Woman files $54m lawsuit against Best Buy for losing laptop

We've definitely heard some horror stories about Best Buy, but it looks like a DC woman named Raelyn Campbell has had enough: she's opening up a big can of America Sauce on the retailer in the form of a $54m lawsuit after it lost her laptop during warranty service. Campbell says she bought a laptop and $300 extended warranty from Best Buy in 2006, and took the machine in for service when the power switch broke last May. Told repairs would take two to six weeks, she set off on a business trip, only to find that her laptop had gone missing when she returned in August. Fast forward through several more weeks of run-around and delays, and the best the Buy would offer for losing a $1,100 machine with all her data on it was a $900 gift card. After being informed of the potential for identity theft, Campbell filed the multimillion-dollar suit, which prompted Best Buy to up its offer to a whopping $2,100 plus a $500 gift card. Campbell says she's not dropping the case until she finds out what happened to her machine -- and she wants ol' Blue to train its employees on privacy issues and revamp its warranty policy. Honestly? We'd say she has a better chance of getting the $54 million.

[Thanks, David]

[mcheddadi @ Feb 12th 2008 1:45PM]

Bestbuy is ASS

[sk8rpro @ Feb 12th 2008 2:10PM]

Agreed. Regardless if she's successful, that's the kind of women I'd want to marry. Someone who knows not to take shit from negligent companies.

[Mike @ Feb 12th 2008 2:18PM]

Really 54 million dollars? Thats a little excessive. I mean for your inconvenience, loss of data and just plain difficulties with Best Buy I couldn't see the true amount going over $100,000 and that's being generous. I do feel like Best Buy should have offered her a lot more than she initially was but come on, 54 million dollars?

[Patrick @ Feb 12th 2008 2:17PM]

i hate frivolous (sp?) lawsuits, but i think i may hate best buy more. go woman!

[Scuba Steve @ Feb 12th 2008 2:42PM]

She asked for 54 million dollars because that is the exact amount asked for by a local DC judge when his dry cleaner lost his favorite pair of pants. The judge had a convoluted algorithm for determining the figure. This woman simply decided to use the same figure in hopes of getting as much press as he did...using an ironic figure. She has stated that she has no illusions of getting any type of large judgment, but that she does want the press to expose Best Buy's (apparent) malfeasance, fraud, and outright lies.

Like most, I thought that this was another story of a greedy consumer looking to get rich because "coffee is hot"...but hunt down the real story and read about what this woman went through and how Best Buy treated her and I expect that you will soon be cheering her on.

$0.02

[Scuba Steve @ Feb 12th 2008 2:49PM]

BTW, for those of you who have stated that she is at fault for not backing up, let me point out several items...since I took the time to actually read her story:

- The power button was broken so the thing would not turn on

- She wasn't primarily concerned about "lost data"...she was concerned about IDENTITY THEFT...given that the laptop hard disk contained significant volumes of personal data...including tax returns.

- Best Buy is required by federal law to inform a consumer if they leak their personal data...and Best Buy knew for weeks/months that her laptop had been stolen by someone in the store...yet they did not inform her (as required)...and actually lied to her and told her that the laptop was at their Kentucky service center and that the replacement switch had just been ordered.

[Will H. @ Feb 12th 2008 2:55PM]

I think this is a GREAT lawsuit. Companies negligent in protecting our privacy are acting in a way that is antisocial and illegal! Go lady!

[Andrew @ Feb 12th 2008 3:03PM]

Well done Scuba Steve...

also the amount she is asking for seems high but imagine the amount of time and money she can potentially loose if her identity is stolen from the laptop.

Its ridiculous that BestBuy and others have such lax rules when it comes to repairing computers, hopefully this forces them to take better care of the PCs people bring in.

[Dan @ Feb 12th 2008 3:26PM]

@Andrew

Is your identity worth $54mm? I know mine sure isn't. Steal my identity, maybe you can get $20 or $30K worth. I highly doubt her identity is worth $54mm either.

