Best Buy Repair Support

[dms123]

Hello, I am writing to express my frustration with a geek squad service appointment I had today, at your store located at 478 Alakawa St, Honolulu, HI 96817

I had an formal web-created appointment for 11:20am to drop off an apple watch to be sent in for repair, since Best Buy is now an authorized Apple repair center. 

The geek squad employee saw me right on time at 11:20, but the process of leaving the watch with him, and having him enter in the repair to the system, literally took 1.5 hours (the process started at 11:20 am and was completed at 12:50pm). 

Here are the details:

-Apple recently begun a “screen replacement program” program for certain models of Apple watch, for users who have had issues with the screen. Details can be found at https://support.apple.com/screen-replacement-program-apple-watch-series-2-3

-This is meant to be a free repair, if they agree that your watch qualifies for the pgoram, and if they do not agree they send the watch back to you unrepaired, at no charge

-On the web page referenced above, you can enter in your zip code to find the nearest store to drop the watch off at. My local best buy was presented by apple as an authorized service center and the web page allowed me to make an appointment to drop off the watch

-At the Best Buy location’s geek squad counter the employee had not received any training or briefing on this particular program (even though it has been in effect for several weeks), and as a result, he did not know how to process the repair, without the system trying to charge me a nonrefundable amount of $230 right at the time of dropoff. I should mention that he was curteous and professional during the entire time, as was his manager. 

-No other employee in the store, including other sales clerks, the onsite apple reps, or the store manager, knew how to resolve the issue. The geek squad employee contacted someone at Apple tech support, but this too did not resolve the issue in a timely manner.

-Eventually the employee and his manager did figure out some way to process the watch into the screen replacement program without charging me, but as mentioned it took 90 minutes for what should have been maybe a 10-minute process at most, if the employees had been given the correct training. 

I am requesting that the Best Buy social media specialist privately message me to further discuss this issue. In the end, I donated a large amount of my time to act as a “beta tester” and help the geek squad employees figure out how to learn how to process orders as an apple service center.

As a freelance employee, the only thing I have of value is my time, and due to improper training of your employees, a large amount of that time (and this money) was wasted. As you can imagine that is very frustrating.

[autotech796]

Thanks for registering with the Best Buy forums to send us your post!  I'm not entirely sure why these trainings were not put into motion at the store you visited, but we do appreciate your time and patience while they took a closer look at how they could help. 

You bet a moderator could swing by to make sure the store has the appropriate materials to coach and train the employees who may not know about the program you're referring to!  Sadly, time is not something the moderators compensate for, but if you're looking for any compensation for this, I would highly recommend working with the store until a moderator is able to stop by and provide an official response for you!

[autotech796]

I should fully disclaim that I cannot tell you what outcome would take place when you visited the store again, but they could at least offer an official response also if you're not wishing to wait for a moderator. 

[Cameron-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Hi, dms123 and autotech796,

Welcome to the Forum and thanks for posting!

We appreciate you sharing your experience with us about what had happened when you came into the store. I would also be quite surprised to find that the employees hadn't been updated on the procedure to get an Apple Watch repair generated for you in this manner. We're here to help out and do what we can to support you and your product. 

I see that you've sent Wesley a Private Message outlining what you've shared here. If you're still interested in discussing this further with us, please send me a Private Message with your full name, email address, and phone number so we can get started. To send me a Private Message, you can click the blue button in my signature. 

I look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks,