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Geek Squad Repair Service Story of the Day
- Thread starter HardOCP News
- Start date
I actually work part time for the Geek Squad now - one or two shifts a week. We certainly don't treat people like this at my store, but we've had to take losses on many occasions where the service center has screwed stuff up, not fixed it right, or dropped/damaged product. We get it back, and we KNOW we didn't drop it or scratch it or break it, but now it's back with MORE damage than before, and we have to do something to take care of the customers. The nice thing about my managers is that as long as the customer's not a dick, we will do whatever we can to make things right. They've really let me take some crazy liberties that we're probably not technically allowed to do in order to fix people's stuff, because they know I know what the crap I'm doing. It's made for some very happy repeat customers, and a lot of good business for our store. when will people learn?
Looking at your computer from a user/non-technical perspective...
You plug in the network cord to your computer (it's one of those wires, that looks like it fits there...) and then you turn on the computer. And you don't have network... so the "NIC is damaged/missing."
So to translate back to tech nerd speak... it's integrated into the motherboard. It's not physically missing... it's physically damaged, or drivers were somehow messed up badly enough to disable something as simple as the NIC.
Replacing the motherboard doesn't actually sound all that crazy when you remember that the vast majority of network cards are integrated into the motherboard these days.
Sounds like a cheap power supply died and possibly shorted out some of the other components.
You plug in the network cord to your computer (it's one of those wires, that looks like it fits there...) and then you turn on the computer. And you don't have network... so the "NIC is damaged/missing."
So to translate back to tech nerd speak... it's integrated into the motherboard. It's not physically missing... it's physically damaged, or drivers were somehow messed up badly enough to disable something as simple as the NIC.
Replacing the motherboard doesn't actually sound all that crazy when you remember that the vast majority of network cards are integrated into the motherboard these days.
Sounds like a cheap power supply died and possibly shorted out some of the other components.
That is the same thing I thought. The friend who has all this experience and takes the time to run a test for them couldn't bother to fix the NIC for them. If it is onboard just have them pick up a cheap NIC and install that, if it is a PCI card already then just change it out. Sure it is under warranty, but if you have already had that much of a headache before why not just pay the $5 - $10 for the part and do it yourself / have your friend do it.
I was confused by the seperate on / of switch statement. Can't figure out if she is refering to the normal on / off switch on 95% of power supplies, or if there is like switch hanging out the side of the case like an AT power supply was put in there somehow. As for the NIC being missing. I could accept that as a way of saying that it isn't showing up in windows for somebody that isn't extremely computer savey.
Kasher_Khan
Limp Gawd
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- Nov 18, 2005
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- 297
I was a Geek Squad supervisor (DCI) for two different stores. The story in this link doesn't sound too extra ordinary. I agree that not all Geek Squad techs are qualified (some of the smartest guys among them are the worst customer service reps). Most of these problems are caused by the agents not communicating well with the customers about the problems. Most customers are happy if they get accurate information. However there are a tone of customers out there who buy the cheapest computer on the Sunday Add and then think that a $99 warranty oughta cover them for the next 3 years.
Ahh geek squad...
everything passed "running a virus and spyware scanner" has to be sent off to technical support center
they would probably save money if they stopped shipping computers back and forth and actually hired someone that knew how to replace a motherboard
everything passed "running a virus and spyware scanner" has to be sent off to technical support center
they would probably save money if they stopped shipping computers back and forth and actually hired someone that knew how to replace a motherboard
is your $99 extended warranty suppose to cover 3 years though?
Why wouldn't it cover them for 3 years? Cheap computers these days mean slower computers or smaller capacity, not low quality. An Intel CPU is an Intel CPU. An AMD CPU is an AMD CPU. It's not like motherboard manufacturers design low cost boards to quit sooner than $250 boards.
