If you buy any appliances with Best Buy’s Geek Squad protection plan, you better make sure they break within the first two years! One Redditor made it through the entire warranty period only to meet a nasty surprise the day after it ended.
What happened?
Reddit user U/mvd102000 is a self-proclaimed former Best Buy employee turned current customer, proudly stating that he’s been “free since 2018!” But after his recent Best Buy experience, he is also a self-proclaimed “sad boy” as of Tuesday.
OP explains that he bought a Samsung S95B two years ago and purchased a two-year protection plan along with it. Unfortunately, the plan ended on Jan. 12, 2025, just one day before his TV began malfunctioning.
“Wouldn’t you know that protection plan ended on 1/12/25,” OP writes. “The literal day before this massive green overlay ate up 85% of my screen out of nowhere yesterday.”
Below the text, he includes pictures of the malfunction: a translucent green tint overlaying three-quarters of his screen. He also includes a screenshot of the warranty plan in the Best Buy app, complete with the expiration date.
“I already know how this plays out, don’t worry,” he bemoans to the other Redditors. “But please pray for me and my sanity. Literally just finished paying the TV off two weeks ago.” OP ends the post with a smiling emoji crying a single teardrop.
Help from the comments
Many commenters, being Best Buy-heads and Samsung customers themselves, encouraged OP to try contacting the company anyway.
“Two things, first try going to the local store some not all but some managers may still take care of you ive seen it. No 100% but worth a shot,” replied the top commenter. “2nd call Samsung they tend to take care of issues with newer products such as this one.”
The commenter then explained that they had a similar issue with a TV past warranty. They contacted Samsung, and only had to purchase the part for repair—Samsung paid for the repair itself.
“Exhaust your options before just saying oh well,” they concluded.
Another Redditor agreed, and motioned for OP to call in the Geek Squad.
“Okay so you do have the off chance of being able to send this off to Geek Squad even though the warranty is expired,” they stated. “Because it’s only a day or two outside of it, call Geek Squad support and have them send someone off to your house to see if they’ll replace it. There’s a small chance but it’s better than zero. Good luck!”
“Hey OP my tv was bricked this summer. It was like a month out of warranty if I had my receipt,” someone else added. “I ended up calling the Samsung support line anyway and got a significant refund after jumping through a few hoops (like 80% of the cost back).”
Other Redditors relate
Other commenters lacked advice, but commiserated with OP about the quality of Samsung’s devices.
“I went through three of those S95Bs before getting a good one,” one user said. “Last Samsung TV that I’ll buy.”
OP replied, agreeing that his TVs from Sony and LG lasted longer and that he would likely avoid Samsung in the future.
“I should have known with it being among the first QD-OLEDs that there would be early adopter pains, but yeah I’m gonna avoid Samsung after this I think,” he said.
How do these warranties work?
Samsung’s warranty program is titled “Samsung Care Plus,” and it has four separate tiers of care. The different tiers have different prices, and customers have the option of paying for monthly care indefinitely, or in one single installment that covers 24 months.
Best Buy’s own Geek Squad offers a similar two-year protection plan, which “provides parts and labor protection for your purchase.” Ideally, the plan supplements a product’s manufacturer warranty.
I am the unluckiest man alive
byu/mvd102000 inBestbuy
Neither Samsung nor Best Buy discuss what to do in a scenario like OP’s, where your product breaks immediately after protection ends.
Different stores likely handle the situation in different ways, as exemplified by the many comments on OP’s post. Officially, though, a “grace period” post-warranty doesn’t exist for either company.
The Daily Dot reached out to OP via Reddit, and Best Buy and Samsung via email for comment.
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