This isn’t strictly relevant to the post, but this seems like the right place to share my own experience: specifically, with Future Shop’s Product Service Plan (PSP) and the Xbox 360.

I bought a 360 from the Coquitlam, BC Future Shop mid-last year. Naturally, the salesperson recommended I also purchase a PSP for the unit. I initially refused, as Microsoft had then recently started to offer their own 3 year warranty on the unit. She talked me into it, though, saying that with Microsoft I’d have to send my 360 away and wait 4-8 weeks to receive replacement; with the PSP, I’d get a new unit hassle-free.

This seemed worth it, since Xbox 360s are notorious for their hardware problems. I forked over the additional $90 for a 2 year PSP.

Last week, my 360 broke with the dreaded “red ring of death” — general hardware failure. I took it into Future Shop, expecting to present my receipt and walk out with a new unit. Instead, the customer service rep told me it would be 4-8 weeks to get my replacement.

I demanded to speak to a manager, explaining that I’d been told I could just come in and get a replacement. More importantly, I demanded to have them explain to me what exactly I had purchased for $90, since it was pretty clear that I wasn’t getting anything over and above what the manufacturer already offered.

This carried on for about half an hour, during which the manager never appeared despite repeated requests: according to the CSR, “they can’t tell you anything more than I’m telling you.” The bottom line was that I had failed to read the pamphlet on Future Shop’s PSP (helpfully provided to me AFTER I had purchased it) which clearly states that they are obligated to replace or fix defective products within 60 days of return.

Clearly I’m at least partly at fault for being so eager to hook up my new purchase that I hadn’t bothered to read the pamphlet. However:

1. The salesperson had lied to me.
2. Customer service never disputed that I’d been misled. They simply didn’t seem to care.
3. Future Shop aggressively sold me a very expensive 2-year warranty that does, essentially, nothing. They just saved me the “hassle” of putting my 360 in a box and putting the box in the mail.

Ultimately I gave up and handed over the broken console. What more can you do when you’re not even allowed to speak to a manager?

Now in fairness to Future Shop, I did eventually find out that their warranty covers certain things Microsoft’s supposedly doesn’t:

1. Hard drives and controllers. (For reference, about $100 and $50 brand new, still not worth $90 in warranty.)
2. Hardware defects other than the “red ring of death”. (However, the red ring is a generic diagnostic indicatating any sort of crucial component failure, so it’s not clear what other sort of defect there could be.)
3. A *guarantee* that you’ll get a replacement in 60 days (not sure what Microsoft guarantees, if anything).
4. Supposedly “98% of the time you get a new unit” through Future Shop, although frankly I suspect by “new” they mean “not your original one”, i.e., still a refurbished one. (We’ll see.)

Are those additions worth $90? I certainly don’t think so, and wouldn’t have bought the PSP if that had been explained to me up front.

Overall: I feel completely ripped off, lied to, and generally poorly treated. I wish more than anything else I had gone to Costco or even Walmart to buy this thing; at either of those places, I could have brought my console back and instantly received a replacement, with no questions asked and no additional warranty charge!

I did send Future Shop customer service an email outlining my complaint. As of my last update (5 days ago) it had been forwarded to the Coquitlam store which would “address my concerns”. I’m not holding my breath. More importantly, I’m never going anywhere near Future Shop for any big ticket purchase again.

Left by mike on January 31st, 2008

where do you start? i bought an hp desk top on or about dec 5th…cool it even showed up a day early (canada post good job) although the monitor was addressed to a house a block up the street quick thinking canada post employ doubles back to my place, again nice save canada post. anyway all is good right …. WRONG it was missing the wireless mouse and usb rec. for the mouse and keyboard.luckly i have a mouse and keyboard so i was able to use the computer. so here we go down the looong customer service road, first i was told to send the whole thing back @ x mas by mail …i said no fu#king way just send me what is missing it will be cheaper for both fu#ker shop and myself, put on hold….15 min later okay we can do that. i can tell you in short this took many phone calls adding up to about 8 hours plus on the phone. finally told about a replacment mouse i could get…i ask will it also run the keyboard? yes our “experts” picked it out it will work . okay ship it. no sir you have to do an order to get it but you will not be charged, i was charged on my credit card and now have been fighting to get refunded, and the thing does not rec. the signal from the keyboard so almost 2 months later i still cant use the keyboard. i caught them in sooo many lies including the one about having to ship it all back as one person a month later told me that it was not their policy , then was told again a week after that to do the same…send it back. is this not a case of credit card fraud now? they did steal from my card. i could go on and on , and really this is the short version sooo many lies no help and totally ripped me off. YES FUTURE SHOP SUCKS, DONT EVER SHOP THERE! lie lie lie delete delete delete

*Admin says:
Sorry had to edit your post the @ was making mail to tag*

Left by raul duke on February 1st, 2008

Just an update to my comment above…

After several more phone conversations with customer service, I actually got a brand new replacement xbox 360. Quite a pleasant surprise, I was fully prepared to get the runaround until I gave up and waited for a replacement/refurb unit to come back from the shop.

