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I am a computer engineer and have a great contempt for companies like the Geek Squad.

Services like these are useful to some, I suppose. However, the fact is that computers are common appliances in homes these days. A little education into this common household device would definitely payoff in the long run. A simple class at a community college would be a much better investment into the future than repeated $30 deposits into Best Buy's endless coffers.

I really appreciate this wonderfull website! Thanks for your service to all of us anti-suburbanites!

There are dozens of on-site computer repair firms around in every major city, most of whom aren't going to be beholden to a home electronics giant. Really, do you trust them to sell you what you need, or what the store is overstocked on?

To answer the above - the Agent from the Geek Squad did not try and sell me anything.

Even when I told him that I was thinking about getting an external drive to keep music and photos on. He said "cool" and kept right on working.

And in defense of my own technical literacy...I did a lot of research about the problem and good amount of fixing on my laptop before calling Geek Squad. But there is only so far I'm comfortable going with it.

Sure, I could take a class at the "community college" but I could also get a bad teacher, or a syllabus that doesn't deal with every single computer problem that could ever arise on my own computer.

The computer/internet world changes much too fast for the average non-IT person to keep up with it. Time is money, and the $129 I paid Geek Squad left me with time to do more important and FUN stuff. Oh, and the Agent showed me how to fix it myself should the same problem ever occur again.

Brad, I think you might be a little biased on this one, you are a computer engineer. I don't fix any of my common appliance in my home, I don't even mess with the coffee maker when it goes on the fritz.

I think companies like this are great when properly executed. A large part of the reason I don't feel like driving a used/old car is because I know that I don't have to understand how to fix it when it breaks down. Not to mention that if I spend the time working that I would have spent trying to fix my computer(or car) in many cases I would make a lot more money than it would have cost me to just hire someone else to fix the problem.

Yipe! I think I missed a few words in that last post, corrections:

"A large part of the reason I don't feel like driving..." should read "A large part of the reason I feel secure driving a used/old car..."

appliance = appliances

And add punctuation as you see fit, I seem to have lost all mine...

On anouther note BBY's Geek Squad does also offer onsite training as well as repair. That way you can get one on one training time with a qualified technician to teach you anything from simply how to access your email to perfomring your own registry tweaks and hacks.

Hello Brad. Actually, I myself am a Double Agent at a store in Minnesota (DA's do mostly in-home work, though some stuff in-store too sometimes). I'll tell you right now, I don't know a damn about cars. At all. When I have a problem with my car, I don't have the time or desire to really learn about how to fix it. I would rather put that time and money and go to a place like Precision Tune to get it fixed by people who know what they're doing and enjoy it. Of course there are some things that you can just look up and fix on your own. However, for very large virus/spyware corruptions, only knowledge gained over the years of the way operating systems run is going to make for the best outcome and most efficient computer in the end. That's what we are for.

I also have to say that some software programs, if not handled correctly, can become more of an enemy than a friend. If you're not 100% sure you should always ask for help before its too late. That's where Geek Squad comes in.

I am made fast cash this last week fixing what the geek squad f****** up in my town this week alone my phone is ringing for help to fix what thay f*** up. thanks hope the geek squad keeps it up.

Mr H,

I am sure you did so in a courteous manner as well judging from the way you have spoken already. Why would someone call you when the Geek Squad has a warranty on the work they perform?

I don't know how many people work for the Geek Squad but I am sure that over the country it is in the thousands. I would trust the knowledge of a thousand over the knowledge of just one.

Good Luck Mr H

I used to fix computers on my own before joining up with the Geek Squad. Now this may sound biased since I work for them, but I do find that most people are very satisfied with the work that we do. Surveys speak for themsleves and when people rate you and the services you do as high as consumers rate us then there is something we are doing right. Now from an IT standpoint you might think that the prices are high, but to people that are not knowledgeable about computers as us "geeks" then the price is right. Im glad to see consumers rating us the way they do, we are glad to see we are doing a bang up job.

I live in Philadelphia and run a very successful computer repair/consulting business. Wheh Geek Squad came out, I pretended to be a prospective customer, just to get the idea of what I am facing as far as competition.

Within minutes I was relieved, the basic questions I asked them had really bad answers, not like I didn't study, more like they had never seen a computer before. I asked the "Agent" to ask his peers about the answers. Nobody had a clue.

To make a long story short, you will pay a set fee that they dupe you into, which will translate into at least 95 dollars an hour. What you are paying for is 12-15 dollar an hour tech. Many times no experience, an A+ certification, and a lazy "I Think I am cool Attitude." Thier sales pitch is slick, from selling microwaves the year before, and thier candor is fledgling and un-professional. Any smart person can realize when someone is talking real fast and confident, they are most likely a greenhorn.

