Should You Call The Geek Squad? - Comments Page 1

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Posted by:

Doc
15 Dec 2010

The answer is NO! Always use a neighborhood computer service that depends on the quality of its LOCAL reputation.

Posted by:

Tom Smith
15 Dec 2010

I wanted my wireless router to become 'secured' because I could see unauthorized parties using it, and ended up locking myself out instead. Was thinking of calling the 'Geek Squad' at something like $135 for a visit, but 'Googled' my problem instead. Within 10-15 minutes had the answer and the problem resolved, and saved myself a bit of 'chump change' as well.

Posted by:

AuntieD
15 Dec 2010

I brought my putr into Staples a couple of times (most recently there was a power surge at my home, and I wasn't using my USP - more on that in a minute), and I kept getting the error message that there was an error on my hard disk, and would not start up. They said all they had to do was "restart the BIOS" and they suggested that I replace my hard drive, cuz the whole thing runs very slowly. I'm buying a new putr in the fall.
As for my UPS, we live in an area that gets a lot of little power fluctuations, so the UPS would beep until I shut it off at least twice a week, and was getting quite tiring (I kept it on the floor, near the back of my desk). I'm thinking of moving it, and using it again, as it would have saved me the above trouble.

Posted by:

Marty
15 Dec 2010

I used iYogi in the fall (found their number online & didn't know about the Geek squad, etc), and, after several calls, my laptop is now working better than it ever has! What they did was not always successful but I kept calling back and they kept working on it til it was in its present condition.

Problems: couldn't always understand the English, had to tell them to speak more slowly often.

A more serious problem that ended up successfully was that one of their techs offered to download an antivirus program that he said cost $100 but I would get it free if I would add another year to my one year contract. The sucker in me took him up on it, but when I got off the phone, I looked up the program, which was Microsoft Security Essentials and found out it was FREE! I called back and talked to a supervisor, explaining what happened and they ended up taking off the $100 I had paid and I hope they fired the tech.

Nonetheless, the computer is behaving most satisfactorily now and I haven't had to call them back since September for any problems.

Posted by:

jaime ross
15 Dec 2010

I had a terrible experience with the Geek Squad
I told them I thought the problem was with my toshiba laptop's keyboard ..they made me go thru several tests - re-loaded my hard drive and forgot to back it up-OH NO! It cost me over $250 and endless anxiety
I took it to the Toshiba repair place and what do you know...??? I needed a new keyboard.
When I took it back to Geek Squad with the recpt from Toshiba to prove I was right in the beginning
they gave me a hard time, but did refund some of my money - minus the software they sold me.

Posted by:

DanD
15 Dec 2010

The Geeksquad is a bunch of Geek crap. I have (at least) two friends who used to not know each other. This is how they got aquainted.

Friend one, a female, had problems with her computer. She called the GS. GS comes out and "looks" at her computer. After a cursory inspection, they tell her that the unit is fried and it needs to be replaced. They advertise to her where she can get some real good, G-note cyber-surfers. She's out something like $150 for this "advice."

She laments to me her problem. I tell her to have a(nother) friend of mine take a look at it. My friend tells her "Yeah, I'll look at it. If I fix it, then you pay me a hundred dollars above costs.

He takes it, checks it out, discovers that the wrong power supply has been installed on it, and replaces it. He also runs some anti-virus/"tune-up programs in it. It's now running like gangbusters.

She's happy as -- well -- you know. She's also sworn off all Geek Squads, while my friend is getting her and other friends business. Geek Squad is a scam.

