Extended warranty from Best Buy? Don't Bother

We did and it was the worst $100 we ever spent. Apparently, we are not the only ones who think that either.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/results.asp?q1=ALL&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0&submit2=Search%21&q5=Best+Buy&submit=Search

I have an HP all-in-one that we bought a year and a half ago. The printer warranty has already expired. So, AFTER, I did all of the troubleshooting from the HP website, we took it in.

I've been having problems with my printer for about 6 months. The first time my DH brought back the printer, they said it was a paper jam. He brought it in for streaky printing. The second time was today. It's not printing at all, just going through the motions with nothing on the page.

GRRRR!!! I am still fuming. My printer has 4 seperate printheads. According to the person who checked it out, every single printhead went bad at the same time. I told him it made funny noises and it said carriage jam. It also doesn't go all the way across sometimes. Nope it's the printheads. "Well, I if I could just show you... "No it's the printheads." "It says it has a IDS error" which means its an Internal Device System error. "Lady if I send it, you won't have your printer for 3-4 weeks and they are going to say it is the printheads and return it." Also, apparently I am an idiot because I'm female and women just don't understand them dohickeys. My poor DH didn't know what to do. The guy kept asking him questions, but it's my printer and DH knows nothing about it. It just kept getting worse from there. DH tried to buy one printhead just to test and prove it wasn't the printheads. They didn't have any. It just went downhill from there. Me trying to explain the problem and the idiot behind the counter telling me its the printheads. Finally I got fed up and took my cables and walked out before I smacked the guy and waited for DH to follow me with the printer.

Okay, I've done technical support, I've been a Network Administrator and I do computer consulting. I know how to do troubleshooting and have been doing so with this printer for the last month. I am not your common user AND IT IS NOT THE FREAKING PRINTHEADS.

I feel better now, thanks.

I never buy anything at best buy. Their return policy is horrendous and their customer service is worse. The only worse company I can think of is econo lube and tune. I go circuit city if I have to buy any electronics.
I never buy the extended warranty, either. If things are going to go wrong, usually it's within the first year, after that I would rather buy new.
Mobi

I feel your pain! I think most women have been in a similar situation, it really can be infuriating!! I would have had a code red meltdown right in the store, probably.

I've never had luck with ANY HP devices. I had a printer do the same thing you specified; turning it's wheels and nothing printing. Then I had a CD drive go bad. I personally won't buy HP. Sorry you had a bad experience with Best Buy, I'd get a hold of someboby higher up. You shouldn't have been treated that way.

flip side of the coin...I have an HP CD writer plus and 2 HP printers..not a lick of trouble from them. Good luck sorting it out. BTW..I got my products from Office Depot if that makes any difference.

Sqwidgetz, One thing I learned in Business Communications in college....If you don't get satisfaction, go to the library and look up the CEO or president of the company in The Standard and Poor's reference. Every library should have one and the librarian will be able to help you. Get the address and phone number. Then write your letter to the company President. INCLUDE their NAME. Start out real nice in your first paragraph, then in the second tell of your problem, and then in the third hit them with a comment like "I am considering buying at Circuit City if I don't get satisfaction."

Be sure to include your name, address, and phone number. I will be very surprised if you don't hear from the company president. Be sure to state where and what you bought. If you don't hear back from them, then they aren't a company you should do business with anyhow. BTW, Sears will almost always replace your item AND give you back your money!!!

Just a little bit of info there. Keep me posted if you do anything. I'd be interested in hearing what happens. Kathy @ Misty Meadows Farm

Edited to say, you know I think you can look up the Standard & Poor's reference online too. Not sure, but it seems logical. :)

This message was edited Dec 2, 2003 10:29 PM

Yep, I agree with Kathy...write 'em a letter!

Write to HP, CC to Best Buy (or vice-versa). Email would work also, as long as it is to the 'headquarters' and not just a typical "report a problem" email address.

I don't hesitate to report things like this to companies. It also helps to include something to the effect of "I thought you would like to know about the inefficiency of services of those who are selling your product so that other customers will not have to deal with such a negative experience". (Include that it is not just a bad reflection on the lack of training of the employees at Best Buy but also a poor representation of a company who is selling HP products. This will ensure that your email/letter will be forwarded to the Best Buy headquarters!)