No offense to the agents and precincts, the newbie end users, and like. Most people are about the bottom line. They don't even care how many gigabytes it has. The most important factors are.

Who are you? 20 yrs old and A+ Certified.
What are you doing? Cleaning out some stuff.
How much is it going to cost? from $180-$600
When can I get an Appointment? In 2 Weeks
Do I get a Warranty on service? Kind Of...
Are you responsible for my data? No
Can I have your direct extension number? No.

In my personal opinion, seasoned computer expert aside. My bottom line doesn't match with those standards. I want to know that the person who is doing the work has been doing it for a long time. I want to know exactly what and why he is doing what he is doing. I want a reasonable price, $65-$150 total. I want an appointment within a few days. I want a full warranty on every transaction. I want to know if my data isn't safe that someones in trouble. And I want direct contact with the person who did my work.

If you fall into the dummy trap that this is the best thing for you, then you do. People are people, some good, some bad. Some in Newspapers, Some in Geek Squad. It doesn't make a difference. But it's your responsibility as a consumer to make the right decision. If you're ever in Philly, call me, I'll take care of you, your data will be safe, you wont get robbed, and you'll leave with a friendly neighborhood smile. If I do work for you, you will have my personal cell phone number. Call me anytime 24/7 and I will be there to fix it the next day.

I am not trying to sell you computers and software from my partners, who may or may not be good. I am here to sell you a solution to your problems, and you will be back for more. Trust Me.

Lucas
http://www.libertiescomputer.com

Lucas, you're ok. I wish you the best. However, that whole 'I'll give you my personal cell phone number' is crazy talk and I know you know I know you know I know it. Once you get 20+ clients you'll be on the phone all day/night. Still- you have the right idea.

Here is a copy of a reply I posted to a different site re: GS-

Well, this is all very interesting. (?). Let me break down the GS process from my own personal experience. I’m going to try to keep this brief because I don’t want to bore you- I simply want to relate my experiences.

I am a network analyst with NO certifications but many years in IT. I’m fluent in Cisco routers, VPN concentrators/HW clients, network design and all Windows OS, Linux/Unix, etc. My company deals with terabytes of data that must be routed/archived (via PACS) on a daily basis.

I don’t have my cock out constantly comparing myself to other IT professionals because I’ve dealt with the most knowledgable and the least knowledgable and there is always something to learn. For whatever reason, IT often leans towards snobbish, insecure, incredibly immature people that take a bizarre satisfaction of ‘knowing something you don’t’. If you’re one of them, you’re a dick. Hey congratulations- you read something or were taught something I didn’t know yet. You’re stalking someone in Marketing. You’re reading their mail off the Exchange Server. You brag all the time, never share knowledge and are usually full of shit. We wish we could help you but it’s not our fault you’ve never kissed a girl.

OK!- let’s talk about Geek Squad. :)

I think Best Buy has an incredible marketing campaign. They try to make it ‘fun’ to contact GS. Let’s be honest- You don’t call a service like GS when you’re in the best of moods. From the initial call to the phone menu system, they try to keep things amusing for the customer. Good for you, Best Buy.

Unfortunately, that’s often where the amusement ends. The agents that triage your initial call are painfully inept. I think much of this has to do with the success of GS and the rush to get people to handle the influx of calls. My company works in 4 time zones and I use GS to send to a client’s location when I need a tech onsite to walk through the basics. To set up an appointment, well- it’s almost always painful and very time consuming. I am well aware that GS caters to a home-based market and the triage agents work from a script and do the best they can and that’s fine- however it is frustrating to spend 30 minutes on the phone to simply schedule an appointment, only to get transferred to multiple departments repeating the same information. I try to be very patient.

I always ask for someone with networking experience, preferably a CCNA. I’m usually assured that a capable tech will be sent out but when I have to walk someone through IPCONFIG switches I know I’m in for a long call. By the time a situation gets to me, it’s an emergency and I end up spending upwards to $500+ for a ‘911’ call. Sadly, I often come away with no resolution due to the experience level of the tech and it’s rather frustrating because GS is often the only game in town.

I guess I’m just bitching out of frustration. It would be nice if GS had different levels of service rather than just a body and a roll of the dice. I give GS a tremendous amount of business. Out of the 20 or so times I’ve used them I would say that only 4 times I dealt with a capable tech that understood the issues. Just tonight I scheduled a GS tech to be at a doctor’s house at 7:30 Seattle time. It was a 911 call. I waited up until midnight (EST) and finally called the doctor who informed me he waited patiently through 3 dispatchers calling him promising the tech and then finally contacting him to say the tech could not make it. Now I have a client down until Friday when (hopefully) a GS tech with a level of experience I need will be there. What kind of recourse do I have in this situation? I have never been able to speak with a supervisor to state my grievance. This is completely unacceptable. However, GS is the only game in town in my client’s area.

