Jocko
Biloxi,#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, May 22, 2009
This is going to make me sound like a disgruntled ex employee but I am going to say this anyways. This is what happens when retail tries to get into the service side of the house. Best Buy / Geek Sqd do not pay good enough cash to get those who are real techs to work for them, they have a few real techs but sadly this is not the norm. Most of those guys behind the counter are students or people who have worked on their mothers computer. When Best Buy opens a new store they fill the Geek Sqd ranks with very motivated and mostly certified individuals but after a few months those who are the bean counters start screaming because they are not making enough profit at the store. This is exactly why they have warranty repair facilities, because their field agents can't even be trusted to mail out a PC let alone work on it. Its really sad, and true. The next time your at the geek sqd, ask them about certifications other than Best Buy store certs; you'll be surprised at how many are not........
Linksawakener
Brush Prairie,#3UPDATE Employee
Sun, April 05, 2009
Unfortunately, it's not an unheard one. There are two issues you're dealing with here, the first being the mechanic complex. When you take your car to the mechanic, it miraculously works. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The employees at GSC live by that rule and it sounds possible the geeks didn't find anything wrong on first boot-up. The second issue is Software vs. Hardware. It sounds to me like there's a *possibility* they can blame the issues on software, and tell you it's not covered. While this fact is true--if the issue is software it certainly isn't covered under your warranty--the geeks at GSC seem to think that if it can be possible that it's software related, they don't attempt to see if it's also hardware, and just send it back. These are both issues I've personally had to deal with, and unfortunately they don't give us much say in what happens during the repair process. Having argued your case to GSC before, I'll let you know they often completely ignore our requests--even escalation requests. Now it's not ignored for the sake of being ignored, often times they just have a large work-load and honestly cannot expedite anything. But the system to me is still broken, and that has to do with our limited connection with GSC and how they don't see any side of any story, just the computer to fix. Now, before you get even more disappointed, I have to correct a misconception you had. The no lemon policy isn't in affect after 3 repairs, it's if you've had 3 repairs in which *at least one part was replaced*, on the fourth (if another part is required) you should be gifted the value of an equivalent computer in the form of a gift card. It sounds like the first repair you had, no part was replaced so wouldn't qualify. However, your motherboard was replaced once, and that does qualify. Ok, now that those are taken care of, I can backtrack a bit to your questions: The new SO was created most likely because whoever checked your computer in checked it in incorrectly. There's a tiny checkbox when the agent creates an SO that says whether the repair is to be done in-store or not. And as far as I can tell, it's random whether that is correctly marked or not. So, if it's incorrect the agent needs to correct it before submitting the SO, and if that's not done, the SO needs to be closed and re-opened under a new order. There is only two "closing statement" that Geek Squad agents in the store can close with, saying the customer picked up the computer or saying the unit is abandoned (which you don't want). There's one that GSC can close with, stating that a junkout was approved. This is done because--if things are done correctly--there should be no reason for anything else. And the agents certainly should have called you, but unfortunately they usually follow the anti-social cliche and won't talk to you unless completely necessary. This definitely could have been dealt with better. Second item: the online updates you're getting are purposely delayed, I believe for about 6 hours. It may even be once-a-day refresh. Also, our system doesn't accurately portray shipping times. I don't have an answer to the "Why" question you're thinking. I had an opportunity to use our online updating system, and I wasn't impressed with it. I followed my product both online and in the Geek Squad system, and I got much more information from the latter, not to mention better accuracy. I wish I could give you more help in regards to your product, but all I can really say is that your case is a very rare one, though not unheard of. Unfortunately for the loyal customers like you, there are very specific steps to follow to get things done right. It's the rules that Best Buy has to follow, too, in order to get the insurance agency to back the company up. There is an exception to this, though. While not a guarantee by any stretch, if the computer comes back still broken, you may be able to get the store to give you a brand new computer the same day. What I would advise is to grab a manager, either the Services Manager or if that doesn't work a General Sales Manager or General Manager, to plead your case to. Geek Squad agents certainly don't have the authorization to approve this, a manager may bend the rules to keep a customer loyal, especially one that has purchased a $300 warranty. I think I answered most of the questions you had. If I missed some important ones, let me know and I'll write back.