February 5, 1998

Frank Kelly Attorney General

G. Mennen Building/ 7thFloor

525 West Ottawa

P.O. Box 30212

Lansing, Michigan 48909

Dear Sir:

 This is to inform you of practices of Best Buy Inc. that may amount to criminal fraud. This letter is in regard to the store located in Saginaw Michigan. I suspect it is a state wide if not nation wide problem.Best Buy advertises in print and on TV that they have, "highly trained computer technicians... " Consider what one consumer is going through.

On 1/20/98 Leila Dennison took her scanner 'in to have it installed in her computer. She paid the $39.99 installation fee and was told it would take from three to five days. Leila picked up her equipment on, 1/24/98. Noted on the work order it said, "SCSI card installed conflicts with sound and/or TV/video card."(Copy Enclosed)This computer, "Expert," plugged the scanner SCSI interface card into the computer and called the work, "DONE," even though the sound card no longer operated. This meant that Leila had no sound to her TV, CD-ROM drive, or any application that uses sound.

At this time the scanner did work.

On 1/27/98 Leila took her computer and scanner back to Best Buy to have them get everything working right. She was told that it would be done that afternoon. It was not. Leila picked her equipment up. She again took everything back to Best Buy on 1/30/98 to have the work done right. When Leila picked up her equipment on 2/l/98, it was not. She was told that every thing worked except the scanner, which was, "defective."It was not. I plugged the scanner into my computer and it worked just fine. When we tried to start her computer it would boot only to the, "Safe Mode This mode allows you to fix problems without loading a full set of drivers. The computer would not switch from the Safe Mode to the fully operational mode. An error message appeared that said, "An internal stack overflow has caused this session to be halted. Change the STACKS setting in your config.sys file." According to the Windows 95 Readme Text of the config sys. File STACKS/STACKSHIGH command, "Supports the dynamic use of data stacks to handle hardware interrupts ... You can use these commands only in your config sys. File." In other words, somebody at Best Buy went into the config sys. File and changed things in an attempt to 'install the scanner, NOT what Leila was told when she took her computer back to get Windows 95 to boot in a normal manner. "It must have been damaged in transport." You could drop a computer from an airplane and the impact would not change the config sys. File.

I think that you will agree that Best Buy is in violation of the Michigan Consumer Protection Act in that: They have failed to properly perform the contract in that they did not install the scanner and refuse to give back the $39.99. Best Buy has failed to disclose relevant information 'in that they do not know how to 'install a Microtek Scamnaker E3. Best But employs no, "Highly trained computer technicians at their Saginaw, Michigan store.

Best Buy has affirmatively misrepresented some material fact in that the scanner is NOT defective. They provide," Highly trained computer installation technicians." Highly trained computer technicians would have returned the extremely sensitive SCSI card to it provided static bag. Highly trained computer technicians would have replaced the installation slot cover when they removed the SCSI card.

Best Buy has tried to confuse and mislead the consumer by saying the scanner is defective. By telling her that the computer was damaged in transit and by alleging that their technicians are certified and insured. I would be willing to bet that the

Technicians at Best Buy have no academic credentials in computer science. That their only, "certification," is provided by Best Buy and that Best Buy has no formal training program for computer technicians.

Attempted to take advantage of the consumer who has no computer expertise. They tried to convince Leila that the scanner was defective. The tried to convince her that the computer was damaged 'in transport. They tried to cover up their lack of expertise with lies.

Best Buy is in violation of the Michigan Consumer Protection Act 'in that their advertisement of Highly trained computer technicians is unfair, unconscionable, and deceptive.

Best Buy is a Seven Billion dollar a year corporation. How much of the Seven Billion poured into Best Buy's coffers because of this sort of deception is up to you to find out. Any reasonable man is going to bet that Leila Dennison's experience is not rare but more probably typical.

I have sent copies of this letter, by certified mail, the following adverting media so that they may judge for themselves if they are exempt from penalties under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act (Act 331 of 1976). If they continue to accept advertising copy from Best Buy that includes the words," highly trained computer technician".

The Saginaw News, WNEM TV 5, WJRT TV 12, WEYI TV 25, WSME TV 66.

Sincerely,

Tim O'Malley

Saginaw, Michigan

Email empmi@aol.com