God GeekSquad is a crock of <explitive>

[Excelsior]

All right...

So my friend is having problems with a machine I built for him... He says nothing will turn on. I'm unable to tell him directly that I can take a look at it, so he takes it to geeksquad. (Dumb choice.)

Despite the fact that the gentleman at geeksquad was unable to get the RETAIL athlon64 heatsink off, he states that he is lacking thermal paste between his processor and heatsink. Interesting, especially because it was a RETAIL CPU, that came with thermal paste pre-applied with the heatsink. Apparently the second time he comes in, the gentleman says, without opening it, that his motherboard is fried.

Freaking great geeksquad. I work at bestbuy (unfotunately), and I know thier dirty little tricks. They do anything they can to drive up revenue. ANYTHING. A lady witha n old 1.1 ghz thunderbird machine, not a bad machine in any respects, was quoted $400 to replace the dead sdram. Of course they drive up the cost of repairs so they'll just send the people right on out to the sales floor and buy a new machine. Absolutely retarded.

I haven't been able ot take a lok at the machine, but I'm betting $20 it's not one of those issues yet. Nah this isn't a plea for technical help, rather just a rant about crappy money-grabbing capitalistic companies out to take your dollar from you.

[Aphex_Tom_9]

i still remember the computer repairman replacing the motherboard in my old compaq after i installed a game and it crashed the HD...

[tenchi86]

Turn on? like no lights? No post beep? More details could help. May be fualty PSU, could be fualty mobo. Any way, I know what you mean. I was at bestbuy the other day it was like 40 bucks for this piece of crap fan being sold over at geeksquad. They difently jack some prices up.

[NewbiePerson]

Only thing Best Buy is good for is HDD (when don't they have rebates), Monitors (rebates 24/7), and the occasional rebate on some odd item making it cheaper than over the internet, usually you can get TV's cheap there too. After that your lucky if they can swipe a credit card correctly. Aside from that thermal paste isn't required to run your pc. I ran an xp w/o thermal paste once just to see the temp dif. As for immediately determining the fried motherboard w/o looking at it, is slightly out of protocol. As said already it could be a number of things.

[TollhouseFrank]

Sorry to hear your problems with them. If they are seriously doing that, then they are doing thier best to soil the rest of us techs with a reputation that only they deserve.

[Feydd]

I know exactly what you mean. I bought a compaq from them several years ago. When I was getting it rung up, I over heard a conversation between a tech and this old man. The old man just tried to put another stick of RAM in, and now his comp wouldn't turn on. The only thing they did was hook it up, hit the power button. No power, we can take a look at it and have it back to you in a few days. Instead of just telling the guy to take it out, make sure he had the right type and had it in the right way. Nah we'll just make something up and tell him he needs $500 to repair his mistake.

[Super Nade]

All right...

So my friend is having problems with a machine I built for him... He says nothing will turn on. I'm unable to tell him directly that I can take a look at it, so he takes it to geeksquad. (Dumb choice.)

Despite the fact that the gentleman at geeksquad was unable to get the RETAIL athlon64 heatsink off, he states that he is lacking thermal paste between his processor and heatsink. Interesting, especially because it was a RETAIL CPU, that came with thermal paste pre-applied with the heatsink. Apparently the second time he comes in, the gentleman says, without opening it, that his motherboard is fried.

Freaking great geeksquad. I work at bestbuy (unfotunately), and I know thier dirty little tricks. They do anything they can to drive up revenue. ANYTHING. A lady witha n old 1.1 ghz thunderbird machine, not a bad machine in any respects, was quoted $400 to replace the dead sdram. Of course they drive up the cost of repairs so they'll just send the people right on out to the sales floor and buy a new machine. Absolutely retarded.

I haven't been able ot take a lok at the machine, but I'm betting $20 it's not one of those issues yet. Nah this isn't a plea for technical help, rather just a rant about crappy money-grabbing capitalistic companies out to take your dollar from you.

Mate,

Thats treading the line on corrupt/bad business practice IMO. I think legal measures can be taken against such fraudsters. CompUSSR were recently sued for scamming on rebates, right?

[threeme2189]

those dudes suck...i hate people like that...so dishonest.

