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What Do Geek Squad Technicians Actually Do?
Zenitram asks: "I am a lead technician at a company that repairs computers for various vendors. Many of our systems are from Best Buy's Geek Squad. Based on the systems Geek Squad sends us, it makes me wonder what, if anything, do they actually do? We get systems that have issues that we simply shouldn't have to work on, like: installing device drivers, OS reloads, and reseting CRUs (Customer Removable Units). Additionally, we get systems that are misdiagnosed such as: bad hard drive when a system has faulty RAM; no POST when it simply won't boot into Windows; or no boot when it won't power on at all. So, what is the scope of technical repair that Geek Squad techs do?"
Not much. Seriously. I know a few Geek Squad techs, and a lot of them are not real bright.
I havn't started training yet but from the managers explanation of the work, it seems pretty ridiculous. Ie: returned products must be tested, and when we say it simply wont boot up, it will get back we have to be more specific and say what wont boot up like windows or the hard drive. I guess it just goes to show you gotta do what you gotta do, at least when you have to pay rent.
Clearly state in proper English "Do you have an A+ certification from Comptia?"
If they answer "Yes"
Make them show it to you - if they won't, presume they don't have it and skip to below. Otherwise, congratulations, you've found a reputable maintinence tech.
If they answer "No"
1. Walk away without saying anything more.
If they boisterously laughed or asked you what A+ certification is, pelt them in the abdomen with your right knee, then proceed to step one above.
I worked in the Geek Squad at Best Buy for a little while back when they first took up the name. A few fun things I noticed while working there.
-In changing over from being a computer sales person to a tech, absolutely no form of test was administered to assess my proficiency before putting me to work formatting people's computers (I could have literally not known how to do this before being assigned to this job.)
-The only training that was administered to me upon transfer to the department was an abysmal program that failed to teach me the ins and outs of the database I would be using (and there were gaps in my knowledge about computer tech work that needed addressing at the time).
-Almost without exception the only thing done by Geek Squad members to computers which were brought in was a reformat and reinstall of the OS. If that didn't work the computer was almost always sent out of the store for weeks on end for repair.
-My boss spent over half of his time at work in various hiding places yakking on his cell phone. He was never held accountable for this.
Eventually my complete disgust with our lack of service, outright hatred of all levels of management and just general dislike of being forced to con people into buying things they don't need drove me to leave. I now work quite happily (at a dollar less an hour) at a locally owned supermarket while I finish me degree. Of every part time job I've ever had (high school included) this was by far the worst.
I could go on about all kinds of other things about Best Buy outside of the context of the Geek Squad but I'll stay on topic. Also, it should be noted that these are only my own experiences working in one store.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
If he had answered that he didn't know, then he would have been off the hook.
The Geek Squad do wear clip-ons (I suspect it has to do with a stereotypical nerd motif, short-sleeved white shirts, black clip on tie, calls to mind crewcuts, horn-rimmed glasses, and pocket protectors a la Reveng of the Nerds].) A friend of mine is/was a Geek Squad tech. Mostly he's snide and more than a bit insulting to customers, and he gets a Best-Buy flash drive that looks like a stripped-down version of a "Techie Toolz" CD. I know my buddy can fix most stuff, he's an even better hardware tech then I (and I have a "real" computer job!) However, I know several of his co-workers as well, and those guys couldn't even figure out how to take a processor off of a mobo, let alone hack anything more than a hairball.
It all is a matter of who is working, some of my coworkers at the time really knew what they were doing, and some didn't. For instance if there was no post on the screen at boot time some employees would immediately send it out as a bad unit, whereas me and a few other employee's would cover all the grounds, video card, video cable, test power supply voltages, check for distended capacitors, check the current through the capacitors, make sure cpu, memory, etc was seated properly. Truth of the matter I worked with people who would send computers out for overheating problems, when they failed to notice that the fan was so full of dust it was barely spinning and there was 90%+ CPU utilization because of adware. For Best Buy they don't care who they hire as long as they can train the person to go through computer, and they can get through the computer fast so they have a quick turnover for the customer. Just my two cents from being on the other side of the counter. It is definately a Buyer beware situation though.
It's never to late to start the day over...
i know i'll probably get flamed for this, but w/e.
i am a member of the geeksquad; I've worked there for a little less than a year, and from my experience, here's what we do.
Essentially, the in-store people do low level work. I'm constantly bored because I'm doing virus removal after virus removal from people who have messed up their computers and no longer know how to get on the internet. The job is redundant and menial and it gets old pretty quickly.
We actually do have a data backup that we try to convince people to do, but generally speaking, they opt out because, yes, our prices are too high. If i could change them, i would, so don't bitch at me.
The main brunt of work that we do though is basic setup (i.e. av install and antispyware install). it's menial dull and boring, and more than half of my time during the day is spent sitting watching little trackbars scrolling across a screen despite the fact that i have an 8 port KVM running full of machines.
