Sam's Club, Walmart Ripoff Broken Cheap Laptop Can't Get Fixed Can't Get Replaced Can't Get Refund Bentonville Arkansas

Last year I purchased an Averatec Laptop from Sam's Club 8132. At that time I also purchased an extended warranty through Sam's Club and N.E.W.

I began having problems with my laptop. The laptop hinges had cracked from day-to-day wear and tear, but now they were begining to come apart entirely. In addition, almost anything that could break or go wrong with a laptop was breaking and going wrong. The CD drive stopped working, the USB ports stopped working, a fan inside the computer stopped working, everything! So I brought it back to Sam's Club saying that, honestly, the computer was so severely defective, and in such a short amount of time, I'd rather just have a refund than trying to get it fixed. I bought a warranty for preventative and minor maintenance, not to have the whole computer replaced a year after I bought it!

The Customer Service rep at Sam's Club told me that I was no longer able to return the laptop and that my only recourse was through N.E.W., the service plan provider. I contacted N.E.W. and got the run-around between them and THEIR service provider CyberTest... culminating in N.E.W. accusing me of somehow opening the computer and damaging the internal components!

It feels to me like Sam's Club and N.E.W. are just passing the buck. I would never open up a laptop to break or attempt to fix anything: After all, that's why I bought a warranty, right? How am I to feel secure buying products from Sam's Club and WalMart in general if they won't stand behind the products they sell and the warranty providers they contract out to won't either? I'm a graduate student and teacher, and I purchased my laptop from Sam's Club because it seemed like the best value for my dollar. Now, however, I feel like I got taken for a ride. I'm left with a cheap laptop that's broken in less than a year and nobody will stand behind their merchandise or their service agreements. Instead of SAVING money by shopping with Sam's Club I'm just left holding a 900 dollar paper weight!

My wife has a laptop she purchased through Best-Buy. She paid almost 400 dollars more for a similar laptop and a similar service agreement. At the time, I thought I was getting a great deal from Sam's Club.

However, when my wife's laptop's hardrive died, BestBuy had it replaced within two weeks with no issues. When her hinges cracked (not BROKE as mine did) BestBuy repaired them, again, within two weeks. I feel, now, I would have gladly paid 400, even 500 dollars more for a laptop that I could depend on from a vendor who I could depend on.

I tried contacting Sam's Club again about the issue before I went to RipOff Report, and got two emails four days apart saying they would contact the proper department and I should hear back in 3-5 days. Then, today, I recieved a call from someone saying they were with Sam's Club Service Agreements (who is, I'm sure, N.E.W.) telling me basically the same thing I'd heard from N.E.W. and CyberTest, up to and including their supposedly "telling" photos. I'd like to know what's on the photos. I know I didn't open the computer, so they must be interpreting something incorrectly.

But in the end, I'm left with nothing... currently I don't even have the laptop, almost a month after I sent it to CyberTest. I've gone up and down the ladder... from CyberTest to NEW to Sam's Club to Walmart Inc. and haven't gotten satisfaction at any level. Now the only recourse I feel I have is to let people know the experience I had and warn them not to purchase expensive electronics from Sam's Club. For my part my family and I are going to protest with our dollars.

My in-laws spend thousands of dollars a year at Sams Club for their business with a preffered membership, and even with my income I spend at least 100$ a month there. In the time I've been a Sam's Club customer I've spent well over twice what I spent on this laptop, and would continue to do so for years to come. Unfortunately they just can't seem to get behind me on this laptop thing, and I'm going to take my money and go. There is a Costco literally a block away from our local Sam's Club. We chose Sam's Club because we shopped with WalMart for years and I trusted them. As it stands, myself, my parents, and my inlaws are all going to walk into our local Sam's Clubs and demand our membership fees back.

--fje

Frank
Oxford, Ohio
U.S.A.

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