Avoid Best Buy!!!!

[fsstnotch]

I bought a 42" LCD TV from bestbuy on May 27, 2008. On November 1, 2008, the tv quit working. The screen goes black after 2-3 minutes and you have nothing but sound. I contacted the "geek squad" immediately and made them aware of the problem. Luckily i had purchased the $200 insurance best buy offers as a "protection plan." the lady at geek squad said someone would be contacting me to let me know when they would be out to pick the tv up. 4-5 days pass and I hear nothing. I call back to see when I will be getting my 5 month old tv serviced. They advise me that someone called me and told me tey would be out Nov 7th to look at the tv between 8am and 2pm. So I am patiently waiting for my tv to be fixed. The company which was contracted by bestbuy (premier electronics out of Galion OH) arrives at my house. 2 young kids in an unmarked panel van wearing american eagle hoodies and baggy jeans... great!!! they plug the tv in and wait for the screen to go black. Screen goes black and they unplug the tv and tell me they need to take it for repairs because it is under warranty by LG. They advise it usually takes 7-10 days. They hand me a pamphlet with my claim number on it, something I could have easily printed off on my own computer and then as they have done... whited out the phone number on it to put the correct number. The kid tells me it should be 7-10 days and that their customer service rep will contact me every 3 days to let me know the status. 5 days pass... nothing. I call them to get a status report. "It's on the bench today for testing, we will let you know tomorrow." So we are now broken for 2 weeks and it is just getting looked at. WONDERFUL! I call them back the next day to find out when I will be getting my tv back. they advise they have to order the parts from LG. it will take 7-10 days. I advise that I am supposed to be hosting thanksgiving and that I need the tv. they say the tv will be done the first week in december. GREAT!!! i call best buy back to see if they can get me a loaner or something. "Sorry sir, we only provide loaners to people who purchase our black tie protection plan." WTF!!!!! So I was supposed to pay MORE money so that I could get poor service! I get the run around through best buy. I call directly to the store in erie to see if they could help. same story. Well, here it is the first week of december. I call premier electronics (NOTE, they have NEVER called me like their pamphlet says they will every 3 days in big bold red letters.). Premier tells me that the parts are on order and are expected to be in around MID DECEMBER!!!!! "Dec 15-18" she says. Great.. so now I have no tv for November and likely not december either with the holidays. So, I call best buy back and tell them they need to do somehting or i am going to BBB. they tell me there is nothing they can do because it is under manufacturers warranty, I should call LG. I call LG and get the run around. They tell me that they won't do anything until it has been a full month since the repair company took the tv. GREAT! I get to wait another week even though LG has notified premier that it would be mid december before the part is available.

Bottom line.... best buy sucks!!! they could have done something. I have worked in retail and KNOW that managers have those powers. They could have waived the black tie crap and got me a loaner.. they just choose not to.

[tcrist]

Sounds like you have the same luck as I do. A couple of years ago I bought a 52" JVC. I had it 32 days before it crapped out and it took them 3 months to fix it. No loaner, they don't do that. 45 days later it did it again. Gone for another 30 days. Has been fine since but I will never buy JVC again.
Terry

[trularin]

You two are not making me happy.

I just purchased a 52" SamSung. I even contacted the warranty department to get an idea of what should happen IF it has problems.

So far so good.

[Joe Wicked]

Originally Posted by trularin

You two are not making me happy.

I just pruchased a 52" SamSung. I even contacted the warranty department to get an idea of what should happen IF it has problems.

So far so good.

Tru,
Where did you buy your TV from?

My audio board went out on my DLP I bought from Conns and I bought the 3 year in home service plan. They told me that they could not help me since I live outside the service area. I was pissed as I lived there when you sold me the plan telling me I would get the service. I went in the store and complained. I then started talking to all the customers advising them not to spend any money on the service plan as it is a waste of money and they will not actually come out. That is the reason I am in the store today. After a couple of those, the sales manager came over and asked if there was anything else he could do for me and motioned to the door. I politely told him "No thanks, I don't need anything else, but I have nothing else to do today so I think I will hang out and look around." He got the message and within 5 minutes I had a scheduled visit out to my house to fix the TV.

[392cobra]

Another side of the story on Best Buy Warranty..

I bought a TV from them and also bought a three year extended warranty.

ONE (1) WEEK before the warranty expired my TV expired.Screen would go black but it kept the sound.I called them and they had a Tech out in 3-4 days.
He said it was the motherboard.Ordered it from my house.Said to call him when it was delivered to my house.About 10 days later the board showed up,next day the Tech showed up.
He installed the board,10 minutes later the screen died again.He said his guess was wrong on the board,it's the tube.
He said,"You get a new TV".Tech called it in and left.I went down to my local Best Buy and they already had the voucher ready for 100% of the amount I had paid 3 years earlier.Including Free Delivery and hauling off the old one.
That afternoon they showed with the new one and set it up and removed the old.

Ended up with a new,bigger and better TV at no cost.

I'm a happy camper !!!

[trularin]

I checked on five stores as you all may recall, Warren sent me the consumers report that help.

Anyway, I landed on BuyDig and they were great. The TV was shipped by Manna and the crew showed up on time, unloaded the box, let my wife inspect it and then offered to help move it into the room it was being installed.

BuyDig charged me exactly what they said they would, shipped it for free and didn't try to sell me anything extra. I'd buy from them again if the need arises.

Once the TV was on order, I called SamSung and asked about a few things including the warranty. But, it is SamSung that is handling that, not BuyDig.

I am doing a wall mount as soon as I get a few extra hours of time.

[trularin]

Fred, you are truely a lucky man.

[fsstnotch]

I have also bought from buydig! Very good company! Very courteous! I didn't feel like it was all about the money with them. They also shipped my digi cam to Iraq. I ordered it on monday and had it on friday! that's fast given it has to get loaded on a military convoy to make it to the FOB!

[Cobrabill]

And as bad as Worst Buy is,Circuit Sh!ty is much worse.

[Jamo]

Said it many times before: Sears...the only place I buy big stuff. They have their own repair folks. We're grandfathered in under the old whole house warranty/maintenance agreement. $750 a year covers everything purchased from Sears during the last 34 years...they replaced the engine and tray in one riding mower four times, and they still come out and change the oil and tune it up every year without additional charges. Several big screens bought from them over the years...they still fill the tanks on a really old rear projection. Sewing machines, hedgers, trimmers, washers-dryers, refrigeratos, hot water heaters, VHS VCRs and cameras, and the list goes on...some of this sh!t just needs to be buried.

Bought a 60" Sony a year ago...light went out. They came out the next day to diagnose the problem, and came back the next day and replaced the part. While they were here, they rewired my crappy setup to the Dish receiver and the Bose receiver/disc player...all with no additional charge. When I bought a new air compressor, I simply added it to the list with no additional charge.

Something breaks, I call the local repair facility and talk directly to the guy that's going to fix it. Same guy who put a new front loader dryer door on (after my grandson decided to play swing on it) also brought out two new rear tires/tubes for the riding mower. Their idea of a specialist is someone who can fix everything (like the good old days).

Times are tough for Sears like everyone else...but they tend to keep their customers by offering service instead of just the lowest prices. I wished the hell they still sold Crosleys.

[Wes Tausend]

...

Ditto on kudos for Sears. I bought my first HD digital set-top tv tuner from them, a Samsung, about $400.

Just days before the standard 1 year warrantee was up, the menu page lost a small function that was still curiously available by other pages. I thought I should say something since it could have meant further trouble on the way. They sent it to Chicago for repair and Chicago called back in less than a week that they didn't have a clue. Sears local gave me a full $400 refund, no questions asked, because they no longer sold digital tuners. I bought an el-cheapo for $150 from Wally World. I usually either buy good, when I trust it to last, or cheap when I expect to throw. The el-cheapo is on it's 3rd year.

Sears also exchanged a tv for my mother when it was 2 weeks out of warrantee. I didn't realise it was out until I took it in, but they never even blinked. Wow.

I very seldom buy any extended warrantees, but I might if I got a deal like Jamo.

Wes


...

[Ron61]

Wes,

I have bought all of my major house hold and yard and garden stuff from Sears since the early 60s and have had nothing but great service. I had one TV that didn't last long, but the repairman they send out told me he already knew what the problem was as they had a design flaw in a circuit board and he took about 20 minutes to fix it and I used that TV for years after that. Same for the lawn mowers and tools. I have almost all Craftsman tools. I broke a socket by putting a long leverage bar on it and took it in just to make sure that I got the correct one and told the guy what I had did and I just wanted to buy another one with the same amount of points. He looked at it, went and got me a new one and told me there was no charge as it shouldn't have broken even though I did use the extra leverage. So unless they start to go downhill I will continue to buy my stuff from them. My refrigerator and kitchen range I bought in 1976 and they are still working well. Not as efficient as the new models, but with no more than I use them not worth the price to change them out until they fail.

Edit: I am looking at some of the new flat screen TVs they have and may buy one next year. The one that I have is about 5 years old and still works great but it is abig, heavy one and I also got it at Sears.

Ron

[trularin]

So, please let me understand this, you pay $750.00 per year and they service every dang thing you got from Sears in your house?

Jamo, what or how much was it say 30 years ago?

This sounds incredible. I haven't heard of this, but it makes sense.

I agree Circuit City needs to go under, they have bad customer service and treat people poorly. Best buy is not much better.

I think it is good that we have a forum we can come to and discuss our experiences to help others avoid our mistakes.

[Jamo]

Yup...every damn thing purchased from Sears. And they've been carrying all major brands for years. Seems like it was a couple of hundred bucks when we started, but we didn't have much stuff then.

Like I said...we're grandfathered in. I think Sears closed our particular plan down (for obvious reasons). Not sure if they have anything else to take its place. I do know we make damn sure we renew every January to make sure we are never dropped.

As brick and mortars go...the original still seems to be the best.