If you were to take your computer to a repair shop and they ended up losing it, what would you say is fair compensation? I’d say at least the amount it cost to purchase the laptop in the first place, and then maybe a little extra to cover the hassle and time it took to get it replaced would be fair. One woman, Raelyn Campbell has a completely different idea of what fair compensation should be – $54 million.
Campbell purchased a laptop from Best Buy and bought the extended warranty. A year later, the power button broke off and so she took advantage of the extended warranty and brought the computer in for repairs. She was told it would be ready in two to six weeks but six weeks came and it wasn’t done yet. To make a long story short, Best Buy lost the computer and offered her a $900 gift card to compensate even though the computer cost $1100. Campbell thought about her personal data on the machine and said that the info stored on the computer could lead to an identify theft issue. Not only that, she said she lost thousands of dollars worth of music and thousands of photos that can’t be replaced.
While Best Buy should have offered her more than $900 given that the computer cost $1100, it seems ridiculous that Campbell is taking Best Buy to court and suing them for $54 million. Her biggest issue was regarding the personal data on the machine and the threat of identify theft. As a consumer, it was her responsibility to make sure she had taken sensitive information off of the computer before sending it in. And when she says she lost thousands of dollars worth of music and photos, it’s hard to feel bad when it was again, her responsibility as a consumer to make sure she had back-ups of those files. She could have easily lost those photos and the music if her hard drive failed.
Of course, this is all just my opinion. So what do you think? Is she right for suing Best Buy? If so, is she right to sue them for $54 million or is that dollar amount a little exaggerated? It wouldn’t be surprising in the least if she got before a judge and he just laughed at her, especially knowing Best Buy is offering her over $4,000 to settle out of court.
Source: MSNBC
53 millions should be fine
I think the amount is exagerated but the the court will have the last word.
if you researched the story better, you would understand the basis for the $54 million.
campbell is not suing for $54 million cuz she thinks she deserves $54 million. she picked that amount to gain media attention. she even admits that she’s not expecting to win that amount.
so to answer your questions, she is suing because of the reasons you outlined above. she is suing for that amount to get media attention.
@Ashley:
In my opinion, this is a case of a consumer taking advantage of a situation with a big corporation. There is no way the information in the hard disk is worth $53 million. She would have to prove in court how she arrived at that information and not $100 million, $200 million or perhaps $1,000 million. You get my point.
This reminds me of another ridiculous case in which a Judge sued a Dry Cleaner’s for several million dollars because they lost his suit. Of course he lost the case.
I hope this lady get her $4,000 and settle the case out of court. It’s the proper thing to do.
Regards,
Omar.-
Wow, that makes me very mad! My frined who owns a computer repair shop acedentally took someones computer to the dump. So to make it right my friend bought her a better computer and probably some money along with it too. There was no law suit here.
BestBuy might be a bigger corperation but yes, the lady is responcible for everything on that computer. Now, it wasn’t right for BestBuy to offer $900 instead of $1200 (or $1500). It wasn’t their fault that she had important files on there.
She knew it was going in for repair, which makes it all the more reason why it’s not right to blame BestBuy. If she cared enough about her data would have kept a backup plan going with a computer shadow copy of her computer (which only costs $80 for Ghost and then $90 for the 200GB harddrive.
What’s probably going to happen? She will win, but not for 54Million if her data was worth that much, she should have gotten in insured, and backed up.
This is just stupid if I was the judge I would through out, 54Million and tell BestBuy they have 10 days to get her a replacment better computer w/ $400 gift card. -AT THE MOST-
-Mike
As I understood it when I first heard the story, the Best Buy people lied about losing her computer when they lost it. She was suing for the huge amount because they lied to her. The reasoning is that if she had known right away that the computer had been lost/stolen she would have been able to take steps to prevent any potential identity theft.
I think the reason for suing for such a large amount was to bring attention to what happened and the very bad way Best Buy handled the situation. That mission has been accomplished.
I’m not a fan of these outrageous lawsuits, but I would like to see Best Buy receive a little bit of a black eye for the way they treated this lady. Only because I think it will help to prevent the same thing from happening to someone else. At least for a while.
4 grand is alright. I mean Best Buy needs to replace the computer, plus a little bit for hassles and crap like that.
But yeah, I’m with everyone who says that she should’ve backed up her files and taken off the sensitive stuff.
Thus, 54 mil is just ridiculous and I hope she doesn’t get a dime more than 4 grand….hopefully even less.
Oh PS, old news. This happened like….last week or something.
The fact the US legal system entertains such lawsuits is a terrible blemish on the country
Yeah I hate a lot of the crap people even TRY to take to court. But in this case it is nice to see the big companies getting pushed around a little. Think it of something the MPAA or RIAA would do.
While this case seems ridiculous you should pay attention to the details, she took the machine in because the on/off switch was broken, hence no way to wipe the hard drive and no way to make sure her backups were current if she was doing them. Therefore Best Buy was liable for that information when the machine went in for repair. I doubt a court would not see it that way (it’s much the same with a car mechanic, computer techs should expect the same in the future). I think the amount she is suing for is not right, but in the end the court will end up setting the amount she gets if it gets to court. In the end she will most likely settle after having some fun with the media, court cases are never fun and tend to drag on and on. If she loses she would have to pay all the court costs, to me this seems to big of a risk. I think this is just one of those media circus acts.
That case with the guy suing the drycleaner was ridiculous… it was a judge that basically just tried his best to put them out of business by dragging it on forever. It’s not like he was suing some big uncaring company either, he was suing a small mom&pop shop that just didn’t have the resources to defend themselves. Awful.
