Best Buy Geek Squad warranty failed to live up to promises, customer says

Woman says Geek Squad didn't live up to promise A Best Buy customer says their Geek Squad warranty failed to live up to its promises.

You may be familiar with Best Buy's warranty by Geek Squad. Cindy Yu was. She paid $250 for a five year Geek Squad warranty to cover the new Frigidaire washer and dry set she bought from Best Buy in March of 2017. She felt covered because the warranty said, "If we can't fix it we'll replace it."

But she says it failed to deliver on its promise which is why she reached out to McLaughlin on Your Side for help. On Nov. 10, 2019 Yu says the washing machine broke down and there was also problem with the dryer.

"It broke in two-and-half years. Two-and-a-half years is short time. But I remember I had a warranty with Geek Squad," Yu said.

However, she says she spent the next two-and-a-half months fighting to get them fixed or replaced. She said there were three visits for repairs and two parts were ordered but still they failed to fix them.

"The last technician clearly said, 'we need to, they need to replace it because there's no way they could fix it,'" she said.

That was in December but by the third week in January she gave up and said she was forced to buy a new washer and dryer from Costco.

What made it worse is that she had purchased the machines for a home she was renting in Coquitlam and the tenant had lost patience. Laundromat receipts were piling up and Yu had to pay them and deal with her tenant's frustration at having to lug the laundry out.

CTV News contacted Best Buy about the problems Yu was having and within two days the matter was resolved. In an email statement Best Buy stated; "We are sorry that this customer did not receive the excellent service that our Geek Squad aims to deliver every day to every customer we interact with. This was a complicated situation with a number of agents involved, but we sincerely regret the time it took for us to resolve it.”

The company said that Geek Squad's Terms and Conditions provide for up to 60 days to complete a repair on a major appliance and that typically repairs are done faster. In this case that didn’t happen.

Best Buy sent Yu a check for the full cost of the Best Buy washer and dryer set and compensation for laundry costs. In addition, the company gave her a $250 gift card hoping to win back her business.

"Without CTV I don't think I (would have received) this cheque. I thank you for supporting me to help me out," Yu said.