[Daryn Alexander]

Don't get any protection/repair/anything plan from Best Buy. Hell, I'd say anywhere, but here's my nightmare of a story I refrained from posting because I didn't want those "aw shucks" replies. I've heard horror stories from my family, but didn't think they could screw this up. Here goes.

Anyhoo, after I got a Rio Karma for myself last Christmas, the wife decided she was finally going to dive into portable audio. I went out and bought her a black Ipod, 30 gig. There is one model of crappy Sony headphones she likes, and only one model, so she got those as well. We've gone through three of those. (Honey, words like "replacement" generally don't happen with good headphones) All is well until roughly two months ago, when the thing went dead. It wouldn't play a song, it just froze. It wouldn't charge again. Naturally, we had to bring it in as we had purchased the service plan for 30 bucks.

The options were to have them fix it or have a refurb mailed to us. The pushed the refurb program because it was fast and the things looked brand new, so we went with that. They confirmed the address twice, and said it would be about a week. Anything more than two weeks, and I can call the number on the receipt. Gotcha. Okay. One week comes, and no Ipod. Two weeks go by, and still nothing. The following week, I call and wait on hold for an hour. I'm then transferred to another person, who then transfers me back to the department I initially spoke with. "Well, I see here it was shipped some time ago." She checks the address, and not only is it wrong by two years (they must have taken this information from rewardzone/promo crap), but someone has actually signed for it and it is in their possession. I literally was awe-struck. I said I wanted a new one sent to me overnight. She said they couldn't do that. I asked what I have to do. She said she didn't know, and to contact the store. I'll repeat, she said she didn't know. I've worked in customer service. This woman was clueless and unprofessional.

So I call the store. They are as dumbfounded as I am. They don't know how it happened, they just know that the address they entered did not take in the system and it didn't let them change it from the previous address they had on file for me. I talked to a manager, who contacted the warehouse. In a week's time, they had not replied. In this instance, I talked to his manager who authorized giving me a new one that I picked up the next day. Since this is Christmas and they are taking the hit from their own inventory at a major location in San Antonio, they weren't happy about the situation either.

Overall, it wasn't worth the $30 signup fee. So I'm posting this as a warning of sorts. Not that I'd suggest Circuit City (don't get me started), but seek out Head-fi first. They're your friends here. They can help.

 

[will75]

I hate poor customer service. There has been a lot of bad experienes around recently with Best Buy.

I'm not anti BB or anything (disclaimer).

Anyone hear about that can of tomato sauce/soup placed in a dig camcorder box rather than the camera? That was my neighbor. Very frustrating customer service based on what they were saying. It is tough on the business though. Although I know these people would never steal like this, what is to keep 1,000 people from claiming this?

 

[003]

Lol, so somebody still has a free ipod?

 

[Kirosia]

My local best buy is full of arses. My cousin bought a laptop from them (with extended warranty/support), and his laptop developed a hardware problem. (the lappy wouldn't recognize the power adaptor completely, cutting in and out) He went to their geek squad or whatever, and told them what was wrong, chances are either the adaptor was faulty and/or the connection was screwed. They scoffed at him for attempting to diagnose his own computer, and proceeded to just play with random components. Dumfounded, they sent it in, and weeks later, it came back.... unfixed. He went back, they did the same damn thing, and history continued to repeat itself. He eventually got fed up, and just bought a new one.

 

[MN Ham Phones]

FWIW, I had a good experience with an Ipod replacement and CompUSA.
Had a 2nd gen unit go dead, they replaced it no questions asked.
Of course, that was a $60 plan.

The only other plan I've ever purchased was from Apple, back in the early 90s. They actually came to my apt and service the computer there.

 

[Aman]

Don't buy from big-business electronics chains. Good-for-nothing sons of bitches, those places are...

Especially things like laptops - ALWAYS BUY DIRECT FROM THE MANUFACTURER! Never get a warranty deal that handles the item through the store. They make SO MUCH MONEY doing it that way, and rarely do the customers reach a level of satisfaction that they're actually satisfied with (such a difficult thing these days

).

