I Just Wanna Watch TV (part 26)

Ok, this is getting ridiculous. I’ve been waiting for Best Buy to provide the proper authorization for United Radio to make an appointment to come out and look at my tv. After another week with no movement, I waded in again to try figure out what the hold up is.

While stumbling around on the United Radio website, I found that they have a tool for checking your repair status. Kinda handy; sure, at the moment it says order on hold, waiting on authorization. But, at least I didn’t have to spend 20 minutes on hold just find that out. It also had an email address for the service department.

So I drafted up an email asking if they’d heard anything back on the missing authorization. I was sure to get the point across that I understand that its not really their problem. After a day or so, they got back to me and said that the authorization hadn’t shown up yet. They also said that they faxed N.E.W. again for the correct authorization.

Hmm, who or what is N.E.W.? I sent back another email to ask. Turns out that is the actual extended warranty provider, the National Electric Warranty Company (which I think are these guys). Oh, freaking wonderful; another layer of abstraction.

What a train wreck. Not quite sure what I’m gonna try next. Options:

1. Tell Best Buy I’m sick of this crap. If I don’t have someone fix my tv in the next 7 business days, they’ll be getting a call from my lawyer. I’d prefer not go this route because it means even more hassle for me, but I honestly think not much else will motivate them.
2. Tell Best Buy that I’m sicking of waiting and that I’ll cover the cost of the repair so I can get it fixed now and then submit the bill to them for reimbursement. The trick with this is trying to work out a way not to get screwed. I’m pretty sure any of those Best Buy service techs will nod me along with this plan and then deny it all when I come back with the bill.

Gonna set these options on background processing for now. Will probably do something after work or tomorrow. Maybe this fiasco will wrap up someday so I can work on my other neglected projects.