Best Buy Computers Consumer Reviews - Page 4

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI -- I bought a TV set and stand at Best Buy on County Line Road, Jackson, MS, last Wednesday morning. Because the salesman told me that it would not fit into my Honda Civic, I had to opt for delivery. On Thursday the salesman called and said that my delivery was "in the system for Friday, January 25." OK, so I stayed home ALL DAY LONG, even though there were many things I needed to be doing elsewhere. A little after 5 p.m. I called Best Buy to find out how late their delivery went on - whether I should give up on getting the TV set and go to the grocery store. None of the various people I talked to had a clue, either about why my TV set hadn't been delivered or how late delivery lasted.

I decided not to go to the grocery store since maybe the TV set would still show up. About 7:30 I concluded that it wasn't going to, and I called Best Buy again. Once again I talked to several different people, all of whom were utterly clueless. "I don't know" was about all they could say about the situation.

This afternoon I called again and finally got to talk to an intelligent-sounding human being on the delivery truck, but he said that he didn't know anything about my order - that he hadn't been working yesterday and thus didn't know what had happened and that he was out in the truck at the moment and thus had no way to find out anything about the situation. That all made sense, though it didn't get me any closer to knowing whether I was ever going to see the TV set or whether I had flushed $1600 down the toilet. Having gleaned nothing useful via the phone calls, I decided to go to the store. Describing all this is making me tired, so I'll jump quickly to the finish.

After waiting forever and ever and ever, I finally learned from somebody at customer service that the delivery hadn't been made because the delivery order had been deleted from the computer - that the computer automatically reset itself in the middle of the night and that if something "didn't match perfectly" (whatever in the world THAT means), it was automatically deleted. She said that it was a good thing I had come to the store since otherwise nobody would have ever know about the delivery failure.

Now, I would simply have never gotten the TV set. Things were looking better - she said that it would be delivered first thing tomorrow. But then a couple of hours later the salesman called and said that the earliest it could be delivered is next Wednesday, a day when I have to be out of town, so it will be next Thursday. This assumes, of course, that the computer doesn't eat the delivery order.

Best Buy and Circuit City are very close to each other in Jackson. I normally don't shop at Circuit City unless they have something I want that Best Buy doesn't have. I have always preferred Best Buy for some reason. But Circuit City has suddenly risen greatly in my estimation. I'm usually pretty easy to please - do not mind minor glitches. But after having lost a whole day waiting for a delivery that didn't happen, having talked to innumerable clueless Best Buy employees, and having heard the story of Best Buy's computer that eats delivery orders in the middle of the night, I am motivated not only to write this report but to spread the word in many other ways: Beware of Best Buy.

BAKERSFIELD (ROSEDALE), CALIFORNIA -- In the 03/2005 I had a problem with my computer (Purchased from BEST BUY) and I brought it in to Best Buy and they said it was fixed. Brought it home and it was not. While talking to the manager of the department we told him what was wrong and they fixed it while we waited. Then we told the guy that they had upgrade Windows service pack 2 and we paid $80.00 for that. The manager looked in the computer and stated it had not been done but he personally fixed it for us. This we just blew off as a honest mistake.

Now on 01/10/2008 I brought my computer into BEST BUY located @ 8300 Rosedale Highway Bakersfield, Ca. 93313 (661) 587-0675 with the simple problem that the CD/DVD writer was not working. When the computer was brought to the store they plugged it in and it immediately went off. They kept it and I called to check the status and they told me it was the mother board and it would cost me $600.00 to fix it. This was on top of the $158.00 that I had already paid to diagnose and back up my data in my own Hard Drive. The associate told me it would be cheaper to buy a new computer.

I told them I would fix it on my own which they discouraged because I could damage it. Needless to say I purchased the part from SONY for $247.00 and had it put in for free and the computer still didn't work. So after looking at the computer and repeatedly pushing the power button we self diagnosed the computer with having a faulty On/Off Switch or bad power supply. We had an old power supply from a previous computer, not the correct one but one to at least provide power to the motherboard and on came the computer and it started loading up.

