Geek Squad City Tell-All VS Founder Of Geek Squad
UPDATE: Geek Squad City Insider Rebutts Founder's Retort
We've got a special two-for-one Geek Squad tale here. The first is a flameout email from a fired Geek Squad City repair team manager with some startling accusations about his former employer.
And second, we gave Geek Squad founder, Robert Stephens, a crack at rebutting before going to print.
Chris J, the ex-employee, alleges that Geek Squad City techs receive little training and are recruited from fast food counters. He says the techs have no access to technical manuals for your computer. Repairs are often done by "shotgun approach" where they "spray" your computer with parts in the hopes that will fix the problem, he says. Superglue is used to make repairs. No one gets trained in the on-site tools needed for doing component level repair.
Needless to say, Robert doesn't quite agree with all that.
The ex-Geek Squad City team manager versus the Founder and Chief Inspector of Geek Squad, inside...
Chris J writes:
I came across your web site after doing a web search for 'Geek Squad' and 'sucks' and after reading some of your articles thought some insight may be of service to your readers.
I recently left (fired, actually, for telling an incompetent boob I could train a dog to do a better job when he smarted off to me) what the Geek Squad and Best Buy hailed as the 'World's Largest Repair Center', aka 'Geek Squad City', in Louisville, KY. This facility was featured on '60 Minutes' in January and had a widely publicized grand opening in October of 2006. While the media has done a fine job of providing free advertising for Best Buy, I feel compelled to expose the complete lack of qualified personnel who work on the laptops and desktops that are sent for repairs, and to highlight the focus of the managers who guide them.
This facility was actually opened in August of 2006, with the primary intent of consolidating several other repair centers under one roof and to eliminate the need to use third party repair centers. Its main focus is laptop repair, as most desktop boxes don't require specialized parts or as much technical expertise to repair and can be done in-store or in an owner's home. Being a local resident and having worked on PC's since the days of the 8088 in addition to running an Ebay-based laptop sales business, I applied and was hired as an 'agent' to participate in this grand venture, hereafter referred to as 'the nightmare'.
So allow me, dear editors, to take you on a grand tour of this highly touted new era in laptop and desktop repair courtesy of the Geek Squad. Let's say you've just taken your prized laptop or desktop to Best Buy, and the folks at the Geek Squad determine it needs to be sent out for repairs. Your unit is boxed up and sent off to Louisville for repairs and hopefully someone at the store gave you some idea of how long the repairs will take.
A couple of days later, it arrives at this shiny new repair facility. The units are checked in, and sorted by type (laptop or desktop) and brand. So far, so good, nothing unexpected there. Then racks full of units awaiting repairs are wheeled out to 'teams' consisting of 10-12 agents whose supposed specialty is your brand of computer. My job was to manage one such team. Here's where the nightmare really begins.
Once at the center, a senior agent will look at the notes from the store and try to diagnose the issue with your unit. These senior agents are more often than not uncertified, and the vast majority working in this center never have taken a laptop apart before until this center opened. This diagnosis is only as good as the agent who holds it, as there are no 'procedures' in place to follow for getting an accurate assessment of what repair is needed. Oh, and let me also mention that this 'senior agent' has no access to any manufacturer technical data for your unit. Oh sure, he might 'Google' something up, but this facility has no media on hand for a reference. No repair guides, no service center manuals, nada. The only diagnostic 'tool' distributed by the company is a little CD-ROM full of software that, in most cases, Joe User at home can download for free, or for very little cash. Stuff like ccleaner, PC-Check, Memtest, the Drive Fitness Test, that sort of thing. It's just neatly packaged with some other stuff under a clean interface. Ho-hum.
So what if your unit doesn't power up? Or has no video and one can't run this snake-oil CD of common remedies? Well dear reader, my heart goes out to you. While this facility is equipped with some electronic testing equipment, they don't train anyone in its use. There is no class for 'basic multi-meter use' or 'oscilloscope 101', so unless you're seen this equipment elsewhere, you are SOL. In fact the only training that ANY new hire gets is in the 'culture' and 'history' of the Geek Squad. (Read: Company propaganda). There is no 'new model' training when new laptops or desktops are released, there is no 'diagnostics training', nothing. So at this point, Agent Johnny makes his recommendation or 'best guess' and parts are ordered.
It gets even better after parts are delivered. Your pride and joy gets placed into the hands of Agent Timmy for repairs. Now while some of the repair agents actually came from stores, most were, up until they were hired, working drive-through windows at your local Mickey D's. No, I am not kidding. Of the 6 agents on my team that actually performed the repairs, only 1 came from a store. One came from fast food, one from the military, one from retail sales, and two from local help desk positions. None, not ONE, had ever worked on a laptop. From talking with the managers of the other thirty-odd teams under this roof, this was pretty consistent across the board.
So here's Agent Timmy. He has your laptop, and let's say it needs an internal board replaced. So he opens up a technical manual, or pulls up an exploded view to see how to do it, right? WRONG. He's armed with a power screwdriver, some prying tools and told to be like Nike and 'just do it'. Of course, this often leads to other parts being damaged or broken from improper repairs. And when it happens - trust me, this isn't an 'IF', it DOES happen, and pretty often - then Timmy has to order more parts to cover what he damaged trying to fix the real issues. And then, sometimes those parts aren't replaced at all. Ones that are damaged cosmetically are often covered up, repaired using Super Glue (yes, seriously), or swapped out with parts from dead units. After what may take several days, or even WEEKS if parts are ordered from an outside vendor, Timmy has replaced the faulty part in your laptop. If said part didn't fix it, guess what? You start the process all over again, but this time with an added challenge for the senior agent doing the diagnosis.
The parts being installed on your laptop by and large are used. Oh sure, they are marketed as 'refurbished' but are sold the Geek Squad from vendors that do no more than disassemble broken laptops and resell supposedly 'good' used parts. In my personal experience it was common to see as many as 15-20 parts a DAY come in with obvious defects or damage, or are just plain wrong for a given application. So now our senior man has to determine if A) The part is good, but didn't fix the issue or B) Is this 'new' part defective too? Easy, he'll just refer to a technical manual, or use his diagnostic equipment to make this assessment. Oh wait, he can't because he has no manuals and hasn't been trained to do anything other than wear a clip on tie.
At this point, the fun begins. Said senior agent may decide to reformat your data and reinstall your operating system in hopes that your problems will be cured. He may also decide to send your computer back to you with a recommendations you have the operating system serviced (for an ADDITIONAL fee) because it's most likely a virus or something causing your problem. This is common, in my experience, even when testing shows no sign of infections. Or the agent may employ what I like to call 'shotgun diagnostics' and 'spray' your computer with several new parts at once, hoping that one of them will actually fix your issues. This is another common solution, unfortunately.
Hopefully, after several go rounds like this, your unit is ready to go back to you. It may or may not look as good as it did when you sent it (as covered by their disclaimer stating 'refurbished' parts are used for repairs) and depending on how knowledgeable agent Timmy was on screwdriver use. With any luck at all they fixed your problems and you're happy. But there are other factors weighing in on the quality of your repair.
The Geek Squad is in the business of making money. To be profitable, they focus on generating high productivity from their employees and keeping costs low. As at team manager, I was present during both daily and weekly management meetings where these factors were pushed to the exclusion of all else. At the time of my leaving, employees were being written up, counseled, and moved or threatened with termination if their performances didn't improve. You see, the company needs to move 'x' number of units per day through the facility, at an average cost of repairs under 'x' to be profitable. What they didn't, and still don't do, is train their employees to be able to meet these numbers. What they did do was introduce new methods for getting money from your pocket, which is material for another article in and of itself.
Now Agent Timmy is starting to feel the stress of losing his job if he takes too long to fix your laptop. He knows he has to fix 'x' numbers or face daily ridicule, write-ups, or termination. (the manager who oversaw the six teams on our product line 'called out' the 'losers' in daily spreadsheets). And the number Timmy has to meet are for completed units that he repaired and worked fine, this doesn't count ones that need to be sent back for further diagnosis. The senior agents are held to diagnosing 'x' units per day also or face the same ridicule. So if you send in your computer with a problem that is sporadic or inconsistent, be prepared to get it back the same way you sent it, as the senior agents simply don't have time to waste on your problem. Also, the repairs must be done in the cheapest way possible to meet management goals. This opens up another huge can of worms due to a policy Best Buy has.
Included in the extended service plan (PSP in company lingo) that they try to sell you is a clause that states if you have to send your computer in for more than three repairs, they'll exchange your computer for another one as a 'no-lemon' type of thing. Guess what happens to a lot of these units? You guessed it, they come to us, where a team of people (not agents) disassemble them and make the component parts available to repair teams. They aren't tested, usually, and may or may not have been removed in a clean, electronically safe environment. They also will usually bear signs of use, scuffs, dings, and wear. (Again, the reference to 'refurbished parts' is their CYA for this) So in the interest of keeping repair costs low, the use of these 'free' parts the company already owns is recommended. Nice.
So there you have it, in a nutshell. Your computers are diagnosed and repaired by folks possessing the skills they walked in the door with. They don't use manuals, most aren't certified and they receive zero company technical training. They are repaired using parts of questionable quality and origin by people who are driven to meet production numbers and not quality figures. Oh sure, quality of repairs is tracked as well, but the quality testing is done by persons who didn't qualify as 'agents' - so how accurate is that number?
There is a reason you still see local shops in strip malls and converted houses advertising quality repairs at reasonable prices, and this is one of the bigger ones. In the Geek Squad's case, marketing has fully triumphed over any sense of competence.
Just thought I'd share, thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Chris Johnson
Robert Stephen's response:
- "First off, I'm responding to this directly, because we really care about quality and reputation and I see so many companies get bashed on The Consumerist. That, and Ben was fair enough to give us a chance to respond to this anonymous e-mail.
Some background: Let's call this -"Why most computer repair has traditionally sucked".
Until now.
Then we'll get to Geek Squad City and specific responses to the e-mail in question.
Most product support evolved because retailers had to provide some basic service when they sold you something. They sold it, so they had to at least fix the hardware. If you had a system crash or a virus - you were out of luck. Now, you have many choices where you buy this stuff - on-line, garage sales, eBay, retailers, and catalogs. More than ever, these devices are starting to talk to each other - but most people prefer to get one phone number to call for support. They prefer one person to make it all work. This is a recent development. Prior to The Geek Squad, no one really tied together phone support, store support, home support, and remote web support into a single brand for any computer product no matter where you bought it. Who wants to call AOL to be told, "Call microsoft", who in turn says "call Hewlett Packard".
Why didn't this exist on such a large scale before The Geek Squad? It wasn't for lack of trying. I remember many companies who tried to "go national" and raise lots of VC dollars. The simple reason is: it's extremely hard to be great in this business and then scale that. That's because we must be perfect every time. We get no points for "almost fixed". That makes this a very difficult business to be in (think CompUsa). Our quality ratings for The Geek Squad are the best in the industry.
Geek Squad City (yes, that's it's name) is a 180,000 square foot facility in Louisville Kentucky housing over 350 Agents and another 200 support crew. Why Louisville? There's a massive UPS hub here - that's a major reason. Do you know why most retailer warranty repairs take 2-4 weeks? Most of it is shipping! By locating this facility next to a UPS hub, we are doing our best to speed up that cycle time. So why did we invest millions of dollars to change a process Best Buy was already doing for years? Because Best Buy and The Geek Squad care about quality.
Here are my responses to the points in the e-mail:
Culture - yes, we give them Geek Squad history when they start. I want them reminded of where we started and why we've gotten to where we are - quality. It's the first thing we try to teach them. I want them motivated and committed to treating your computer with the utmost care. You can tell this person seems passionate about quality - we attract the best we can. I do not know who this person is or why they are no longer working for The Geek Squad.
Turnover - Our turnover for Geek Squad City is less than 1%. That's extremely low - for any industry - and especially for this one. There is a reason for that - culture matters. It would be improper for me to comment on any specific issue with any ex-employees, but there are many reasons someone would not be part of our team. We try to maintain the highest standards
Productivity pressure - No agent has lost their job due to productivity issues at the City. I can tell you that we remind them that you are waiting for that computer to get back as soon as possible. You are constantly telling the industry that they take too long to get your stuff back to you. We are listening.
Quality - We have an entire quality team whose responsibility is to ensure that our Agents have properly repaired the customers unit.
Speed - We always put quality before speed, but turn time in the City is under 5 days overall and for most customers under 3 days. This is a new facility open only since last fall. A complex this massive only improves with time. We've done over 200,000 repairs since then. Many delays are due to either parts - or we may have found another problem and we need to contact you for permission to do certain work. Your data is very important to us.
