Best Buy Loses Laptop: Owner Sues... for $54 Million

[Paul2]

Link

Don\'t dismiss Raelyn Campbell as a crackpot. Not yet. Listen to her story, and then decide if she\'s doing the right thing by asking Best Buy to compensate her to the tune of $54 million for a laptop that went missing when she took it in to Best Buy for repair under the store\'s own extended warranty.

Like many people, Campbell bought an extended warranty for her laptop when she bought it from Best Buy, and she took advantage of that when the power button broke off after a year. Best Buy accepted the machine for repair and said it would be ready in two to six weeks. But six weeks passed and the computer wasn\'t ready. After three months of ruthlessly hounding the company, Best Buy finally admitted it couldn\'t find the machine.

Ultimately, Best Buy offered to pay her $900 for losing the machine... as a gift card. She countered that it had originally cost over $1,100, not to mention all her data that was now gone for good. She demanded $2,100, and Best Buy simply ignored her.

At this point, Campbell was made aware that all her personal data on the machine could lead to a major identity theft issue, though Best Buy never filed their legally required notice that she was at risk. That was the last straw, and she filed suit for $54 million, representing herself. Best Buy has since upped its offer to a total of $4,100 if she withdraws the case. She says she doesn\'t expect to win, but wants to go to court anyway to force Best Buy to explain how her laptop was lost.

I have to agree that $54 million seems wildly optimistic, but it\'s amazing to hear how smug Best Buy has been throughout this process. Lowball, "go-away" offers that don\'t even value property properly, much less the value of the data inside it, are frankly embarrassing, and good for Campbell for making an issue out of it... even if she doesn\'t ultimately prevail.

Wait, how does she figure $54 million as a fair amount? I\'m not against her suing per say, but $54 million is nuts.

[Titan]

Wait, how does she figure $54 million as a fair amount? I\'m not against her suing per say, but $54 million is nuts.

She pretty much hinted she doesn\'t think it\'s a fair amount. She\'s said she knows she isn\'t gonna win but she wants to create a headache for them and hopefully have them admit what happened in front of court to embarrass the company. She\'s just trying to get them back and I applaud her. Companies need to take responsibility when they mess up.

[Paul2]

^^^
yep.

last month i bought a dvd recorder from best buy and the msrp was $250 but best buy sell it at $260.  $10 more than MSRP.  But their ads for this model was $212.49.

I was surprised on why they didn\'t update the price tag though.  I had to price match it with the ads, and after the payment, I realize it was an opened box model with the tape saying "inspected by best buy" on the opening of the box.  The guy couldn\'t find anymore left, so he opened up the box and said everything was in it, and said it wasn\'t used.  

I didn\'t worry much after i brought it home because if i am not happy with it, i can return it before the expiration date.  I know this unit was used, but eh.  So after about 3 weeks try out, there are some stuffs i like about it and some that just sucks like disc just froze inside the player and i have to unplug the power and plug it back in to get the disc.  and when playing cd audio disc that was in perfect condition, the player would sometimes froze and skips.

So, I decided to returned it and get Tivo HD-DVR instead.  And I like Tivo a lot more.  Its does change the way i watch TV.

She pretty much hinted she doesn\'t think it\'s a fair amount. She\'s said she knows she isn\'t gonna win but she wants to create a headache for them and hopefully have them admit what happened in front of court to embarrass the company. She\'s just trying to get them back and I applaud her. Companies need to take responsibility when they mess up.

I don\'t mind her getting them to own up to their mistake, but they already offered her over 4000 dollars. For arguments sake let\'s say she wins and BB has to pay $50+ million - where do you think that money comes from? The other customers. So she\'s basically screwing the honest customers.*

*I don\'t think she\'ll get paid $50 million, but I don\'t like the principle of suing for ridiculous amounts.

I don\'t mind her getting them to own up to their mistake, but they already offered her over 4000 dollars. For arguments sake let\'s say she wins and BB has to pay $50+ million - where do you think that money comes from? The other customers. So she\'s basically screwing the honest customers.*

*I don\'t think she\'ll get paid $50 million, but I don\'t like the principle of suing for ridiculous amounts.

Agree.

Shit happens, they lost her laptop. They tried to pay her for much more than the laptop is worth.


Attention Whore.

[Paul2]

but they didn\'t initially offer her $4,100, it\'s not until she file a lawsuit it\'s when they offer her that deal.

At first when they told her it was lost they offer her $900 in gift cards.  And she was upset that it was less than the $1,100 that she paid for the laptop.  So she demanded $2,100.  Which I think it a fair deal since her laptop been in bestbuy hands for 3 months already, and during those 3 months she could have use it had Best Buy not lost it.  Also, the data in her computers are lost too.  But best buy refused the offer.

So, she got even more upset and sued for $54 million.  But I think doesn\'t matter if she wins or she loses, she at least get what she really wants.  I doubt the court would have best buy to pay her that much either if she wins, they probably going to give her around $2,100 that she initially asked for or the $4,100 deal.

They tried to pay her for much more than the laptop is worth.

Only AFTER she brought a lawsuit against them. You shouldn\'t have to threaten legal action to be treated fairly.  
 
And by the way, if a jury were to award the plaintiff punative damages in the millions, that money would NOT come from Best Buy\'s other customers.  They are a mass retailer in a competitive marketplace.  There is no way they could significantly increase their prices to offset the loss because their competitors would chew them up.
 
The primary effect of such a penalty would be to reinforce to Best Buy that they should update their policies and treat their customers fairly when compensating them for lost property.

[Paul2]

^^^
heh, this guy said it better than me.

I guess they\'d just try even harder to sell you an extended warranty.

Agree.

Shit happens, they lost her laptop. They tried to pay her for much more than the laptop is worth.


Attention Whore.

Well I was about to lay into this post but then realized Cored did it for me.

What a slap in the face to offer her less than what the laptop was originally purchased for when they lost it.  If they offered $3,000-4,000 initially with identity theft protection they\'d more than likely not be in this situation.

I\'d love to hear that they have to pay the 54 mil.  I work for a sales company that represents a bunch of different electronics products such as Panasonic plasmas.  Most of the time I\'m placed in Best Buys.  They pay their home theater full timers between $7.00-9.00 an hour while hounding them to sell thousands every shift.  I know every business works this way but I see this first hand.

[Titan]

eh....whoops...delete this post. i said something like 5 people said

Still, why couldn\'t she have sued for a more reasonable amount?  Would that not have made her point?

Still, why couldn\'t she have sued for a more reasonable amount?  Would that not have made her point?

Maybe 54 million is her lucky number!

My lucky number is 3.  Too bad for them they didn\'t lose my laptop instead.