The Longest Repair

Over a month ago, I took an old laptop to BestBuy to get repaired. It’s an old Gateway laptop – it was a great computer, and it really isn’t all that old – only a couple of years at most.

I figured, I’d give it to my dad, which would be a welcomed sight seeing as he’s using an old computer running Windows98. Yeppers, you read right, he’s using a computer which is probably over 10-years-old. When I go over an turn the thing on, you can walk the dog around the block several times, and it is still powering up.

BestBuy has yet to ever actually call me and let me know the status of the repair on this machine. I keep calling them – which isn’t good customer service at all. And to top it off, a month later, and the computer still hasn’t been fixed.

I’ve taken computers to BestBuy, and had their Geek Squad look after them before. Usually they are prompt, and reasonably priced.

But for whatever reason, this repair is taking too long, and I fear may be higher in cost than the initial estimate. Whenever there is a breakdown in communications, there usually are financial costs.

I know the system board has to be replaced on the laptop, and BestBuy tells me the system board is rare, and hard to find. That’s why it is taking so long.

But it would be nice if BestBuy actually called me every so often to tell me these things. So far, I’ve been the one calling them, to find out where and what have they done with my laptop.

It shouldn’t be up to the customer to keeping peace. That’s called customer service, and should be handled by the company that wants to keep their customers coming back.

Though I’m a technology geek, so I suppose I’ll always shop at BestBuy, even though I’m having a bit of a run around with them over a laptop’s service. Every time I go into a BestBuy, my eyes glaze over, and I start to salivate over the latest technological toys before me.

But I will think twice before dropping off one of those technological toys for service.