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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?"
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.
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.
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If he had answered that he didn't know, then he would have been off the hook.
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.
"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.
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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...).
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**Yes, the ties get in the way and we hate them**
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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?