September 28/06
Sent laptop out to have cracked hinge housing repaired under PSP.

October 15/06
Once I received my laptop back and found it was unrepaired, I told the technician (Wayne) that I was unhappy and wanted to talk to a manager. After about a 20-25 minute wait, Darcalee came to talk to me. She said she was in a meeting. I explained how I was unhappy, and that I didn't pay $1800 for a laptop to have it break. She looked at my recipt and said “$1500”. At which point I said indicated to her that with the (useless) PSP, the GST and the price of the computer, it came out to $1800, and that is what the computer is worth. She said there was value in the service plan, and I told her I didn't see the value, and I would never again purchase a PSP if I ever did shop at Best Buy again. After some discussion, she said there was nothing she could do, and she couldn't help me and suggested that I just be careful when opening and closing the laptop from now on. At this point, I was very insulted, and after she left, I asked Wayne for the name of the store manager. He told me it was Troy, and he also mentioned that he believed that my laptop should absolutely be covered and repaired under the PSP. I thanked him for his help and left.

October 23/06
Went to the store looking to talk to Troy, and I was informed he was not in. Instead, I spoke with Dan (Inventory Manager). He explained that the 'insurance company' that handles PSP repairs would not cover the repairs because the damage didn't affect the functionality of the laptop. However, he also mentioned that eventually something like this could affect the laptop's functionality, and that the damage could probably be fixed to prevent a more costly repair later. He told me that I should call 1-866-BESTBUY and talk to Customer Care about having a second opinion done.

October 27/06 (Around 27th)
Called 1-866-BESTBUY. Was transferred to John, then Michael, then Robert. Finally spoke with an individual who gave me an incident case # (8273774) and also informed me that a store can pay for the cost of the repairs at their descretion.

November 14/06
Sent laptop out for repair for second time.

January 8/07
Picked up laptop 2nd time. Still unrepaired. Asked for a manager and waited about 15-20 minutes to talk to Elmir. He said he couldn't do anything because of how their insurance company handled claims, and the store had no control over what they did. I asked who I should talk to there, and he didn't have an answer. Finally, I told him that I had talked to Dan before, and he said Dan would be in the next day and that Dan was a more senior manager and he might be able to help.

January 9/07
Talked to Dan at the store again. He told me he would send an email to the Best Buy Customer Service about my laptop. Told me it would take about 24-36 hours. This was on a Wednesday, so I expected to hear from him on Friday. I did not hear back.

January 25/07
Called store #951. No answer at store. Called 1-866-BESTBUY and told customer service rep that I was not happy with my laptop being sent out for repair twice, and coming back unrepaired. I was then transferred to another customer serivce rep (Ashley). I told her of my situation, and she told me my computer was not going to be repaired because their PSP does not cover “Cosmetic Damage”. I told her that their service plan does say that they will cover manufacturer's defects as a result of normal usage, and I had a letter from a rep at Averatec indicating that cracks in the casing should not happen under normal usage. She said she would talk to the “Head of Notebook Dept”, Robert, and shortly after, she transferred me to talk to him. Robert was a nice English-sounding gentleman who began informing me of the usual “Cosmetic Damage” excuse, and I then informed him of my letter from Averatec stating that their laptops should not crack under normal usage. He asked if I could fax him a copy of the letter so he might discuss it with the store and possibly have (another) second opinion done.

Febuary 1/07
Having not heard back from Robert since the following week, I decided to follow up by calling 1-866-BESTBUY. After being transferred about again looking for Robert, I was finally put in touch with Christine, who informed me that Robert had “gone for the day”. I informed her of my situation, saying I had not heard back from Robert, and wanted a follow up as to what was happening. She told me that assured me that someone would absolutely get back to me in the next 24 hours. I said I would be happy if that was indeed the case. At this time, she had also updated my account with my home telephone number. She also gave me a case number (8717295).

(As of the next day, I did not hear back from anyone at Best Buy, either on my home phone, or my cell phone.)

Febuary 6/07
Having not heard back from anyone since the 2nd when I expected a reply, I tried calling again, and after being routed about again, I ended up talking to Marie. I again explained the situation thus far and she informed me that Robert had left for the day again. She also asked if I had had a second opinion done, and I said that it had been done, and the laptop was still unrepaired and back in my posession. At this point, she informed me that to speak with Robert, I would need to call between 8 and 4 pm (Ontario Time). She told me she would send a message to Robert regarding my situation, and that she would be off the next few days, so she would be relaying the information to him to handle. I said I would call back tommorow if my schedule allowed.

Febuary 8/07
Called 1-866-BESTBUY again, according to tech support, the call was 'logged'. I was put in touch with Emily. She informed me that Robert had called me that day (this is a blatant lie, since there was no phone calls either on my home phone, or my cell phone, and no messages left). She said I could get an estimate from an Averatec repair centre and they (BestBuy) would 'consider' repairing it. I was told that Robert had 'called' to tell me to “take the computer to the store for a second opinion” at which point I asked “again?” She asked if I had already taken it in, which I replied to in the affirmative. I then told her about my letter and she informed me that if it didn't declare explicitly that it was 'defective', then it didn't matter and it wouldn't be covered under the service plan (the same doublespeak I've been hearing from the start).

Febuary 23/07
Sent another e-mail to Averatec for clarification. (Never heard back.)

March 5/07
Brought laptop in a 3rd time. Ironically, there was another gentleman in front of me who was bringing his laptop in for a 4th time, and a guy came in after me bringing his in for a fifth time.

After waiting about half an hour, a sales rep named Brian helped me. I told him he might want to get a manager since this was my third go-around and I was tired of not getting it fixed since I first brought it in in October. A manager (a lady) came by and talked to Brian, who repeated what I told him to her. She said something to him, and left, not bothering to talk to me.

