Note to Best Buy: The Extended Warranty Plan Makes Me Resent You

It makes for an unpleasant shopping experience to have someone earnestly telling me about the good features of a product, and then, once I've chosen the gadget that I want and decided to purchase it, to have another employee (or sometimes the same one), selling me the "just in case anything goes wrong, you can bring it back and get a new one for free, no questions asked" service plan for an additional $20.  Why do you do that to me every time I go into your store? (Make that 'every time I used to go to your store' -- I won't be going there anymore.)

Your business model should be finding and stocking merchandise that is not likely to break in the next two years, in the course of normal use.  If you have done a good job selecting and offering quality merchandise, the "extended service plan" is a poor use of my money, and you shouldn't be selling it to me.  If the gizmo you're selling me is a piece of crap, asking me to pay an additional $20 to replace it with an identical or slightly upgraded piece of crap when it inevitably breaks is not the ideal solution. 

Comments

[DG]

I bought a 50" Sony Rear Projection TV in Jun, 2006 and also got a 4 years extended warranty from Best Buy. On 06/12/08 i called service center saying that 'I am noticing for last couple of weeks my TV displaying weird colors' then representative open ticket and said you need to call so and so company (Sub contract company) and they will take a look at that. After couple days (6/14) i got a call from technician and told that 'Engine Light' needs to be replaced on your TV. Then technician came with the new Engine Light after one week (7/24), while opening my TV to put a new part in HE BROKE THE MY TV 'ASU MODULE', then he said i can not put a new part right now i have order a new 'ASU Module' and once i get that we will come replace with two new parts. While he is going he took New engine light and Old 'ASU Module' that he broke. Now it is been 30 days.

In last 30 days i made numerous calls to Best Buy and Sub Contract company but no use, just one reply we are waiting for part. On Monday (7/21) i called them then they said we got the part we just need to schedule appointment to come home to fix the TV and they schedule to do on 7/24.

Now just Yesterday (7/23) i called them again to find out what time technician is going to show up, now they are telling me that the technician got sick so we need to reschedule the appointment.

I was waiting for their call hoping that they come ASAP to fix my TV.

I really got upset because of their technician fault i do not have for last 30 days.

I do not know what to do now..., was wondering do i have option that i can think off.....

[gecoble]

Funny, I have had an entirely different experience with Best Buy. They attempted to fix my Plasma TV ($2000) that I bought two years ago. I called and was able to schedule repair for a Saturday. The tech was from a third party repair shop and did the best that he could considering the problem. He said that Best Buy would first attempt to replace the part or, if that did not solve the problem, replace the TV. So a few weeks pass, I called Best Buy and was told they could not get the part from the manufacturer. This is NOT the fault of Best Buy. So they offered a full replacement. I just went to the store today, about a month after I made the second call to Best Buy, and was shown similar Plasma TVs. The replacement TV costs around $1200 and I was told that if I chose a more expensive TV I would only have to pay the difference. So I am patting myself on the back for getting the extended warranty. I asked if I could get the data sheets for the TVs and come back in a couple of weeks after I did some research.

I agree that extended warranties do not make sense for most products, but for newer technologies, such as Plasma TVs, this was a great bargain.

In full disclosure, I work for the company that makes this TV. Best Buy no longer carries our line of TVs because of so many warranty issues. Heck, we just sold the TV business to another company since the margins were too low. The cost of the extended warranty through my company was close to $700. So it actually saved me more money to purchase the TV from Best Buy rather than through the employee strore and purchasing the extended warranty through my company.

So I will now be the proud owner of a different brand of TV. I plan on purchasing the extended warranty again. Just do your research.

