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How much is a laptop worth these
days? Well, according to a lawsuit against a local Best Buy local store in D.C.
area, $54 million! Raelyn Campbell is an unsatisfied customer, who took her
broken laptop to the “Geek Squad” at Best Buy, together with a warranty, due to
hardware malfunctions, and never saw it again.
Campbell, who is often
travelling and relies on her laptop, said she took the laptop for repairs at what
is America’s largest consumer electronics retailer in May, but the promises of
having it back up and running in a couple of weeks turned into months of asking
for her laptop back and getting vague answers from Best Buy employees.
On November 16 the woman filed a
lawsuit against the Best Buy retail store in Richfield, Minn., not only for
losing her laptop, but also for identity theft protection. The store was
reluctant to reaching an accord with her, but on a final note, they proposed
a $2,500 cash refund is she agreed to signing a confidentiality agreement.
That would have been an easy ending
for both sides, but unfortunately for Best Buy, Campbell refused and now plans
on giving them a lesson, so that other customers won’t go through the same
things as she did. The $54 million lawsuit is intended to get Best Buy’s
attention in revising the attitude towards its customers rather than to winning
money.
Campbell accused several of the
Best Buy employees, including the manager of the store, of failing to notify
her of the loss, and moreover, of trying to find different excuses for the
missing laptop. When the store realized the laptop was really lost, they tried to
offer a money compensation to Campbell, but every time less than the initial
value of the laptop and the extended warranty.
One could wonder: Why $54
million? Raelyn Campbell, 37, said she is perfectly aware of the ridiculous
amount, but if this is the only way to draw attention to the consumer property
and privacy rules of Best Buy, so be it, and at the same time, because $54
billion is lost every year because of identity theft.
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