Problems at FS. Any suggestions?

[Boardwalker]

On January 2, 2009 I took my laptop to my local FS in Brantford, Ontario for repair. I had had a small accident with a cup of coffee and the keyboard was not working. The laptop could be used with a USB keyboard. I was told it would be sent away and should be back in 5~10 days.

Ten days later on Jan 12 I was informed that it was on the bench at the repair depot. This continued for the next nine days. On Jan 21 I received a phone call from British Columbia telling me that my laptop, in Toronto, would not be covered by extended warranty due to the coffee spill. I told them that I never expected warranty work, only timely work. This person told me I should receive the laptop back within 10~15 days. I wrote an email to customer service explaining that this laptop is used for business and taking three weeks to figure out what was wrong was not acceptable.

Fast forward to Feb 6 ( 15 days after the call from the repair depot) when I visited the store. I was informed that the part needed for my laptop would not arrive until Feb 7. One day after the laptop should be back with me. To make it worse I was told that it would probably be another 30 days before I see my laptop. This was due to “customer abuse”. I wrote another email to customer service.

On Feb 11 I have received a call from the store telling me that they cannot get the part so they are going to return it to me un repaired.

I was offered a new laptop at a discount at which point I terminated the conversation. I declined. When I got the laptop I now found that it did not even turn on. Totally dead.

Friday morning I went to my local store to try and find a resolution. I walked out after two hours, wondering whether I will ever set foot inside an FS again.

At 10am I approached the customer service desk at store 620. I was given the same non-answer that I have been given for the last six weeks and asked to speak to the General Manager.

After a wait of 1-1/2 hours at the Customer Service counter a person came out and told me that she was the manager. Imagine my surprise that after 90 minutes, this was the same person I had seen walking around the store on at least three occasions. We had actually made eye contact. There is no doubt in my mind that she was waiting for me to go away. To leave a customer waiting 90 minutes is disgraceful.

To say the conversation did not go well is an understatement. She had no intention of listening to my concerns and kept repeating the same phrases over and over. When I asked why she had ignored me I was told that she “does not have to deal with customers, that she has people to do that for her”. I was also told that she was extremely upset with me because I had contacted Customer Service and she was in trouble with her supervisor.
This was so bad that on leaving the store I was stopped by a total stranger and told that the store manager attitude was appalling and that I should contact head office.

There were numerous more conversations with store personnel and customer service people. I don’t believe that I have ever been dealt with honestly. I called the store manager 7 times in one week. She was never in, and the person answering the phone never had an idea of when she would be in.

When I call customer service they have no record of emails they have sent me telling that the District Manager would be getting in touch.

I understand the coffee problem. I believe that the machine should be working at the same level though as when I took it to FS to be repaired.

I am starting to wonder if this is how FS deal with customers on a regular basis. If anybody has suggestions they would be appreciated.




All of my corporate buissiness now goes to Dell, anybody but FS. All off my personal purchases will be anywhere but FS.

[ottawasportsfan2010]

Since this was your own fault more or less there is not alot you can do..

[Boardwalker]

So you believe that when an item is taken for repair that it is acceptable that it comes back in worse condition?

Do you also believe that being left waiting for 90 minutes is acceptable?

It seems that because I spilled the coffee, I should accept the FS treatment of me?

[ottawasportsfan2010]

So you believe that when an item is taken for repair that it is acceptable that it comes back in worse condition?

Do you also believe that being left waiting for 90 minutes is acceptable?

It seems that because I spilled the coffee, I should accept the FS treatment of me?

You have to keep in mind your not the only customer.I am not sure what went down in this case but i have seen with my own eyes where some custopmers feel there more important then others.Is it right how fs treated you no not at all.

[Boardwalker]

I'm not sure if you read all of my post.

Did you not notice where I was willing to pay?

Where I was told the part was on it's way?

Where the item could be turned on when left with them?

That it was six weeks before I actually got to speak to a store manager?

I'm not sure that means I feel "more important"

[nem5325]

Here's the deal with Coffee: it contains alot of acids (double that if you added sugar) which break down the electronic interconnects of the parts inside your laptop. This process doesn't happen right away, but takes weeks. That's why it's not POSTing (turning on) now that you got it back.

