Did the Bestbuy agent tweak really....

[Conscript]

The Basics

The Geek Squad is not geared towards computer enthusiasts who have the ability to do things themselves. It is geared towards those who wouldn't know how to install an anti-virus program even it came with a step by step manual with pictures. Yes, there are people like that out there, and they represent a vast majority of computer users.

For those of you who say that people should just remove their own viruses and spyware or do their own tweaks, obviously you overestimate the computer abilities of most users. When a computer stops being bootable or explorer keeps crashing and erroring out every 5 seconds it takes someone with experience and knowledge to be able to return the computer to a fully working state without having to resort to formatting it and losing any of the valuable data stored on it.

Some viruses and spyware take a long time to figure out how to remove cause they are so embedded in the system. Not to mention sometimes the problems some people experience are caused by complicated hardware issues that would otherwise go undaignosed and the problems would continue. I have seen my fair share of bad RAM and Hard Drives not to mention video cards, motherboards, and even processors.

No one is going to tell me that the average Joe User who thinks limewire is safe to run without anti-virus/spyware protection is smart enough to obtain and properly use the diagnostic tools available to find out what the real problem is. (the configuration of limewire/bear share/kazaa/other file sharing crap + no virus or spyware protection generates probably around 50% of Geek Squad's revenue) Sometimes its software, sometimes its hardware, sometimes its both, but the average user can't do the job him or herself effectivley in most cases.

This obviously doesn't apply to people who go on this forum as you wouldn't have an interest in the content here unless you were an advanced user, which implies you have a higher level of working knowledge on how to use a computer than many people.

Are we qualified to work your computer?

Now as far as who works at the Geek Squad, don't be so quick to generalize that either. As in any big company there are some bad employees whose work results in hilarious posts online by disgruntled customers, but there are good techs too. Usually every location has a mix of both and if the ones who arent experienced get into trouble they usually call the more experienced guys for help.

I myself am CompTIA A+ Certified and I am also a Microsoft Certified Professional (taking the tests on Windows XP troubleshooting), and I have been working at Geek Squad for about two years and working with computers since I was in elementary school (I am now a college grad).

So before you rush to judgement just remember a few key points:

1. Not everyone can do even basic comptuer things themselves. I have seen customers attempt to install software or hardware like a webcam infront of me on the counter at the store and fail or get stuck.

2. Not everyone who works at the Geek Squad is some reject who doesn't know what he is doing.

Quit complaiing about the prices

And if you have a problem with prices, consider this: it costs a lot of money to keep a staff employed, their tools updated, and their equipment functional. You are paying for our time, which is not cheap. Most Geek Squad Agents are paid between $11-$15 an hour, depending on experience and location. Consider this with the fact there are usually 3-4 working at any given time and that's $60 an hour for them just being there (thats a low ball estimate not including benefit or administrative costs).

Then consider that a good portion of the day is spent talking to customers, taking computers in for service, and answering questions, not fixing computers, and you see that the time available is very little compared to the demand for our services. So when you pay $29 to have a program installed, you are paying for a Geek Squad Agent to take your computer out of its box, hook it up, boot it up, pop the CD in, enter the CD key, reboot after install to make sure its functional, and reboot again to make sure everything works well, and put it back in the box. Sounds basic, yes, but it takes TIME.

The price of the service (labor) does not correspond to how "easy" it is to perform by some random people on the internet, it corresponds to how much TIME someone has to spend on your computer that they cannot spend doing anything else for the company or other customers. The price of the service also corresponds to the expertise you are paying for. Someone had to go to school, go through training, etc. to obtain the skills necessary to perform the service for you.

If you can't accept or agree with that, then next time you get your oil changed - a routine task that mechanics can do with their eyes closed - tell the mechanic to drop the price because its so "easy" and people on a car enthusiast forum said "anyone can do it", and see what happens.

And then go to a doctor that will be performing routine surgery on you that you will pay him $20 an hour to do and not a penny more because people on this one Medical forum talked about how easy that routine procedure is to perform (relative to their experience level, of course) and see if he will chage you your price or the several thousand dollars that such a surgery may go for.

If you can do computer repair yourself, by all means do it. I have often encouraged customers who gave me attitude about our prices or turn around times to go ahead and do it themselves, it would make our life easier since we have about 40 other computers waiting in the back that aren't being worked on because I'm arguing with some l337 h4x0r about the price of installing DirectX 9 because he failed to do it himself.

