Complaint Review: Best Buy Geek Squad

#1. With any warranty work, if a part is found to be defective, the manufacturer partners with the service center to do a fair core for core exchange.

#2. If you would have sent this straight to dell, guess what would have happened, you would have lost your data too! (I know, shocking right).

#3. this is just like your cell phone. unless you explicitly say, (hey joe, back up my numbers please), guess what, you loose your whole contact list. Only difference is that numbers are mabye at the most 3mb of information. Your hard drive can hold up to 500 GB of information at the moment of this post (laptop wise we're talking here). To back that up requires space to actually store it....right....(hence the 99.99 charge for less than 9.4GB of data and 159.99 for unlimited GB. External hard drives are cheap now, that 99.99 could have been turned into a 300 GB external hard drive.

#4. For your side, because I always put my self in the shoes of the customer when dealing with every issue and person that i talk to on a daily basis, management should have been hounded about the fact that they didn't give you the option to back your stuff up.

#5. Notice on that disclaimer that you sign before you leave out the store....the paper definitely says in all caps that best buy is not responsible for your data in any shape or form. It actually states it twice.

Why would someone have to sign a Best Buy waiver form for Best Buy to ship a PC to the manufacturer???

Best Buy did NOT replace the LCD or the backlight, the unit was shipped to the manufacturer. Those types of repairs are way to advanced for the average Geek Squad employee.

And why would Best Buy/GS run diagnostics on a PC that all they did was ship it out and receive it back?? Unless they are just trying to scam the customer...

Why would someone have to sign a Best Buy waiver form for Best Buy to ship a PC to the manufacturer???

Best Buy did NOT replace the LCD or the backlight, the unit was shipped to the manufacturer. Those types of repairs are way to advanced for the average Geek Squad employee.

And why would Best Buy/GS run diagnostics on a PC that all they did was ship it out and receive it back?? Unless they are just trying to scam the customer...

Why would someone have to sign a Best Buy waiver form for Best Buy to ship a PC to the manufacturer???

Best Buy did NOT replace the LCD or the backlight, the unit was shipped to the manufacturer. Those types of repairs are way to advanced for the average Geek Squad employee.

And why would Best Buy/GS run diagnostics on a PC that all they did was ship it out and receive it back?? Unless they are just trying to scam the customer...

Why would someone have to sign a Best Buy waiver form for Best Buy to ship a PC to the manufacturer???

Best Buy did NOT replace the LCD or the backlight, the unit was shipped to the manufacturer. Those types of repairs are way to advanced for the average Geek Squad employee.

And why would Best Buy/GS run diagnostics on a PC that all they did was ship it out and receive it back?? Unless they are just trying to scam the customer...

Policies, fine print, whatever the case - this customer asked a question and was deceived. Someone is liable for that, regardless of fine print and company policy and rhetoric. "Well Sir, I know we told you this but since you signed a paper, everything we told you means nothing." If I bring in a computer and I am told that the hard drive will not be touched, I expect that.

When I bought my laptop the Best Buy employee tried pushing the service plan on me and I openly laughed at him. I quickly rambled off a story from a friend I knew who paid hundreds of dollars for, "Virus removal" only to have their Hard Drive formatted and then they were told to go home and run the recovery disks that came with the unit. Oh, and it took them 4 days to do it - an action that typically takes less than an hour (depending on the computers specifications of course.)

I am still an avid Best Buy customer, and will continue to be for some time. But make no mistake, I will not fall for their deception and I strongly urge others to investigate the service plans (or agreements or whatever they are calling them this week) before they purchase them.

I would have to agree with the above. You signed a very short (half page of 12pt font text, ten items long) saying that we are not responsible for any loss of data. If you did not fully read the contract you signed, that is too bad.

From what I read here, you are actually being taken care of very well. Normally we will charge you $129.99 for us to reinstall the operating system after the hard drive has been replaced, since software services are not covered under any warranty or service contract we have.

Additionally, since the manufacturer replaced the hard drive, they had to take the one out of the unit as an exchange. You make an analogy about a vehicle. If you went in to get your brakes replaced (and this is a better analogy) and they replaced your gas tank for no charge, they shouldn't have to give you a full tank of gas for free, or let you keep the old gas tank.

Don't forget to always read what you sign. I know on the paper you signed to ship it, #10 says they aren't responsible for data but can possible back it up for you. When they replaced it, they were just trying to save it from another trip back. Just bad communication though.

Amcarp, Believe me I understand your frustration. I have seen this happen before and it is a really crappy thing to have to go through. I recall you saying that your machine was 10 months old so I can offer you a little insight into the process and then try to steer you in the right direction.

I'm not sure if you purchased the service agreement from best buy but in your situation that doesn't really matter because of the computer being less than a year old. When a machine is sent to our service center and is less than a year old it falls under the manufacturers warranty. The manufacturer picks up all costs associated with the repair such as the parts, labor, and shipping as long as it is deemed a defect of production. The manufacturer requires that any other issues found during the repair are fixed at that time. This prevents them from having to pay for another round of shipping 1 month later when something else possibly fails requiring service again. I just wanted to explain that part so that you understand that it is not really best buy's doing or fault.

On to the issues with the tech at your local store. I can definitely believe that you were told the machine would be sent out and that since it had nothing to do with the hard drive, would return with the hard drive in its previous state. This is mostly conveyed by an inexperienced agent that is either brand new or not properly trained. It's really unfortunate, you would think that agents everywhere would know this by now and be sure to train new agents not to allow this to happen. They should never have said that to you or even relied on our service center to call because most of the time they will not.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you should have backed up your files before you brought it in or have had us perform the $99 backup because it is only adding salt to a wound. We failed you by not making sure that agent was properly trained to tell you all of that before you brought your machine in.

Unfortunately I cannot do anything for you as this is not my store. The store can and should be willing to work with you providing everything you say is true to the "t". What I would suggest if the data is really important is to authorize the backup now if you haven't already since they will destroy it as they are not allowed to keep the drive since it is now the manufacturers property. I know you said you talked to a few managers and corporate but what I would suggest if you are not hearing anything is to call 888bestbuy and ask for the district office's phone number and call them. District managers have the pull and are much more connected to the real world than our corporate answer centers. What managers have you spoken with already? If you haven't spoken with the GM yet that might be an avenue to try. Something does sound strange if you were told a manager would call and you haven't heard anything yet. At my store we call people by the end of business the day that they call. I'm not really sure as to why the machine is still waiting to be sent out either. Shipping at my store is done every night and is standard procedure at all best buys. I hope I have been of some help to you and wish you the best of luck. It is a shame that the actions of some have to ruin it for all.

My point is that there is really no other service industry out there where someone can do what ever they want to your property without getting your approval first. Mechanic, plumber, doctor, whoever.... I was completely unprepared for how this would be handled. No one informed me that diagnostics would be run and they would fix whatever came up. And yes, if this saved me from a future problem, I appreciate it, of course. My point is simply there was a complete lack of communication and I guarantee the general public is not aware that someone can take out your HD without asking and then it magically is no longer your property. From an outside perspective it just seems like extortion.

I am a parent of 3 who is in nursing school, so coming up with a spare $300 is not real easy. So, yes, I would have gone home and saved the crucial info myself before returning it to be shipped away.

The managers at the store have still not called me as promised to give me an update, so after another 2 days of waiting to find out when my computer would me shipped back for its 'redo', I just callled again and was told "Someone should probably call you sooner or later." Not a great confidence-inspiring statement! I don't know why it is still sitting there - I am just looking for someone in the store to know what they are talking about and provide some appropriate communication and customer service.

What I think happened here is the guy taking in your computer figured that because the only problems visible were the screen and the track pad and that because that was all he wrote up in the report he assumed the service center wouldn't run a diag on it to test for other issues as well. I'll admit he was wrong to assume that.