As an aside, you obviously got a lemon. I have a HP printer, HP scanner, my wife has a HP All-in-one. We've never had an ounce of trouble with any of them. This tells me even more so that you got a lemon, and I bet they will recognize that fact.

I feel your pain, too!

We had a defective HP Pavilion PC back in 1996. When Best Buy would not help, and I persisted calling HP, HP finally sent out a whole unit replacement.

It had the same problem with the shielding! HP did not have a toll-free number and would ask the same basic questions every time I called them (do you use a surge protector? What kind? How do you turn the computer off? Aaaargh!).

I started telling them to have a supervisor call me back, because I would not be charged long-distance charges to repeatedly answer the same list of questions or to be placed on hold for a higher-tier tech.

They would not rectify the problem, so I finally called the CEO at home. He was not there, but his wife answered and gave me the physical address of her husband's office. I'd tried calling HP first, just to get the physical address for a certified letter I wanted to send, but all the tech/customer (no)support people would give me was a PO Box.

I'm sure his wife was not pleased at receiving such a call at home, but I'm sure it wasn't the first time it had happened. Sure enough, two days later, when that letter arrived at Mr. Platt's office, we got a call from the support rep who'd arranged for the first unit's replacement. He offered a complete refund of our purchase price.

We took it. It was $1500 and prices had dropped a lot since we'd bought that system - we were able to get a much nicer computer with that money, and you can BET it was not an HP. Never again.

Keep on climbing, be firm but polite, and don't give up.

This message was edited Dec 2, 2003 11:04 PM

I would write them a letter to..I would write the CO of Best Buy and the CO of the manufacture.
Best Buy has become famous for there "Rip Offs" and it's time they stopped....I hope everyone shops somewhere else....

Yes I had problems with them too more than once. My first printer fax machine was a Cannon, it went south along with the $100. extended warrenty, and then a hands free phone. They did replace the phone after the 3rd trip up there witch was a 45 minute drive one way.

So never again, I shop elsewhere. So does my sister-in-law after a problem with her TV bought from Best Buy.

It's like pulling teeth to get them to do something about defective or broken merchandise. Oh and did I mention, How smart there Tech's are. Ha,
Dee

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will definitely be writing the CEO of Best Buy, but after I can think rationaly about it. I'm too upset with them to phrase it in my "nice/mean" way as DH calls it. I always get results when I use that way. I'll keep ya'll posted.

gardenwife, I like your persistence and the idea of calling the CEO at home. Good for you!

I just did a search on the CEO's name and it looks like he's headed over to Boeing to be their non-executive chairman. http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2003/12/3/business/6830115&sec=business

I would still look up the CEO of Best Buy. They are the ones that gave you the problem and you paid the warranty to them.

The guy that started Best Buy lives in the Twin Cities area somewhere. He laughs all the way to the bank!
Much better to buy computer stuff from a locally owned firm.
We bought ours that way. Something goes wrong, they will fix it immediatly in their own shop. We bought from a place in Mankato, MN, now there is a private guy in a small town near us. He will give us promt service also.
You must remember Best Buy is just another chain store.
Go find a local business to check your printer, they will at least give you a straight answer to whats wrong, & maybe can fix it too.
Bernie

Thanks Gardenwife,
I work at Boeing in Renton, The last thing we need is an HP reject "non-Executive??" You shouldn't have scared him off.

LOL, sorry dough! Guess he remembered. ;) Hopefully Boeing's products are a lot better made than HP's computers were...There's a lot more riding on them (literally)!

Ok you convinced me lets all just say no to best buy. Now I am glad I bought our big screen tv from Sears last year because the sales person seemed like a sleezeball. Ernie

With that HP computer, our problem really wasn't with Best Buy, since we'd declined an extended warranty and it was beyond the initial return period. We were stuck dealing with the manufacturer directly.

I've never had a problem with returning things to Best Buy, but they've not been major purchases, either. If you peruse the newsgroups, just about every major store has people writing horror stories about it. Sears was called on the carpet on a news magazine a couple years ago for their terrible service to appliance customers.

I guess it all boils down to who you deal with at a store locally; if it's not good service there on the front line, you have to infiltrate! ;)