Best Buy's Geek Squad → I work

for Best Buy Canada. (Actually Future Shop, but best buy bought us out 2 years ago).

Our tech's are A+ certified. As well, our tech's... well they are more geeky than I, and I am a huge nerdy geeky me.

I have only seen O/S re-installs when a customer asks for one. Other than that we remove the virus/clean up the hdd/ fix the problem. As well we make each customer a cd-rom with a back up of their reg, as well as some useful software, such as Ad-Aware, AVG, and a few other free apps that, imo are essential for pc's on the net.

- Dan

There was a article I read a couple weeks back, a Best Buy charged a lady $225 to swap out a power supply, and she was happy about it!! My jaw about hit the floor when I read that. I told my brother I can build a basic computer for that price. A ad I saw in a weekly paper here, a guy wanted $50 just to download free anti-virus and a spyware killer. Its all free on the net? Why pay someone to do that?

I used to work at BBY in the merch department. The way they handled the products in the warehouse was a joke. People were throwing, kicking, playing catch with lap tops, digital cameras, printers.... 27 in tvs tumbling down the stairs. Half the boxes had somekind of dent or tare on them. Even worse was that the managers and sups could care less. They were too busy standing around chit chatting and tellin jokes. No wonder half the crap sold at BBY get returned!

I wouldn't trust any of those best buy dorks...geeks...whatever ya call em touching anyone's computer. For one they charge a bit steep, and secondly...they're...how can i put this....not exactly knowledgeable in the area that they're trying to service. That plus a personal thing about that company. Few years ago i tried to get a job in that department, they refused, saying i was underqualified (with the people workin there that was an insult to me), so i settle for stearing people clear of that store, and showing how idiotic their employee's are. Can't say its a bad thing, i may more money now servicing people's computers then i would have ever working for them.

Like others have said, unless you like being charged 150+ for a format and reinstall, plus some other bs thing happening (seen countless cases where they claim parts needed to be replaced, when they were completely fine). Go to best buy, else, do the smart thing, buy the parts yourself, buy a 10 dollar book on how to build a computer, and do it yourself.

"I doubt Best Buy would be able to do it unless they paid there techs good and got some with experience like me and others on this board. Not some kid out of high school who tinkers here and there. (NO OFFENSE I USED TO BE THERE) But you can't have someone work on your business machines who doesn't know about security (Ad-aware, Spybot, Zonealarm, AVG anti-virus, etc all loaded on the machine) and lock down the network via MAC-filter, encryption, etc. well my 2 cents take care"

I'm just out of high school and I tinker here and there and can do everything you mentioned.

You people need to get your facts straight. Sounds to me like sour grapes. As with ANY company that offers computer repair services, there will always be technicians that are not up to par. At Best Buy there are screening processes in place, and over time technicians that do not perform to company standard are eventually weeded out. Best Buy spends an enormous amount of time, money and effort training and coaching their employees. More then any other retailer. There is no way local Mom and Pop shops can compete on this level.

Best Buy fixes hundreds of thousands of computers every year. The majority of these computers are fixed right the first time. The situations you point out are rare exceptions to the rules. Most redo situations stem from user errors and the ones that do not, are addressed with priority. The system is not perfect but we are working hard to perfect it

Since Best Buy is THE largest electronic retailer in the world, we could have bought ANY in home service company, but we opted for the best....The GEEK SQUAD.
The Geek Squad has better than a 94% customer satisfaction level. As a Double Agent, I have been instructed to never sell anything to a customer unless they need it, i.e.(replacement for defective component, anti virus, etc.). There is absolutely no pressure or incentive for us to sell anything in a customers home.

All Double Agents are provided with ready link equipped
Cell phones so if we run into a situation that we are unfamiliar with, we can call headquarters or over 600 other Agents who will find the answers we need. Since we are on call 24 hour a day, seven days week, we are provided with a 2004 Volkswagen bug for business and private use. The company picks up the tab for gas, car washes and maintenance. no other company even comes close.

You get what you pay for...Geek Squad offers a premium service at a flat rate by professional technicians who are educated, certified, and experienced. If anyone thinks they will save money by hiring a guy that works out of his house and charges by the hour, they are sorely mistaken. The longer he sits in front of your computer scratching his head, the more money you have to pay him. Most of these so called technicians are not insured, offer no warranty in writing, and generally have no clue.

I will close with this piece of advice to all you amateurs who took apart a clock radio once and think it qualified you as a technician ... you should really know the definition of a word before you use it.......