[Enablingwolf]

LOL,
I was looking for local parts(needed a cross over cable), which they didn't have, and happened to be in the process of a build for myself.
I was told a regualr RJ-45 was good enough for a crossover cable. I asked aren't the pinouts reversed? I told my brother whom I was helping get parts for that I would make a crossover cable easier and it would work without a hub. He is totally clueless on parts. More so than me..j/k
Well I wanted to compare shop for a personal build, and asked a "GeekSquad" member "is this 3000+ s754 CPU a dual core?" I was assured it was. I then gave him the idea he was dumb, but in very polite terms. I asked him isn't the dual core due out in a later quarter? I never seen a sales tech split so fast. (There is more to this but simplified is funnier.)
It helped me in my sales pitch not to buy from there. The party I was with, had a pretty good laugh on the way home. They are far from savvy in hardware, but they got the humor totally.

Needless to say, you have to be very cautious on any big chain and advice. Shame on the "Geek Squad" and the trust they violate.
When they graduate, to a real sales job, do they sell used cars?

[tenchi86]

Haha moving up in the world. use cars sales man. I think a memember of these forums is from geeksquad just cant remember who. I hope he is more honest then the people in these stories.

[Enablingwolf]

I had a freind who worked for Best Buy a few years ago, he now sells cars. Hence the joke.
He was an honest guy.

[Dreamstalker]

Well I wanted to compare shop for a personal build, and asked a "GeekSquad" member "is this 3000+ s754 CPU a dual core?" I was assured it was. I then gave him the idea he was dumb, but in very polite terms. I asked him isn't the dual core due out in a later quarter? I never seen a sales tech split so fast. (There is more to this but simplified is funnier.)
:D

When I was comparing prices for Navi, I was in Best Buy when I decided to see if they sold CPU's (this one doesn't have them out, so I thought I'd ask). Few rounds with a salesdrone who thought I meant photo printers :confused: then she finally goes over to ask one of the Geek Squad guys. He had no idea what I was talking about.

I was once considering applying for a position, but figured that I'd be A)overqualified :eh?: and/or B) relegated to the phones.

The salespeople/techs at Micro Center (at least the one near me back home) are great.

[Papier]

I'm thankful I don't go to geeksquad. Thankfully, whenever a part goes bust, I just go down to Fry's and get the parts I need. Actually, the sales people at Fry's are actually very smart in their field. I talked with one of them for 20 minutes on cooling. Just goes to show that if you earn the trust of a computer geek, they will be your loyal customers. :beer:

[Quailane]

I can see the headline now: 'Geek Squad employees strangled with ties by disgruntled customer'

[d94]

i mite start workin 4 geeksquad soon
if i see any of this BS while im there i can guarentee you ill call the guy to his face that he's a lying dumbass if he quotes a customer for some bogus repair scam. :fire:
ppl like that really tick me off. 1 time i went w/my aunt to geeksquad because her psu was fried and she wanted them to fix it (god know's why). well the mofo that we got to deal with took the computer plugged it in, it didnt turn on (duh). He immediatly conluded that the motherboard was fried, along w/the proc, mem, and PSU. He told her she should buy a new computer from them to save some $$$. Well, @ this time i was coming back from using the bathroom and she explained all this to me..
YOU SHOULD OF SEEN ME THERE. i got so ****ed. i started screaming @ the guy about how big of a dumbass he was and if he had any knowledge he would OPEN THE DAMN COMPUTER and run a simple test on the PSU to confirm that it was indeed fried. i told him TO STOP TRYING TO SCAM PEOPLE FOR THEIR $$. the idiot was speechless and @ that point a manager came to me and said that the tech knew what he was talking about and if i wanted to make such a scene i should leave. i explained to him that the tech didnt even take off the freakin sidepanal to look inside the computer ext. well he apparently had a "talk" with this tech, and when their chat was done the tech comfirmed that the psu was the problem :rolleyes:
talk about BS
had i not been there, i can guarentee my aunt would of bought a new computer so she could browse the web & type emails

[NsOmNiA91130]

The GeekSquad at our Best Buy is pretty good. I went there to get a replacement CD drive, and they set me up with one in 5 minutes, $40 CD-RW/DVD-ROM 52X/8X

*watches as other people start yelling*

EDIT: Sorry, forgot the /DVD-ROM

[moz_21]

The GeekSquad at our Best Buy is pretty good. I went there to get a replacement CD drive, and they set me up with one in 5 minutes, $40 CD-RW 52X

*watches as other people start yelling*

Liteon 52x32x52 = 26.99 shipped on newegg.

