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SO it's wrong for a business to make money in a capitalist society? You better move to Cuba and live the communist dream, comrade.

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Wow, there's a bit of information floating around here, so I'll post what I do know. I'm going on my 3rd year as an in-store CIA, and I really do like my job, but here's a few things I would like to point out:Regarding service plans and how they work...A service contract is designed to extend the existing warranty as well as offer some additional perks that might otherwise not be covered by the manufacturer. Power surges, issues of system stability from dust and heat (usually go hand in hand), humidity (Admittedly, they are vague on this one, it covers "humidity", but not actually fluid damage), normal wear (Which on laptops, is pretty big actually, issues with the power cable busting from being tugged on or the jack in the rear of the laptop breaking/bending out of place, plus keyboard keys on laptops - which on average run $75-$125 to repair as the manufacturer will not repair this issue). The accidental service plan goes without saying - spill something on it, no problem, drop it, no problem.The warranty also covers diagnostics fees, this can really help out a lot. You know that $199 and $299 thing everyone is talking about (Advanced Diag and Repair/Fix-it and Protect-it Special) is reduced by nearly $70 when you are under MFG warranty, or under PSP). It can also get an Agent to inspect or review a problem you're having at no cost to you, even if you choose not to have it repaired by them for any reason.Having gotten that out of the way, the other thing I wanted to bring up is what actually happens when you get your machine serviced - in this case let's say a laptop. The normal procedure is this - we examine the laptop in-store, sometimes limited to the check-in process (Which runs about 5-10 minutes, depending on the nature of the problem), or running an in-store diagnostic to determine the fault in-store. This shouldn't really take more than 24-48 hours, depending on the size of the store, and the current in-store backlog.Once we've narrowed down the problem we take the appropriate action. When it comes to sending anything to service, there's a few things that we have to abide by. Anything that goes to service that's still under it's initial 1 year manufacturer's warranty goes to the manufacturer, the exception to this rule, at present, are Acer - I don't know why - we either have no contract with them or ... I don't know. Acers go to Geeksquad City every time.Now contrary to popular belief, sending something to the manufacturer is hardly the end of the world, it's actually a good thing. Especially, usually, with HP/Compaq products. HP's turn time is typically 14 days. Their track record, from my own experiences, leaves something to be desired, but they get the job done quickly, which counts in most situations.The other thing I want to stress is that anything that goes to the manufacturer for repair - read: not a Best Buy owned repair facility, is difficult to track on progress. We use a system called STAR to monitor repairs and follow up on repair tickets, but HP doesn't use STAR. They do their repairs, and simply complete the ticket when the repairs are complete, we get no updates from HP on the actual status, so calling in on something that goes out under MFG warranty usually can't be followed on a day-by-day basis. At best we can submit a Vendor Escalation - it shoots an E-mail to someone in charge of the repair facility at HP, and hope to get a response in the next 24-48 hours on the status, or find out what the hold up is, etc. Again, we have no direct control over the repairs in this case.When it comes to in-store repairs, there's a few things we can't do:1. We can't replaced MFG Warranted PSU's (Even with a service plan) in-store anymore. The reason is because they get money back on the core, just like with your car battery. Without a service plan, it has to go out because of the same reason, plus the MFG will check to make sure it didn't fault because of a power surge/lightning strike - to verify that the repairs are in fact warranted.2. We can't replaced laptop memory in-store anymore (Specifically, warranted memory). This is dumb, I know. I don't know the politics behind this reason - but it basically is the way it is, because at least at the store level, we don't get compensation from the manufacturer on laptop memory, even under service plan. In short, the store eats that $75-$125 stick of RAM they just put into your machine, it's shrink, and comes out of our P&L, it's bad for the store, and the store loses money for it's labor budget, which isn't a good thing for anyone.Now when a unit is outside of it's normal MFG warranty the unit is shipped to Geeksquad City instead of the manufacturer. This isn't a bad thing, but it comes with a few problems. The first is turn-time, which at present, is upwards of 3-4 weeks out. And it is what it is. I can't tell you how many times people come to me with their laptops and tell me how critical it is that they get it back quicker than that, but there really is nothing I can do.It's not that I don't care, but you have to understand something about Geeksquad City - they repair about 3500-5000+ computers a day. That's huge, there is no other computer repair facility that I'm aware of that handles that kind of workload.Service plans are not the be-all end-all solution for every customer. That's why we ask them questions about their usage habits, what are they intending to buy, what they're looking to use it for, what kind of things do they want to do with it now, offer recommendations on how to get the most out of their purchase now, so that they don't have to stress out later about an upgrade or come back constantly for something they/we forgot.But when it comes to businesses or people who use their laptops for work, I always stress to them that they may want to buy a business-level solution from either our Best Buy for Biz or from the manufacturer directly because these have options that aren't available for consumer-level machines - specifically companies like HP and IBM have rapid repair options for their machines, HP has an option for something like a 2-3 day turn around time if your laptop goes to s**t on you. They cost an arm and a leg, but it might be a better solution than a consumer-level service plan.Best Buy used to offer a service plan for their laptops that had this feature. It had a 2-3 day turn time, it was overnighted to the repair facility, and got top priority, if the laptop was failed to be returned by the date set on the ticket, you got a new laptop. It was called a Platinum Service Plan, which we no longer offer, largely because no one wanted to pay the $350-$500 price tags on them. It also covered just about anything, liquid/drop damage, you name it.But this is something the consumer should strive to become aware of, walking into a retailer that specializes in consumer-level electronics won't always walk out with what they need if they're buying for a business.

