Best Buy

About 2 years ago I purchased a Toshiba Satellite A25-S307

P4 2.8, 512 ram, 60 gig hd

So its still in good shape, and I also purchased the 3 year protection plan. Recently the hinges that hold the screen up have been weak, and the screen can't support its own weight. So, I take the computer to Best Buy to have it fixed.

They did an awesome job, the whole top cover is new, and the top cover of the base (around the keyboard). Mind you, this took 4 weeks. In the mean time, they scratched me LCD screen, gave me a different battery back, broke the "END" key on my keyboard, and my hard drive makes a high pitched whining noise whenever its being heavily accessed.

I'm going down to Best Buy tonight to follow up on the claim later today, I'll let you guys know how it goes.

I have one of those REALLY loud voices so the whole store will end up knowing how upset I am if they say no, I've actually been removed from Best Buy by security for this once before, only to recieve a phone call later appologizing and taking care of my problems and then some.

Wish me (and them) luck !!

My advice would be to try the polite but speaking loudly approach. As long as you don't shout or get violent they shouldn't remove you

In the future don't buy toshiba either. I've seen a ton of problems with them and toshiba themselfs are horrid at fixing things. Dell will just send you the parts and either send out a tech or let you fix it.

Ebola said:

In the future don't buy toshiba either. I've seen a ton of problems with them and toshiba themselfs are horrid at fixing things. Dell will just send you the parts and either send out a tech or let you fix it.

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yeah dell is top notch for lappys.

Nathan0490 said:

yeah dell is top notch for lappys.

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i think your thinking of acer
but dells are nice too

The only reason I own a lappy is so that I wont have to move my huge tower block whenever I go....
I think laptopts in general are expensive, inupgradable, easily broken, stolen....

But I had tons of problems with my Dell laptops...new video card going bad, had to use my old one...

Ebola said:

In the future don't buy toshiba either. I've seen a ton of problems with them and toshiba themselfs are horrid at fixing things. Dell will just send you the parts and either send out a tech or let you fix it.

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I've had the exact opposite experiences. Go figure.

Security removed you? How long ago was this? Last time I checked it's wayyyyyyyyyyy against BB policy to physically touch any customer.

Besides that if it took 4 weeks it was most likely sent to the manuf. Not Best Buy's fault.


EDIT
Although on second thought it could have been sent to one of the local repair centers. I know we've got one about 20 minutes away from our store we send stuff to; although that's for Ipods and not laptops.

funny, you had a slight problem, sent it in to get fixed, and it came out worse than before. But yeah, the best way would be to speak loud, but politely like David said, that way you will command attention from reps and customers but you are not doing anything to get you kicked out.

My toshiba lappy's mobo bit the dust after about 9 month of having it. I sent it back to bestbuy and they were great. The only complaint is that it took over 2 month's to get it back.

Hope you get this resolved without violence.

this is why i wish it were easy to just build your own laptops....

i know i speak for the majority of us when i say that i would never purchase a name brand desktop computer. unfortunately for laptops i think the best u can get is a clean laptop with no OS installed.

SteveLord said:

this is why i wish it were easy to just build your own laptops....

i know i speak for the majority of us when i say that i would never purchase a name brand desktop computer. unfortunately for laptops i think the best u can get is a clean laptop with no OS installed.

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good point, someone needs to step up and make laptops with interchangeable parts made by different manufacturers like desktops.

i've read about barebones laptop hardware but don't know of anybody who has successfully built one.

i called bb to check stock on the $399 lappy d94 posted a couple of days back, they are charging $449 for it. the stores that have it for $399 have no stock...figures.

i hope your issue gets resolved with out a police report.

made a formal complaint against the manager @ best buy

everytime i was in there i was told, "we will have an answer for you within 24-48 hours" -- its been a week and a half. the manager didnt seem to want to do any managing, and would rather dismiss people and tell them what they wanted to hear. I'm sure me being only 20 years old didn't help, but i do expect the same service as everybody else.

that day, i did end up using the whole polite but loud tactic, and it worked. by the time i left, the 3 people on line behind me were bitching about how they wanted refunds for their service plans if it was going to take a month to get the laptop back. when i talked to corporate that night, they did however tell me that the store has nothing to do with making the decision.

however to today I still don't know whats going on, i was told by corporate that i would be contacted by friday (2/10) the latest, so we're already past due

fight the machine!

xxjt2oxx said:

when i talked to corporate that night, they did however tell me that the store has nothing to do with making the decision.