And presumably if you can handle the problem yourself it works out for you cause you get it done faster and cheaper. If you don't like/want/need Geek Squad's service, don't use it. But realize that there are people out there who don't have very many other choices and the Geek Squad does just fine for their needs.

Is the Geek Squad a Ripoff?

If you can do the work yourself AND you have the time then yes, it is a rip off. You will save significant money by doing it yourself.

If you can do the work yourself BUT you don't have the time, then maybe. It's better to pay someone $139 to hunt down every little virus and spyware on your computer than it is to spend all day on it yourself if you would generate more value for yourself had you not spent the time on computer repair.

If you can't do the work yourself, then no, the Geek Squad is a good, viable option to get work done without resorting to calling the neighbor's kid who doesn't know what he is doing. And believe me, people who haven't spend time repairing computers usually don't know what they are doing and those computers usually end up at the Geek Squad anyway usually in much worse condition than they otherwise would have.

So before you say whether or not Geek Squad is a rip off, you have to include the right qualifiers. Its not the same across-the-board answer for everyone.

Edited August 4, 2007 by Conscript

[shakey]

^ dude, u are the problem,

to install dx9, you just click the .exe, hit next, and the finish. The problem is, you try and convince the consumer that its sooooo freaken hard to do, that they should pay you to do it "properly". I have quit going to best buy for anything, due to the horrible customer service and all the ways they try and rip you off.

I guess its good that you have a job, but when that job is ripping people off, you have to ask yourself, am i doing the right thing? I have worked at places that have used tactics that try and dupe the customer into doing something they really dont need to. For those jobs, i have refused to do it. I tell them that the customer is what is important, and lying or deceiving them is just wrong.

Bestbuy and Geeksquad like to rip people off. When i was returning a dvd player because it was broken, i heard some guys talking to this old guy about how much it would cost them to install his printer and some software on his computer. I turned to the guy, told him not to pay, and that i would do it all for him for free. He gladly accepted my proposal. After helping him, he insisted on paying me, which was only 10 bucks, but was much cheaper than what bestbuy was going to rip him off for. Now when ever he has a problem, i told him to call me, and i would help him for free. He also now doesnt like bestbuy due to their shady practices. And he couldnt believe how easy everything really was to do, once shown how to actually do it.

"Then consider that a good portion of the day is spent talking to customers, taking computers in for service, and answering questions, not fixing computers, and you see that the time available is very little compared to the demand for our services. So when you pay $29 to have a program installed, you are paying for a Geek Squad Agent to take your computer out of its box, hook it up, boot it up, pop the CD in, enter the CD key, reboot after install to make sure its functional, and reboot again to make sure everything works well, and put it back in the box. Sounds basic, yes, but it takes TIME.

The price of the service (labor) does not correspond to how "easy" it is to perform by some random people on the internet, it corresponds to how much TIME someone has to spend on your computer that they cannot spend doing anything else for the company or other customers. The price of the service also corresponds to the expertise you are paying for. Someone had to go to school, go through training, etc. to obtain the skills necessary to perform the service for you. "

for that part, wtf are you talking about??? take the computer out of what box? the new box it came in? i dont understand that at all. hooking up a computer takes all but what, 1 minute? then booting it up, anther minute. To install the software, maybe 3 mins at max. During all this whole 5 to 6 minutes, you can multi task and do about 4 computers at the same time, seeing how there are little pauses in between every step. Seriously, if you see all of this as a major time waister or load of work, i dont think your in the right field. Maybe security camera watching is a better suited job for you. And for the time you cant do something else for the company, you mean walk around and ask every customer 50 times in 5 minutes if they need help?

Edited August 4, 2007 by shakey

[Conscript]

^ dude, u are the problem,

to install dx9, you just click the .exe, hit next, and the finish. The problem is, you try and convince the consumer that its sooooo freaken hard to do, that they should pay you to do it "properly". I have quit going to best buy for anything, due to the horrible customer service and all the ways they try and rip you off.

I guess its good that you have a job, but when that job is ripping people off, you have to ask yourself, am i doing the right thing? I have worked at places that have used tactics that try and dupe the customer into doing something they really dont need to. For those jobs, i have refused to do it. I tell them that the customer is what is important, and lying or deceiving them is just wrong.