 

[Daryn Alexander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by will75 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I hate poor customer service. There has been a lot of bad experienes around recently with Best Buy. I'm not anti BB or anything (disclaimer). Anyone hear about that can of tomato sauce/soup placed in a dig camcorder box rather than the camera? That was my neighbor. Very frustrating customer service based on what they were saying. It is tough on the business though. Although I know these people would never steal like this, what is to keep 1,000 people from claiming this?

Ah yes. For our dear readers, his neighbor (Rosenberg? Rittenberg? Can't remember, but do give him my sympathies) bought a camera and came home to find it was actually a can of tomatoes or something like that.

But yes, someone has an Ipod. It was deliverd to my old apartment complex and signed for under a specific apartment number, despite the fact that the name did not match. That's Best Buy's problem, not mine. I was told when I bought it that I if anything happen, I'd get a new one. Not a refurb. They made it seem like they'd walk over and take another one off the shelf. Eventually that's what ended up happening, but this certainly was not under the plan.

From now on, I am buying direct from the manufacturer. Maybe that's why so many of us on this forum have such wonderful experiences buying equipment and such. Which reminds me, I'm actually more pissed about this than the whole Storm Digital thing. That was a scam and I got my money back. With this, there's an understanding of procedure/profesionalism/[erformance that clearly wasn't followed.

 

[Firam]

The story turned out better than I thought. I assumed that Best Buy would say that they aren't responsible if the address was wrong, just as long as it was signed for. But they did try to give you the run around, which is a big headache.

 

[Hermitt]

Costco (yea i know... 'wherehouse') has a 90 day no questions asked return policy for free

I even bought a Fuji S5100 digicam from the online store and 2 months later bought my Olympus Evolt E300, so I took the Fuji to a local costco wherehouse here in town and got all my money back, no questions asked. I also know a guy that has replaced his ipod video 3 times, the last time they even upgraded him to the newest one for free.

 

[Naris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daryn Alexander /img/forum/go_quote.gif But yes, someone has an Ipod. It was deliverd to my old apartment complex and signed for under a specific apartment number, despite the fact that the name did not match.

So... how's about posting that old address in the apartment complex and have the Head-fi assassin squad go get themselves an ipod

?

 

[Duc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 003 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Lol, so somebody still has a free ipod?

Ah, glass half full, no?

 

[puiah11]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirosia /img/forum/go_quote.gif My local best buy is full of arses.

Ditto. I've heard they use the unicru application process as a psychological profiler which gives them the choice to hire agressive employees. They want agressive people to make the sale and intimidate you into purchasing.

In california this would be illegal because it would be a form of discrimination in the hiring process.

Most of the people I've encountered at BB are usually aggressive and un-educated (don't know anything about what they are saying). (talking head).

 

[Trippytiger]

Well, to counterpoint some of this negativity, I've had an great experience with Best Buy's extended warranties. I made sure to get one when I bought my Rio Nitrus, due to the poor reputation for reliability and Rio's own tiny warranty period. When it stopped charging after about 6 months, I bundled it up in the packaging and took it back to Best Buy. After a little bit of waiting while the customer service rep sorted out whether I had the Product Service Plan or Product Replacement Plan (turns out it was the latter, yay!), I was told that in a couple of weeks BB would mail me out a gift certificate equal to the price of the player and box to send the old one back in.

So, a couple of weeks later, I got a gift certificate worth $30 more than what I paid, and I'm still waiting on the box after a year and a half.

I made sure to get a warranty on the Carbon that I bought with the gift certificate, although i's beginning to look like it may outlive the three years.

 

[Jahn]

i can't argue with BB's warranty. my kid did a number on my old portable DVD player, i swapped it at BB for an awesome one (mine was no longer made) and i swapped it for my current vinyl rig. thanks for the turntable, Best Buy!

 

[Zarathustra19]

I work for Circuit City, so I'm forced to try to get people to buy the protection plan anyway, but I always buy the plan if it isn't like, a third the cost of the product. Personally, I've never had any problems with the plan. There ARE some SNAFUs involved in all large retail stores, but I personally hate best buy because they don't give the amount of training that is necessary to get things done right. (I used to work for them too, lol)