Brian signed my laptop in for service, and told me the would call me when it was ready and I could call him if I had any questions.

April 2/07
I received a call (from Wayne) about a week prior saying my laptop was back. I finally made it to the north end to pick it up. A tall, Michael Jordan-looking geek squad guy got it for me (he didn't have a nametag, so I will call him 'Joe'), and I discovered again it was unrepaired. 'Joe' indicated to me that since my warranty was expired, they didn't even look at it and sent it right back. This is when I told him, I knew the warranty was up, but back when this whole thing started, it was not expired, and that Best Buy just continued not fixing it and sending it back until the warranty expired. He said he understood I was mad, and that someone should have told me this in the first place, so he said he would get his manager.

He came back with his manager (Tejas), who I explained the problem to. How many times I had it in since October, how it never came back fixed, how I spoke to 1-866-BESTBUY and was told, twice, to bring it in for a “second opinion”. He informed me that there was nothing they could do because the warranty was expired, and pretty much left. I told the geek squad guy I wasn't happy, and that it was a manufacturer's defect and should be fixed, and I showed him my letter from Mike at Averatec. He read it, and said “I feel bad for you, man.” At this point he went again to get Tejas, who came back. I showed him the letter, which he barely looked at, and told him that the manufacturer considered this a defect, and according to the PSP, manufacturer's defects are covered. He said, no, it is cosmetic and not covered, and that the manufacturer told them it is not a defect. I told him I have a physical letter in my hand right here, so now we have conflicting information.

Then he switched gears and said since it doesn't affect the functionality of the computer, it is not covered. I told him that invariably it will, since that is where the ribbon cable for the screen is, and what happens when that breaks? I even showed him how applying force to close the lid causes strain on the case where the crack is. He proceeded to tell me that “I have a laptop sir, and they don't do that.” At this point, I was getting really angry at being talked down to, since the computer is in front of me, and anyone can see that a simple act of closing it places strain on the casing. Then he tells me that it “looks like a stress fracture” and I said, of course it's a stress fracture, from opening and closing it, which is a normal activity when using a computer. I told him it hasn't been dropped, or mishandled, so how does this happen then? He said probably from putting too much weight on it, or not being careful with it.

Of course, I read between the lines on that statement, which pretty much says to me that he is saying I'm lying about mishandling the computer, and it's my fault this happened. At this point, I'm completely frustrated, so I ask point-blank “Are you going to do anything about this?” To which he replies “no.” I've had enough, so I tell him to “sign it back to me, and I'm never going to shop here again...I don't have to shop here any more, ever.”

So Tejas says something to the geek squad guy and takes off, without so much as a “sorry”. The geek squad guy begins the process of signing back my computer, and I wait, stewing mad.

At this point, two ladies come behind the counter. Darcalee (whom I've spoken with before) and Juanita (I believe was her name, her nametag said 'Supervisor'). Darcalee was occupied with another customer, who seemed to know her, and Juanita was cleaning up the service desk, at which point I asked her what the name of the store manager was. She said it was Alisa. I said I wanted to speak to her, when would she be available? She said that maybe Darcalee could help if I hadn't already talked to her. I said I had talked to Darcalee and didn't get any help from her. I explained to Juanita my basic situation.

After listening to what I had to say, she explained various reasons why nothing was being done. It was now outside the warranty period, so the contracted company wouldn't want to deal with it. Understandable, but I was being screwed around since October. She indicated that 'cosmetic damage' was something of a gray area, and there was no way of knowing if I caused the damage (what happened to 'the customer is always right'?) She also explained that it was an older model (true enough) and finding parts could be difficult (understandable). In which case, it would be easier to give me a new one, but that would be a large cost, and since it was outside the warranty period, it was the store's discretion as to if I would get a replacement, since their budget would take the hit. So, she indicated that since this was the case, Alisa would be the person to talk to regarding this. But, she also said that if they did it for me, then they would have to do it for every customer (which, if you want to make customers happy, is not a bad idea, but obviously best buy is trying to drive customers away.)

Since it was the most help I've had from a manager at Best Buy so far, I said thanks, and said I would be back to talk to Alisa. At this point, 'Joe' said he would have to walk me to the front since they had 'signed my computer in under the wrong SKU' and therefore could not be signed out. He talked to Darcalee and asked if he should sign it back in and then out again, or just walk me to the front. She told him to simply walk me to the front. He walked me to the front, and as we were going, asked me if they were going to do anything. I told him I would have to talk to his store manager, and I also apologized for exploding at him earlier. He said it was alright and he understood since they were “giving me the run around” and that he “felt sorry” for me. I thanked him and left.

April 24, 2007
I finally called Elisa back after waiting 2 weeks for a reply (sadly, I've been preoccupied with a death in the family in the last week). When I called, she said "I asked my sales manager Darcalee to call you while I was on vacation." Well, believe me, I've had no calls. Which is fine, because in my past experience with Darcalee, I've had absolutely no help whatsoever, besides the fact that Darcalee, like most Best Buy managers I've talked to, is more than willing to let a customer leave the store unhappy.

But all that aside, I asked Elisa if she had a solution for me. She gave me the same old tired story: namely that their 'technicians' claimed the damage to my laptop was 'cosmetic' and this was not covered by warranty, and besides my warranty was expired. To her credit, she said that since I had brought it in before my warranty expired, they might be able to do the repair, but there was still the problem of it not being covered under the PSP.

So I asked "If the manufacturer would repair the computer under their warranty, would it then be covered under the PSP?" Elisa indicated that if I could get a definitive answer from Averatec or an Averatec service centre that this was the case, then perhaps she could look into having it repaired under the PSP.

So, that night I sent an e-mail to Averatec asking exactly that.