Best Buy Worst Buy on Appliance Warranty Burbank Illinois
I bought a refrigerator at Best Buy and got their two-year extended warranty which specifically promised the following coverage for refrigerators:
House calls by service persons
Cash reimbursement of contents of the refrigerator spoiled or damaged
Parts and service
After two months, the refrigerator was not cooling. I called the Best Buy customer service. After a long wait, I got a live person. I requested for a service person. I was told it will take two weeks. I explained to the customer (dis)service representative that that is unacceptable for refrigerator repair service because all the food in my refrigerator will be spoiled. I was given the "I'm sorry but that is when our next available person can visit your house". I got the same response from the manager.
Two weeks later a service person showed up and told me the compressor was shot. It was incredulous! How can a new refrigerator's compressor be shot!!! He told me that he has to order the parts and it will take another two weeks!
By the time two weeks came along, we have been without a refrigerator for a month. I sent a detailed list of all the contents of the refrigerator to Best Buy with an estimate of its cost. I never got a check nor a response. I called up the number that was included in the information booklet and it was not a working number. Three months later, I sent the same list with information about the circumstances of the defective refrigerator and I still did not get a response.
Nowadays, I tell people about my experience and encourage them to shop at Circuit City, where I have much better experience with not only their in-store service, but also their warranty policies.
Ripped Off in Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Stephen
Albany,New York,
U.S.A.
this person does not understand how a service contract works
#2UPDATE Employee
Mon, January 19, 2004
i work with an appliance parts and service center that handles all best buy contract repairs in our service area..
this person does not understand how a service contract works.. best buy is NOT a manufacturer.. they do NOT make appliances.. they buy from and distribute for manufacturers (i.e. kenmore-who is owned by whirlpool).. best buy does not have any service technicians.. service calls that come into the system are called into independent service companies (like mine), that cover the service area for that best buy location..
first point: this person's complaint is one that i deal with often in my business.. i am glad that i can finally defend a fellow service company.. what this person does not understand is that they are not the only people in the world.. my business does not revolve around any ONE person and their problem.. people like this expect a servicer to have 10 technicians just sitting around waiting for them to call, and head out immediately.. it does NOT work that way.. if you find a service company with techs just sitting around who can come out immediately, then i suggest you hesitate because it is a sign that they don't do a lot of business.. my company has been operating for over 20 years and service schedules for my technicians are booked anywhere from 3 days to a whole week ahead of time..
again, what this person does NOT understand is that my business does not revolve around them personally.. i am not going to tell someone who has a service call booked 3 days in advance that they now have to wait a week because this person called and i have to rush out to do their service.. this person also does not understand that they are NOT the only person in the world with this problem.. in any given week i might have 4 people with this exact same problem.. why does this person think their service is more important?
calls are arranged and scheduled due to severity of problem.. no refrigeration calls are done ASAP.. if the SOONEST possible time is 2 days from the time they call, then that is the SOONEST.. that is just the way it is.. the company this person dealt with most likey DID shift things around in order to give them that timeframe.. some customers have to wait 4 days to a week for service.. having someone out in 2 days is actually very good.. they should have understood that and appreciated that they were being accomodated..
second point: this person also does NOT understand that service companies like mine are MIDDLEMEN.. we are NOT manufacturers.. we are distributors of appliance parts.. it is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE and ridiculous to expect us to carry every part for every brand of appliance.. we have to order parts every single day.. we order thousands of dollars of parts every week.. if we don't stock a part, there is nothing we can do but order it.. now this what what this person needs to understand very clearly.. ONCE WE SUBMIT AN ORDER TO A MANUFACTURER, IT IS OUT OF OUR CONTROL.. if a manufacturer backorders a part, or makes it no longer available, there is NOTHING we can do about it.. we are in the same position as you are.. we can call and b***h, but we get the same runaround in some cases that a customer will get.. if it takes 2 weeks to send, process, ship and receive an order, then that's WHAT IT TAKES.. if a part is in stock, often we have it rushed or overnighted, but if we have to wait, we have to wait.. as far as that complaint goes, this person's grudge is with the manufacturer, NOT the service company or best buy..
and in this case the wait is completely justified.. compressors are NOT parts that are stocked.. they do not often go bad and are very expensive, therefore NOT stocked.. and compressors DO go bad.. in fact, we see more compressors go bad with new units than with old units.. sometimes you just get a dud from that factory.. that is neither best buy, nor the service company's fault.. this person did not mention if the repair was complete.. obviously the compressor was received and installed... so i have one question.. did it fix the problem? the refrigerator worked then, didn't it?
this person's ONLY legitimate complaint is with best buy for the food claim.. if they did not receive reimbursment for the food loss, then there was a mistake somewhere.. i know for a fact that best buy is not in the business of ripping people off (if they were then they wouldn't be one of the LARGEST retail distributors in the entire country) and this seems like an isolated case.. this is most certainly NOT the norm, as far as i have observed in the years i have dealt with the company..