Who Is Liable - Manufacturer Or Retailer

My parents are in their upper 80's and they spent over $1000 on a new W10 Dell All-In-One from BestBuy. Model Inspiron 24 5488A I don't know if the OS is Home or Pro - there's nothing on the chassis beyond he name Dell and a service tag.

One month after they bought it they got an Oops message when they booted. The msg said that something was keeping the machine from starting properly and that a reboot would fix it. It did not - it just continued to loop. I called BestBuy, was told that the problem would be covered and to have them bring it in.
Three days later they got a call to pick up and were charged $100, the store saying that the warranty only coverd hardware issues. My father unfortunately asked what was to prevent the issue from reoccurring and left the store with the PC and minus another $100 from 24x7 support.
I was furious when I heard about it, and even angrier after I called Dell and was informed that they would've sent them a box with a prepaid shipping label. Dell would have fixed it and sent it back for no charge. I have gotten no help in recovering any money either from BestBuy or Dell.
Even worse, the problem has no happened to this now 6 month old monstrosity. I really don't know who to contact at this point. I can find no corporate phone numbers for either Dell or BestBuy.

I have created another thread asking how to boot from a DVD in the Drivers and Hardware subforum, hoping I can fix it myself.

It would be a difficult fight to go after BestBuy and there's no reason Dell would be at fault here. BestBuy's terms most likely state that their warranty is for hardware only and software problems will be charged for.

It would just be best in the future that all repairs are sent back to Dell and not BestBuy. If they go to BestBuy, they will go through the GeekSquad service.

Your parents contract of sale is with BestBuy and the faulty product makes them liable to repair, replace or refund. Reject the goods, write a formal letter of complaint stating so and consider legal action if nothing is resolved to your parents satisfaction within a reasonable time. Also, I don't know US consumer law but in the UK if the purchase of goods was on credit card, the the credit card provider is also liable and you can seek redress there. Maybe you've similar T&C's. Don't be fobbed off - also don't be angry, just get even. Good luck.

My parents told me that after they'd bought the computer, they salesman told them that if they had any problems or questions they should call BestBuy and not Dell. Curious.

I somehow thought that if Dell corporate knew that one of their licensees was doing an 'end around' Dell's own warranty that they could bring pressure on BestBuy to refund the 200 bucks. But Dell, at least the low-level peons I spoke with, could not care less. I also thought that if I could speak to someone at the corporate level at BestBuy, that they might be persuaded to honor the terms of the Dell warranty, which is for hardware and software for a year. But AIAS I can find no corporate phone numbers for either of the 2 companies.

Per Google:
(612) 291-1000
Best Buy Corporate Office, Phone

**Edit: Also found their customer service number: 888-237-8289

bro67 said:

$100 is not bad for diagnostics, even if it was just rechecking all connections and making sure the system is not infected or having premature failure. It would be like taking your vehicle to the local garage, because it keeps squeaking while you turn, then question why they want to charge you a fee for having to look over the vehicle to see what is going on.

I got out of the computer repair and network setup business, because I had too many balk at a diagnostic fee that was the cost of my hours spent looking at issues. It costs money to run a business, even Best Buy has to make money to be able to pay for payroll, lease on the building, insurance to cover them from being liable, etc..

Incredible! Did you miss the part about them charging my parents 100 bucks to reinstall the OS on a one month old computer? Or the part about them squeezing another 100 out of them for 24x7 coverage? Or maybe you missed the part about the reinstall being covered by the Dell warranty? A warranty that BestBuy not only did not honor, but went out of their way to discourage my parents from using. We should all praise the Gods that got you out of the PC repair business.

I don't know how it works in whatever corner of the universe you live in, but here in real world, if you spend $1000 of an item, use it perhaps ten times and it malfunctions to the point of being useless, we're going to either get a replacement or have the seller fix it for free. It doesn't matter if it's a Sleep Number bed, a lawn mower, an air compressor or a computer. Throw in the fact that the manufacturer's warranty explicitly includes repairing the exact problem your product is having....

Anyone who defends a retailer exhibiting this sort of behavior is a moron. I feel bad for the users of this forum who might, through no fault of their own, get stuck with you when they post a question. Now let me and the forum alone and get back to your defense of Harvey Weinstein.

Well said, boweasel.

I'll add a lesson: I never buy anything from Best Buy. (Not anymore.) Their name is a misnomer.

The place to buy a Dell computer is from Dell. They've always offered top-notch service. I've purchased five desktop computers from them in the past twenty years. They stand by their warranty.

I'll also throw HP's name in. We bought two desktops seven years ago. I cannot vouch for HP's service, though, because we've not needed any service at all. The machines ran trouble free for years, and were only recently taken out of service, replaced by newer, faster boxes.

I know this doesn't fix your parents $200 problem, but let it be a lesson for the future.