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GodMode
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The Lost Laptop And The $54 Million Lawsuit
Wolfgang Gruener
February 12, 2008 10:00
Washington, D.C. - Best Buy is yet again at the center of an unusual lawsuit: A customer sues the retailer for $54 million over her laptop that the company apparently lost during a repair process. A ridiculous amount? Sure. But this is actually one of the smarter lawsuits we hear about these days.
The story of Raelyn Campbell may sound like a familiar scenario to many of us. There is a technical problem, in this case with Campbell's notebook, which results in a submitting the device to repair. Communication with the customer and repair service at Best Buy did not go exactly as you would expect. After purchasing her laptop at Best Buy in early 2006 for $1100, which included the price for the system itself as well as a $300 extended warranty, Campbell brought the computer back to the store for repair in May. The problem, however, is that the computer has not been returned since then.
Campbell says Best Buy has stalled communications throughout the summer, without providing reasonable information about the status of the repair, and was finally told in August that the laptop had been lost. Best Buy then offered a $900 gift card as compensation. She initially demanded $2100 in cash, claiming that she not only did she pay $1100 for the computer, but she would also have to replace the system, software and music stored on the system. Best Buy eventually raised its offer to a $1100 refund and a $500 gift card, but Campbell ran out of patience.
Without legal representation, she filed a $54 million lawsuit against Best Buy last November and actually admits that this is a ridiculous amount. But she hoped that this amount would attract plenty of media attention, which it actually does. While she knows that she will not get those $54 million, the strategy appears to be working: Best Buy's last offer was $2500 in cash, in addition to the refund and the gift card. Campbell did not accept, saying that here expenses have risen since the time of her $2100 demand. She also said that she is still waiting for an explanation how her computer could have been stolen from a secure area."
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from: http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/12/the...illion_lawsuit/
i was browsing through toms hardware and came accross this interesting article. this just shows how greedy ppl can get imo.
well the $900 gift card is unfair and i would understand why she would demand more but i would stop at the last offer of $2500. why step it up to a 54mil lawsuit? *sigh*
anyway...just thought i would share.
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| 02/13/08 18:36 |
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aznese guy
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yeah if i was her i would take the damn $2500, refund and gift card. what the hell does she have to lose? Seriously...she said expenses have increased, what expenses?? it was a laptop for gods sake, not a house...what a greedy prick...
quit gw for good. end of story.
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| 02/13/08 19:04 |
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thedarkarsenal
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I think maybe money isn't the only point to this. It could be the fact that Best Buy wasn't taking responsibility for losing the laptop, then proceeded to stall her until finally telling the truth. Now if that was me, I wouldn't be happy to have waited all that time to find out I wasn't getting my computer back. Like stated in the article, even she thinks the $54 million is much. I think the amount is just for effect, so that Best Buy won't pull this again anytime soon.
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| 02/13/08 19:23 |
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Belshazaarswrath
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Th person has probably seen this kind of bullcrap before and got fed up with it and is trying to shine some light on a companies incompetence. I say Kudos for putting them out there.
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| 02/13/08 19:26 |
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Chrisworld
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Geek Squad sucks.... they ruin stuff, they mess with your computer before you even leave the store, put crap on it who knows. In Late 2004 buying my currently *OLD* PC at bestbuy they were out of everything and shrugged or got pissed when i asked questions about simple things. We went to Curcuit City where i bought the $990 Computer which was hella' well worth it for the 3 years it was active till it got outdated. (Lack of PCI-Express Graphics slot is what made it basically end in the gaming area :P) And curcuit city uses firedog who didnt mess my comp up or get nasty with me at all. Man what a freakin day that was. And then in..oh probably Mid 2005 my aunt gets a comp at bestbuy for the new cable internet she got and wtf man geek squad messing everything up and causing trouble we waited like 2 hours in that store. The smell of plasma tvs and other new electronic smell gets to you after a couple hours.... Needless to say my rating on bestbuy is 2/10 while Curcuit City is a 9/10.
~Chris
Oh yeah back on topic, 54 Million WHOO thats alot lol...but she has every right to be pissed off, im sure Geeksquad has a ton to do with it..
***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***
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| 02/13/08 19:28 |
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aznese guy
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i wouldnt rate geek squad and firedog. seriously, the one near me has good geek squad people and they know their stuff and getting a comp was painless. geek squad and firedog are made of people(duh) so maybe it's just your technicians are good in circuit city where u are.
I personally don't like firedog. We bought different technical equipment(print server, external hard drive). They had NO clue what to do with that stuff, when they're supposed to install it. We had to get someone from my dad's office who knows computers and he did it with little trouble.
don't be prejudiced with these kind of organizations as the skills are all regional. never know where they're gonna be good.
***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***
quit gw for good. end of story.
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| 02/13/08 19:33 |
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MasterSaji
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Well being the technically inclined person that I am, I find the knowledge found at geek squad and firedog to be lacking....extremely.
I mean, if neither can tell the difference from a remote slot in a laptop and a wireless card slot in the same laptop...somethings very very wrong.
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| 02/13/08 19:44 |
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Jamnog
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If I was the judge I would fine the company. No corporate responsibility there They LOOSE the womans computer and offer less than its original value in GIFT VOUCHERS??? 54 million doesn't cover all the times this happens and this is a prime example. Honest people get jacked by faceless corporations everyday makes me sick.
