At the urging of the Best Buy salesman, I purchased the "Product Service Plan"- extended service protection warranty (PSP) for an extra hundred bucks. Should there be any problems with the new TV, I didn't want my mom to be unduly inconvenienced.
Mom really liked the new flat screen and it was fine for several months. Then one day, it shut off for no reason. Since we had the PSP, we called in Best Buy's highly touted "Geek Squad" to solve the problem.
Geek Squad Incompetence
Our first scheduled in home repair date, June 30, got cancelled by The Best Buy Service Dept. and rescheduled to July 10. On July 9, we got a call explaining that July 10 was the service tech's day off and he couldn't make it.
After rescheduling for July 15, (more than two weeks from the date of malfunction) "Peter" from the Geek Squad finally arrived. He checked out the TV for a bit and then pronounced it fixed. After Peter left, we turned on the unit and after about 1/2 hour, it shut itself off again.
What I found out later is that Peter didn't fix the TV at all. He simply reset it and hoped that would solve the problem. Peter was a nice guy but communicating with him was difficult because his English was barely recognizable. Listen here for an actual message from Peter:
Best Buy Geek Squad Technician
Listen here:
If you can't decipher this, the Tech is confused about where the replacement parts are going to. He insists they are coming to "his UPS store" when, in reality, there were delivered to us directly.
It turns out that Best Buy's Geek Squad is actually a subcontracted, third party repair company. Far from being seamlessly integrated, the Best Buy/ Geek Squad system is full of errors, snafus and lack of cooperation. Often the Geek Squad Tech will tell you one thing and Best Buy Service Dept. will tell you the exact opposite.
Geek Squad technicians have no way of actually diagnosing a problem. They use the painstaking "trial and error" method, replacing parts and hoping that, eventually, they replace the malfunctioning one and that solves the problem.
The Incredible Disappearing Repair Guy!
I called Peter back and he said he would order a new part for the TV. The part was to be delivered to us and then we would call for another repair appointment. Peter promised to call the next day with a tracking number. This call never came.
The following day (Friday), I called Peter and he said that the system was down so he couldn't order the part. He promised to call on Monday with a tracking number. This call never came.
On July 21 (over three weeks without a functioning TV), I contacted Best Buy Service Dept. I told them of my dissatisfaction with their "service". I was told by Brian that my only recourse was to contact LG directly as the TV was still under their warranty. Apparently, the PSP plan was of little use until after the original warranty was over.
I resigned myself to the sad fact that the repair of this TV could take an indefinite amount of time. So I went back to Best Buy and bought the exact same unit. Now we had a working unit that my Mom could watch for up to 30 days and then return for a full refund per Best Buy policy.
I the meantime, we never heard back from Peter or received a part delivery.
More Snafus
On July 29 (one month after the initial malfunction), I called the Best Buy Service Dept. again and spoke to John. I told him that I either needed a working TV or I needed my money back. After repeatedly resisting, he put in a request for a replacement and told me I would receive an answer in 3-5 business days.
A few days later I made a follow up call and was told there was no record of my replacement request. I asked for a Supervisor and explained the details of this entire fiasco to her. She promised to contact Peter's supervisor.
The next day Peter called. He was very apologetic and said he had been on "vacation". He still hadn't ordered the part but would do it immediately. I believe the only vacation Peter was on was a mental one and that he dropped the ball and simply forgot about us.
The next day, Peter called back and said the parts would be delivered to Best Buy and then he would pick them up and install them. I checked with Best Buy and in contrast to what Peter told us, they said the parts were coming directly to us. When we got the first of two shipments we set another in home repair date.
On August 5, Peter installed the new parts. On hour after he left, the TV shut itself off. Peter subsequently ordered more parts. Not satisfied with Best Buy's "hit or miss" method of repair, the next day I put in another request for replacement.
Third Time's The Charm
Peter returned for his third attempt to repair the TV on August 12. This is a month and a half after we initially reported the TV malfunction. We got lucky this time. So far the repair seems to have worked.
I returned the new TV back to Best Buy and got a full refund.
Had I known what a hassle it was going to be, I never would have wasted my money on the Product Service Plan. In fact I would have gone to Circuit City or other reputable retailer. After this experience, I will never again set foot inside a Best Buy to purchase a major appliance or electronic device.
Fighting Back
Here's how to fight back against the lousy service at Best Buy:
If you are a Best Buy customer in need of repair, don't plan on it happening anytime soon. But you can use their own system to your advantage. They offer a 30 day money back guarantee on many items like flat screen TVs. You can buy another TV and watch it free for up to 30 days while you are waiting for your repair. Hopefully, that will be long enough. If not, return it and buy another one to watch for up to 30 more days. Make sure to keep your receipt, manual, packaging and accessories so you can return the unit.
Another option is to buy the exact same model as your malfunctioning unit. Then return the malfunctioning unit in place of the new one within 30 days. You will need the new box, manual, all accessories and the new receipt. Best Buy will refund your money and you get a new, working TV without you having to go through the harrowing Geek Squad repair experience.
Another thing you can do is claim your TV is not working before the warranty runs out. When Best Buy attempts to repair it, keep claiming it doesn't work. After the 4th attempt doesn't "fix" the problem, they will replace the entire unit with a new one. Painstaking, yes. But you get a new TV out of the deal.
Karma
You may be asking if this is ethical. Every one has to answer that for themselves. In my opinion, Best Buy is a company selling goods under false pretenses. Advertising the Geek Squad to be your worry free way to avoid repair hassles is unethical. From my experience, it is clear that money is more important to them than customer satisfaction.
That's unethical.