Woman is suing Best Buy for $54 Million!

@estherlou (5015)
United States
February 18, 2008 11:35am CST
It seems that Best Buy lost this woman's laptop when she took it in for repair. They hemmed and hawed and finally fessed up that they didn't know what happened to it. They gave her $1,110.35 and a $500 gift card for her inconvenience. That would have paid for a new laptop. And now she wants to sue them for $54 million? Give me a break! This is nuts! http://www.arcamax.com/weirdnews/s-302903-329679
19 people like this
49 responses
• United States
18 Feb 08
I totally support this woman. Nest Buy lost a laptop that contained her personal information that can lead to identity teft. Potentially it can cost her millions of dollars! People in Best Buy never really took her seriously by offering her $900 in gift cards (source - yahoo.com) for a laptop that was bought for over $1100! Its unbelievable. Its best buy's own fault and they should pay for it.
2 people like this
• United States
18 Feb 08
I totally agree with you. I saw the lady being interviewed on TV and Best Buy treated her shamefully.
1 person likes this
• United States
24 Feb 08
I personally hate Best Buy. Our local store has horrible customer service. I was ready to buy a computer and I couldn't get a salesperson to wait on me. There were salespeople just standing around talking. I gave them plenty of opportunities to assist me but nothing. I have mystery shopped them in the past for several different vendors and it's always the same thing. I always get the impression that they are doing you a favor if they wait on you. I only go in there if I am desperate for a video game, LOL
@mssnow (9484)
• United States
24 Feb 08
People now days are just plain money hungry. She could have bought a brand laptop and accessories to boot. if she wins this law suit, it will be an all for one for everyone else.
2 people like this
@mssnow (9484)
• United States
24 Feb 08
sorry I meant free for all not all for one lol
2 people like this
• United States
18 Feb 08
That is what I thought until I saw the interview on the Today show with the lady. It is not about money it is the principle of how she was treated by the customer service. They offered her the gift card after a year of giving her lies and platitudes about ordering parts, have to send it to another site for repairs, etc. and it never left the original store as there was no record of having even attempted to repair it. She knows she will never get the money but at least asking for such a huge amount brought to every-one's attention. BTW Best Buy refused to appear or give an comment on the show.
1 person likes this
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
18 Feb 08
How interesting that the article I read never said anything about the time period of a year! I'd be angry also! Getting the run around is bad enough...but for ONE YEAR! Wow...thanks for the info...I didn't see the Today show.
• United States
19 Feb 08
Yeah I didn't watch the story either. Poor customer service should be punished. I am personally sick of it myself. No wonder they give our jobs overseas. They may not speak English, but they want to help!
@Destiny007 (5805)
• United States
18 Feb 08
Considering some of the stupid court decisions in the past, this woman will probably win. Our legal system seems to be determined to do everything possible to destroy business in the US, and I have no confidence in it at all. She was reimbursed for the loss of her computer, and that should have been the end of it. I hope she loses and has to pay the legal fees.
2 people like this
@jillmalitz (5131)
• United States
18 Feb 08
Ah, yes once again the lawyers have a field day. We are a society who loves to sue over everything. A guy sues over a pair of pants etc. I find this lady's suit of $54 million outrageous. I can understand she may have lost a lot of important information but that is what the experts tell us over and over again to back up info and to have info stored separately. $54 million? If a jury goes to this amount they are stupid.
2 people like this
• Australia
25 Feb 08
I think it is crazy too! i dont think she will win she couldn't could she? i think it is definately greed that motivates her. I live in Australia, people dont often try to sue like it is common in America but people have won alot of money with some outrageous law suits, i suppose it depends on your lawyer and what happened to you. I wish i could think of one... knowing my luck i would stuff it up and get nothing anyway.
@rsa101 (37952)
• Philippines
19 Feb 08
Yeah I think it is such a weird lawsuit but then maybe Best Buy should take this as a lesson from the point of view of the customer. I think she just wants to give that store a lesson or two.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
18 Feb 08
They were only responsible for the cost of the computer, the programs that were on it, plus the missing items and the gift card was for the stuff they could not find. There was no need to sue them for $54 million. By doing so, she is ensuring that either Best Buy go out of business or if it does not, everyone else, and I suppose those in Canada have to pay more for their computer stuff. I was really happy when good computers were no longer just the property of the rich and famous, that now ordinary people could buy them, and now this woman wants to spoil it all.
1 person likes this
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
19 Feb 08
I did not read the story. But, I know for me personally, if my computer was lost I would be devastated. I have a lot some pictures that are only on my hard drive. I have poetry that I wrote and the only copy is on my hard drive. I am not saying that this lady had anything like this, but I am saying that to some people the information on their computers are priceless. I need to learn all to transfer some things, because I would be real nervous about leaving my computer overnight anywhere. People are not going to value your things the way that you do.
1 person likes this
@naty1941 (2336)
• United States
12 Jul 08
It is amazing how people will sue over something that is not worth it. They already gave her money to buy a new laptop.