Parts - Every repair facility is vulnerable to the available supply of parts. Each laptop is like an antique - almost every part is custom to that laptop. If they didn't make enough extra screens, I may have to make you wait another 1-2 weeks before getting your laptop back if I have to order one from Gateway. Every repair facility uses re-furbished parts. It's because you have to - there aren't enough parts to go around. Here's a side benefit you won't hear about: sometimes your laptop comes to us from you with a missing key - or a scratched case. Since we keep these extra parts around - we sometimes will replace it for you free of charge - just to surprise you with a little something extra.
Software and Copyright - Yes, in addition to our own proprietary software, we sometimes rely on small applications to help us help you. Guess what? So do a lot of other small tech support companies. The difference is - we have actually legally secured the rights to use this software from the makers - and paid them real money to do so. I'm confident most tech support companies have not legally secured the rights to use the tools they use. Even "freeware" may not be used in a business if you are charging people a fee to use it over and over to service computers. Again, we hold ourselves to the highest standard.
Tools - All benches are equipped with anywhere from $400 - $500 of equipment to repair units/according to the job each agent is assigned. Super Glue is not in our tool set. We have a dedicated data recovery lab on site and we recover over 90% of all data we attempt to revive.
Training - We train all agents that do component level repair to use the following equipment: O'scopes, soldering techniques, meter reading. We even have a soldering training center and lab at the facility. There's a video on youtube showing Fabio using this soldering lab here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sfccSN1Tguw&mode=related&search=.
Certification - You will not ever see Geek Squad brag about certifications. While they are a plus when we recruit, they are not mandatory. No one individual could keep up with all of our certifications for each make and model. MCSE does nothing for you when repairing laptop issues. However, we train agents and gain certification from the vendors that offer (and require) the curriculum.
Access to technical data - Simply not true. We have vendor specific training for each make, model and new revision. Why do you think Best Buy acquired Geek Squad? When we were small - we could not get any of this data. Now that we have joined forces with Best Buy we can get data on any product when we want. The fact is, when Best Buy calls a manufacturer, they respond to our request for technical data. That's why we partnered with Best Buy. We can make a much bigger impact using their size and power to improve quality than we ever could on our own.
Lastly, I responded to this to prove that The Geek Squad cares about its reputation. I have already shared my contact info with The Consumerist, but if your computer or network is ever serviced by The Geek Squad and the experience is less than perfect, I want to know about it. You can get feedback directly to me at info@geeksquad.com with the subject "For Robert."
Regards,
Robert Stephens
Founder and Chief Inspector
The Geek Squad
"Serving the Public, Policing Technology, and Protecting the World"
http://www.geeksquad.com
As a followup question, we asked Robert what his day-to-day was like, and how often he was on the ground floor at Geek Squad City. He said, "I'm at Geek Squad HQ in Minneapolis. Geek Squad City is in Louisville, but I am in direct contact with the leaders there."
— BEN POPKEN
This is a test using rich text formatting and html links. It's the generic "company" ad that should appear on all posts with the Company category if they don't have an ad attached to a specific company.
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Comments:
Interesting, Not sure which perspective is more acurate. I'll tend to go with the CEO of a multi-million dollar company over a bitter computer repair tech, who got fired.
Every CEO wants to think his vision of a place is the reality. But the "boots on the ground" always know the real truth, not the truth the managers tell their bosses.
I believe the disgruntled former employee. Sorry.
Daytonna:
Have you ever met a Best Buy repair tech? They make monkeys banging on typewriters look talented.
HOWEVER, I do admire them for charging $19 to spray your computer with compressed air($129 if they do it in your house!), $39 to follow the directions and install a hard drive/video card, or $129 to upgrade your OS (Non Microsoft OS's need not apply, software not included).
Your best bet for computer repair is to find a real geek (check the back room at any local computer store, they'll be the one with the greasy face and no social skills) and hire him to fix your computer in exchange for a 12 pack of mountain dew and a bag of nacho cheese doritos.
So what we have here is two completely different stories, both of which need to be taken with about a pound of salt.