Just because I almost got hit by a car on the street today doesn't mean I get to sue the driver of said car for the amount I would have been damaged had I actually been hit.

Yea, this sucks and Best Buy has very questionable if not downright illegal business practices, but $54mm is absurd.

Plus, it is unethical to file a lawsuit for a certain amount just to get publicity to shame a corporation.

[fahnboi @ Feb 12th 2008 3:35PM]

Dan, who made you chair of the ethics committee? If a pair of pants is worth $54M, someone's future livelihood and sanity at the hands of an arrogant greedy retailer certainly is too. All's fair in love and war.

[Dan @ Feb 12th 2008 3:53PM]

@fahnboi

The thing is that the court decided that the pants were not worth $54mm and repremaneded the plaintiff in that case.

Also, I'm not the chair of the ethics committe, but I do know that you have to have a good faith basis for your prayer for damages in court. There are also presumptive limits on non-economic damages. Believe it or not there are ethics rules that governm lawyers (I presume she hired a lawyer for this)...there's even a national exam for it! The ethics I mentioned are these ethics rules.

[ET @ Feb 12th 2008 4:23PM]

She can said she has a porno video of her and if released to public as DVD, she would have earned 54mil.

[Craig B. @ Feb 12th 2008 4:36PM]

The last time I looked at the people who passed the MPRE, it was not exactly confidence inspiring.

Too many lawsuits are get rich quick schemes, and no doubt she'd love to collect 54mm. Whether her credit was harmed, and what the harm was worth, will be a factor in the damages actually awarded by the court. With her bringing the lawsuit, what mattered was the frustration, anger, feeling of helplessness, and violation. This did get her situation publicity.

No question 54mm is way too big, but she'll never get that amount so it's not to worry. Assuming she gets 1/10th of that: life in prison for an accounting fraud was a bit harsh - it was money, not life lost - but you can be sure financial restatings have increased over the years. This, similarly, would be for punitive effect.

[A_B @ Feb 12th 2008 5:25PM]

Dan,

Question for you, what takes less time, arguing on ablog about legal ethics rules that only apply to attorneys, or RTFA? To wit:

"She also had reached the limit of her patience. In November, she filed her $54 million lawsuit against Best Buy -- by herself, without legal representation." (emphasis added)

I'm going with the latter, but maybe you're really quick at talking @#$% on the Internet.

Don't get me started on how one could have a good faith belief that the loss of a laptop resulted in $54 million in damages.

[Bernie B @ Feb 12th 2008 5:55PM]

Scuba Steve,

Even with a broken power button a data backup is possible before shipping the laptop out for service. Most shops would simply pull the hard drive and back up the information to thier in-house data machine. If the customer was concerned about identity theft, the hard drive could have then been wiped before being reseated back into the unit.

Obviously I don't know if Best Buy offered the above (at an extra cost of course), but they should have seeing as they how much they push for the upsell. Much as I hate Best Buy, just wanted to point out that they may not be quite the bastards as the woman is making them out to be.

[Pip @ Feb 12th 2008 6:26PM]

$54m is excessive but Best Buy was clearly very in the wrong here. Most importantly, why didn't Best Buy pull the HD before beginning work? Dell told me to remove my hard drive before I sent it into them. It seems like a generally good practice.

[Mike @ Feb 12th 2008 6:51PM]

@Dan, thanks. Someone actually sees things the way I do. I never said that the woman shouldn't have been reimbursed for her inconvenience, her laptop, her data (which sometimes can be considered priceless if they were pictures, etc), however $54 million dollars is VERY excessive.

The article does also discuss that there was a possibility of identify theft however I doubt this information is worth $54 million. If one person's information was worth this much I think you would see a rise in identify theft (higher than it already is). It's very unfortunate that this happened to this women but $54 million dollars is absurd. I'd gladly have my laptop misplaced for $54 million dollars.