Bestbuy and Geeksquad like to rip people off. When i was returning a dvd player because it was broken, i heard some guys talking to this old guy about how much it would cost them to install his printer and some software on his computer. I turned to the guy, told him not to pay, and that i would do it all for him for free. He gladly accepted my proposal. After helping him, he insisted on paying me, which was only 10 bucks, but was much cheaper than what bestbuy was going to rip him off for. Now when ever he has a problem, i told him to call me, and i would help him for free. He also now doesnt like bestbuy due to their shady practices. And he couldnt believe how easy everything really was to do, once shown how to actually do it.

Well congrats, you are a good samaritan. Unfortunatley with several dozen customers in the store every day (and on some days many many more) with problems ranging from things that would require 15-25 minute quick fixes to spyware and virus removals and data recoveries that take upwards of several hours each, there just wouldn't be enough time in the day to do free or low cost work for everyone and still break even, much less make a profit and stay employed.

The prices we charge are fair for the cost structure we have to live with. As someone who spent time getting certified and learning how to troubleshoot a computer inside and out, I will not work for minimum wage so that everyone can pay $10 and get rid of the viruses they downloaded from limewire or pay $10 so they don't have to read the manual for how to install a printer. If you want me to work on your computer, you have to pay me what I am worth.

As a business school graduate I understand that the company has a cost structure to deal with and it costs them a lot of money to keep the doors open, our equipment functioning, and qualified people employed. If you use the service, naturally, it is not unfair to expect the service fee to be set at a rate that can pay for that.

And yes, I have had customers who have failed to install printers themselves, failed to install anti-virus software themselves, failed to install webcams themselves, and botched driver installs themselves. I don't even know how they managed to screw some of these things up since they are "easy" but they did, and we had to salvage the situation and get the job done right.

I don't lie to people and tell them its very hard to install memory, install a printer driver, or a program, but I tell them that if they don't do it right bad things could happen. I say this not because "the man" told me to but because I have seen what happens when those things aren't done right (like one guy who thought it was "okay" to superglue a processor back on the motherboard instead of using thermal paste, or the guy who thought he can get away without saving his data or getting a new hard drive once his started clicking by putting MACHINE OIL inside it - yes this IS A TRUE STORY!!!).

Of course out of the 700 locations I can only speak for the one I work in, but that is my experience.

If you want to start a charity computer repair place, be my guest. But I and my colleagues want to get paid what we are worth and Best Buy also needs to keep the lights on for us to work.

It's easy to use anecdotes like yours to potray us as a rip off, but can you imagine doing what you did for 25 or 50 people EVERY SINGLE DAY? If you can sustain that, then yes, Geek Squad is a big rip off!

[shakey]

didnt bother reading the whole reply, just skimmed through it, and then i lol'd.

[Conscript]

It takes 20-30 minutes (we've timed it) to install a piece of software on a brand new computer if you include all the tasks involved in doing that from opening the box to sealing it back up and waiting through all the prompts and loading times in between. That is effectivley 30 minutes of productivity lost as another computer cannot be worked on while that comptuer in on the terminal (and there are a limited amount of terminals) even if we aren't hacking away at the keyboard the entire 30 minutes.

Of course we don't just idle around during that time, we answer questions from people who don't know anything about computers, we try to tell people how to do stuff themselves (of course they never understand and then just complain once we give up and say its $X for us to do it for them), and answer our phones where people think they can ask us "my computer is not working, how can I fix it?" (in exactly those words) and get a constructive reply.

Edited August 4, 2007 by Conscript

[symanex]

ok but i don't want to start a war with the geek squad ppl around but what other software than

<warez link removed> is good i heard about tune up 2007 does this application made registry tweak or only scan and eliminate the bad entry like registry mechanics ? because i have it but i wait to have my new computer set up and run to install it so

tune up 2007 , and does registry mecanics are good or bad ? jv16 tools2007 good or bad ? any others ?

Edited August 4, 2007 by John S.

[shakey]

20-30 mins to install 1 thing of software? should go back to school or sell some faster computers. ripofffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff.

[soldier1st]

i would never buy computer,i put them together myself and always get high quality parts and 120 bucks is way too much,i would tweak it for less than 10-20 bucks or do it urself and i would guarantee it,120 bucks could get you a new video card,these geek squad crap is all about making too much money n blah blah blah.

[Valerus]

I used to work there, both from geek squad and regular store associate and my advice to you guys is: stay away from bestbuy, they are the worst of the worst.

