Call Kurtis: Took My Phone In For Repair, Best Buy Couldn't Find It For Almost 3 Months
A Sacramento woman took her phone into Best Buy to be repaired. When it seemed to disappear, she called Kurtis.
Three months went by, and she says no one could find her phone.
Needing to stay in touch with her daughters, Yvette Thurman uses her cell phone everyday.
Back in November, it started acting up.
"The phone would just shut off. I'd be right in the middle of a call or texting," said Yvette.
Still under warranty, Yvette took it back to Best Buy in Elk Grove.
"They initially told me it'd be ready in a week," said Yvette.
But a week has turned into almost three months, forcing her to use her daughter's old phone.
Yvette says she went to Best Buy at least half a dozen times but got no answers.
"We don't know what happened to your phone, we can't find your paperwork, oh give us a week, that gets tiresome," said Yvette.
"This is really outrageous when you have a consumer who's trying for months to get their phone back," said Jamie Court, President, Consumer Watchdog.
Court says companies should compensate you for your time.
In his book titled "Corporateering," he suggests a dollar figure, based on your salary.
"Everybody has an hourly rate. How many hours did the consumer waste trying to fix this problem? That's what Best Buy really should be compensating her for," said Court.
For example, if you earn $42,000 a year and spent 8 hours trying to resolve a problem, under his theory, you should be compensated $168.
We reached out to Best Buy, who just tracked down her phone.
They couldn't tell us where it was but in an email, they blamed the problem on a "system glitch..." and added "we apologize to Ms. Thurman and value her patronage."
-- Jon Sandler, spokesperson
"I'd be happy as long as they give it back to me working, after all this time," said Yvette.
And here it is...Yvette's phone finally repaired plus a $100 gift card from Best Buy for her inconvenience.
Yvette tells us she's satisfied with the $100 gift card and doesn't plan to go after the company for the time she wasted, trying to fix this problem.