From my experience, there are two types of "agents" who work in store as we're forced by SOP to call each other. there are the fairly smart ones, who know what's going on for the most part and can figure out just about anything wrong with a system. then there are the ones who are good with customers. they know nothing about computers, but often they think that they can fix problems. i don't trust them. most of the good agents that i work with also don't trust them, and as such they don't work on computers very often. in the stores which are understaffed, however, there is not this luxury. This is why the geeksquad has such a bad reputation among the ivory tower of computer intellectuals.
In-home and in-office technicians are a bit of a different case; they're at least required to have A+ cert for in-home working, and i'm fairly certain (but don't quote me on this) that the in-office are required to be MCSE. It may not be the same as having a masters or just being an all around badass, but they're at least generally qualified. Some people slide through the cracks in the system, though, and still give the organization a bad name.
I wish the geek squad would have more openings for people like me, though. I'm not certified, but i definately know my way around a system better than anyone I work with. I'm also the youngest at my store by far; I'm just now going to college next year. Basically the deal is that the people I work with are older and don't care as much about making an impression, which I believe is a fatal flaw. They don't want to ensure that management likes them as much because they have become disillusioned with the way the world works.
That's my 2 cents, sorry for the long comment.
Actually, the quality of the geek squad in your area tends to depend on the quality of the manager doing the hiring. I worked for one once, and me, my roommate, and 2 of the other employees where hired by the old manager, who got promoted for knowing what she was doing, and instead of promoting from within, they hired an idiot from the sales floor to the job. Everyone hired by the new manager was completely worthless, and basically just handed anything off to one of us, or screwed it up completely. Eventually, everyone there who knew what they where doing moved on, but that's the natural course. Even in a job such as this, there are alwasy going to be very skilled kids coming up who just don't have work experiance that would look good on a resume, but still know everything they need to know, in almost any area. They would almost always rather be working and getting something on paper than fixing their uncle's computer for the 25th time. The question is whether your local chapter has someone who can spot those with an idea of what is going on.
I do have to agree with what some of the other people have said on here that have previously worked for Geek Squad. It depends on the location. I'm sure there are stores with freaking morons working behind the counter just like there are stores that are staffed with people who know what the hell they are doing.
To respond to the original question posted, does it honestly surprise you that there are morons filling out those service orders sometimes? You have to understand our side of the picture too. The same service centers that you work for fsck up just as much as some of the stores you receive product from. Our service centers screw up at least five to six things a week at our store. Things get sent out for obvious problems (i.e. lcd backlights not working) and get sent back "no fault found", however when we turn the LCD on when it comes back from shipping...it is still hosed. Half the time I'm standing there thinking...did you guys really even freaking look at this thing?
As for the pricing, hell yes it is way overpriced. I think everyone that works at Geek Squad would agree also. Our pricing scale went up last week and some of the prices we charge for some services now is f'ing crazy. There are very very few services that we provide that are priced at what I would see as fair if I was someone running my own business. Unfortunately for some customers, places like the Geek Squad are the only pc repair places worth trusting. Some are more willing to pay the extra money than to take their pc to Mr. Shady McShaderton down the block, or the emo kid with painted fingernails who lives next door.
And if you want an honest answer to the original answer posted, the people working at Geek Squad aren't always the best and brightest because of liability reasons. There are times when we are not even allowed to change RAM in a computer...yes RAM...due to liability reasons. Someone, at some point in time, brought had a computer fried and sued Best Buy or Geek Squad over the issue and now we're not allowed to do it. A lot of the Geek Squad agents aren't given normal "geek" knowledge by the company just because they don't need it to do their job. If you start taking all the interesting and challenging problems out of the stores and putting it into the hands of the service centers, you're obviously not going to train the people in the stores on how to fix it. It would be a waste of time and money. There are times when I can't even use a program, even though I know it works better than something I'm currently using, for the simple fact that the said company could file a lawsuit on our store.
I dunno, I don't agree with the pricing and I for damned sure know there are idiots out there. But every company like us has their idiots...not just Geek Squad. And maybe I'm just lucky to be surrounded by a ton of people who happen to know alot about pc repair...but remember not every store is full idiots, some actually have the knowledge to help take care of you.
Also for those that have said it earlier in the posts, Geek Squad is NOT part of Best Buy. We are not Best Buy's Geek Squad...we merely have a partnership with Best Buy. Think about the coffee shops and fast food places inside stores like Target and Walmart.
"Of course that was in the days where computer rooms had raised floors and separate air conditioning systems."
;)
They still have those. They're just called "datacenters" now.
Simpli - Your source for San Jose dedicated servers and colocation!
I work for a Small ISV, we sell an ERP software for the IBM System i.
I specifically work in our tech departement, and i also do some "complimentary" services, like setting up Windows Domains and such, if the Customer doesn't have another IT Partner. Sometimes, private customers near us call us up for service.
