Best Buy
Consumer Report

I purchased a mini-DV camcorder (Panasonic GS90, $280) and an extended warranty ($90).

The record button stopped working so I went to see the Geek Squad. It played back tapes perfectly. The only issue was that the record button wasn’t making contact. Since it was under warranty they mailed it off to get fixed.

Rather than fix it, they approved it for exchange.

I was not given any choice in which camcorder to exchange it for. I don’t think the bottom-of-the-line $100 camcorder they tried to give me is the equivalent of my $280 camcorder. For example, mine had a 42x optical zoom. The unit they tried to give me had 4x zoom.

In addition, I need my old camcorder back to play the countless hours of video tapes of my children taken over the past three years. I was told there was no way for them to return it to me. Without that camcorder those tapes are worthless.

Monetary damages? They're trying to replace a $280 camcorder with a $100 bottom-of-the-line camcorder. A camcorder so cheap that they don't even have one on display.

But, what's the value of nearly 50 hours of memories of my young children? $1,000 an hour? $10,000 an hour? Priceless?

Company: Best Buy
Country: USA

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