We bought a laptop in 2005 with a 3 year, $500 extended warranty. Shortly after buying the computer we began having problems. The screen would get static lines in it. We took it back to best buy and they sent it in for repairs and tell me it would be two weeks for repairs to be done. Almost two months later we got the laptop back and the problem was not fixed. It was even worse. The computer would not boot up most of the time and we got the blue screen of death. So we took it back again. They kept the computer for another 6 weeks. The computer seem to work ok when we got it back this time. (after keeping our new computer for 3 months).
A short time after that the volume knob on the front of the computer started working loose and finally fell off inside the computer. Not needing an external volume control I let it go. I was not going to take the computer back and have best buy keep the computer for another 3 months. The computer continued to operate perfectly. I used the software volume control instead..
The computer worked fine up until a few months ago.
Two months ago the USB ports started failing on the computer and slowly the computer started shutting off. I took it to best buy and the clerk verified what I thought was happening. The fan had stopped working and it was overheating the mother board. So we sent it in for repairs. I get a call from the geek squad saying that the computer had "liquid damage".
I have NEVER spilled anything on the computer EVER! They want $1459.22 to repair my computer. I did a search on best buy and liquid damage and found a pattern of deceit and fraud. Best buy claiming liquid damage when there was none. Hundreds of hits on Google. I understand how this works. There is a strip of material under the keyboard which indicates whether it became wet. Over a 3 year period these strips can turn pink from humidity alone. I contacted corporate and got the same answer from anyone. With people getting ruder and ruder as I went up the chain. I can't believe they are getting away with ripping off consumers. I am almost sure that they did not even remove the keyboard from the laptop because if they did they would have seen that there is no liquid damage. The keyboard works fine.
The last person "Hayland" said I had two options. Pay the money or get a prorated refund of my warranty. The way I see it I have a third option. I will put together a class action lawsuit with the other people that have been defrauded by Best Buy company. If you do research there is evidence that this is happening on a regular basis. I have been a regular reward zone customer of best buy for years. If Hayland thinks he is just going to lose one customer over this he is wrong. He will lose thousands.
I took my computer to a guy that repairs them and he verified that there was no liquid damage. Not a drop! And the volume know would not affect anything else on the mother board. My guess is the volume knob was damaged by the geek squad techs in the 3 months they had my computer.
In these times I can't afford $1459 to fix a $1000 computer. And to be ripped off by best buy is not only unethical, it could be illegal. If I don't get some resolution to this we will have to let the courts and the media decide. There is definitely a pattern of fraud.
When I picked up my computer last week one employee just shook his head and said this happens all of the time. It is a real shame that they can do this to people.
Thanks for taking the time to read my rant.
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