Best Buy’s Brand Image Tarnished by Lawsuit over Lost Laptop?
February 18, 2008 by Susan Gunelius
Filed under Marketing
The $54 million lawsuit against Best Buy for a lost laptop has been in the news for days now. Long story short in case you haven’t heard the details, a woman, Raelyn Campbell, brought her laptop to Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) for repair under Best Buy’s extended warranty plan. The power button had broken off, and Ms. Campbell was told it could take 2-6 weeks to repair it. Three months later and hours of time wasted contacting Best Buy to get her laptop back, Best Buy confessed it was lost.
Best Buy offered her a $900 gift card to make up for losing her laptop along with all of her personal files and data. She told them her laptop had cost $1,100 and her data was worth more than that. She asked for $2,100. Best Buy ignored her. At this time she was told that she was at risk for identity theft and Best Buy had not filed a legally required notice that she was at risk. She filed a lawsuit (representing herself) for $54 million. Best Buy then offered her $4,100 if she would drop the lawsuit.
Raelyn Campbell doesn’t expect to win her lawsuit, but she wants Best Buy to tell her what happened to her laptop.
There are so many things wrong with this scenario that I don’t know where to start. First, the PR disaster of Best Buy. Let’s face it, Best Buy didn’t have a stellar reputation for customer service to begin with. Now they’ve dropped to the bottom of the barrel. Can they rebound from yet another branding nightmare?
Second, from a customer perspective this is really scary. I would freak if my laptop were lost. The identity theft repercussions are really frightening. Identity theft can ruin your life and be extremely difficult to fix. I don’t think a lost laptop is something to be taken lightly. What would you do if your laptop or computer or documents with all of your personal information were lost?
Third, what is the monetary value to put on personally identifying information and the long-term potential negative effects that lost data could have on your life. Who knows what could happen years from now since no one knows where that laptop is.
That brings me to this interesting poll from Yahoo Tech’s Working Guy blog (through Polls Boutique) by Christopher Null today. The poll asks how people feel about Raelyn Campbell’s $54 million lawsuit against Best Buy. Nearly 36,000 people have responded to the poll with an overwhelming 87% agreeing that her lawsuit and $54 million claim are justified. Even more interesting, 98% agree she should sue. Check out the results below.
What do you think?
Tags: Best Buy, Best Buy lawsuit, Best Buy lost laptop, Raelyn Campbell, Best Buy $54 million lawsuit, Best Buy laptop lawsuit, branding, brand image, brand responsibility
Best Buy, after recovering data on my wifes laptop, handed us 6 cd’s (supposedly with our data), to our suprise (and shock), when we put these cd’s into our computer, they contained someone eles’s data (private info). We returned to Best Buy and asked “who has our data”? To date no response from best buy. On our hard disk were scanned copies of our passports, bank statements, credit card info, etc. Now we’re ready to file a police report, notify secret service, homeland security (passports), etc. This privacy breach ocured mid march (08). Sent letter to BB CEO (registered) in march – no response to date. Best Buy is not a company that you want to do business with!!!!
Walt, that is a horrible story and another example of Best Buy’s lack of concern for customers. I wish you luck in getting resolution.
f anybody thinks that something like this could be resolved out of court are completely crazy and out of touch with reality. One person against i whole corporation is almost impossible, even though $54m is a lot to ask for there still is justification in her actions.
You can get lost laptops back with Rewarding Return labels (rewardingreturn.com)
They only cost a few bucks, but inform the finder there is a reward to return it. Rewarding Return even pays all teh shipping to get it returned to you. It’s a sick deal. Check em out http://www.RewardingReturn.com
Best buy still always take care customer very good. Congratulation for you good experience.