[Gassie @ Feb 19th 2008 12:37AM]

This again an example how sick the united states is , one stupid lawsuit over the other with not realistic amounts. 54 million is way over the top to ask.
But please us go on it won't take to much time to live under the chinese hahahahahah

[James Cameron @ Feb 12th 2008 9:01PM]

She must have some good pron in there for an employee to steal her laptop.

[Mills @ Feb 12th 2008 10:38PM]

@Bernie B

I do agree about how simple it is to back up data on a drive. However, going in for something as simple as replacing an on/off switch is never anything that should throw up a red flag and make you think you need to have them back up all the data on your machine. Maybe it would be a nice policy for Best Buy to take on for any machine that is being sent off for repairs. Even then, in this case (from what I read) it appears the machine was stolen in store; policy change wouldn't make a difference. Again, understand where you are coming from, but it's not something the customer would think about.

[skulldriveshaft @ Feb 12th 2008 11:24PM]

To anyone who thinks otherwise, your personal data is definitely worth $54 million.

Actually it's priceless, because in the end your personal identity is all you have, everything you own, have owned, will own in the future, is tied to this.

Whoever has this personal information can collect money through fraud, and leave you to sort out the details with the authorities for the rest of your life. There have been enough identity theft stories, and the processes involved in re-claiming your identity, sometimes repeatedly, that would go beyond the $54 million.

Maybe this person is not a millionaire today, but she could be tomorrow, and her identity is right there for the taking, along with her belongings.

Sorry to burst bubbles, but I believe everyone's identity to be priceless.

[Jeff @ Feb 13th 2008 12:30AM]

What the hell does her laptop being lost have to do with stolen identity? As soon as her laptop left her hands, she could have been a victim of identity theft (and she would have been none the wiser 'til it was too late). She has no damages at this point, except the laptop itself.

You should always have an updated copy of your important data, so no compensation is deserved there. Maybe just the time required to restore it since the loss was due to faulty hardware.

[ian oliver @ Feb 13th 2008 9:35PM]

all the people ripping on best buy are people are just plain ignorant, you have to start somewhere and for most its not a career job... you guys think its best buys fault, the kid is 23 years old. what do you people do that is a more interesting job that best buy, having to deal with people who arent knowledgeable in the topic at hand, trying to teach it too them. As for this lady, her computer came back, the paperwork probably wasnt correct(again, done by a 23 year old), but the comptuer was supposed to get picked up in 6 weeks at the latest... she was gone 20 weeks. so when you have something sitting around for 20 weeks.. chances are it could get miss placed, or could be mistaken for an open item product, which is probably what happened to it.and when stuff is open item, they format the entire lap top, so her stuff got erased.

sure the lady has a case, but its like every person who is frustrated, they want their case to be seen, the want to create a scene, as well she has a right she did loose her lap top, and frankly it shouldnt have happened, you do it, i do it at some time or place, but remember, people are human and do make mistakes, and when you people insist on laying into some kid, hes not going to appriciate that, and will probably quit his job, because outside of their place of employment, they are human. All of the "I hate best buy" people, why? because you came in on a saturday looking for the sale item(thats more than likley where your hate came from). of course its not going to be in moron, and sure, if we order it we need to fill out paperwork, a sale item like that is extremly popular so we need to have it shipped in when its made. if not feel free to comment back.

[Brigett @ Feb 14th 2008 5:19PM]

I'm glad she's doing this. I have had a similar problem with Circuit City (has been going on for 3-1/2 years now). I wonder if the C.C. people are reading this?????

[John M Trent @ Feb 14th 2008 6:10PM]

I think she had something to do with the missing Lap top. She needs to get a damn job.

[Scooteray @ Feb 14th 2008 7:05PM]

I used to work for Best Buy for over 7 years. How does a laptop go missing? Simple negligence on the part of someone not keeping appropriate paperwork attached to the laptop in question. I assure you, the laptop is floating around either at one of Best Buy's service warehouses or it was shipped direct to Sony, and the paperwork is no longer with the unit.

