Best Buy Extended Warranty |
4 Comments |
About a year and a half ago, my fiancee bought a laptop and decided to protect it with the extended warranty. I know that usually they aren’t good investments, but when I did my research, getting one for a laptop seemed to be the right thing to do. When it failed to work in early September, she was happy she had gotten the protection.
However, since then, it’s been a nightmare. Best Buy sent it out for repairs and four weeks later it returned with a new motherboard that, without the protection, would have cost more than what we paid for the computer. We hadn’t been home for 15 minutes, before the monitor failed, a new side-effect of the fix, I surmise. We brought it back to Best Buy and again they confirmed the problem and sent it out for repairs. Just yesterday, it was ready for the second time. We had it home for about 20 minutes this time before it froze on us… three times. I’m a software engineer, so I know this just isn’t normal. On reboot it gives a blank screen for 10-15 minutes before it decides to get to the initial Windows loading screen. It’s funny because when we took it back to Best Buy that’s about exactly how long it took for the technician to get the manager. Just when the manager shows up it works, go figure.
He wanted to run an overnight diagnostic on it, but at this point, I think it’s time to honor the extended warranty and replace it. Even if he does it get to work at this point, I want them to extend the extended warranty because at this point, I’ve lost a lot of confidence that it’s going to continue working. I expect it’s going to die the day after the warranty is done. The most frustrating part of this is that for 6 weeks now she’s been without her computer. Someone needs to come up with a loaner plan like they do with cars.
This post deals with:best buy, extended warranty, investments, laptop, software engineer, warranty
... and focuses on:Consumer Battles
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October 16th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
I recently purchased an xbox 360, but before I did I researched the heck out of the thing. I came to realize that a lot of people were having trouble with the systems failing on them. This led me to conclude that I had to get some sort of warranty on it so that I would be covered in case mine failed. I read everything I could about extended warranty plans from the main stores such as circuit city and best buy, and I found that, for the most part, they’re totally worthless. It sounds like they’re trying to fix your laptop for you, but why not just replace it already. I mean, come on! They probably have your warrantly expiration date posted on your account, and I’m sure that the employees say, “Well, if we can hold out for another X months, then he’ll have to buy a new one.” Anyhow, I just feel that the extended warranties are basically a ripoff when it comes to the major store chains. Of course, sometimes they work flawlessly, but most of the time they’re worthless. Only my opinion. I’m sure some would strongly disagree, and I’m sure some would strongly agree. What does everyone else think?
October 16th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
One thing about laptops is that their mobile nature makes me think they would be a little more likely to fail than say an Xbox.
The thing with the laptop is that they’d have to hold out for another 15 months. Otherwise, I’d think just like you, that they are just trying to buy time. Today, I stopped by and talked with an associate and he said that it was marked as exchange, meaning that I would indeed get a new one. I asked them if they’d transfer the data and he said that it was a $159 charge. I told them that I’d take the old hard drive and do it myself. The associate said that he wasn’t he could do that. That got me fairly mad. He suggested that I wait for the manager who was on his way to approve the exchange.
The manager said that they’d do the data transfer for free, but he did first ask the technician how much they usually charge. Why he did that, I can’t say. I don’t think it’s overly difficult, probably something that’s very automated.
Anyway we have to go back with the receipt and when I have more time than my lunch break to finish the process. We aren’t out of the woods yet, but I can almost seeing a clearing up ahead.
October 17th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
$159 for data transfer, that guy’s got to be kidding !…or Best Buy is really screwing it up for you.
I think you should scare them by telling that the disk holds time sensitive data of paramount importance to the state and see how they react. And thats not lying if they have asked you $159 for data transfer.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
That’s the standard price that Geek Squad charges. The amazing part is that they just move the stuff from My Documents folder from one hard drive to another. I would have tried to scare them, but I had already gotten what I wanted.