Alright,
My XBox is approaching 2 years, and it’s crashing and not reading disks, but has no RROD or anything. I got the Best Buy plan… but can’t find the receipt. It got lost in my move.
Am I screwed? Is there anyway to look it up?
Yep. They can look it up by your phone number, name or address.
It helps to have paid for it with a credit card too.
First, set aside a half hour at least. That’s how long it took my customer service person, and it wasn’t her fault but the call center she had to negotiate with.
I just did this, and all you need is the phone number you gave at the time of the warranty. I would also suggest that you have an error that can be clearly demonstrated on the spot (eg, my one red light was immediately apparent), because in my case they insisted on checking it out. I don’t care which error, but make it something they can’t ignore, I have a feeling there’s a real YMMV as a result of how closely they are scrutinizing xbox returns.
You don’t need the box or documentation, they’ll just check the serial number on the xbox. You can keep your HD, just take out the new one and return it to them on the spot (I had to explain that the old hd I had at home would, in fact, work just fine with a “new” elite). Bring back as much crap as you can find, headset, controller, video cable, whatever.
Also, depending on which version you have, you may be up for a gift card refund as a result of xbox price drops. They did it automatically so I don’t think there’s any way to screw you out of it.
When I returned GHWT as defective, the process was much quicker with no need for testing (granted, that was under “defective when purchased”). I expect the nature of the xbox return fiasco makes it a much more delicate issue.
LK’s got it on the nose.
Also, keep in mind that just because they can look it up using your CC or address doesn’t mean the guy you talk to is going to want to. They may very well claim that they can’t do it. They are lying to you. Not kidding here. The guy you’re talking to wants to move on to the person with an easy problem, not you. So you may have to push.
This thread just made me realize that I have the extended warranty with…Circuit City. Oh well.
Okay, my Mom’s laptop just failed and she has the BB extended warranty.
On top of that, she took it into a Georgia BB to let the Geek Squad fix up some Windows issues she was having before the hardware failure and they proceeded to install an OEM Dell Windows version on her Toshiba. So on her way home, she gets a “This Copy of Windows is Not Genuine” error.
She’s going to take it to a different BB when she’s in Florida next week. (She has no local BB.) The laptop is dead – she tried a new battery and no battery, and it just shuts down with a black screen.
Is she likely to encounter:
- “Oh, so sorry that other store screwed up. Let us replace this under your extended warranty.”
- “Oh, let us fix this for you. We’ll order the parts and have it back to you in a week.”
- “There’s a key broken off on the keyboard,” (which happened over a year ago), " you’ve obviously damaged this. Warranty void!"
Anyone dealt with laptop warranty issues at BB? What’s her best approach?
I’m going to document exactly how badly the Georgia BB Geek Squad screwed up on her Windows repair for her.
ehh, they might say sorry you installed a pirated version of windows but we can install a legit copy for $129. software stuff isn’t covered under their warrenty, and i doubt they would believe your mom. i would take it back to the one in georgia and give em’ hell
I’ve swapped my 360 out twice at Best Buy with their warranty plan. They never asked for a receipt, they just went by my phone number and looked at my drivers license.
They never asked for proof of them being broken/having a problem, either. They just shrugged, swapped hard drives, and sent me on my way. Both times took about five minutes. I guess I go to slacker Best Buys.
what sucks is that they have stopped doing replacement planes at bb for consoles. they all have to be sent out to the manufacturer now. old replacement plans are still honored though.
This thread reminded me that I have an extended Best Buy warranty for my GPS, which a burgler stole and was unable to use due to not knowing my key code, prompting him/her to place the device under my tire for me to later run over (nice sense of justice, that). It’s more or less intact, but non-functional and looks somewhat crushed. I, too, seem to lack a receipt. I’d been putting this call off for obvious reasons.
Well, hopefully their system shows the repair and Windows reinstall that she overpaid for in GA… She won’t be back there till Xmas, so hopefully we can get the FL one to handle it.
Are you fuckin kidding me? I have bought 3 consoles from BB on the strength of their replacement plans, and I have used every single one of them (Dreamcast, Xbox, 360). Maybe that’s why they’ve stopped offering them :( Well, that kills my intention of ever buying another one from them.
yeah, that was the main selling point before. now its just like any other warranty plan.
Thanks for the tips guys, I’ll try that this weekend.
My XBox does the following:
- Make horrible drive noises and refuses to load disks 50% of the time
- Has been crashing loading XBox Live games – hard stuff to run, like Heavy Weapon.
I’ll get all the XBox Premium stuff together (xbox, power brick, hard drive, component video cables, 1 controller, headset, right?) and see what happens this weekend.
Well, after key mention of the word “replacement”, lots of smiling, friendliness, and “I understand…” comments, plus a couple well timed and acted bouts of exasperation, I have successfully replaced my 2 year old XBox with a brand new one, with a 60GB hard drive.
Fulcrums of the conversation:
Best Buy Geek Squad: “Well, we plug it in here, and it works fine, even with the drive noise.”
Me: “I’m telling you, it’ll work until I get it home…”
Best Buy: “Ok, we don’t normally do this, but just this once…”
Later…
Manager that wandered in the the conversation after they’re processing the return: “What, you don’t have the pack-in games?”
Me: “I just moved, I have no idea where those are… and seriously? For the games? Really?”
Manager: “Yes”.
Me: “How about you knock $30 off the store credit”.
Manager: “No”.
Me: “How about I go buy Top Spin2 and NFS: Most Wanted right now and give them to you to put in the box.”
Her: “Umm… no…”
Me (not moving and using my best ‘you gotta give me something’ face): “Well, what then?”
Best Buy Rep that I had been friendly to the entire time: “Doesn’t this one have games?”
Manager: “No.”
Me: “Yes it does! It has Kung fu Panda / Indiana Jones, how about you take those.”
Manager: “Hrm… ok”.
They asked if I wanted to use the difference from the $399 to the $299 to buy a service plan. I declined.
Friendly persistence works pretty well, I find.
Yeah, I’m leaving KFPanda/Indy shrinkwrapped for the next return. I’m glad it worked out for you. I still think it beats waiting, but I guess I have moderately nicer BB people than you do.
XPav, I have no idea why retail people can be such dicks. I admit it, I work in the geek squad. It sucks. But you know what? When I first started, If I couldn’t replicate a 360 problem in store, I sent a few people away steaming without a replacement. Now, I know its just not worth it. I take the people’s benefit of the doubt, because it seemingly working fine in the store doesn’t mean it isn’t defective. These employee power trips blow my mind. Its not like you gain anything by pissing people off.
Hell, sometimes I just glance in the box and walk the the customer back down to customer service.
btw, the way they are supposed to handle missing accessories is just to take whatever is missing out of the replacement you get. simple right? you’d think…
Hey, the first thing I would do is contact 1-888 BEST BUY and talk to the customer support team. They’d be VERY interested to hear that Precinct used an OEM copy of windows to restore the system, as even if it was a Toshiba copy, if you didn’t provide it, they aren’t allowed to use it. At the least, in my experience with them, you should be getting your money back for any software services they did, plus a gift card.
They won’t void your service plan because of the broken key. A cracked screen would be another issue, but if you happen to still have the key that popped off, I would send it out along with the unit if you send it out for service.
The store itself can’t repair laptops, they will get sent to the national repair center. Turn time is around 2 weeks this time of year.
Let me know if you need any other details.
Oh, I worked in retail a decade ago, I know exactly what it is, and it all depends on the store management.