You make it sound like cheaper computers is like buying a Huffy at K-mart instead of a Schwinn at a bicycle dealer.
ivesceneenough
Limp Gawd
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if its under best buys warranty i think on a desktop:
power supply, RAM, and HDD can be replaced
laptop: ram, HDD.
as far as replacing motherboards in store keep in mind:
that to replace a motherboard in a laptop, you are probably looking at what 20-40 minutes to take a laptop fully apart without being interrupted (customer questions, questions from sales people, having to help customer service, phone calls about how long something takes) and THEN you have to have a motherboard to put in a laptop, these aren't standardized boards like on custom desktops, they are completely model dependent....
if you haven't figured out why they ship motherboard problems off yet, i will continue.
at a company like best buy, you may have 5,10, 15 stores in a single city. you can't stock all of those with any amount of components in a cost effective way, at least compared to shipping laptops to a central service center.
and finally...
if someone can do laptop repair on top of all the other things that come with working in retail, you are going to have to pay them more. again, add that up over the amount of stores best buy has.... hopefully this gives an idea of the problems of servicing laptops like that....
ivesceneenough
Limp Gawd
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i have never got a good answer on this, but i really think you are incorrect.
there are different quality of parts you can put in computers. just look at the difference between PSUs in desktops.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=154
i think they have gotten a bit better, but still. thats nothing compared to a good PSU. and those are what you find in a TON of retail desktops.
i imagine these differences also extend out onto the motherboard in terms of quality of capacitors, cooling and maybe the amount of copper used?
but point being, you can cut corners on making a computer.
RumpleForeSkin
Limp Gawd
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- Sep 14, 2008
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I worked for a local shop across the street from a BB (pre-geeksquad). I had a customer that had an ATI AIW card installed (8500 as I remember heh) The Tech just installed the card.. that's it, no molex connection. No Drivers. No Capture drivers.. nada... zip.
It was a daily occurrence that a customer would come directly from the BB tech desk, not pass go, lose $200 and STILL have to pay us ( actual technicians) to fix their issues. They had a policy of NOT fixing software issues, they would just re-install the OS (without a backup of course). Laughable.
A few years later and the IT market had gone to poop, a new BB was moving into town and I needed some quick work. I applied, went to the interview in a freaking suit with my resume (10years w/ MCP, MCSE, Citrix Admin .. the whole nine) You would have thought that I handed that interviewer a piece of used toilet paper. He took it, without once glancing at it and placed it on the desk. He then asked me if I had my A+ (?!?!) I told him No, there wasn't even a need at that point in my career as I had certs that surpassed that level of knowledge and experience. He said that they only hire A+ techs and that he could only have me work the floor. I actually laughed right in his face and explained what he could do with his "stockboy" position.
All of this after knowing full well that they don't hire A+ exclusively. I won't even purchase from that store any longer, I'd rather pay a little more and have it shipped than give that company any of my scratch.
It was a daily occurrence that a customer would come directly from the BB tech desk, not pass go, lose $200 and STILL have to pay us ( actual technicians) to fix their issues. They had a policy of NOT fixing software issues, they would just re-install the OS (without a backup of course). Laughable.
A few years later and the IT market had gone to poop, a new BB was moving into town and I needed some quick work. I applied, went to the interview in a freaking suit with my resume (10years w/ MCP, MCSE, Citrix Admin .. the whole nine) You would have thought that I handed that interviewer a piece of used toilet paper. He took it, without once glancing at it and placed it on the desk. He then asked me if I had my A+ (?!?!) I told him No, there wasn't even a need at that point in my career as I had certs that surpassed that level of knowledge and experience. He said that they only hire A+ techs and that he could only have me work the floor. I actually laughed right in his face and explained what he could do with his "stockboy" position.
All of this after knowing full well that they don't hire A+ exclusively. I won't even purchase from that store any longer, I'd rather pay a little more and have it shipped than give that company any of my scratch.
Kasher_Khan
Limp Gawd
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- Nov 18, 2005
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- 297
I guess we have a difference of opinion on this. If you honestly think a $300 desktop is the same as $1500 desktop (Quality wise) then I don't know how to convince you. The point I was trying to make was about the Psyche of the customers.
Most people that visit a forum like this know enough about computers that they don't need to go to the likes of Geeksquad for repairs and fixes. I was talking from first hand experience. My primary job was to deal with situations like the ones discussed in this story.
I am not saying that GeekSquad is not to blame in this case.
Yeah, I'm sure that sending a computer off to a 'technical support center' is code for "We can't fix it, it's a HP, so we are going to send it to HP and charge a middle man fee." Heheh.
You didn't answer his question. If someone pays $99 for a 3 year warranty, why wouldn't it be covered? Did you alter your level of service to customers based on your judgment of the level of computer they purchased?
dark_reign
2[H]4U
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- Nov 15, 2005
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LOL. I doubt they even ask for A+ certs anymore considering all of the horror stories. Their online job application seems to ask questions that are more centered on how much butt will you kiss if you get hired rather then anything technical. Ridiculous.