The tech never checked the power supply. (I have a small doubt that my computer was sabotaged by them by using a plug that blows the power supply or something because my only problem was a CD writer. The computer had power to it prior to BEST BUY plugging it in with their cord. Or maybe the power supply just blew which is possible. I also feel that they were trying to take advantage of me because I let my service plan lapse. I only feel this way because I had a problem in the past with paying for something that wasn't done and just feel like they were trying to take advantage of me not knowing much about computers)

So in the end all I needed was a power supply & DVD writer. Best Buy told me my best bet would be to buy a NEW computer instead of incurring the close to $1000.00 to fix mine. Which in reality has only cost me $405 with their misdiagnosis and fees which made me incur unnecessary cost of the motherboard.

CHANDLER, ARIZONA -- Below is a letter that I sent to Best Buy customer service after repeated attempts at online and telephone escalations. Bottom line as others have found, an arrogant "no escalation" approach to their return policy which in this case was terrible flawed. Besides my restocking fee refund, what I really wanted, was to hear directly from a corporate officer, that they stand behind the final decision in this case despite the fact that I was able to demonstrate a failure in front of them. I am happy to report that I believe I have successfully influenced at least $100,000 in purchases to other stores just within my circle of friends and family.

Having just found this website I hope to divert another $10m in purchases to other retailers... I purchased a Toshiba laptop for $1600 on Sunday from your store in Frye Road in Chandler, AZ. Two days later I had three technical issues that affected my ability to use the laptop. Wouldn't start up from off or hibernate with a USB device plugged into one rear port. Some keys wouldn't register on the screen when I typed (known issue by the way based on other user opinions on web forums). Audio output to external speakers would crackle unless the jack was seated just right.

I went to return the laptop on Tuesday with original receipt. Upon bench screening, the tech and another person showed me how they went through their diagnostic script and couldn't detect the audio or USB issue, and all of their typing appeared on the screen. Fair enough, I understand they have a diagnostic script and trouble tree to follow. I then typed a complete sentence in front of the tech and returns agent on the keyboard and it did not register about 6 letters in about 20 words. (Been typing for about 20 years by the way and never saw this problem before, so I know my way around a keyboard.)

Long story short I was told by a manager I guess in the returns dept that their diagnostic is final, the unit is classed as "No Trouble Found" and that I will be charged the restocking fee which in this case came out about $240. I asked to speak to a senior manager and was told no she was the final escalation. Unless you have 20 year olds as GM's for the store, I have a hard time believing there was nobody else to talk to and I am extremely dissatisfied and am prepared to never do business again with Best Buy.

I also told the folks involved that I was prepared to go back and pick out another system at the time by the way as an exchange and continue to do business with your store. I recently purchased another laptop from you in December among many other electronics for the holiday season as well as many other major purchases over time.

On Sunday I had also signed up for your small business services as my wife is about to open up a business in the area and we will need approximately $10000 in professional services and hardware by May. I am also about to purchase a big screen TV in time for the super bowl and as usual Best Buy would have been my first stop. Don't waste your time quoting corporate policy around no trouble found and customer induced damage and how you need to recover the cost of an open box sale or return to vendor as No Trouble Found and get penalized by them. I get that.

I am responsible for all computing applications for returns and repair centers worldwide at a major electronics manufacturer through which about $500M in returns flows annually. Nobody understands more than me the impact and cost of invalid returns. In this capacity I spend much of my time negotiating No Trouble Found / Customer Induced Damage and diagnostics with OEM, distis, channel partners, suppliers, and end-user groups. You won't find anybody in the industry working harder than me to reduce invalid returns.