Posted by:

J. J. Anderson
15 Dec 2010

Greetings from New Mexico, Bob-- Both my daughter and I have had _very_ bad experiences with Best Buy's "Geek Squad," even after buying their support service contacts. As a result, I will not purchase any more HP computers. My daughter switched to an Apple product and I had my desktop replacement custom built by people who actually provide knowledgeable support, much of it free of charge. The Best Buy computer support processes are confused and poor (at least locally) and even after going through management it is difficult to get competent support. Certainly, they are _not_ timely. And, by the way, I found HP computer support to be poor (although they provide good printer and scanner support). JJA

Posted by:

Bob Nolan
15 Dec 2010

I recently had 4 experiences with Best Buy's Geek Squad. The first involved determining that my HD had crashed. They cloned the old HD onto a new HD which was approx.95% successful.
I needed 3 more visits to untangle an error that I committed on the new HD, and two to correct some faults involved with the original cloning operation.
I was very satisfied with the service. The only charges were for the initial visit,none for the other visits. The total costs were reasonable and the explanations of the services rendered were good as were the repairs.
I would use the GS again. They were honest and helpful.

Posted by:

Jeff Bales
15 Dec 2010

I bought two Toshiba Setelllite laptops at WalMart last Christmas, 2009. The other one died(Startup programs stopped starting up) two weeks before Thanksgiving. I took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy as I'd planned when I bought two to have one to use while the other was being fixed. A geek told me they couldn't do anything until I brought in my A/C adapter. I didn't have it as I thought they'd use their own power. After thinking about the Geek Squad losing all my programs and data as they had me sign a paper absolving them of responsibility for so doing and how close it was to Black Friday, I changed my mind about fixing it and thought I'd buy new with a full complement of RAM, etc. so went back to Best Buy to pick up my old laptop before they did anything as they said they couldn't without my A/C adapter, only to be told I owed $69.99 for the diagnostic they were able to do even without my A/C, but claimed they "wouldn't do anything."
I always pay for any computer or computer-related charges with Amex. and they are in the process of dispute-resolution now that'll take 60 more days before I know if I have to pay the stupid B.B. Geeks! You underestimated the "diagnostic" charge when you said $50. It's more like $70. I figure thanks to the Geek Squad, I overpaid $70 for my new laptop I bought at WalMart on Black Friday, 2010. Plans are to buy a 3rd laptop this Christmas so I can use all three Trend Micro and MS Office downloads. Last year I only used two. I thought I had an extra at Yahoo!, but it's vanished to somewhere I know not. If I'd let the Geek Squad fix the hard drive that they said was the problem, it would've cost $280 in addition to the $70. If it'd been a virus I knew it wasn't, it'd have cost an extra $130. I'm a dolt and thought they'd be able to just fix the Startup program so I could get it running and let the wonderful Trend Micro system tuner take over fixing it.

Thank you,
tutorjb1 - visit me at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bookdoctorsandeditors. You'll find yourself, your askbobrankin site and some of your newsletters there among a lot of other interesting information.

Posted by:

Lynda Smith
15 Dec 2010

When I purchased my HP computer at Best Buy last spring, I paid for the pricey three year in-home Geek Squad service, and it has paid off handsomely for me. I am a 61 year old housewife, and I don't know a lot about computers, but I am learning. For me, the ease of being able to contact a Geek Squad agent by phone or have them remotely connect to my computer is great. I also needed an agent to come to my house for the last repair, and it is really convenient. So far, I would recommend the Best Buy Geek Squad.

Posted by:

krisham51
16 Dec 2010

yes. quite often I had to call computer repair guy and he charges rs200 (usd 4.5. I am in India) for visit and then other costs based on diagnosis . quite often he just punches in a few keys and the problem is solved and he still pockets Rs 200.this site has helped no end in reducing such costs.but one problem persists. that is my "c" drive getting full. he just punches a few keys in run and opens selects large no of files and clears in GBs .all other cleaning methods that I do ends up adding in MBs. he says as the PC runs large amount gets used up and they can be deleted.I have not fathomed it out . may be your site can help I run and update CC cleaner regularly.what he does is over that

Posted by:

Jack
16 Dec 2010

THanks for addressing this primary and most important issue that we will all come to deal with, at some time in our computer lifestyle. However, you told us nothing...