I guess the moral here is, although Future Shop’s service is pretty bad, if you complain persistently enough they can come through in the end. And to their credit, the floor manager did apologize for the whole situation.

Left by mike on February 4th, 2008

another extended warranty nightmare. purchased a 55″ l.c.d. sony wega 3 years ago. also purchased a $600 extended warranty plan for 5 years, told that if ANYTHING goes wrong, fixed for free or if it can’t be fixed, replaced with new of the same or next best. warranty paper work states only exclusions are for damage or missing things (knobs, converter, broken things, etc). set failed 2/22/08, repair tech showed up with his $20 tool box on 2/25/08. told me that the light was burn’t out and maybe other things may be wrong but he can’t tell me untill I pay for the light, not under warranty. I declined the repair at this time as my warranty paperwork does not list the light under it’s exclusions. contact F.S. to inquire. Told that the light is not covered because it is in the exclusions to the warranty but is considered to be under the catagory of “etc.” This basically means that if any component on any device fails, for any reason, that F.S. can deny your warranty if the word “etc.” appears in the literature. A second call brought another answer, that the warranty NOW lists the light specifically as not being covered so that is reason enough to deny the warranty. on top of all this, the repair tech called back some time latter and tried to convince me to SAY that I changed the light already myself and it still doesn’t work. than he can take the t.v. away and have it fixed for me (didn’t fall for that one). the fight will go on as I am entirely motivated to make all the noise I can with the goal that Future shop will never be able to sell another useless extended warranty program unless I achieve satisfaction with this repair.

Left by tbradley on February 26th, 2008

Hey, sorry if I’m posting this under the wrong thread. I sought out a site just like this one to post my experience with Future Shop. I’ll skip the standard shots and plays on the Future Shop name. Here’s my chronology:

18 Sept 2005 – bought an LG Electronics WM1814CW front-loading washer and LG DLE2514W dryer. Total 2219.94 before taxes. Warranty portion of 269.99 (which they charged both GST and PST on). Not sure if they can legally charge PST — this alone is worth researching for a class action law suit to hit them where it hurts — in illegal profits.

About 2 months later. Problems with water overflow and suds coming out the back of the washer. Called in-home service at 1-800 number. Waited two weeks for service. Fixed, but not sure how.

About 9 weeks ago. Here’s where the fun began. The machine broke. Water wouldn’t drain and it stopped spinning properly. Metallic scraping sound. Called in home warranty.

One week later. First visit. Repair guy said he needed to order a part.

One week later. I call the 3rd party repair guy directly (after much ado). They say they are awaiting authorization from the warranty company for the part. I ask them to call to check. They refuse.

Next day. I call the warranty company myself. They are unaware of the request for the part. Instead, they tell me they authorized a guy to head out to my place.

Same day. I call the 3rd party guys and get them to check.

One week later. 3rd party shows up and installs the part. Doesn’t work. Tells me I need another part.

One week later. 3rd party guy shows up and installs 2nd part. Doesn’t work. They say they will have to order another part.

I call the warranty line and fight for a half hour to clear up their information. They call the 3rd party to confirm. They leave me a voice message saying they will authorize a replacement. Good, right? Keep reading.

I show up at Future Shop Coquitlam and wait literally 1.5 hours for the one sales guy they have in appliances while he’s trying to sell a warranty to a Chinese woman who I’m not sure understands it all. The sales guy points me to a lower model machine. I point out that the feature set doesn’t compare and escalate peacefully.

I get to the manager who is telling off an older man that he can’t have a replacement laptop. They guy responds, “…so my only option is to buy a new laptop???!!” The manager stands firm and the customer storms off in huff.

My turn. He points out that the machine I want is an upgrade. Technically, it probably is, but it is the lowest model that has the 2 key features I bought the machine for in the first place — delayed wash and hand wash cycle. He tells me I have to pay $300!!! What kind of warranty is that? He tries this double-talk reversal on me that goes something like this (I think they are trained to do this):

So what new features does the upgraded machine give you? I think I’m supposed to list them out so that he can respond by pricing each feature and justifying the dollar value he’s trying to milk out of me. So I tell him to get me a replacement machine of the exact model that they sold me the warranty for and I will be happy — and if he can’t do that, the lowest model that will cover all the features.