Thanks for the inside advice!

[WooSH]

oh they'll optimize it all right....optimized for AOL

[x-scratch]

i was just at bestbuy i saw several victims being ripped off i walked passed them several times saying your being ripped off my mom was with me saying would you shut up

so after getting the dvds , music cds & a couple xbox 360 games i wanted to get i walked buy again & said you know you can save alot of money by googling its so easy a caveman can do it.....

[The Laughing Man]

From an ex-firedog and an ex-geeksquad agent, do your own tweaking, research first though. Don't have best buy touch your pc.

[Morpheus Phreak]

It takes 20-30 minutes (we've timed it) to install a piece of software on a brand new computer if you include all the tasks involved in doing that from opening the box to sealing it back up and waiting through all the prompts and loading times in between. That is effectivley 30 minutes of productivity lost as another computer cannot be worked on while that comptuer in on the terminal (and there are a limited amount of terminals) even if we aren't hacking away at the keyboard the entire 30 minutes.

Of course we don't just idle around during that time, we answer questions from people who don't know anything about computers, we try to tell people how to do stuff themselves (of course they never understand and then just complain once we give up and say its $X for us to do it for them), and answer our phones where people think they can ask us "my computer is not working, how can I fix it?" (in exactly those words) and get a constructive reply.

I'm sorry, I truly think I just heard the sound of bull**** rip-roaring it's way out of your ass.

I can install Systemworks 2007 (from opening the box to final activation after reboot) in 6-7mins max on my system.

Microsoft Office 2007 Pro takes around 4-5mins.

Hell Windows Vista only takes 25mins to install on this machine.

So in quite literally 45 minutes I can have Vista, Office 2k7 & Systemworks 2k7 installed on this system.

You really are letting us know how bad Geek Squad is though if they can't even tell time on a freaking watch :(

[kouhii00]

The best tweak to do to your pre-installed OEM dell/sony/toshiba/etc...is FORMAT and REINSTALL windows WITHOUT ANY OTHER SOFTWARES ON IT. The next BEST tweak is NO TWEAKS. Vista will RUN fine ALL at DEFAULT even if your CPU is at 800MHz but you have to have at least 2GB of RAM.

Personal experience: I used to do a lot of tweaking to my XP system and later on ran into problems and had to SPEND more TIME figuring out what tweaks cause things to not work. If you have plenty of time then I guess it is not a problem but if you don't please don't tweak your system leave it as is. Also if you scroll through the Vista Support Forum you see many people go onto here and talk **** about Vista due to their tweaks or what not when it is their OWN fault.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

i personally use tuneup utils 2k7 to do some tune ups on my machine *running windows xp at the moment however it also worked great when i was running vista.

[phot0nic]

But whos to say these services are not needed? what one person may deem "safe to disable" another person may actually need.

Well, exactly. That's why I recommended tweaking only if that person is good with computers. Therefore, that person should know what is needed for that particular machine.

Windows is bundled full of many services and features. No one will ever end up using all of them, yet every service will be needed by someone. There is no master tweak that will suddenly make every machine better. However, if a knowledgeable computer user tweaks their systems to disable the unnecessary stuff (which of course must be relative to the user/machine), the computer will almost always yield better performance.

[Quillz]

but you have to have at least 2GB of RAM.

Incorrect, Vista requires a minimum of 512 MB of RAM, with many people recommending 1 GB. 2 GB is overkill for most people.

[Enrickey]

I work for Best Buy as a computer salesman, I don't work for GeekSquad, but I do work right next to them, and I do sell a lot of their services. First, let me start off by saying that anyone who claims to have worked in GeekSquad, yet says to "stay as far away from them as possible" has never worked there.

I know from experience that everyone working at my BestBuy is more than qualified enough to work on anyone's computer. As far as the pricing scheme. There is often a promotion for certain things. But let's say you take their in store service for $189 (Canadian), that gets you Norton 360 or McAfee Anti Virus, both $80 values, and SpySweeper, a $20 value. It gets your new computer cleaned up, so all the crapware that comes with your brand new Acer or HP is removed. It gets you all your Windows Updates and Driver Updates, which take time, something people don't want to have to wait for when they get their computer. And with exploits that are sure to come where connecting a non-updated computer to the internet will be infected, it will be a very welcomed service. You also get a restore CD made, because they aren't supplied with computers any more. You're paying 90$ for what can easily amount to 5-6 hours of work including transportation, and explaining what you're doing to the customer.

And whoever said you can install office 2007 in 6 minutes, that's complete BS. I just installed in on my father's computer. Pentium 4 2.4GHz, 1 Gb of RAM and it took 20 minutes just for the installer to complete.

[x-scratch]

And whoever said you can install office 2007 in 6 minutes, that's complete BS. I just installed in on my father's computer. Pentium 4 2.4GHz, 1 Gb of RAM and it took 20 minutes just for the installer to complete.

i dont think so i installed it & took a total of 10 mins to install

[+Warwagon MVC]

though to be fair, if you have a customer that for what ever reason wants norton antivirus and wants to install it themselves, if you tell the person you have a 50% chance of it installing correctly, and another 50% chance of the install failing, you wouldn't be lying

Edited August 5, 2007 by warwagon

[Naughty Dog]

i dont think so i installed it & took a total of 10 mins to install

lol, mine takes about 7 minutes on a 7200RPM PATA drive and I repeat PATA (look in my sig and google the HD for proof) and it is business with access and onenote. SATA seems to be behind or you have an OEM computer with a 5400RPM HD.

[shakey]

though to be fair, if you have a customer that for what ever reason wants norton antivirus and wants to install it themselves, if you tell the person you have a 50% chance of it installing correctly, and another 50% chance of the install failing, you wouldn't be lying

ofcourse, why would you use norton antivirus anyway? it sucks :p and i guess your 50/50 is right, since there are 2 buttons to press, yes and no :p

[+Warwagon MVC]

ofcourse, why would you use norton antivirus anyway? it sucks :p and i guess your 50/50 is right, since there are 2 buttons to press, yes and no :p

I'm serious i've had norton install fail about as much as its installed successfully its pathetic, i've had one old woman demand I install the norton because she is use to how it works, mind you she wanted me to install the 07 version coming from the 02 version, so nothing is going to look the same, but anyway, I went to install it and it failed the first time and installed on the 2nd attempt.

[Morpheus Phreak]

I work for Best Buy as a computer salesman, I don't work for GeekSquad, but I do work right next to them, and I do sell a lot of their services. First, let me start off by saying that anyone who claims to have worked in GeekSquad, yet says to "stay as far away from them as possible" has never worked there.

I know from experience that everyone working at my BestBuy is more than qualified enough to work on anyone's computer. As far as the pricing scheme. There is often a promotion for certain things. But let's say you take their in store service for $189 (Canadian), that gets you Norton 360 or McAfee Anti Virus, both $80 values, and SpySweeper, a $20 value. It gets your new computer cleaned up, so all the crapware that comes with your brand new Acer or HP is removed. It gets you all your Windows Updates and Driver Updates, which take time, something people don't want to have to wait for when they get their computer. And with exploits that are sure to come where connecting a non-updated computer to the internet will be infected, it will be a very welcomed service. You also get a restore CD made, because they aren't supplied with computers any more. You're paying 90$ for what can easily amount to 5-6 hours of work including transportation, and explaining what you're doing to the customer.

And whoever said you can install office 2007 in 6 minutes, that's complete BS. I just installed in on my father's computer. Pentium 4 2.4GHz, 1 Gb of RAM and it took 20 minutes just for the installer to complete.

You're a computer salesman, not a technician.

That does not in any way make you qualified to tell me anything.

I know people who work at Best Buy who are completely clueless about the items they sell. They just tell everyone what they have been trained to say.

Now as for me, I can actually take a screen cap of me installing any of those products if you'd like with the clock up and showing the exact amount of time passing.

Oh and just for your information, Office 2k7 taking 6-7mins is while I'm actually surfing the net and doing other things, and with all options set to install off the bat, nothing deselected.

Then again I do have a Core2Duo E6600, 3GB of Corsair DDR-2, 2x250GB HD's in RAID0.

So I do have what could be considered a typical mid-range system of the current generation.

Why not go back to your computer terminal and pull up some more of the woefully inadequate training that BB provides you, courtesy of the hack company that is RetailAccess.com.

[Berserk87]

And whoever said you can install office 2007 in 6 minutes, that's complete BS. I just installed in on my father's computer. Pentium 4 2.4GHz, 1 Gb of RAM and it took 20 minutes just for the installer to complete.

1 Gb of Ram is nothing, and are you sure your dads computer isnt full of crapware itself>?