yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
I started having problems with the power button, so i went today to get it replaced and to my surprise the SKU had change and they told me they couldn't replace the unit because the one they have was different. I asked the lady to call the store manager and she confirmed that I had to pay the difference because the one the sold on black Friday was build with cheaper components "can I get a lol?" I had to get a general manager involved and even after that I had to call the store I originally bought the transform from and get that General manager involved too.... well tomorrow I'm getting a new one. will see. Hopefully no one else has to go trough this.

:(
[Eee Pad Transformer General] baseballfanz:
LOL at the "build with cheaper components". IIRC there was another member who had to RMA two BB TF due to power button also.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] swissross:
What's the sku?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
the new one is Model: TF101-A1| SKU: 2475916
[Eee Pad Transformer General] wildestpixel:
I'm glad BB's UK failure and market exit has come as quickly as they came. Crook banditos.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] st0nedpenguin:
The Best Buy "X1" was just the A1 with a different SKU to prevent price matching.

They frequently pull the same shady maneuver. :(
[Eee Pad Transformer General] goodintentions:
I've been playing around with dead units I've managed to obtain. It appears that there are some units with the bezel power button being prone to go out of alignment with the inside electronic power button. Press it a certain way and it goes out of alignment, causing it to not pop back out and you end up with a stuck power button.

To fix, you have to take out the bezel and realign it. Kinda a pain, really.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] fone_fanatic:
I hate best buy, i came believe they get away with crap like this and sku changes to avoid price matching.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Rumbleweed:
Another possible explanation for the X1. Factory refurbs, Search the early forums and you will see there were lots of TF's returned for various reasons, dup orders, light bleed, battery draining ( eventually fixed) or just played with and did not like. I am sure these were not scrapped, but rather retested and sold at a discount .
[Eee Pad Transformer General] hawkxcore:
Would be quite illegal for refurbs to be sold at retail as new.

Sent from my ADR6400L
[Eee Pad Transformer General] goodintentions:
Agreed. I just bought a TF as a present for someone. Brand new from buy.com. Or supposed brand new from buy.com. There was a seal on top of a broken seal. It was a returned unit.

Anyway, I turned it on, played around with it. OMG, after dealing with over a dozen ips display devices, this one has the least light bleeding I've ever seen! Bluetooth, wifi, gps, everything works! The system works great. What's more, I managed to overclock it to 1.6 during my test runs. And the device feels 100% solid. No creaks or anything. I even applied several torque tests and nothing budged.

Whoever the dumbass that returned this almost perfect unit. Haha.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
I just came back from the store and there was a different manager and he said he was not going to exchange my tablet... He said it was because the one they sold on BF had an older version of Android. I know its just retarded.

Tomorrow Il will filing a complaint with the better business bureau.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] goodintentions:
You do realize that the BBB is a private organization, and that best buy couldn't care less what the BBB thinks, right? It's just another method of control of the masses.

Gotta admit the move made by best buy is pretty slick, though. Change the model number so people can't exchange it.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] SiNJiN76:
Is it already past the Holiday return period? But if it is past...then you could look into the thread that goes into how to correct the problem that you have with your power button. Assuming that it's the same problem you have.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
I know it's a private company, but it's not the first time I have use them. Trust me they don't want a record of unresolved issues.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
Yes, still under the return period, that's why I want to get it replaced. Once I have access to a computer I will check that post thx!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] nightwulf:
This is right up The Consumerist's alley. Get a little internet attention. They love Best Buy stories.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] XVicarious:
Same thing happened to me with my NetBook in August
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Tripsyk:
I work for Best Buy... sadly they do change SKUs quite frequently. The added letters/numbers on the end of models typically involves some kind of feature change on the unit.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Novarider:
I would not take no for an answer. Keep talking to someone higher up until you get a replacement. Does your local news agency have someone you take complaints to and they investigate it?

If they tell you it has a different version of android on it laugh at the idiot in their face then walk over to the display unit and show them its the same version.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] goodintentions:
I've found that most BB employees don't know ****. And sometimes they make up **** as they go along. They depend on the ignorance of the masses. You've no idea how many times I've pretended to not know anything and see them make up total bull**** to make themselves look knowledgable.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Mr Paul:
Can you not just RMA to Asus?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
They are the same, I already contacted Asus and they are going to send me a letter stating they only put that number per Best Buy request for the Christmas Season, then I will go to small claims. Nothing like walking in to your local best buy store with your local sheriff to collect.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Tazzaras:
I agree and the amount of people that bought the units vs the ones that have posted about issues doesn't match up. You would see a greater number of people saying they have issues with them. I bought mine from BB on BF and have not had any issues with it thus far.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Tyfighter:
1000 times this.

