Best Buy, I Have Never Been So Disgusted With a Company Ever

I sure feel your pain! You know I am so tired of this type of thing
going on with companies, that I will not buy any extended warranty
anymore. There is ALWAYS some dang reason they refuse to fix
something. So I feel like why bother anymore.

Best buy covers lots of things in their warranties, like power surges.
so if for some reason a lot more voltage than is supposed to were to
go into your camera and somehow fry it, they would cover it... you are
graduating college, figure it out.

I think extended warranties can be helpful. I have a friend that just
had a washing machine replaced with a brand new one. Some people are
saying just the oposite and that you should never pay for a warranty.
What if a good company sold one of these warrantys for $1? I think
that would be great and wouldn't pass it up. You should just be
educated about it like you are the thing you are buying.

Im sorry to hear the problems you are having with your camera. get
another one for your graduation. That is once in a lifetime.

Extended warranties are a cash cow for the companies selling them. I
would never, ever, under any circumstances, buy an extended warranty.

You seem to placing a lot of blame of Best Buy's doorstep. I wonder
if you should be complaining to Kodak?

Sears Hardware sells extended warranties at the cash register. I have
stood in line behind three people in a row who were offered extended
warranties. Much more profitable than placing racks of candy at the
checkout. How many candy bars = 1 year extended warranty on a hand
drill?

I think the reason you are so upset with Best Buy is the extended
warranty they sold you. Let this be a learning lesson - extended
warranties are designed to take your money and put it in someone
else's pocket.

You asked before you bought if dropping a camera in the toilet was
covered?

While you might THINK you are exceptionally cautious with your camera,
you'd be amazed how easily digital cameras can be damaged.

Sometimes just taking the camera from a cold environment to a slightly
warmer environment (I don't know where you live, so I don't know how
cold it gets there.) can cause that condensation they mentioned (I
know, I used to have to take pictures for work and sometimes we'd take
pictures outside the building and when I came back in , my lens would
fog up!)

And I hate to tell you, Kodak is kind of low on the quality scale as
far as digital cameras go, but if you want to get remedy on something
that appears to be a workmanship issue, you might consider contacting
Kodak instead.

Warranty or not, somethings just aren't covered and no amount of
complaining will get them to go against that.

Do you ever COMPLIMENT a company? and also, how long was the
extended warranty for?

I consider Best Buy to be the Walmart of the electronics world. Their
prices may be a little bit lower than average but if you ever need any
kind of service (or if you need to talk to someone that knows jack
about the products they sell), you're outta luck. Calling the store to
see if they have an item in stock is a little bit different. With
Walmart, they'll tell you that they have it in stock (every time)
whether they do or not. With Best Buy, you'll never talk to an actual
human being.

I was pretty much with you up to this point:


"Being that your company sells products that are easily damaged
without misuse i do not think my friends and family would appreciate
shopping at your store either."


I have this same camera. I have no idea where it was bought from
because it was a gift. I have had it for over two years now and I have
used it to the point where I have about worn it out. Literally. I
pretty much have my camera with me all the time and I take sometimes
hundreds of pictures a month. It still works great and the only time I
ever had a problem with it was because the batteries and the camera
card needed to be replaced.

But the fact here is that Best Buy didnt make the camera. You should
be sending this letter to Kodak, not Best Buy. If your warrenty doesnt
cover the damage then it doesnt cover that. That is an issue you
should deal with Best Buy about BUT, to blame them for selling
products that are easily damaged without misuse is just wrong. My
Kodak Easy Share camera has been in hot cars, cold cars, banged on
tables and chairs, dropped on the floor. Its been played with by my 16
month old nephew. Its been in every condition possible except snow
because I live in the south and we dont get snow. And it works
absolutely wonderfully with no problems. Its beat up and scratched up,
but it works! But if you are going to accuse someone of making an
inferior product, that blame should go to Kodak. However, in this
case, you would be wrong. Its the best camera I have ever had! Maybe
you got a fluke bad one, or maybe you caused damage to it that you
dont want to own up to. But this is one good camera! I am in the
process of looking for a new camera now because I need something a
little more high tech. But if I didnt I would definately buy another
one of these and I have recommended them to many people.

Moisture damaging electronics is very common. That's why new products
have those small packets of silica gel (or other compounds that absorb
moisture) placed inside the packaging.

Moisture is a part of our atmosphere -- you don't have to be
underwater or live in a high-humidity location to be in a
moisture-rich environment. A camera case, no matter how expensive or
how frequently it is used, cannot protect against moisture. A simple
solution is to keep a moisture-absorbing packet with the camera when
it is not in use. The instruction booklets of all of my cameras warn
about the effects of moisture.

In my camera-buying experience, it's always helpful to ask what kinds
of situations are not covered by the warranty. Every time I asked my
camera salesperson, I was always told to read the warranty.

Your best bet may be to make your warranty and product buying
decisions based on what the warranty covers, what the product features
are and what kind of maintenance is your responsibility.

The lack of a camera shouldn't mar the experience of a college
graduation. I hope you center your attention on this significant
achievement and not on anything else.

Katherine,
I hope that taking this to their coporate level will get you some
degree of satisfaction.
In hindsight I might have left off most of the last two paragraphs
referencing honesty and your plan to tell friends and family.
I've read that camera and cellphone maufacturers now place a chip or
some sort of device in their goods that can tell a tech if the item
was submerged in water or if it was simply casual contact.
That being said something else to be aware of is the constant movement
from the an air conditioned envirmonent to the outside world can cause
condensation and thus corrosion.
Good luck and do stop back and let us know how your effort shakes
out.
Bill R.

Personally, I don't think these extended warranties are worth the
paper they are written on. There are so many exclusions that it's
next to impossible to get anything covered under them. I would never
believe that any item would be covered due to customer damage, dropped
in the toilet, etc and this moisture damage thing seems to be one they
always try to pull on the consumer.

I do hope you get this resolved. Have you tried contacting Kodak to
see if they will cover it under the manufacturers warranty? If they
have a 1 yr warranty they should repair it.

I think you got screwed. One thing I learned about warranties is that
if it does not explicitly state something, it is not covered. I do not
care what a salesperson tells me, if it is not in writing it is not
covered.
About 90% of the time I look at the cost of the warranty and compare
the price of what I think a new one will cost after a year and usually
don't get it.
The most warranties seem to save you on smaller items is $100 to $200,
and if the item lasts 2 years it seems to be a break even. I just
don't trust paying $50, $80, $100 for an extended warranty because I
know every time something happens it will not be covered and no one
actually seems to cover damage other than component failure not matter
what they say. Once you tack on shipping, rush charges etc that often
are not covered it ends up not saving you a lot.
I hope they make it right.

Geez...you got a very raw deal. I hope they fix this problem for you.
It sounds like you were a very careful consumer. You asked all the
right questions, you made sure that your camera would be covered and
they told you it would. I wish I had some helpful advice, but
unfortunately, I don't.

Your letter is very well written and you are very clear and to the
point. There should be a "model letters" section here for all the
poor misguided souls who can't seem to grasp the concept. I hope you
hear from them soon.

The problem as I see it is that salespeople sell products and extended
warranties with poetry, make their salary, plus a bonus for selling
the extended warranty. They then refuse to or make it a difficult
process to comply with the extended warranty, using the prose of the
contract itself and some excuse not to pony up.
The salesman gained your trust and it makes sense to ask these
questions, not because you doubt the company, but just as a
clarification of what he was saying would be covered.

So the problem pivots on the wording of the extended warranty. They
claim it's because the camera was never fully encased and moisture
would damage it (which does not sit right with me. If there is
moisture, would it make more sense if it was incased in something that
would allow moisture to escape?). It's fairly common to have the
customer be blamed for the damage (Saural thinking at best) with the
goal of the customer giving up.

I don't see this letter as a rant of any kind, just someone who feels
betrayed after being lied to. I think getting an independent opinion
is a good idea. There may be some way to work with both the company
and the company that handles the extended warranty.
I believe you have a valid complaint and should be entitled to have it
repaired or replaced.

To begin with, if I didn't believe in a company's honesty, when
backing an extended warranty, I wouldn't trust them enough to shop
with them in the first place.

There are many products that I wished would just include longer
warranties. Generally, if I'm spending enough money that I would
expect the item to be covered longer than the manufacturer backs the
product, I price out the extended warranties offered by local
retailers. I simply get read the written guarantee that's available
at most retailers and price shop it along with the merchandise. This
approach has served me very well.

So in this instance, I'm not sure if I understand Katherine is unhappy
because she feels the sales associate communicated that things would
be covered that would not or, because diagnostics state that the
camera had moisture damage when it had not.

The letter, in my humble opinion, sounds more like an angry rant
instead of a sensible, reasonable letter. For example, you Katherine
states she'll never go into another Best Buy again, but then requests
service from them.

If you really felt the camera was not damaged due to moisture, begin
by getting their stance in writing. Then take the camera to a
separate service center for nothing more than a written independent
diagnostics. Even though such service may initially cost you the
independent company's bench fee, it will give you the necessary
documentation that their diagnostics were wrong. You would then be
completely within your rights to require them to cover the camera
along with the cost of independent diagnostic cost. If you really
know the damage may have been done by this moisture damage, than of
course you wouldn't risk the time or cost.

Congratulations on your graduation Katherine. That is really a great
accomplishment.

Yeah, that's a pretty crappy deal... I know many of us have heard
the "it doesn't matter if you drop it, smash it with a hammer, run
over it in your car" type of shpeal in re: to extended warranties.
:-( Good luck.

You know, I don't agree with extended warranties: They're a HUGE
profit center for retailers, and generally aren't necessary. But then
when someone DOES get one, they still seem to get screwed!

I agree--you deserve to have your camera fixed (or replaced)!
However, you may want to read the fine print in the paperwork you
signed. Store employees have been known to lie to customers about
these kinds of things, so you must always read the paperwork and find
out what is covered and what isn't.

Good luck!