I brought my Frigidaire electric dryer from Best Buy November 1st, 2006, along with a warranty. This Memorial Day weekend it stopped getting hot when drying my clothes, it still tumbles but no heat, which is my only problem. I called to request service either May 23rd or 24th. I apologize if the dates are not accurate, I didnt think that this problem would persist for so long. Until today, my problem is not resolved. I am very frustrated that I havent had a functioning dryer for almost seven weeks. I am a chemotherapy infusion nurse at a center in the daytime, my schedule is quite fixed. I work Monday through Friday from 9-5:30pm. Some evenings and weekends I also work on-call at a level I trauma center. I have three daughters 11, and a set of 7 years old twins. In this house we wash clothes almost daily. I am telling you this so that you can see the importance of the things in my life and why getting timely and dependable service for my dryer is a small task in this busy household.
Since my dryer has been non-functioning I have called for service over eighteen times, either to request it, to complain about it, or to see where in the process I am. I would think that at some point you all would look at this issue and say Gee I wonder whats going on that this customer keeps calling for the same problem? Initially I requested a service center that works on Saturdays or late evenings (past the five oclock hour) so that I could keep my patients schedule as smooth as possible. I was assigned to the first service center based out of New Jersey, for an appointment on May 30th, at this point it may help if you pull a log of my calls if you keep one so that you can follow along. That Friday May 29th they left me a message from the service center informing me that they dont work on Saturdays and they rescheduled my appointment on Monday June 1st. This was a message, no one talked to me and of course their office was closed so I could not call them back to tell them that I could not be home on Monday. I called Best Buy to tell them of the problem they scheduled me for my 2nd service center to come out on June 6th.
This service center was AAAppliance, they were based out of Virginia and they came out to my house on June 6th as scheduled. The guy was at my house for 10 minutes, he pushed the start button and turned the cycle buttons back and forth and told me it was fixed. He advised me to not allow my children to play with the dryer. He said that he reset a code and my dryer is working. He didnt give me a receipt until he had already gone outside and I asked him, was I supposed to get any paperwork (see the attached illegible copy). He did not check the lint screen; he did not open the dryer, he did not check the vent attachment, nor did anything that I thought would be the basic things to check on a dryer whose only problem is no heat. Nevertheless, I washed a load of clothes and put them in the dryer after he left; after all he said that the dryer was fixed. Well you guessed it, two-ninety minute cycles and the clothes were still wet.
I called Best Buy again; they said that the service center has a 90-day warranty to repair the problem if it still exists. I requested at this point that they assign another company to my problem. I was not pleased with the performance that this service center professional provided and to insinuate that my children play with my dryer and that the problem was as simple as pressing the buttons and turning them was preposterous. They didnt assign me to another center at this point. So I grudgingly followed their instructions and contacted AAAppliance on Sunday June 7th. They said that they would send someone out to my home again.
I could not afford to wait until the following Saturday, I asked them would they come out later in the evening so that I would not have to take off work, they agreed to come out between 6-9pm on Tuesday June 9th. I only lost hour of work that day, because I didnt want them to come at 6, and I risk not being there and they leave. It was a terrible storm coming that evening so around 8pm I called the service center to ask if they were still coming, the dispatch that handles the after hour calls put me on hold, and returned to the phone to inform me that he would be there shortly. At almost 9pm I received a message on my answer service that they would not be coming because my parts are not in. I still have the message by the way if at any point someone cares to hear it. I was wondering did they get their service calls mixed up, because I wasnt aware that I needed parts for my dryer.
So again I call Best Buy, maybe they can figure out what is going on. I request that my service center be changed; I go through the series details with a customer service rep from the Geek Squad about the whole thing. June 10th I call back to Best Buy, the first operator I talk to calls the service center because apparently they informed Best Buy that my dryer didnt have a problem, the second operator I talked to that day called the service center and they tell her they need to order a part for my dryer. I call the service center back the same day and ask to speak to the manager, he said that I need a part and Best Buy has to authorize it for repair.
I asked the manager, whose name was inaudible, what are the parts and the parts number needed for the repair because I was never informed that my dryer needed any parts, my customer receipt from the repair professional didnt indicate that I needed any further service, nor parts. He asked me to fax over a copy of my repair receipt, I asked him, Where is the original? He informed me that it was with repair person that came to fix my dryer; I asked him how they are ordering something without the information needed to order, furthermore, my name wasnt on it, only an address. At this point the manager was very frustrated with my line of questioning and told me to consult with my warranty repair company.