(By the way just some general feedback, if you're going to screen at point of return, you need to train your techs in customer service. These guys came across as ** with all of the answers and addressed me the customer as if I had some major burden of proof to provide to get a remedy.) I didn't even go into the point of a poorly designed keyboard which includes right shift key that is a fraction of the size of the left one. That to me is a design flaw that should be warrantable within itself since I as the customer was not satisfied, period. However I didn't even bring that up and it is not a basis for my argument here.

At the end of the day, I had a unit that was defective in three areas, could prove one on the spot, in front of your agents. Rather than get terribly upset I walked away absolutely stunned. I could not believe that I had just come away from any retail store in the year 2006 with that customer experience. I cannot even begin to comprehend how far off the scale that store is in terms of providing excellent customer service. I have to believe this is an anomaly and that your corporate strategy really includes wanting to be world class but correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway unless I'm wrong and this isn't an anomaly, and you stand by your decision to charge me $240 for a defective unit, I'd like to hear that directly from an executive staff member. If you wish to provide me with a remedy so that I may continue to do business with Best Buy, nothing short of a complete refund of the 15% re-stocking fee that I was charged will suffice. I would appreciate a prompt response directly to me.

VINELAND, NEW JERSEY -- In case you don't time to read my entire story, here is the bottom line. Don't ever buy a computer from Best Buy. Don't every buy a floor model computer because they could have been using it for their business and then selling it as a new computer when in fact, it is used. Don't ever pay for a computer at Best Buy until it is ready to leave the store. Better yet, don't buy a computer at Best Buy, go to Circuit City instead. That's what I'm going to do from now on!

On Saturday, 5/27/2006, I bought an e-Machines computer from the Best Buy in Mays Landing, New Jersey. I was not offered the option of having it tested at the store. When I got it home and hooked it up, it wouldn't come on. On Sunday, 5/28, I returned the computer to the store in Vineland, NJ. They didn't have the same model so they couldn't exchange it. They had an e-Machines with the same features but they wouldn't give me the sale discounts I had gotten on the first computer so it was going to cost my $200 more.

I told them I didn't want to pay extra and that I would just take the broken computer to another of their stores and exchange it. Instead of doing this, they talked me into buying an HP, floor model. They said it was just like a new computer, they just had it out for people to see. They said it was more powerful and would hold up better than e-Machines. They said e-Machines is cheap and they are not a good computer (then why are they selling them?).

They said while the Geek Squad is getting it ready, come to customer service and they charged my credit card for it. When I went back to Geek Squad, it wasn't ready. A Best Buy employee said go to lunch and come back in 1 hour and it will be ready. This was at 12:00. Came back at 1:00, still not ready, in fact, nothing had been done on it because they needed a password to get into the sotfware and no one knew the password.

The Geek Squad kept me mostly in the dark about what was going on with MY computer which I had not even used yet. I overheard them say they would have to retore the entire computer. A Best Buy employee said they had to get their security software off it which was software they had installed on in case someone stole it, they wouldn't be able to use the computer because of the passwords. This didn't make a lot of sense since how would someone steal a desktop computer with all of their security cameras and an employee stationed at the front door? They had probably been using this computer.

The Geek Squad made recovery disk from a computer they had in the back and started restoring my computer. The manual says you should only restore from recovery disks made from your own computer or obtained from HP. This was about 2:15, at 4:00, I was still there and little progress had been made on the restore. It was going extremely slow. I should have mentioned I had my 13-year-old son with me who wanted the computer to play a new game on.

I asked to speak to a Manager, who said he was sorry for all this trouble and advised me to go home and they would call me when the computer was done. He said when I came back he would have a 25 gift card for me. The Geek Squad finally called at 6:30 to say it was almost done and come tomorrow. I said I would be thereby closing at 7:00. I got there and the computer was finally done and Doug said he didn't know why the restore took so long. He was not very nice at all. I had to ask for the gift card.

Now I have a computer that took 5 hours to get ready. They kept insisting what they were doing was routine. What is routine about something that takes over 5 hours to do? I would never had bought this computer had I known the software was messed up on it. I have over 15 years in computers myself. I also did not appreciate the way I was treated by the Geek Squad.

