Best Buy
Magnolia Home Theater Poor Service

I ordered a very expensive Best Buy Magnolia home theatre set up, including speakers, Denon receiver, DVD player, Harmony universal controller, etc. The system was installed nicely. However, there was a problem with the Denon receiver that prevented the picture from appearing, although for a time I could get it to work by using the Harmony de-bugging routines. I had the Best Buy technicians out to look at it several times over the space of a year, and they tried changing cables and generally fooling with it. The receiver always made peculiar clicking noises when it was struggling, and finally towards the end of the 1-year labor warranty period one of the technicians told me the problem was with the receiver and that they would switch out the receivers to conclusively test the problem.

However, management at the Best Buy at Blanco Rd. Nixed this idea. When I protested to the store manager that their failure to fix the problem was a breach of warranty, he told me they would not talk to me anymore and told me to go talk to their lawyers at headquarters. The operator there would not connect me, despite a polite inquiry. Before I could get the matter resolved my installation warranty expired.By then the system would not give me any picture at all.

Fortunately I learned that the 2 year Denon warranty was still in place. Local Best Buy refused to send someone to pull the receiver (the cabling back there is quite complex and not a job for amateurs) and told me to bring it in myself. I did so, Denon fixed the receiver, I managed to get it re-installed and everything has worked fine since.

My problem with Best Buy is that they would not finish fixing a problem that they had failed to fix during the installation warranty. Their local management was aggressive and uncooperative and the service guys, while pleasant, did not know their business or (probably) were instructed to avoid pulling equipment they knew was defective (one guy, when I told him my problem over the phone without identifying the brand of the receiver, said "is it a Denon?").

For SA townies, FYI I now use Bjorns. Their guys have taken care of my system very nicely ever since.in my opinion, Best Buy is only good as a place for buying boxes and praying.

Company: Best Buy
Country: USA
State: Texas
City: San Antonio
Address: Blanco Rd. At Hwy 410

  <     >