Best Buy - Laptops

Best Buy • Extended Warranties • Geek Squad • Gift Card • Price-Matching • Pricing Policies • Rebates • Returns --- • Appliances • Computers • Cell Phones • Laptops • TV & Video • Inside Best Buy --- News • Lawsuit Alleges Best Buy's "Price-Matching" Ignored, Violated • Connecticut Sues Best Buy • Best Buy Sued Over "Shower Cam" • Ohio Sues Best Buy

Steven of Erving, MA August 13, 2009

I had purchased a laptop computer in July of 08. It started shutting off in November of 08. Brought it back to Best Buy for repairs that were covered under the manufactures warranty.They sent it out to be repaired. 4 weeks later i was able to pick up my laptop. I brought it home plugged it in and within 5 min it started to shut off again. Same problem as before. I brought it back the next day. And had to argue with the geek squad rep. To get it sent out yet again.

2 weeks later. My laptop was returned to me.I brought it home again. Plugged it in and within 10 min. It started to shut off again. And again I brought back to Best Buy. And they sent it out yet again for the same problem. This time they told me that I would have it back within a week. 13 day's later I had a phone call at 10:00 am. From Best Buy saying it was in an to come pick it up.

Then 3 hours later I had a phone call at 1:00 pm saying it was not fixed. And they were sending it out again. They have a lemon policy. But are refusing to replace the laptop. I have since then stop paying for the computer. I had also spoke with the stores asst manager she assured me the the computer would be replaced.

About 2hrs later i had a phone call from the geek squad rep. Who told me she was mistaken. And that if I wanted to replace the laptop. I would have to use the 300.extended warranty that i had purchased. Even though it was still covered under the manufact warranty. I have not an will not pay a dime to those crooks.

Mary of Mcfarland, WI July 21, 2009

Best Buy is advertising an Acer Laptop with AMD Athlonâ 64 Processor For 299.00 and it is not even available in any of the stores here in Wisconsin or any other state. I went as far to check throughout different states if this laptop was available. I haven't found any Best Buy stores that have this laptop in stock period! As far as I am concerned the testimonial on customer feed back on this product is Phony and that they either work for Best Buy or somehow connected to marketing tactics to protect Best Buy false advertising.

Richard of Waynesburg, PA June 9, 2009

Last Wednesday we purchased a Dell Inspiron for our daughter for graduation. On Friday, a small dot appeared on the screen. By Saturday, the dot had expanded to a 4-inch slash. The plastic had broken and the pixels underneath were damaged. (My husband and I were out of town over the weekend so we couldn't do anything). Our daughter has had a laptop for cyber school for 2 years and knows how to handle laptops. She had done nothing to this machine but normal handling. Monday we went back to Best Buy. They said they couldn't do anything. We'd had the machine only 5 days at this point. Keep in mind that BB has a 15 day replacement/refund warranty, which includes monitors and notebooks and computers. They refused to give us our money back (519) or give us a new computer. This is our 6th family laptop. We know laptops. We are both University professors and we each have a laptop. This damage is clearly shipping and handling that occurred before we got the machine- it was damaged when we took it out of the box. It was so small, no one saw it, but it was there. My husband talked to the Best Buy store manager, the district manager, and the regional manager. No one was nice- all three were rude and thought we were crazy to ask for a refund. We even called the Best Buy Corporate Office and talked to their "Public Relations" people. They blamed the problem on Dell. We told them we bought the computer from them, not Dell. They were not sympathetic. So- Best Buy stole 519 from us. Dealing with Best Buy has been incredibly stressful and upsetting. We haven't slept well. We feel that we've been robbed.

Devin of Brick, NJ June 3, 2009

On 18 May 2009, I brought my Sony Vaio laptop (VGNNR-385E) to Best Buy, six days before the original warranty was completed, because it was shutting off randomly.

After the first week, I made a phone call concerning the status of my laptop and they said they were still performing diagnostics. On the tenth day I called back to find out the problem was that the keyboard and mouse was not functioning. I suggested they reinstall the drivers and I was told that this was already attempted. This was not the problem when I brought it in.

I had made all contact with Best Buy and they had never contacted me with any possible solutions or status updates. I came back on 1 June 2009 to request a new laptop since I assumed that they would replace it since it could not be fixed.

This was not the case. I came in and the gentleman told me that the laptop was still not fixed. Upon requesting a new laptop I was told that I was not covered since I did not purchase the "Protection Plan" and it was a software issue. When I brought it in it was clearly a hardware malfunction.

The young man said that I was supposed to have been contacted to request my approval for a format. I never received that call and when he checked his records it showed I had not been contacted. I decide to approve the format and he tells that it will be 129.99! I told him that I wouldn't pay for it and that it should be covered under the warranty. The young man even mentioned that I was paying for the labor of formatting and reinstalling the driver. Parts and labor are covered under the warranty.

Two managers who clearly not in the "Geek Squad" Told me that I was not covered and they would not honor the warranty. They didn't even take the time to fully listen to my complaints. The first manager Mario simply said, "I was listening and what he (the Geek Squad member) was correct." Then he walked away.

The Store manager, Matthew, approached me as I was explaining to another gentleman my problems. Matthew said, "You know I can listen to your complaints if you are justt going to bash our service." Completely rude and out of place, he wasn't even involved in my conversation. After I had explained what happened all the manager said was, "So because you aren't getting what you wanted, you think it's bad service?" He was completely out of place and I was to infuriated to even respond other than saying that every technical branch I can obtain will hear about this rude manager and poor service.

I took back the broken laptop to bring home and attempt the repairs myself. I brought it home and my first attempt at reinstalling the drivers worked. My laptop was good as new. Somehow in trying to fix the problem of shutting down they had uninstalled the drivers and made the keyboard and mouse unusable.

They broke my laptop, lied about the repairs, and treated me with disrespect. When I fixed my computer, I found an email from Geek Squad on May 20, saying my laptop was fixed and ready for pickup. Liars and cheats, every one of them.

Natasha of Beaver Falls, PA June 1, 2009

My Mother, Lisa. Went up to Ohio on April 22, 2009. A Gateway laptop was purchased. The sales associate wrote a few protection plans down on a piece of paper, along with the prices. He also told her that if she wanted parentol controls put onto the laptop, that she would need to come back up when she brings the laptop back to purchase the protection plan. On April 27, 2009 she took the laptop back up to Ohio to get a protection plan. She had spoke to the store manager about the laptop. The manager told her that spills and accidental handling were INCLUDED in the plan that she was purchasing. So, my Mom got that plan.

On May 27th, 2009 I accidentally dropped my computer onto the carpet. It wasn't very high, so I thought everything would be okay!. When I went to turn it on. Something came up about a hard drive. The next day my Mother and Grandfather took the laptop back up to Best Buy and explained what happened. The guy told her that the plan that was showing up on the account was not the one that the manager sold to her in April. My Mom insisted that he was wrong, and asked to call the manager to the front desk. He said that she wasn't in that day.

The sales associate turned the laptop on and said that it would need a new hard drive, and it would cost my Mother around 100.00 or more to get it repaired. My Mother told them that the plan that she purchased covered accidental damages and the employee argued with her about it. Then he called her a liar, and she left. It's still not fixed today is June 1, 2009.

Kiki of Julian, CA April 26, 2009

I purchased a Notebook computer to use while traveling. The salesman assured me twice that is "is loaded with Word XP" and "it comes with Word XP". What he didn't add was that it was only for trial purposes and that I would later have to purchase the program. Initially, I thought it did have Word XP because, although there was no disk, there was a product key pasted on the computer. When I used it, however, it came up as "invalid." Returning to the store, I found that this was for basic software and that no, Word wasn't included in the price. Also, no, we won't do anything about it. Leaving the store in a funk, I went next door where there was a furniture sale. The young salesman asked how I was. I told him my story. He had had the same experience at the same Best Buy!

William of Mishawaka, IN April 1, 2009

William of Mishawaka IN (04/01/09)
My husband and I went to Best Buy to buy a computer lap top. We were approached by a very nice young man. Tall, thin, and soft spoken. He was helping us. He was great. Answered all our questions and we were buying things we needed other than the lap top. All together we spent almost 850.

But as we were asking about hooking up the router and and new printer we had just picked out, a manager called Joe came up and told the sales man to go back in the warehouse and get something for him. He was quite rude. He then picked up the merchandise we had picked out with the help of the sales man and dumped it on the floor by the register and pointed to the girl on the register and said she will help you. We had been in the store approximately 15 min. Its not like we were just wasteing the sales mans time. I could not believe the rudeness of this manager. If I had to deal with him again I would look for another store to spend my money, sale or not. I was told he was the only Mgr. named Joe.

I work with the public in a hospital and seeing the type of manager who treats his employees and customers this way will make my shopping decisions different.

Singson of Germantown, MD March 31, 2009

Singson of Germantown MD (03/31/09)
I have bought a Toshiba L305-S5919 Laptop from this store 3/26/2009. The laptop is fine, nothing wrong with it. My problem with this purchase issue is that this is a new Laptop and there is no Restoration CD and/or Recovery CD in the package. Not even a partition on the hard drive that has a image of the system that you can back it up yourself. All they want is to sell you their Custom In-store Service which they offer the Optimization and Restore CD for 59.99. I have tried calling Office Depot store which sell laptop too to see how much do they charged for this service, the Customer support responded that if it is a new laptop, it should come with the Restoration CD or at least, there should be a partition on the hard drive that have an image of the system for you to backup yourself.

I have called Toshiba customer support to validate whether this claim if it is a new laptop, it should come with a Restoration CD or Recovery CD. The Toshiba Customer support that I have talked with did say that it should have a Restoration CD that comes with it. The manager of the Geek squad on that store won't honor my claim. Be warned, if you are returning the Laptop for a full refund, you're screwed. There is a 15% restocking fee, even if you are returning the product less than 14 days period. Go to other store like Micro Center, which they do guarantee that the system should comes with at least with a partition on the hard drive that has the image of the system for you to do your own recovery CD.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |