The bMighty Blog -- Business & E-Business

Best Buy lost a customer's laptop, gave the customer the run around, wouldn't fess up, and then, finally made a paltry settlement offer ostensibly in the hope that she would go away. She did -- and then came back with a $54 million lawsuit. That's one way to make them think twice about their customer service.

The story goes like this: Raelyn Campbell bought a laptop at a Best Buy near her DC home in 2006. She paid an extra $300 for an extended warranty which came into play a year later when the power switch on her laptop broke. In May, she said she was told the computer would be fixed in two to six weeks.

Campbell apparently received the runaround from Best Buy "agents" for the next four months until Campbell finally discovered that the computer had in fact been lost. She finally received an offer of compensation -- a $900 Best Buy gift card -- but by then the chain store's treatment of Campbell had so inflamed her that that was not going to do it.

MSNBC quotes Campbell on the initial offer: "It wouldn't even cover the cost of replacing the computer, let alone the software, or my time. And why would I want to go spend money at their store again after the way I was treated?"

MSNBC also quotes the store's general manager, Robert Delissio, who replied to complaints made by Campbell's friends. "For every customer that has had an unpleasant experience I can show you hundreds who have had a great experience. I have been in retail for a long time and the one conclusion I have come to is that not every customer can be satisfied," Delissio wrote in an e-mail supplied by Campbell to MSNBC.

Delissio's attitude is one that smaller businesses would do well not to emulate, especially in light of what came next. When Campbell consulted a lawyer, it turned out that because her tax returns were on the computer that Best Buy lost the company was in violation of Washington DC's security breach notification law, which, according to MSNBC, "requires companies that have lost a consumer's data to tell them. To date, she has not received that notification."

The $54 million lawsuit was filed, an amount Campbell has acknowledged, was used to attract attention. All she wants, she said, is compensation for damages, an explanation as to how her laptop was stolen, and a promise from the company that it will train employees on privacy issues and procedures.

Whether Campbell gets all she wants remains to be seen but she has definitely made some noise and given Best Buy something of a black eye. Could all this have been avoided? Mistakes happen but had Best Buy contacted Campbell immediately, apprised her of what was going on, offered her fair compensation, and perhaps most significantly, treated her with respect, it is more likely than not that not only would she not be filing suit but also most of us would not be hearing about this case.

Smaller businesses can't afford to make these kinds of customer service mistakes. But at least their larger size peers are doing it for them.

Campbell is keeping a blog of her trials and travails with Best Buy. It's sure to make for some entertaining -- and educational -- reading

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