Any liquad spillage claim that seeps past the keyboard lining, assuming if the unit had a lining, pretty much is not worth repairing at all. Most techs won't touch it with a 10 foot pole because who knows what can happen to it in 3 months if one did not identify spillage in a certain area and it eats away the connections down the road.

The turn around time issue is another thing though. Did you tell the tech when you dropped it off that you spilt something on it? Or did you just say the keyboard was not working? Assuming you were upfront and said you spilt coffee on it, the tech should of never sent it to our depot in the first place. He could of got an estimate from our parts group and, assuming the part is in stock, had it in about 7-10 business days. I don't know anymore considering FS said it was not available.

If you want me to dig into it abit more on my end, PM me the customer unit tag # for your repair, and I'll see what I can find.

[ottawasportsfan2010]

I'm not sure if you read all of my post.

Did you not notice where I was willing to pay?

Where I was told the part was on it's way?

Where the item could be turned on when left with them?

That it was six weeks before I actually got to speak to a store manager?

I'm not sure that means I feel "more important"

I am not saying your case you feel more important.But i have seen times where a sales rep will be with a customer then another customer feel there more important and want service now.

[cyder]

You have to keep in mind your not the only customer.I am not sure what went down in this case but i have seen with my own eyes where some custopmers feel there more important then others.Is it right how fs treated you no not at all.

you should become a rape counsellor.

OP: If you were doing non-warranty work you should have taken it to a repair place, non many left but they wouldn't jerk you around like this and most of the time hire better qualified people. g/l with your repair : /

[darkprince]

Internal information

Geek Squad and ConnectPro.

at BestBuy (Bay and Dundas) FutureShop @ (Yonge and Dundas)

This exactly what they do there, the techs there only do installs and stuff, repairs goto 3rd parties.

They get only paid 15$-17$ per hour and they hate their jobs as techs/geeks squad. they only work there because its better then getting paid minimum wage, until something better comes around. =)

Make you think twice before even consider to get any type of extended warranties from a 3rd party. Unless the 1st party manufacture is going to back it up like Apple and its AppleCare and Dell and their CompleteCare (includes spills and drops only for business laptops) for 150$ covered for 3 years! Way better then FS and BESTBUY 200-300$ warranty for only 2-3 years depending on the price of the laptop .

[nem5325]

Starting pay for techs typically is in the $15/hour range....

An interesting side note with regards to Manufactures: Acer bench techs get paid $11/hour! (They tried to recruit a few FS techs)

[Ojam]

Suggestion: Next time you need a business laptop, buy a business laptop and not a consumer laptop.

If your laptop is mission critical DO NOT BUY FROM BIG BOX STORES! Buy directly from the manufacture and make sure they have some sort of express exchange.

[Hunter316]

This is not uncommen with spillage issues since the more that the machine is take apart the more damage can be found. The only issues I see with what happened were the treatment from the manager and the givrn timeline not being met. I used to manage in a similar environment and I made a point of telling customers that if they wanted their unit sent out for repair I would not tell them an ETA since it was not in my control when the unit left the store. No promises mean no lies.

[jacker]

Your first mistake was buying PSP, but you know that now.

Good luck with this, I used to work at Future Shop and have heard many horror stories about the repair depot.

[rommelrommel]

I would take this to corporate. They will probably help you out due to the poor customer service... that's actually atrocious customer service.

[blainehamilton]

On January 2, 2009 I took my laptop to my local FS in Brantford, Ontario for repair. I had had a small accident with a cup of coffee and the keyboard was not working. The laptop could be used with a USB keyboard. I was told it would be sent away and should be back in 5~10 days.

Ten days later on Jan 12 I was informed that it was on the bench at the repair depot. This continued for the next nine days. On Jan 21 I received a phone call from British Columbia telling me that my laptop, in Toronto, would not be covered by extended warranty due to the coffee spill. I told them that I never expected warranty work, only timely work. This person told me I should receive the laptop back within 10~15 days. I wrote an email to customer service explaining that this laptop is used for business and taking three weeks to figure out what was wrong was not acceptable.

Fast forward to Feb 6 ( 15 days after the call from the repair depot) when I visited the store. I was informed that the part needed for my laptop would not arrive until Feb 7. One day after the laptop should be back with me. To make it worse I was told that it would probably be another 30 days before I see my laptop. This was due to “customer abuse”. I wrote another email to customer service.