So I called Best Buy again, and informed them of my displeasure with this company, and demanded to be assigned to another company. I asked them to consider the inconvenience I had already been through and please find a company that is reputable, that works after-hours, or on a Saturday. Unfortunately that was not possible. This brings us to the third company, Greater Metro Appliance, based out of Virginia as well.
At this point I have been to the Laundromat to dry my clothes, which is a waste of gas, time, money, and taking three children to sit there as well. By the way, did you know that some Laundromats have a policy that you can not dry your wet clothes there if they were not washed there? Neither did I, but I found out from the two in my area, so I had to go even further from my house to find one that did not.
The third service center seemed to genuinely care about the fact that I had such a poor experience with trying to get my dryer which is under warranty fixed by the warranty company. They told me they didnt do after hours or Saturday appointments but they would make my appointment last of the day which is at 4pm. So I had an appointment scheduled for June 17th. I left work 2 hours early to get home by 4pm. At 4:45-4:55, no one had showed up, I didnt want a repeat performance again, so I called the service center to see if they were still coming to my house. I was told they were and I was even given the repair professionals cell number because the service center was closing at 5pm. Around 6pm I called, he said he was in N.W. on another service call he would call me back. He did call me back but he didnt get to my house until almost 8:30, I was opening the gate to pull the car out the driveway to go to church when he came.
Nevertheless, he came in; he took my dryer apart, tested the parts, and found that the control panel had gone bad. He explained everything in detail, showed me how he knew it was the control panel, excellent service, late but worth the wait, he even apologized for being late. He said that he would send the request to Best Buy for purchase of the part, and he would come back and install it when it came in, which was supposed be about one week. Thursday June 25th I came home I had a message from the service center that the part should be in by Friday June 26th and the earliest it could be installed was early the following week (June 29th- July 3rd).
Sunday July 5th I called Best Buy, I want to know whats going on with my dryer, I havent heard from the service center, and of course I was being patient I didnt bother them last week, I didnt bother Best Buy, I waited for them to schedule an appointment to come out and install the control panel. The Geek Squad rep I spoke with on Sunday said that he was sending an e-mail over to the service center, and if I didnt hear from them by 12pm Monday to call back. I worked yesterday, I got home no messages, and I had my cell with me all day, no messages.
I called back again, the rep asked me did they leave a message, she asked if I had an answer service, and as anxious as I am to get my dryer fixed, I have just about had enough. Today came, nothing, no message, no missed calls, nothing. I called back again today to be told that typically the service center takes about 2 days to respond to e-mails, and Im telling you at this point I am so frustrated that I am going to give you a headache EVERY DAY until my dryer is fixed. I asked the Geek Squad rep that I spoke with today to send another e-mail over to the service center, she reluctantly did it, because of the 2 day rule, but I explained to her part of the story. I asked her could she send the e-mail anyway to at least make me feel like they are genuinely trying to resolve my issue.
I have never had this experience with Best Buy, normally you are on point, proficient, I actually thought you cared about the satisfaction of me as a customer, but during this entire period I have only had one call from you to follow-up on this issue, and that was when you received two conflicting stories from AAAppliance about whether my dryer actually had a problem. And at that point I was told that if the next service center doesnt find a problem with my dryer that I would be billed for the service call. I told that rep that particular day, that if the dryer doesnt heat, which is the main function in case she didnt know, that there is obviously a problem, any one can figure that much. So I am asking at least can you:
1. Take note for the next customer that may go through this problem, create a strategy team and find a way to resolve it in a timely fashion.
2. Do a follow-up call with the customer, see how the repair went, and see if there was a problem with the assigned service center.
3. Maybe send a follow-up email with an attached survey, with a space for comment.
4. Attempt to accommodate the customer in unforeseen circumstances such as this one.
5. Keep a log of repeat calls for the same issue, after 3 calls follow-up implement a plan to resolve the issue.
It is so easy for a disgruntled customer such as myself at this point to speak negative of your warranty program to other customers, or post it online for all to see, and you lose customers. I actually like Best Buy and I have had nothing but good experiences in the store. In the last 2 years I have bought my washer, dryer, refrigerator, and digital camera, (not to mention numerous CDs, DVDs, my iphone, my daughters cell phone without a warranty, but I am a frequent shopper there) all with the warranty you offer. Although I dont feel confident in purchasing another big ticket item from Best Buy again, I wont allow this experience to impact me in such a way that I would not post something negative online about the store that would potentially make other consumers think that this problem exists all the time, because Im sure this doesnt happen often, or at least I hope not. If you could please find the time to follow-up on my issue it would be greatly appreciated.