A 'Gift' From BestBuy (a long story, as a warning to everyone)
So, about 4 years ago I decided to treat myself to a new TV (the cash wasting kind you can hang on the wall). In the end, I was about $5,000 lighter, but I had the safety and security of a $500 piece of paper saying I was covered for the next 4 years.
Jump ahead a little less than 4 years later (6 mo. ago), my screen goes black, reverting the once impressive 4,000:1 contrast ratio to a much less enjoyable 1:1. No fear, I have a piece of paper! I call and they promptly send 4 guys out to take apart my TV. Unfortunately, there's nothing obvious to report. They say they'll be back with replacement parts. A month goes by, I get a call. The part is here. They come, install it, and I get nothing. They'll order a bigger part. A month goes by, I get a call. They install it, I still get nothing. I feel I should be inching closer to a new TV as per the terms of the Service Plan, What I learn is BestBuy will replace every part of the TV, one by one, on the scale of least expensive to most expensive, until the set is fixed.
Luckily, there are only 6 parts you can replace in one of these things. They keep coming with bigger and bigger boxes, the repair guys always telling me "This will not fix it" and "Your plasma has gone bad, and we don't know if they'll authorize replacing the $3,000 part." After 4 months, I'm down to 2 parts left, so I call to make an appointment to replace the main board. This is where I start to have problems. The operator asks me what days would be good for me, I say Monday or Tuesday, she says the repair men are only available in my area on Wednesday through Saturday. I call BS, as the previous 4 times had always been on Mon or Tues. A long scheduling battle ensues, and I end up caving and taking a day off work to be here with them. Thursday rolls around, I get a call..."Our Tech is ill, would it be possible to reschedule?"
"No!"
"We have an opening in 2 weeks, is Friday okay?"
"No!"
"Great, you'll get a call that morning setting up a time between 8am and 7pm."
They don't seem to understand I'll be in NYC for 2 weeks, and apparently, don't care. I'd never had a problem setting up an appointment before, and by now I've seen the repair guy (*Chris) enough that he's given me his cell# to call to talk to him direct instead of BestBuy Customer Service. But, work calls and I'm off for a job in New York (taking my mind as far away from my TV as it can go). Return home, call *Chris, and ask him when we can get this done. He's booked for 2 weeks, but can get it done the first Monday of April. I ask why he's working Mondays again, he tells me he's always worked Mondays. I don't get into it then, but set up the appointment for April.
The day comes, I welcome him in and start asking why I've been getting jerked around so suddenly. He asks what I'm talking about. I go through the whole not working Monday or Tuesday, he laughs and says his days off have always been Saturday and Sunday. Me mentions he thought it was odd I was scheduled for a Thursday. I ask him if he's feeling better now, he has no idea what I'm talking about. I tell him they called and said he was sick, he tells me his boss called him and he was told I canceled 'cause I had to run to NYC. I'm understandably pissed, and he says don't worry about calling customer service, and to call him and set up a time and I won't have to deal with them any more. That makes it easier for me to deal with, so I agree to cutting out the inept middle man.
Main board doesn't fix it, and, as he said 4 months ago, they have to authorize the replacement of the plasma panel. Odds are, this $3,000 dollar piece will be more than they're willing to pay, and they'll just give you a new TV. So, I wait, another 3 weeks, then get a call from BestBuy Customer Service. The part is in and they'd like to set up a time for repair. I politely tell them to piss off and call *Chris. He sets up a time, and we're set. He shows up, opens the box, and sees they have mislabeled, mispackaged, and misordered the part. This one was for a 37", not a 42". Fine, letting him deal with corporate makes my life that much easier, and since I've gotten used to staring at the wall...
2 weeks pass as I'm waiting for the real part, then I get a letter in the mail from BestBuy. It's a bill for $2,000 for a 37" plasma panel. I hit the roof and call their 800 number...again. They try to tell me the part isn't covered under my service plan since it's for a 37", not my 42". Arguing with these people on the phone is like trying to teach my dog algebra, so I tell them to fix their mistake, or call my lawyer.