On Feb 11 I have received a call from the store telling me that they cannot get the part so they are going to return it to me un repaired.

I was offered a new laptop at a discount at which point I terminated the conversation. I declined. When I got the laptop I now found that it did not even turn on. Totally dead.

Friday morning I went to my local store to try and find a resolution. I walked out after two hours, wondering whether I will ever set foot inside an FS again.

At 10am I approached the customer service desk at store 620. I was given the same non-answer that I have been given for the last six weeks and asked to speak to the General Manager.

After a wait of 1-1/2 hours at the Customer Service counter a person came out and told me that she was the manager. Imagine my surprise that after 90 minutes, this was the same person I had seen walking around the store on at least three occasions. We had actually made eye contact. There is no doubt in my mind that she was waiting for me to go away. To leave a customer waiting 90 minutes is disgraceful.

To say the conversation did not go well is an understatement. She had no intention of listening to my concerns and kept repeating the same phrases over and over. When I asked why she had ignored me I was told that she “does not have to deal with customers, that she has people to do that for her”. I was also told that she was extremely upset with me because I had contacted Customer Service and she was in trouble with her supervisor.
This was so bad that on leaving the store I was stopped by a total stranger and told that the store manager attitude was appalling and that I should contact head office.

There were numerous more conversations with store personnel and customer service people. I don’t believe that I have ever been dealt with honestly. I called the store manager 7 times in one week. She was never in, and the person answering the phone never had an idea of when she would be in.

When I call customer service they have no record of emails they have sent me telling that the District Manager would be getting in touch.

I understand the coffee problem. I believe that the machine should be working at the same level though as when I took it to FS to be repaired.

I am starting to wonder if this is how FS deal with customers on a regular basis. If anybody has suggestions they would be appreciated.




All of my corporate buissiness now goes to Dell, anybody but FS. All off my personal purchases will be anywhere but FS.


As soon as 'coffee' and 'laptop' were in the same sentence together, all bets are off for a repair, as another poster mentioned.

OP, you need to provide more info:

Is the system under a PSP warranty? Is it just under manufacturer's warranty? Did you buy it with a credit card that doubles manufacturer warranty?


Here are a few lessons to be learned from your experience:

Future Shop / Best Buy are NOT GOOD REPAIR CENTERS, either in store or at the depot. There are exceptions where specific techs take time and care about their service, but as a whole, it is operated as a SLOW, INEFFICENT, UNCARING, PROBLEMATIC process. $$ is the key, and a customer with coffee on their keyboard is nothing more than a guaranteed diagnostic charge, and an upsell to a new laptop.


Also, consumer laptops are NOT designed for business. Let's be honest, none (or VERY FEW) laptops are designed for coffee on the keyboard. As soon as it happened, you should have backed up your data, then been shopping for a dedicated repair facility directly with the manufacturer, or shopping for a whole new notebook. If you expected repairs including keyboard and possibly mainboard replacement, cleaning, and 14 day (or even 7 day or 24 hour) turnaround, any big box store like FUTURE SHOP was a mistake to buy from in the first place. You should have been looking at Dell, HP, and Lenovo/IBM busness class units with guaranteed turnaround times, and possibly accidental damage coverage.


Finally, big box stores like Future Shop are NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE. They are there to push as much product out the door as fast as possible, for as much profit as possible, with as few problems as possible. A customer like yourself is a problem, a liability. It's much easier to sluff you off and ignore you. And that's what they are doing, and will continue to do. You can call, email, and write all you want. Even if you are covered by PSP warranty, as soon as the coffee hit your laptop, all of their liabilities are gone. There is no such thing as accidental damage coverage at Future Shop. The only thing the PSP warranty guarantees is a 60 day turnaround, and it hasn't been 60 days since you dropped the laptop off, so they did their job there. If you didn't have PSP warranty, they could take as long as they like for repairs, with no liabilities. Feel free to hassle the staff and management to try and reach some compromise, but I doubt you will get anywhere. They don't care.


Here's your options:

1. Go back to Future Shop and keep hassling them. Try and get a new laptop. See if they will at least repair the non booting issue. See if you can talk to the GM, the district manage, corporate office, etc. However, I really doubt you will get anything more than an apology, if even that. IMOH, it's a waste of time. Money=Time, so stop wasting it.