No ranking to any of the services mentioned that is out there from good to bad or how not to be a victim. My experience with neighborhood computer services is a roll of the dice at best and the Geek Squad is the Jiffy Lube of Computer services. Also, never teach you friend to drive a car and never let them work on your computer...

Terrific subject that should be followed up on. Thank you for bringing it up.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The problem with me giving rankings is what I call "Big Company Syndrome." Mention ANY well-known company (Dell, Ford, Verizon, etc.) and you will find a small percentage of customers willing to publicly say "XYZ Sucks" because they had a bad experience.

Posted by:

Al
16 Dec 2010

The amount of mail organ enhancement spam which appeared on my computer after a Geek Squad repair was astounding. I have heard comments about similar problems with Geek Squad. Locally, (San Jose CA area) ClickAway.com is far superior for computer repair.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I have no iron in the fire for Geek Squad, but I can't believe the spam has anything to do with their visit.

Posted by:

Fred
16 Dec 2010

PC User Groups usually offer free tech support for members. And members can usually tell you who the good technicians are locally.

Posted by:

Darcetha
16 Dec 2010

My mother and I used Geek Squad when our computer became infected with a virus. The technicians were very professional and explained to us, in plain English, what was wrong with our computer and how they were going to fix it. We were satisfied with the overall service we received.

Also, we used Staples Easy Tech service when we wanted to upgrade our computer hard drive. Their technicians were helpful, professional and explained what steps they would take to upgrade our computer. We also received a printout of what the technician did to our computer, which was very informative.

Therefore, I would say either Staples Eash Tech service or Geek Squad are good for computer service.

Posted by:

Don Hamilton
16 Dec 2010

Other things besids malware can slow your computer. I experienced an incredible slowing in my boot speed. I suspected malware but it turned out to be an install of the latest Zone Alarm free firewall. Removing the program speeded things up significantly.

Posted by:

Robert Shankie
17 Dec 2010

One thing I noted here so far (haven't read all 16 comments).
No one seems to know about the time bomb mentioned. We used to call it the click of death. Hard drive is ready to die. Backup ASAP!
If you can, use PartSave.exe from Partition-Saving.com. I recently went through a bunch of backup/cloning software (I faced some inteeresting problems since I needed to get by without a CD/DVD drive) and found PartSave.exe to be the ONLY one I could make work. Having CD/DVD will likely open up more choices for you. But note, it is VERY likely you will need to replace your hard drive soon. Clone it, back it up, or whatever, such that you can restore your system, progams and files.

PS to Bob, How do I get my "avatar" associated with my comments? Then again, who wants to see a truly over the hill 62 year old jack of ALL trades????
Thanks

Posted by:

snert
19 Dec 2010

I've never used 'Geek Squad' per se. I use 'C & C Computers, My friendly neighborhood geek. I've known this guy since I got out of the Army. My BIOS went flaky some years back. He had me bring in my 'brick' and sat with me and showed me what to do. He walked me through the complete procedure, threw in a new battery and only charged me $20. All this plus he did a lot of scans for malware, crapware and such. And he gave me a warm fuzzy kitten.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I seriously doubt if the Geek Squad is handing out kittens. That's a great marketing idea! :-)

Posted by:

Donny
19 Jan 2011

Geek squad charged 180.00 to hit the f-12 key and re-install the OEM backup on my aunt's laptop without even backing anything up...

Run away !!! don't look back!!!

Posted by:

Thomas
19 Jan 2011

I may not be computer literate, but I am not illiterate. Yes, I took courses back in college, when we were using punch-cards and calculators the size of desk-tops. I later took three years of 'Data Processing' at a local community college.

The best weapon to repair computer problems that creep up everyday are articles such as yours, and the others that provide free, helpful insights. (I also read Fred Langa and 'Windows Secrets'.)

Half of fixing a problem is knowing how your computer is operating and being aware of capabilities. Thanks for in forming all of us!

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