LOL....yeah....I pretty much stopped reading the article right there.
BB should have just replaced the damn thing after the 3rd attempt at repair.
radioactivez0r
Gawd
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- Apr 13, 2008
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- 567
I would think most people who own a computer these days probably know SOMEONE they could cook dinner for in exchange for fixing it.
there's absolutely nothing wrong with buying a computer from Best Buy, it's the same computer you would get if you purchased it directly from the manufacturer. however, i would wholeheartedly agree with this statement if you had specified that you don't understand why people buy extended warranties from BB.
extended warranties are a complete & utter sham and usually are not worth the paper they're printed on....i found that out the hard way years & years ago, when i purchased my first computer from Best Buy with the extended warranty.
i view it as a learning experience, though, so it wasn't a total waste.....now i know how to (and always do) build my own computers, and i know how to troubleshoot computer problems, and realize that it's simply cheaper to replace the faulty component than it is to pay for some extended warranty, especially when the company who is supposed to be honoring the ext. warranty will do all they can to weasel their way out of replacing anything, anyway.
where's the problem? simply have 1 - 2 techs that actually know what the hell they're doing, and have them in the back room, away from the customers.....when something needs to be physically replaced, they're the ones who do it, while the rest of the "Geeks" do the simple stuff, like installing antivirus software & stuff like that.
if parts need to be replaced that they don't have in stock, they simply tell the customer that they need to have the parts shipped in, and it may take an extra day or two to get the computer back.
seems much more cost-effective than just shipping every single PC (twice, no less...once to the repair center, and once back to the store) when stuff needs to be replaced......
ivesceneenough
Limp Gawd
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economy of scale. the amount of repairs that a single store sees that actually are motherboards is going to vary greatly from day to day, week to week. if you aren't busy, you going to be paying some techs wayyyyyy too much, and if it gets back logged, well, you are back to square 1. and like you said, you can teach someone who isn't very technical to install a program, or even harder things like fix driver problems with out too much trouble. being good enough to take apart 10 brands of laptops with many different models from the past 4 years, thats a lot more teaching, and once they know how to do that, keeping them working for you is a lot harder.
and trust me, the techs in stores like that do have areas where they are separated from customers.... until retail managers show up.
and if you end up having to ship parts to the stores, sure its only 1 way, but that cuts out half the savings.
and don't get me wrong, it's not that i think its a bad idea, done right it could be amazing. i am just pointing out that its not nearly as simple as "just fix it in the store"
Back in 2001 I bought a big 21" or so Sony monitor that did 2048x1536 from CompUSSR. I typically have two of things in case something fails, but @ $1000 each, I opted for C's best plan ($200 though, mind you) that guaranteed me to have a working monitor with zero turnaround time. It dies, drive it to C, drive away with a new monitor.
What I didn't understand was that if it dies, while I do get a new monitor, my $200 plan doesn't come along with the replacement.
What sucked was that I brought the monitor back as it was recalled as a fire hazard. I actually had to argue with them over my policy. While they agreed it was recalled and would send it to Sony free of charge to be fixed, I was not walking out of the store that day with a monitor. Argued about two hours, left without a monitor.
Two weeks later, Sony agreed that the monitor was to be replaced. CompUSSR called me to tell me to come pick up a monitor.
Was a lesser model. Apparently Sony (which I don't believe) wasn't willing to replace it with the same model, so neither was C.
So, I paid $200 to receive a lesser-model replacement two weeks later, and am now out of the policy on the new model. Sony obviously would have given me the same exact service for free. (It was recalled, replacing it was of no argument...)
Only "policy" I ever bought from C, but quickly understood what a god damn f-ing scam they are. Never shopped at C again, either.
I think at the time $200 might have gotten close to having a 19" 1600x1200 CRT monitor immediately available in your own home as your replacement option. I chose that route afterwards.
Forgot to mention that my replacement monitor didn't even do 2048x1536. The reason I paid $1000 for a monitor was for the privilege of doing that high of a res. Talked about pissed! $1,200 (the monitor was recalled within a few months max...) for a monitor that probably cost about $500 max. Utter bullshit.
Agreed. It sounds like they didn't connect the front power switch to the motherboard, or there was a problem with the switch. (probably broke the wire where it was connected to the front panel). So they set the bios to automatically come on when power was applied (back power switch)
Missing NIC caused by a bios problem? Most likely the NIC died (maybe she has a problem with her DSL/Cable modem that is burning out her NIC port), or she installed an update that replaced the NIC driver with one that wasn't compatable with her motherboard. i.e software issue.
