Joel F.

Unlike most people who post complaints here against Best Buy or Geek Squad, not only am I sharing my own experience of their deceptive anti-consumer practices so as to warn other consumers, but more importantly, I'm also sharing several lesser-known but fairly effective steps you can take yourself to make your complaints known to Best Buy, assuming you have genuine complaints.

I purchased a highly-recommended laptop from Best Buy in Toronto in January 2020. Starting in December 2020, and still within the warranty period, my laptop suffered 3 successive catastrophic failures in the span of 3 months – 2 of which required motherboard replacements. Each time I made clear to Best Buy and Geek Squad that I required a replacement laptop, since each fatal crash was causing severe disruption to my small business. Each time, I was assured by Best Buy and Geek Squad representatives that my repaired laptop was completely fine, and they refused to give me a replacement despite me having purchased a 4-year Geek Squad Protection Plan.

Can you imagine buying a new car, having the engine fail on you 3 times in 3 months to the point of needing replacement, and then being told dismissively that your car is fine and isn't a "lemon"? That's exactly how Geek Squad's Protection Plan works – completely fails you when you need it most.

If, like me, you think that Best Buy's conduct towards you, as a consumer, was just plain wrong, why not let them know they should be taking it seriously? Try these three approaches you may not have previously considered:
1. Email Mat Povse, Best Buy's Senior Vice President, Retail & Geek Squad Services, at *******@bestbuycanada.ca and *******@bestbuycanada.ca, and inform him personally of your issue.
2. Did you know it's illegal for any business in Ontario to give you false information about their products or services, including stating that a product is a certain quality when it isn't, or promising to deliver a service or product when they should know that's not possible? All of these things are illegal under Ontario's Consumer Protection Act, 2002. Look into your rights on the Consumer Protection Ontario FAQ website, and if you think Best Buy or Geek Squad haven't been honest with you, file a complaint with Ontario's Ministry of Government and Consumer Services at their online portal.
3. Depending on what you were told – specifically, if Best Buy or Geek Squad have made a false or misleading statement to you – that might be a deceptive marketing practice that is illegal under Canada's Competition Act. File a complaint with the Competition Bureau of Canada at their online portal.