I didn’t expect to be posting a follow-up within 36 hours of my first post, but the saga has come to an end… exactly three weeks (to the hour) after it began.
To make a long story short, I called the store, they called corporate as I was instructed by corporate yesterday.
Corporate then called the repair center and basically told them to “put up or shut up”. The repair center then called me, asking if I new if a replacement had been approved yet. After nailing every last mistake the repair center had made… they promised me a callback within 10 minutes.
That callback came from Best Buy Corporate. And, I received a personal apology on behalf of the company for all the trouble I’ve been put through. That kind of admission is one that is crucial for companies to put forth. Don’t just say sorry for the inconvenice, customers hate that. Know what was screwed up, and own it. That shows you want to make things right.
Anyways, the corporate supervisor I spoke with found out that basically, if you have a Westinghouse HDTV, there aren’t any parts… anywhere. Westinghouse is not working with repair centers to vend parts for their units to third-parties.
Of course, Best Buy acknowledged that it was the Chino, CA Repair Center’s fault… they knew about the lack of parts and didn’t tell anyone, hoping they could get the parts in late June instead of losing credit for the repair.
So, my 18-month-old Westinghouse 32-inch W3213 was replaced with a Westhinghouse 32-inch SK-32H540S. That was exactly the comparable replacement that I had in mind, and I didn’t even have to ask for it. Corporate approved the price difference.
Now, getting the TV wasn’t as easy as I was promised. I had to wait for over 20 minutes just for one guy to key in my service order number, say “oh… it’s you“, and hand me back to the desk I was at before, for them to finish the transaction.
And yeah, I bought the PSP for the new TV. $60 for a new one every 18 months isn’t that bad a deal. Hopefully I won’t have to tack on the cost of a crusade the next time.