PCA Forums

I got an 4yr Performance Service Plan from BB for my pair of Subs. Everything on paper and verbal sounds good etc..... full coverage, ALL repairs and labor covers etc.....

1 of my Sub is not working for some reason, brought it in and was told to pay the difference with the replacement sub!!

I was frustrated, was not told about this when i bought the plan and called in and was told the same thing; "Bring it in and we'll replace it with a new one FREE"


I can't just trust anyone nowsadays.


Anyone experience this? I want to know if this is normal and are both CC & BB have this same exact terms & conditions on car speakers/subs? Thnks for all info.

best buy's is far shittier (and there sales people lie to you about it) ALOT more then the Circuit City. Atleast that has been my experience.

Greg

Yup same thing happened to me. "Oh sorry, this was bought by an employee. She doesnt work here anymore. In order for us to give u a replacement you need to pay the difference in the cost between employee and customer. Sorry!" BS. I never buy those anymore. Its a waste of money.

I ran into that with Future Shop once. Bought a Compaq laptop. p166MMX 16 megs ram 2 gig hdd was top of the line when i bought it. 2500 bucks. paid 300 for the extended 4 year warranty. only did htis because the saleman told me when i bought it. IF the screen went out had to be 4 pixels or more if they couldn't get it repaired within 24hrs they would replace it at their cost. well 18 months later a 1/4inch strip half way down the screen went out. I took it in told them i needed it fixed or replaced. They said they'd have to send it off and it would be 2-3 weeks before i got it back. WEll i used this for work so that was unacceptable raised a big stink with them i was pissed about this or i wouldn't have bothered with the extended warranty on it. In the end they gave me a loaner for a couple weeks gave me my 300 dollars back for the extended warranty and i got the screen on it replaced it was still under compaq's warranty and they sent it back to them. I was happy

I would have F'ed up the loner. LOL

Greg

All of the stores do this. I once had a (comparatively minor) situation like this with Magnolia HiFi with a faulty receiver, and when it comes to customer service, they blow away CC, BB, FS, etc.

Situation: I bought an ES receiver, which (back then) came with only a 3-year warranty from Sony. Magnolia gave me an additional two years unconditional on top of that. The deal was that the unit would be repaired three times, and if it still screwed up, I would get a replacement at no charge from Magnolia...anytime during the 5-year period. Lots of advancement happens in five years, so I figured I'd be safe, even if it totally tanked at the last minute.

The third time I brought it in for repair, they didn't do anything...they simply said that all I had to do was unplug the unit for several minutes so that the memory chip could clear, and it would work again. So once every three months for the next two years, I had to nuke all of my custom settings (unplug unit), just to get the thing to work correctly again. Pain in the ass, having to reset my EQ, enter custom text again, etc. But I realize now they couldn't fix it: they just had a workaround and hoped not to lose $800 by replacing the receiver...even tho' I paid a hundred or so for an extended warranty. But I stayed nice, never pushed hard.

After three years of that workaround BS, that workaround no longer worked...all sound was routed to one speaker, no matter what I did. I brought it in a fourth time, but because no repair was done on the third trip, they refused a replacement...it had to be a real repair job (again, trying to save $800...especially since it was so close to my extended warranty replacement deadline). But no matter...their fix only worked for two weeks. So I brought it in again, and there were no questions asked...they upgraded me from a pro-logic ES to a DTS ES. More features, more power for 5.1 (less for 2x), I've been extremely happy for over two years now. And anytime I'm at Magnolia, the store manager makes a point to say hello, interrupts any salesperson helping me, ask if there's something he can do to help me, asks how pleased I am with the replacement unit, etc.

No, I don't work for Magnolia...but most of my gear came from that place, and I still buy there more than any other place.

Bottom line: some people at electronic stores try to save losses on their highest-profit marketing gimmick (extended warranties). They don't lose nearly a tenth as much as they take in. You show them their documentation, and give 'em a choice: honor it, or full refund. They can't argue their own docs, and they can't make you pay the difference.

Originally posted by CaterpillarAssassin
Yup same thing happened to me. "Oh sorry, this was bought by an employee. She doesnt work here anymore. In order for us to give u a replacement you need to pay the difference in the cost between employee and customer. Sorry!" BS. I never buy those anymore. Its a waste of money.

Ouch, I would have taken that one all the way to the corporate head offices and gone nutty until something was done about it, talk about fraud.

interesting...i've purchased the service plans from BB on only more expensive items (monitors, tv's, stereos, etc...not cheap stuff) and have used it many times. i have had 3 monitors die after various periods of time (one almost 3 years) and they just said "go pick out a replacement of equal value".

my sister had an e-machine (go ahead and laugh!) from BB...the POS modem in it died, and that was ALL that was wrong...i took it back for her (it was now 7 months old) and they didn't even test it. they asked what was wrong, i said "the modem is fried". they said "do you want your $$$ refunded, or a replacement system?".

i currently have my z560's covered by their 2 year replacement plan...heck...when i was checking out the cashier girl said "yeah, they will just send you a check for the purchase price if you call the 800 number before the 2 years is up". not that i woud INTENTIONALLY abuse the policy...mwuahahahaha



.02

well......having worked at best buy in the past (and starting up again) I know that most of the sales people BS when it comes to the service plans. They make up completly false examples to scare the consumer into getting one. The only real thing that they talk about is where you have to bring it in 3 times for repairs, after the 3rd time you will get a new one.

Personally.......i never buy them (even though I would get them cheaper with the discount, about half price)

The only time I would recommend buying one......is if someone i know is buying a computer from there. It would cover if something does happen. Psu goes out, ram mobo or proc fries, downloaded virus, etc.....
I know I told my uncle to get it with his hp he bought. He got the service plan and about 7 months later he downloaded a virus that he couldnt get rid of (he still types with one finger ) So he took it in and they fixed it all up for him. They also upgraded his system from 128 to 256 of pc133 cause he said his system seemed kinda slow. I was suprised that they did this at no extra charge. Guess the tech they got at their local store is a good one


freemanteo- The "bring it in and we'll replace it free" is actually a bring it in and we will replace it with an equal priced item. Pisses me off whenever I hear someone at my store say something that isnt true

Some friends of ours bought a tv at BB. it broke, so BB sent the tech out to fix it. The tech said he couldn't repair it because it looked like thier cat peed thru the power button and onto the pcb inside the computer, so they wouldn't fix or replace the tv.

Extended service plans from ANY retail store is a rip-off. There's a reason they push those plans so hard - they mak a LOT of money on them.

Yes, they do make a lot of money on these things. I used to work for Silo (remember them?). One of the sales guys told me once that the only things you should buy extended warranties on is computers, camcorders, CD players and lazerdisc players...and anything from companies that manufacturer crap.

If a TV is going to die, it will likely die during the first 30 days. It even happened to me once with an Emerson 25". I also had a dual-deck CD player made by Scott...got the extended warranty, and after 18 months it broke for the third time, and I got a JVC 5-disc carousel at no charge (still working 11 years later, too).

If you're going to buy any off-brand name unit, or a historically crappy brand, just to save a few bucks (such as Emerson, Fischer, Scott, Harvard, Daewoo), and you don't want to replace it during the next five years, then the extended warranty is a must.

If you buy a jukebox CD or DVD player, regardless of manufacturer, then the extended warranty is highly recommended, since those things can be prone to break down after just a couple of years.

More often than not, the extended warranty I got on saved my butt. Here's a trick for high-cost items (like my ES): offer to buy right now if they throw in a couple of years extended warranty. No kidding, this has worked for me three different times on expensive gear. They still make a profit, they HOPE the thing isn't a lemon (most high-cost items aren't) and they make an immediate sale. They will likely laugh if you try it with a Walkman, but as always, ymmv.