It seems like too many things are JUNK anymore!!!!

Bought one of my Grand Daughters a remote start for her car for Christmas. So she could have a warm car to go to school in. Installation and all came to around $500. I purchased it (Viper Remote start) and installation from Best Buy. They installed in in her car in Jan. In Feb. it quit working. Took it back to be "reprogramed". It worked a few weeks and quit again. She did not tell me that. Well three weeks ago she was at Waterloo for some school function. Her car would not start. Called a local repair shop I know there and they went out to get her car going. Found out the remote start would blow the fuse that powered the ECM and fuel pump. They just cut the power wire to the Viper remote start. Car started and ran fine.

Last Sunday I went to Dubuque to Best Buy and bought a new desk top computer. While I was there I talked to the store manager and he told me they had let the last installer go because of poor work. So I made an appointment to have her car looked at. I took it in today. They worked on the car for 3 hours to get all the rigged up wiring straightened up. It works now.

HERE is the kicker. Since someone else had "messed" with the wiring, I.E. cut the power wire, the Viper unit now has no warranty. They had to replace the control unit today as it was shorted out inside but there is ZERO warranty on the remote starter anymore. JUST PEACHY!!!!

Now for the even better part. The DELL Inspiron computer I just bought Sunday started to have audio output issues two days ago. Meaning the speakers would not work all of the time. Plus the computer acts like your plugging/unplugging the speaker every 15-20 seconds. Constant balloons stating that. So I took the computer in while I have the car there. The "Geek Squad" looked it over. The mother board is soldered wrong and is making intermittent contact. Solution??? Exchange the computer for a new one. Fine lets do that. NOOOOOO you have to bring yours back in the original box and then we will exchange it. I told them to just go get the computer off the shelf and take it out of the box and put this one back in the box and I can go home. NOOOO that will not work. ARGGGGGGGGG!!!!! So I had to go dig the box out of the trash barrel, Thank God I forgot to light it this week so far, and repack the darn computer back into the box an return it to Best Buy Saturday when the wife goes shopping.

So I am dissatisfied with Best Buy, Viper, and Dell all this week. LOL

I may not buy much new technology but I do control the purse strings on a fair amount that is bought by the farm/sons. I told the manager of Best Buy that I would not be buying much at their store in the future. Just fairly POOR customer service. It is OK to make me, their customer, jump through hoops to just get working equipment that they sold. I may as well buy this type of junk at Walmart. At least there I expected poor to zero service.

Don't ever buy anything other than the factory remote start package. Even the dealer installed remote start packages are problematic. Yep I've had mine towed in several times.

Look at the inside of the store bought computers and compare that to the home built components. There is a huge difference in quality. If you can't build it yourself find a local builder and have them do it for you. It is very easy to put the components in a case and load the operating system and application software. Use quality components like Gigabyte, Asus, Cooler Master and you will be amazed how easy it is.

JDSeller- Can you find someone local that builds computers? I build them often and they are a lot better than 'off the shelf' stuff you buy at outlet stores.

I can't stand all the "front end" stuff they put on computers...buy this or welcome to Dell...,etc. I like a system that I boot up and goes to the opening screen I want it to.

Have you tried a Linux based operating system? You might like it.

You can have the system built however you want. They are so much better than 'off the shelf' stuff.

Greg

JD, I can sell you HP's if you know what you want.

Have you tried a Linux based operating system? You might like it.

Click to expand...

I'm in this camp. Been using Linux for over 8 years now. Wonderful tool.

Had made several Best Buy purchases, couple of high dollar items. Took a lap top in for some work and the GeekSquad totally trashed it and most of what was on it. Complained to store manager and did not get satisfactory results. Took about an hour to get ahold of someone a corporate that would listen but after my talk. Several things happened. Store manager was no longer, assistant (nice young lady) got me a new computer and did some serious sucking up. Might be time for you to make the call, cutting the wire was necessary because of failure of the unit, just explain that to the higher ups, they are all about keeping customers.

I don't shop Best Buy anymore. The 10% fee to return anything drove me away. Chris

Best Buy use to be a good store till they ran Circuit City out of business.
Now they have no real competition.

Think I'd just take the computer back for a refund. Especially after being told no warranty on the remote start.