I went into best buy once to pick up an external hard drive and the exchange went verbatim like this:

"Hi, im looking for the firewire drive that was on sale in your flyer."

"Oh, that's this one"

"No, that only has usb, it says on the box."

"Oh.... well how about this one?"

"Uh... no... also only usb. You can see on this picture of the ports."

"Well, im pretty sure you can plug... what are you looking for?"

"Firewire.... 800 or 400... either or at this point."

"Yeah you can plug both those into the [mini usb] port"

".............. I'm just going to look on my own"
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Novarider:
When I went to buy my tv they said they would get me the "exoert" on tv's. When he came he was trying to explain the difference between 720p and 1080p (I knew the difference but wanted to hear what he was going to say) he proceeded to tell me the difference was that 720p had 720pixels total on the tv and 1080p had 1080pixels total on the screen.

Well obviously he was an IDIOT and he was the "expert"

Went yesterday to look for a new computer. They had no desktops that were even half way decent so I asked someone where they were and he said "companies are going to all In one's and laptops and getting away from desktops"..... What like people have people decided to stop gaming? I think not!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Firehawkns:
The sku changes for black friday is not new. I worked at Circuit City between 98 and 01 and it was a known tactic, especially with places like cosco or Sams Club.

The difference with us at CC is we would exchange if it was in the return policy regardless of sku.

I did buy the bb tf101 blackfriday deal and its felt like every other tf101 i have played with.

oh and plus ones for the employees not knowing squat.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Spidey01:
Bit late to bring up at this point, but give or take the screws on the backplate (I forgot to put mine back in), couldn't someone just pry up that edge of the bezel (from the back side of the tablet) and use gravity to reseat the button before popping the bezel back into place? For what power/volume button issues I had from doing surgery on mine,it worked well
[Eee Pad Transformer General] shadymouse:
Totally agree about doing the whole dismantling thing. However, he should not have to go through all of that trouble. Especially, not within a month and a half time period. This power button issue reminds me of the Nokia n900, mini USB port flaw.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] KeyserSöze_1:
If you used a credit card, go back and tell them you will have your bank do a chargeback, because you attempted in good faith to return defective merchandise during the time they allow and were refused twice. Get the names of the managers involved and etc. You may also have other protections via your bank, you can call them and ask what to do in your situation.

If you did not use a CC, good luck to you.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] dohclude:
Bought a x1 on black friday from best buy. Same exact thing happened to me with the power button just 2 days after I got it. Had to RMA it with Asus because best buy refused to exchange it.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] baseballfanz:
This was taken off the Bestbuy.com Q&A section.:D
[Eee Pad Transformer General] jordanjay29:
Bookmarking your post, just in case!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] knoxploration:
The only feature-change BB makes is to bundle extra bloatware. The different SKU is to get them out of having to honor price matches--nothing more, nothing less.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] dreadmador:
Offtopic, I know, but most people who want desktop rigs for gaming build them by theirselves these days. Components can be bought cheap and there are many guides to help novices. Best Buy (along with most of the industry) has simply acknowledged that there isn't much of a market for pre-built desktops anymore, particularly with the popularity of laptops, netbooks, and tablets.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] RobAGD:
Welp picked up an Open Box TF101 tonight, it was spotless, and the power cord and brick hadnt even been unwraped at this point. I really can't complain as I managed to get it for $300 and some change.

Its a X1 so we shall see, I have 45 days as a Silver Reward Zone member to return it so I have some time to thrash it a bit.

One thing I am not liking is the /sdcard/ setup making some things i need to do a royal pita.

-Robert
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
**UPDATE**

Best buy just called me to offer a $80 gift card to pay half of the difference between the TF101-X1 and the TF101-A1. LOL small claims here I come! They gotta be really dumb.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] daverod:
Have you told them you're taking them to small claims? Just curious what their reaction was? Good luck!!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
yes I did and the guy said ok... lol
[Eee Pad Transformer General] SiNJiN76:
is that why they called you with the offer?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
No, I went to the BBB first. Now Im going to small claims.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
*Update*

The agreed to paid for the whole ($170 gift Card) difference between X1 and A1..... but they wont admit that they are the same....
[Eee Pad Transformer General] jake21:
Amusing thread. I have the transformer (mine was the original high quality $400 model :)

Anyways it makes me sad to read a thread like this; not so much because it is likely true indication of BB management but that the store behaves in this fashion (amazon seems to have better customer care).

-

To the fellow who mentioned CC; while I know each store is very different; the CC that I routinely used in my home city had excellent and knowledgeable people (the BB isn't as bad as folks describe here but the folks tend to not be hobbist in area of interest and so don't know a whole lot - but they don't make up crap either).

