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

[DNP]

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/72016

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.

 

[Ridge]

i wonder how she came up with the figure 54 million. Won't this just get thrown out of court?

 

[Theo]

i wonder how she came up with the figure 54 million. Won't this just get thrown out of court?

$53,999,000 as punitive damages

 

[DomainMagnate]

Nice, I think they'll eventually settle on some $10k

 

[draggar]

Just like the guy who sued a cleaner for something like 23 million for losing his pants.

 

[hugegrowth]

losing the laptop was bad but the identity theft thing is a hot issue these days. quite a few big companies have had their customer information stolen, so that issue might make her case.

 

[Devil Dog]

2 to 6 weeks for a broken power button? :uhoh::uhoh::shy:

 

[sashas]

I would pissed out of my mind if Best Buy lost my laptop. This thing's got 2 years of data, research, documents on it...and not all of us backup our stuff.

 

[GAMEFINEST]

Why not 50?

 

[Vinternatt]

I know she wants very much but I hope she wins the suit. Best Buy didn't want to refund the original cost. That shows us they really don't care the customer after selling something. There are zillions of companies just like Best Buy in the world. They take the money and then provide a limited support. When they see a problem they just ignore you. I hope she wins and Best Buy change its policy for its customer relationship. And that suit becomes a lesson for other companies, too.