I have purchased some small-ticket items at Best Buy in the past -- items like CDs. At that time, it looked like it might be a good place to buy a bigger-ticket item like a computer. After all, they had a Geek Squad that made their own repairs. I could not have been more wrong!
My daughter has been wanting her own laptop computer for quite a while now. We're not a rich family, so she had to wait until she had the money. Last month, she received a tax refund that put her over the top. Since she finally had the money, we went down to Best Buy. She picked out an $800 Dell laptop and paid cash for it.
At the checkout, they convinced her that their Geek Squad could "clean up" the program and make it run "much faster", and it would only cost her $40. She paid the extra $40, and that seems to be the start of her descent into computer hell.
The first few days were OK. But immediately after their 14-day return period expired, her computer began to lock-up and put up this blue screen. We thought surely Best Buy would fix whatever was wrong, so we took it back to them. After all, when we bought the laptop there was a paper in it saying the Geek Squad had a contract to handle warranty items for Dell.
Imagine our surprise when the infamous Geek Squad told us we would have to return the computer to Dell. We explained we had bought the computer from them, and showed them the paper that said they would do any warranty work for Dell -- all to no avail. They had the audacity to tell us they didn't have a contract with Dell.
We called Dell, and they said Best Buy would fix it. We told Best Buy what they said, and they repeated that we would have to mail the computer back to Dell. After getting bounced back and forth several times, we got Dell back on the phone and made them talk to each other. That did no good at all. Both remained entrenched in their opinion that the other should be the one to fix the problem.
Finally, we talked the Geek Squad into at least looking at the computer and telling us what the problem was. After keeping the computer overnight, Best Buy informed us that it was a software problem. This meant neither Best Buy nor Dell was responsible, and we would have to get Microsoft to fix it. They wanted us to believe it was a flaw in Microsoft Vista.
Now I didn't believe that for a minute. I have a cheaper laptop of my own that has been running Vista for over six months with no problems at all. The only difference is that I bought it at a different place, so the Geek Squad wasn't able to "clean it up" and make it "run faster".
I feel like Best Buy has just stolen $840 dollars from my daughter. Whether it's a hardware or software problem doesn't matter. If it's a hardware problem, then they are shirking their warranty obligations. If it's a software problem, then they are refusing to fix a problem they created themselves (since they are the only ones that have messed with the software).
I have learned a couple of things from this experience:
1. Best Buy will NOT back up the products they sell, and they will NOT honor their warranty obligations. This shocked me. Hell, even Wal-Mart, with all their problems, will back up the products they sell.
2. The Geek Squad are NOT the computer professionals that they claim to be. I should have known that a discount store would not be willing to pay the salaries required to get real computer professionals.
I will never set foot in a Best Buy store again. I urge anyone looking to buy a computer not to do so at a Best Buy. I learned the hard way that it would have been cheaper to spend more money at a real computer store -- one that knew what they were doing and would back up their products.
I now consider Best Buy to be just a group of unethical thieves.
If there is nothing she needs on the machine right now, she should pop in her recovery CD and restore to the original setup.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, this sort of experience is becoming epidemic in the corporate hell of contemporary America.
ReplyDeleteIn recent weeks I have experienced that AT&T also does not honor their warranties.
Even UPS-- which used to have quite wonderful customer service-- recently sent a package of mine to the wrong address, and, after realizing it was the wrong address, inexplicably forwarded my package to Illinois but sent me an e-mail that it was in the local office. When I went to pick it up, the employee was extremely rude. When I called customer service, the agent told me they would redirect my package back to me and the employee would call me to apologize. The employee never called and my package was returned to the original sender.
If you start shopping, say, at Circuit City, sooner or later they will do something equally bad and you'll have yet another store not to shop at.
Best Buy treated you like crap and doesn't deserve your business. But the problems run deeper than the Blueshirted Bugdrivers.
I'm afraid you're probably right. Good customer service is a thing of the past. And with more and more monopolies being created, I don't think the problem will improve.
ReplyDeleteWhy would a brand-new computer need to be 'cleaned up' anyway? This seems like a scam like an extended warranty. Not sure how old your daughter is but should someone have accompanied her on such a large purchase? Sad people fall for such things that just line the pockets of Best Buy.
ReplyDeleteCan you just return it? Was it a refurbished computer or brand new? In my experience the blue screen of death is usually a memory issue or a bad battery. Try taking the battery out and running strictly on AC power. If that works, you know that's the problem. Memory is a little more tricky.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, Best Buy is wrong for this whole ordeal.
