2 Month Old Hewlett Packard HD 42" Plasma stopped working! How can I get Best Buy to speed up their service?!

Question

We purchased this tv on the 1st of September, and a week ago my daughter turned it off manually (as opposed to using the remote) and it never turned back on again. The screen won't come on at all. We bought the full 3 year warranty ($300!) and yet Best Buy can't get anyone here to look at it until Nov. 10th!! It took them 5 days (3 "business days" plus a weekend) to even find a service tech who works on HP's, and that company is in another state! (We are in Idaho, the company is in Oregon.)

Best Buy is not working hard enough to appease us and I'm wondering if I have any recourse or is there any way to make them satisfy me? I'm so angry that we've only had this $1800 television for 2 months and it's already down! What a piece of crap! And I doubt I will EVER purchase anything from Best Buy again!!!

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I have spent many years in store and regional management of consumer electronics companies. When I worked at store level, I dealt with service issues daily. If you truly want to speed things along follow my advice below.

First, if you are yelling at the store, STOP yelling at the store. They are able to help you but, who wants to help someone that's difficult to deal with. If you are not yelling, then you are already one step ahead! Either way, I understand you're frustrated and pissed. Now it's time to get over it and get the TV fixed.

Second, make sure you have all of your purchase information in order (such as receipts). Manufacturers are sticklers about this.

Third item, If possible, try to talk to just one person at either Best Buy or the service center. Document every conversation. Ask when you can expect an answer, a call back, the parts to be in, the tech to arrive, etc. If they don't keep to their word, call them back within 60 minutes of the promised time and ask them for the name of their Manager and his/her phone number. That usually straightens out slackers.

Fourth, making demands (such as "I'll never shop there again") will definitely disappoint the retailer but, since you're now on such good speaking terms after following my first point, why not ask for a favor that benefits you instead? Ask the retailer if the servicing is going to take longer than 14 days if you can get a loaner TV. They may require a deposit with a credit card but, it's better than nothing. I regularly did loaners by using my open box inventory and didn't charge any re-stocking fees as long as the loaner was returned in the same condition as when it left.

Last item, and this is the hard one to understand item for many folks but, trust me when I say it works. Open your owners manual (or go online to HP's website) and get the 1-800 customer service number. Call them and tell them everything that you are going through with the local retailer. Ask them what they are going to do to step up and take care of their customer. I know what you are thinking - "No way, that should be done by Best Buy, why should I have to contact HP?!!" Trust me when I say that hitting a manufacturer from both sides (customer and retailer) to get a TV fixed works amazingly well. When a retailer calls and asks for parts to be overnighted or to get a product swapped out, it's easy for the manufacturer to say NO to the retailer. BUT, when a customer calls they suddenly soften up and you can often get a few concessions like overnight parts shipment, priority servicing, loaners, etc.

I hope this helps, best of luck to you.

Answer 2

Best buy is the worst. They tried to cheat me out of $100 on a computer purchase. I cought it and they wouldn't even admit to having the price posted in the store, like I was beholden to them or something. I took it back the next day for a full refund,, un opened so no restiock fee- haha, and went to circiut city, they were and are great. As far as this problem goes,, the only thing that will speed them up is a court date in small claims court. Le the tech get a shot at it,, if he can't fix it in a reasonable time,, file a suit,, that will be reported to the top, dist manager and you will get some satisfaction.

Answer 3

here is the issue. you've purchased a massively expensive complex consumer electronic componet that's not designed to be repaired, and being this way, there aren't a lot of techs that know.

your second issue is you're trying to get someone in your home...and the techs they use for in-home warrenty service are spread pretty thin...why would they want to come work on it...they have other jobs they can take that will make them full service fee rather than making nothing on a warrent y call...and like i said, it's a plasma display..these aren't designed to be fixed..they're designed to work till they quit, then they're trashed...

turning it off from the unit and not the remote would of made no difference unless the power button is defective and broken inside the unit...leaving it stuck closed.

welcome to the world of home-tv repair..no body wants to come to your house because of a warrenty call...and best buy only has limited resources they dedicate to this....you would of gotten a better more instant result had you taken the entire unit directly to the store. the tech they use is in another state...be glad he lives on the same coast. a family member had to wait 3 months for a tech to come from california to fix thier LCD tv..and he still never fixed it.

needless to say, you can't do anything to speed it up, and best buy is under no legal obgliation to "do more"...they met thier end of the bargin..they found you a tech and they're paying for him to come out...however, you're at THIER mercy for whenever they can get around to you.

it would be no different if you had bought it anywhere else...with the exception of a smaller mom-n-pop home theater center...just be glad you bought it at Best Buy and not Circuit City....

Answer 4

Here is my opinion, established on evaluating Scripture with Scripture and likewise from studying a couple of books at the discipline. one million, Paul wrote one million Thessalonians alternatively early, on the whole five-10 years earlier than the Corinthian letters. In one million Thessalonians, the context of bankruptcy four is the believing useless whose our bodies "slept" within the floor. What Paul wrote in one million Thessalonians four:sixteen is without doubt proper--whilst Jesus returns, within the air, for His saints, the useless will upward push first, and, in line with the following verse, we who're alive and final will become a member of them, and so we will be able to be with the Lord ceaselessly. Did you learn the following a couple of verses, or the whole context? two. Now in two Corinthians five, Paul is discussing the man or woman believer and what occurs whilst a believer dies. The believer is going to be with the Lord. Again, I'm definite you noticed the verse that acknowledged if Paul used to be absent from the Lord, he used to be within the frame, and so on. So there's no contradiction, These verses replicate 2 unique aspects of a believer's demise, must a believer die earlier than the Rapture. The frame is going into the bottom and the soul/spirit is going to be with the Lord. When the Rapture comes, the frame is raised, and joined to the soul and spirit, and is going to Heaven.

Answer 5

good luck we had a surround sound system and they had it in the shop 3 times --was a piece of **** we finally got it working gave it to my husbands daughter and went to Sears and bought a good system we will never buy from there again! It pays to buy the protection agreement. with Sears they come in 1time a year check everything out and clean it --and in the event it messes up after 3 times we get a new one.

Answer 6

Get best buy to replace it, if they dont pay attention, well heres what u might wanna do:

You march down to the Best Buy and demand either servive, a new one, or get it fixed. If they dont listen get the manager, and return it. Go to a different store/best buy for ur new one, teach them whats wat.

Answer 7

see if best buy will exchange it out.
should of contacted hp since it was still under their warranty