I'll Never Shop There Again^©

Geek Encounters of the Worst Kind

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Not So Best of a Buy – Geek Wars

Submitted by Kevin, Costa Mesa, California

Summer 2005

It was June, 2005 and we had just picked up a nice contract with a local company to analyze their database and estimate a rewrite of their application software. To do this, we would need a copy of their database and software so we ran down to the Best Buy in Costa Mesa, CA to buy an external hard drive. I picked out a USB Ion Hard Drive from IOGEAR and headed back to the office. We've used these drives before and they are really a great little drive.

I asked the tech to "hook 'er up" but he came down a while latter and told me the drive was no good. I couldn't believe it - how could it be no good? I asked him to test it a couple of other ways and he came back again and said "no good!" It was Friday late afternoon and I decided to wait until Monday.

On Monday, I grabbed my receipt and headed back over to Best Buys. They have a special counter for returns which is right next to the "Geek Squad" window. When I brought the drive in, the customer service person (CS) looked at the drive, looked at me, and then took the drive into the room where the Geek Squad works. I waited a little over 45 minutes for something to happen. All I wanted was an exchange, what the heck could they be doing back there? The CS person was helping other people with their returns while I stood pacing. He went into the back room several times and finally came out with the drive. He laid it on the table and said they would not accept the return. I couldn't believe my ears. What did the policy say on the wall - all returns must have a receipt - I had one, must be 30 days or less from purchase date, it had been 3 days. The CS informed me that the drive had been altered. I replied "Not by me!" He said that there were two safety tapes on the drive that looked to be altered and again I replied "Not by me! Why on earth would I mess with the drive? I don't know anything about the internals of a hard drive, just give me a replacement. Besides, these tabs you've pointed out don't look altered to me." The CS person grabbed the drive and took it back into the Geek Squad back room. Another 45 minutes went by and he came out and said "No, we cant take it back". I looked at the drive again and now the tabs looked like they had been altered. The CS person said that they couldn't take the drive back because they couldn't get it opened to verify that all the parts were in the drive. This was unbelievable. These guys had tried to open the drive and said that they could take it back because it had been altered, then said they could take it back because they couldn't get it opened. I asked to see a manager. I waited another ½ hour. I'm now into this for almost 2 hours. The manager came out and said there would be no more discussion; I would need to leave with my hard drive.

I went back to the office and called Best Buy corporate, American Express, and the IOGEAR Company. IOGEAR said they often take returns from Best Buy but couldn't take one directly from me. American Express put a hold on the charge. Best Buy, after 3 phone conversations, told me to take the drive back to the store for a return. I asked how they would know to take it back at the store and corporate said an email would be sent to the store manager. Finally, or so I thought, I had my replacement and some justice.

I went back to the store the next day and spoke with the same CS guy. I informed him that I had spoken with corporate and he was to take back the drive. I told him to have the manager check his email. Well, the CS guy had me waiting another 45 minutes - he seemed to be checking the email? He came back and said they couldn't find any such email. Thank God for cell phones, I called corporate and spoke with the same person. They put me on hold and came back and said the store manager was not working that day. Geez, what does it take! Finally, the message got through and they replaced the drive.

That afternoon, I came back and told the story to Mike and he relayed a story to me and so on and that is when we decided that we were "mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore". We came up with the idea for www.iwillnevershopthereagain.com and registered the URL.

People - we have got to stop accepting bad customer service in this country. The more we accept it, the worse it will get!

No More Geeks for Me

Submitted By Michael - Gig Harbor WA

Spring 2005

October 2004 found me at Best Buy looking for a new computer. My old one was just too old and I figured it was time to move up. So I picked out a nice midrange HP desktop with all the goodies. I even got the extended warranty. As bad luck would have it about six months later my system was running slow and after cleaning it up of spyware and viruses I decided to add more memory. So off to Best Buy I went computer in tow to get it cleaned (part of the warranty) and to upgrade the system. This is my story to the best of my recollection.

Enter the Geek Squad. Standing across the counter was a young well groomed guy in his white shirt, black tie, etc. We exchanged greetings and I explained that I wanted a memory upgrade and a cleaning. As he booted my system he noted that it was very slow (he should have seen it before) and said they could run some diagnostics and fix it up for me. I thought, why not and after all it was only $60. I requested that they Ghost the drive before they got started and for and extra fee that was added to the service. He wrote the service order up and off I went.

A week later, I called to get the status of my computer and to arrange a pickup. “Not ready yet, give us a few more days.” the told me. Take another week; I am headed out of town. A week later, another call and another Not Ready, and my worries began. After another week they finally said it was ready. When I went to pick it up I asked them to boot it up for me. “Small problem”, was the reply. Now it gets fun. I said Oh? Like what?, I asked. “Well your operating system is corrupt.” Face now showing anguish and anger I stated, “odd it worked fine when I brought it in.”

“Well I don’t know about that but it sure doesn’t work now.” he said with a little attitude and a smirk.

“Well at least you got it Ghosted so we can just restore it right? “ I asked.

“Nope, you are going to have to restore it from the original disks that came with the system.” He said with a glare.

“What disks? There were no disks just a partition with the restore volumes on it”.

“Nope, that’s gone too.” came the reply.

“Did you at least clean it and install the memory upgrade?”

“Nope, we sold out of the memory so it didn’t get put in but I could install this one for you, except its not on sale.”

At this point I had a choice. Commit homicide or pickup my computer and go.

I said in a harsh and loud tone. “So let me get this straight, you F’d up my computer, didn’t install the upgrade and that is just fine by you?!!!”

“That’s about it” he said.

Give me the D’m computer and let me get out of here.

And now the clincher.

“Okay, that will be $60”.

“Your are kidding me right?”

“Hey, that is our service charge rate.”

Did I mention the manager watched this whole exchange and only stepped in when I refused to pay?

“What seems to be the problem? he interjected.

I looked him square in the eyes and said you have been watching the whole time I think you know what the problem is.

He looked like he could give a rats behind and said “Well if you want the PC back you will have to pay for the service.”

With that I forked over the money and stomped out before I had a stroke or hurt someone.

Epilogue

After buying a restore disk from HP and spending 3 days restoring and reloading my PC I have a nice desktop again. Of course I also had to buy about $800 of software that I no longer had the disks for (my fault I know, but it sure didn’t set well).

The moral of the story is simple. Never buy the extended warranty, never let a Geek touch your PC and learn how to do upgrades yourself. That lesson cost me over $1,000 I hope it saves you the pain, the experience and the money.

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