Either way I feel sorry for people who have to deal with these "Geek Squad" type support people. To many horror stories.
I would agree with you in most cases (including BB's warranties).
However, when I buy Dell laptops for the office, we alway get the full 3 year coverage, including thier "accidental care". We have field people who travel all over the country, and it's worth it to be able to call up Dell and have a tech show up the next day, even at a customers site. As for the "Accidental care", seems like almost every laptop gets dropped, crushed, or spilled on within the 3 years. The cost to replace a single cracked LCD pays for coverage of 3 laptops.
I always enjoy getting the contract calls for our "small computer store" (basically the only one in town) to go out and install new server or switches at Staples. A coworker one time had to go fix a printer problem. The reds weren't coming out right and were looking funny. He goes into the menu, changes the saturation, turns it up a bit and they were like "wow! The reds just pop out now! We've had this problem for 2 years." 2 years and they never called anyone or figured out how to fix it... wow. And they have their "tech department" what a joke.
Blazestorm
Supreme [H]ardness
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- 6,940
That was almost as bad as the time I got called out to setup an Apple Airport Extreme...
I haven't touched OSX for more than a couple minutes or ever setup an Airport... my boss didn't tell me it was an Apple setup, I assumed it would be like a PC setup and a Linksys router or something.
I took the disk it came with, plugged everything in, followed the onscreen guides... setup printer sharing, and file sharing between their iMac and Macbook... Took all of 30 minutes and they could have managed this themselves if they bothered to read the manual / stick the disk in...
Not that I cared, the lady gave me a $20 tip (on top of my $10/hr wage) because I then helped her setup her iTunes and iPod so she could buy music and sync it to the iPod. Apparently her husband/son never help her when she asked them to set it up.
I'm glad I never continued with IT / tech work ... computer science is more interesting
I sometimes wonder if there's a way to NOT treat service procedures as a PRODUCT.
Products have fixed production costs, market competition and every part of the final retail sale price distinquishable from raw materials to the time the bag boy throws it in your sack.
Service procedures have some of these things but when you have an organization with a bad reputation charging exorbitant fees to do in some cases ABSOLUTELY NOTHING then we've got all the ingredients for bonafide fraud. Unfortunately you have no recourse to prove it.
The argument is always that you could take it somewhere else to get it fixed but if you bought the item at the store and are the typical consumer then you don't know there's another option. Further you (as a consumer) expect to be able to trust the store you bought the PC from especially with a warranty.
I just have this nugget of advice for anyone thinking that Geek Squad is a great entry level job to get into IT. You're absolutely right, it is, So long as that's the only IT (kinda) job you ever want to have. Otherwise get a fake identity, screw as many customers as you can and "forget" to put it on your resume because it won't impress anybody.
Geek Squad techs whether good or bad have about as much respect in IT as used car salesmen selling Yugos. That won't ever change so long as practices like this continue.
Products have fixed production costs, market competition and every part of the final retail sale price distinquishable from raw materials to the time the bag boy throws it in your sack.
Service procedures have some of these things but when you have an organization with a bad reputation charging exorbitant fees to do in some cases ABSOLUTELY NOTHING then we've got all the ingredients for bonafide fraud. Unfortunately you have no recourse to prove it.
The argument is always that you could take it somewhere else to get it fixed but if you bought the item at the store and are the typical consumer then you don't know there's another option. Further you (as a consumer) expect to be able to trust the store you bought the PC from especially with a warranty.
I just have this nugget of advice for anyone thinking that Geek Squad is a great entry level job to get into IT. You're absolutely right, it is, So long as that's the only IT (kinda) job you ever want to have. Otherwise get a fake identity, screw as many customers as you can and "forget" to put it on your resume because it won't impress anybody.
Geek Squad techs whether good or bad have about as much respect in IT as used car salesmen selling Yugos. That won't ever change so long as practices like this continue.
Perhaps the worst repair by Geek squad, but maybe my store can beat that.
I purchased an HP Pavilion DM3-1020 back in November of last year and the laptop was defective from day one (nasty graphical artifacts that would only show up in 2D but garbled up the whole screen). Of course I tried to identify the problem myself first and after numerous tests the only remaining possible culprit was the graphics card, an nVidia 105M. I wouldn't have been surprised if it was defective, especially considering all the overheating issues they've had with laptop chips the past years.
