Testimonial #75: Allow us to NOT fix your iPod for three weeks.

Recently had one of those surveys sent to me after trying to use one of Best Buy’s product service plans. Here’s what I sent to them:

I will never purchase a service plan at Best Buy again, given the treatment I have received at the hands of your "customer support" staff. They did not notify me about any changes to my product; I had to call in and get status updates about it. Also, when the scheduled completion date arrived, I called again and was informed that 'there was a clerical error' and that the machine would not be serviced for 'several weeks,' possibly after the new year. After another week of frustration, I called and was told that the machine had been shipped back to the local Best Buy with no service performed, because of Best Buy's apparent failure to contact me at my home phone number (there is someone at home 80% of the time in our household, and we have an answering machine; the representatives at Best Buy told us that they had tried to contact us on three separate occasions, to retrieve reciept information--reciept information which I had already provided to Bob, at the service desk). When I suggested that a replacement might be in order due to the sloppy way in which my case had been handled, I was essentially laughed at.

The service representatives at the Bethel Park branch of Best Buy were ridiculous (with the exception of Bob, who was often helpful); the manager of the service department rudely hung up on me during a phone conversation, after tacitly calling me a liar regarding the attempted phone contacts. When I called back to the manager of the store, I got similar treatment and rudeness about my problem. My iPod is still not fixed, and I have been without it for three weeks now, a week more than the "scheduled completion date." This is the single worst experience I have ever had with a retail chain, especially one with whom I have done so much business in the past. I hope that this survey reaches the appropriate ears, but I somehow doubt it, given a glimpse into the operations of your local branches.

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For the record, I handed my iPod over to Best Buy on 11/15 for service on a faulty battery, with a scheduled completion date of 12/3. The clerk assured me that it wouldn’t take that long, though, and that they would probably hear back within a week. A week passed, no word, two weeks, no word. I had to phone in repeatedly, only to hear that things would "take a little while longer." I called several more times, and on one occasion they said they would call out to Cleveland to see what was up with my service. I was told that there was a clerical error, and that it wouldn’t be fixed for a few weeks. I waited another week (until today, 12/8) and called again. They said that they’d had my iPod sent back to me because they couldn’t contact me to get reciept information I had already given them. I thought it was amusing when they hung up on me; it was like an all-time low for customer service. I’m going to pick my iPod up tomorrow, faulty battery and all. Basically, I lost three weeks with my baby, and she’s still sick. I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before. Well, the story’s all there, so feel free to do what you want with it :)


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