Fuck Best Buy Part 3

Holy Shitfuckers!!!

It would appear that there is some good in the world.

As you know, I went to Best Buy last week and was told that my laptop would be in on Saturday. As expected, we got a call on the weekend telling us that my laptop was ready. At 6:00 pm on Sunday. I called my father-in-law to see about bringin him with me to get it, but he lives outside of Vancouver so it would have been a massive pain for him to come out just to be backup. So my wife and I went in on our own. We walked in bravely, preparing ourselves for battle. We'd read and re-read our service agreement, we'd prepared our arguements.

Instead, we walked in, asked for the computer, were given it and we walked out. No charge, no paperwork, nothin. I was absolutely dumbfounded. They replaced my motherboard, videocard and some other little minor shit. They even repaired the headphone jack that I broke in the first two months. All free of charge. Astounding.

Anyways, I've typed this whole deal out on it, it works fan-fucking-tastic and I'm so glad to have it back that I'd almost shit Best Buy's praises if they hadn't taken so long. Thanks Best-Buy.

-b

Fuck Best Buy Part 2

So I went in yesterday to see what the shit was up with my laptop. It had been 51 days since I dropped it off, so I was understandably angry going in...

I had plans on going in, letting the little fuckup kid at the counter call up my file and try to appologize, then asking for the manager and raising some serious hell. That's not how it went down at all though...

Upon arriving at the Geek Squad counter, the Geek in question was the manager. He asked if he could help me and was very friendly. I said that my problem was that my laptop had been in for almost two months and I hadn't once gotten a call about it's status. He was astounded. He litterally said, "WOW!! That is totally unnaceptable..." He pulled up my file and stood there reading it for a minute. When he finally finished reading my file, he told me that they had fixed it and it was apparently quite an ordeal. They replaced several things on it, the motherboard, the video card and a bunch of other stuff. I was very excited, but he told me that it's in transit and won't arrive till Saturday. While I wasn't overly happy about having to wait till Saturday for it, I was quite happy at the thought of it coming back to me and working!!

I left the store in good spirits. I was excited at the possibility of again having my laptop at my disposal.

Then I thought about what it was going to cost. He hadn't mentioned a price to me, but he had said something about me almost getting a brand new laptop for free. Apparently they have a policy that if they have your computer for 60 days or more, they just dispose of your old one an buy you a brand new one (of equal or greater ability). That thought is slightly disturbing because on Saturday when I go to pick it up, they will have had it for 56 days and they will probably want a shitload of money for it. If on the other hand, they'd fucked up a little more, it would have been their cost to eat.

When I arrived home, thinking the whole way there that I was going to have to essentially buy my laptop all over again, I read my agreement with them. It basically says that they will not do any work that exceeds the authorized amount printed on the accompanying reciept. If they decide to do any work in excess of that amount, they will attempt to contact the owner. If they are unable to contact the owner, they will return it to it's drop off place unrepaired.

My reciept says $0.00 and while I did authorize an $89 charge to back up my data (which I never recieved) I never authorized any charges over that, and was told several times that I would be quoted a price before any work was done.

I realise that when I go in they are going to try to fight me on it, or keep my laptop or something, so I'm ready for a fight. I'm going to take my father-in-law with me. He's the COO of a major investment firm in Vancouver. He'll raise enough shit that I'll be astounded if I have to pay anything at all.

Regardless, I'll post again with my results and costs....

-b

Fuck Best Buy.

Fuck Best Buy in their fucking asses.

Fuck Geek-Squad too.

My laptop died. I'm not sure what happened, the screen fades to black when it starts up and never resurrects after that.... So I tried to figure it out on my own, but I have no fucking idea how to work on laptops without makin shit worse. In terms of my laptop, I've made two collossal fuckups.

1): I didn't get an extended service plan. Normally I fucking hate ESPs, but I s'pose when you buy a $3300 dollar peice of equipment (It's gone down alot in price since) you'd be smart to protect it.

2): I took it to the Geek Squad at my local Best-Buy.

I went in on March 12th and met Adam. Adam was the Geek Squad representative for the day. He took my laptop and tried to start it up. It did the same shit it does for me so he had me fill out all my vitals and the specs of my machine, then he said it'd take a day or two and they'd call me with a quote. I asked if there was any way they could back my shit up, and he said not to worry about it. I'd get it back in no time, he said.

I got a call the next day from a guy who sounded like he was maybe 15. As per usual, I'll paraphrase, this is how I like to remember shit.

I didn't catch his name, but he said, "Are you aware that your laptop doesn't start, sir??"

"Are you fucking kidding??" I asked.

He said "No, it really wont' start."

"I meant of course I know it won't start, that's why I brought it in. Do you have any idea why it won't start???"

"Um, no sir, since we can't see anything on the screen, we don't really have any means by which to check it out."

"So what does that mean?? Do I have to come get it and take it somewhere else??"

"No, sir, we'll just ship it off to our depot where we take care of advanced problems like this. Do you want me to back up your stuff first??"

Anyways, I got him to back up a couple of things that my wife and I wanted in the meantime, and he said I could pick up the backup the next day. I went in to get the backup disk, and I stood at the counter for nearly 45 minutes. I watched all of the Geeks milling around in the back, trying to look busy so's to not have to deal with me. As I stood there waiting, I saw Adam coming from the back and I intercepted him before he had a chance to hide behind the desk like everyone else. I showed him my reciept and asked him to check and see if my backup was ready. He took my reciept and dissapeared into the back. After a half an hour, he came meandering back across the store and said he couldn't find my laptop. I told him that I wasn't here for my laptop, that they were going to send it out, I just wanted the backup disk that the little kid had made for me.

Adam was confused, but he called up my file and said that my laptop had been sent out and would probably be backed up at the depot. I went back twice more to try to get a backup, whether they sent it back from the depot or if they had maybe found the one that the little kid said he'd make. No dice.

Fuck.

On my fourth visit, Adam told me that the average turnaround for computers that get sent to the depot is 3-4 weeks.

Fuck.

So instead of going in every fucking day, I waited patiently. I had a busy couple of weeks so at least they went fast. I went back to Best Buy the Thursday before Easter. This time I met Eric. Eric was great. He was very understanding and calmed me down a lot. He took my receipt and called up my info, then he went into the back and came out with my laptop.

Fuck.

It had a big post it on it that said "BACKUP & SEND TO DEPOT" stuck on the front.

Fuck fuckity fuck fuck.

Eric was very appologetic and I couldn't really be mean to him. I was just kind of... deflated. I didn't really know what to do. He said that I could take it, and go somewhere else with it, or if I wanted, he'd personally make sure that it was backed up and on the truck in the morning. I figured it couldn't hurt to leave it with them, fucking idiot that I am.

I went back into Best Buy on Monday and Eric was there again. He said that he'd been in all weekend but because of the Easter weekend, there was no truck on Friday. He'd just managed to get it on a truck in the morning that day, so he assured me it was at the depot. He said I should get a call within a couple of weeks.

Fuck.

So now, it's the 1st of May.

It's been 50 days since I left my computer with them.

50 fucking days.

So fuck Best Buy.

And fuck the Geek Squad.

This afternoon I'm going in to get my computer. Even if some fucking lackey has to drive across town to the fucking depot to get it. I'll update with my results.

Fucking Best Buy.

-b