The person that wrote about the Kentucky service center is mostly false - Geek Squad sends a lot of laptops to this service center to perform more advanced work like replacing LCDs and motherboards - rarely are desktops sent there unless it’s a motherboard replacement under a service plan - if the customer’s computer is not under a current service plan or warranty, it will NOT be shipped to Kentucky. Most repairs are done in the store, since most repairs are software issues (the Kentucky service center doesn’t mess with software issues).

Agents DO go to your home to do network setups, computer repair, etc…whoever said that is just lying.

Geek Squad agents are very good at their jobs, at least the ones that I know. Your 10 year old neighbor/son/etc. is the one that typically broke your computer in the first place. If they know how to do some basic computer repair, good for them but they don’t have the tools nor the experience that GS agents have to fix your computer correctly and not make it even worse - most people think that you can buy an anti-virus program (i.e. Norton or McAfee) to remove a virus already on your system - it won’t do any good.

The prices are not that high - there are no hourly fees, so if you take your computer to a local shop they will typically charge a minimum of $50/hr to repair it - what if it takes 10 hours to fix?? Then you are paying $500. If you bring it to Geek Squad for say, virus removal, there’s one flat fee $199 — if it takes 2 hours or 10 hours it’s the same price.

Increasing shareholder value means decreasing human value. State sponsored capitalism ain’t pretty. In any corporation that competes on price, you don’t matter, you’ll never matter.

You’re clever guys. Look into banding together and incorporating — the laws that Congress writes, regulators don’t regulate, and the Courts do bless — favor the rich.

You don’t have to be rich to get their tax benefits — your good tech services can and will drive out the bad — there’s plenty of free advice on creating a solid business plan.

1st-circle

or you can throw one together from scratch, just know that every hour not spent planning ahead is two hours playing “catch-up” later (I found this out the hard way), also plan on the start-up roller coaster ride (everything’s going great, nothing’s moving…) for at least 6 months, so, don’t quit your day-job on day one.

Your mileage WILL vary.

also, this is not an isolated incident, most of the big names in low prices have resorted to these tactics. So much for people being first

But like mentioned in my post, eventually all those techs were replaced by cheaper replacement with no skills and previous experience.

While we used illegal programs, none of them were “out of the norm” nor did they contain any viruses and software. We did good work and worked well. In the end of 2005 going into 2006 was when I saw a sudden and dramatic shift, across all the stores in my district, when they started sacrificing quality of work with quantity of work.

We used pirated software because we were expected to fix a computer right the first time, remove all viruses and spyware, tune it up, with no software provided legally through Best Buy. We had a CD called the “MRI CD” but it contained some old DOS apps, and various virus scanners that scanned for the more popular viruses. They put us in a horrible position. A few of us actually programmed our own “fix CDs” with various pieces of software, bootable OS, and a GUI to do it with.

Interesting post. I almost wanted to start working at GS, because I have a good sense of computer skills. I have come to realize though that the prices for what they are charging are OUTRAGEOUS! I’m surprised for the fact that they don’t provide the software. Isn’t it illegal for them to do that?

Computer Renaisssance is much worse for their prices! They charge $100/hour just to look at it. That doesn’t include what they charge for labor & parts. And to add insult to injury, you find out that these so-called “computer repair” stores that offer in-store tech support are using pirated software that probably has more bugs & viruses than the persons computer that they’re trying to fix! It’s just unreal. Using hacked software is fine for personal use (I do it myself), but it looks really bad to do it on what is supposed to be a “professional” level.

In my area if you apply for geeksquad and are very qualified they WON’T hire you! If you know very little about pc’s your a shoe in!

That’s very, very true!!!! I had a very close friend of mine that applied for a job with BB as a comp tech well before GS was even heard of. He was, in reality, overqualified for the job but they told him he didn’t know enough and hired some moron that couldn’t even tie his shoelace instead. I wouldn’t even consider taking any of my puters to BB to even have them cleaned, much less fixed.

David wrote:

I’m 20, no noteworthy college education, no papers to prove what I know… yet I still do professional web development. I also delve around in some fairly advanced programming concepts because I get bored at night. I would bet money I’m better than most of the people at Geek Squad. Not that it’s a real highlight, but I’ve already proven I’m better than the Comcast support. I’m the guy my friends call if they have computer problems. They don’t give a rat’s ass about paperwork, and neither did my boss. Experience is key. If you know what you’re doing and can actively prove it, you’re better than any punk with a college degree. Geek Squad may sound techie, but you could make a much better living doing freelance computer work any day of the week, guaranteed.

David,
I could definitely guarantee that you would be majorly OVER-qualified for the GS!! Don’t take this personally….but I think my 10-year-old son has more computer knowledge in his little toe than most of the GS crew. I took my laptop in to have them fix it and the guy who waited on me couldn’t even figure out how to open it, much less turn it on. Needless to say, I RAN, not walked to the nearest exit with my beloved laptop under my arm and I figured out how to fix it myself. Since then, I have been not only fixing computers, but building and selling them as well. So far I have built a few for friends and have had no problems or complaints. I realize that’s small numbers compared to some, but I’m a newbie and I’m still learning. At least MY track record is 100%. That’s more than I can say for BB or GS.

Then, the lawsuits from the major computer troubleshooting software vendors hit. Technicians tend to be intelligent and thoughtful, and take it personally, though they are usually innocent pawns caught between stupid users and pointed haired bosses.

I go into the local stores, boot the demo systems into Mepis Linux, and give them a laugh, and a few different distros and tools to ease their work.

Most Geek Squad agents like Linux, and find that it saves the customer, though official rules are that they will be fired for using license free, totally FREE Open Source Software!

Hey, Sam’s Club already fired me, for doing a demo to 5 business clients, in their store, with the FOSS they use in their businesses, and who also left to buy 60 complete computers, elsewhere, for even less money.