If you paid with a credit card just leave it and call the buyer protection number for the card.

Most of those installers are hacks... Its rare I run across one installed like I would are better.... Some cars are EZ and some a bear to install them on... I install one are two a year all are different. I get $125 a hour take it are leave it... I have done some in 3hr and spent a day on others then have to fiddle with a setting to customize it to the customer... I hope I never see another the hacks can have them all....

All aftermarket remote starts are junk. The "quality" of most installations just make them worse. Always amazed me at the dealership when people would install those, then come in in the winter complaining of poor fuel mileage. Well, duh! I had one new car brought straight from the electronics install that would not shut off due to the remote installation. I told them to take it back where the remote start was installed, because if I looked at it they were paying.

Hi, how did you get Linux on your computer? I was wondering about doing that to my old computer.

JD Seller, you are having the same luck at customer service that I am.

You should send Best Buy a bill for the service call to have the vehicle repaired for their poor work. If they don't want to pay it, threaten the lawyers.

I quit shopping best buy years ago. A BIL bought and had a high dollar stereo in his car. When it gave him problems he took it back in. After a week or so it messed up again. I pulled it and the installer had twisted the wires together and used masking tape.

As far as remotes starters are concerned I've had 3 aftermarket ones in 3 different vehicles. I have never had a problem with any of them.

Rick

Had desktop computer built by local computer geek and is bigger and faster than store bought plus 1/2 the price. Have no idea what I'll ever do with a 250GB hard drive. Forgot to have floppy disk installed, corrected last time it got a virus, some of my woodcrafting patterns on OLD style memory. Now need card reader installed so easier to load digital pics. Then when laptop with windows got a virus had him install Linex, no more viruses, cost me $20

I was a Connect Pro Tech at a Future Shop in eastern Ontario, they are owned by Best Buy and the Connect Pro techs at Future Shop are now Geek Squad (Same techs just changed name). I was laid off at end of January of this year, was 1000 in this round of layoffs, managers, techs, most of the higher paying jobs but also many sales people. In January/Feb. of 2013 they closed 7 Best Buys and 8 Future Shops across Canada putting about 1000 out of work. Not sure how many Best Buys they closed in the USA think was around 50 so far but have heard could be 200 or more total from 2012 to 2015.
My point talking about these layoffs is they got rid of many great people and some not so great. They have been trying to get as many part-time workers, as they can and standards have been falling for the last couple of years because of going to cheaper help. Our store had the car install bay closed in summer of 2013 but will say the car install tech was very good. I have heard many stories though about the car installers and how bad they are now. I wouldn't take my car to them for anything. A dealer or a local place that does only remote starters and sound systems are the only places I would trust.
For computers I never heard of them needing the box back unless that's something they are just starting now. When I worked there Future Shop wouldn't exchange them after 14 days but would ship them out for repair under warranty if needed.
If lost data that was your problem. As for techs most are part-time now with limited hours, lucky to get 2 on at once, hours have been cut bad, they also have limited knowledge. I have been in computers close to 20 years, have many certifications, the part-time tech that never got laid off has none. So basically they will hire anybody, you have 3 months to get A+ Certified for computers, unless you are friends with a manager then don't have to worry about it. So you really never know if a student is working on it or somebody with experience. Same with car bay, whoever they get cheap does the work.
For computers they are all made cheap now. If want a good tower then have somebody build you one as has been suggested. Might cost a bit more but they will last if make sure to buy quality parts.
Right now I am working on starting my own business working out of my house. Just turned 55, have worked out enough years time to give it a shot and see what happens. Hope to get going by end of Sept., a lot of legal stuff that has to be done.
Sorry for the long post but just a glimpse inside of retail. They want your buck, have as cheap of help they can get away with. Will screw you if they can. Better off with smaller shops that really need return business and go out of their way to help you.
Just my opinion.

Amen to that

What distro of linux do you use? I just put Ubuntu on my laptop as a dual boot.

Alan, you need to pick a distribution (there are hundreds), then download the CD or DVD image and burn it to disk. Most distributions these days come as "live" CDs. You can boot the CD and run Linux off the CD just to give it a test drive, or you can do a full installation. Since the live CD only has the minimum packages, you'll download additional packages once the initial installation is complete.