Sorry- I guess I haven’t been able to keep this brief. My feeling with GS is that they will be a great resource once they get their shit together which hopefully will be soon. They need to streamline their system, train their staff and focus on different levels of service. Right now they are a source of very expensive frustration.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Keep Well,

Chris

I have read the above posts and would like to comment. I work for Geek Squad as a Counter Intelligence Agent (CIA), there way of making the process a little fun.... I am 47 yrs old and have been working on computers since the late 70's, I have a degree in Computer Science and think of myself as reasonably knowledgeable. I work with a variety of people, mostly young and a good number of them brilliant. Now to start by making a few points.. Warranty…we warranty our work, but a few exceptions do exist. If you come in with Malware and we clean it but you do not have any AV protection or anti-spyware software we will not warranty the product unless you install some. How could we? Spyware, Trojans, Viruses, etc.. is a large part of our business and if you are unprotected and get on the internet you are going to get them. From the gentleman who wrote in about networking, this is a field unto itself, in a home environment our agents can handle about anything, you start trying to do commercial setups and installs you need to contact our business services people, they are trained for this type of work, the average Geek Squad Agent is not, I’ve been around the computer world for years and I would have problems if confronted with a rack of Cisco routers, gateways and access servers. Heck you can actually get a degree in Computer Science with a major in Cisco Routers, that should tell you something there. Price.. Flat rate, not by the hour, this can be a positive or a negative. Personally if someone comes into the precinct and says, for instance, “My laptop has no sound.” And I look down and the volume wheel is in the Min position and I fix, no charge. If they have a more serious problem and I diagnose and then have to spend a bit of time then I charge them, Diag is $59.00 then we have a menu of charges for particulars, but most services, Malware removal, restore system etc.. is $79.00 install software and config, $29.00 you get the picture, and it does not matter if it takes us five hours to do it, same charge. Data safety/recoverability, (This to the gentleman who brought it up) anyone who has been in the field for longer than a few months knows that the safety ie safe from loss or corruption not prying eyes or theft, is not a thing that can be guaranteed, for obvious reasons. Hard drives fail, now we can recover sometimes if recoverable by software means, the only way he could unless of course he has a clean room available, which last time I checked the price for this work was close to a grand and up. Data is corrupted when written back to drive from memory, sometimes recoverable sometimes not.. this is why industry experts ALL recommend Data Backups, done regularly. Malware has corrupted or changed files. Sometimes repairable or replaceable, sometimes not. All in all Geek Squad is a benefit to most people, do we make mistakes? Sure. Don’t we all? Do we try our best? Absolutely. Are we here to make money? You bet-ya, I gave up working for free three kids ago. And a final note.. I give our phone number, with extension number to my customers, to a few select I give my cell number. But I like sleeping at night so I don’t give it to everyone. Bottom line is the vast majority of us do our best to bring great service and knowledge to our jobs and customers, we don't make appointments o come to the store, just drop in, and we don't try to sell you the latest system.
Happy Holidays

You know everyone just needs Dell machines. The dell helpdesk is vastly cheaper than Geek Squad and they fix all of the spyware...virus... "Advanced OS issues" over the phone. And you actually learn if your paying any attention.

"Services like these are useful to some, I suppose. However, the fact is that computers are common appliances in homes these days. A little education into this common household device would definitely payoff in the long run. A simple class at a community college would be a much better investment into the future than repeated $30 deposits into Best Buy's endless coffers."

Thats a very valid point, and from the sounds of it, the use of computers are either your trade or your hobby. I myself am a member of Best Buys geek squad, and while i agree some basic knowledge of computers is nessicary now that they have been so heavily integrated with our everyday lives, i also see it from the view of the customer. when my car broke, i looked at it for a while, looked underneath it for a while, and decided that spending 4 days 'fixing' it is unacceptable, when i have a class tomorrow. so i called my favorite mechanic, Sears. could i have fixed it myself with google or maybe an auto shop class? probobly. did the mechanic do it much faster than i could have done it myself? definately. sure, people pay a premium for computer service, just like i pay a premium for car service. do i change my own oil? yes. headlights? sure. BRAKE PADS? no. i call my mechanic. Just be glad geek squad dosent charge by the hour, like mechanics do. (and take it from an insider, we have no intention of starting, either!)