2. Go back to Future Shop and take them up on the offer of a discounted laptop. Give up coffee and all other liquids when working on it, and be prepared to buy another one when it breaks after the manufacturer's warranty ends. DON'T BUY A PSP WARRANTY on it, since you have already seen the service you will get with it. Save yourself the agrivation. DO BUY WITH A CREDIT CARD THAT WILL DOUBLE YOUR WARRANTY.

3. Wash your hands of Future Shop and Best Buy and go buy a good business laptop with proper warranty and product support, such as Dell, Lenovo/IBM or HP business class machine. Check carefully to see what kind of warranty you get, and what the GUARANTEED repair turnaround times are like. If the system is mission critical, buy accidental coverage and extended warranties as you see fit. Be prepared to spend $1000 to $2000 on a decent business laptop, and $300 to $600 on accidental coverage.

4. If you really insist on drinking coffee while working on your laptop, consider a Panasonic Toughbook.

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/panasonic-toughbook-cf-18-durability-test

Not exactly cheap, but then again, buying a new laptop every time you dump a double double isn't either.

[jackwest]

Congratulations. You're about to come to the realization that you are and always have been a walking dollar sign. Join me in the dark side.

[zoolander]

Pull out the drive, buy a cheap enclosure, extract the data if you still need it; keep it as an extra external.
Sell the battery and AC on ebay if it's not compatible with your new one.
Did it have a decent network card? GPU?
What part was unavailable? Salvage the rest, whatever you can.

[dmdsoftware2]

This is why people buy thinkpads. They have drainage holes, so that if you had a mishap on the keyboard with a beverage, the beverage collects and drains from the keyboard through the bottom of the system through special drain holes, as to avoid liquid entering the system and ruining the circuitry. Worst case, you have to replace the keyboard because keys stick. Beats buying a brand new motherboard.

http://www.fischsolutions.com/images/lenovo_keyboarddrain.jpg

[ride365]

If you buy the complete care warranty at dell with next day on site repair they cover accidental damage and spillage. My friends dad drove over his laptop by accident and my friend dropped a lamp on his keyboard and cracked the screen both covered by dell and a tech was sent with the repair parts to their home NEXT BUSINESS DAY for repair at no charge. If you prefer you can get the regular complete care and sent to depot for the same repair.

[timothy_montreal]

In my experience with FS, I suggest you can do sth as follow:
1 write a formal letter and a copy to local store and give it to store manager directly. In letter, writing all the event happened in the past could be better. Writing down what you want or your suggested solution. And ask manager sign the letter which you bring it with yourself. the important is to give to manager. Even you can mail a registered letter.
2 Call the bestbuy head office. I remembered in BC. and ask them where to deal with customer complains. You can get number of FS east Canada head office.
3 Call them and complain. Write them email or fax attached the letter which signed by local store manager.
4 Giving local store second letter and set time limit.
Remember, do not call costomer service toll free no. it is useless.
Good Luck!

[yu119995]

As soon as 'coffee' and 'laptop' were in the same sentence together, all bets are off for a repair, as another poster mentioned.


How did you come to that conclusion? Were we just reading the same thing? All bets are off right up front, not a month after receiving the item. What sort of logic are you employing?


OP, you need to provide more info:

Is the system under a PSP warranty? Is it just under manufacturer's warranty? Did you buy it with a credit card that doubles manufacturer warranty?


All discussion about PSP warranty or any other kind of warranty is, ready for this, irrelevant. He made it pretty damn clear as to what his intentions were. The coffee was spilled, it obviously wasn't covered under warranty, and he simply wanted to take it in for repairs at which point he was perfectly willing to pay them for the service. If they were unable to do so, they should have simply said sorry and have a nice day. What they did was take this guy's machine for a ridiculously long period of time only to return it in a worse state.


Here are a few lessons to be learned from your experience:

Future Shop / Best Buy are NOT GOOD REPAIR CENTERS, either in store or at the depot. There are exceptions where specific techs take time and care about their service, but as a whole, it is operated as a SLOW, INEFFICENT, UNCARING, PROBLEMATIC process. $$ is the key, and a customer with coffee on their keyboard is nothing more than a guaranteed diagnostic charge, and an upsell to a new laptop.