Good luck!
rufus-
ReplyDeleteI agree that it was probably a scam. They sucked her in by promising they would make it a lot faster.
dp-
It was a brand new computer. I didn't think about the battery - we'll have to try that.
I agree that the problem is bigger than just Best Buy, but I agree with you and will definitely support your boycott. Thanks for the heads up. I have a 15 y.o. that needs a laptop of his own, and I now know where not to get one!
ReplyDeletethis is more of a Dell problem than a Best Buy issue. The same thing happened to me with an XPS 420 desktop I purchased from Best Buy a couple of months ago. I didn't actually have a problem with the computer, but the Dell scan identified some issues, kicked me into a dialog with their support-- which was terminated when the guy found out I was a Best Buy customer. I have since communicated with people at Best Buy and Dell across all levels of both organizations. I find Dell to be most at fault, they supply a warranty in the box that says they will provide service, and the warranty info that pops up based on my service tag says I get 500 days of support from Dell. I have asked for the updated warranty that was in effect when I bought the computer but they cannot supply it.
ReplyDeletePart of the problem is that Dell says that they provide "basic techinical support" without defining what that means. It should mean anything that can be handled online or over the phone, but if you talk to Dell support staff, they will tell you that it only applies to things like how to plug in the cords and cables when you first fire up the computer.
Buy any other computer at Best Buy and it comes with a manufacturers warranty. Geek squad is an optional add-on.
Dell was doing a fairly good job at improving their customer support, IMO (based on an XPS 1710 laptop I purchased from them in the summer of 06). Too bad, now they will spend a long time digging themselves out of another customer service "dell hell" hole because they wanted to save a few dollars on the products offered by Best Buy.
I work for Best Buy: The paper saying Best Buy is a service location for Dell simply means that Geek Squad will ship your laptop to Dell, not that Geek Squad will handle the repair. As far as what we call a "system optimization", it is the initial set up of the laptop and the removal of start-up programs, offers, and other annoying things that are pre-loaded on your laptop (alot of people don't know how to remove these). Extended warranties are not a scam, if you buy one, you are purchasing something that will cover your ass if you DROP your laptop, or SPILL something on it (a VERY common occurance and the primary cause of product failure.) If it's a value, buy it. If you think you can live without it, don't buy it. But don't come crying back to the store if something happens and the manufacturer doesn't help. Remember, beyond our return policy, EVERYTHING is the manufacturer's responsibility.
ReplyDeleteGeek Squad may not ship your lap top to Dell to get it fixed. They told me that they were sending my computer to HP to get if fixed but when my computer broke and and had the same problem again four months later I called HP about the problem and they told me that HP never fixed my computer. Geek squad verified that they fixed my computer.
ReplyDeleteI would love to back you up, as i hate best buy being a former customer service and geek squad employee.
ReplyDeleteDo you want to know what your clean up process was? They highlighted all the shortcuts on your desktop and put them in the trash can. Most of the time, thats it. I myself used to uninstall all the bloatware, and it takes about maybe 2 hours to do. No one else does it though, because they would get in trouble for "wasting time"...
Best buy has great policies, and they have a great system. But like communism, it dosnt work in the real world. They dont fully train thier employees, and some stay for 3,4 years and were never taught correctly.
Best Buy seperates there items into two cat., service and devo. Service items (usually all laptops, desktops) suck. They wont take them back. Devo, they dont care about, because they
!!!have a contract with the manufacturer to take the item back for a large portion of the wholesale price for the duration of the manufacturers warranty!!!!
Yes, for these "devo" items, you can actually return something 300 days after you bought it with out an extended service contract...
Sadly, they dont [want to] teach this to their employees. So even if you know the policy and bring it up, they half the time wont even do it. Even some managers dont know this.
But to your problem, no, it wasnt best buy. They didnt, heck they wouldnt even waste thier time doing anything that would harm your computer. The hardware inside probably has outdated or poorly written driver programs, the biggest problem with the transition into a new os.
Just take your computer to a different best buy, a better one. If all else fails, just use your restore discs to reformat the computer. if there were any software issues it would wipe them out. If you still get the problem, than its hardware.
No offense, but it sounds like you downloaded something bad. :X
Computers dont wait to mess up, if theres a problem out of the box you will notice immediately