As for the woman's data, customers are told upfront and before they sign the work order agreement that it is the responsibility of the customer, NOT Best Buy, to back-up all important data, which makes sense. Once she signed that paperwork, and Best Buy will not take possession of any customer's property until it is signed, she lost all legal rights to any compensation for that data.

At any of the stores I personally worked at, we would have given her a new laptop, apologized profusely, and would have started a serious investigation as where in the hell the woman's property was at, and who in the hell was going to compensate us for our in-store loss.

[Jeanine @ Feb 14th 2008 10:21PM]

The SAME EXACT THING happened to me last year...I purchased a laptop and $300 Service Plan from Best Buy and when I put it in to be serviced THEY LOST IT. It took several weeks before they would even admit that it was missing...several more weeks for them to give me a replacement laptop...and now I have had to deal with the horror of knowing that someone out there has my personal files. SICKENING!

[JS @ Feb 15th 2008 12:04AM]

Best Buy Jacked us around on a DEFINITE warranty issue... told to me by the MANAGER that EVERYTHING was covered... NO MATTER WHAT ! They fooled around with the camera until we had to buy another (from them) for a business event with the promise that they would credit us for the old one that they couldn't fix. (Or wouldn't)... I will NEVER buy another thing from these rip-off artists!

[Paula @ Feb 15th 2008 10:08AM]

You go girl!! I hope she gets it!! I thought we were the only one with problems there.

[Dave @ Feb 15th 2008 11:50AM]

ya but thats what applecare is for

[Lisa @ Feb 15th 2008 7:45PM]

Something similar to this happened to me this summer with Best Buy. The way I was treated almost made me postal. Oh yeah I was also pregnant during the 5months it took me to get my computer back. When I got it back it was blank and the back up disk that I requested had been erased. I lost my entire business account, and had no backup. After several complaints, I finally got an apology from the store manager. Gateway put the blame on Best Buy and Best Buy put the blame on Gateway. So what is the consumer to do. Leaves you feeling hopeless. So more power to her and I hope she wins!!!

[Kiwi616 @ Feb 12th 2008 1:45PM]

Well as long as she distributes the $54M to all that are involved in their information on her laptop.

More power to her. I love America!

[Kiwi616 @ Feb 12th 2008 2:01PM]

@ jew balls

Trust me I know. I deal with Lawyers and accountants all day. She'll walk with an out-of court settlement for an undisclosed amount. But should give out all that is received, minus cost of fees and laptop (non of this pain and suffering crap) :)

[james @ Feb 12th 2008 1:48PM]

I have had a couple bad experiences with best buy in the last couple years, the quality of their employees is so poor I wont shop there anymore except for dvds.

[Spyvie @ Feb 12th 2008 3:26PM]

I don't like Best Buy either, but a deal's a deal, no matter where you spend your money. It's not like they're shills for BinLadin or clubbing baby seals or something.

Maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better 'cause I just bought a lappy from them a couple of weeks ago... it was the best price I could find. All that said there is no way I'd buy a warranty or trust those dorks to fix anything.

[Natedog @ Feb 12th 2008 5:25PM]

I saw BB employee clubbing a baby walrus once, is that close enough?

[Jacqueline Jackson @ Feb 14th 2008 3:06PM]

I bought my daughter an IPOD for Christmas 12/05 with an extended warranty. The screen cracked and I took it back a year after purchase. I took it to the geek squad and was told everything was covered but the screen. I went back again and talked to the store manager and I was told the same thing. The store manager also said all that could be done was to be reimbursed a pro-rated amount on the extended warranty which was about $35.00 but I paid over $350.00. I have not bought anything else from best buy since, and I choose to take my busy else where because of the very rude and unprofessional staff associated with best buy.

[amradiar @ Feb 14th 2008 6:23PM]

well the thing is NO WARRANTY even manufacturers warranties cover broken screens. Normally when a screen breaks its because of the end user, not a factory issue.