I'm sure he's overjoyed to hear that. Although something tells me that he's already come to that conclusion all by himself, but thanks. Next.


Also, consumer laptops are NOT designed for business. Let's be honest, none (or VERY FEW) laptops are designed for coffee on the keyboard. As soon as it happened, you should have backed up your data, then been shopping for a dedicated repair facility directly with the manufacturer, or shopping for a whole new notebook. If you expected repairs including keyboard and possibly mainboard replacement, cleaning, and 14 day (or even 7 day or 24 hour) turnaround, any big box store like FUTURE SHOP was a mistake to buy from in the first place. You should have been looking at Dell, HP, and Lenovo/IBM busness class units with guaranteed turnaround times, and possibly accidental damage coverage.


None of which has any bearing whatsoever on the man's ordeal. Are you a priest because you sure do like preach a lot?


Finally, big box stores like Future Shop are NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE. They are there to push as much product out the door as fast as possible, for as much profit as possible, with as few problems as possible. A customer like yourself is a problem, a liability. It's much easier to sluff you off and ignore you. And that's what they are doing, and will continue to do. You can call, email, and write all you want. Even if you are covered by PSP warranty, as soon as the coffee hit your laptop, all of their liabilities are gone. There is no such thing as accidental damage coverage at Future Shop. The only thing the PSP warranty guarantees is a 60 day turnaround, and it hasn't been 60 days since you dropped the laptop off, so they did their job there. If you didn't have PSP warranty, they could take as long as they like for repairs, with no liabilities. Feel free to hassle the staff and management to try and reach some compromise, but I doubt you will get anywhere. They don't care.


Wow. This entire paragraph could have been avoided by simply reading these two lines: "On Jan 21 I received a phone call from British Columbia telling me that my laptop, in Toronto, would not be covered by extended warranty due to the coffee spill. I told them that I never expected warranty work, only timely work."


Here's your options:

1. Go back to Future Shop and keep hassling them. Try and get a new laptop. See if they will at least repair the non booting issue. See if you can talk to the GM, the district manage, corporate office, etc. However, I really doubt you will get anything more than an apology, if even that. IMOH, it's a waste of time. Money=Time, so stop wasting it.

2. Go back to Future Shop and take them up on the offer of a discounted laptop. Give up coffee and all other liquids when working on it, and be prepared to buy another one when it breaks after the manufacturer's warranty ends. DON'T BUY A PSP WARRANTY on it, since you have already seen the service you will get with it. Save yourself the agrivation. DO BUY WITH A CREDIT CARD THAT WILL DOUBLE YOUR WARRANTY.

3. Wash your hands of Future Shop and Best Buy and go buy a good business laptop with proper warranty and product support, such as Dell, Lenovo/IBM or HP business class machine. Check carefully to see what kind of warranty you get, and what the GUARANTEED repair turnaround times are like. If the system is mission critical, buy accidental coverage and extended warranties as you see fit. Be prepared to spend $1000 to $2000 on a decent business laptop, and $300 to $600 on accidental coverage.

4. If you really insist on drinking coffee while working on your laptop, consider a Panasonic Toughbook.


Actually here are your options:

1. You can read the post before typing anything even remotely close to a response;

2. You can read it again just for good measure;

3. After you've fully understood the context of the post, then you may proceed to offer advice relevant to the topic itself without slamming the guy for material that, again, has no bearing on the issue at all;


http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/panasonic-toughbook-cf-18-durability-test

Not exactly cheap, but then again, buying a new laptop every time you dump a double double isn't either.

Wow. You're clever. Maybe it was decaf. Maybe there wasn't any sugar in it which would mean that the coffee would have evaporated rather quickly with no residue. Or maybe who gives a $#|^ seeing as you missed the point anyway.

I hate when people go to town like this because they haven't read the post! Don't be a muppet.

[blainehamilton]

How did you come to that conclusion? Were we just reading the same thing? All bets are off right up front, not a month after receiving the item. What sort of logic are you employing?

