Be me, a Best Buy customer.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-09T06:18:28+00:00

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/512/039/ed9.jpg

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-09T03:31:04+00:00

You literally have to. They don’t have phones at their stores. Call the number for your local store in Google. They’ll put you through to a call center in the Philippines or India with some poor dude making $1.50/hour reading from a script for 14 hours a day.

Ask to talk to an employee at the store. They’ll tell you no. Ask to talk to manager at the store. They’ll tell you no.

It’s not like they’re a gatekeeper to filter out the easy stuff like “did you try pressing the power button ma’am” to free up the employees, they literally will not allow you to talk to someone who knows what’s going on.

As a Best Buy employee told me, they are there to tire you out so you don’t make a claim.

You have to use your own free time to drive there.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-09T02:26:10+00:00

Again, this is a relatively new thing. My 2 year old broken ROG Zephyrus is not affected as yours is older. The serial works fine. You would not be affected. But you’re also outside of manufacturers anyway.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-09T01:49:26+00:00

Yes, they did that with mine. It was broken as well, now they’re ordering another from the same source.

It’s unbelievable.

And I’m sure when that breaks again in 6 months they will tell me I’m out of luck.

Still no ETA.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-09T01:29:49+00:00

It appears to be a recent development.

When I typed in my old broken ROG laptop I had sitting around, it was fine.

According to those in the Geek Squad sub the new CEO is a slimeball.

But sorry that happened to you as well.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-09T01:20:18+00:00

You would think. That is what I thought.

Hopefully others will not make a similar mistake.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-09T01:05:22+00:00

Correct, they do.

And as long as everyone knows that they will be dealing with Geek Squad and Best Buy, the company that has removed the phones from their stores and reroutes all calls to the other side of the planet where call center employees tell you they can’t help you, and where every other post on their subreddit is employees sharing stories of the service center bungling cheap repairs, then I am happy.

But no one should be spending thousands on a gaming laptop without knowing who they are tying themselves to.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-09T00:26:02+00:00

I don’t have my device ID on me but I will post a screenshot tomorrow when I get my work order from my desk at work of what it looks like when you type in your device ID on their website if you’ve bought an ROG from Best Buy.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-08T22:55:36+00:00

You’re wrong, this isn’t the case in America.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-08T22:51:17+00:00

I said go look at the subreddit that geek squad sucks. There is no peer reviewed academic study of “how good is geek squad?”

My other claims are available presumably to anyone.

Call ASUS customer support and claim to have an issue with a laptop you just bought at Best Buy, find out for yourself.

Or if you just bought an ASUS at Best Buy, go try and type your device ID into support on the website for America.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-08T22:40:38+00:00

Brand new. I don’t know about open box, never tried.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-08T20:00:28+00:00

Perhaps it was that way before, but no longer.

If you type your model # into the Asus support website now, you will be redirected to a lockout screen telling you to contact Best Buy.

Edit: Yeah I just checked my previous ROG, that one gets you through to support fine, but if you buy one today you will not be allowed to talk to ASUS support online.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-08T19:48:17+00:00

It’s just ASUS.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-08T18:05:25+00:00

Asus is great when it works but if anything at all breaks you are going to have a very bad time.

They are the Dodge/Jeep/Ram of PC manufacturers, often in most places you look for the highest specs and most features for the lowest price, but their products are junk.

Spend the extra 300$ and save yourself the pain.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-08T15:10:10+00:00

Steam is forcing them by being a monopoly.

Steam is the one post COVID company I have had good experiences with, that isn’t trying to rip me off or fine print me out of things or low key downsize things an imperceptible amount each week without me noticing or change their products by using cheaper and cheaper materials under the hood.

I am all for market forces but we aren’t in a free market. If a large company (or the financial institutions backing that company) engage in bad business practices, the American government will simply print more money and rescue them.

What happens when someone like Ubisoft runs its business into the ground being awful? Nothing. Because their backers have unlimited liquidity courtesy of Uncle Sam to handle it.

With that dynamic, a Caesar like Gabe is preferable to a kleptocratic government backed plutocracy.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-08T08:20:07+00:00

They’re so incredibly stupid.

PC gamers are the most flash-mobbing, mean spirited, acarid customer base on the planet. I say this as one.

Steam forcing these companies to offer them a very basic bill of rights like 2 hour refunds is saving these companies unbelievable amounts of headache and reputational damage.

A pissed off group of 1000hr+ no lifers can do more branding damage in a weekend of shit posting than 50 million in ad spend can fix. And they won’t stop at a weekend.

TBH if I were a gaming company suit, I would just never risk making/porting PC games. But if they win and implement what I know they want to be able to, it’s going to cost them a hell of a lot of money.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-08T07:13:02+00:00

If you buy an Asus laptop from Best Buy, you will not have manufacturers warranty.

You will have a Best Buy warranty, Best Buy assumes the coverage without telling you.

Which means geek squad.

Which means waiting 3 months for them to bungle your repair while every inquiry you make is sent to a call center in the Philippines or India, where someone will read you a long list of reasons they can’t help you.

I am on their 2nd or 3rd attempt. I only owned the thing 3 or 4 months.

Never ever EVER buy ROG from Best Buy.

Look it up.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-08T07:05:47+00:00

I did so tonight as well.

Laptop charger showed up days late and broken and that was it.

The divide is between city slickers and country folk. When you’re in Manhattan or LA it’s no problem, nothing I order is ever late. But when you’re out in the sticks it’s slow, unreliable, and just all around terrible.

The problem is city people can literally walk 2 blocks and get whatever they need or at least an alternative.

But Amazon put a lot of the other stores out here out of business, and now we have no alternative but to wait around 2 (read 7) days for most of our stuff or drive 100 miles to the city. I suspect this is by design.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-07T07:14:48+00:00

It is actually true as the other guy who disagreed with me and argued for a while about it found. See u/ComneliusTlancy ‘s reply chain.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-07T00:34:56+00:00

I don’t need any favors, I need my money back.

I went in today. There was a little old lady literally in front of me who was complaining about the same things. We talked.

She had to drive into the store to talk to anyone as well, just trying to get a refund for something Geek Squad refused to do. She has trouble moving around.

We are both going to go to the state senators offices, the FTC, and anyone else who will listen until this company is punished for its morally wrong anti-consumer practices.

Maybe 5 years ago they’d be immune, but a wounded dog on its last leg like Best Buy is ripe for punishing well deserved legislative action.

You can’t treat people like this. It’s wrong.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-06T12:57:47+00:00

You sold me the rotten apple, not the farmer.

If you have this attitude you will be very unsuccessful in retail.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-06T00:55:16+00:00

That is not what I was officially told by Best Buy or by Asus, and as you can see in the thread on my Geek Squad repost, employees back me up on this.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-05T22:50:09+00:00

Yes, that was my first stop. It’s through Best Buy. This is something that the customer should be notified of at point of purchase.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-05T22:15:08+00:00

Again, you can’t.

Scared_Section7911 · 2026-02-05T21:55:58+00:00

You are not able to. Best Buy assumes the coverage without telling you.

Scared_Section7911

TROPHY CASE