[chrisaroz @ Feb 12th 2008 1:48PM]

I like this lawsuit (if she's to be believed). She said the only reason she sued for so much was to grab their attention and get the word out.

Seems to be working!

[Lynn Whitaker @ Feb 15th 2008 2:38AM]

I think I will try the 54m. number. Yes, does seem to be working for her. Maybe it will work for me when I sue the American Skiing Company for the wrongful death of my son at Killington Mountain.Going into respiratory arrest due to heart arrythmia, my son(25 years) was unable to be shocked back into a stable heart rhythm.Why? No one on the ski patrol could find the Defibrillator.
Negligence that cost a Life; not a laptop...

[Andrew @ Feb 15th 2008 7:32AM]

Actually was trying to respond to the comment about the warranty on screens but there was no reply button. Sony offers a warranty on broken screens, so I bought that for my Vaio for three years. There is at least one other company that does as well. Hopefully I'll never have to use this warranty, but my last two laptops had to be junked after screen damage. Alternatively, there are some companies that can replace the LCDs, and you can sometimes find screens from junk parts companies.

[Demaar @ Feb 12th 2008 1:49PM]

Oh man, that'd suck hardcore. I can scarcely imagine the horror I'd feel if my computer went "missing" during a warranty repair. It may not be worth 54 mill, but there'd be a lot of anguish, I tell ya (though potentially, if someone were a novelist or something along those lines, the potential theft of their work would cause some serious issues).

Wonder what she had on her lappy...

[thak @ Feb 12th 2008 1:57PM]

wonder if this is the same woman from DC

http://www.nbr.org/about_nbr/staff/campbell.html

[Demaar @ Feb 12th 2008 2:01PM]

Holy crap, if it's the same person, I can sure as hell see why the information being stolen would be a problem...

[bachviet @ Feb 12th 2008 2:32PM]

Yeap that's her.

[teej @ Feb 12th 2008 3:05PM]

@Demaar,
hopefully, someone of her stature wouldn't have confidential, classified, or business-related documents on her home computer. if it was a work computer, she'd undoubtedly give it to corporate IT.

[KC @ Feb 12th 2008 3:29PM]

I would have to agree with Teej here. If the laptop was used for work, corporate IT would have procured it and secured it.

But $54M is a high ball figure. Even if they settled out of court for $1M, she paid half for lawyers, and another $200k for taxes, she'd still walk out with $300k.

[Sparks @ Feb 13th 2008 3:06PM]

The woman outright says in the article I read that she has no expectation of getting $54m.

According to the article, they originally offered her $900 (to replace her $1,100 laptop), after taking 3 months to even admit they'd lost it. When she asked for $2100 to actually be able to get a replacement and to cover time-and-trouble, Best Buy blew her off.

She was a pretty average user, and so not as immediately aware of the potential for identity theft. When she was advised about the identity theft angle since her tax returns were on the computer, she enrolled in a credit protection program and went back to Best Buy to ask why she hadn't been informed that they'd lost her personal data (as they are required by law to do), they stonewalled her again.

This is why she finally sued them for $54m; she said she has no expectation of getting even a fraction of that, but picked a deliberately insanely high number just so that Best Buy would pay attention, and so that media outlets would pick this story up to highlight Best Buy's poor customer service.

So far, it seems to have succeeded; clearly the case IS getting media coverage, and Best Buy offered her $2500 to replace the laptop (if she'd drop the case and sign a confidentiality agreement never to speak of this again, which she refused to do).

[Markus @ Feb 12th 2008 1:51PM]

Hey Raelyn, ever heard of offloading your personal data before having your notebook serviced? It's been common sense for the last decade, but i guess you were away on business.

[duncan.macleod @ Feb 12th 2008 2:00PM]

MARKUS,

Hey buddy, ever think of reading the ARTICLE before posting an ass of a comment? How "exactly" was she supposed to offload her data with a BROKEN POWER SWITCH....

la dee da