer Affairs and BBB?

Anyone else have similar experiences?

[jw]

bottom line, they sell them warranties as they are very profitable. I hear nothing but horror stories. For as overpriced as they are, I would expect and demand top NOTCH service.
I got the same 400.00+ warranty that CC offered from squaretrade.com for 199.00. There are random coupon codes out there for the plans as well. My sister put a plan on her wii for 12.99 for 3 years vs the 2 year plan for 60.00 at CC. I know I am using CC as an example, but we don't have a BB and its pretty much the same load of crap.

I would let everyone know that they are a rip off
http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchre...&Search=Search

just my 2¢

[red_5ive]

Sorry to hear about your TV. Hope they get it resolved. But yeah, that no lemon law requires a third fix for the same problem before they have to replace it.

The only thing I've had go bad on me under warranty was a 360... no surprise there. Luckily I had the 2 yr replacement plan, and BB had a gift card for the full amount (including tax) to me within 3 weeks which I used toward a PS3 so I was happy :-) Their in-store customer service is another story. I normally don't ask for assistance unless it's something simple like a price/stock check, otherwise the majority of them don't know squat. I've called an associate a 4 letter word in front of customers because after asking him for a price on a laptop (no shelf tag), his only response was "I'm on lunch", never once looking at me as he walked by. Lucky for him he didn't look back. I wouldn't expect someone to help me during lunch break, but at least have the courtesy to say something like, "sir, I'm on my lunch break at the moment, but I'll get someone to assist you." ID10T. I try to avoid BB entirely, but friends/family have gotten into a habit of giving me gift cards for computer fixes and custom brew apps and stuff. Anyway, I could share more stories, but I think this website says it all:

http://www.ihatebestbuy.com.

[Slackr89]

No situations but whenever i go there i cringe at the checkout because the program they use is really outdated (looks like a BSoD) and extremely slow, once had to wait 10 minutes for the program to do w/e it was thinking of...not too mention there moniters are from prob the 90's. You'd think that a electronics store would be able to have top notch computers/programs for their tills.

[Forrestandjen07]

I only get bestbuy warinties for game consoles, has those have ben vary reliable for it

[jw]

Originally Posted by Slackr89

No situations but whenever i go there i cringe at the checkout because the program they use is really outdated (looks like a BSoD) and extremely slow, once had to wait 10 minutes for the program to do w/e it was thinking of...not too mention there moniters are from prob the 90's. You'd think that a electronics store would be able to have top notch computers/programs for their tills.

that must be the ones in Canada as the ones I have been in are new and work fast

[Slackr89]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

that must be the ones in Canada as the ones I have been in are new and work fast

ya it must be a Canadian exclusive lol. i try to go to futureshop more often now but its alot further away than best buy. Well actually they are building a new futureshop thats gonna be about 20min closer to me than best buy so that a bonus.

[allstar780]

thats hilarious Slackr, the Futureshop near me has the same kind of till setup as the best buy you describe... and the sad part is that the monitors look older than the building itself. by the way... i see you live in edmonton... any recommendations for shops in the city for speakers???

[gvortex7]

To be clear, Best Buy's no lemon exchange rule states that the unit has to have 3 previous "valid" repairs (no fault founds, non-repairs don't count) and a 4th verified defect before they authorize a swap. It does NOT have to be the same defect.

[Beta Man]

I put my projector on a credit card so I could get the 3rd party warranty through them

[Chocolatejas]

If you can't get anywhere and this is not your main TV hold out 5 months until the 1 year is up. BB will have to replace or give you credit for what you paid.

I had an Ipod mini and after 2 and a half years the battery went dead. Took it to BB they had me pick out a brand me one. I had something similar with a cell phone as well. Warranties are not always a "ripoff" you can be put in limbo in that 1st year though.

[stockstar1138]

ill share a best buy horror story and its actually not the employees fault it was the consumers.

so im at best buy buying a laptop and im standing in a big long customer service line to check out. best buy as 3 people working the counter, which is good. it took nearly an hour to get through these 3 people. Heres why.

1. The first lady is about 70 years old, she is buying a computer. She is senile. She is almost ready to check out when she asks the women if there are any computer games for her computer box. the service rep informs her that her computer comes with the typical games on a PC. The women then asks if her grandkids would like those games, because she has lots of grandkids and knows that they love those videogames. She goes on a bit about her grandkids and then leaves to go find computer games and im like WTF can you do that. She comes back some how with Doom and Quake I believe. Im like this is unreal, there is a 70 year old women trying to buy Doom and Quake. She then asks the women if her grandkids would like these games. The women is like how old are your grandkids and the grandma is like 5-12. I nearly lost it.

