Best Buy once again bites the meat missile with their lies and PSP
I originally talked about this close to a year ago the last time my iPod died. When I bought my iPod from Best Buy in January of 2004, I purchased it with their Product Service Plan (PSP). Two sales persons, a manager, and the cashier all said that they would replace it on the spot if I ever had any problems with it. All four people I talked to were -very specific- when saying this. So, last October, my iPod would not hold a charge any longer. It would last about 1-2 hours and then the battery would completely drain. After raising a shit fit back then, they replaced it on the spot.
The past few days, my current iPod has been having lots of hard drive problems. It would basically freeze up multiple computers whenever I had it connected. I was able to reformat it on my Mac (which took about 45 minutes), and then reformat it on my PC last night. I then tried to sync it, and it wouldn't sync more than around 1GB before failing with any number of I/O errors. So, Leslie brings it to our local Bellevue, WA Best Buy (where we bought it from originally). The support person told her that it would take 1-2 weeks for them to repair it (yeah, like you can really repair them, not even Apple bothers to do this) or authorize a replacement. Since I kind of need it for a trip that I'm going on later this week, that doesn't really work.
Last time we went to Best Buy with an iPod issue, they said they could verify the problem and replace it within a couple hours (and they ended up replacing it on the spot anyway,) but it looks like they don't do this anymore. The manager was rude to my wife to top it off. So, she calls their customer complaint line, and they basically offer to do nothing, or nothing.
So basically, you have inconsistent policies, employees at levels from cashier to salesperson to manager all blatantly lying to us, and now support people who say it will take weeks to get it "repaired."
So, at this point, I have an iPod that's pretty much useless with a service plan that's pretty much useless. They will have my iPod for up to two weeks which is irreparable anyway, and then I'm not sure what will happen from there. All I know is I'm never purchasing another item from Best Buy ever again, and anyone who is offered a Product Service Plan needs to be very wary of the false claims and outright lies they will tell you to try to get you to buy it. You'll be better off with AppleCare (I never thought I'd say that with a straight face). Their iPod turnaround can be up to around a week, but at least they are up front about it, and they don't bullshit you like Best Buy does with their service plans.
Yes, I know it's a Product Service Plan, not a Replacement Plan. That's not my gripe. My big gripe here is being outright lied to by multiple employees and the fact that they cannot seem to maintain a consistent policy throughout even the same store with regard to how they act on the Plan.
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I don't particularly like hearing this, since I also bought my iPod from Best Buy with a PSP.
And it's been having awkward problems with syncing. The concern mounts!
I hear you, they did the same thing to me with a laptop I purchased. Claimed they'd be able to fix it in the store or replace it when something went wrong. It turns out their sales guys will say anything to get a sale, and their service staff don't care. They can't fix virtually anything hardware-related in the store (at least at the time) and insist on sending it away for weeks at a time, only to send it back without fixing the problem.
It did eventually turn out okay, since they eventually replaced the damnable lemon with a decent model. Unfortunately, it was about a quarter of a year after the PSP had expired and after they tossed my working-fine, un-backed-up hard drive when asked for the fifth time to fix a faulty charging board.
Best Buy sucks. They've become a joke at the office, where everyone knows about Lenny the Best Buy Customer Service Person. Their favorite quote from him? When asked why in the world it might be a Windows driver issue when a battery wouldn't charge, even though you can charge batteries with the laptop TURNED OFF, "computers are complex pieces of equipment."
This is my issue with Best Buy:
My husband last year at Christmas bought me a Magellan Explorist 200 on sale $119.99 from your Rock Hill, SC store with the 2-year replacement plan for $19.99. He was told that if there was any problems that everything was on file all I had to do was bring the GPS back for replacement with no questions asked basically and it would be replaced that I didn't even need the receipt because everything was in the computer system. I have had problems with it lately and went to take it back without the receipt since I could not find it right away. Got there and your people was not able to find the purchase at all in your system let alone the replacement warranty information! I left came back the very next day with the receipt, 2-year replacement warranty and the item in hand. This time was told that it must have been a glitch in the system was why it didn't show up. I asked about that last night but was told NO WAY, NEVER! Was then told that the store did not have the item on hand but could replace it with a comp item or give me a store credit. I asked if it could be ordered in for me and was told NO, but the University store in Charlotte, NC did have one that I could go get it myself if I wanted to get that one, or take the comp item or a store credit. Well the comp item was not offered at the sale price that mine was on sale at. It was offered at the full price, which would in turn cause me to pay out $53.00+ for the item alone. I do NOT find this comp to be a replacement for my item that should be replaced or refunded and not by a store credit! I should not have to drive over an hour to go get my own replacement item when the original item was purchased at this store and I should not have to pay full price for a replacement that is on sale either when actual prices of both items are only about $10-20 difference. The store was offering the Garmin eTrex Legend $169.99 and the Magellan Explorist 200 regularly prices for $149.99 but is on sale for $129.99 this week. I was being offered the Garmin at the price of $169.99 and my credit of $119.99 to make me pay a difference of $53.00+. I do NOT find this hardly right. Should I just wait a week or two for the Garmin to go on sale and then try to do the exchange or will the rules be different then with the store manager there? Because that is what it appears to be the situation. Both of these GPS systems have the exact same capabilities and priced about the same. Then to top it off when I asked the manager about why the store did NOT have my information for the purchase in the system he told me that the store does not keep that information. The manager was very rude and disrespectful because I insisted on speaking to him about the matter. I don’t see why I should have to drive 1 to 1 ½ hours away to get an exact replacement for my GPS unit. The manager told me that they could not transfer merchandise between stores and he could NOT order it for me and that my only other option was to take a store credit. What is the point of buying your 2 year replacement warranty if your stores aren’t even going to carry the same item only a year later or be able to get it for you??? I find the replacement warranty to be a fraud if this is the case. I feel like if you cannot do an equal replacement of the same item or similar item you should give an cash refund for the item purchased! At this point of time there is NOTHING in any of your stores that I want to buy with a store credit from my GPS or any other money I happen to have. I want a replacement for my GPS! If I do not get an equal replacement I will take my business elsewhere. He also tried to tell me that Magellan was no longer making the GPS I own that in fact is a lie. Magellan still carries the Magellan Explorist 200 and has it for sale for $157.49 and in stock. Here is the website of Magellan http://www.magellangps.com/en/products/product.asp?PRODID=1015. So I see I was lied to repeatedly by your staff at the Rock Hill, SC store.