[Enablingwolf]

I got a 16X8 DL DVD for $39.00 at Officemax. Took 5 minutes to get in and check out.

[AZNBoiOnFIYA]

im sure not all best buy geek squads are really that bad. ive overheard some salespeople at my local bestbuy and they were kind of knowledgable about what they were selling. the same goes for the compusa in my area. maybe these are just special cases

[tenchi86]

Yeah I owuld hardly say selling you a 40 doller cd drive is a good buy. It also dont really show they know much about PCs any fool can plug in a ribbion cable that is froced to fit same for molex. Only thing they had to do was swtich the shunt and they probaly didnt evne need to or do that.

[Dreamstalker]

im sure not all best buy geek squads are really that bad. ive overheard some salespeople at my local bestbuy and they were kind of knowledgable about what they were selling. the same goes for the compusa in my area. maybe these are just special cases
Seems to me that it depends on the region. In tech-heavy areas like Boston, Los Alamos, etc. I can get an accurate answer pretty quickly and the BB geek squad isn't bad (not as good as Microcenter, but better than out here).

Where I am now, there's not much...in fact, smaller comp places are better than them (one would think they'd want to compete). Sure the small places are a bit more expensive, but if I get something out here that I can't fix myself I'd prefer to pay slightly more for knowing it's being fixed properly.

[Sentential]

As much as you guys rant, THIS is why we should work at such places. Why? Cuz we do know what we are talking about and it pays well.

[AZNBoiOnFIYA]

they dont need us. what they want are people to provide them w/ business

[tenchi86]

Yeah, they want people they train from basically ground up so that they teach them how to sell stuff. Also so they can influence the people to think buying a new pc is the ultamite fix.

[clash]

I just got back from bestbuy arguing with them guys about what the numbers on the chips mean, man, what a bunch of putz's..

[cornbread]

With a name like "Geek Squad" that should tell most people all they need to know.

[tenchi86]

Also just incase I sounded wrong I am not trying to stereo type all geek squad memembers, just the mass of them. haha

[cornbread]

Also just incase I sounded wrong I am not trying to stereo type all geek squad memembers, just the mass of them. haha

Same here. I consider myself a geek, but there is a difference between OC geeks and geek squad members. :D

[ghettocomp]

:rolleyes: As far as I am concerned, I am my own best Geek Squad. (and can't beat the service fees) :rolleyes: :p

[threeme2189]

same here!

[deathman20]

Best Buy wants profit and they will stick people in there they know that will sell items thats why they act dumb. Probley some of them are smart but they have to play there roll to keep there jobs.

Best Buy is strict on rules of the department, and if you can't follow it, you'll be pushed somewhere else like a cashier, then the next stop would be the door.

I know a person at one of the GeekSquad's by my place, and he knows his computer stuff well enough, but still has to dumb down most of the time so he doesn't get the boot. You gotta do what you gotta do to keep a job anymore these days it sucks.

[dippy_skoodlez]

Best Buy wants profit and they will stick people in there they know that will sell items thats why they act dumb. Probley some of them are smart but they have to play there roll to keep there jobs.

Best Buy is strict on rules of the department, and if you can't follow it, you'll be pushed somewhere else like a cashier, then the next stop would be the door.

I know a person at one of the GeekSquad's by my place, and he knows his computer stuff well enough, but still has to dumb down most of the time so he doesn't get the boot. You gotta do what you gotta do to keep a job anymore these days it sucks.

I thought about applying at the BB beside my house, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to resist calling some of the other people retards and corrrecting them

Athlon 64 sales, at the store, however, would skyrocket :santa:

[tenchi86]

Why, dont sell that crap to the customer. Give them something good like a 6XX

[dippy_skoodlez]

Why, dont sell that crap to the customer. Give them something good like a 6XX

haha... :p

Nothing like a personal space heater built in eh?!

Not only can you broswe the internet, but you can heat your house in the winter!!!!!

[kayson]

haha... :p

Nothing like a personal space heater built in eh?!

