Windows 10: Who Is Liable - Manufacturer Or Retailer

Expect you did not follow the manufacturer's warranty claims, you followed Dells. I think Bro67 has a solid point here and his words should not be overlooked.

I would recommend calling the BestBuy customer support number and kindly ask them why this behavior was portrayed to your parents. Don't be angry at the customer service representative, they didn't do anything wrong.

 

Did you mention that Geek Squad initial "repair" was a clean re-install of the OS? I don't see that in the thread.

(The clean install is no surprise. I've never given a PC to BestBuy for support, but the stuff I've read online over the years suggests that the clean install is their standard procedure. I have the impression that does not include backing up files or settings.)

I haven't dealt with Dell support in years. I don't know what they would have done about OS issues; suggesting an OS restore from the restore partition? I hope that they wouldn't have charged $100 for the privilege.

I still do business with BB, but warily. Their return policy isn't bad. One of the worst things they used to do was push extended service plans. Their sales force was never on commission, but they got some sort of extra consideration for selling the plans. The plans were priced actuarially to give approximately 85% profit. I recall one BB manager getting in trouble for refusing to sell an expensive item without an extra warranty.

When I bought a cheapish laptop from them last year, the sales person tried to sell me MS Office 2016 with it. When I said that I intended to install Office 2010 on it, she said that she'd heard that it wouldn't run reliably. When I asked where she had heard that, no real answer. (I had already run Office 2010 without issues on several Win10 PCs.) Not a lot of cash at stake there, but I get annoyed when I hear something that I've associated with lower-level IT professionals for years: I call it MSU (making stuff up, but not always "stuff").

 

Wait ... what?
You used the term "IT professionals" to describe Best Buy employees? *Smile

 

Dell support would have walked them through the recovery procedure. If that didn't work, I've seen in the past they would send a tech (3rd party tech as Dell does not have their own field techs) with a new hard drive pre-loaded to get them back working. I've also seen SOME cases where they will send the customer installation software (and have the customer call Dell to walk them through the install).

I've been on the Dell forum since 2002 and what I've seen over the years.

 

How do you know it was their parents fault. you never heard of Windows forced auto-updates and the problems it causes on some computers? All they probably did to fix it is run the OEM restore program.

 

Your warranty covers both hardware and software: that's very important.

I've had 2 experiences with a couple of friends in the past that are very similar to the issues you mention.
I'm not in the computer business but I like to help family & friends when I can. In each one of the situations, I had the user write a letter to the company headquarters to explain their situation in detail as well as including applicable screenshots. It didn't take long to be contacted by the appropriate person to handle the issue at hand: both in the users favor. That way the issue is dealt with first hand with a dedicated person to bring a proper resolution to completion. And I can vouch for the fact it isn't always a users fault even when it comes to software. Google Dell Headquarters & Best Buy Headquarters for their addresses.

 

Without the extended warranty, it is a "Limited LIability" agreement between purchaser and seller. My guess is that the machine is infected and all that it takes is the OP getting ahold of it and diagnosing with a Hiren's disc, or find a mom & pop that is cheaper for looking the unit over at their hourly cost up front before anything is done.

 

"lower-level IT professionals" isn't exactly a term of high praise from me. It's not quite as bad as "professional manager", though.*Smile

 

If the issue is software in nature and not hardware the issue is not covered under the manufacturers warranty. The warranty only covers hardware failures and only non-negligence caused issues. That being said a way around the MFG warranty issue would be to damage a machines hard drive if you needed servicing. As Diagnostic software doesn’t know the difference and as long as the machine is physically all right we are obligated to service.

I realize peoples hate on Best Buy and shitting on the Geek Squad. I was never trained to “Exclusively” restore units. I also have had no reason to promote our software servicing over a MFG hardware issue. I didn’t care enough (Repair people don’t sell services our front of house people do) my job was to get the unit off of my bench working or with a resolution for the user of some kind.

