Complaint Review: Best Buy - Flower Mound Texas

 I have no way of knowing if you are being facetious but you certainly implied it takes a lawyer to understand the terms of the BTP and they are plain and simple in this case and nothing was difficult to understand by anyone who can read English and not require a law degree such as if it was a loan contract or a mortgage.

Now you ask if I can just argue the point that sales people should be allowed to lie about what these plans cover. I have no argument there as I do not believe the "corporation" allows or encourages the sales staff to lie to customers about what protection plans cover and to help safe guard against that give ethics trainings and have it so the customer can not even purchase the plan unless they acknowledge they recieved the terms at the POS before it can be rung up.. 

You say they are scum plans?... then don't buy them. But for some it comes in very handy when a product goes bad after it is out of the manufacturers warranty and instead of buying another one and full retail or just being stuck with a useless item, they get a replacement free of charge. Some people see a value in that, some do not but it is NOTHING more then insurance when you get down to it. Unless you think it is unheard of that electronics do sometimes go bad for unknown reasons or defects? That never happens?

I hope any employees at BestBuy that are caught lying to a customer about what a plan covers would be fired on the spot. But what punishment should the customers get who lie? Oh wait, a customer would never lie or demand something unreasonable or fail by not knowing what they are buying and blame everyone else but their own ignorance. Yeah, that must be it. 

While it is deplorable for a salesman to lie to you, it happens ALL THE TIME and not just at best buy. That's why you *ALWAYS* ask to see it in writing. I never buy a protection plan, insurance policy or extended warranty without reading it first. Its really not that hard to do.

I wasn't trying to be literal, when i  said bring a lawyer.  I guess being facetious falls on deaf ears to the corporate world  Please can you just argue the point that sales people should be allowed to lie about what these plans cover, can't wait to hear it.  I know when I was offered these scam plans, I was never given any kind of reading material about said plan.  They just asked me to sign up at the register. I'm sure there's some fine print or a paper about it somewhere, but they're not actively trying to give you this information, how convenient.   So I get it, according to you and your superiors, it's all on the customer and none on the company for sleaze ball sales tactics, please.  Go back to your Best Buy corporate office cubical and find some other customers to call out and harass for being duped by your sales people.  

...to understand ONE paragraph???

C. Geek Squad Black Tie Protection Replacement Plan (GSBTP-RP).
 This Plan provides for the replacement of your covered product found to be defective by us.  If we determine, in our sole discretion that your product needs replacement, we will replace your product with a new or refurbished product of like kind and quality that is of comparable performance or reimburse you for replacement of the product with a voucher or gift card, at our discretion, equal to the current market value of the product, as determined by us, not to exceed the original purchase price including all applicable taxes.

Lesson learned here sir, never just take what these sales people say at face value.  Kind of sad that you have to read this black tie policy with a lawyer just to get an understanding of it.  I have shopped at best buy only because it's convenient and they have what I want for tech products.  I have never bothered to even think about getting into these scam protection plans they try to sell me.  I don't even let them do their pitch, just a "no, thank you, I just want to purchase the product".  

When it comes to phones, don't buy them there. Deal with the service provider, purchase the phone from them and get their insurance, if an issue like that were to come up your phone or battery would be replaced no questions asked.  They only charge you a fee if it was due to excessive damage you did yourself, anything internal that just goes wrong is covered without paying a dime.
 To our best buy corporate RR representative Ashley, stop condoning your companies sneaky sales people.  It's obvious customers are told one thing, and their plans are saying another.  With a commission these sales people are getting, they are pushing these plans pretty hard, willing to say anything to get people to buy them.  That is just flat out wrong, and hopefully more people go on here and realize this and educate themselves on the sleazy sales practices your associates perform on an unknowing public.  I'm sure you'll just put the onus on the customer though as best buy can do no wrong in your eyes.  It's his fault that he fell for a best buy representative's lying sales tactic, because that's an example of ethical business practices.  You should be ashamed for your constant defending of a company that at the very least turns a blind eye to these unscrupulous sales tactics.  

...but not the sleaziness of it. The OP is warning others about Best Buy's sales practices, so that one will not believe their salesmen so easily.  Now you may say one should never trust any salesman, and only trust the contract, but there are plenty of businesses I go to where I know they will tell me the truth, and I do not have to go over the contract with a fine-toothed comb.

All that being said, you should only buy insurance (and that is what an "extended warranty" is) for things you cannot afford to lose, like a house or maybe a car. The premium on this "Black Tie" insurance works out to $132 a year! Forgetting your particular experience, this is a TOTAL ripoff; that is why companies push them so much.

In fact, even if the company made $0 dollars on it, (e.g. if you paid $10 to insure a $100 product, and you had a 10% chance of needing to make a claim), it would still be a bad deal. Why? Two reasons:

•  As you have discovered, it is a hassle to make a claim, whereas if you don't get the insurance and have to buy a phone, that is easy.
  
  
• Technology moves so fast, that in just a few months the value of the replacement has gone way down, i.e. you can buy a new one for a lot less!

your WRITTEN contract says.  That, indeed what governs your warranty terms.

Crickets chirping..............

What does your written contract with best buy for black tie protection state? Does your WRITTEN agreement say you get a new phone or does it say "new or refurbished"

It doesn't matter what the salesperson says, all that matters is what is in writing that you agreed to.

"He said this,  she said that............."  Really.   EVERY service contract at every retailer states that any replacement phone can be "new or refurbished."   Guess what, you could have probably gone to your carrier's store and had this taken care of quickly and efficiently without any service contract.   If the battery did fail after a month, that would be extremely abnormal; many times it's some sort of user error or negligence.

Buying a service contract from Best Buy, a snake oil salesperson or a used car dealer will all lead you to the same place - a very poor experience.

Best Buy and others never expect  a customer to read a service contract on the sales floor.  They want a quick, uninformed YES answer. 

Lesson learned.  Bleak Squad Black Tie Deception Plan swallows another.