[Former BestBuy Salesperson]

As a former employee of Best Buy, I can attest to being taught from a corporate binder to tell people that something sold with a service plan could be thrown into a puddle and backed over with their car and we would cover it NO QUESTIONS ASKED. No questions.
While I worked there, I bought a Canon digicam with the 4-yr plan. Two years later, it would wait 15 seconds after each press of the shutter-button to actually take the picture, as if the flash wasn't charging in prep for the shot. The screen was also garbled sometimes, and when I took pictures at those times, the camera stored the garbled .jpg, telling me that the CCD resposible for translating light to 1's and 0's was messed. After 5 weeks in the service black-hole, they sent my camera back to me in the exact same condition with a claim ticket showing "resolved, in like-new condidtion." Only, nothing had changed. My manager said that if the manufacturer said it was designed to work that way, they wouldn't replace it. Now, maybe it wouldn't mess up the screen for them, but I'm sure the delay was repeatable in their lab.

Draw your own conclusions "Jack"

Epilogue: My state's attorney general got involved and Best Buy (not Canon) replaced my camera with a brand new one with twice the resolution as the previous.

[synbadd]

I will start by saying i used to be a best buy geek squad employee. I have very good knowledge of how they work. Every one just needs to learn to learn how to use a service plans. If you ever have the chance to get a prp (product replacement plan) it is almost always a good idea. I saw it all the time there ipod nano would come back with a week left on the warranty cause the battery wont hold a charge. Its impossible to verify that. Guess what you get a new ipod nano for that $19 dollar purchase you made 2 years prior. As far as there service plans. It does take about 3 weeks for most repairs to be sent out. On items that offer accidental damage and handling i would pay extra for it. Reason being all you have to do is break the item causing 80% of its value and that 400 dollars spent gets you a brand new lap top 3 years later. Look at the big picture for that $1500 dollars you get a lap top to use for 3 years and then trade in for a new upgraded model. The service plans are great if you know how the system works. Keep buying those service plans and it just means you get an upgraded model when the plans about to run out, if you know what you are doing.

[Ashley]

ok....My best friend has had her laptop fot i believe four years now. Well she got a five year warranty that she paid quite a bit more for with the purchase of her computer at Best Buy. Well, her computer is under warranty still and she had taken it back for repairs. They told her that her computer was ready nine days later. She went into the store to pick it up and they responded....."mam your computer is infested with bugs.With actual insects,roaches,ants,etc. we cant fix it you may have to pay for a new one." My friend was soooo upset and asked the customer service how that is posssible when she lives in a well kept house with a maid!!!! IT WAS KEPT IN A WAREHOUSE FOR NINE DAYS "GETTING FIXED"........she knew that this was a scam and called her grandmother. Her grandparents looked it up on google and Best Buy is well known for pulling these types of situations and scams. So i hope they understand what they are up against!!!!!!!!

[Marc]

Great discussion. I hate when the sales people sell those extended warranties. I usually shop online for a warranty and $ave money over those outrageous prices in store. I recently found www.northamericacoverage.com and their prices seem quite good on low end electronics. The cheaper products actually come with a replacement warranty. They don't even try to fix it anymore.

[brad]

hey people there warranty might not be the best well....

1)thats how they make extra money
2)read the papers before hand
3)your supposed to read the manual
4)be safe with the electronic device

i just had an itouch go through the washer yeah im mad but it my fault not theres

that would be like them giving out free itouch's you cant just throw it off a cliff and expect it to get returned

[Cheap Computers]

My advice is to not to buy a extended warranty from best bay....
http://www.electrocomputerwarehouse.com

[Daniel]

I brought in my Canon 5D for water damage because my wife dropted it in the water at the shore of the lake a few weeks ago and the screens had condensation.

I purchased the extended service from Best Buy and was unsure if they would repair it. They sent it to a repair office and 2 weeks later they told me that they can't repair it but where going to give me store credit towards the new Canon 5D Mark II. They gave me the new camera and my old 24-105mm L Lens.

I was very pleased with the store manager and staff along with the Best Buy Corporate staff that I talked to and made every attempt to get me the new camera and my lens back.

I don't work for Best Buy or ever did. If you buy an expensive camera like I did, make sure you buy the extended warranty. It's well worth it and they do honor it.