Not only can you broswe the internet, but you can heat your house in the winter!!!!!
And your pool!

But seriously, the heat output isn't that bad on a 6xx. Intel is making some progress...

And GeekSquad sucks.

[deathman20]

Why, dont sell that crap to the customer. Give them something good like a 6XX

No need to bring this up in this thread, there wasn't a need too.

And 6XX's are about 10C cooler then the 5XX's if anything complain about those.

[AFIsoldier]

Money, everyone wants it and will scam anyone dumb enough to fall for it. I was working on a friend's computer, and she wanted XP Pro. I tried puttin it on there, but she didn't have enough harddrive space after it was loaded so I pu 98 on it. It worked fine and was way faster than when she gave it to me. She takes it to the local computer store, they tell her the ram (bought from the forums, worked like a charm) was dead, that her processor was dead, and that her PSU was going. So, I gave her 10 bucks for the computer (no matter what I did, even turning it on and connecting to the internet/instant messenger wouldn't make her believe that all of it was clearly not dead) and have me a nice little file server, and now she has a brand new (yet computers from 3 years ago are faster) HP computer. I went to the same store later, asked if he had any AGP 6600gt's, he kept pressing on me buying a mx4000 and that it was the newest and best card out there since there wasn't such thing as a 6600gt; I promptly found a date on the sun-faded box and he shut up real fast.

Maybe one day this world will develop morals...untill then, be on guard about everything.

[deathman20]

Man where do you guys find these places. I'd love to drop in there and mess with their heads one day.

[JasonDTM]

The best buy in topeka has some real morons... I just get what I want and get the hell out :/

[MadSkillzMan]

ive got a problem with best buy completely!

first off, i bought a TI83+SE for the ACT's/School. Thing died within 2 weeks. now i had bought a warranty, they didnt care..they told me i had to sent it back to texas instruments myself and explain what happened....sent it back, needless to say i had to go buy ANOTHER calc...i didnt get my TI83SE back til 4 months later! UGH!

So my parents bought this VPR matrix, 1.8ghz, 256mb ram, 32xCDRW, 52XCDROM..80gig hdd, xp home..not bad..(before i was computer smart) ...within 20 minutes of use norton pops up an infected file, some script..(yes 20minutes out of the box, never on the internet) the best buy people tell me itsa CMOS virus and that i need a new mobo....not THAT dumb i hung up.

Now this was bought, oh 3 years ago....in the past 3 years, ive gone thru 4CDRW drives, 3 DVD ROM drives...they jsut quit working, hmm, i dont think the drives are the problem!!!! we fell off the warranty, no complaints...but the machine does run like a real POS.

so then we have my friend bob, from the computer thread on here...theyve returned the same VCR 3 times, returned a TV that worked in the store but not at home, once they got the new one (and i saw this) we wer watching it, and sparks started flying out of the back.

lady friend of mine, they charged her 50$ for labor to install 1 stick of ram...kept the machine 3 days ....told her it was a tough process.

they sold my gfs dumb mother an eMachine....nuff said.

my miniDV cam, its a Samsung, they had it for 600$, with a 2.5"LCD..circuit city had the same one, with a 3.5" LCD, warranty, all the cables i could need for 500$


thats just my 2 cents on best buy..i have computer repair people...first off my dual CPU tyan board...they charged me 80$ to tell me it was dead, and that it fouled up their testing machines ....they wanted to sell me a new board for 300$....apparently, the problem was my PSU wasnt strong enough...

and my friend who just got out of the marines, built up a nice P4 rig...constantly crashed....spent something nuts like 300$ for "technicians" to look at it, even started giving them parts as payment...ram, HDDs, etc...turns out a cheapo 2$ fan was causing a short on the 12V rail...

when i get the chance, i fix computers for people....normally i dont even ask for money...ill just sit there with my ammo can of CDs, strike up a convo....those companies really give the impression that computers are soo incredibly hard to understand, outrageously expensive....people always stare in awe when i fix something soo simple..they see i built my rig they flip out...the whole cmoputer "repair" system is corrupt...and you have us nuts running around stealing business lol. so far there hasnt been a job i cant sucessfully ID and fix the problem, and i try my hardest to make sure the person gets the cheapest, yet highest quality part they need replaced

/rant