So I contacted HP and told them everything I had tried, but somehow they were convinced it was a software issue (although I factory restored the pc multiple times and installed my own Windows 7 image that worked perfectly on other pc's and did mention this to them). They had me trying a whole number of ghetto-style software fixes through the registry etc. to no avail.
Then they forced me to use restore DVDs they sent me with the laptop which doesn't even have an optical drive. I notified them of this fact and that I would not buy an external optical drive to fix a defective product and asked them if there was another way... They said: sorry, we only do DVDs. I asked them why they were selling laptops without optical drives then, but they didn't really give a satisfying response. Somehow they're to retarded to offer an online solution like Dell. Luckily I could borrow an external optical drive from the store I purchased the laptop from.
When those discs they sent me didn't work (they even sent 2 different sets just to be sure, and I both times I got an error halfway through which rendered the laptop completely useless), they finally decided it might be a hardware issue and had my laptop picked up by UPS. Those morons never seem to be able to find my address for some reason, but I guess that's not HP's fault.
UPS returned the laptop 2 months(!!) later because (get this!) HP ran out of restore DVDs for my particular laptop and refused my offer to send them one of my two copies. They didn't want the exact location of their repair centers to go public. Might want to tell UPS that, as the repair centers' location is clearly written on the receipt they give you after they pick up the laptop. Anyway, according to the repair sheet they had to replace the hard disk drive, the monitor bezel and perform a system restore. No mention of a new graphics card, and sure enough, the graphical issue was still there. This time I decided to take some pics and videos of the issue to convince HP I'm not imagining things, and sure enough after seeing those they somehow got a feeling it might be the graphics card that's faulty (what do you know huh!), so they had UPS trying to find my address again and pick up the laptop.
This time I got it back 2 days later but NOTHING had been done. The sheet said they didn't find any issues and asked me to provide pictures or videos of any issues if I did (WTF?). I contacted HP again and asked them why the hell I had sent them pics and video links in the first place. They used every apology there is in the book, assured me they would notify the repair center of the fact that they have the pics and videos required and had UPS pick up my laptop AGAIN (third time, ninth attempt by UPS in total BTW) past Tuesday.
I haven't gotten it back yet, so I have my hopes up they actually do something this time around... but will they fix the issue? I almost lost a year of warranty because of this. Tthey actually had the nerve to ask me if I wanted to pay for an extended warranty a couple of times. I told them that I wouldn't pay for anything before they actually deliver a laptop to me that works.
Sheesh... Sorry had to vent. I've been overly patient with them imho, I wonder what some of you guys would have done if you were in my shoes.
I purchased an HP Pavilion DM3-1020 back in November of last year and the laptop was defective from day one (nasty graphical artifacts that would only show up in 2D but garbled up the whole screen). Of course I tried to identify the problem myself first and after numerous tests the only remaining possible culprit was the graphics card, an nVidia 105M. I wouldn't have been surprised if it was defective, especially considering all the overheating issues they've had with laptop chips the past years.
So I contacted HP and told them everything I had tried, but somehow they were convinced it was a software issue (although I factory restored the pc multiple times and installed my own Windows 7 image that worked perfectly on other pc's and did mention this to them). They had me trying a whole number of ghetto-style software fixes through the registry etc. to no avail.
Then they forced me to use restore DVDs they sent me with the laptop which doesn't even have an optical drive. I notified them of this fact and that I would not buy an external optical drive to fix a defective product and asked them if there was another way... They said: sorry, we only do DVDs. I asked them why they were selling laptops without optical drives then, but they didn't really give a satisfying response. Somehow they're to retarded to offer an online solution like Dell. Luckily I could borrow an external optical drive from the store I purchased the laptop from.
When those discs they sent me didn't work (they even sent 2 different sets just to be sure, and I both times I got an error halfway through which rendered the laptop completely useless), they finally decided it might be a hardware issue and had my laptop picked up by UPS. Those morons never seem to be able to find my address for some reason, but I guess that's not HP's fault.
UPS returned the laptop 2 months(!!) later because (get this!) HP ran out of restore DVDs for my particular laptop and refused my offer to send them one of my two copies.