As far as this goes, it’s always about sending a message to the big companies… they only care if there’s bad press or it costs them a lot of money.
From an ethical/customer service standpoint, Best Buy should have given her the full amount that she paid for the computer, as she would likely not be able to buy another computer with the same features as her original for $900.
However, from a legal standpoint, they might in fact be able to get away with $900, because the computer was a year old, and the law takes the depreciation of an item into account when determining value. Of course that’s not considering the actual contents of her hard drive. But even with that stuff her actual damages would not be much. First she has to prove that she bought every mp3 that she had as opposed to illegally downloading or ripping from a physical CD. The court wouldn’t award damages for stuff she didn’t buy in the first place. But there’s no way to prove that she had anything on the drive since the computer is lost.
She really really should have backed up.
Not to be harsh but, did anyone read the entire story? There’s much in it than just what it seems a stupid lawsuit.
$54 Million seems very high, very. But how is it her responsibility to back everything up when her computer breaks? You can never have a 100% back-up when your computer crashes. I think in cases like this, Best Buy should have insurance to cover lost computers, say full cost of similar computer plus $1000 for trouble and lost data. but I’m not a judge, so interesting to hear what happens from here.
lashiec,
i was pointing out the same thing in my comment above. apparently, nobody reads anymore.
It all comes down to reading the fine print on the contract that the customer signed when the computer was brought in for service. Even if the laptop would not power up, the HD could be removed and backed up with a portable HD adapter for a lot less than $54 million. People really need to start taking some responsibility as far a computer back-ups go. It’s really simple to do and these days it’s quite inexpensive.
Here is a clipping from the GeekSquad website that is on the form that the customer signs.
(b) User Responsibility: You understand and agree that before Geek Squad performs diagnostic repair on your computer, it is your responsibility to back up the data, software, information, or other files stored on your computer disks and/or drives. You acknowledge and agree that Geek Squad shall not be responsible under any circumstance for any loss or corruption of data and/or software.
@Lashiec
Assuming that because the majority of the comments disagree with you that they didn’t read the article seems a bit arrogant doesn’t it?
I certainly read it, MSNBC link and all. While yes, I agree that it would be nice customer service for Best Buy to offer the full price of the computer ($1100 cash, not the 2,100 she asked them for), from a legal standpoint they certainly don’t owe her even that much, let alone 54 million dollars. As I said, the computer was a year old therefore it was no longer worth full value and she can’t prove what was on her hard drive had any value or even what was on her hard drive.
It does not has anything to do with people disagreeing with me or not, but with the focus in the $54 million figure that IMO is irrelevant. Ms. Campbell admitted that it was done to attract media attention (objective reached, that’s for sure), but probably she would settle the suit for far less.
The problem is that they don’t simply lose her notebook. They lied regarding the situation (inexcusable), they ignored her demands, and they didn’t warn her about possible data loss, just as the law in the district stated. Not to mention the prospect of identity theft, as her tax returns were on the computer (or so she claims). Add to that legal costs, and it’s clear that some money to cover the cost of a new notebook it’s simply not enough. Of course, $54 million is a bit too much, but something covering all the costs would be enough. Perhaps something between $3000-$1000?
As a Best Buy employee, I can say that what they offered her in terms of $900 is against what they as a company tell their customers when they purchase their warranties. When you do so, we tell you that you will get reimbursed fully if there is something that we can’t fix (or in this case, lose. But then again, most stores are filled with managers and employees who honestly don’t care.
Take a brisk walk behind the wall you see at the Geek Squad counter and you will find teenage kids who don’t care about anything that you brought in. Honestly, you are bringing your most valuable possessions to someone who considers that place nothing more than an after-school job. I’ve seen hard-drives have to be replaced because of a GS guy “fixing” what should’ve been nothing more than a simple software install.
Managers and most employees don’t care about your crap, they care about numbers and keeping their jobs. As one of their “star” employees I can’t even begin to tell you how fake their smiles and attempts at helping you are. Example: recently I was helping an older woman try and locate something that she desperately needed for her home but couldn’t find in my metro area, I spent about 20 min looking for it and found it just across the state, and was about to have it transfered when a manager told me to get off of the phone because the margin wasn’t enough for my time no matter how the woman needed it. Needless to say she went home empty-handed, thankful for my help but probably no longer a Best Buy customer. These things happen all the time.
Do yourself a favor, if your PC is acting up, get a professional, don’t get some schoolboy who hates his job- the service is too expensive for that anyway. And warranties? Decide that on your own accord, but be informed, manufacturers offer them too.
You sure got that right. Best Buy’s services are very expensive but I think people turn to them because they’re a familiar name. It’s always easier to turn to someone you’re familiar with for help versus a company you’ve never heard of. The other problem is that people who use Best Buy usually don’t understand computers so they can easily be taken advantage of.
I have worked with computers since the early 80’s and it always surprises me how uninformed employees are at stores like Best Buy. Whenever I have to go some place like this I almost always know more than the employees and they are never any real help (in fact I sometimes take the time to educate these employees in hopes they will retain the knowledge and help others with it). I do quite a bit of side work just fixing issues for friends and family. When I don’t have time I make sure I have some place to send them that will do a good job rather than a poor job. The biggest problem is it’s not always easy to find knowledgeable people who truly care enough to help. It’s up to places like this on the net to help people understand and be aware of places like Best Buy that will take advantage of you if they can make a buck. I hope if nothing else this story gets peoples attention and sticks in their heads next time they are tempted to spend money at one of their stores.