This is kind of a long story, but so full of dumbassery I thought it worth sharing.
My friend K purchased one of those terrible Best Buy Black Tie plans when she bought her aluminum MacBook a year and a half ago. They sold her on the ease of getting her computer repaired or replaced should anything happen to it. They made it seem like they'd kiss her feet and repair her machine while serving her mimosas and hot towels. She bit on the $400 (!) plan and took her computer home. Unfortunately, I wasn't around to dissuade her from being ripped off. She bought the MacBook on clearance for $899, so her total was somewhere around $1300.
Fast forward to about a month ago. K's brother accidentally dropped her MacBook and dented it pretty badly to the point where it wouldn't close properly. Remembering she had the BBBTP plan, she brought her MacBook in. This is where the shenanigans began. First they told her they'd have to diagnose it and would call her with her options and an update, and that it could take up to two weeks. Of course that is ridiculous, but she had no choice but to go home and wait. Almost a MONTH passes before she finally calls them (so you can see she was being quite patient). They look up her case in the system, and see that she was granted a replacement more than a week earlier, but no one ever called her. The BB employee glossed over their lapse by being all excited that she would get a new computer.
She was a little upset by this point, mostly because she was forced to use a laptop belonging to Joan of Arc in the interim, and asked me to go with her so she wouldn't get screwed.
We arrived at Best Buy and went to the Geek Squad counter. The guy looked up her case and gave her a receipt with the information for her "junk out" on it, and explained that the computer guys would help her pick out a comparable SKU. We gave the receipt to two computer guys and told them what happened. They conferred for a moment and tell K she can get the white MacBook and that she'd be responsible for the extra cost. Precisely why these plans are a total rip. She didn't want the white/plastic MB, she wanted the 13" aluminum like she had, so we asked what our options were - if we could either get our money back, or perhaps get a pricematch from Microcenter on the 13" MBP and pay the difference. She was totally fine with putting in extra money, just not for the plastic one. I should also say at this point, we were both completely pleasant, just asking questions, etc.
One of the salesman talked to us like we were morons, telling us she could only get the white MB, she'd have to pay, and that we didn't understand "comparable SKU." He told us the pricematch "wasn't going to happen," and flat out told us he wouldn't do it. In short, he was a total jerk. Finally after we firmly explained that his refusal to pricematch made zero sense, and also didn't fit with BB's policies, he told his colleague that he could "handle the situation." He was clearly one of those salespeople hell bent on saying no, and he had a nasty attitude before we even said a word. Really fun, and great service.
The other guy was understanding, and after explaining to him that it seemed lame that she would be forced to pay extra just to get a computer again (one she didn't want), when they always promote the stupid plan as fixing or replacing your computer within the cost of the plan. He agreed to pricematch Microcenter on the 13" MBP, K agreed to pay the difference, and we proceeded with the transaction. Simple enough.
I went to check out video games while K paid, and as we're walking out, I notice the MBP box in the bag has a "open-box item" sticker on it. Yup. They charged us the price of a brand new, price-matched 13" MBP and gave us a returned, open-box item. We went back to the counter and showed the Geek Squad guy what happened. He makes a call and finds out that the original computer guy sold us an open-box version because that's all they had in the store. They were out of stock of new 13" base MBPs. Okay, but why would you neglect to tell us that fact when we're paying the price for a new one? Isn't that something anyone would like to be aware of before purchasing? Argh.
I admit I was fuming by this point, but I just wanted to get my friend her computer and get the hell out of there. We agreed to do a purchase and pick-up at another Best Buy a couple of miles away. They promised us we could just hand the In-Store pick up counter the paper, and we'd be out and on our way.
So we got in the car, jokingly wondered how Best Buy stays in business, and hit the other BB. Handed them the paper, and sure enough, they hand us a brand new 13" MBP. Finally, for god's sake!
We take the computer home, K sets it up, I help her do a Time Machine restore, and all seems well. Then I check the specs out of habit on "about this mac" and find out she got the 2.66Ghz/320GB version, not the base model. Wow, morons! So I tell her she got a free upgrade, and we're happy - until we realize we have no receipt at all for this computer. All the documentation, none of which has serial numbers (wha?), lists the 2.4/250GB/4GB model. Naturally, when registering, Apple wouldn't let us pick that day's date as the date of purchase. It said we could send in documentation proving the date of purchase - which now we didn't have. Ugh.
I told K we'd make an appointment and see if Apple could help us sort it out without forcing us to erase everything on the new computer and go back for a swap out and proper receipt. As I was about to make the appointment a little while ago, I noticed her computer is now showing it's registered at the warranty began November 10, 2010.
The downside: she loses 2 months of warranty for no reason at all except Best Buy stupidity. The upside: she gets a free upgrade, and we don't have to go back in there and deal with those morons ever again.
You know what they asked us at the first BB store after realizing they'd sold us an open-box unit without telling us? "Would you like to purchase the Black Tie plan again?"
