8/31/2010

Best Buy

First of all, let me start by saying that I could spend hours in Best Buy and love the "Big Boys Toys" there. This is a minor concern about the service process they have not a rag about the overall store. In February of this year, Barb bought me a 40 Inch LCD Samsung TV because of the terrible picture I had on the old TV. My son Dave absolutely required us to buy a service plan that extended the warranty out 4 years. Anything that expensive and that new had to be covered with some kind of warranty.

Well, a couple of weeks ago the darn thing just wouldn't turn on and provide a picture. I called the Geek Squad Representative (GSR) and he scheduled an appointment. It took them 2 weeks to fit me into the rotation. Yesterday the guy showed up and did his little diagnostic routine. Yep, needs parts and that will take another week. Why didn't he come out right away and see what was wrong and then the time it would take to get the parts would be in the normal waiting period. It took him about 20 minutes to find out what was wrong and it was the second test he performed. He said that Samsung even had a service bulletin out on the matter. There is a board that all the inputs are connected to and it is dead.

My point is that if the service man doesn't carry any repair parts, why not have him diagnose the problem early and make the customer's wait be a part of the shipping time for the parts. I think that three weeks to wait after paying an extra couple of hundred dollars is just too long.

By the same token, I stopped by to schedule an alignment for the Chevy Truck and was told that I would have to wait a week to get a time on the schedule. Dang good thing that my time isn't very valuable right now or I would be really angry. Oh well, life goes on...

MUD

1 comment:

  1. Hey MUD!

    TV service has really changed. I grew up in the TV & Appliance business, and worked in it until I was 30 years old.

    Back in those days we kept parts in stock...especially if there was some type of known issue on a particular model or brand, we'd make sure to stock the offending part, knowing that we'd likely need it.

    But, business has changed. Especially with these major retailers that count every penny. Their systems just don't allow for spending one nickel for stock until absolutely necessary. It's efficient on the revenue side, but it can sure be aggravating on the consumer's end.

    Oh well...that was a different time. One week is not too long for a repair, but weeks is WAY too long to wait for a diagnosis.

    Oh well...that was a different time. Most of their customers aren't old enough to remember what good service is.

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