At one point, one of them went over to the employee at the door and complained about me. The Best Buy staff kept giving me the runaround. I was really sorry they had already charged my credit card for this computer because in the middle of all this, they wouldn't let me back out of the deal. I could have gone to another Best Buy and exchanged my original computer and been back home in 2 hours or less.

I now have a computer that I don't have a lot of confidence in. I should also mention, they said I should purchase the extra warranty since this was a computer out of the box. They didn't tell me this until they charged the computer to my card. I declined the warranty. I hope my computer holds up and that the Geek Squad didn't mess it up.

Also, one more thing, I checked the hardware history on the computer when I got home and found out the memory and the modem had been swapped out leading me to think that this computer had been used and been repaired due to hardware problems. I am glad that Circuit City is opening up right across the street from Best Buy. After I use my gift card, I will never shop at Best Buy again. Once they get your money, they don't care about the customer.

GRAPEVINE, TEXAS -- I purchased a laptop at Best Buy in March of 2004 and also purchased the service agreement, thinking it sounded like a sound decision. The laptop immediately started overheating. I couldn't put it on my lap without it truly scalding my legs. The service team (Geek squad told me that was normal and I just needed to purchase on of those laptop desks with a fan to cool the computer, which I did.

The fan ran all the time and very hard and very loud. I went through 10 batteries in 1 year as they would not hold a charge and in the store with the Geek Team, the power would go from fully charged down to 82% in less than 60 seconds...another battery and another trip to the service center, now the 8th. I was constantly without my computer so my husband just offered in March of 2005 to buy me another one. The store manager said if the HP (we were now going to change to Toshiba, losing faith in HP) was not fixed, they would subtract the price of the HP from the Toshiba (now we know, just to make the $4,000 sale).

This computer had a problem from the 1st week as well. It would run and then all of a sudden shut down but the blue power light would stay on and you would lose whatever it was you were doing. At first it was once a week or so but then within 6 months was doing it 4-5 times a day. I took it in and the Geek Squad guy watched it happen, so we sent it off. They changed the fan. I took it home and again it started so I took it back two more times and again, they said "nothing is wrong".

Very upset by this point I took out my video camera and kept it on the computer only to show the techs what it was doing and perhaps help them diagnose the problem. The service team PROMISED me that this would be the last time it would go to service and they would replace the computer. Also, now that I still had warranty, the service manager offered to send the first HP back one more time after I showed her a form that should the computer batteries were under recall for heating up. It had caused the motherboard to burn up and they replaced the motherboard but it still has no operating system. So back to the Toshiba.

The second time that they sent it back, they removed the additional memory stating that we installed it improperly. We DIDN'T install it. Best Buy did the day we purchased the laptop. So AGAIN it goes back and this time with the videotapes and once again it comes back after 3 weeks, "nothing wrong". The service manager avoided my calls and did not return them.

I asked to talk to the store manager and he knew what time I would be there and when I arrived the staff said that he had stepped out and they did not know what time he would come back. Each time I called or went by he was never available for me but he did send down his young assistant manager who with a very rude and cocky disposition acted like it was totally my fault and I was the one that was unreasonable and made no offers of restitution.

The service manager who PROMISED that no matter what she would make it right for us, said there was nothing she could do. 2 laptops in 2 years, and two warranties and no service. I started looking online and found thousands of complaints and even the Attorney General of Ohio had filed a deceptive trade lawsuit against Best Buy for this very reason. So I realized that this was just a way of business for them.

We purchased $10,000 worth of computers for our daughter for Christmas this year and not from Best Buy. We are also purchasing ourselves a plasma TV and again, we will not be purchasing it from Best Buy either. It is sad that Best Buy has such a fun store with a great variety and pricing and now a shopping assistant team which I personally love, but it will be their service department that takes them down.