The most popular desktop distributions seem to be Ubuntu and its derivative Mint. Ubuntu is itself a derivative of Debian. Fedora is another popular distribution; I've used it and its ancestor Red Had for about fifteen years. SuSE is a popular German distribution. You can check out more distributions at DistroWatch.

It is helpful but not necessary to have a Linux-knowledgeable friend help you with your first installation. It's also helpful if you have a little UNIX knowledge, as there are some differences that will trip you up. For example, directory path names are separated by forward slashes rather than the backslash used by DOS/Windows. Also, there are no drive letters. Rather, there is a root directory "/" and everything is "mounted" to it. The user is shielded from most of the UNIX idiosyncrasies by the graphical user interface.
DistroWatch

I went into a Best Buy a couple times. Never bought anything there, so they don't miss my business.

Similar, but different.

How many years have we had good gasket material? Why did GM use a rubber rimmed piece of aluminum as a "gasket" between the water pump and the block on my 5.3 V8? Good gasket material would separate different metals, if that's the issue, and it would LAST.

Pickup was loosing coolant so slowly I had trouble locating a leak. Finally traced it up from the front axle, to the underside of engine, then forward, and up around the front of the engine. The "rubber" had failed and pulled away from the aluminum. New "gaskets" were around $25!

We quit Best Buy years ago for reasons already mentioned. Costco, local businesses, even Sams' will give you much better service and stand behind the product.

Seems to be a pattern with best buy. I don't shop there any more. I support local business that stand behind the products they sell.

In my opinion the reason products are getting more junky is electronics. Electronic components are always malfunctions and they are putting more and more of them in everything we buy today. It's probably the reason people are more short tempured today. They spend half their time frustrated with something electronic that is malfunctioning. Now I hear Chevrolet is coming out with a car they let electronics drive the vehicle. I think I need an armored car to drive to work.

Best Buy closed one store in Lincoln, NE and built a bigger one.

I went into the new store and asked about something that should have been a routine purchase at any electronics outlet, and the sales people hadn't a clue what I was talking about.

I'd had reservations about Best Buy, but that was the clincher. I'll never go into the place again.

Best Buy falls into the problem of folks shopping their lies to find what they like, and THRN the shopper goes online and buys the item $5 cheaper online.

Really really hard to stay in business that way, they had to chop services and overhead terribly, which then lets thrm compete with mail order but they lose any sort of service.....

Tough spot to be in. They were too big to be a high-service company, and had too much service to compete with the mail order. You can't exist as a free window shopping place, they have to go one way or the other.

Over the spring and summer my local mechanic has put 3 new NH gauge clusters in my ford 5200. First one the hour meter quit at 2.9 hours, second and now third quit at .9 hours.

I really don't know where to go from here, why bother with #4?

The John Deere dealer has folded in with 19 other dealers now, they are going to close 3 locations and build one new one in my neck of the woods, I understand service is aweful now because no competition, as well there are 6 different fees tacked on to any bill now, nickel and dime the customers to death - because you can.

So it goes.

Paul

Those gaskets have worked extremely well in most applications but not on a GM water pump... One of the aftermarket pumps I use does eliminate that gasket and uses some sort of fiber/paper gasket... I have made good money replacing those gaskets and also had a replacement leak before I backed it out of the shop...
I am not fond of'em either...

I think a few years back Best Buy had profit problems. To improve their bottom line they laid off quite a few full time sales people and replaced them with part time employees earning lower pay and fewer benefits.

Currently, a big problem for Best Buy is too many people window shop and compare products in their stores, then purchase from someone else on-line, often at lower prices. Maybe their in-store sales would improve if they had more helpful sales people and better customer service?

From what I read it's only a matter of time until Best Buy "buys the farm" and follows Circuit City and others to the graveyard. On-line sellers (like Amazon) are eating their lunch. Our local BB had a small fire in their appliance department, just smoke damage in the other parts of the store... took them 8 months to reopen, should have been 2, max. Their service is poor and the management is incompetent. Never was a gadget person but don't go there anymore.

Chevy a self driving car. Ha Ha they can't even make both headlights light at one time !!!!

today i passed by a chevy dealer and the roof and the sign out by the road had about 20 buzzards on it they know when something is dead