He tries to debate this, saying he doesn’t know the machines well enough to give me $300 of extra value. Luckily, my girlfriend had the foresight to print out online comparisons of five machines on a grid with a feature-by-feature break-down. So he buckles and says, get this, that he can make an exception this time because I’m “begging and pleading” with him. I couldn’t believe he actually said that to a customer. If they want to sell warranties, they should honor them, and apologetically offer up the right replacement product voluntarily, not give me a hard time over it.

So it’s off to the customer service counter, dealing with three people who don’t know the procedure. I literally stand there as they fumble with forms and the computer for another half hour. At the end of it, they ask me if I want to buy another warranty!!!

Fast forward another week. The delivery guys arrive with the replacement machine in silver (I specified white, like the old machine). Now I have an unmatched stacker set. They look at the machine and say they can’t uninstall the existing one. WTF? They can only install the new one. They leave the new machine in my hallway.

I call Future Shop back the next day and complain. They say I would have to get the uninstall done myself, but they could recommend a contractor — sure, I’ll bet they would ask for $300 to do this. I refuse and demand that they do the job, so they agree after a long debate and schedule it.

Two days later. The crew arrives, say they can’t uninstall and leave.

Valentine’s Day. I escalate to customer service. After two hours of debate over my cell phone, they agree to send a 3rd party contractor to do the uninstall.

The next day. The 3rd party guys shows up and uninstalls the existing broken machine. He spends an hour on the phone with Future Shop who is telling him not to do the install, but to wait for another crew to do the install. The 3rd party guy leaves. The new machine is still in my hall.

Saturday. The crew (apparently) shows up, leaving 2 messages on my cell number. I call them back and determine they didn’t press the door buzzer. They spend 15 minutes justifying this, saying that it’s really hard to figure out the apartment buzzer number. I explain that mine has my NAME on it — the same name on the invoice — and ask them if they knock on the door when they deliver to a house. Anyhow, they claimed to have called at 1231. I called them back at 1234, and they refused to turn to truck back, citing many deliveries. At this point, I should be a priority but I’m not — oh yeah, I’m a warranty, not big bucks for a new delivery. I find it hard to believe they can turn around a 28 foot trailer in my neighborhood (one lane) in less than 3 minutes. I’ve watched a school bus take over 5 minutes while waiting to pull out of my parking spot.

After another three calls to the store, the delivery company and the warranty company, they agree to send a 3rd party to install. I get the number to call the 3rd party personally and confirm. It gets done, but the old machine is left in my hallway.

They finally picked up the old machine today, but left a voice message on my phone saying they want to schedule for a later date. These guys are not only intent on ripping off their customers; they are also incompetent and ill-coordinated.

I’m looking into a class action lawsuit to force them to disclose on their warranty at time of sale that a customer will be dealing with 4, possibly 5 parties (if you include the manufacturer) who may not communicate with each other nor hold accountable to each other in order to make good on the warranty. Tobacco discloses risks on cigarette packs; Future Shop should disclose risks on its warranties pure and simple. If it does not, it should be forced out of this business by a court of law. They are in denial about this. I last asked them to record a 15 minute diatribe of mine on their customer service line and play it to the executive.

I have a voicemail from an operations manager on my phone. I will update as this goes.

Left by nice_guy on February 26th, 2008

Im going to move your comment to the front page, Hope you don’t mind Nice Guy it will get more views on the front page

Left by Admin on February 27th, 2008

Well I bought extended warranty and ended up with a better unit then what I had. The Belleville Ontario store was amazing. The problem is every store has different people working. Some days are good some days are bad. I have seen the warranties work great and I have seen many people pissed and thats just as a customer.

Left by shawncormier08 on June 12th, 2008

I purchased my first computer from there many years ago. To find out a week later that they had sold me a return. I was having problems with it so I call the 1-800 number. After giving them the info numbers off it, they said thanks mrs !!. I just let that slide by. Then two days later I had to call again and they said the same name. I told them that was not my name and they said that was the name on the warranty. I returned it and after a heated exchange I received the computer I thought I bought in the first place. I have never shopped there since.