Now, don't get me wrong, i don't have anything against private customers, but mostly it doesn't make any sense at all to even go there.
When you arrive at the customer, he already spent something around 200 Swiss francs, just for my knocking on his door. The next thing you will see is a seven year old machine, running Windows 98 (the customer told you on the phone that he runs "The Windows with X or something", yeah). Now, you have two possibilities:
Get the customer to buy a new system. Please know that we do make A LOT LESS money on selling a new system than on repairing the existing system. Most of them don't want to do that.
Try fixing the machine. If it's a software problem, you can have them sorted out in anything from 10 Minutes to 8 hours, depending on what the problem actually is. If it's the latter, the customer already spent 1600CHF, which is more than a new computer costs.
It frustrating really, but in most cases, the easiest way is to buy a new computer.
I worked for the Geek Squad for a year and a half, ending last summer before college, and I certainly have my 2 cents to put into this discussion...
I joined, as was suggested by another user already, becuase I needed a steady first job and local IT positions were pretty much non-existant. I have been a computer "geek" since the first Pentium, and consider myself extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of PC systems. I was definitely overqualified for the job, even without my A+ rating (which I thought for sure they'd turn me down over...).
I was probably the best (or close to the best) "agent" on the squad as soon as I learned their piece of shit software. The problem was, they were so concentrated on making revenue and churning out computers, it was difficult to spend enough time on a machine to do things 100% the best way without getting kicked in the ass to get it off the bench, although 90% of the computers that were checked in were so incredibly trashed with malware, spyware, (pr0n, etc..) that windows was too trashed to repair w/o a format. Many of those computers were so outdated and missing CD's that in some cases it wasn't possible to find all the drivers for thier generic devices, even in the depths of the internet.
As far as sending computers out for repair by third party vendors like the writer - I HATED seeing computers get shipped out. sometimes, we just sent comptuers out becuase we were too backed up. Some were misdiagnosed on our end, and some, even properly diagnosed, came back unrepaired or worse. The worst part was that >yours truly had to deal with a screaming customer instead of the shitheads who messed it up on one end or the other. Of the 9 or 10 "agents" on our "squad", MAYBE 2 of them (besides myself) REALLY seemed to GENUINELY care about what the customer was going through on the other side of the desk, and consequently caused a lot of shit to happen - the main reason I won't go back...
I will also say we definitly had a problem with techs who were hired either off the sales floor or off the street w/o proper evaluation : We actually had one tech who brought her own computer in for repair after she "coudln't figure it out for the life of (her)". 30 seconds later I had it fixed after I set the jumper on her CDROM correctly.
There is soooo much more I could say, but I'll stop and leave those on the consumer end with some tips dealing with computer repairs:
DUH) GOOGLE your problems first...you save money, and you don't have to read any further
1) Find someone local who works on their own or for a small firm. Your unit will likely get more personal attention and not just be sent through the repair process on a conveyor belt.
2) If you have to go to the geek squad or other group of the like, don't go straight in with your computer. go in ahead of time, and talk to the guys at the bench, and find someone you can trust - leave knowing one of them enough that they know your name and your face.
Ask when their next work shift is and when there is the least amount of traffic, and bring your machine in durring that time.
4) If the tech works often enough that it is reasonable for both of you that ONLY they work on your computer, ASK for such service. It may take longer, but its better to have someone you trust get it done the first time, then have 5 different techs skrew it up. Some "squads" are great at handing computers off - mine wasn't at all - you never know...Best case scenario, you have a guy you can trust to do a good job from now on. Worst case scenario - he can't blame his shit job on somebody else.
5) BACK YOUR STUFF UP BEFORE YOU BRING IT IN, especially if you're having problems that may require restoring your system. It can save you a LOT of money, and a LOT of hastle. Even if the backup is as simple as using the customer's CDRW drive to do the backup, we still charged full price (i hated this with a passion...).
*Yes, we dress like in the ads.**
**Yes, the ties get in the way and we hate them**
I work at a Best Buy precinct in Geek Squad. I am not an Agent though, I am a Counter Ops. I do, however, deal with a lot of units that come in from our repair center, so I guess I might have a pretty good idea of what we send down and what happens to it.
As far as competency, it all depends on where you're getting it from, it seems to me. Depending on who works at the store, the Agents could be amazingly good at fixing computers or, well, not so experienced. My own store is in many ways a good store(and improving because of some new management we have gotten), but I have heard some rather nasty reports about other stores. So it does unfortunately vary.
I don't know what company you work for, as at the moment I can't recall any repair center we send computers to that is not Best Buy only. But that's a moot point.
As for the scope of our work, as far as I know we are supposed to fully diagnose every computer we think we can fix with certain software. This software is being improved but is NOT always accurate and actually has many issues and false positives with certain brands of notebooks.
