On 9/2/08, one year and two months after purchase from Best Buy, our 47" LCD Westinghouse just shut down. I called Westinghouse for troubleshooting assistance. The service representative was friendly and helpful but was unable to help me and informed me we would need a technician to fix it. The t.V. Was out of warranty but we had also purchased a four year warranty so I called 1-888-Best-Buy, the number on our warranty papers, for a service call. Best Buy informed me a tech would come out on 9/16/08. My husband called Best Buy after hearing it would be two weeks before they could come and managed to get them to schedule it for 9/9/08.
A tech arrived on 9/9/08 took the t.V. Apart and after inspection informed me he needed to order A power supply.
We received an automated message from Best Buy on our answering machine 9/12/08 that the part was in and they would be calling us to schedule an appointment. My husband called Best Buy 9/15/08 to inform them that we received that message but noone has yet to call us. Best Buy informed him that the tech had ordered three parts and only one part had come in and the other two were on back-order. He expressed to Best Buy his frustration and that he felt we were getting the "run-around" only to hear "we're sorry but that's all we can do.
9/19/08 we received another automated message from Best Buy that informed us our parts were on "back-order". I called 1-888-Best-Buy to find out what parts were on "back-order". The customer service rep i spoke with tried to be understanding and helpful but when asked about what parts were on back order she said she didn't know and that she just had part numbers. I told her that part numbers would be great but she then had to get approval from her supervisor before giving me those numbers.
I was able to get the part numbers so I called Westinghouse to investigate the "back-ordered" parts. The customer service representative was able to check on those parts and informed me both parts were in-stock and ship within 4-6 days. She also gave me the number to the actual distributor to verify this information.in order to cover my butt before calling Best Buy I called the distributor who also informed me that those parts were in-stock and ship within 4-6 days.
Now with my investigation over I called Best Buy to inform them of my results. The "Customer Care" representative did not care that parts were available and continued to repeat over and over and over that his system shows they are on "back-order". I tried to explain that parts are available but he continued to repeat himself and then added that the expected arrival is October 21st!!! At this point I asked to speak with a supervisor. I was transferred to Ricky #205361. Ricky #205361 was rude and just didn't care at all. He was no more helpful than the first rep i spoke with. At one point he told me to order the parts and pay for them and that they would reimburse me. I asked Ricky #205361 to speak with his supervisor, he informed me that I could not speak to anyone higher then him. I said "Okay so your "The Man"? So why am I able to get parts but you, "The Man", can't? He informed me that Best Buy may get parts from somewhere else. I asked him for the phone number Best Buy calls for parts. He said he didn't have that number so I asked him "How do you get parts then?" He informed me he called Best Buy parts so I asked for that number but once again he did not have it. We went around in circles like this for over 15 minutes to no avail.
So it's now been 18 days and our $2,000 47" LCD t.V. Sits on the floor with a blanket draped over it. I plan to tell this story over and over to anyone willing to listen. Now I've got to get ready because my husband and I are on our way to Best Buy, not to shop, no never ever again, but to be able to complain to someone who doesn't have the protection of sitting behind a cubicle and not having to face disgruntled customers.
I think Best Buy should change the department name from "customer care" to "customer DON'T care"
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