Digital Home Thoughts: The Ulitimate Best Buy Extended Warranty Nightmare

"After waiting 48 hrs without any word, I visit the store once again. Ask the clerk at the service desk to get the store manager. The clerk calls GM on his private line. Before emerging from the safety of his office, the clerk is directed by the GM on the phone to ask my name and reason for my visit. I provide my name and reply that my visit is regarding a 61 inch HDTV. As soon as the GM hears this, he immediately dispatches Don Pameli to speak with me, the very same person who promised to contact XXXXX on my behalf to ensure any negative effects of improper handling were corrected. But Don never called XXXXXX or myself. Mr. Pameli comes down and immediately informs me that my problem is no longer the stores responsibility. Then he has the nerve to lie directly in my face. Claims he tried to contact me after our original conversation, but he said I had no voice mail service. However, he is unaware that both my home and office have voice mail and call display. There is no record of his call on either system!!! As for the GM, what a despicable and cowardly course of action. Hiding in his office and forcing his subordinate to break pledged he made with me."

What can you say other than painful. Having just gone through some TV problems myself, I consider myself very fortunate that my scenario was the polar opposite of this scenario. I purchased my TV from the Visions Electronics store near my house in NW Calgary, and the two people I've dealt with (Ryan, Assistant Manager, and John, Store Manager) have been nothing short of fantastic. They took away my old Samsung TV, let me upgrade to a bigger and better TV, and (I kid you not) the whole thing happened in the span of 72 hours. I discussed the situation with John on Friday afternoon, went and looked at the Toshiba 72" in person on Friday night, went in to Visions on Saturday afternoon to pay the difference and order the product, and Monday at 12 noon the TV was delivered.

I couldn't have asked for anything better, and Visions earned even more loyalty from me through this process. I ended up buying a four year extended warranty and a new DVD player from them. Later this year I'm looking at upgrading my sound system and buying a new TV stand. And guess where I'll go? Visions.

Do you have your own stories about how companies have either made warranty returns a horrible process? What about companies that have exceeded your expectations by making warranty issues painless?