I finally put this to the test and here's my experience:
OCTOBER, 2010
I purchased a Toshiba R705 laptop for $800. Actually, I purchased 2 of the same laptops, because they were perfect device when we travel. That makes me a great customer, right? Let's top it off, because I spent an additional $100 for an ADL Service. Let's test if this will really protect me as a consumer. I'm also a Best Buy Rewards Member, so let's experience this from the perspective of a loyal, returning, high-spending, great customer.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER, 2010
I'm loving the Toshiba R705 that I purchased an additional laptop, my third device, from Best Buy. Also, I purchased 3 more iPads, not from the Apple Store, but from Best Buy. Wow, Best Buy's gotta love that, wouldn't you think? Heck, let's buy another $100 ADL Service for one of the iPads, just in case, since they promise me a hassle-free experience if anything was to happen.
One of the Toshiba R705 I bought last October got into an accident when the strap of my bag broke. It got a crack on the corner. "It's the Holidays. I'm busy and the computer's working. I don't have time to deal with the crack, but I'll be traveling next month so I better turn this in to get it fixed in time for my trip."
DECEMBER 29, 2010
I took my cracked laptop to Best Buy's Geek Squad in El Segundo, CA the same day I purchased the 3rd iPad (mentioned above). The only hassle they gave me is that I wanted to keep my hard-drive. "The problem is cosmetic and my hard drive is in working order. I have confidential data in this drive for my business."
The Geek Squad guy argued that they may not fix it without the hard drive, and when I questioned him if I'm the only customer who care about my confidential computer files, his response was, "Yes. None of our customer have a problem with this."
Bullshit. Either Best Buy thinks their customers are dumb, or they lack to pre-empt that the day will come that computer owners will start caring about their computer privacy, banking statements and confidential data.
I arrived questioning their competency level, and left feeling better that it's a cosmetic problem I'm leaving them with and nothing more complicated. (I repair computers and laptops and I know exactly what they have to do. It's a pretty straight forward repair, like changing a car's tire.)
"We'll call you in a week with the status of your repair!" said the Geek.
JANUARY 27, 2010
I haven't heard from Best Buy at all, and I was leaving for my trip in a few days. I need this specific laptop. Traveling is what I bought this laptop for. Luckily, I've never had a need for it since I have 4 other computers I use. (What about other customers whose sole machine is what they turned into the Geek Squad?!) What happened to that 1 week call back?!
I arrived questioning their competency level, and left feeling better that it's a cosmetic problem I'm leaving them with and nothing more complicated. (I repair computers and laptops and I know exactly what they have to do. It's a pretty straight forward repair, like changing a car's tire.)
"We'll call you in a week with the status of your repair!" said the Geek.
JANUARY 27, 2010
I haven't heard from Best Buy at all, and I was leaving for my trip in a few days. I need this specific laptop. Traveling is what I bought this laptop for. Luckily, I've never had a need for it since I have 4 other computers I use. (What about other customers whose sole machine is what they turned into the Geek Squad?!) What happened to that 1 week call back?!
-- CALL #1 --
I called Best Buy. The lady on the phone looks me up on the computer and tells me they called me 17 days earlier. She said that the call had notified me that they ordered a part and it arrived on 8 days ago. She said she'd call the Service Center and call me for an update. I politely said thanks and said I'd look it up on my end as well, see who may have received the call and such.
Well, well, well... I checked our phone logs and I received a 5-second call from them. No voice mail message.
I called Best Buy. The lady on the phone looks me up on the computer and tells me they called me 17 days earlier. She said that the call had notified me that they ordered a part and it arrived on 8 days ago. She said she'd call the Service Center and call me for an update. I politely said thanks and said I'd look it up on my end as well, see who may have received the call and such.
Well, well, well... I checked our phone logs and I received a 5-second call from them. No voice mail message.
-- CALL #2 --
24 hours later, I haven't received a call back from Best Buy so I call them back. Not only am I having a difficulty finding the time to make these calls (because I work 16-hour days and 2 deadlines before my trip), but I was starting to feel like I'm just being pushed around. I was starting to realize the hassle. The guy who answered the phone whispered, "It shouldn't take this long for the Service Center to get you back your laptop. Let me look into it and I'll call you back."
24 hours later, I haven't received a call back from Best Buy so I call them back. Not only am I having a difficulty finding the time to make these calls (because I work 16-hour days and 2 deadlines before my trip), but I was starting to feel like I'm just being pushed around. I was starting to realize the hassle. The guy who answered the phone whispered, "It shouldn't take this long for the Service Center to get you back your laptop. Let me look into it and I'll call you back."
-- CALL #3 --
5pm strikes, no call back from Best Buy, so I called them once again.
"I was hoping to receive a follow-up call by end-of-business," I told the lady on the other line.
"Our end-of-business is not until 9pm."
"So you were going to call me at 9pm tonight? Is that when you call your customers to give them an update? I would think some of your customer wouldn't appreciate a call that late. Can I speak to your manager?"
The manager gets on the phone and says, "I'm the one you spoke to this morning. There's nothing I can do. The Service Center closed at 3pm."
"You knew of my situation and you knew when the Service Center closed. But you didn't bother to do anything about it. And now you're telling me there's nothing you can do. Now I'm irritated and I'm unsatisfied. You shouldn't have told me you'd call me back with an update. Your people shouldn't be telling me to expect a call from any of you. You've had my laptop for a month and there's nothing you can do?!"
"Sorry, there's nothing I can do."
So I come up with a solution -- the typical solution we provide clients, or what I get from services like Dell or my car dealer -- "How about a loaner?"
5pm strikes, no call back from Best Buy, so I called them once again.
"I was hoping to receive a follow-up call by end-of-business," I told the lady on the other line.
"Our end-of-business is not until 9pm."
"So you were going to call me at 9pm tonight? Is that when you call your customers to give them an update? I would think some of your customer wouldn't appreciate a call that late. Can I speak to your manager?"
The manager gets on the phone and says, "I'm the one you spoke to this morning. There's nothing I can do. The Service Center closed at 3pm."
"You knew of my situation and you knew when the Service Center closed. But you didn't bother to do anything about it. And now you're telling me there's nothing you can do. Now I'm irritated and I'm unsatisfied. You shouldn't have told me you'd call me back with an update. Your people shouldn't be telling me to expect a call from any of you. You've had my laptop for a month and there's nothing you can do?!"
"Sorry, there's nothing I can do."
So I come up with a solution -- the typical solution we provide clients, or what I get from services like Dell or my car dealer -- "How about a loaner?"
"No. I can't do that. There's nothing I can do."
"How about replacing the device, since you can't fix it."
"No, I can't do that. Sorry, there's nothing I can do." The manager goes on to explain how their insurance companies keep $99, blah blah, blah.... how their Service Center works... how it's everyone's fault and there's nothing he can do.
I had to stop him. "You're a manager. I'm a customer. I don't care what goes on behind the scenes. I paid you $100 to give me a no-hassle experience. You guys taut at how simple and satisfied I would be. And now you're telling me there's nothing you can do."
Scam!
After a few, unnecessary, back-and-forth, he finally agreed to give me a loaner machine. I walked into Best Buy the following day and the loaner machine he provided was another Toshiba, but the bigger and heavier model. I pleaded with him that I needed a travel size like the 13-inch I spent for. (Seriously, was it necessary for me to plead?) I already have a 15-inch and 17-inch laptop. I specifically need something comparable to my R705, light, smaller and long battery. It's what I spent an extra $800 for. I did appreciate that he was willing to loan me another machine, but I wasn't going to plead any longer. I wasn't going to fight it. I was going to solve my situation by buying a wireless keyboard for my iPad -- yes, at Best Buy again. (Makes me a great customer, like I mentioned. You would think they cared about customers like myself, but no.)
Scam!
After a few, unnecessary, back-and-forth, he finally agreed to give me a loaner machine. I walked into Best Buy the following day and the loaner machine he provided was another Toshiba, but the bigger and heavier model. I pleaded with him that I needed a travel size like the 13-inch I spent for. (Seriously, was it necessary for me to plead?) I already have a 15-inch and 17-inch laptop. I specifically need something comparable to my R705, light, smaller and long battery. It's what I spent an extra $800 for. I did appreciate that he was willing to loan me another machine, but I wasn't going to plead any longer. I wasn't going to fight it. I was going to solve my situation by buying a wireless keyboard for my iPad -- yes, at Best Buy again. (Makes me a great customer, like I mentioned. You would think they cared about customers like myself, but no.)
Here's the funny thing: I asked the manager, Jesus, for the Geeksquad 5-Point Pledge --http://www.geeksquad.com/why-choose-us. "I have no idea what it is."
I asked to speak to the store manager, Kevin. He was a great manager who performed like a real manager -- showed sympathy, acknowledged problem, took accountability, and told the customer he'd do something to expedite the problem. I didn't care if it was just lip-service.
FEBRUARY, 2011
Kevin's promises turned out to be effective. While on my trip, I got a few phone calls from Best Buy that my laptop was fixed and it was going to be shipped to the store the following day. I got another call a few days later that the device was at the store, ready for pick-up.
As soon as I returned from my trip, I picked up my laptop. Everything looked fine. Another customer was next to me, being sold the same ADL Service. Ironically, the customer was buying the same laptop I had. I told the customer of my experience with mine. That's another $100 or so lost sale for Best Buy because the customer turned the Geeksquad guy trying really hard to up-sell.
FEBRUARY 4, 2011
Two days later, I finally opened up my laptop at home and noticed the keyboard was coming off. Fail! How frustrating that I now have to return this device back to Geeksquad.
MARCH 16, 2011
As I write this blog, believe it or not, Geeksquad still has my laptop. In about a week, they would have had my laptop for a good 4 months. They refuse to replace the cheap laptop and would rather me wait. Place a rush order, next-day shipping, and replace the part -- that should take no more than 5 days, not 4 months.
They'll only replace the laptop if I bring it back to them 4 times. That means, if they had my laptop for an entire year, they'd give me a new laptop. That doesn't make sense.
My laptop is now selling for $600 at Best Buy. They would rather save $600 than making giving a loyal, high-spending, Premier Rewards Member the hassle and having to blog about it.
Best Buy, if you're reading this, here's your chance to do good.
MARCH 22, 2011
Great news! I got a call from the Best Buy Service Center telling me that they've decided to replace my laptop. I hope it's to keep me satisfied, but I have a feeling it's partly due Japan's recent earthquake/tsunami where Toshiba cannot ship parts to the US. Nevertheless, I'm happy to get my Toshiba R705 once again -- no scratches this time from the refurbished parts they gave me. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that when they gave me my laptop the first time, the touchpad was chrome and all scratched up -- different from my original machine. How could I have scratched it up in 3 month's of use?!)
As I've mentioned in the past -- Rights VS Privileges. I feel privileged that Best Buy finally took care of me. I hope they don't do this to other customers and take 4 months out of their use.
Case closed.
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