The $54 Million Laptop

Stanislav_J writes "It happens to the best of us: you drop off your laptop at the local branch of some Super Mega Electronics McStore, go to pick it up, and they can't find it. Lost, gone, kaput — probably sucked into a black hole and now breeding with lost airline luggage. It would make any of us mad, but Raelyn Campbell of Washington, D.C. isn't just mad — she's $54 million mad. That's how much she is asking from Best Buy in a lawsuit that seeks 'fair compensation for replacement of the $1,100 computer and extended warranty, plus expenses related to identity theft protection.' Best Buy claims that Ms. Campbell was offered and collected $1,110.35 as well as a $500 gift card for her inconvenience. (I guess that extra 35 cents wasn't enough to sway her.) Her blog claims that Geek Squad employees spent three months telling her different stories about where her laptop might be before finally acknowledging that it had been lost. For those who follow economic trends, this means that a laptop's worth is roughly equivalent to that of a pair of pants."

Comments

Similar Situation

[Zaphod The 42nd]

A friend of mine had a similar situation with Best Buy. He bought a computer from them, with warranty, and something (I can't recall what) went wrong, so he brought it in. He waited some two months and it never came back, with the geek squad continually telling him "this weekend we'll have it!" and each time he drove down there they'd go "nope, not yet, try next weekend." Finally, I went with him (knowing a thing or two about retail) and pulled aside the manager, and made it clear to him that we were extremely unhappy, and explaining that this simple maintainance had taken over two months. Finally, after hearing at least 10 different stories and being asked to call 5 different numbers for other people who were supposed to know where it was, we finally found out that it had been lost into the void. One would then think the problem would be resolved; but no! Apparently Best Buy and whoever shipped the laptop off to be fixed were arguing over who's fault it was and who should buy my friend a new laptop. Thats why when my stuff breaks, I fix it. Then I know where it is and how long it'll take, exactly.

Re:Similar Situation

[RingDev]

I've worked in a few different tech retail stores. And at each of them at least 1 person (usually middle management) is busted for walking off with repair units, RTVs, or stuff right off the truck.

Heck, the first CompUSA I worked at in high school, the front end manager was busted for skimming the drawers. The cage manager got busted with his van at the loading doc moving inventory out. The tech bench manager skipped town with thousands of dollars worth of memory and processors. The General Manager got busted on tax evasion. All within a year and a half time span.

I had a friend pick up a job there a year later while I was in the military, they had all new management, with new vices. Instead of ripping off the store/customers, the wound up with a bunch of small time pot dealers in supervisor/middle management positions. Not like they were doing business in the store, but their smoke breaks were a taken in back by the loading doc. On the bright side though, they got great customer reviews for their friendliness and chipper attitude.

-Rick

Re:Mod Parent Up

[provigilman]

True, not to mention the fact that she seems fully aware that $54 Million is an unreaslistic sum that she'll never get. Suing for that amount did get one thing though...media attention. Now Best Buy's practices are being aired out in front of everyone.

Even if she eventually settles for legal fees + 5-10K the damage to Best Buy's rep has already been done.

Re:What the summary didn't include

[whoever57]

Best Buy fucking lost this lady's personal machine, and they are not responsible that way for whatever personal data (and illegal porn) she might have had one it.

Had Best Buy notified her immediately about the loss, I could agree with you, but instead, they lied about it -- to the extent of an employee creating a fabricated entry in their systems. It's the delay and lying that makes them responsible IMHO.

Re:You pretty much deserve all you get.

[Grygus]

So crime is okay because victims should protect themselves? It is the duty of the weak and/or ignorant to bear aggression from those stronger or more informed? What a nice lawless society we should have! I don't know why I didn't see this before. Clint Eastwood's westerns taught us all we need to know about civilization.

Managers tell you to lie

[Anonymous Coward]

I work part-time as a Geek Squad Agent within a Best Buy location (posting anonymously for obvious reasons). I have been told first-hand by more than one manager on more than one occasion to lie to a customer when it comes to damage and/or loss to their products that is the fault of Best Buy. On the numerous occasions I have protested this type of "customer service" I have been told that to admit anything is to open the company up to liability.

I roll my eyes at a lot of the complaints leveled at the company b/c I stand on the other side of the counter. However, this one is completely true and happens frequently on a wide-spread basis. I hope she wins this case and forces corporate to change a blatantly anti-customer policy.

Honesty and responsibility

[fermion]

Even without any mitigating circumstances, awards such as these serve the purpose of encouraging honesty and responsibility. Even from the skewed summary, one thing that stands out was it took three months for best buy to take responsibility. Just think of how it might have turned out if Best Buy has taken this tact. After a week admit that the laptop might be lost. Offer to replace the laptop, along with a gift card, no strings attached. if the laptop is found, the customer gets that one as well.

Assuming that Best buy only loses 1 laptop per hour, that is less than 2 million dollars a year, probably mostly tax deductible. Such a policy may even provide a competitive advantage as it will clearly indicate that Best Buy is dedicated to customer service and will not jerk their customers around. We know that the opposite is true, but such a gimmick could change this.

In the end best buy will prefer to spend 2 millions dollars on lawyers rather than establish protocols to increase customer value.

Re:Read what she's gone through?

[Kjella]

While true, I'm inclined to believe pretty much anything when a big corporation actually has made some sort of mistake. You'd be amazed how extremely few can afford to say "we haven't got a clue where your machine is, but we're trying to locate it". Most likely they think it's misregistered, misplaced or misshipped somewhere and make up some phoney answer that a lot of the time will work out. By the time it's clear something's wrong, it's pass the blame time where you try to avoid being either the scapegoat or the one to tell the customer. With luck it'll go to another support rep or clerk in the store, right? Same with those cold attempts at compensation, noone wants to take responsibility and make any sort of personal interest, it's left to a bean counter that hands you a check. It's like when you get assigned something for opening your mouth, say as little as possible and hope to pass the buck.

Re:Tenleytown Best Buy!

[RobNich]

And apparently the reason McDonalds keeps their coffee hotter that other restaurants is that the hotter it is, the longer it can sit on the burner after being brewed without the flavor degrading.

So they saved money by keeping it that hot. And it was probably a LOT more than the reward in the lawsuit.