Their techs don't care as they do not see the public and they have not reason to spend any of Best Buy's money as the money is made on the purchases of the warranties and then no services or repairs being needed. That is common knowledge but with the Attorney General's offices involved and the postings on the internet, it will not be long before Best Buy has a HUGE country-wide class-action lawsuit.

We have called Dateline to see if they are interested and they are now researching the various websites and lawsuits and we are trying to get a "picketing" team together here for the week of Christmas and get that on the news. I teach my kids to always do the right thing and that you will never regret taking the high road. Thank the Lord that they have never worked for Best Buy who obviously teaches the youth of America how to be deceptive and cheat for profit. This is what is wrong with the world today and it makes me ill.

I am now writing to the Attorney General of Texas's office as well as the Better Business Bureau and have no intention of allowing Best Buy to cheat me out of all this money when I went to great lengths to show them the problem so that they wouldn't that I was less than honest with my problem. I never wanted a new computer...just one that worked correctly.

CALIFORNIA -- I apologize in advance, but this may get long... I used to LOVE Best Buy. Let me tell you all why I plan to NEVER go back there again; I hate them with a passion now. February 12th '05. I went to Best Buy to take in my 17 inch flat panel monitor because only after having it for about 7 months it started to flicker, my screen shifted (couldn't adjust it back), my "auto adjust" stopped working ever since one of the buttons fell off, and the surrounding buttons stopped working as well. This was the second time taking in this monitor with this service plan.

First time I had several dead pixels and some guy did not even check out my monitor and just told me to get a new one. My monitor was originally $500 but Best Buy at the time did not have any similar ones at the time so I had to settle for a monitor that cost $350--they said that if I didn't want to lose my service plan, that I would have to stick with the same brand--Samsung. Anyway, so I have this monitor, take it in for the second time. This time they said they will need to send it in to the service center--that was totally OK with me. He said that I would get my monitor in no longer than 6 weeks.

*Let me make a note that I know the button falling off is a physical damage so I didn't want that fixed even though all the other buttons were just manufactured poorly and were a little defective I did not care when I exchanged my monitor for this one because I didn't have doubts of working improperly*

3 weeks later, I called Best Buy to check the status. They just said "awaiting repair"--no one had any updates. 5th week--still same message came up on their computer and they tell me that no updates have been made since February 24th??? OKAY, right? Now I am just starting to get a little worried. It's 6th week expecting to get my monitor back. I called, none of the Geek Squad team knew what was going on with my item, so they said for me to call back every 2 days because they should have updates and also that they will call the service center personally and call me back the same day--this happened about 4 times and I still hear no reply.

Half way into 7th week, I am frustrated now. FINALLY FOR THE FIRST TIME since I turned in my monitor, it was a Thursday, I get a call from a manager of Geek Squad telling me that a lady from a service center was going to call me back that day with what was going on. NO ONE CALLS. I call that manager back. He said he will call her and tell her to call me again-he says wait till tomorrow. NO CALL.

So I call Best Buy corporate. The customer service person calls the service center and I tells me that "there are physical damages done to you monitor so your monitor has not began repair. There is an estimate of $181. When you pay, they will begin repair." I was like WHAT?!? What physical damages--the button missing, if so I didn't care about that. The man's tells me it's a "Cracked/Broken Front Case of the monitor". “Hmm what is that?” I asked. "It's the front framing of your monitor.”

OMG! I am so mad now. I had taken such good care of my monitor. There shouldn't be any damages like that. Of course I denied the charges and the man escalated my service item to a high priority item and filed paper work saying the damages were done during the shipping process.

Now, he tells me that THAT SAME LADY FROM SERVICE CENTER will call me and talk to me about something. She never called. Also the man told me that for me to call him back 2 days later because by then the service center should have the paper work and have a solution to what was going to happened to my monitor. **I remember the Best Buy Geek Squad telling me that if the repair is too expensive, that they would probably terminate the repair and have be get a new one for the amount I have--$500**

I thought OK maybe I can finally get something worth the same amount I bought my Original-first monitor for--especially since the customer service guy also said the similar thing. I have been on the phone with them at least 40 min. At a time 3-4 times a week--not because I am a lil annoying pest, but because they wanted me to call back a lot. It's 8.5 weeks. I still hear nothing from them. I really need my monitor now--so inconvenient because I need to work and do a LOT of school things on my computer. It's so hard to go to school/public areas to use computers because I have conflicting schedules.