Hang up the phone, throw the bill away. Another 2 weeks later I get a call from *Chris, he says the part is in, he's checked it, it's the right one, and this will be the last step. I thank him and ask him to set up the appointment. As he's putting it in the computer, he stops, says he can't book a reservation 'cause they've put a stop on all my repairs due to an unpaid bill. I ask him if it has details about the bill, he says 'yes,' I ask if he can read the details, he says 'yes,' I ask if he has an opinion on those details...there's a pause, followed by 'Oh You've GOT To Be F$#@!ng KIDDING Me!' He says he's calling the head of the repair division and apologized profusely for all the bullshit. I say I would appreciate a quick resolution to this and he agrees, as by now he's as sick of the BS as I am. A day or so later he calls back and says the charge has been removed, by his bosses boss. They even tried to argue with him over the charge, and he stood by me. Good guy, IMHO. He says it'll take a couple days but as soon as he's allowed he'll put me in as soon as humanly possible. So I get a call from him early the next week, he says 'Ok, we got it...May 27th, AM, Last possible service call...Promise."
Done deal, I'm anxious, still a week away but...damn...enoughs enough already. Early morning the 26th, my phone rings. I don't answer it, but check my voicemail a couple hours later. It's BestBuy Customer Service. A recorded message tells me "We are unable to complete your service scheduled for tomorrow, May 27. It is important that you contact us in regards to this service schedule. Please call 888-BestBuy to talk with one of our Customer Service Specialists." I call *Chris again, hopefully he'll know whats up. He says everything is the same on his end, he hasn't heard of any changes, and suggests I call them to find out if they give a reason, while he calls his boss to find if there's a problem with replacing the plasma panel (thinking they decided it wasn't worth the cost). So I call...go through all the automated pushbutton menu's, and finally get a person. She quickly tells me "We're sorry, sir, but the service plan on this unit expired on 5/23. We are no longer obligated to perform any service on the unit. We will provide you with the names of authorized service centers and you can pursue repair at your leisure."
UnFU!<%ing Believable. Now I waste no time. I get names, operator numbers, supervisors, addresses and policy copies. I call *Chris and he's heard the same thing by now. I ask if he has copies of all my past service orders, and if I could get a copy of them all. He agrees and hand-delivers them to me later that day. I draft a complaint, copy all necessary paper work, and head down to the Attorney General's office (who happens to be a close friend of one of my co-workers). I call the news stations, and newspapers...speak to editors and anchors. I go to my local BestBuy and speak to the GM. I call lawyers, all eager to pursue the matter. In the span of 2 weeks Best Buy has heard from several law firms, the Attorney General, the Lieutenant Governor, a mass of reporters, and EVERYONE is pissed. I introduce *Chris to some of these people, he gives anonymous interviews and statements of his involvement in these proceedings.
Best Buy seemed to have a change-of-heart over night. The next day they're there with the plasma panel. They replace it, and the TV still doesn't work (you didn't think this was over yet, did you?). *Chris calls his boss, says he wants the TV declared unrepairable and a RA given immediately. He has this conversation on speaker phone, and I'm most definitely recording it. His supervisor tells him that, because of the length of repair time, they can assume there was damage to one of the parts during transit or storage, and says he'll be ordering the power board (the first one they replaced) again. When asked what to do if that didn't work, he was told 'We'll order the next part until it does work.' He laughs, hands me the phone, and I just watch as he goes over to the wall, him and his assistant pick it up, and drop it about 4 feet onto the floor. He takes his phone back from me, tells 'em "Oops, we must not have secured it to the wall. It's fallen and is sitting here in 100 pieces on top if his Blu-Ray. Can we have a RA now? No, this was technician error. Thanks." He hangs up the phone, goes to his computer, prints out a receipt, and says take this to Best Buy, pick out a new TV...and a new Blu-Ray player, since we obviously broke yours.
After about 5 months, countless phone calls, and threat of prosecution...they finally came through on their end. I have a new TV, and a new BluRay thrown in for all my troubles. I write this as a warning, if *Chris hadn't been such a stand up guy, I probably would have been stuck with a very large, very dull piece of artwork hanging on my wall between my DVD's. I will never deal with this company again, and many of the people I've told about it, including my family (who just last month purchased over $15,000 in new home theater equipment) have said that they won't do business there either. They may have paid out in the end, but it was never worth what they were trying to pull. They are hard to avoid, for anything from DVD's to GPS...but just be sure, if you do shop there, know what you're getting into if there is ever an issue.
Thank you for reading my long rant, but I just thought I'd pass the warning along.
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