Tyler, I really hope you were kidding about Dell support. I have had to deal with them in past jobs with support of over 1000 PC's. For instance, the company I was with had recently bought 50 GX270's for their faculty in one our many buildings. We implemented them and within the first few months of having them there, our help desk phone was ringing off the hook with issues about the new Dell's. Just so happens that the capacitors on all the motherboards of these PC's we're failing and we had to replace all the motherboards. Lets just say it took no less than 30 minutes per PC to have them RMA'd. That is totally unacceptable when your business requires you to have PC's that are always needed. Then 75% of the time your talking to someone in India that doesn't understand you very well and you don't understand them very well either. Which is also unacceptable. Dell expects you to pay big bucks for their "Gold" support, in which 75% of the time you get an American tech, but even then it still takes 30 minutes+ to RMA a part. When it comes down to it, I believe that the Geek Squad has a decent handle on assisted home users with their PC issues and might need some work here or there, but will work these things out in the long run.

I own a IT Service company in Camden, IN that services both private consumers and small business. I called GS, posing as a customer, and asked them how much it would be to :

a)Install a new hard drive in my computer
b)Install Windows XP
c)Perform their "tweaks"

The cost: $125.

The cost to have my company do it is $145, this cost includes about a dozen registry tweaks and shutting down a dozen (depending on the customers needs) unnecessary services in XP to improve performance and security. We also install ALL of the Windows updates, not just the critical OS updates. The customer also gets a security suite consisting of AV, firewall, Anti-spyware, rootkit protection, Anti-Spam, and Anti-phishing software. When I asked, I was told that the only certified technician was the supervisor who held an A+ cert. My company guarantees that the technician who performs the work is A+ and MCP(70-210: WinXP)certified. After speaking with this young man on the phone for about 15-20 minutes, I had to come to the conclusion that GS(at least the local one) can be classified as "McTech". If you want your car fixed you'll go to an ASE certified tech, not a shadetree mechanic. If you want your computer fixed you should do the same, take it to a certified tech.

yes because all computers need to be fixed by a bloated overpriced overqualified tech. That will solve the problem. You passed a couple multiple choice tests and think your better than anyone in the IT service industry - and you probably provide freeware programs for your customers. WHOOP-TEE-F#$%@#$-DOOOO ..

Well you can't judge Geek Squad based on your one personal experience with them. Every Best Buy store is different. I used to be in computer sales there and I personally hate that store and everything the company stands for.

However, I'm going to have to play devil's advocate here. The fact is, there are a lot of highly-qualified techs on GS. There are also a lot of really sucky ones too.

I do agree that the whole Best Buy culture is McDonald-izing the tech industry. This is a bad thing because Big Blue is notorious for incredibly low standards for its employees. Turnaround is ultra-high, if you wait six months and go back into the store, you will recognize almost no one. The unfortunate consequence is an atmosphere of unaccountability. Sales staff's number one responsibility is their department's "numbers." Customer service is almost officially second to store profits. The company's attitude is if you return something or don't buy any of the high-margin extras, they would rather have you shop with their competitors and ruin their margins instead. Besides, what motivation is there to give one person a deal on something when there are 50 people in line behind him willing to pay full price?

Anyway, back on track, sorry about the rant. Geek Squad "Agents" are more salespeople than techs. To the lady who had the positive experience, I'm glad for you, but the guy wasn't doing his job according to company policy. Company policy is to have you buy as much useless junk as possible; things like cables, surge protectors, UPS power supplies, service plans, blank media, Digital subscriptions (or D-subs for short), and God knows what else. These items have markups ranging from 500-3000% A $30 USB cable for example costs BB less than $1!

Here is a good tip for buying things at Best Buy:

Try to limit purchases to low-margin items such as
* Media-software, games, music, movies, etc.
* Computers and laptops
* Printers and basic computer hardware
* Appliances

Stay away from high-margin items like
* TVs - you can shop for prices, just go to ABC Warehouse afterwards and they'll give you a way better deal, salesman there can actually adjust prices
* Cables - you can get them much cheaper at places like newegg.com, like around $2 instead of $30. Monster cables are a ripoff too, don't get suckered into anything from them. They 'seem' better because of the price, but the store actually pays around the same for monster brand as other brands, the markup is just higher.
* Blank Media - ditto
* Service Plans - these things aren't worth the paper they're written on. a salesman will regail you with tall tales, possibly tell you it even covers intentional damage, don't believe a word of it. most BB drones will say anything to get you to buy it, the ones that don't really don't know and are just parroting what their supervisors told them. one interesting fact they'll never tell you is that if you use the service plan, it becomes null and void, even if you have time left on it, and in order to keep it in effect, you have to buy ANOTHER service plan.
* Surge protectors/UPS power supplies - I sit typing this on a Compaq Presario 5420 from 2001. This computer model is *notorious* for unreliability. I use a cheap surge protector and have NEVER used a UPS (uninterruptable power supply). It has been through several power outages and no power surge has EVER harmed it. Buy a UPS if you're using it in an office setting and have critical data on the machine. If you're still worried about power surges, then you can simply UNPLUG the thing from the wall when the power goes out, it's a lot cheaper than a service plan or expensive accessory.