Best Buy ripoff horrible customer service, shady warranty practices, irresponsible theifs! White Marsh Maryland

My whole Best Buy ordeal started back in November of 2003 with the purchase of a 56" JVC CRT projection television along with a 4 year warranty. At the time of purchase I was told that to receive weekend delivery that I would have to wait two weeks. At this time, I was OK with that. It was the holiday rush period and I understood that their schedule was booked. Two weeks goes by and my T.V. is finally delivered! Now here is where all the fun starts!

The T.V. was delivered on a Saturday morning. Then all of a sudden two days later on that following Monday, the television stopped working completley. I called Best Buy support and I was told that they had to send a technician out to my house first. I said, I didn't want a repaired television but they insisted that the tech see the television before an exchange was made. It then takes a week for the tech to arrive. Mind you now that I have gone a total of 3 weeks with a T.V. that has only worked for 2 days. I paid for this television in full!

So after the tech decided that he couldn't fix the television, a replacement unit was to be sent to my house, 2 WEEKS LATER! Now here is where the great customer service steps in. I called my local store to tell that that this was unacceptable that I want the new T.V. at my house the next day. I was told that they have no control over delivery schedules. I asked for a manager and I was told that if I wanted to speak to a manager that I would have to physically come to the store because they were too busy at the moment. So to my suprise when I arrive at the store, the manager and 3 other assistants in the T.V. department were standing around socializing! Mind you that there were also only about 20 shoppers in the entire store.

I started to explain my story and I the only answer I got was that they couldn't do anything about it. So instead of causing a scene and embarrasing myself, I left and waited for the T.V. to be delivered. Finally the T.V. was delivered almost 5 weeks after the original purchase date. So you think the story ends there, right? WRONG!

A year goes by and I start to notice that the T.V. is having some display issues. It is now December of 2004. I called for service and a tech was sent to my house. The tech could not explain what was going on but advised me to give it a while to see if the problem works itself out. *Note that Best Buy knows of a problem at this date*

So I listened to the tech and I gave it time. The problem never got better. Two techs were dispatched to my house in November of 2005. They diagnosed the T.V. with the same problem that they saw in December of 2004 only this time they decided to fix it. I was told by the tech that parts would be ordered and that I would soon get a call from Best Buy to reschedule for a repair date.

Well, November 2005 turns to December 2005. So I placed a call at the beginning of December. I was told that I would receive an answer within 24 hours. I never received that call. I then called in the middle of December 2005. Again I received the same comment and no call. Then December 2005 turned to January 2006. More calls were placed by myself through the entire month of January with only one callback which was to just tell me that they were still working on an answer.

Now here we are in February of 2006. I called once again and now the answer I received from Best Buy is that the T.V. needs to be replaced because they can not get the parts they need to fix my T.V. Hmmmmm.... it took 3 months for them to come to that conclusion? I think I have just been scammed!

At first I was excited that they would replace the T.V. and then I started thinking. To get a T.V. comprable in size to my 56" television, I would have to dish out almost $1500 out of my own pocket! Best Buy no longer carries CRT projection televisions any longer. I then knew that I had been taken for a ride! I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I felt like I had just been robbed!

If Best Buy would have decided to replace the T.V. when the problem first arose in December of 2004, I would not have had this problem. Best Buy still sold CRT projection T.V.'s at that time and I would have been able to make an even exchange. Instead they drove me through the mud for a year and now I am supposed to pay out of my own pocket!

I called customer service today and was transfered to 3 different people. The final conversation was with a general manager at the corporate office who wouldn't listen to what I had to say. He kept telling me that they held up their end with the warranty. But the funny thing is that he couldn't give me a reason why the T.V. wasn't repaired in December 2004 and that it took them 3 months to decide that the T.V. couldn't be repaired. Or why I had to keep calling back to get answers!

I explained to him that I would be contacting the Better Business Bureau. He of course didn't seem to care all that much and then to end the conversation, he hung up on me!

I have filed a report with the BBB and a friend of mine is the son of one of our state representatives. I will make sure he hears about this. I live in a blue collar city and we don't need big business's in here ripping off people who have to work very hard for their money.

I am a warehouse supervisor and my wife is an elementary school teacher. We also have a 4 month old baby girl. We are financially stable but we don't have an extra $1500 lying around for a new television! I truly feel as if I was robbed! Either way I lose out at this point.

Since Best Buy decided to replace the televsion set (at my cost) the two remaining years on my 4 year warranty are void. So there goes $250 down the drain by keeping the television. Or I pay $1500 to purchase a T.V. that is the same size as the one I own right now!

All in all, I will NEVER deal with this company ever again! But to a business like Best Buy, they don't care. So I will try everything I can to run this company throught mud as they did with me.

Chris
Baltimore, Maryland
U.S.A.

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