The Geek Squad????

[Phlosphr]

I waltzed into work a short while ago and I noticed a VW BUG colored in Black and Orange - with the The Geek Squad blazened on it. Not knowing what this was I proceeded to walk up to my office and begin work on the days activities.

Press button to start computer…
…
Network connection has been lost:

I walk across the hall and see a man working on our servers, and another finly dressed chap working on one of the machines in the server room.

Having only been at this position less than 4 months, I had not experienced any computer malfunction - so I never thought about why we didn’t have an inhouse IT team. Now I know, when something goes wrong we haev a contract with the Geek Squad who come out and fix our problems fast, and easy.

What a novel idea and service to provide! This group is going to make a killing, and they are already nation wide iirc.

Has anyone ever dealt with them? What do you think?

[World_Eater]

IIRC, Best Buy owns and runs them. I dunno, I can’t say it’s a bad idea, but I don’t know if it will have legs. What are the rates?

[Cynical_Optimist]

The Geek Squad is Best Buy’s on-site service department. If you like Best Buy’s tech support you’ll love Geek Squad. If not, well…

As for pricing, these are the people who charge US$28 for a six-foot firewire cable that can be bought for less than half that online, and I wouldn’t be suprised if they tried to sell you an extended warranty on top of that. They’re moving in to service because they’re just not making enough margin with those in-store extras.

[UrbanChic]

@Phlosphr

What a novel idea and service to provide! This group is going to make a killing, and they are already nation wide iirc.

I’m not so sure about novel. Wasn’t Geeks On Call around before the Squad? I think The Geek Squad may get more exposure because they’re a part of Best Buy, though.

[lno]

Geek Squad was around, at least in the Minneapolis area, prior to being acquired by Best Buy. It was probably sometime after 2001 when they replaced Best Buy’s in-house tech support.

[Phlosphr]

So they are affiliated with Best Buy huh? Interesting. Well that service was great, I was impressed. They were in and out decently quick…I got one of the guys cards and asked if they do residential…I guess from his response they do just about everything…

[gotpasswords]

One of the popular computer magazines did a series of tests on on-site techs and the Geek Squad didn’t fare all that well.

IIRC, they set up “failures” like intentionally putting a bad cable into a computer, replacing the BIOS battery with a completely dead one or deleting a particular file from Windows. Not that any of the on-site techs were consistently great at troubleshooting, but the Geeks were toward the bottom of the bunch.

OTOH, if all you need is hired hands to upgrade servers or install equipment, they’re probably OK as long as nothing breaks.

[Hal_Briston]

Every time I see one of their Bugs going down the road, I always think they should have rack-mounted LED’s on the roof as they zip off to solve their latest case. Maybe some Aquabats music blaring from the speakers, too…

[ftg]

I Happen To Know a bit more about what Best Buys’ Geek Squad is all about. They pay the techs crap, hire the cheapest kids they can find. But of course charge the customers much, much more. Keep in mind, this is also a company that pushes extended warranties hard. Their service mindset is charge 3 times what it’s worth.

This sector is so profitable for them that they are starting to roll out a “Best Buy For Business” computer/networking unit. Ugh.

There’s a lot of other businesses, small and large, that do a better job for the same money.

[gotpasswords]

@ftg

There’s a lot of other businesses, small and large, that do a better job for the same money.

Good point. Especially for large corporate projects like roll-outs or mass upgrades, someone like Ikon is probably a better choice.

But, Ikon doesn’t want to be bothered with someone at home saying that their Innernet’s not working. You’ll still have a better shot at success if you call on a local non-franchise computer shop.

[Ace309]

@Phlosphr

I waltzed into work a short while ago and I noticed a VW BUG colored in Black and Orange - with the The Geek Squad blazened on it.

Keeping in mind the company’s service… did the license plate say “FEATURE”?

[mhendo]

@Phlosphr

So they are affiliated with Best Buy huh? Interesting. Well that service was great, I was impressed. They were in and out decently quick…I got one of the guys cards and asked if they do residential…I guess from his response they do just about everything…

They’ve actually been advertising pretty heavily on TV recently, and in those commercials their target audience appears to be home users.

[mhendo]

@Phlosphr

So they are affiliated with Best Buy huh? Interesting. Well that service was great, I was impressed. They were in and out decently quick…I got one of the guys cards and asked if they do residential…I guess from his response they do just about everything…

They’ve actually been advertising pretty heavily on TV recently, and in those commercials their target audience appears to be home users.

This article gives them an OK review:

Best Buy’s Geek Squad uses a secret agent theme in all of its communications. This seems funny at first, when you book an appointment with “Double Agent Joe.” But you won’t laugh later when you get the bill–this service option is among the most expensive we encountered in the course of our investigation.

Geek Squad charged $229 in Los Angeles and Boston, and $172 in Austin. (The company advertises spyware removal alone for $159.) But according to Geek Squad’s president (aka “Chief Inspector”), Robert Stephens, you get more than a technician for the additional cost. He characterizes the company as a hospitality business, and says that technicians are trained not only in the technical skills needed, but in communication skills, punctuality, and even the small niceties: The tech in Boston wouldn’t enter the house until he’d removed his messy snow boots.

How’d they do? In Los Angeles and Austin, okay but not great. When we set up the appointments, the Geek Squadders warned us that they often can’t fix hardware problems, and they suggested that we might be better off taking the system in to the closest Best Buy store. Neither agent figured out the bad CD-ROM cable, but they weren’t equipped to do so. In each instance, their (low-pressure) advice was the same: Buy a new drive, or take the PC to a store for repair. Give them points for sticking to the company line, but don’t call Geek Squad if you think you have dead hardware.

After Geek Squad visited our reporters in Los Angeles and Austin, the reporters still had spyware on their PCs. The techs solved the lost-files and graphics problems, but we weren’t happy about paying more than $200 and not ridding the test PCs of all the spyware. If we were their boss, we’d send 'em back to secret agent school.

In Boston, the technician demonstrated sophisticated knowledge and put in above-average effort, including a correct diagnosis of the bad IDE cable. He declared the spyware mess so bad that he recommended wiping the hard drive and reinstalling Windows 98. Since this was the last appointment, our reporter agreed, curious about how this approach would work compared with attempting a pick-and-choose file cleanup. The spyware disappeared completely, as hoped. More important, the Boston Geek Squad tech was incredibly dogged about returning the PC to good health. He spent approximately 5 hours rebuilding the OS and reinstalling system device drivers, and he made sure that everything functioned properly at the end of the day.

Sounds like it might depend not just on the company you choose, but also the particular individual who services your computer.