Issues With M6809 and Best Buy Getting Ridiculous

don't you have a lemon clouse in your warrenty

if it sent in so many times thay have to replace it

Moral of the story:

DON'T buy Best Buy's warranty unless you have lots of time on your hands and do not need your computer anyway!!

Exactly.

If they're telling you it has to go in three times for the same issue, they're lying. Go back in and ask to speak to a manager. If the manager gives you the runaround, request a number to the district office and/or the service center they send the unit to.

I was a tech at BBY for a while, and we would honor the "no lemon" policy after it had come in three times for HW repairs. The service plan does not cover software issues, only hardware-related matters.

There is a toll free number on the PSP brochure they gave you when you bought the laptop. Call it and see if you can get anywhere with them. Sometimes, they can get stuff moving from above when the store is full of idiots.

You need to read the service plan. Sales people often misrepresent what it covers and how it operates(especially telling people about how some models are just replaced, not repaired...when that status changes and is not finite).

Read the fine print. If they don't diagnose a hardware problem, it's not counted towards the no-lemon. And it technically has to be repaired 3 times and sent in for a 4th repair before the no lemon actually takes effect. So even if you bring it in the 4th time...the store doesn't have to allow you to exchange it right then...technically, they're supposed to send it out to the repair center to confirm the failure, then authorize the no-lemon, cause it's paid for by an insurance company. Sometimes the store manager might allow you to exchange it right then if they are 100% sure that the failure will be confirmed by the service center...but there's no gaurantee of that...and it's not dictated in the service contract.

I worked as a tech for Best Buy for almost 5 years(until 2000). I've seen both sides of the issues...where Best Buy fails and where the customers don't understand what's covered.

I'd avoid sueing or mentioning legal tactics...cause as soon as you do, all negotiation is off. No one in the store will talk to you. That's a corporate policy. Rarely did anyone win those cases. In the 5 year period I worked for them, there were a slew of cases(I even had to be deposed for some) and they only lost two cases at my store in that time period. Mostly cause the customers were usually in the wrong...but sometimes, they argued that they were told things differently by the sales staff than what the service plan stated....but the service plan is in writing and the customer signed it, so that's all she wrote for the courts.

If you're not 100% sure they've violated the stated terms of the service plan, avoid legal action and continue to deal with the corporate office or approach the general manager(find out when he's working...don't just show up and be pissed that he's not on duty at that moment) and speak calmly with them. I'd advise offering to present your problem, with all your paperwork, clearly and concisely. Tell them what you'd like to see done and then allow them to take some time to figure it out(maybe 1-2 days). That'll allow them to talk to the service center(which is only open during normal business hours...so if you do this on a weekend...it'll take longer) and figure out what's going on. I also recommend you try and be friendly to an instore tech who might be sympathetic to your situation and go to bat for you with management(which will vary in effect depending on each store's dynamics in how the management respects their techs opinions).

It's a pain, but ultimately, not a huge amount of work and can probably get you a decent resolution(which won't be a refund...under no situation would you get that). You'll either get your machine fixed(they'll ask for one more chance or they'll replace it), possibly an offer to exchange, or maybe even allow you to exchange for a different type of laptop. Those are your only valid options I think. Just keep your cool. Even if they say "no" at first, stay calm and continue to explain your issue. Blowing up will almost certainly screw your chances.

And for the guy early on who said to "lie"...it's people like you who have really made it difficult for the rest of us. That's a big reason why some companies are so tight about returns/replacements now. They felt that too many people were taking advantage of them and now they're made everything too restrictive to compensate for the perceived losses in revenue. Thanks for making it worse for us. We all appreciate it.

That's what I did and had zero problems trading 6809->6811->7422. No lies, no anger, just here's the problem and here's the paperwork and here's what I'm frustrated about and can you please help me out here? My local BB went above & beyond IMO and even gave me concessions I never asked for.

If it's a corporate policy, then they never followed it at the BBY I worked at as a tech. At the same time, you're not going to get anywhere if you start ranting and threatening the managers and employees. The best advice I can give ANYONE with a service plan - whether from BBY, CompUSA, Fry's, etc. is to keep all you paperwork in one place, so that if you have to take the unit in, you can show them exactly what has happened in the past.

It's not illegal to be mean, which is not necessarily a bad thing since some people really deserve it. Be cautious about getting lawyers involved. Best Buy has more and can pay them better. Definitely work your way through corporate and get the BBB involved before you start retaining a lawyer. This is how I've resolved every single CS nightmare I've ever had to go through. Not every resolution was completely to my satisfaction, but it's a lot better than a judge telling you to get out. Once that happens, you'll have no further avenues to pursue anywhere.

Agreed...it sucks, but BB has the higher ground right now. Stay as calm as you can. Simply document everything and keep trying. If the general manager won't deal with you, try to contact the Sales Manager. See if they'll work with you. After that, I'd try the operations manager. Ignore the inventory and merchandising managers...no help there in most cases. After you get nowhere there, then pursue it with corporate. They will likely shut you down if you're still talking to the managers in the store...so pursue all avenues there first. Explain it to corporate that you are hopeful to come up with a mutually acceptable solution and are willing to work with them. If you are too abrupt and demanding, they'll just push you back to the local store. If you can get corporate interested, the district or regional manager may get involved...and they hate being involved, so they're more likely to push local store management to find a equitable solution(that'll get them out of it).

Good luck.

Come on don't punish yourself like that!

My Issues are not with bestbuy but with whoever makes their repairs. From what I understand ARIMA not bestbuy does service to the notebooks. First I had a M6809 had it devoed from and m6811. Well the both hinges broke on it and i had my old desktop so i figured i would send it in. When I got it back the hinges were fixed but the lovely people at the service center took off every single plastic foot on the bottom. I had the service rep take a note of my complaint but never recieved any feet. Now the hinges went for a second time on m6811 and I figured I would send it in again to get fixed. Well those same nice people at the service center took a screwdriver scratched (gouged) the bottom of my laptop in 3 different places. They must have really been having a good day. So i got a mangaer they saw the damage and admitted that they were embarassed at the lovely work that was done to my computer and propmtly set it back in for the THIRD time in less than 8 months. She said it was manger expideted. Anyone wanna tell me what that means? Either way when i have the computer i love it but i dont think that in the 14 months i have owened it that it should be reparied for a month and a half. Best Buy is not a bad company in my opinion that just cant find service technians that dont chose to criminaly destroy my property.<==End of Rant I now not every technician destroys peoples computers just the ones who work on mine.