-

Oh well I did take a look at the prime and the screen is tons better than the transformer; but I want to upgrade to one of the 720P models comming out soon (asus or samsung). I guess a lot of this isn't related to the op thread; though I'm a bit surprise that link above to the internal memo indicating the models were identical didn't solve the issue.

-

My guess is the employees were told not to do exchanges (maybe margins were too low?)

so then they had to make up crap to explain why they couldn't. The manages have to know about the sku changes...

-

brick and mortar stores won't die because mail order is cheaper; they will die because customer care is 100x times worse.

-

Pitty about CC; I really did like that store back in my home town.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Spidey01:
TF101 andcTF201 have 720p screens, you likely mean 1080p.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
I feel very frustrated... that a company like BB do this to their customers. Something I didn't mention, when I was there the first night I saw a couple returning one, I saw them paying the extra money to get the table exchange.. IMO that is abusive, at this point I haven't anwser them, I still feel like refusing the offer and take them to small claims, but a the same time, that can take a long time, plus they will have record that they offered me to pay for the difference already.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Rumbleweed:
I went to an office supply store today to purchase a 16Gb micro SD card they had on sale for <$20. The rack was empty so I asked the customer service manager if they had any more. She gave me a disgusted look and then said figures everyone wants this one. Wanted to say DUH! your company listed it in their sale flyer of course, but figured she would not understand.:D
[Eee Pad Transformer General] jordanjay29:
That's not a refund, and if I were you, I wouldn't accept it as such. You paid by credit card/check/cash, make them refund you by the same method. A gift card encourages more business at their store, why should you, as the customer they inconvenienced, be forced to buy MORE of their ****?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
They are refunding me for the tablet and giving a gift card for $170.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] N45H:
You have my LOLz for sure.. damn BestBuy.. :/
[Eee Pad Transformer General] asdfuogh:
Bestbuy's geek squad doesn't know much about computers usually.. :/ They just want to charge you for some **** that most teenagers can do now.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] luna_c666:
yeah but if you call best buy to fix your pc then they probably know more than you do lol which isn't saying much, but who calls for pc repair these days and doesn't have grey ear hair?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] jordanjay29:
Wait, wait, they're giving you your money back PLUS the gift card? Okay, that's not so bad.

I just can't stand companies who think they're in the right by refunding customers with a gift card. If I didn't pay with a gift card, I don't want your f---ing gift card, I want my money!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] GasGuzz:
Not at all a BB advocate…

I’m not sure where the confusion is, if they give you back your full receipt value – you’re whole. The in-store GC is above/beyond (and not a refund), I don’t see an unethical twist there.

Yes I think we can all agree the A1/X1 are identical, but by Accounting principle they are not. The X1 is a BF scheme, it serves a marketing/sales purpose. Unfortunately the X1 recourse is through RMA, albeit pay A1 price and you’ll get even exchange.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
Suffix are usually use for fixes or dirty tactics this one. I have an email from Asus and X1 and A1 is 1 tablet not difference at all. Per Asus email the X1 was requested by Best Buy when they did the BF deal.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] shoman94:
I'm gonna assume you got the regular tf101 hence why they gave you the gift card?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] GasGuzz:
Separate and understand the variables, the X1 (BF et-al) deals are just that – holiday promotions. You take advantage of it (no gun to your head), as with the retailer in the scheme of things.

No secret BF loss-leaders are a ploy to get you in, hence BF-2011 made $11.4B-illion. I wouldn’t be surprised if Asus came up with the idea anyway, to move inventory and gain capital for the Prime production. And also an opportunity to displace market share from Motorola/Toshiba/Apple/Samsung.

The deal/game is you specifically buy the X1 for $250 no more/less, the A1 (available on BF) in itself has nothing to do with it. I can understand your plight but I’m sorry to say, you take your lumps with it (or score, as many here did).
[Eee Pad Transformer General] mb02:
So your rationalization is that because BF is about moving product and getting a good deal, getting a defective product means you're stuck with no customer service and a broken product? That sounds...ridiculous and crooked. Not sure where you're from, but around here selling a broken product with no means of exchanging/returning is beyond unethical. Not to mention there is no disclosure of these details at time of sale. Pretty sure people throwing even $150 at a tablet would skip the purchase if they were told its not the standard model and receives no support once sold.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] GasGuzz:
Nope, far from what I’m saying.

Are you familiar with the BB-X1/A1 designation? I never said you don’t get support for the X1, read/comprehend through the thread.

Disclosure/details... Last I checked A1 and X1 are spelled (and legally) dissimilar. The issue isn’t whether they are identical from the factory, the issue is (unfortunately) the A1/X1 designation makes them legally divergent at the retail level. Nothing new, for one they do this with major home appliances all the time.

