At the time of pick-up I was told the warranty would arrive via US mail. I never received it and knew I had my receipt and could use it as a record of my purchase.

I have been fortunate enough to have made it until just this month(Jan.2011) before having problems with my laptop other than the battery not holding a charge- rarely used it on the go.... After one successful attempt at restoring the laptop's OS to factory condition myself, my computer failed to load the OS again several days later. I decided to take it in while the warranty was still valid.

After a failed attempt to get my warranty info from Best Buy's toll free customer service phone line, I was told to bring it to the store where they had access to older records.

I returned to the same store I made the purchase from. It took them 15 minutes to locate the purchase itself, even though I gave them the order i.d. number I used to pick up the laptop.

Unfortunately, this was not enough to get my laptop serviced. I was told they could not find the "PSP" number, which they needed in order for them to begin a service order on my laptop.

They did put someone to the task of calling about my "PSP" number. Little did I know, I would be waiting for over an hour to be told that the issue was being worked on and I would hear back soon.

In the meantime, they kept my laptop and offered to look at, which was strange considering just an hour earlier the all important warranty number was needed. Though, perhaps they thought this matter would be solved and they would get the information they needed.

I received a voice message informing that they had not heard back from corporate and that I should call a few days later if I had not received a call from corporate. I was also told that infections were found on my computer and removed but I may need reinstall the OS which they could do for approximately $120. I declined due to my concern that this meant the hard disk drive was damaged being as the HDD contains a copy of the OS and a method for recovery as well. Also, I could purchase a newer version of the OS for the price that they offered to reinstall the older version.

I waited a few days and called corporate as they said. I was told they were still working on it and I would receive something via US mail or I would get a call. I updated all of my info with them to ensure I would receive whatever they were to send.

I finally picked up the laptop in the same condition in which they received it-the OS not loading. I repeated the steps I had tried originally by reinstalling the OS to factory condition. I considered that if there was in fact infections on my laptop which Best Buy's Geek Squad service claimed to have removed, The computer should have no more problems.

Once again the computer worked perfectly fine for a week or so and crashed again. Same symptoms, though the laptop had so little use in this amount of time and not much exposure to online activities. This made me realize there is probably something wrong with the HDD, though Best Buy's diagnostics said it passed.

I called Best Buy's toll free number again today and after giving them my information, I was told they have no record of my purchase at all. Though, the first and second time I called, they did. The representative told me all he had was one other phone number, which was an old work number of mine. No laptop purchase, no warranty purchase, nothing.

So later today, 18 days after my initial attempts to recover my warranty info, I went back to the store and ask to speak to a manager. The young lady at the counter immediately asked me what for. I told her I wanted a refund for a warranty I had purchased and was unable to use. She explained she could only refund a pro-rated amount.

I began to explain the whole story and she was pretty receptive to what I was saying and called someone right away. I stood at the desk for nearly a half an hour while she was waiting for I am not sure what.

Eventually, I was told that someone was on the phone trying to see what they could do for me. I sat in their Geek Squad waiting area for over an hour and not once did someone check in with me or tell me what was going on.

Finally, I got up because I could wait no longer. I had to take my infant daughter home so I could feed her. I approached the customer service desk again, I asked what the status on my issue was. A different young lady than earlier went in back and almost immediately returned to tell me, they would refund a pro-rated portion of the warranty or attempt to repair my laptop again.

I did not feel either of these options were satisfactory or reasonable from any perspective other than the perspective of a company that would rather hold onto my money which they had not given any real services for, than settle reasonably with me. My wish is to use my refund to purchase a new HDD and OS discs in order to return my laptop to functionality again.

I emailed them via their "contact us" link on their web page. I have also emailed the store manager in hopes of receiving a satisfactory result in this. While I have not given a reasonable amount of time for a response from the manager or corporate, I feel a customer with several verifications of purchasing a service warranty should not have to work so hard to obtain proper services.

I believe they are hoping I will just go away, or perhaps even spend more of my money to repair my laptop. It is not a lot of money. It is not even about the money really. But since it seems to be so important to them. I believe it is the only prize that can be taken from them in order to teach them about providing promised services.

If I receive a reasonable end result I will update this report to include a satisfactory result, however getting to the result shall remain more important than the result itself.