Geek Squad

I just spent 30 minutes on the phone trying to find out how much it would be to get someone out to my house to look at a couple of issues. I have no idea which Geek Squad location I was transferred to because after talking to one robot and 4 different people (who kept transferring me back and forth), and after repeatedly verifying (to each new person) all of my contact information, and repeatedly explaining the problem, I finally gave up and hung up.

In store I’m fine with these guys. BUT on the phone this is the worst service in the world. Expect MULTIPLE transfers to someone else in another department, who will then transfer again, and more likely than not have your call dropped. Plus these people sound like they’re in work release from drug rehab, gravelly, unknowing, unenthusiastic sounding voices… ridiculous. I now always call the store or go there in person if I have a question.
No wonder Apple is beating the pants off them, apple care is FAR superior.
I appreciate the efforts of Best buy to make the store experience better, and it is. But you need support after you buy and if that support is geek squad («white tie» choke choke or not) better buy from apple if at all possible.

I bought a brand new Dell laptop at Best Buy in late Feb for my business (over $ 1000). Exactly 30 days later it begins to make a very high pitched screeching sound. I call Best Buy and they say it’s covered under warranty and I just need to bring it into the Geek Squad counter. I ask if I need to make an appt, and they say no, first come, first served.
So I make it a point to come in first thing. The guy at the counter inspects it, and then says they can’t tell what’s wrong with it. They will ship it out of state and it will be returned in 4 to 6 weeks. WHAT?! I have no trouble with this — they should have just told me upfront on the phone, so I would not have to waste my time going to Geek Squad. I would have brought it to my trusty computer repair guy, who would have charged me a fee, but at least I would have gotten the laptop back in a day or so.
Waste of time. I am never buying a computer from Best Buy or Geek Squad again. You can get much better deals buying directly from the computer manufacturer, and get better warranties, too.

PLEASE call my in-​laws back. Just because my husband works for BB does NOT make him a techie. it’s been WEEKS and I can’t handle the calls and the questions anymore from them. I love them, but enough already! Calll themmm!!!

I am decently technologically savvy, but every once in awhile I come across an obstacle that even I cant surmount.
So one time I called Geek Squad to help me out. First of all, let’s just disclose to middle– and lower-​class America that the Geek Squad costs upwards of $ 150 for just looking at your machine – more like $ 300 if they actually drive their logo-​plastered Volkswagen Bug all the way to your house. It’s beyond un-​affordable. Anyway, they do say that if you bring your own machine in, they’ll do a free evaluation. That means, they can find out what’s wrong with it but not necessarily fix it and it is still free. Cool, I thought. So I went.
I was having some trouble with a monitor and a squiggly screen that was going a little schizo on me. I took the monitor and my tower into the nearest Best Buy and handed it over to my personal Geek. He plugged it in, stepped back and studied the screen, and handed me my verdict: «You are going to need a new computer.»
This would have elicited a small heart attack if it had been remotely possible, but thankfully I was more knowledgeable than this Geek had counted on. In that moment there was not even the slightest nervous heart palpitation because I knew from deep down in my soul that he was wrong and exactly one millisecond later, I realized this was no mistake – he was telling me an outright lie. This kid was a piece of lying vermin and what was spewing from his mouth was a load of putrid bullshit.
Here was this most-​trusted Geek, the image of helpfulness and a savior to so many – trying to sell me a whole new computer tower – motherboard, hard drive, the whole she-​bang. I knew I was getting the run-​around and I let him babble on and on saying technically-​sounding but inherently false statements about my graphics card and inadequate RAM on my «old» machine.
Actually, it was a computer I built from parts and although the tower shell was old, the insides were all brand new and I knew the issue was with the monitor. I asked him to plug a different monitor into my tower. He then assured me it wouldn’t work in a million years and that I should head over to the aisle with the weekly computer specials and start taking a gander at my options. I asked again, a little more forcefully this time, for him to plug a different monitor into my tower. He continued to repeat that I «absolutely would need an entirely new machine» but he complied and LO AND BEHOLD when he plugged it in, my «old» computer miraculously worked perfectly. I picked up a monitor on my way out and I was done with my one and only Geek Squad experience.
Now, I dont think this kid was an idiot. He had inch-​thick glasses from growing up in front of low resolution screens with severely constricted pupils for hours on end. He a tucked-​in, button up shirt with a pocket protector. He was a certified Geek…
…he was just plain shady.
And that’s when I realized what the real deal is. There is a REASON that Geek Squads are located inside of Best Buy, the father of all big box electronics and computer stores. They are only there to sell you more stuff – stuff you might not even need.
I feel sick to my stomach thinking of all the old ladies, immigrants, and people my parents’ age who have been seriously screwed out of hard-​earned money by these creeps. The Geek Squad takes advantage of one of the number one fears in modern society – technology. They prey upon the most marginalized community, that being the poor and uneducated families who have little to no computer knowledge but merely know that their kids need a computer if they have any hope at academic success.
Besides being predatory to the poor minorities (like most big box stores are), Best Buy’s Geek Squad is also making a profit off of upper-​middle class grannies and forward-​thinking dads across the country, which is also sad in its own way. Nobody is safe from the Geek Squad. It is enough to make me want to yield a baseball bat at the next orange and black VW bug that comes across my path.
I wish I could give them zero stars.

For those of us with no tech aptitude, any minor problem is the end of our computer world. unfortunately mine literally was. i had been considering buying a new battery just in case that saved my computer that wouldnt turn on but decided to stop by first, wondering how much free advice the guy working there would give me free of charge. it didnt take too long to tell me my motherboard was fried. not that i knew what that meant, but he did give me some options of the causes, not that it really mattered and also that it would be cheaper to buy a new computer. he fielded several questions without laughing at me and indulged in my computer ignorance for several minutes before repeating the death fate. free of charge, when he could have told me to leave it there and charge me to tell me the same info in three days. i see computer repair people like doctors or car mechanics, where you have to just trust whatever they say and hand over your credit card, but this time, though im screwed, i wasnt screwed over.