Ethics... You bet there’s a conundrum, but corporate view ethics as significant only if it breaks the law.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] SndChsr:
Honestly that doesn't surprise me. BB can be real morons sometimes. They can also be very helpful at other times. I took my first Prime back for a dead pixel (VERY noticeable on a black screen in a dark room), and the resulting 20 minutes at the cust service desk were a joke. Guy comes up after about 15 mins, wearing glasses (no hard feelings glass wearing friends!) and in the brightly lit BB store says he doesn't see any dead pixels.

I work with diagnostic medical monitors on a daily basis and trust me, I can spot a dead pixel before he can spell his name. So I look at him and say, you DO realize we're in a BRIGHTLY LIT ROOM right??

I run a pixel test app and though I can see because I know where it is...Buddy Holly is still oblivious. I ask them 4 times to go to a darker area of the store and have a look. THey don't want to. Hmmmm...really? Fearing they might be proven wrong? So now I'm really getting pissed off, I cup my hands around the dead pixel and tell Mr. Pixel Expert..."LOOK....HERE!! SEE IT???"

He goes: OH...THAT LITTLE SPOT??? I'm like....WTF!!! Dude...what do you think a dead pixel is? A flashlight stuck to the underside of the screen??? YES that little spot! And that little spot gets REAL noticeable in a dark room when viewing anything with a dark background. Specially when I show my customers proofs of my photos. So finally, reluctantly he agrees to exchange. Like they did ME a favor. Unreal.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Ladyfinesse08:
confused?

Not defending best buy or anything but if you buy a $250 product you can't expect to exchange it for a $400 one. If they would have refused a refund I'd understand how you feel a bit more but if youre trying to do an exchange it has t be for the "same" product or one of equal of lesser value. Even if they are the same they were sold to best buy differently. Just like they would never give someone exchanging an original transformer a BF one, the also can't exchange a BF one for a regular one. In the end glad to see things worked out okay for you.

As to the whole uninformed sales consultants I've heard that in the big stores they tend to pull people away from their area of expertise to have them randomly work in an area tthey don't know too much about. Like a computer guy being dragged into audio. Again no excuses but bad management and use of labor may be why you guys have had bad experiences like that.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] knoxploration:
You can when the $250 product and the $400 product are the EXACT SAME ITEM.

Best Buy chose to sell a $400 item for $250. They also chose to lie about it being the same item.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] goodintentions:
Why would they do that?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Exnor:
USA consumer rights law's must be very different that the ones we have in Europe :(

If you had that problem in EU the retailer would have to refund or replace the unit no mater what (in case of manufacture defects of curse) during the mandatory (by law) 2 years warranty.

Don´t you have any government office for consumer rights in the US or any other official agency were you can make a complaint ?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] knoxploration:
USA... Consumer rights? You jest.

The only right consumers have left in the USA these days is to bend over and take it.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] jordanjay29:
Because retail management are not always the sharpest tools in the shed. Retail regularly unstaffs their stores to cut costs, which means when a department is lacking the staff it needs (by getting overwhelmed with customers, having nobody in the department for a shift, or the workload being too great for the, usually one, employee(s) already working there), employees from other departments get told to work outside their area in order to compensate.

Now, people get sick or have to miss work for other reasons, so that's a valid excuse. Yet most of the time, people working outside their area have been pulled there by (mis)management and left with few resources with which to help customers. Creative employees get around this by making **** up (see above posts), and then management takes the fall when the store gets caught in the lie.

Most businesses think that understaffing their stores in non-peak times is a good thing. It's not. It delivers substandard customer service, reduces employee efficiency, results in reduced or missing inventory and is just all around bad for the customer, employee, manager and the store's profit margins.

So, why, you ask? Who the hell knows?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] knoxploration:
Reducing costs, pure and simple. Anything else isn't given a thought.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] jordanjay29:
Fixed it for ya.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Vertig0:
**UPDATE**

BestBuy called me today and change the offer to a pure exchange... and there it goes my plans of getting an Ipad3...
[Eee Pad Transformer General] goodintentions:
That explains a lot. Can't tell you how many times I've caught BB employees either lying right through their teeth or just plain ignorant.

The way I see it, BB might not survive for long. They have already pulled out of Britain. I suspect they will continue to shrink and die a slow death.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Rumbleweed:
Unfortunately BB and other big box stores cater to more than just tech savy people that frequent this board. Most customers don't recognize the made up bull s#*t answers and think they got expert advise as advertised. Also why ipads sell so well. I bought a flourescent shop light and a light switch at a big box store. The expert in the electrical dept told me the light would not work on a switch, it could only be turned on/off by plugging it in or unplugging. :eek: