On Sep 10, 2:35*pm, "nom=de=plume" wrote:
"Frogwatch" wrote in message

...



Almost got arrested. *For graduation, we bought our son a nice
computer from Best Buy and had them set it up and paid for their best
warranty. *A few weeks later, it stopped working so we took it back.
I went to get it today. *They told me the operating system was bad and
it would cost $129 to re-install it. *Huh? *I told them 'I bought it
here and the operating system was on it so you sold me a bad system,
so fix it for free". *No, they would not. *We went back and forth a
few times before I decided everybody in the store should know their
policy. *Raising my voice I declared, "You mean to tell me you will
not replace something you sell that is bad"? *"Only hardware" they
said. *I made sure even more people heard this asking them over and
over if they truly refused to replace products they sold that were
bad. *When I took the computer, I told everybody I passed that Best
Buy would not replace faulty products. *When I got outside, the
manager came outside and said, "I did not want to embarass you inside
by discussing this". *I said "I do not embarass easily so lets go back
inside so your customers can hear". *He told me not to go back in.
Then he told me to wait because he was going to call the cops to get a
restraining order to keep me away but I laughed and told him I had no
intention of coming back. *I waited a minute because I thought it
would be great if they had me arrested because they had never once
asked me to leave, I could sue. *It was too hot so I said, "See ya in
court" and left.
Then I went to two other computer stores and told them my story and
they were shocked. *One said, "Really, they won't replace bad
software, thats amazing".

Hmm... well, here's another approach that I've used. I argue for a while. I
speak to the manager. Nothing works and he's digging in his heals, but I
need the whatever to work. Easy fix. I pay for the service, part, whatever,
then I call the credit card company and dispute the charges. The money is
credited back until the situation is resolved. 99% of the time, it's in the
consumer's favor. Then, I call the corporate headquarters and ask for "the
office of the president." You never get the president, but you do get
someone from the escalation team. You're calm and cool, and you give them
just the facts. This is what I bought, this is what happened, I said this,
he said that, etc. 99% of the time they make good on the problem.

This saves a lot of yelling, cops showing up, threats, and keeps everyone's
blood pressure under control. The offending parties are properly admonished,
no one is fired, and you get what you need.

Oh, and I also have a whistle I use for persistent telemarketers. lol

--
Nom=de=Plume

I had a wonderful time costing them customers but I was very careful.
I made sure they never asked me to lower my voice and they never asked
me to leave. So, next step. I took it to a computer repair place I
use for my office computers. He was also skeptical of the bad
operating system story. I am hoping they find a hardware problem (the
problem is that the ethernet card has stopped working) so I then have
REAL ammunition to use against them. It was only going to cost $129
but I needed the fun and badly behaving companies should be punished.