 

The OEM license for Windows installed by the computer manufacturer places responsibility for software support with the manufacturer. In this case, the technical support for the Windows OS installed on the computer would be Dell's responsibility, not Best Buy's - because it is Dell that used the OEM license for Windows.

That being said, the right thing for Best Buy Geek Squad to have done would been to have run the hardware tests, determined it was not a hardware failure, and called the customer to state those facts, and that for Geek Squad to reload the OS would be an extra charge, if the customer desired them to do it.

 

With your attitude towards BRO67 who is making valid points, regulars here are less inclined to help. BRO67 helps a lot of people and did not deserve your asinine response. His post was polite, and pointed out some reasons why costs are high.

Sure your parents got taken for a ride but had you come here first, there is an 80+% chance we could have helped you for FREE!

So, if you want help here, and people bend over backwards to help, do not call people morons for having a different viewpoint, misguided or otherwise!

 

Just going to post this. Straight from the warranty terms of Dell.
"Scope of Services: The services described in this Agreement are for product issues covered by your Dell LimitedHardware Warranty (see Consumer Warranties | Dell ) Note that issues attributable to software are among the issuesthat are not covered by your Limited Hardware Warranty."

Dell is not responsible for any software servicing according to their warranty terms. Best Buy sure isn’t responsible for it that’s why we sell servicing plans that cover software and accidental damage (Not covered by the MFG warranty as well as limited coverage of spills). If Dell or Best Buy attempts to assist the consumer (I have in the past at times as with Win 10 as its easy) it is out of mercy and no other reason. No one is obligated to do this. The poster above did agree with this but claimed that Windows was a part of this and its not. Only the Hardware that contains the OS not the OS itself.

 

Well if OEM's are only offering hardware support, it makes nonsense of the EULA...

Very vague, as we now the EULA is, but Dell should have some sort of clause regarding it's software support in the warranty? considering it plonks a bunch of unwanted programs on your PC, anyway.

 

So a weird issue I can point to. Lenovo had been caught putting "Superfish" which was a browser plugin onto PC's. This issue caused them to pay for PC setups and removals of the programs for all customers that took us up on it. Only when the MFG agrees to pay the servicing cost can we submit the billing claims. I am not against the consumer in any way. Its unfortunate that we cant provide total support to all clients. The issue comes that a typical Best Buy is not staffed for that level of support. I work at the busiest BBY at the St. Louis area and most times we have 30 items on the bench at a time. These are for the most part paid for support members. I couldn't imagine providing software servicing for all PCs we sell for free. I get called up front to shit on clients for trying to exchange infected computers due to the issues the consumers caused.

The good thing is that with the internet and Windows 10's easy recovery options our $99.99 OS restore should be easily doable by the user. I hope all the information contributed has cleared up the confusion of liability.

 

I originally spoke to 2 different Dell Tech Support agents over the course of 3 days. They both emphatically informed me that a corrupted operating is covered under Dell's 1 year warranty. About 4 years ago I had a 9 month old Dell laptop that refused to boot. It just gave me a screen with a big white rectangle and a couple of big black words in that white area. I no longer remember the words.
I called Dell. They FedExed me a box with a prepaid shipping label. I sent them the unit and got it back a week later with a new hard drive and a fresh install of the OS. They also sent me back my original drive. No charges.

Why don't you BestBuy apologists contrast that with the treatment my near 90 year old parents got from the company.
As for my parents, since the Dell warranty covered the corrupted OS, I assumed that BB would just be acting as a middleman - BB would send the unit to Dell (since I don't think the Geek Squad is capable of much more that replacing a CMOS battery). Dell would facilitate repairs or replacement and return the unit to the store. The store would contact the customer. As Brooks says, 'Easy, peasy Japanesey.

NavyLCDR makes an excellent point about what should have occurred. Cereberus and Bro67 both obviously failed to graduate from the school of common sense..