Service Review: The Geek Squad

Service Review: The Geek Squad

June 14, 2006 by
K. Cauldwell  
K. Cauldwell
K. Cauldwell
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Geek Squad  |  Squad  |  Service Provider  |  Geek  |  Internet Service Provider

A Review of the In-Home Computer Installation Service Provided by the Geek Squad

I needed a new wireless Internet system for my home, and I was uncertain about my ability to install it properly. I also knew, with a fair amount of certainty, that I’d need some help to set up the necessary encryption system that would protect my computer
 from the prying eyes of tech smarties lurking in my wireless range. After some discussion with my husband about who to contract to take care of the installation of my wireless Internet, we decided to give the Geek Squad a try. What follows is a review of the service they provided.

Service Rating: 4.5 (of possible 5)

Pricing
We contracted to have the Geek Squad provide our wireless installation service through Best Buy, where we purchased our system. We knew that our local high speed cable Internet provider would charge us $150.00 to come to our home and perform the necessary service. Best Buy offered us the Geek Squad service for $159.00. We quoted this price offered by our Internet service provider to Best Buy, and they matched the price.

Questioning whether Best Buy might pad the pricing for the services provided by the Geek Squad in order to cover their brokerage fee, I checked out the pricing for on-site service on the Geek Squad’s website.  There I discovered that the Geek Squad sets flat rate pricing for a number of on-site home and business service, and the price quoted for an in-home wireless Internet installation was, in fact, $159.00. You can check out their website for flat rate pricing of the particular service you are looking to have provided.

Reliability
When we set up our appointment, we set it up for 12:45pm. Not between 9:00am and 3:00pm, but 12:45pm. And that was on a Saturday- the Geek Squad is not your telephone repairman or your cable guy. Furthermore, we were impressed to get that appointment, as we set it up at 5:30pm the evening before. At approximately 12:40pm I received a telephone call from a Geek Squad service representative letting me know that our personal geek was caught in traffic and would most likely arrive around 1:15pm, and certainly no later than 1:30pm. Michael, our geek, rang our doorbell at 1:20pm on the nose.

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won't crash the first 2 year and anyway you have the manufacturer warranty during this period. Now $400 of insurance + $30 of CD plus + 6 weeks of aggravation = do not buy geek squad insurance. with the money and what the aggravation is worth I could have bought another computer better than my 2 years old PC or just take somebody else insurance.
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Posted on 05/19/2009 at 9:05:57 AM

I took my broken computer to the geek squad, ( I bought a $400 insurance along with my computer from geek squad). They told me that my hard drive crashed and that he would take 3 weeks to repair it. Fine a little long but I guess it gives you an insantive not to destroy your computer. After 2 weeks and a half I came to the store to pick up my computer and the geek squad agents told me oups your motherboard has crashed to we need to resend it (first mistake). The agent told me we are going to resend it in express you'll have your computer in a week. I got my computer 2 weeks and a half later (second mistake/lie). I go get my computer and the geek squad agent tells me oups we do not have the CD to re-install your operation system so we can't do it and you have to order one from HP (OK what the F... first you could have told me that earlier so I could get the CD earlier which would have avoided another useless delay second I had to buy a $30 cd) So little analyze 99.9% of the computer
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Posted on 05/19/2009 at 9:05:11 AM

Reading through some of these comments, I find half of them seem to be more about the customer expecting more out of the techs than they are suppose to do. I mean the one guy complaining about the calibration is ridiculous because you need to view your television for at minimum 150 hours before the calibration can be performed. The comment directly below is wrong also because best buy outsources its appliance deliveries and therefore there is no geeksquad agent that would be able to even identify any problems with an appliance. Not to mention, it was rats chewing on wires... get some rat traps if your house is that dirty. I think people's expectations get to be way too high...
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Posted on 03/23/2009 at 6:03:04 PM

I came across this thread while looking for someplace to rant about my terrible experience with Geek Squad. This guy was trying to get us to pay him $100 for basically coming to the house and saying there was nothing wrong with our oven, even though there was CLEARLY something wrong with it. Well, we got the Sears guy to come a couple days later, who discovered that rodents were responsible for eating through much of the electronic parts in the back. Had we just listened to the Geek Squad idiot, we could have eventually had a tragic fire. Luckily, after calling this guy's supervisor, we ended up only paying the "technician" $5 just for coming out cause we're nice people like that. Moral of the story: If you're thinking about hiring someone from Geek Squad, just order a pizza and have the delivery guy try to figure it out. I promise you he'll have the same level of expertise!
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Posted on 02/26/2009 at 4:02:52 PM

I have to say from being a independent tech and seeing Geeks squads work, they suck to be honest. I have fixed more hosed down computers after people have taken them to them. Where I had to uninstall unnecessary software that was slowing the PC down to boot. Also at their prices which are a total rip off. Hook up a cordless mouse and keyboard for 30$ you just stick a disk in and follow directions. To me that's highway robbery. I have worked with them also, I used to be a IBM help desk agent, that we took care of all of best buy and Geek squads PC's they used for the stores. They tried to help me one time on the phone but the guy, who was a MANAGER didn't have a clue if the hard drive was running or not. I told him, that I would send a REAL tech to come take a look at his PC. Don't you think its funny, its part of warranties I know with IBM, but even with their own computers they use in the stores they don't know how to fix? And these are the same morons that are trying to fix yours
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Posted on 02/24/2009 at 11:02:31 AM

Geek Squad is a disgrace!! I purchased a home theatre calibration with Geek Squad (over $300!), and was naive enough to let them take payment before the actual service delivery. It took them 3 months to schedule the service! (they are using customers to fund their business) Then they never showed up! I had to call them after waiting for 4 hours to hear that the "technician was sick" (obviously a lie) I have tried to cancel the service but they're making it impossible for me also!
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Posted on 01/04/2009 at 10:01:56 AM

You have no real knowledge of how to setup wireless networks, so you really have no idea if anything was actually done correctly. I value your comments on being on time/good communication etc.
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Posted on 09/30/2008 at 9:09:25 PM

Finally someone writes about something decent that happened to them and all anyone can comment about is their negative experiences. I don't know exactly what happened to everyone that thinks they "got screwed" but I bet most of it is exaggerated and probably caused by the fact that most people are bitter pricks that don't know how to be pleasant, even if they had to.
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Posted on 07/28/2008 at 3:07:06 PM

I contacted The Geek Squad number in my Yellow Pages on Friday, June 13,2008. I was given an appointment time of between 4:00-8:00p.m. for Saturday the 14th. No one ever arrived, no one ever called. I will never contact them again, and am relishing finding as many places as I can on the Internet to leave negative feedback.
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Posted on 06/16/2008 at 7:06:42 AM

We contracted with The Geek Squad through Best Buy to hook up our flat screen tv, Bose music system, etc. Two young techs came to the house, spent 8 hours, couldn't get the system to work using one remote, didn't call in anyone for assistance and left telling my wife and me to call someone from Bose to figure it out! We contacted the manager of the department at Best Buy who contacted the Geek Squad to try again. Four days later an even younger looking tech came to the house, couldn't figure it out, called his supervisor and left a message with him (the supervisor wasn't available to speak to me). We again contacted the manager at Best Buy who eventually spoke with a Bose tech, got the information and codes he needed and he personally came to our home to get the system working. While awaiting the Best Buy manager (now almost 2 weeks since the initial techs came), The Geek Squad called to set up a service call.....this call came four days after the second tech called his manager.
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Posted on 06/01/2008 at 9:06:50 AM

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