Last July (2006), my laptop started emitting a puff of smoke from the fan, so I took it into Best Buy as I had a warranty on it. They took their good old sweet time trying to fix my laptop, and I finally had to get the corporate office involved to expedite it. It's worth noting that as soon as I got corporate involved, I had my fixed laptop back within 24 hours. Anyway.....
One evening last October I plugged in my digicam and received "USB power surge" an then FOOM! my laptop shut itself off and wouldn't turn back on. So, up to best buy in harrisburg I went. I was pretty sure I was going to need a new motherboard since the USB ports are attached to the motherboard, which would mean sending my laptop out for service again.
Problem #1 - Incompetent "It's my first day" employee who managed to check my laptop in wrong. Incompetent guy also kept trying to boot up my computer after I told him it was completely dead and wasn't fully listening to me when I detailed the problems I had been having with it since getting it back in July. (It still got hot quickly and was sluggish at times)
Problem #2 - I sat in the store for TWO HOURS while they tried to fix the problem, until the store closed. They assured me they would fix the service order in the morning (10/24). My laptop was sitting out on the counter, and I told them I wasn't leaving until they locked my laptop someplace safe for the night.
Point #1 - I called my "buddies" in executive resolution on 10/24 to make them aware of the issue. Damon (Exec guy) Called the store while I sat on hold and had them put in a new service order and TOLD THEM TO SHIP MY LAPTOP TWO DAY AIR to the service center and mark it "EXPEDITE", and assured me I would have my laptop back by 11/1.
Problem #3 - I called on 10/26, and my laptop had not been checked in yet, but Drew (Exec I spoke with b/c Damon wasn't in) told me that sometimes it takes an extra day for it to go int othe system as being AT the Service Center.
Problem #4 - Called on 10/27. Laptop still wasn't checked in, and there was on shipping information. Damon wasn't at his desk, so Elizabeth was going to talk to him, and had him get back to me. I later spoke with Damon, who told me he called the store for a tracking number and got told that Jason (the store Service Manager) would "get right on it" and get back to him with the number. Damon advised that I call the store directly and speak with Jason.
Problem #5 - Called the store, an asked for Jason. Jason told me he "needed 24 hours" to track down the tracking number, because they "ship thusands of items and don't have time to pt the tracking number with each item". Uhhh..Riiight.
Point #2/Problem #6 - Called the 888 number to lodge a complaint against Jason/Harrisburg store. Was told by Jamaican Accented CS Dude (couldn't understand his name) that my laptop had been shipped on 10/26 via 5 day ground.
Point #3 - Called Damon back to give him the latest information. He knew nothing of 5 day shipping, and said Jason told him different information. Damon is out on Sat/Sun so told me to call the store on Sat. Unfortunately, Damon couldn't do anything until we knew where my laptop was. Damon said that if he had known the store still had my laptop when he called on 10/26, he would have had me pick it up, and get it repaired locally at a cost out of Best Buy's pocket.
I didn't call the store on Sat, I was doing work all day.
Problem #4 - Called the store. Jason wasn't in but I spoke with Lee, the store manager. Lee looked up my service order, and lo and behold, A TRACKING NUMBER! However, shipping was being shown as TWO-DAY AIR being sent out on 10/29 (The day I called). When asked for further clarification on why my laptop was basically sat on by the store for five days, he had no information.
Point #4 - Called 888#, spoke with a lovely woman named Maria who I lodged my complaint with, she is going to see what kind of compensation she can offer me, and get back to me.
On 10/30 I spoke with Damon once again. He called the store in Harrisburg and spoke with a new manager named Cindy. My laptop left the store TEN minutes before Damon called them, and since UPS at the time couldn't re-route packages, I was given the option of either having my package get to the service center than immediately be returned to me (unrepaired) to get it fixed locally at Best Buy's expense or wait til it got to the service center and they make it a top priority, look at it right away, and order the parts via overnight from Sony to fix it. I went with the second option, as I was heading out on a trip within the next two weeks and needed my laptop!
on 11/04 I received official word that when my laptop power surged it fried the entire electronic components and would cost more money to fix than it was worth - so they were going to junk it out and give me a brand spanking new laptop. But...they didn't have the laptop I wanted, and I refused to settle for anything LESS than what I had, and I was not taking a different brand as it's taken me FIVE laptops to find a brand I actually liked and I wasn't about to start again.
I didn't get my new laptop until 11/07. In the meantime, I also was talking with Best Buy to have them send me my hard drive from my old computer, as it was not damaged and it had website files that had yet to be updated to my site when it crashed and I really needed the updates. I had MOST things on my external I had backed things up on about a week before the crash, so I was only missing recent data. I kept getting guarantee after guarantee that I would get my old hard drive back. Oh, and I was going to get "extra compensation".
...I was told by the store that my compensation was not having to wait longer for the new computer.
When I picked it up I wouldn't even let them do their little set up run. I stood there at the Geek Squad counter and ran the entire set up in front of them on my own.
The manager at the store who dicked me around got fired, as did the first incompetent Geek Squad guy at the store.
It's been a year. Do you think I'm ever going to get the extra compensation? HAH.