Now, we do not do many hardware repairs for notebooks. My own precinct typically only works with a notebook's RAM and harddrive. Thus, if we suspect that the problem doesn't have anything to do with those things and that it is hardware related, we typically send the unit straight to a repair center to save the customer type(our own repair center takes about 2-4 weeks to repair units).
As for CPUs, we can do everything except motherboard replacements. I don't see many CPUs we send down having anything else done to them, although it does happen rarely(most likely due to a problematic diag).
As far as having to repair software, we are definitely supposed to do that. You guys having to do it instead may actually be a result of pressure from a customer. Because of certain policies we have reguarding our Performance Service Plan, an Agent may agree to send down a unit without diag even if he suspects a software issue because of insistence from the customer. This may or may not be a good thing, but not all our Agents are experts in customer service as well as computer repair; in addition, in most cases we must honor what the customers wishes us to, even if we don't think it's a good idea.
Of course there are also clerical mistakes, communication problems and inexperience on part of individual Agents that contributes to this kind of thing.
That should explain all the computers you get that probably could have been repaired in store. Hopefully I covered everything. But, try to remember next time you get a computer that only needed a restore or was misdiagnosed, that it goes both ways. Many times we have to send computers back to the repair center right after a repair was performed there, sometimes multiple times. I have sent a computer down specifically noting that a restore would not work(because current internal hardware did not match the original) and got them back with the technician writing that I should do a restore. Many times it feels as if they don't even read our notes at all, and although we may misdiagnose some machines, we have had more interaction with the owner of the product and thus possibly more information. And, well, having to tell a customer that we have to send their computer back down for another 2 to 4 weeks is no walk in the park.
Hope I answered your question, although I'm sure many other people have already!
PS: Because of branding, some of the terms I used might be confusing. Just to make sure things are clear, when I say Agents I mean technicians, when I say Counter Ops I mean.. administrative assistants(secretaries?), and when I say precinct I mean the Geek Squad part of any Best Buy store.
Many companies that hire computer technicians merely require an A+ Certification in order for an applicant to be considered competent and eligible for the job. The problems with that is A+ Certification by itself isn't enough because
1) It doesn't take much to pass. The A+ test consists of two sections (Core hardware and OS technologies), and you really only need a score of 500 to pass for each section to become A+ Certified (which really amounts to getting roughly 50-60 percent of the whole exam correct, a pitiful score). Whether or not you score the bare minimum or got above an 800 on each section, companies only see your certificate, so really you don't know whether the A+ monkey you've hired actually knows much. Hell, I even got A+ certified when I was 15 (I'm 17 now) and managed to get a job as a salesman at Micro Center, and I didn't even get any hands-on practice (bought a 60-dollar Sybex book and crammed). The concepts are way too basic, and the objectives are messed up. A+ requires you to have knowledge of rarely-implemented concepts such as old motherbboard sockets and the features of really old CPU's (I'm talking 386 here). What the test should concentrate more on is detail on newer material instead of trying to create a catch-all for everything that has happened in IT in the past 20 years.
2) The test is only updated about every 3 years. Since newer computer hardware comes out about every 2 months, people usually have to resort to extra homework-research in order to catch up. Stores like Frys and Best Buy don't really give much training to new material. Only this year did COMPTIA update the certification objectives to cover new topics such as dual-core processors, which were released 2 years ago.
3) The test has no hands-on material whatsoever. I didn't even know how to use brass standoffs in order to mount a motherboard into a case when I passed this test. When I really got into computers and started doing hands-on stuff by myself (i.e repairing PC's for friends and building PC's), I realized how much I missed out even with the certification. Many certifications today (especially the ones by COMPTIA such as Network+, Linux+, and Security+) don't have much, if any, hands-on objectives during testing. I don't care if you have memorized how many transistors each processor that has been developed in the past two decades have, but if you don't know how to correctly mount a motherboard/ground yourself/RAID multiple hard drives by hand, then you don't know jack shit.
Even with other certifications that broaden their knowledge like Network+ and maybe CCNA, the most important thing is hands-on experience, something that takes a lot more background than cramming a couple of books.
"Listen, the next time your daddy tells you his computer isn't working? I want you to tell him it's broken. Okay? And tell him to give it to you to play with, and send him back to the store to buy an iMac, okay? It's a computer especially built for idi... ummm... for, you know, mommies and daddies."
The Internet Help Desk is divine comedy.
It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.
-Voltaire
I've never really picked up on some of the US slang - it wasn't that long ago that I found out that gimp isn't just a graphics program and that a pastie is not just a tasty folded pie.