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It makes sense to say that Best Buy should just instantly replace a laptop in a case like this, but it won't happen, and basically here's why:Each Best Buy store is budgeted money for it's normal activities. While each store is capable of footing the bill on a replacement product if one is mishandled, mis-shipped, etc, they won't because the new laptop costs come out of P&L. Giving away $600 essentially comes out of the employee's pockets. While a store manager can choose to do this, most will not.The normal procedure for something like this is to submit an escalation and investigate to find out who was at fault, in this case perhaps HP, and they can choose to foot the bill. This, in turn, charges the service facility at fault, and the store gets monetary compensation for a replacement.If a store does an advanced replacement of product, and say HP decides to return the laptop, repaired or not, the store is now stuck with a laptop that they can do nothing with. They can't refurb it, they can't re-sell it, and they've lost hundreds of dollars which now comes out of the alloted labor budget for that particular store.The best thing a customer can do if such an event occurs is to speak with a manager directly, and be sure to stress their concerns. Not all of the store managers are that bad, and many understand the frustration that some of our clients go through. It helps to be calm and collective when dealing with them though, coming into a store yelling, screaming, threatening lawsuits, etc is a good way of having yourself being removed from the store, or otherwise hinder the progress of the investigation.Contacting Best Buy's corporate office can help too, but understand that contacting corporate doesn't guarantee a new laptop either. They will usually contact the store's GM and speak with them personally, but the store's GM still has the final say as to what the store does or does not do at their level. I've yet to see corporate strong arm our manager into doing an immediate replacement. This is because, again, the monetary loss is still held to the store's feet, even though you contacted corporate, they do not reimburse the store for the new laptop, hence why the manager will still probably say no, pending the investigation.

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*De Niro Voice*... For what laptop are you referring too... I did not see a laptop come through here... you must be mistaken mrs. Vinnie show her the door.

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Thats why i hated working for the geek squad. Everything was budget this and CCC that. I couldn't stand hearing "did you do a 360 today". NO! i got this job to fix computers! GOD geek squad sucks. We cant even replace laptop memory in store anymore that take less then 5 minutes. We have to send it to geek squad city for 2 weeks. no wonder customers were always pissed off.

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thats right I chose not to. It's called respect. they don't have any for me so in return I don't have any for them. And if they choose to meet me in the parking and "shank" me thats fine, but they'll be bringing a knife to a gunfight.

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