LAKEWOOD, Colo. — As people look for appliance deals this holiday season, a Lakewood woman has some advice for Best Buy shoppers. She reached out to Contact Denver7 after a washing machine install went wrong and she couldn't get her money back.
Denver7 met Wendy Taylor at the beginning of September, about a month after she had a brand-new washing machine installed. The installation turned into her worst nightmare, but she finally got the payout she deserved after a battle with Best Buy.
Taylor was reimbursed $5,472 after battling Best buy for several months.
“At this point, I’m just happy to have it over,” Taylor said.
Taylor moved into her Lakewood home over the summer and had the washing machine installed at the beginning of August. She bought the appliance from Best Buy, who sent out a third-party company called NAL group to install the washer. That's when the issues began.
“I went down and did laundry. I came back and my basement was flooded,” she said.
Taylor called in a plumber and soon learned the installers punctured the waterline tube, which made sense after she says she saw the installers shove her washer against the wall. The plumber told her she needed to get mold mitigation work done.
“I had to have the walls taken out because of the mold, water seeping up in the walls, and the carpeting needed to be replaced,” Taylor said.
She said the cost for the repairs came close to $6,000.
She filed a claim with Best Buy, but it got denied and the installer wouldn't take responsibility, so she reached out to Contact Denver7 for help. She eventually got a call from the company, saying they would try and work things out and the back-and-forth emails began.
At the end of October, she got the email she'd been waiting so long for.
Denver7 also got an email from Best Buy after reaching out several times over the past few months. The email said: “We heard back from our teams and the issue has been resolved as of this week."
This is why Taylor says persistence pays off.
“I think it was Channel 7 and your news team, 100%. They never would've responded to me,” Taylor said.
She offered advice to people who are in the market for big-ticket appliances: Do your homework.
“Know what you're getting yourself into before you do it. I had no idea Best Buy had a third-party installer,” Taylor said.
Taylor says she still ended up paying a few hundred dollars out of her own pocket, but at this point, she says she's just ready to move on.
Despite being reimbursed, she said she's probably never shopping at Best Buy again.
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