There's a solution to this. Get your machine set up the way you like it, then take a Ghost image. Then, provided you keep all your documents in clearly defined locations, restoring is a matter of "Ghost, then copy". I do this, reinstalling Windows takes about an hour, 90% of which I spend watching TV while the hard disk churns.
that's exactly as is done at the board IT dept here. they have ghost images on a special network share (accessable only to them) for every make and model of computer in the board. nothing is stored on the computers themselves (everything is stored on the network), so just run ghost and bam! problem fixed.
it would also work quite handily for a home user if they keep regular backups.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
I'm having trouble figuring out why this topic made the main page...I guess it could be that this is a sincere question but it seems more like another bid for support in bashing the Geek Squad.
Scope of repairs for Geek Squad agents consists of all software issues and hard drive, RAM, Video Card, PSU, & CD/DVD drive replacement. Basically if it is available in the store it can be replaced or installed on paid services. For service plan repairs the majority of hardware can not be replaced in-store due to inventory limitations and in the event that a system restore is required; if a customer does not have their restore CD/DVD, the restore partition has been corrupted, or the HDD neededs replacement (obviously this leaves no restore partition) then the unit is shipped to the vendor in the event it is under mfg warranty or to DEX if under service plan warranty only.
On another note, I can tell you from the CONSTANT issues I dealt with on a day to day basis that the blame goes back and forth between 3rd party repair centers and store techs. I'm assuming that the original poster works for a company called DEX (Data Exchange Corporation) as they are the primary 3rd party center used for issues beyond the scope of in-store repairs. Literally 25% of the computers shipped to DEX returned unrepaired, misrepaired, misdiagnosed, and some didn't even return at all. Between 3 and 8 hours every single day I was sending emails, calling DEX, checking tracking numbers, and dealing with upset customers because of these problems. When you say that the Geek Squad sends you issues that you shouldn't have to work on I'd really like to know a percentage here. If you can honestly tell me that over 25% of the computers you receive have these minor issues, I'll lay down the flaming sword here. And if you want to talk about spelling, I've probably seen around six to seven THOUSAND service tags from DEX and around 500 of them had proper spelling...don't EVEN get me started there.
Unfortunately, however, all the anti-Geek Squad sentiment out there isn't all that unfounded any more. I have a pretty good idea of why (I did work there for quite some time) but don't go any further if you don't like to read.
One of the primary focuses of Best Buy training is sales. When 'agents' are hired they are expected to have a high level of technical knowledge and all other training focuses on processes and sales. Being that Best Buy is a non-comission sales environment the training is not nearly as viscious as some other comission sales jobs, but it actually works better. What the training actually encompasses is gaining the ability to relate the knowledge you have to the customer. During my entire time at Best Buy I was never once encouraged to do anything unethical or take advantage of customers' lack of knowledge. I was lucky to be at a decent store...the problem lies in the fact that a lot of the management staff at a lot of stores does not take this approach and typically force employees to sell more and most expensive or get out.
Another glaring problem is the fact that Best Buy's original service techs were largely incompetent and extremely underpaid. Before the Geek Squad was unleashed, Best Buy lost money from services every single year. Upon Geek Squad's roll-out, a lot of the original service techs were given immediate promotions or transferred directly across to supervisory positions because of the need to get/keep bodies behind the counter. The good came from the fact that more positions were available and largely at a higher pay rate. Because this was a new venture into the services sector, customers with previous experience with Best Buy services were largely suspicious and still retained a good amount of hatred for anything related to Best Buy and service. Business began to pick up, but was still rather slow in relation to the number of positions filled and available. During this time, qualifications and technical knowledge were fairly strict requirements because of the overflow of applicatio
Whaaa? I'm going to counter your anecdotal analysis with my own. I have a wired optical Logitech, and a wireless mini optical Logitech for my laptop. Both have been extremely accurate and reliable. I find a good mousepad is essential -- nothing fancy or expensive, just a good padded surface. One of the mice is over three years old (as they often are?). When the mice crap out I'll simply replace them with a similar model. Some people are hard to please!
The A+ exam certifies that someone has a level of knowledge equivalent to six months of job experience as a computer tech. Older versions of the exam certified someone had the equivalent of 18 months. Needless to say, the difference between the tests is fairly massive.
I train people for both Microsoft and CompTIA certifications. Most of the people I see in classes are either just looking for additional knowledge and don't care about the cert, or so wrapped up in getting certified that they don't pay much attention to what I'm actually teaching. Unfortunately, it's the guys in the second category who seem be the ones who go out and look for those corporate consulting jobs.
Even though I think of A+, Network+ and certain of the Microsoft exams as dead simple, the truth is that if someone has actually absorbed everything they're supposed to know to pass those tests, they really *do* know a lot about PCs, Windows and repair work. IF they retain the information.
