Common Perceptions About Geek Squad and Why They’re Wrong

Disclaimer: This article is the personal opinion of its poster and in no way, shape or form reflects the opinions or views of Best Buy or Geek Squad

I love reading about Geek Squad on the Consumerist; they make it sound like every single mistake is actually common practice at said company.

Being that I’ve worked at Geek Squad for a few months, I see it fit to set the record straight:

This is just silly. After the Consumerist did their little experiment to see if Geek Squad would snoop around and steal data the whole world went nuts. Fact: If you’re caught having a thumbdrive, iPod or any portable device that can hold data on you in the workplace, you will be warned, or most likely fired. I had my iPod in one morning because I am a tech in the back and we like to listen to music, and when my manager came in and saw it, he pretty much said if I see it again you’re gone.

I’m not really sure how to explain this one, because Geek Squad isn’t just a small repair business anymore. You can’t expect a big company like Best Buy/Geek Squad to just sit there and hope people come to them wanting their computers fixed. I started out on the counter simply diagnosing and recommending services to customers, but it didn’t mean I was a salesman. If I took in a machine for a graphics card installation, I was usually the one that did it. It’s not like we just sell you a bunch of services and then somehow they magically get done later by someone else. All the guys I work with are completely honest with people, and if we think you’d be better off getting a new computer than spending $400+ on removing viruses/upgrading your RAM, we’ll tell you. Hell, even still some people decide to just have their current computer repaired anyway, and that’s fine.

Guess what? If you’re under the 1 year manufacturer warranty and you didn’t buy a PSP (performance service plan) through Best Buy, just because you’re bringing it to Geek Squad to have it repaired, doesn’t mean it’s actually us. We’re actually doing you a favor of sending your unit off to the manufacturer for you, but it is still being repaired by the actual manufacturer. Those companies do not give a damn about your data. When we ask you if you’d like your data backed up before you send it off, we’re not trying to rip you off, we’re trying to make sure you won’t come to pick up your unit only to find out you’ve lost a years worth of pictures and work documents. If you don’t want us to do it, there’s still ways you can try to do it yourself too, like removing the hard drive and connecting it to another machine to see if it will show up there.

Whenever you have a large computer repair business, there will be cases where mistakes occur and we don’t realize it. For instance, I had a laptop that was sent off to the service center for a keyboard replacement, and when it got back we were going to restore their OS for them. Well, when it got back, nobody read the notes and closed the tag out without the OS being restored first. The customer came, picked the unit up and left. The next day they came back in, saying “you didn’t fix it”, but when I looked at what had happened, it looked like it was just a simple mistake. I let them know it’d be about 4-5 hours, and then the OS would be on it and it’d be ready to go. I don’t think most people realize that we have a 30 day “redo” policy, where if you think we screwed something up, you can bring it right back in to have us double check it.

Really, the way the company runs in my eyes is great. It’s just that for whatever reason, after a few mistakes/bad apples working for Geek Squad, all of the sudden it’s an evil company where nobody knows anything.

I hope from reading this you’ve come to realize that we do actually care about the customer, and we do care about your computer and the data on it. What you need to realize is that in the fast-paced environment at Best Buy, it can be easy to not hear some of the things we say that can be very important later. Be sure to read the agreement before signing and having your computer sent off, and ask any questions you may have before leaving.

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