I am sooo impatient now that I call and what they finally tell me is that they are going to replace my monitor with another used but repaired monitor... That may sound decent but not good enough for me especially with all the problems they caused for me. I told them, as a consumer, I have personal preferences as to what I want to purchase for myself and all that junk because it is true. They should be like, “Okay we broke your monitor, we will give you something else that's used and repaired...”

I was very upset at the whole thing so I called the supervisor of customer relations and basically what he told me that once the store receives the monitor back, that they can decided on whether they want to give me a new one or not if they feel it is not good enough. So I called Best Buy yesterday (April 26th), and the manager didn't even know what was going on. He looked up my records and had no indications of anything. He said he'd call me back and haven't heard from him yet and still no sign of my monitor--or the used different one they are supposed to give me.

I basically did all the communication with them. One person called me during this enticed time to let me know that someone was going to call me, and I have been told 10 different things, and the corporate is saying that they have no control—it's all up to Best Buy store now, but they don't even know what is going on. After this, I am NEVER going back. I feel you all.

They have shady business practices. They claim you can cancel within 30 minutes. I was allowed to cancel one part of my order, but it refused to cancel the laptop. So I called the agent, they hung up. No big deal, then I chat. Oh we still can't cancel it, why not? Why because they want you to receive something and then pay shipping to send it back. When all they had to do is handle it, especially seeing the other item had no problems canceling. Shady...

Horrible service sales. Bought 2 new computers. Both blow a drive same day. Bought a month and a 1/2 ago. Didn't hook them up for a month so after 2 weeks they don't work. Best Buy has a 15 day return So they say you are screwed. They sell crap and you are stuck with it. DO NOT buy anything from this company. eBay has longer return policy and if you use Pay Pal you are protected. I am a company so I'm closed until I can replace Best Buy's garbage. Run away from Best Buy.

MISSION VIEJO, CALIFORNIA -- I purchased a Sony Laptop on 01/03/11, within a month the HD failed. I lost all my data - not to mention time - on the phone with Best Buy and Sony trying to get some resolution. All I got from Best Buy was they would send it to Sony for repairs and it could take upward of 3 weeks to get it back. No offer of a loaner or free repair or even a replacement. I could understand if I had the computer for more than a few months but I had literally one month and three days. Everyone I spoke to from the Manager at Geek Squad to the Corp Office was of no use.

Also, I found out talking to Best Buy Corp office that they give Carte Blanc to the managers over the Stores and the decision making. I was told whatever the decision is of the Manager stands. We cannot override their decision. Then to get on the phone with Sony only find out they transferred me to Japan and took over a half hour to answer the phone once I was transferred. Finally Sony agreed to send someone out and replace the HD but not remove my data. I had to pay OOP for that service with someone else.

CANADA -- I kiss goodbye to BEST BUY forever, they sell cheap garbage at best price. Their salespeople who actually attend to you are more interested in forcing a useless prodcut protection plan down your throat, or accessories, wires, batteries which gives them more margin (cut) for them to pay their mortgage. Once sold to customer they are least bothered of your problems and if you happen to see them again with complaint they are ready to throw you out with the help of bouncers along with the garbage products you bought from them.

Good thing about them is they dress up nicely and very friendly till the time they are able to push their garbage to your waiting car in parking lot. Goodbye to BEST BUY for lifetime. Note: It is hard to get in touch with any of their seniors. Maybe one fine day their CEO will realize that they made a big blunder. I have faxed Best Buy and requested their CEO to talk to me. But I am sure those jokers would never come out who are hiding behind fire wall of girls in customer service or email forms.