I don't think the "entry level" ceritification exams do a very good job of requiring people to synthesize information, and there's no way to test how much they've retained after six months. So the certs do wind up being kind of pointless. It's frustrating to me as a professional techie and as a trainer, but on the other hand most organizations that need techs don't have the time or ability to generate their own metrics for tech skills, so we kind of have to live with the meaningless certs.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
Using the incorrect word for YOUR insult makes YOU look like an idiot
I currently work at Best Buy and have had this question asked of me before. First off, i don't know much about linux. I'd dabbled with it a few times and can do what i need to with it, but i'm more comfortable with windows right now. Anyways, i didn't know the answer to this this question. (Nobody keeps a running count of what hardware is or isn't linux compatible) BUT instead of making some crap up, or even just saying "i don't know", i actually looked up the products right there in front of the customer until I found one that was linux compatible. It all depends on where you go. I would have to agree that most people at retail stores don't know that much in the technical area. I currently work in the Camera area and i know more than most of the our store's Geek Squad about computers. It's exactly right when you say that these retail stores don't pay enough to people that actually know what they're doing.
No they dont. We are talking about Geek Squad here. They show up and tell you your mouse is dead and try and sell you a $100 mouse from Best Buy.
Not many of the techs from Geek Squad would know what to do about the mouse problem. I work for a competitor and we go to 4 or 5 calls a week just because Geek Squad really made the computer worse. They made it so much worse that the people called us to fix it instead. They seem to push new parts more than fixing anything.
You are 100% correct. The only thing they are good at is making the computer run worse.
I am in the same business and I am in it because I like to help people in need of it. We get a lot of calls from people who just want things working again. 3 or 4 of those calls a week are from people who had Geek Squad out and they made it FAR worse. We go out and have to repair whatever Geek Squad did and then fix the actual problem.
(Geek Housecalls is the place I work for.)
I also used to work for Best Buy geeksquad. The organization is what I would consider corrupt. Most of the 'software' we used to fix a system was shareware that anyone could download off the internet. We used programs like Spybot, Adaware, eWidow, Memtest x86, CCleaner, ect ... to clean/repair a system. I could never understand how a company like Geeksquad was going to profit off the unpaid shareware authors work.
Nor could I understand how Geeksquad got away with lying to its customers so often. Most of the people I worked with were High School students and many acted the part. Peoples property was always being mishandled and many times things were being lost. I was told to lie to people's faces as to where their system was at some points because we honestly couldn't find it. Power supplies for laptops were always being lost, as was software.
On top of the mistreatment of the systems, was the fact that many of the 'techs' had no right to have that title. This one person that I worked with was so bad a 'tech' that he managed to wipe an entire system harddrive that was only there to have some spyware removed and wanted the data on the drive backed up to DvD. Our manager insisted that we lie to the customer, telling her that we had sent out her system for service due to her warranty and that the service center had caused the loss of information. Of all the luck I was there when she came to pick up the system. The lady was in tears due to the fact that the PC had held important information that she required for her employment. She ended up losing her job over this incident and she couldn't do a damn thing about it because in that piece of paper you sign when you leave your system with geeksquad it says we aren't responsible for the loss of data. Even if the pimple faced High School student pretending to be a tech specifically told you that the data would be completely safe and backed up before doing anything dangerous.
I left the company soon after this incident.
Unfortunately for you, Best Buy still controls your mind. I am a former Geek Squad agent. I worked there for two and a half years and it paid great enough to get me through high school. It used to be good before it was switched over to the Geek Squad. You are taking a small service center in Best Buy, making a new advertisting campaign and feel, and tripiling your business in a matter of two years. When that happened Best Buy was in so need of Geeks that they hired many morons just to fill the spots. I am not saying every Geek Squad agent is bad, there are many talented people. However, at my old store, 50% of the current techs don't know enough to fix a computer and are more based on ripping off the consumer by charging them as high as $600 labor on a single repair. Integrity doesn't exist in many parts of the Geek Squad. Some of the things that our store used to do is amazing. Here is an example, a Dell that wouldn't boot, said something about PXE and cable not connected (don't remember exact message). So, of course this was too confusing for the techs who worked on it. The PC Area Manager tried sellign him a $1100 computer package. I checked the person in a few days prior and saw they were buying a new system. I didn't think it was necessary so I took a look myself. Change the boot priority off of network boot and the system worked fine. I save the guy $1100, he slipped me a $50 tip later and then I got bitched at by the manager for loosing the new computer package. Corporate XP keys, overcharging, not doing all the work... common things for the Geek Squad at my store. In fact, that $129 you are paying for a in home diagnostic, or any other service turns between 78% and 84% profit margin according to management. I understand companies need to make money, but you aren't paying for quality, you are paying for cars, ugly uniforms (they felt degrading to wear, I preferred the old black service polos), and gas for the Geeks that cruise in their car when there is nothing to do. The fact that the focus in our store was more on selling is partially why I quit. That and shitty management. Stay away if you can, if not... be ready.
