Thursday, July 24th: I took my laptop into Best Buy to have them work on it... After all, they sold it to me. Told them to put Windows Vista back on it, and to install Windows XP on it as well to run both of them. They say it's no problem and it will be done within 3-4 business days.
Saturday, July 26th: Get a call from Best Buy saying that the primary hard drive is bad (duh! I told them that to begin with), and that they would have to send it back to HP to get a new one because they didn't have any in stock to put in my laptop. (Good thing is I have two 160GB hard drives...) I told them to wipe my secondary and install it onto that hard drive.
Wednesday, July 30th: Called Best Buy: they're still working on it
Friday, July 31st: Called Best Buy again. They say that they were able to start installing XP on it. The verdict: I'll have it by Saturday night.
Saturday, August 1st: Called Best Buy to check on the status. "We are having an install error on your laptop. It appears that your hard drive is bad. We need to send it to our service center in Kentucky to have them work on it. It will be about another two or three weeks". I called HP about it. They said if it was sent to them, they'd have it fixed within 4 DAYS! Told Best Buy that, and they said that they won't ship it to HP directly. I ask if I can talk to a manager. They pass the phone to some random person (don't know if he was the manager or not) and we talked about my situation. You see, the thing is - that laptop isn't for personal use. It is used for three separate businesses. One for Photography to pull images of the card in a shoot, one for Website Development, and one for Business Marketing. It doesn't end well now that I don't have a laptop for a week - I've already lost over 450$ in revenue just from this week alone. This does not include the fact that I have to cancel one website development meeting for tomorrow afternoon, and I have to cancel a marketing strategy meeting for Monday. I called Best Buy a total of 7 or 8 times today so far. They told me that they are just now going to put a larger hard drive in the laptop (and that's going to make me feel better... How!?) and that they can have it running by tomorrow at 11am. I have church service tomorrow at 11am. I need my laptop for service. What the hell is wrong with these people. The guy practically hung up on me... Told me that's how it was going to happen and that he's not going to do anything else. I'm pissed at him... Just because of him being rude to begin with... The younger guy did everything he could do to help me. (After being told that they were going to look at getting me a laptop for the time being while I didn't have a computer, I was told that Chris was going to call me back because he had to take care of some other things before he could look for a replacement for me). I have spent well over $3000 there this year alone between computer equipment, a laptop, photo equipment, keyboards, printers, hard drives, flash drives, memory cards, flash accessories, video games, and sound system equipment for my truck. I think I could be at least be taken care of promptly... Right?
Sunday, August 2nd: So, I was expecting a call from Best Buy today about my laptop at exactly 11AM when they opened (that's what the tech told me last night right before they closed). They claim that they called me at 12PM today (Sunday), but my phone record shows that they never called me {go figure, ya know? }. I called them at 12:03pm... Since I didn't recieve a call like I was supposed to, and asked what the hell was going on (I was quite civil on the phone, mind you). They told me that they couldn't fix it and they had to ship it out to their service center. I told them that I would be there in ten minutes to sort things out. When I got there, I walked over to the computer section and looked around because they told me that one thing I could do would be to pick out a laptop to get for the time that my laptop is in for service. I asked one of the guys in the computer section what I could do and explained my situation to Roman (spelling?) and Justin, and they not only understood what my situation was, but they made assured me that they were going to do whatever they could for me. They recommended that I talk to the head of the Geek Squad, or something like that, and we stood in the corner as I explained the situation yet again. He let me speak and then proceeded to tell me what was wrong with the laptop. I already knew what was wrong with the laptop before I sent it in to them, and he told me exactly what I told the tech that took my laptop and checked it in to begin with. I asked why we were having an issue with getting it fixed and he told me that it wasn't the hard drives, but was possible related to the motherboard, as they could not even see the drives. That can be resolved with the correct drivers from HP, but I was not able to load them with the startup of the computer when trying to install it myself. I then asked him why we couldn't just send it to HP and he told me that if they sent it to the Best Buy service center it would take from two to three weeks to get it back. He then proceeded to tell me that if I sent it to HP, I wouldn't get it back for over four weeks. I have to laugh at the inaccuracy of the statement that he made. I had just talked to Cassandra at HP's customer return center on Saturday and she told me that HP could have it fixed and returned to me between three and five days flat, all fixed. I asked the GS tech and he told me that there was no way for them to ship it to HP for me to get it fixed. I would assume that customer service would be of the utmost importance to Best Buy. I asked him what we could do, as I am losing business because of the lack of a laptop, and if it were possible to just have them replace the laptop as it appears that there are much larger issues with the laptop that we thought. He told me that they would not replace the laptop for any reason, but would rather send it out to their service center to possibly be told that the laptop is inoperable. He told me that I would have to purchase yet another laptop for the time being and that I would be able to return it when done. I asked him why he wouldn't just let me take a laptop out on loan until they have mine fixed, and he told me that it isn't "the policy." After giving up on the prospect of talking to to him and getting anything accomplished, I went back to the computer section to pick out a laptop. I settled on a 17" economy class notebook for the next few weeks. We got the laptop down from the shelf and went to the desk to check out with it. When we got up there and started to check out with the laptop, the guy I spoke with initially came and told me that I wasn't allowed to buy the Compaq that I picked out and that I had to buy an open box item that was on the display. (a bit unreasonable. I'd have to say. Wait, VERY UNREASONABLE.) I then was told that they would get one for me and get me taken care of, I took a seat and waited. Five minutes came and went. Soon fifteen. Thirty minutes passed and then it got to 45 MINUTES WITHOUT SERVICE. At this point I am absolutely furious at the lack of customer service. Actually, I've recieved none except by a few people, and they did their very best. At this time, I decided to get up and find someone that could help me. At this time it is about 1:40pm... And I've already been at the store for an hour and a half. When walking back to the computer section, I found Justin again and he asked if they took care of me. I told him no, they hadn't taken care of me, and he got visibly upset about the lack of customer service and went to find someone who could take care of everything promptly. I thanked him and he came back with a gal that asked me a few questions and we went to find one that would work for me. I do not remember her name (want to say Christine. Or something like that) helped me to find one that would work and we finally got things sorted out as far as what laptop I could use for the time being. We went to the front desk and tried to check out. When we were finished, Chris from the Geek Squad came over and told me the whole schpeel about how they were going to check the laptop and get it up and running and he told me that it would be yet ANOTHER four hours till I could even pick up the laptop. At this point I am furious at his arrogance toward me the customer and told me that he had to do it and I couldn't take it home with me that moment. Due to my inordinately high blood pressure, I hardly made the half hour drive back to my house and literally colapsed on the couch. I woke three hours later (5:30pm) and left for Best Buy. I arrived at 6pm, and had to wait in line. I asked Chris if I could pick up my new temporary laptop, and he (very rudely, mind you) told me that I would have to be a reciept of the purchase printed before he would help me. I then got a print of the receipt made and went back into the line. I waited ANOTHER fifteen minutes without service... And got upset and walked around the store. I ran into Justin again and explained what was happening and we spoke about the new hardware Best Buy had, and waited for someone to get me the laptop. Soon following my conversation with him, I received my laptop (took all of fifteen seconds to check it out) and was on my way. The laptop I received is not close to comparable to the one they have, as it won't run my graphics programs near efficient enough for me as well as a multitude of other programs.
Tuesday, August 12th: I received a phone call stating that they were sending back the laptop to my local Best Buy store and wanted to update me on the progress. THIS is the FIRST time anyone from Best Buy has called me in regards to this issue. At this point, I have been trying to get a hold of Customer Service via the phone system that Best Buy has in place and finally get through, only to be told that they won't do anything about it because the laptop is "fixed." I told him that computers, by nature, are typically going to fail. This is the fourth time I've sent my laptop in for repairs, and the first time to send it to Best Buy. Now I know why nobody that I know sends equipment to Best Buy for any reason. Due to not having a sufficient laptop to perform my business as usual (web design, professional photography and marketing relations), I have lost a total of $965.00 of revenue in the past three weeks that I have not had a notebook PC. I have spent 200$ having it troubleshot by local computer techs and another $129.00 by Best Buy to reinstall Vista an install Windows XP along with it in a dual-boot configuration. My total net loss: $1294.00. My laptop cost me roughly $1500.00. What is the point of having a laptop that will continually cause issues. See article: http://www.wral.com/5onyourside/story/3361542/. Cameron, the CR Rep for Best Buy, said that he wouldn't do anything for me, and that all he could do is offer a 100$ gift card to Best Buy. I feel that that is insufficient for the trouble that I have been put through, the time that I have waited for service, and the EXTREMELY rude customer service, or lack there of, that I received. If I have to elevate this issue, then that is exactly what I will do, as it seems that nobody can offer me a solution to the issues I've had. I am an extremely unsatisfied customer that has spent well over $3000.00 this year alone and spends an average of $5000.00 each year with Best Buy, and normally receives top of the line service when I am in the store.
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