"Best" is a Relative Term

Last April my husband and I took the plunge and bought a Canon Rebel 2Ti.  We shopped around a bit and then landed at "Best" Buy.  The employee in their camera department seemed to know all there was to know about cameras and assured us we were getting a good product with a Canon.  So a mere $649 later, plus the always debatable, protection plan we left feeling like our pictures were going to a whole new level.

At the beginning, our "Best" Buy purchase did exactly what we wanted it to do....take pictures!!! Yeah, we are simple like that, just want the product to do exactly what it was made to do.  Well, imagine our disappointment when only a few months later the camera started acting up.  The top half of the pictures were dark and unrecognizable.  So, began our first trip to use that debatable protection plan and the camera was sent off for repair.  About 10 days later we get the camera back and guess what....camera STILL doesn't take pictures.  Now it definitely is heavy enough to be a paperweight, or even a cute side table accessory, but that isn't what we shelled out $649 for, we wanted it to take pictures.

Now we are on our second trip to use that debatable protection plan, "Best" Buy takes the camera to send to GeekSquad again.  My husband and I are getting smarter now, and by the time they call us to retrieve the camera this time we don't leave the store until we try it out.  Sing Praises!!!  The camera works and we are on our merry way.  Now by this time, "Best" Buy isn't terrible at customer service, but they aren't great either.  They are similar to robots, whatever their store computer tells them to do, they are going to stick to that and not deviate one little bit.  Even if common sense and logic says-- it looks like this camera is defective...i.e. not even 6 months old --2 repairs already...hmmm!

Picture this (pun intended):  Christmas time with the kiddos, my husband and his side of the family.  We travel to Nashville to stay at the Gaylord Opryland, the hotel is beautifully decorated, the kids are having a ball,  and our room looks out into the Delta atrium.  Of course, I am snapping pictures left and right, because I am a Shutterfly obsessed Mom, and I love documenting all of our families monumental events (which everything is monumental with kiddos!).  I think you know where this is going and it is not down memory lane while looking at our precious photos taken with our "Best" Buy Canon Rebel!!!  We get home, plug in the camera to my computer and EVERY, SINGLE picture is blurry.  Well, let me clarify that, my kids are blurry but the backgrounds are just as pristine as can be!! (Not sure how well it can be seen here, but trust me, full blown pic looks terrible.)

Third time back to "Best" Buy and they finally declare the camera a "lemon" and I am actually given an upgrade..Canon Rebel T3i.  I'm pretty pumped honestly, I think all my camera problems are behind me.  I mean really what are the odds that I would be given two "faulty" cameras?!?  Seriously, could that even happen?

Well, of course, I'm here to tell you it CAN and it DID!!!  In a span of 13 months I've had 2 repairs, 1 new camera and another problem with said "new" camera.  This time, no pictures!  It won't even tease me with half a picture, guess I shouldn't have been so picky before.  Off to "Best" Buy again to use that good ol reliable debatable protection plan, but this is where my frustration has hit an all time high!  Because, see that adorable blurry girl up there in that picture, well she is about to have Kindergarten Celebration on Sunday, and then the next week is my 20th high school reunion, and one week after that we head to Florida for a relaxing beach vacation.  But I won't have one picture to capture these moments because my camera doesn't take pictures.  I explained my entire situation to one of the employees, she was very sweet and sympathetic, but remember what I said about those robots--"We must follow what computer says we aren't programmed with common sense."  So Mr. Manager enters the scene, he actually handled the situation worse than the employee, and at one point told me I should be happy this camera worked for the 5 months that it has.  Wow!!  Does that point out the obvious-- that he is very used to "Best" Buy having faulty products or what!?!?!?

So here I am--camera shipped off again to GeekSquad for repair, waiting for it's return with absolutely no expectation that the camera will ever really work again.  My upcoming events will be captured with my "point and shoot" and I'll have the "best" pictures ever!!  Like I said, best is a relative term!!!!