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I'm one of those CIA agents you may speak to when coming into the store. You're taking the right approach. I can also verify that the corporate repair center makes the final decision, not the store.

As an agent I often get frustrated with 'the process', because the longer the process takes the more times I have to deal with the disgruntled customer. I've often played advocate for customers when it was obvious they were or could get the shaft because of technicalities or loopholes in Best Buy's favor. I've also worked against customers when it was obvious that they were lying to work loopholes in their favor. Unfortunately it sounds to me like you're in a gray area for now and that the management of that particular Geek Squad precinct doesn't care much about your time spent on this. I hope it works out in the end.

I often refer to the service plan as the 'gold card' for repair at Geek Squad. I've seen a lot of stuff get outright exchanged. I've also seen a lot of money being spent to repair defective stuff as well. There's still a lot of money being made on the plans, otherwise best Buy wouldn't offer them, but because of the profit involved best Buy most definitely pays when circumstances warrant. Making good on a service plan solidifies customer loyalty. Hell, after working there for a few months I added a service plan to my recently purchased laptop. I'm a fan because I see it working everyday.

"Fighting the machine" is probably the right mentality. Unfortunately it should never get to that point, but even where I work there's been situations not that different from yours. They are definitely the exception rather than the rule.

also remember, when it comes to laptops, anything under a year goes to manufacturer and that takes 2-4 months, anything over a year goes to best buy's service center and takes 2-4 weeks....

so, i called best buy corporate today, and they told me the repair was approved on 2/13/06 and i should have been contacted that day, and gave me the name of the manager at Best Buy who was notified, and also happened to be the manager thats been dicking me around for the past 2 weeks. I called the manager at Best Buy, and he informed me that they had not yet heard back from corporate. When I told him corporate told me to contact him, he suddenly remembered, "oohhhh yeaaaaa, that laptop!"

He explained to me that I have only a few days to bring the laptop in, and its going to need to be sent out for another 4 weeks. Corporate told me on the phone that I have until the end of the service plan (august of '06) to bring the laptop in for repairs. I then asked why he didn't call me when he was notified, he simply said that he had been on vacation.

I have a friend who works on the Geek squad at the same location who told me when I could catch him this week, and I know for a fact the manager lied to me.

what do you guys think?

everyone has somebody above them, talk to the store manager

xxjt2oxx said:

so, i called best buy corporate today, and they told me the repair was approved on 2/13/06 and i should have been contacted that day, and gave me the name of the manager at Best Buy who was notified, and also happened to be the manager thats been dicking me around for the past 2 weeks. I called the manager at Best Buy, and he informed me that they had not yet heard back from corporate. When I told him corporate told me to contact him, he suddenly remembered, "oohhhh yeaaaaa, that laptop!"

He explained to me that I have only a few days to bring the laptop in, and its going to need to be sent out for another 4 weeks. Corporate told me on the phone that I have until the end of the service plan (august of '06) to bring the laptop in for repairs. I then asked why he didn't call me when he was notified, he simply said that he had been on vacation.

I have a friend who works on the Geek squad at the same location who told me when I could catch him this week, and I know for a fact the manager lied to me.

what do you guys think?

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dont let him get away with that BS
call corp and try to get him fired?

xxjt2oxx said:

what do you guys think?

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Stop buying from Best Buy. But yeah instead of a generic response that you already know now (I Hope) take it up and keep pushing them. Report Report Report, don't let them get away with this garbage.

Ebola said:

In the future don't buy toshiba either. I've seen a ton of problems with them and toshiba themselfs are horrid at fixing things. Dell will just send you the parts and either send out a tech or let you fix it.

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Older Toshiba Laptops might as well be thrown out, working on one today and there built like E-Machines are Quality is simply NOT THERE! I can't quite comment on the (Latest Models) since I haven't ripped any apart yet...

Pinky said:

I've had the exact opposite experiences. Go figure.

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Same here! Got my Toshiba M35X-S311 last year at office depot besides the stupid rubber feet from falling off I have had ZERO problems with it. I even mess around with linux on it.