They didn't want the exact location of their repair centers to go public. Might want to tell UPS that, as the repair centers' location is clearly written on the receipt they give you after they pick up the laptop. Anyway, according to the repair sheet they had to replace the hard disk drive, the monitor bezel and perform a system restore. No mention of a new graphics card, and sure enough, the graphical issue was still there. This time I decided to take some pics and videos of the issue to convince HP I'm not imagining things, and sure enough after seeing those they somehow got a feeling it might be the graphics card that's faulty (what do you know huh!), so they had UPS trying to find my address again and pick up the laptop. This time I got it back 2 days later but NOTHING had been done. The sheet said they didn't find any issues and asked me to provide pictures or videos of any issues if I did (WTF?). I contacted HP again and asked them why the hell I had sent them pics and video links in the first place. They used every apology there is in the book, assured me they would notify the repair center of the fact that they have the pics and videos required and had UPS pick up my laptop AGAIN (third time, ninth attempt by UPS in total BTW) past Tuesday.
I haven't gotten it back yet, so I have my hopes up they actually do something this time around... but will they fix the issue? I almost lost a year of warranty because of this. Tthey actually had the nerve to ask me if I wanted to pay for an extended warranty a couple of times. I told them that I wouldn't pay for anything before they actually deliver a laptop to me that works.
Sheesh... Sorry had to vent. I've been overly patient with them imho, I wonder what some of you guys would have done if you were in my shoes.
Looks like we're going to continue to disagree. My mother's $450 HP Pavilion with a Phenom x4 Agena core works as well today as it did when she bought it in 2007 - from Best Buy. The only two things I've done to it is replaced the 17" LCD with a 22" and installed Windows 7 when it launched.
I would like to think that most people in this forum knows that there ISN'T much different between OEM computers between $300 and $1500. OEM is going to try and profit as much as they can. They're likely to use cheap boards in both high and low end computers and market the PC's speed and capacity. Adversely, we in this forum would do even better with $300, much less $1500 because we know where to look for the best parts at the best cost.
I disagree, On big ticket items, Monitors, TV's etc I always buy extended warranties. Every damn time it has paid for itself and sometimes more than once. Would not own a laptop without one. Ever price a laptop motherboard or display ?
I don't buy them on a lot of things but for items like I listed above, always, always, always.
Perhaps the worst repair by Geek squad, but maybe my store can beat that.
I purchased an HP Pavilion DM3-1020 back in November of last year and the laptop was defective from day one (nasty graphical artifacts that would only show up in 2D but garbled up the whole screen). Of course I tried to identify the problem myself first and after numerous tests the only remaining possible culprit was the graphics card, an nVidia 105M. I wouldn't have been surprised if it was defective, especially considering all the overheating issues they've had with laptop chips the past years.
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That sounds like normal HP support to me. I had a DV-5000 (i belive that is the model). The L key popped off a little and got stuck. I pushed down hard on it to get it to pop back down and into place. After that it would stick some when typeing and wouldn't recorgnize L being pressed all the time. So i get on the chat with them to get a new keyboard sent out. They have me uninstall the keyboard and reinstall it in windows to see if that fixes the keyboard issue. I point out that it is physically broke and that isn't going to help. But they insist. So i uninstall and reinstall the keyboard drivers for hell of it. Then they have me check stuff in the registry. Then have me reboot a few times and see if the problem is still there. Then have me reboot into the bios and see if the problem is still there. They were going to have me format my harddrive and reinstall windows to see if that fixed my problem. I told him i would do so as soon as he tells me how reinstalling windows would reattack the L key which is now no longer on the keyboard but it sitting at the other end of my desk. It wasn't really but i just wanted to see the answer i would get as I just wanted to get them to send out the replacement keyboard as I had better things to do with my time than be in chat with them all day. He finally agreed it was a hardware issues but told me that I would have to send it in to have the new keyboard installed. I tried to get them to just send me the keyboard but they insist that they can't send out parts to customers.