Its not greed if she doesn't expect the millions. They screwed up big time and screwed up allot more by being tight when it came to compensating out of court they could have settled it by being reasonable. Two years down the line the world watching (dont kid yourself they wouldnt give this woman 900 if the world wasn't watching) yeah I think its her turn to be unreasonable.
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| 02/13/08 19:47 |
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Belshazaarswrath
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I am glad some people share my view. I thought I would get flamed like crazy...
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| 02/13/08 19:49 |
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MasterSaji
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You kidding me? Chance to bash any major corp is a plus in my book any day!
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| 02/13/08 19:50 |
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Forumite
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Atleast they know the difference between a USB port and the audio jacks right? Riiight?
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| 02/13/08 19:55 |
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Chrisworld
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| QUOTE | | Atleast they know the difference between a USB port and the audio jacks right? Riiight? |
Oh please dude anyone knows that! :P
USB is round and Audio jacks are rectangular shaped!
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| 02/13/08 20:09 |
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Mordakaida
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You guys knows that Best Buy broke a federal law by not telling her they lost it right? If she had tax information on there "even if they did not know" they Lost it and did not inform her until months later. That could be a data breach. Yes 54 mil is steep but I hope she wins. Best Buy is a crap company. I've been to best buy to get some blank cds and they tried to push more stuff on me and a warranty. Wanted me to pay 15 bucks warranty for a 10 dollar item.
Geek Squad use to be good tech group until Best Buy bought them then it went down hill. Most of the techs do not know what they are doing. The best buy near me charges $100 a hour to fix your computer. My brother brought his computer to them and they made the problem worse. "Took them 6 months turn around time and they did not even fix the problem".. I fixed the problem in 20 minutes along with other issues and charged my brother lunch and he now uses me for all tech issues.
The amount is outrageous but it will teach BB a lesson even if they settle. They first offered her less then what she bought the laptop for. That is crap. If someone lost my laptop and only offered me half what I paid for it. I would sue for heck of a lot more. Even if they offered her 2100 bucks after the law suit they did not get it through their head that BB/GS needs to own up to their mistakes.
All those months without her laptop, all those calls, frustration and loosing important information. 54 mil sounds just about right for my taste.
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| 02/13/08 20:28 |
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Laidy Rayne
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| QUOTE | | QUOTE | | Atleast they know the difference between a USB port and the audio jacks right? Riiight? |
Oh please dude anyone knows that! :P
USB is round and Audio jacks are rectangular shaped! |
So that is why no sound comes out of my headphones! Been doing it completely wrong all this time! haha
On-Topic~ I think she did the right thing, maybe they will raise the refund and whatnot a little bit more. I would be very mad if that happened to me, and with no explanation or even a response, that is ridiculous. I cant recall who said it but they are right in saying if she hadn't asked for an absurd amount of money, she wouldn't get anything. Maybe her tactic is to use the little kid tantrum in a store: throw a hissy fit, the louder you are, the more attention you get.
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| 02/13/08 20:31 |
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itsthatemochild
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i totally love that article. since purchasing my new computer at best buy in october, i have returned it 4 times and gotten it replaced. Each time the same problem- wireless and sound drivers mysteriously vanishing. the answer- different every time. the 1st time it must have been a virus. the 2nd? i installed something improperly. the 3rd? the antivirus they gave me was incompatable with my processor. the 4th? i never got an answer.
TOTAL BS. thats just bad business, *kittening* up my computer like that and not even bothering to find out whats wrong. they just ship the old one back and give me a new one.
on the plus side, iv accumulated 4 new sets of keyboards and mouses through this process.
"The most merciful thing in the world... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents." -H.P. Lovecraft
"He who is not radical at twenty has no heart,
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| 02/13/08 21:04 |
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cswella
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It's not greed that put the suit up to 54 million, it's strategy.
She probably already knows that she'll never see that much, but she's using it to inflate hype and put pressure on Best Buy.
I'm guessing it won't actually go to court, but if it does, I hope she wins, but not 54 mil.
Panda Points x 7
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| 02/13/08 21:12 |
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aznese guy
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i personally like best buy. I've had no problems with them with my dealings. Guess you guys are getting jipped by your local best buys. I would take BB over CC anyday since the layout is nicer making it easier to find stuff, staff helps me out, and customer service is good. Me and my family have spent thousands of dollars at our local BB ranging from surge protectors to a 70" TV. Meh, I guess I'm the only BB lover here :(
quit gw for good. end of story.
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| 02/13/08 21:22 |
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GodMode
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ok i think i see where you guys are coming from. i didn't think about looking at it through her eyes but now i can totally see the strategy in this.
its reasons like this why i NEVER use tech support of any kind and fix my own damn problems.
i should have named the topic "bestbuy got pwned" :P
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| 02/13/08 21:23 |
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bluwolf
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ok, i can understand where she is coming from. i'd be pissed off if the laptops was lost (not stolen as she claims) but that isn't the reason i'm posting this. the reason she was originally offered $900 was because the laptop was almost 2 years old. now days the laptop that she would get for $900 is WAY more powerful then the piece of epuipment that she sent in. Also the warrenty says (if any of you bothered to read it in detail) "Software/data on the device is the CUSTOMERS responsibilty to backup/save" so basically she is trying to get more money, and her 10 minutes of fame out of this. I've worked in the retail world for many years, and this kind of stuff happens. yeah it sucks, but when a company deals with over 5000 peices a WEEK easily, one peice can get lost in the shuffle. Just my .02
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| 02/13/08 22:59 |
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