Left by metoo on September 6th, 2008

I really do have to say, its unfortunate that some people do lie, yes I am here in defense of Futureshop, because as a recently hired seasonal employee I have already seen a ton of items being returned, as I stated on another post if you get the extended warranty through us we do cover more than the manufacturer. It is however, extremely unfortunate that some seasonal employees do lie because they either dont understand or don’t care. It really does suck that people have to go through stuff like this… couple things to keep in mind, 1) Ask the salesperson to go through the product service plan as I do with every customer, I go through what is and isnt covered (physical damage) and 2) anything over 200 dollars will ALWAYS be a service plan and certain items under 200 will be a product replacement plan (gift card for the value of your purchase including taxes)…anyways, it does suck for those who get that shitty salesperson that is only there for money and keep in mind that its not everyone.

Left by dbotelho on January 2nd, 2009

While I have to agree that Future Shop has some terrible policies, you might get your point across a bit better if you passed your rants through a spell-checker beforehand. There are so many grammatical errors in this short blurb that you come off sounding like an ignorant ass.

Left by onotadaki on January 8th, 2009

Future Shop has the worst policies….ever , Dell has better policies then Future shop.
My mother bought me an external hard drive for Christmas. I was so excited about it I ran down to find it didn’t work. Returned it the day after boxing day and they refuse to exchange it or do anything with it. So now I am stuck with a broken Christmas gift. If I could I would return my laptop I got their. I definitely won’t be going their for anything else including my laptop repairs.

Left by Dee_Dee on January 29th, 2009

Okay. Another rant about FutureShop.
One day i was happily shopping with my friends in future shop thinking everyone is so sharp in their futureshop uniforms and how there are people standing at the front to greet you. I was very pleased.
So i continued, looking for an ipod touch for my girlfriend until i got to the point “okay! im getting this one.” things started to go downhill. (my friends are looking at something else.

I took me nearly 45mins to finally get a salesperson. They were all absent somehow. Usually, there would be a desent amount of workers but that day, there werent any at the audio section.

So i finally got a helper. I told him i wanted this 32GB Ipod touch. This guy was the biggest jerk ever. Like seriously…. wtf(that was later on) We were at those separate machines where i pay. As a regular salesperson, he tried to explain the warranty. I said no so he agreed to let me off. When i was paying, i gave him my visa and somehow it was denied. So i was like… thats odd… here try this other one(card) he takes a look and tels his manager to come. I knew this was going to take long and i didnt want to bother. And as he calls the manager, i see my friends waving to me at the entrance. I said to the salesperson, you know what its okay. I’ll just buy it some other time. My friends are leaving. Catch you someother time.

He then SHOUTS OUT TOM(manager) WE HAVE A CREDIT CARD FRAUD!

WHAT? honestly, WTH IS WRONG WITH HIM! I was like my friends are leaving can i go!??!?! I’ll just buy it some other time. (okay long story short, my friends are douches, they ditched me once before when i was telling them to wait. Since i was not driving i didnt want to get ditched again)

anyway. THAT DOUCHE STARTED TO GRAB ME. Normal reaction for me was to say LET GO and panics a lil.

HE DOESNT let go and PULLS me towards the front counter.
So i shouted LET GO my friends are going to ditch me again!
He says Well no one fken cares about ur friends.

What the f. Honestly…. he then pulls even harder. (we were at the front entrance)

I didnt want to stay any longer so i pulled away from the guy. At that time there as 4 men surrounding me. I pushed his hands off and said thats it. IM LEAVING. so i change direction towards the exit, they started to pushed me down the floor. I was like asalsbflas WTF IS THIS! so i tried to keep stable and shout repeatedly stop stop stop!
and they wouldnt until they pushed me to the ground. And pulled my hands to my back like those police shows.

Im like OKAY I”LL STAY. LET ME GO. and right behind me some other douche started swearing at me in public. Seriously…. it was a fml moment. So i agreed to follow their instruction since that was the only way i was allowed up. sucks when my face was on the ground.

they pulled me up and put me in this room. Obviously some more swearing…. from the salesperson.

So as i was sitting in the room. my phone rings. I wasnt allowed to answer it. Not knowing why to be honest. it rang again… and they grabbed my phone and declined it then turns it off. They called the police and an officer came. She asked me all these questions.

and the last question she asked… are these cards fake?
I answered NO!
She tells the manager to call authorization and they approved me.

At that point the police had a huge talk outside of the room with them. Shetold me that i could go. i complained obviously…

I was like THEY RANDOMLY put me down ON THE FLOOR! thats not even legal! i want to sue them. She then says, if they think that your a suspect they have the rightto detain you. therefore they are right.

convinced, but not happy. she explained on how it was only for safety purposes. so at the end. im like w/e im 45 mins late… my friends are probs gone. i just wanted to leave. after that is not really a part of this rant but this i can say. i did not sleep until 5am in the morning because i was walking home.

they suck period

Left by sighFSdoessuck on December 22nd, 2009