My diagnosis: the Geek Squad does nothing. It was a publicity stunt to make consumers think that Best Buy employees knowledgable technicians, when in reality these so-called "experts" probably spend all day sitting around thinking they're "1337 h@x0rs" because they downloaded TweakXP.
It's such a shame too -- the geek squad started as an independent computer tech service in Minneapolis long before Best Buy bought them... and they had a reputation for being really sharp and being good problem solvers. Now look at 'em. What a shame.
Not really a lot of difference. I'm sure pretty much anything can be fixed without a reinstall if you put enough time into it, but since that's prohibitive, especially when you're doing it as a business, there's effectively no difference between "needing a reinstall" and "a reinstall is the most efficient way to fix the problem." Unless the customer is willing to pay for you to spend the hours necessary to find and repair all the problems, then you pretty much have to reinstall.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
I am pretty savy on computers and I had an event where my computer crashed due to the Antivirus guys at Symantic. Their software crashes your system and screws it up if you uninstall it without special tools. In any case I had a crash and needed my computer and my data saved and prompt recovery. My Microsoft OS was telling me I had to reinstall it and I would loose data. SO I WENT TO THE GEEK SQUAD local precinct as they call it. [HORRID MISTAKE!!!!]
The decided they had to rebuild the system. That in their mind ment F-disk and of course the loss of all data. Well I managed to threaten them into not doing F-Disk and did get them to save a backup of the drive. They wanted to wipe out logical partitions. They wanted to get rid of a linux partition. I had to fight them all the way. It took them 7 days to reload Windows 2000 pro with my disks. They lost my disks which were OEM disks. Then they found them after another trip back. It went on and on. The total cost of this expedition was nearly $400 for their little stupid operation. I could have bought a simple new machine cheaper. If this is the quality of Best Buy generally, I suggest they should go out of business! I will not even shop there anymore after this!
Never Politically Correct ~ I prefer the facts If you don't like what I say, get a life, or comment yourself.
Make friends with a Best Buy employee and get the same cable for $3 because that's what they'd pay (cost + some small percentage)
;)
I got a 50' network cable for something ridiculous like $4 once thru a friend of a friend.
I had a job for about two months at a best buy. the only questions they asked me when they were interview me was: 1. If i hit print on a word doc and the printer isnt printing how would you solve this? and then the best buy question of the year: 2. Tell me how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich step by step like i dont know how to make one... i think that is a reason why the people that work there are so bad.. all they know how to do is make PB&J sandwiches ;) lol
I ended up quiting to go back to web design :)
We do see older machines. Our shop works on both macs and PCs, and I have to say the macs tend to hold their value and usefullness for a good 2x the time the PCs do. We still get people bringing in LCs and Mac Classics, with printer problems etc. Just TRY and find a replacement printer for an LC sometime... So we actually don't dispose of many of them since people just refuse to junk them and they refuse to break. They probably all wind up sitting in people's attics.
Most of the windows boxes that come in with less than windows 2000 we contsider prime candidates for replacement. Same issue, impossible to find drivers for a new printer if you are running 95. Usually in those cases, besides being infected, there are issues that can only be solved by a reformat. If they are very very lucky, a repair-install will work. We try to look at the machine and determine it's value "in working condition", and then compare that to the estimated cost of repair. If the repair cost hits about 80% of the "working condition" value, we consider it totalled and advise them to get a new system.
Most AV and spyware scanners have to be run individually on each account on the computer. I find it humorous that viruses have no problem infecting every account on the computer yet you have to remove them one at a time. When we get in a system with say... 7 user accounts (at least twice a month) it's often more cost-effective to just nuke it and start over, rather than paying the tech for 6 hrs of time spent scanning all those accounts. It's ridiculous but that's the reality we deal with all the time. I can't see someone considering the machine totalled, since you could always just nuke and reinstall, but if the customer has lost their restore disks (20% of them have) then tracking down drivers for all their proprietary (usually Dell) hardware is next to impossible and DOES effectively total the computer.
I hate to see perfectly viable and functional hardware rendered totalled like that, but it happens surprisingly often, and I can't help but believe that the manufacturers of the computers plan it that way. They pull neat tricks like using a cheap (underpowered) power supply, and then pull a stunt like swap the location of the power switch and power cord, so you cannot use a stock power supply that might cost $39. No problem, they'll sell you an identical crappy replacement... for $179. So to summarize, they use proprietary cheap components that are guaranteed to fail early, require replacements available only from the manufacturer, and cost 3-4x what they're worth. "planned obsolecense" We take a metal saw and cut the little bit of metal tab on the back of the case that blocks the power switch on the standard supply, and save the customer $100, and they come out with a much better PS that won't die a year from now.