He then tells me that i don't have an active warranty and would have to pay for the repairs. When infact I still had 6 months on the warranty. He tells me that I need to send a copy of the invoice and credit card statement showing that I purchased the warranty and that in 24 - 48 hours it would all be taken care of. I wait 3 days and contact them again. They tell me that they need more information from me before they can give me my warranty. I need to send them a copy of the invoice and credit card statement from when i purchased the laptop, a copy of the UPC from the box that laptop came in, and a copy of the packing slip for the laptop. So i send them all of that and a week later I finally get the warranty for the laptop applied. I go back to the chat to get them to send me the box to send in the laptop for repairs. This person isn't sure that it is really a hardware issue and wants me to try all the stuff again that he first one had me try. I agrued with him for awhile and finally got him to agree to just send me the box. Get the box 2 days later and send it in. Get it back 3 weeks later. In addition to the keyboard they claimed that the DVD drive didnt' work so they replaced that also. I never had any problems with it but figure no big deal. Go to put the battery back in, All 3 tabs that hold the battery in place on the shell are broken off and the battery just falls out. So i contact them again, they agree to fix it. So they send me another box, and i send it back in. Don't hear anything for 2 weeks. I contact them and am given a number to call, call that number and am giving another number. Call that one and was told to wait a few days and a case manager would get in touch with me. They told me they were waiting for my payment to begin working on it. I informed them that they broke it and that they were fixing it for free. They send the request to a manager to approve the work and I got it back a few weeks later with a new bottom. Go to put the battery back in, and the new bottom is broken. 1 tab completely broke off, one is twisted so that one side is broke off, the 3rd is fine. I contact them again to send it back yet again. I was first told ok, they would take it back to fix it agian. Never get a box after a few days so i contact them again. This time i am told that they already fixed the problem and would not take it back to fix it again.
By the time it was done, i was without my laptop for almost 3 months all because my L key broke on the keyboard.
I decided at that point I am only ordering Dell for our company laptops as with those I will get the parts sent to me and not have to go through something like that.
Ouch! That's one reason I love HP's Business Notebook line. Their keyboards are under user-replaceable warranty because it's just 2 screws on the bottom of the laptop, and 4 latches on top of the keyboard, and it's off.
The reason BB and other stores push extended warranties so much is because it's very profitable. Most people never use the extended warranty. When you pay $99 for an extended warranty that potentially covers say a $400 TV repair bill, the salesman gets a $20 spiff and BB pockets a nice profit, the economics of it are that only one out of 10 (or less) will actually use the warranty. If you pay this $99 for an extended warranty each time with the odds being 1 in 10 that you will use it, you generally come out on the losing side.
Anyways, most "2 year" extended warranties are a joke since the first year is often covered by the manufacturer and a second year is covered by many credit card "buyer's assurance" protections.
That might be where i screwed up then. That laptop was picked from the home / home office section of the site and not the business line. So nothing is user servicable. Although I'm not to happy with their business line of stuff either. Just had Intergrity server lose the system battery a few weeks back. Again they said there wasnt' any warranty on the server, took a few days to get it straightened out, then took them a few days to ship out a new battery and a few more days to get us a tech to replace the battery. And this is with the 4 hour support. Think our HP tech comes out of Chicago. Had one from South Bend a few times. I was on vacation when they shipped out the battery and set the time for the tech to come otherwise I would had done the replacement myself. I'll be glad when that server is gone. Took them 13 months to fix it to stop crashing and rebooting every few weeks.
I've only had one issue with Dell and their support in regards to a laptop. They sent out the wrong parts twice as the correct ones where on back order and they thought those ones should work. Since they couldn't get me the correct parts they shipped out a brand new laptop with better specs than the one having issues. New one had 6GB ram and a 120GB solid state harddrive. Too bad I managed to get the old working after they shipped that one out and there was software on the old one tied to the MAC address of the network card in the old one. So I just sent the new one back saying it wasn't needed. Had it not been for that software on there I would have made sure the old one was broke to keep the new one.
slayer9019
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2010
- Messages
- 1,599
its shit like this that drove me to learn PC hardware in the first place. i think i was 15 or so when i started, just got tired of getting bent over so i started to learn myself. i think i decided i wouldn't get ripped off again.
did the same with cars just a few years ago, now i'll tackle just about anything. starting to learn home stuff too but not as good at that
true, this isn't for everyone but works for me!
I feel ya on this one. Im the same way. learned comps when i was about 10-12 cause my dad wouldnt let me touch his, so i built one out of spare parts.
Similar story with cars. Parents didnt pay for one so I bought a junker (4 banger mustang) and fixed it (later to swap it with a 351 and supacharger)
....I HATE THOSE PEOPLE!!! Sometimes I wish their computer lit on fire.....
[RIP]Zeus;1035870080 said:Fix it for you
I believe that "Geek Squad" should not have the word "Geek" in there name, as that is a disgrace to all geeks.
LOL well put!