SOLVED - Never ever trust Best Buy or the Geek Squad! Laptop HDD Info check

[Noahtuck]

Or trust any PC repair shop!!

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic375566.html#2023176


I need to find out for absolutely sure what HDD is in a laptop without taking it apart if possible.

A friend of mine has a laptop that went bad & she brought it to best buy and they said it needed a new HDD and it was & still is under warranty & they replaced the HDD.

She then brought it to me because her son wanted Windows 7 on it and after installing it & getting all the drivers i noticed the HDD is listed as a 120gb drive.

It came with, had in it & it is listed on the manufacturers site as coming with a 320gb.

Window's and a couple of programs i used all report it as a 120gb drive.

I also did a search on google for the model number that is reported for the drive and everything comes up as a 120gb drive.

HDD # ST9120821AS

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=ST9120821AS&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=&oq=S...1a83d7582cb0e6

Laptop:
Satellite A305-S6905

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/modelContent.jsp?ct=SB&os=&categor...ily=1073768663

I told her last night and to say the least, she is NOT a happy camper!!

I want to make sure before i go to Best Buy with her and rip someone a new or enlarge an already present hole!!
But it seem's pretty conclusive that they put in a much smaller HDD which is bullshit because it is under warranty.
She just bought it for her late daughter in feb. this year.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Use SIW:
http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html

If this is true then I would complain to the store manager.

[JohnnyMalaria]

It is definitely 120GB according to Seagate:

http://tinyurl.com/ycvq338

You can further confirm this by looking at the partition size using Windows Disk Management.

[aedipuss]

the other way is to boot into bios and get the model number there.

[Noahtuck]

Use SIW:
http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html

If this is true then I would complain to the store manager.

One of the programs i already used.

It is definitely 120GB according to Seagate:

http://tinyurl.com/ycvq338

You can further confirm this by looking at the partition size using Windows Disk Management.

Yep, i was there also and checked among other things.

the other way is to boot into bios and get the model number there.

I already had the model number, from programs & bios.
I listed it in my original post




I also tried seatools among several other programs, and everything say's 120gb.

I just want to make absolutely sure something else is not messed up before going in and raising holy hell at Best Buy!!
I have had a HDD show up way under the actual size because of something messed up in windows & or the registry.

Tons of people always bring their pc's & laptops to me to work on, but because it is still under warranty and bought at best buy she brought it in to them, but as a norm she hates the geek squad also.

Well i guess those F'ers tried pulling a fast one or seriously F'd up!!

How in the hell are you going to replace an original 320gb HDD with a 120gb HDD when it is still under warranty?!?!



This is going to be soooo much fun!!!
I love abusing scamming morons in person!!


I know The Geek Squad is a bunch of morons and tell everyone i can to stay away from them!!

I almost wonder if this could fall under fraud ?

[MOVIEGEEK]

I just want to make absolutely sure something else is not messed up before going in and raising holy hell at Best Buy!!
I have had a HDD show up way under the actual size because of something messed up in windows & or the registry

That is certainly possible with an IDE drive with FAT32 but a SATA drive with NTFS should show the entire capacity.

I almost wonder if this could fall under fraud ?

Yes if it was intentional but maybe the tech didn't check the size of the old drive, I would still complain.

[Noahtuck]

Oh don't worry....

I am going down there later with her and doing more than complain

I don't know what is worse, if they tried to scam somehow or just that incompetent ?

At least if it was scamming it was intentional and they would have at least known what they were doing.

Incompetent just means they are total F'n morons that do NOT know what they are doing.

I think it's a combination of both

[Noahtuck]

I have seen quite a few different news reports like this one from different states.

http://www.kptv.com/video/19513766/index.html

And in everyone, Best Buy "geek squad" never comes out looking good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnVCVcDVMIM


This is not best buy, but it's amazing the scammers out there....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npqm2VeYQ3o

[aedipuss]

hard to see it as a scam. that 120gb drive hasn't been made in awhile. in order to get one it would cost you 150-170 bucks because they are in short supply. http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Momentus-5400-2-ST9120821AS-internal/dp/B000HD101I/ref=s...8054782&sr=8-1

a new 320 seagate 3.5 is under $60.

[Noahtuck]

Well regardless, they are F'n morons!!

It could have been an old one laying around & they charge toshiba for a replacement, labor, and pocket the money, but you know they would never do something like that

She is bringing the old HDD over with all the paper work and i am going to test it and go through the paperwork before going down there to raise hell.

SHe just picked it up from them last friday & brought it over for me last night to install windows and the drivers for her.

[Noahtuck]

Okay, here is a new one.


Best Buy had lost the restore disc for this laptop so she called Toshiba and they sent her a new one, i just tried wiping W7 off the system and was going to use the restore disc to put it back to factory specs.

When i tried loading the restore disc it said "this restore disc is not for this model" so i am guessing it is recognizing it is a different model of HDD.

I'm calling toshiba.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Okay, here is a new one.


Best Buy had lost the restore disc for this laptop so she called Toshiba and they sent her a new one, i just tried wiping W7 off the system and was going to use the restore disc to put it back to factory specs.

When i tried loading the restore disc it said "this restore disc is not for this model" so i am guessing it is recognizing it is a different model of HDD.

I'm calling toshiba.

Most likely Toshiba sent her the wrong restore disc because I just put a new HDD in my Toshiba laptop and it was a different brand(Toshiba vs Seagate).BB is still stupid for losing the restore disc.
Try using KillDisk,etc to wipe the drive.

[Noahtuck]

Nope, correct restore disc, it says so on the disc & i called toshiba to verify.

I know if you replace a mobo an OEM restore disc will not work.
I thought maybe because the boot drive is a different make and model and not the OEM drive that came with the laptop ?

The funny thing is, on the top of the disc it is just like a pressed disc, witha shiny mirror surface with all the writing silkscreened on, but when i took it out of the package it was a DVD+R DL.

[Noahtuck]

BB is still stupid for losing the restore disc.

Thats the understatement of the century :P

Try using KillDisk,etc to wipe the drive.

I'll try that once, but it is going back in an hour or two and they are going to be replacing the HDD with the correct one, they just don't know it yet

[Noahtuck]

MAJOR SCAMMING MOTHER F*#KERS!!!!!!!

About an hour ago i decided to pull the HDD out of the laptop and low and behold, the seagate 120gb drive had this stuck on it!!

The Western Digital Label off the new 320gb HDD that was supposed to be in it!!!!!

This is exactly the way it looked taking it out of the laptop!!













Went down to best buy and i was so pissed i was shaking!!

How i don't rap someone in the mouth is amazing!!!!!

The first thing i did when i got to the counter was say "get a manager now!!!"

The moron actually said, i'll have to investigate because i don't want to assume.

Then i said, assume what ? that someone tried to scam her for a brand new hard drive by peeling the label off the new one and throwing it on an older smaller one ?

And he goes, well it could have come from the manufacturer that way.

And i go, are you really going to try and say WD sent out a Seagate 120gb HDD with a peeled up WD 320gb HDD sticker on it ?

He goes, the tech could have missed it

And i go, you'd have to be F'n BLIND to miss that!!!!!

Which is it ?
You guys are totally imcompetent or your scammers & thieves ?
I want to know who the tech is that worked no this!!

And he goes, he no longer works here.

But the funny thing is, the tech's name is on NONE of the paper work!!

The this is the kicker!!

He printed out a receipt and work order for my friend to sign and it said,

"Replacement hard drive bad, installed new replacement"

I told her i would not sign that!!
That's NOT what happened!!

And the jackass manager goes, well basically it is.

And i go, NO, it's not even CLOSE to what happened!!!!
And she goes yeah, i'm not going to sign that, and i told him he better print up a new one that is ACCURATE!!!

This dude was talking so much bull$hit i even said out loud, man can you smell that ?
And my friend goes what ?
And i go, you can't smell all the bull$hit in here ??

They went and got a brand new WD 320gb HDD off the shelf and when they opened it, oh look at that, the label fits the ridges of the hard drive perfectly, unlike the scam job someone tried pulling!!!!

Then i nicely scolded her on the way home because the only reason she brought it in to get looked at under warranty was because she said every program they tried to run was locking up.

I am going to test the original Toshiba HDD in a little bit to see whats up with it.

[MOVIEGEEK]

That's BS what BB did, I can't believe they would do that.
I would of went apesh*t if that happened to me.

[Noahtuck]

Oh trust me, i was throwing around a lot more swear words then i wrote!!!

And i told the guy, this is not even my laptop and i am SMOKING right now!!!
My friend to me to relax because she could see me

Trust me, if you saw me, you'd understand!!

I have the problem of looking like a big mean angry biker even when i am happy!!
Mostly because i am a big mean looking biker.
But i'm only mean when someone tries to rip me off, or when needed.


I am a true closet geek.

Half the time i barely have to show how pissed i am and people get it just from looking at me!!

I almost wonder if the dude saw her and thought, look at this little chick, probably don't have a clue, easy mark.
She probably would have never noticed if i did not catch it.

[Cornucopia]

I'm all curious, so let us know how it turns out. (Did they ever admit anything? Did they finally give you a good 320GB HDD?).

Man, if I was a store manager, I wouldn't want this thing publicized and I would quickly make a bend-over-backwards apology, with some extra "gifts" thrown in to placate/hush the buyer, but with a clever "contract" thrown in so that they couldn't spread the news. "A stitch in time".. and all that.

Scott

[Noahtuck]

Yeah i wrote it in my post with the photos, partially what was said & that they went and got a new HDD off the shelf and opened it in front of me and installed it.

