Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Geek Squad To The Rescue: 43 Days Later!

I love to take photos.  I carry my camera with me no matter where I go.  I don't have a phone, so I need a camera if I want to capture any special moment that happens near me.  I have a Canon PowerShot ELPH, which does a great job, and is small enough to always have in my pocket.

There are plenty of pics of me with my camera!
Perhaps, because I carry it all of the time and everywhere I go, it occasionally has issues.  After buying several Canon cameras, from various stores, I decided to go with a protection plan from Best Buy.

The sales associate told me that it didn't matter what happened to my camera, that Geek Squad would fix it under their plan.  It was guaranteed to be covered.  I was sold.

Late last year, my camera started having electronic issues.  Both the camera lens and the mini USB port to the computer were no longer working properly.

On December 31, 2013, I took my camera in to be repaired by the Geek Squad.  They told me that it should take 11 days, which meant that I would not miss out on too many photographic memories.

It is now almost Valentine's Day and here are this year's memories I was able to capture with my fixed camera...

Me at the Auto Show, talking with the crowd who were sharing their pics on Instagram!

My Birthday celebration with my family!  My niece made me this cake!  Thanks!

Easter baskets at CVS, before Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day!  Hilarious!

Here I am in Best Buy, picking up my camera, after I was told that it was fix!
You see, 11 days after I dropped off my camera to Best Buy's Geek Squad, I came in to see if it was ready.  That is when I was told that the repair center just received my camera, but that it should only be a few more days.  However, within a few days, my work order disappeared online, so I called in. They took my info, but never returned my call with a response.

On January 31st, a whole month after I first dropped it off, I was informed that my camera was ready to be picked up.  I went into the store, and they handed me my camera.  They didn't have a charged battery to test it, but since I was prepared to test it myself, I brought in a fully charged battery.  I turned the camera on, and discovered that it was having the same issues.  If I didn't have that battery on me, they would have sent me home with that camera, as-is.

After an hour there, they discovered that no work was done, due to a clerical error on their part.  I bought a 2 year extended protection plan and they did not write the correct serial number on the form.  We discovered this when I first dropped it off for repair and they made a notation, but this time they told me that the repair center was unable to see these notations.  I am not sure who these notes were for?


I was told that the only way that the store can do anything at this point, was to resend the camera back out.  They promised that it would not take too long and that the camera would be fixed or replaced this time.  After all that I have been told and been through, I said to the manager;
"That's nice, but I have no reason to trust you, and every reason not to."
Then, I asked him if it would be sent out overnight delivery?  He assured me that it would...

Um, the repair center is in Texas, so not sure why it was going to Connecticut.

Not only was it not sent out overnight, but it wasn't even sent out until FIVE days later.  Talking to the people at Best Buy, proven to be futile.  Calling them on the phone, took too much of my time with no real results, so, I just responded to a Geek Squad survey, saying;
I told them the the info on the work order was incorrect.  They made corrections but the repair center (apparently) is NOT able to see these notes, so after exactly a month, my product was sent back to the store, with no work done, (I was told it would take 11 days to fix it).  We had to resend it back out again, and I am now waiting for the repair to be done.  
I then contacted the Geek Squad online and wrote;
I dropped off my camera at the ███████ & ███████ Best Buy in Chicago on December 31st, 2013.  I was told that it would take 11 days to repair.  A month later, it finally came back from the repair.  Nothing was done.  It was rejected since Geek Squad put the wrong serial number on my 2-year protection plan.  Best Buy told me that they can only resend my camera back out for repair, now that they corrected the mistake.  They promised me that they would overnight to the repair center.  Almost a week later, it finally was sent out, and not by overnight.  I am begging you to fix this, please!
Still no response, so I started tweeting...

Nothing.  So the next day, I decided to include the founder of Geek Squad and former top dog at Best Buy, Robert Stephens.
This got me a response from Robert himself...


After including Robert in my tweet, Douglas from Best Buy Support also finally responded...
After an investigation by Alex, (the Community Connector for Best Buy Corporate Social Media), he responded with;
I’ve spoken with our general manager █████ and after discussing some of my concerns with him, we have worked out a solution. Because of mistakes made on our end, we will be exchanging the camera in-store for you so that you may get one that works properly as quickly as possible. Please be advised though that the Geek Squad plan you currently have would be considered fulfilled, and a new one would need to be purchased for the new camera in order to ensure coverage. The purchase of a new plan though is of course always optional.   
So, after 43 days of waiting, I get a replacement, but I am ALSO being dropped 7 months into my 2 year protection plan.  (I guess the lesson here is, I should have only bought one year at a time)  They should have just replaced the camera after 11 days, but because they took 43 days, I get the same results, just a new camera.  According to the Geek Squad service agreement, they can practically do no wrong.  Whatever happen to just doing a good job to keep customers coming back?

This doesn't seem to be the first time that Geek Squad got caught making mistakes.


Now, I do not have the resources to do a hidden-camera report on the Geek Squad, but as I repeatedly told them, they should fix these issues.  (Ironic that they are in the business of fixing things!)


I just want to take pictures...


...and now I can!

Earlier today, I went to Best Buy.  They junked my old camera and I was able to pick out a new camera.  It still took about an hour at Best Buy to clear things up.  But when it was all said and done, my original purchase back in July, 2012, along with my protection plan, was still a great deal.  It covered everything for that camera and I was able to use the value towards a new camera.

...and YES, I did buy a new protection plan, but this time, I will only extend it one year at a time.

My complaint is the poor communication that resulted in chaos and delays.  

Tony Lossano, Broadcast Producer (TV & Radio, Chicago), amateur bicyclist, a fantastic dog walker, and has never been married to Alyssa Milano.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment