Best Buy is GROSSLY FUCKING INCOMPETENT!!! (rant ahead)

I had boot issues with my year-old laptop. Something was causing the hard disk to take 15-20 minutes to boot up. Tried seeing if the problem would work itself out in time. Tried troubleshooting it myself. Tried reinstalling Windows. Nothing worked. The Best Buy techs at my local store said they'd look at it. They did. Couldn't figure it out. Sent it off to the main service center. Took 'em a fucking MONTH to get it back to me.

I get it back Tuesday night. My poor old dad drives 45 minutes to return it, because neither of us trusts a shipping company to send it undamaged.

The system board's been pulled, keyboard's been replaced, and the hard drive's been replaced. I put the recovery disk in to reinstall Windows and all my drivers, the recovery disk that worked just fine a month ago...screen reads WRONG MACHINE, Install failed. Cue berserker rage and a roar of "ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!!" that has my suitemate two rooms down asking me what's wrong. I barely retain enough self-control to keep from trying to put my fist through the wall.

Call Best Buy. Rant at techs, when I almost never rant at service employees. Told that they can't do anything over the phone, and to take it to a nearby Best Buy.

Today, a different suitemate offers to give me a lift to the closest Best Buy. We go there. Tech there takes a look at it and says..."We can't do anything here...pack the disk along with it and send it off to service." THAT'S WHO FUCKED IT UP IN THE FIRST PLACE, DICKHEAD!!!

I want the SKIN of whoever ROYALLY FUCKED UP at the service center!!! I'm going to peel it off, tan it, and make into a fucking THROW RUG!!! THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS KIND OF FUCKUPPERY!!! IT TOOK FOREVER TO BOOT, BUT AT LEAST IT USED TO WORK!!!

I got a little freaky at times, I know.

They had the damn thing for six weeks, I get it back, and the little needle in the back socket where the power cord goes is broken. It took three more weeks to get it back to me. :banghead:

then I started buying everything at Costco, and if it breaks, I just return it (of course, their profits seem to be suffering from this policy, but they have a loyal customer who buys everything from them).

Costco. Greatest return policy ever.

(end rave)

I bought an iPod from them a year ago. They sold me a warranty, claiming that if the battery died, they would replace the entire thing...with a brand new iPod.

As expected, the battery on my year-old iPod is starting to die. I take the iPod, the receipt, and the warranty information to my nearest Best Buy.

The person at customer service (haha, if that isn't an oxymoron...) tells me that they have changed the warranty. CHANGED. THE. WARRANTY. Now, I'm not an idiot. In fact, quite the opposite, I'm a lawyer. I know damn well that you can't change the terms of a warranty AFTER someone buys it. So I demand to talk to the supervisor.

What a joke. She knew less about the warranty than the original person did. In fact, she tried to tell me that it was APPLE that changed the policy, when I was clearly holding a Best Buy warranty. She said that all the warranty would get me was a new battery, which of course would require them to send the iPod somewhere.

I'm pissed as hell, but I play along and ask how long it would take. She DIDN'T KNOW. Couldn't even wager a guess. As though they don't replace iPod batteries on a daily basis?

I ended up leaving...with my iPod.

I haven't had time to pursue the matter further, but I definitely will be.