It's not the $54 million pants lawsuit, it's the $54 million laptop lawsuit

I thought it was pretty friviolous when former Judge Pearson filed a $54 million lawsuit against a local dry cleaner shop on a pair of pants.

A $54 million lawsuit by Raelyn Campbell on a laptop may also seem ridiculous, but if Best Buy is going to lie to you for nine straight months, then something like this may prove useful in getting this company to treat their customers better.

The woman's damaged laptop was at her local Best Buy for six months for repairs, then she was finally told that it was lost. Then it took three months trying to settle some sort of compensation, and finally she had to file that astronomical lawsuit.

Campbell bought her new laptop at Best Buy in 2006, and she pay an extra $300 for an extended warranty. Fortunately, this was good for her when a year later, the computer's on/off switch broke. She took the computer back to the store, and she was given a repair estimate of TWO TO SIX WEEKS!

If it were 2-6 weeks for a business user, then it is clearly not productive and shows there must be very lazy techs working there. Honestly, I can send a IBM laptop with a broken screen back to their repair depot and get it back in roughly 2 weeks.

Anyway, it was alright for Campbell since she had to go abroad for a couple of weeks. When she came back from Asia, she did not hear anything from Best Buy.

Her Aug. 24 complaint letter to the firm was filled with exasperation.

“On July 11, I contacted the (store’s) helpline and was instructed by ‘Agent David Goodfellow’ that it would be ‘ready within days,’” she wrote to the firm in a letter dated Aug. 24. “I called the service line again on July 19, and was told by a female agent that the computer appeared to be at the ‘Louisville Services Center since July 4.’ On July 25, I called again and spoke to Brenda, who transferred me to Daniel. Daniel confirmed that a ‘part had just been ordered. It should leave Louisville soon.’ …When I heard nothing further, I called yet again on Aug. 7 and spoke with Ashley. When she could not confirm any additional information, I asked to speak to a manager. I was told the manager, ‘Marsha,’ was in a meeting. I asked her to call ASAP. My call was not returned, so I called again on Aug. 9. I explained the whole situation yet again to ‘Cicero,’ who indicated that there seemed to be a problem.”

The problem was severe: “It never appears to have left the store,” she recounted Cicero as telling her. A few days later, he called back and admitted that the computer had been lost. The way she sees it, the other company clerks had been lying to her all along.

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Of course, the compensation part was even worse.

Campbell paid more than $1,100 for the computer and warranty.

Best Buy's first offer: $900 gift card

She wanted $2,100 in cash. She got family and friends to write to the store in protest. It did surprise her when the store's general manager, Robert Delissio, replied back to the letters.

His response, in a sort of condescending way:

"For every customer that has had an unpleasant experience I can show you hundreds who have had a great experience. I have been in retail for a long time and the one conclusion I have come to is that not every customer can be satisfied," he wrote in an e-mail supplied by Campbell. "Does my store have opportunities? Absolutely! What I can say is that we strive to deliver the experience that every customer deserves to receive."

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A textbook answer. Of course we cannot satisfy everybody, but if your personnel lost a laptop and the person's financial and personal information, how can you treat it with less value? Your employees were totally at fault, not the customer. When you get that one isolated situation, why do you treat it with such disdain and ignorance? Imagine if you really took care of Campbell, it would have created a positive image for the company and its employees.

Best Buy did increased their offer, only after the Washington, D.C., attorney general called the store.

This time: $1,100 credit card refund plus $500 gift card

Then Campbell had a bigger problem than a lost computer - the potential for identity theft. She did have her personal information on the computer including her personal tax returns. So she had to enroll in a identity theft monitoring service. She also learned that Best Buy was in violation of the district's security breach notification law, which requires companies that have lost a consumer's data to tell them. To date, she has not received that notification.

Finally, she filed the $54 million lawsuit.

Best Buy increased their offer again: $1,100 refund, the $500 gift card, and $2,500 in cash. But she would have to withdraw her lawsuit and sign a confidentiality agreement.

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Why a secret agreement? To cover up their security lapse in the loss of a customer's laptop? To cover up the lies the customer service reps have made to Campbell?

Campbell knows she won't get the $54 million. All she really wants is a promise from the company that it will train employees on privacy issues and on procedures for preventing loss or theft of returned items.

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I am sure we can all understand her situation. I have shopped at Best Buy quite often and pretty much got great service in return. Of course, I have not encountered a situation where I had to deal with Best Buy on returning a product for service or replacement. I guess it is always smooth sailing when buying something, but if you need something fixed or you need to return something for a replacement or refund, then Best Buy gets quite stingy.

Ahh, the Geeksquad... bunch of smartass techs. Perhaps even incompetent too.

Link

Campbell's Blog