As for the graveyard, we pile up the totalled machines in back and a guy comes by and picks up the lot about once a week. He doesn't get to cherry pick, he has to take it all or none of it. Saves us the trouble of hauling away that which no one wants. I'm not totally clear on what he does with them, but I believe he parts them out either for repair parts or to build new mid-end systems with. We don't throw any full systems in the dumpster, though it gets its fair share of busted components. (hard drives, optical drives, power supplies, etc)
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Long story short, they teach you nothing. As a guy just out of college it was a great 14$/hr job when I could not get my foot in any software company's door. I know I helped out a lot of people and there were two other guys who knew what they were doing and what needed to be done to systems. I was only there for 3 months but in that time the two other smart guys who had been there a while quickly became the onsite techs. If you were new or knew nothing you were left in the store. The onsite guys never worked inside the store at all. So people who know what is up quickly become the guys that cost $150+ just to get them out to your house.
I run a similar style company called Dial-A-Geek (Shut up, when I made the name I thought I was being original...) based in British Columbia Canada. We provide in home and on site computer support. What do my techs do? Exactly the same sort of stuff the normal /.er does in the course of their day. I'm not hired by /.'ers I hire them, assuming they can check their ego at the door.
Honestly, as was already pointed out, basic troubleshooting is necessary for a large segment of the population. Could most people do the reinstalls, upgrades, repairs, virus scans and other tasks that we perform? Sure, but they'd prefer to have a professional do it we have the experience and the tools to ensure backups are performed can find things like drivers quickly. It's not rocket science, but experience makes it quicker and less painful. Just like (oh god incoming car analogy) I could spend my Saturday changing the fluids in my car I'd rather let a mechanic do it.
The reality is that a lot of people are still not very computer savvy and (here's the important point) not interested in becoming savvy. They find our job boring and would rather never think about computer repair and maintenance. They'd rather do the things they enjoy in life. I'm overhearing the conversations of a couple of our frontline people right now. Want to know what they're saying?
"Yes ma'am a reinstall is like resetting your computer back to the day you bought it. Well we save your data, but applications would have to be reinstalled. Like Office. Like Word. Like that blue W you press when you want to type. No it doesn't come with Windows. Yes I'm sure, unless there was a restore CD. A disk that came with your computer, or it would've ask you to burn one when you bought it. You don't remember? Not a problem our technician can look for it when he arrives."
and on and on.
Having worked at HP- we *wanted* to ship with cables. We aren't allowed to- BB and the like threaten to refuse to stock us if we do, because they make such obscene profits on them. We're at the mercy of the stores there.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
I used to work for Best Buy years ago for about 2 months. The truth.
1.) BestBuy does not care about the main system sales. Printers, Computers, etc don't make Best Buy big profits. The numbers they cared about and crammed down the sales people's throats was add-ons. The printers don't come with printer cables. So ofcourse it's our job to sell them the biggest baddest usb cable possible. While your add it, remember the ink cartridge doesn't come 100% full when you buy a printer, they come 50 - 75% full. Paper, remember to take home a box of printer paper. Don't forget about the extended warrenty. I was filling in for a sales guy (i was not typically sales) in the computer section and got chewed out for not selling them an upgrade in RAM, the computer was a top of the line box there already maxed out by the motherboard specs that I looked up before making any suggestions. They wouldn't listen, all they know is they are to sell upgrades, even if it technically isn't possible.
2.) Sales people at Best Buy know 0% about what they are talking about, they recieve no training. It's just a matter of what they put down on their resume. If computers is mentioned they sell computer, if listening to music is a hobby, their in the media section. Watch TV, well you know where they go.
3.) GeekSquad, although is a new thing, is marketting, only marketting, nothing backing it up, other then the same A+ cert guy able to stick in a card in a motherboard and hope windows detects it. Remember Geek is Chic now, and BestBuy wants to look chic.
It's called Market Basket Analysis. Best Buy hired a big-name consulting firm (I worked with them in a past life, hence the anonymous post) to help improve their margins. Using some very interesting cluster analysis techniques, they are able to identify (1) the the driver in a market basket (2) items with symetrical relationships and (3) the items that get bought in conjuction with (1) and (2). By accepting a lower margin on the basket driver and adjusting their assortment and pricing on the tag-along items, Best Buy is able to increase sales while maintaining or improving overall margins.
When they ganag up on us, sure. We needed to be on their shelves. If they decide to charge us more for shelf space (you do realize shelf space is bought, right?) or decide to give the space to Lexmark or Epson instead, it could cost us tens of millions. So when the channels say "no cable" we had to listen.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Actually Sir, When it comes to Best Buy (I didn't see CompUsa mentioned), Suncoast and whatever other companies fall under that umbrella. Employees can buy good for cost plus like 5%. So it's entirely plausable that he got a cable for 4 dollar through a friend.
"It'll destroy you if you try to make it mean anything to anyone but yourself." - Henry Rollins
Every once in a while the 99-Cents-Only stores sell 6' Belkin USB cables (nice, braided, with cute little lights on the ends, the ones that are $19 at Fry's) for 99 cents. Just useful information...