SlashGear Japan
Best Buy, notoriously one of the worst companies as far as handling data and hardware, is at it again. This time they didn’t steal the porn off of the notebook, they just lost it, the whole notebook, gone. So I, like Ms. Campbell, am curious as to how a company like Best Buy can just lose a laptop from a “Secure” area?
The lady bought the notebook a while back for $1100, got the extended warranty, and then started using it. As occasionally happens, something went wrong so she took it in for repair in May. Slowly but surely over the course of the summer they continued to blow her off, not wanting to tell her that they had lost her notebook.
Eventually they told here that they’d lost the laptop, but they said they would replace it. Their laughable offer was a $900 gift card, a considerable $500 less than the $1100 laptop cost plus the $300 extended warranty cost. Obviously she rejected the offer and stated quite clearly that she would only accept $2100 cash, a reasonable amount considering she didn’t just lose a laptop and the warranty that goes with it, but all the software and data that was on the notebook.
They continued with their shenanigans offering combinations of cash/gift cards that fell below the reasonable $2100 mark and didn’t offer anything even close to $2100 until she filed the lawsuit for $54m, and that was only if she signed an agreement to keep her mouth shut. Well, she didn’t, largely because their new $2500 offer wouldn’t cover here new legal fees on top of the cost of the laptop and data lost.
So, she is continuing with the lawsuit and letting everyone know that she has no delusional expectation of actually being rewarded the $54 million amount, but that she made it so high to get the media’s attention on her case and Best Buy’s poor practices on whole, and she has done just that. In case you were wondering, that is her picture above, and her name is Raelyn Campbell.
[via DailyTech]
8 Responses to “Best Buy getting sued for $54 million over lost laptop”
Mary Beth February 13, 2008
Her 1st mistake was getting the extended warranty.
NeutralJack February 14, 2008
She is the type of person that is the epitome of what is wrong in this country. She is out for herself and no matter what she says about the money, actions speak louder than words. The McDonalds hot coffee lawsuit and this are the same, someone that wants the publicity and the money and doesn’t care what they have to do to get it. Hopefully one day companies will be allowed to bring suit against these type of people that ruin it for the rest of the average people that make mistakes, are forgiven and learn how to forgive. Especially when Best Buy seems to have given a fair amount of compensation already.
-1dannyry February 14, 2008
[quote comment="36817"]**Something not all too intelligent**[/quote]
+1Did you even read the details? She had to get the lawyers involved in order to give her fair compensation. At that point the cost of getting those lawyers to file suit exceeded the compensation. The fact she even had to resort to this measure to get them to give her a reasonable award is pathetic considering they could’ve just refunded her the full amount of the laptop and warranty in the first place. I, unlike you, am grateful she filed this enormous suit. If you read more carefully you would have understood her reason for filing such a large suit was not due to greed, but due to the publicity such a suit would receive, thus getting the situation across the globe. I don’t read her blog so I would have known about this, as well as millions of Best Buy customers across the country. She can even settle out of court now for a lower sum because by now I’m sure BB wouldn’t want any more negative publicity. Nevertheless, thanks to the attention she and her lawyers helped generate, I’ll never be stupid enough to buy a computer from them. So this woman got the point across, so while you may relish being stepped on by giant companies, I will not have to tolerate this particular company doing so to me.
dannyry February 14, 2008
I wasn’t aware the quoting system here did not name the user I was quoting – Jack. And I have to shake my head at comparing this to the hot coffee lawsuit. That suit was a sham because it was more negligent of the consumer than the company. Now here, a company loses an $1100 laptop with a woman’s personal information that was supposed to be covered by their own extended $300 warranty, and you think she should just sit there and take a $900 gift card in return? GTFO.
+1John February 18, 2008
While $900 is less than the price she paid, as most of us know technology gets better and cheaper all the time. For example, I bought a Dell computer a few years ago and paid around $1500. I could go out today and buy a faster, better computer for around $900. As far as the Best Buy warranty, it could be transfered to the new laptop (I had this done with a laptop that got damaged in shipping), and she should have been compensated for the aggrivation. Talk about neglegence, anyone who does not back up their information regularly should not complain about lost data. It happens. You don’t sue the laundromat to refund money that you left in your pocket do you? Back up your stuff ALWAYS. Thye only thing that I do agree with is that Best Buy should have fessed up immediately, and the person or persons responsible for the loss should have been fired. A company is only as good as its people, and Best Buy needs to get rid of people who are incompetent…but maybe they’re afraid of getting sued by them…
NeutralSara March 7, 2008
Now, what I think will be funny (not really funny, but slightly amusing..) is that after this lawsuit is done and over with, they’ll find her computer, lmao. All this trouble will be smacked in the face, lol.
NeutralFabrice March 18, 2008
Best Buy is the worst! I hope she gets a few million from this case because Best Buy has the worst customer service ever. They won’t learn their lesson until they get financially raped.
I had to report them to the better business bureau after their not so geeky geed squad was unable to fix my computer after having it for a month. Within that month, they called me 3 times telling me my computer was fixed, but everytime I would go to claim the computer and asked them to demonstrate how it was working, the couldn’t get the computer to turn on. WTF! Morons. Then a store manager offered to give me a new computer for all the inconvenience (after all, I purchased the computer at Best Buy.) I returned the next day with the original reciept per his request, but he wasn’t in that day and the manager on duty told me that no such offer could be made and the other manager had no right to make such a deal. Talk about the run around. They gave me back my unfixed computer (after having it for over a month) and I had to contact the BBB to get a refund for the unsuccessful computer repair. They didn’t even offer me the refund… I had to force them to get it. They suck. Period. I will always boycott Best Buy.
Neutralpete April 8, 2008
what a crackhead
Neutral