2. Now there is another man, probably about 50. He bought a lot of stuff, he bought an HDTV, a computer, a printer and I want to say a blu-ray player too. He gets up there and checks out. He looks over his receipt and goes on to argue for nearly 45 min. that the sales rep said the printer was $129.99 and he was charged $139.99 and he wants his $10 discount. He was literally buying 4k worth of stuff and is arguing about $10.

3. He was just weird, I couldn't tell what he was doing, but he also took forever.

[Wingman1977]

I personally have never had a bad shopping experience shopping at BB but I know many others have. So much that there's a site called IhateBestBuy.com and bestbuysux.com where you can post your horror stories.

[Adhamhnon]

It may have changed, but check the fine print of your warranty. I had a laptop with a similar warranty and the screen went wonky, they dicked me around for weeks until I read the fine print where it said "If we can not fix the product within 6 weeks, we will provide you with a complete replacement." I went to the store with that, they tried to dick me around some more, and I told them that since it's a legal contract, give me my new laptop, or I'm contacting a lawyer. 20 minutes later... I walked out with my new laptop. So definately read all your warranty details.

[olds403]

If the tv is 7 months old and still under factory warranty, why would you use the extended warranty from BB. Maybe I'm missing something but doesn't the extended warranty kick in after the factory warranty expires? You should have been dealing with samsung all along instead of going through best buy.

[quirkmanly]

Originally Posted by Adhamhnon

It may have changed, but check the fine print of your warranty. I had a laptop with a similar warranty and the screen went wonky, they dicked me around for weeks until I read the fine print where it said "If we can not fix the product within 6 weeks, we will provide you with a complete replacement." I went to the store with that, they tried to dick me around some more, and I told them that since it's a legal contract, give me my new laptop, or I'm contacting a lawyer. 20 minutes later... I walked out with my new laptop. So definately read all your warranty details.

I had a similar experience with a 2 year old CRT TV a few years back. After much farting around with some pretty poor techs, they conceded the multi color rainbows on either side of my screen weren't actually meant to be there and ordered a replacement part. After 41 days they called and said the part was available (hrrmmmphhhh!), but when the guy arrived to fit it he couldn't find it in his van, so I pointed out to him the six week condition on the warranty. He immediately called in, spoke to his manager and had a swap-out sanctioned.

[brett_day]

so i just got off the phone wih best buy! now this is crazy! Samsung are requesting that a 3rd party be sent to my house to look at the set and deem it unrepairable.....the 3rd party is best buy and best buy are sending out the same tech who deemed it not repairable in the first place, then he has to fax to samsung again that the set is not repairable then sammy will start the replacement part of this whole ordeal! It is insane how many hoops you have to jump through....i am getting a $50 best buy gift card though for my troubles (well whoopdi doo)

[brett_day]

Originally Posted by olds403

If the tv is 7 months old and still under factory warranty, why would you use the extended warranty from BB. Maybe I'm missing something but doesn't the extended warranty kick in after the factory warranty expires? You should have been dealing with samsung all along instead of going through best buy.

best bu warranty starts from day one, basically when you use the best buy warranty when the tv is still under warranty from samsung, samsung ust uses best buy as the 3rd paty rpair center rather than one of the local ma and pa repair centers.

[gvortex7]

Originally Posted by brett_day

best bu warranty starts from day one, basically when you use the best buy warranty when the tv is still under warranty from samsung, samsung ust uses best buy as the 3rd paty rpair center rather than one of the local ma and pa repair centers.

Actually, it doesn't. Within the first year (most of the time), the unit is covered by factory warranty and would be either repaired under F/W or a return authorization would be given by the manufacturer if the unit is deemed unrepairable. Unless the unit was surged damaged, then Best Buy's PSP (extended warranty) would automatically kick in. But it seems that's not the case with your unit.

So, theoretically you could have dealt with Samsung from the get go and then this whole mess may have been avoided in the first place. However, you obviously didn't know that, so now it's a moot point.

[brett_day]

Originally Posted by gvortex7

Actually, it doesn't. Within the first year (most of the time), the unit is covered by factory warranty and would be either repaired under F/W or a return authorization would be given by the manufacturer if the unit is deemed unrepairable. Unless the unit was surged damaged, then Best Buy's PSP (extended warranty) would automatically kick in. But it seems that's not the case with your unit.

So, theoretically you could have dealt with Samsung from the get go and then this whole mess may have been avoided in the first place. However, you obviously didn't know that, so now it's a moot point.

obviously i did know that seeing as in the PSP plan from best buy it says the plan is effective from day one....

i did not want to deal with samsung it is best buy who i paid an extra $200 to for the warranty