• United States
18 Feb 08
Now we have to see what is on that computer. If this woman's laptop had all of her work on it and she did not have anything backed up then it might be worth millions of dollars. Can you just imagine what somepeople have on their computers. I have all of my photos they are worth lots of money I do not have have some of them backed up. If I lost them it would be a huge of semential loss to me. Now if that woman had her whole business with bank infor, client lists and other such stuff on her computer then they need to pay. SHAME ON HER FOR NOT HAVING ALL HER INFO BACKED UP.
@gem4678 (220)
• United States
12 Jul 08
Ya know I could see her concern for identity theft, because if its not in the store then apparently someone has it, but $54 million is ridiculous. I would think she would have more of a case if she was actually requesting a more reasonable amount that would actually be the cost of what she is saying in the article. However the fact of the matter is technically she is probably responsible herself for giving her computer to anyone when it had sensitive information on it. Anyone of the workers could get that info anyway and she would never even know it, even though you would think you shouldn't have to worry about that the truth is in this country these days you can't trust hardly anyone.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
18 Feb 08
People can be so greedy. There should be an upper limit on what people can sue for without hard evidence of cost. Personally, I think that the Court should throw the case out and fine her for wasting their time. But she'll no doubt settle out of court for the kind of money that the average family takes 10 years to earn. Makes your blood boil.
• United States
19 Feb 08
I totally agree. I think the person suing should have to pay the lawyer fees of both sides...it would eliminate a lot of petty lawsuits.
• United States
12 Jul 08
speaking of best buy. i do go there sometimes. but i heard about a man that was simply price comparing and when they noticed that they started watching him like a hawk and then had him thrown out of the store.
• United States
21 Feb 08
some people are just never happy with what they get they always try to get more
• Canada
6 Mar 08
It sounds like a lot of money and perhaps it is, but I guarentee you they'll have learned the hard way. This may well teach companies everywhere a bit moe about responsibility. The woman probably had information in that laptop that could not be replaced. Who knows? They had no right to lose it.
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
6 Mar 08
That's like the idiot that sued for how many millions was it because the dry cleaners lost his pants! Where do they even come up with these outlandish figures? I have to admit, while I believe people's right to sue should be protected in cases of real damages, losses, neglect, etc. but something has to be done to prevent these kind of nutcase suits. This is way beyond "frivolous"! Annie
@KATRINKA (1624)
• United States
6 Mar 08
I should email my uncle the link to the story. He would get a kick out of it. He told me a few days ago he's had his computer in at Best Buy for repairs since January. He also said he'd never buy anything again at Best Buy. He'd never sue, of course. I just can't believe the woman asked for $54 million! I would have asked for the money to replace the laptop, but would have gone someplace else to purchase it. And now she's wasting the court's time and our money by clogging the court with a ridiculous case. What attorney would take her on? That attorney ought to be disbarred or at the least, laughed out of the courtroom. And any judge who agrees to hear the case ought to be benched. (or is it unbenched?)
@JJ4Ever (4693)
• United States
18 Mar 08
I think it's pretty ridiculous of someone to sue Best Buy for that much. I can't see a missing laptop incurring $54 million worth of inconvenience and negligence. I'm just not seeing it. Of course, I don't know what was actually on the laptop itself either. She would've had to take into consideration all the things that they did that would've activated the costs and everything. That would take a lot of research and a lot of proof. I'd love to know where she got that figure. She'd have to actually prove what was on the laptop, how much it cost (which was probably the same amount as what Best Buy refunded her), and so on. I can kind of understand where this lady is coming from on some things, however. I had an extremely negative experience with Best Buy's Geek Squad a couple years ago. I took my Gateway laptop in to get it repaired because it wouldn't turn on at all. I didn't know what the problem was, but it was out of warranty and I figured Geek Squad would be able to fix it. Apparently when they repair computers, if it's something they can't do in the store, they'll usually send it out to their repair shop, wherever that is. They told me that in order to do that, they'd need a $50 deposit to send it out and service it. So basically, they wanted the money up front before they would even do anything to it. They told me that if there would be more repairs and parts needed, they'd charge me more based on the services rendered. So I'm thinking, ok that's fine because they're going to repair it no matter what. My $50 was a deposit towards the repairs that would be made to my laptop. To make a long story short, at the time Best Buy didn't sell Gateway computers; therefore, they should NOT have serviced my computer. They shouldn't said right up front, "We can't service brands of computers that our store doesn't sell." I wouldn't been fine with that. I paid $50 for them to tell me that they couldn't fix it because they didn't have the right parts. They didn't have the right parts because they didn't service Gateway computers. I should've fought it further, but I just let them have my $50 and got it fixed somewhere else. They also never told me that once I put the deposit down that I wouldn't be able to get it back. I will NEVER take any of my computers to Geek Squad again whether I buy a computer at Best Buy or not. I always make sure I keep the warranty updated so I don't have issues like this again. I guess I could've sued for $50 plus the damages incurred by my waste of time and money on this case. What do you think? It wouldn't have been anything close to $54 million, of course. I think that's a little far fetched of this woman. I wouldn't take it that far. I'd just want my $50 back if nothing else.
@aimsmith (30)
• United States
2 Jul 08
This is ridiculous. That woman should be ashamed of herself. People are so greedy. I hope that she does not win the case.