Unbelievable. And if you got to the end of this, I applaud you.
My friend K purchased one of those terrible Best Buy Black Tie plans when she bought her aluminum MacBook a year and a half ago. They sold her on the ease of getting her computer repaired or replaced should anything happen to it. They made it seem like they'd kiss her feet and repair her machine while serving her mimosas and hot towels. She bit on the $400 (!) plan and took her computer home. Unfortunately, I wasn't around to dissuade her from being ripped off. She bought the MacBook on clearance for $899, so her total was somewhere around $1300.
Fast forward to about a month ago. K's brother accidentally dropped her MacBook and dented it pretty badly to the point where it wouldn't close properly. Remembering she had the BBBTP plan, she brought her MacBook in. This is where the shenanigans began. First they told her they'd have to diagnose it and would call her with her options and an update, and that it could take up to two weeks. Of course that is ridiculous, but she had no choice but to go home and wait. Almost a MONTH passes before she finally calls them (so you can see she was being quite patient). They look up her case in the system, and see that she was granted a replacement more than a week earlier, but no one ever called her. The BB employee glossed over their lapse by being all excited that she would get a new computer.
She was a little upset by this point, mostly because she was forced to use a laptop belonging to Joan of Arc in the interim, and asked me to go with her so she wouldn't get screwed.
We arrived at Best Buy and went to the Geek Squad counter. The guy looked up her case and gave her a receipt with the information for her "junk out" on it, and explained that the computer guys would help her pick out a comparable SKU. We gave the receipt to two computer guys and told them what happened. They conferred for a moment and tell K she can get the white MacBook and that she'd be responsible for the extra cost. Precisely why these plans are a total rip. She didn't want the white/plastic MB, she wanted the 13" aluminum like she had, so we asked what our options were - if we could either get our money back, or perhaps get a pricematch from Microcenter on the 13" MBP and pay the difference. She was totally fine with putting in extra money, just not for the plastic one. I should also say at this point, we were both completely pleasant, just asking questions, etc.
One of the salesman talked to us like we were morons, telling us she could only get the white MB, she'd have to pay, and that we didn't understand "comparable SKU." He told us the pricematch "wasn't going to happen," and flat out told us he wouldn't do it. In short, he was a total jerk. Finally after we firmly explained that his refusal to pricematch made zero sense, and also didn't fit with BB's policies, he told his colleague that he could "handle the situation." He was clearly one of those salespeople hell bent on saying no, and he had a nasty attitude before we even said a word. Really fun, and great service.
The other guy was understanding, and after explaining to him that it seemed lame that she would be forced to pay extra just to get a computer again (one she didn't want), when they always promote the stupid plan as fixing or replacing your computer within the cost of the plan. He agreed to pricematch Microcenter on the 13" MBP, K agreed to pay the difference, and we proceeded with the transaction. Simple enough.
I went to check out video games while K paid, and as we're walking out, I notice the MBP box in the bag has a "open-box item" sticker on it. Yup. They charged us the price of a brand new, price-matched 13" MBP and gave us a returned, open-box item. We went back to the counter and showed the Geek Squad guy what happened. He makes a call and finds out that the original computer guy sold us an open-box version because that's all they had in the store. They were out of stock of new 13" base MBPs. Okay, but why would you neglect to tell us that fact when we're paying the price for a new one? Isn't that something anyone would like to be aware of before purchasing? Argh.
I admit I was fuming by this point, but I just wanted to get my friend her computer and get the hell out of there. We agreed to do a purchase and pick-up at another Best Buy a couple of miles away. They promised us we could just hand the In-Store pick up counter the paper, and we'd be out and on our way.
So we got in the car, jokingly wondered how Best Buy stays in business, and hit the other BB. Handed them the paper, and sure enough, they hand us a brand new 13" MBP. Finally, for god's sake!
We take the computer home, K sets it up, I help her do a Time Machine restore, and all seems well. Then I check the specs out of habit on "about this mac" and find out she got the 2.66Ghz/320GB version, not the base model. Wow, morons! So I tell her she got a free upgrade, and we're happy - until we realize we have no receipt at all for this computer. All the documentation, none of which has serial numbers (wha?), lists the 2.4/250GB/4GB model. Naturally, when registering, Apple wouldn't let us pick that day's date as the date of purchase. It said we could send in documentation proving the date of purchase - which now we didn't have. Ugh.
I told K we'd make an appointment and see if Apple could help us sort it out without forcing us to erase everything on the new computer and go back for a swap out and proper receipt. As I was about to make the appointment a little while ago, I noticed her computer is now showing it's registered at the warranty began November 10, 2010.
The downside: she loses 2 months of warranty for no reason at all except Best Buy stupidity. The upside: she gets a free upgrade, and we don't have to go back in there and deal with those morons ever again.
You know what they asked us at the first BB store after realizing they'd sold us an open-box unit without telling us? "Would you like to purchase the Black Tie plan again?"
Unbelievable. And if you got to the end of this, I applaud you.