When I was at Geek Squad, a little less than 2 years ago, our managers told us to offer a backup on everything that went to the service center. No matter what. This is the perfect example of why. What he should have done was write in the report specifically to call if there were any other issues, which he may have done. The service center could have messed up and not called but they are trained to, unless in the report, assume the customer was offered a backup when the computer was taken in.

In their defense it would have cost you that much money up front to get the backup anyways... unless of course you were going to do it yourself. Also, they did you a favor with running the diag and finding the bad HDD. If the diag picked up that the HDD was bad then they could have saved you from a complete HDD crash later on in which case data could have been a lot harder to retrieve from the disk if possible at all. They run a full diag while they are in to save you the headache of something else going wrong with the computer and you having to go without it for another few days/weeks.

They didn't find anything wrong with the touchpad in the diag because their diags don't test for issues like that. The big things they test are HDD and RAM. As far as the diag on the HDD they normally don't print that report out so they'd have noting to give you. If they run the test and it shows bad sectors (pointing to a failing hard drive) they replace it.

Last thing: The car analogy was a bit much. It's not like they pulled the hard drive and didn't put a new one in it. :P So he was wrong by not offering the backup but ultimately they did you a favor by saving you from a possible HDD crash in the future in which case you may not have been able to get the data back. Hope this helps.

I agree their are valid points to your story. Hard drives can sometimes just stop and its without warning. When you add in the size of a laptop hard drive and the other factors like heat, dust bunnies, higher failure rate; it could have died in their hands. There are so many things that could have happened. If that laptop in still in the store take it from them and demand to see the store manager and run this up their chain. BB and GS really dont care about these situations since this is one of many. You need to make sure the individuals in the store know their is a issue and the old saying the squeaky well gets oiled first.

I agree, this is a lesson about backing up data. But here are my problems with the situation:

1) I was told they would call if anything else was done to the computer other than the screen and touch pad, which was false information.

2) I was not offered back up service prior to sending it in as is their 'policy'

3) No one will give me a diagnostic report or tell me what was apparently wrong with my hard drive (that was working just fine when I sent it to them). I have simply been told it needed to be replaced--- but why????? What failed? When they did the estimate for the data recovery I was told this was a very easy recovery and no data appeared corrupted. Which is why I would like the report saying what failed. My guess is NOTHING!!

4) They ran diagnostics that said my hard drive needed to be replaced, but didn't run diagnostics to figure out that my mouse pad that was slow when I sent it in was now completely broken after they 'fixed' it??

5) They told me it was being sent back in as a 'redo' on Monday, but when I went in there today (Wednesday) for an update, it had still not been sent in. They said "Maybe tomorrow." How long is this going to take???

Nothing about this process seems logical and it is obvious that no one there really cares about customer service!

This is with all vendors not just the Geek Sqd,

1: If any computer is under warranty to get the new one you need to give them the old one.

2: Software is not covered under any warranty by any mfg, not Dell, HP, no one so to get your information you can get the back up but you have to pay for it.

I think that this was a good deed gone bad here, they were trying to help but it appears no communication happened so your in this position. This is another great example of back up your files people. A hard drive can go any time and without that back up your screwed.

So chalk this up to a learning lesson. Although if the HD is still in the store I find that really unusual because the Geek Sqd local stores are not authorized any warranty repairs. Or at least this was the company directive in 2006 when I worked for them.

I went in to Best Buy for an update today and was told there was that all escalations had failed and my only option was the data recovery at a minimum of $259. Then I was told that when they origianlly said the backlight and touchpad were fixed, they were wrong. Apparently now the touchpad that was just a little slow before I gave it to them, was not completely broken and didn't work at all. But the other day I was told everything was fixed. So now they want to send my computer back to fix the touchpad that they broke. I just don't get it. How do they stay in business?