When the manager first came up i said like half a sentence, then i stopped and said, get a screwdriver because i want you to open this up right here at the counter in front of me.


EDIT:
I am installing windows 7 on the new HDD right now and will be testing the old HDD to see if it really is the HDD or if there was just something messed up with windows or the programs ect.

Because i have known and said for a couple of years, the geek squad should be renamed the tard squad!!

And i don't trust those morons conclusion that the original HDD was bad.

[lordsmurf]

What part of "Best Buy" instills confidence in you? Seriously?
A monkey with a crowbar tends to be more knowledgeable. Cost less, too! (a peeled banana)

[Noahtuck]

Oh it never has me!!
And she knows better also.

She knew i was mad because she brought it to them in the first place.
She always brings me her and her kids laptops and PC's to work on, family, friends ect.

The only reason she did was because it was still under warranty and only had a couple of months use on it.

She just bought it brand new in march for her daughter because she had cancer and she just passed away in august at 24
Then it started acting up when her son tried using it because he wanted to take it to college to use.

She has been pretty out of it since then and i have been good friends with her and her kids for about 8 years.

Believe me, 10-15 years ago i probably would have went to jail for laying hands on someone.
I tend to get very irate when someone tries to take advantage of me, let alone a woman friend.

But i mellowed through my 30's :P

[jagabo]

What part of "Best Buy" instills confidence in you?

I find that marketing (and with a name like Best Buy, the company name is part of their marketing) usually depicts the exact opposite of what the company really is/does. For example, if a company gets a reputation for having dishonest salesmen they start advertising how trustworthy they are. If they get a reputation for poor product quality they'll start advertising how reliable their products are. Etc.

[craigarta]

This is exactly why I have only purchased component parts and a entertainment cent from these guys. Until one event pissed me off.

My wife bought a MP3 player for our daughter and got the extended warranty for it. Well it died well before the warranty was even near expiring. It had like 8 months left

Well since it came with a $50 gift card and it was used, they wanted us to pay $135 for the replacement unit since the old one was an obsolete model they don't sell anymore.

No question asked replacement my ass.

Not to mention the cashier told me I could get the remaining money left on the gift card afterwards.

Well I informed her that she better get a manager over right quick or I was gonna make her day a living hell.
I had to inform the General Manager

If a purchase is made with a gift certificate for an amount that is less than the value of the gift certificate and the remaining value is less than five dollars, the gift certificate must be redeemable in cash for its remaining value on demand of the bearer.

[fritzi93]

Well that was an eye-opener.

My wife says I'm cynical about human nature.

I tell her she just refuses to acknowledge the awful truth. :P

[EDIT] @Noahtuck: So, did you wear your riding gear when you went in? Did they crap in their pants? Anyway, now that my beard's gray and I'm pushing 60, and I never thought I'd say this, but...I'm thinking about a Geezer Glide for my next bike (Honda Gold Wing).

[Bjs]

There is also something else to check ... this error will also appear if original restore discs are used on a system which has had a bios firmware update applied ... we had 2 so far which where promptly returned to service agents which had performed repair work under warranty ... the restore discs were replaced free of charge ... and tested before client returned to collect them.

If it had been detected out side of the warranty period it wouldn't have been so simple

[redwudz]

I've 'forced' more than a few apologies from several different idiot chain stores. They seem to expect the average consumer to just roll over and say 'OK ', and go along with their BS. If you get your facts straight up front and don't back down when you know you're right, they generally fold and get a manager that can give you a answer.

If the answer isn't to your satisfaction, go higher. Sometimes a email, or better, a phone call to the corporate level will get results. If your documentation shows they 'FU'd', then they give up fairly easily most times and try to calm it all down and resolve it quickly.

It's not so easy to stay calm in the presence of idiots, but very cool and very dangerous has been very effective for me.

[budz]

I am a true closet geek.

Aren't we all true closet geeks!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry to hear about that BS.
I wouldn't trust fuktard squad if someone paid me to.
This reminds me of the thread a few years ago about some dude buying a seagate 500gb hd from Best Buy and opening up the box to the horror of a toshiba hd in the box. Now whenever I purchase anything from BB I open up the box right after I pay for the item.

[hech54]

A purchased item with the wrong thing in the box is slightly excusable....SLIGHTLY(there are plenty of dirtball/scamming customers too)....but the wrong HDD in the laptop was inexcusable lying fraud.....plain and simple. And as Noahtuck said or hinted to....I doubt the original HDD needed replaced in the first place. It was a scam from the second she hit the repair counter.

[classfour]

I'd make alot of noise with Toshiba - they might be concerned about paying for this crap.

[Lawbringer]

The only things to get at WorstBuy are DVDs, video games, and iPods (only if you get the extended warranty). OK, maybe an occasional TV.

I will NEVER get any computers or computer parts there, nor will I let the Dweeb Patrol so much as breathe on anything tech-related.