Best Buy and Future Shop don't care about turnaround times. I speak from experience. I worked there. The only thing that keeps them in check is the 60 day guaranteed turnaround time on a PSP covered item. For items under factory warranty and damaged items, they get lowest priority, and turnaround times that can take months reflect this. I'm saying this so anyone who can read sees it: Taking an item to Future Shop or Best Buy for manufacturer or out of pocket repairs is stupid, since it can take months to repair, and may not be repaired at all.

All discussion about PSP warranty or any other kind of warranty is, ready for this, irrelevant. He made it pretty damn clear as to what his intentions were. The coffee was spilled, it obviously wasn't covered under warranty, and he simply wanted to take it in for repairs at which point he was perfectly willing to pay them for the service. If they were unable to do so, they should have simply said sorry and have a nice day. What they did was take this guy's machine for a ridiculously long period of time only to return it in a worse state.

As I pointed out before, their intention was to check the unit in for repair, since it was a guaranteed diagnostic charge, and possible repair charges. $$$ is what matters to the store, not customer satisfaction, turnaround times, or anything else. The almighty buck is the only thing that matters. The tech who checked it in may have meant well, but can't back that up since the depot is a disaster when it comes to laptop repairs, and the store doesn't care if the customer isn't happy.



You seem to miss the point of my responses! I actually READ THE OPs POST, AND ALL THE REPLIES BEFORE ADDING MY OWN.

Also, notice I didn't dump on anyone else's reply while CONTRIBUTING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to the thread.


From the OP's post, it is clear he is expecting repairs, turnaround times, and customer relations that Future Shop cannot deliver.

My response was to point that out.

Yours was to complain about what I posted and pointed out.

Judge for yourself which reply is worth less...

[jackwest]

I think the best course of action is to start a long blog on a public web forum excoriating the company until one of 30 FS/BB managers that monitor RFD gets together and finally decides that buying you off is better than taking the PR.

[kleptodathief]

^ r u sure BB/FS managers monitors RFD??? i dont think they even heard of this site! :cheesygri

[bubble.tea]

This is why people buy thinkpads. They have drainage holes, so that if you had a mishap on the keyboard with a beverage, the beverage collects and drains from the keyboard through the bottom of the system through special drain holes, as to avoid liquid entering the system and ruining the circuitry. Worst case, you have to replace the keyboard because keys stick. Beats buying a brand new motherboard.

http://www.fischsolutions.com/images/lenovo_keyboarddrain.jpg

WOW...I didn't know my T61 can do this. Must try it out this afternoon!!!! :D.



OP., I'd definately buckle down and fire off some SERIOUS Complaints. If I was passing by I'd be similarly apalled as that random person was who suggested you write a complaint to them.

I'd be really PISSED the FLIP off if I was you. Thankfully I learned my lesson years ago with a far cheaper and less important purchase from them.

[nem5325]

I probably should't post this because of the ensuing flaming but...

The only reconciliation that would be offered from FS is the undue time that you waited. Also, this reconciliation is decided on by the GM of that location, not head office or any other manager. If the GM says to go fly a kit, you're not getting a dime. If you approach the GM and use the time delay as your angle, and stay desperately away from the coffee incident, you'll get something.

Again, compensation is up to the individual GM.

The offer is still open to forward me your tag # so I can give you some more detailed background information for you to make a better case to the GM.

[bubble.tea]

....
The offer is still open to forward me your tag # so I can give you some more detailed background information for you to make a better case to the GM.
Nice, an insider.

I'm noting this post for future reference :lol:

[heckifiknow]

You had me at, 'I purchased at Future Shop'. Ugh. Seems everyone needs to learn that painful lesson once before you don't buy anything with movable parts there ever again. You get a comparible protection policy buying something hot from a fence.

[emmafb]

I personally think the service is unacceptable. They should just tell you the laptop is beyond repair long ago.
Forget about customer service or store manager (they just work there, they really don't care..)
Go straight to the top, send a "REGISTERED LETTER" to the CEO/President of FS head office.

(2 years ago, I bought a New Mazda 5, the dealer tried to give me non-Mazda parts - charge me same as Mazda part. The sales manager didn't care about my complaint because to him car has been delivered. Customer service tried to brush me off and refer me back to dealer. I wrote the President of Mazda Canada a registered letter. That got customer service and sales manager called me back to apologize right the way and arrange original Mazda part installed in my car)