The Consumer Complaints Blog

I live in suburban Chicago; where unfortunately we have a Best Buy (WORST BUY) store in almost every suburb around, which makes it difficult to ignore them. So when few weeks ago I got the Best Buy Sunday advert marketing a Compaq Presario Laptop for $399.00, I thought that would make a great Christmas gift for my 10 year old, that way he has his own and will leave mine alone. He can practice speed typing, do his homework, e-mail his grand parents, and with the right parental control settings, he can search the Web for school assignments, even download games and cheats for his WII, PSP games.

Well they didn’t have that item in stock that Sunday or any another day since! Even when the price increased to $449.00 they continued to advertise the same item, but none in stock to be had in their stores or on thier site

Then this week they had another good deal, or so I thought, this time it was for an HP G60 for $499.00, a good deal for what the Laptop offered, except this time they sent me on a wild goose chase, I drove from the Woodridge store to the Lombard store on to the Orland Park store and finally ended up at the Joliet store, and every time I’m told the item is out of stock although I made sure the previous store called ahead and talked live to someone in the Computer Dept. to make sure the Laptop is in stock and to hold one under my name.

Well let me just say that “BEST BUY PERSONEL INCLUDING STORE MANAGERS ARE A BUNCH OF MENDACIOUS AND BUNGLING FOOLS” from the folks in the Woodridge computer department to the idiots at Lombard and Orland Park stores (Brian was helpful but clueless), to Ian (Manger) and Stephanie (Computer Dept.) at the Juliet store whose Customer Service skills are severally lacking. All were oblivious to the features and specification of the goods they are selling, (which by the way is printed on the side of the manufacturer’s packaging), they had no idea what they have in stock, and as far as I’m concerned the Best Buy Computerized Inventory System can’t keep track of the fingers on one hand, which makes me speculate on how many millions is Best Buy losing in misplaced inventory?

At the end of the day I drove over 100 miles, after which I decided “I’m the bigger fool” for giving them another shot at my business, LESSON LEARNED.

The sad thing is, in this economy where fewer retailers in the field, will only encourage a sub par vendor such as Best Buy (WORST BUY) to further mistreat and take advantage of the consumer.

SO BEST BUY … EITHER CRAFT A DISCLAIMER SUCH AS “THE COMSUMER WILL BE DEALING WITH YOU AT THEIR OWN RISK, TIME AND MONEY ” OR BETTER STILL DO US, THE COMSUMER, A FAVOR AND GET OUT OF THE RETAIL BUSINESS ALL TOGETHER FOR GOOD?

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

My Kenmore fridge (model no. 10652602100) was purchased in 2002. It has a ten year warranty on it. It stopped working on Dec 21, 2008. My wife contacted Sears and they said their technicians were all booked up before Christmas. So my wife called a local appliance store to get a technician to take a look at it, hoping that it was something small that he could fix. The technician diagnosed that the compressor was dead and needed to be replaced. I called Sears on Dec 26, 2008 (it was a Saturday) about the fridge and indicated the compressor needed to be replaced and the operator told me that a technician would contact me on Monday about the costs of replacing the compressor and he would come to fix the fridge on Tuesday around noon. I left the operator my home phone number and cellular phone number. I received no phone call on Monday and Tuesday morning.

I called Sears at 1:30 PM Tuesday and asked if the technician would ever come that day as I did not hear from the technician at all. She said she would get the technician to call me in 30 minutes. One hour had passed and I got no call from the technician. I stepped out to get some groceries at around 2:30 PM, thinking that the technician could contact me on my cell phone number when he can come. After I got home, I got a phone message left by the technician at 2:45, saying that he called but nobody was home and I needed to reschedule the appointment. So I rescheduled the appointment for the next day. Again I was not given a specific time window that the technician could come and I waited at home for him (3 days in a row. That was how I spent my holidays). At around 1:00 pm, the technician called and he said he did not have the compressor and he had to order it and the cost to replace the compressor was $400. I thought to myself why should I spend $400 for such bad service. I called the same local appliance store for a quote for replacing the compressor and they said they charged $250.

I called Sears and told them I did not like their service and they charged a lot for replacing the compressor. I said since the compressor was still under warranty, I would like to have it and get somebody to put it on my fridge and return the defective compressor to them after. Then they said that that was not how the warranty worked and they needed to do the work themselves. If I just wanted to have just the compressor alone, I had to pay $260.

If I add $260 and the cost of extended warranty together, it is around $400.00. That means, I am paying for the part (and labour) myself!!! The extended warranty is useless. This is how Sears does their business.

My in-laws also have a Kenmore fridge. They had the compressor replaced within 5 years of purchase. I also searched the web for Kenmore fridge problems. I found that they had a lot of compressor problems. This will tell you about the quality of the Kenmore fridges.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.