A disgruntled, fired team manager that wants to make his former employer look as bad as possible. First of all, he claims that he was fired just for one insult to one of his employees. BS. No one gets fired for just one insult. At every company I have ever worked for, there has to be a documented history of problems in order to fire anyone that is not at the lowest peon level. He then goes on to list all the things wrong with the place, but places absolutely no blame on himself and takes no responsibility for trying to make things better, even though he was part of the management team. Something smells really fishy here.
The CEO of the company accused of wrongdoing by the disgruntled ex-employee wants to respond to all of the accusations, but does so in a very "PowerPoint Presentation" style. This sounds like something he would present at a training meeting. He also does not spend very much (if any) time at the actual facility accused of having so many problems. Being in direct contact with the leaders there is not the same as being there and doing the managing firsthand. Something smells less fishy about the CEO's refutation, but it is something I would still throw out if I found it in my fridge.
At any rate, I am glad that I have my own computer repair expertise and do not have to rely on companies like Geek Squad. Come to think of it, I am really glad that none of my family or friends need to rely on Geek Squad either, since they all come to me.
@Daytonna: I'm not sure I agree. Robert's response sounded like PRspeak to me. "Super Glue is not in our tool set" does not mean the same as "we don't use Super Glue." Likewise, "We try to maintain the highest standards" is not the same as "we hire qualified employees."
I no longer shop at BB either. I had a nightmare situation happen because of the incompetence of the Geek Squad. After about three months of being run through the system, I created enough of a scene with the store manager and he gave me a 100% refund. I had to promise never to come back. Gladly.
My main problem was with Geek Squad City. I was amazed at the multiple misdiagnoses. Two times I sent the machine in, the told me that my track-pad problem was due to a virus. (Also after the second time, I got the machine back badly badly scratched. They had to repair that too.) The third time I sent it in for the trackpad, I deleted my hard-drive partition and sent it in blank. Guess what they told me my problem was. They said I had a virus!
That is the VERY VERY abbreviated version of a terribly long Geek Squad horror story.
And the comment about Software and Copyright is just insulting. That comment, to me, equates to "And our crap don't smell, either!".
I wonder if the CEO reviews www.bestbuysux.org, that more that verifies the ex-employee's statements.
In all the lines of the CEO's response, he somehow failed to really address the serious concerns.
1) People are overcharged for low quality of repairs.
2) Lackluster training
3) Poor attention to the nuances of solving intermittent problems
I don't buy the hype, Geek Squad is the last place i'd take my computer and even if I had to wait 2-4 weeks to get it back from the manufacturer, at least the parts inside would be new.
First of all, an executive can NEVER say or admit anything negative about his company in public. NEVER EVER EVER. So we have to take Robert's rebuttal in that context.
If Geek Squad City places so much emphasis on tracking emplyee stats, there must be a ton of pressure to keep everyone on the floor and working at all times. Even if they really do have these training facilities and documentation, I doubt any manager is willing to damage his stats by pulling people off the floor for a not-directly-productive activity like training.
Chris may have been fired for being an asshat or for any number of reasons, but that doesn't mean that his observations are incorrect. He obviously has strong feelings about how PC repairs should be done.
I think the bottom line is this: If you want quality service for your computer, find a local repair shop or neighborhood geek, and build a relationship with them. This is the only way to have direct contact with the people working on your computer, and to hold them directly accountable for the quality of their service.
i'd go with the employee here. Robert Stephens seems to be telling bald-faced lies here. "Quality before speed", bullshit. I think the number of dissatisfied customers speaks for itself. If your saying you have an "entire quality team", could you please, at this time bring them into the geek squad, because the Mc Donalds team you have in there needs some help. Boy, if I ran a multi-million dollar corporation I may lie to save face too.
In regards to software and copyright, didn't Best Buy / Geek Squad get busted for using pirated diagnostic software? Oh yes, I believe they did..
http://www.winternals.com/Company/PressRelease77.aspx
It's hard to take sides between a fired employee and a money grubbing CEO. But the CEO's response just sounds like stuff you'd read from a marketing brochure.
If you want quality service, buy quality products. When my IBM ThinkPad crapped out, I brought it into an authorized service center and they shipped it off to the main IBM repair center. I had it back in my hands and fully repaired in about 6 calendar days.
My experience with Geek Squad has been pretty uniformly bad. The experience is indirect, mostly through clients who had problems I couldn't fix (laptop hardware issues and I don't have access to parts) and had a warranty through Best Buy.
In particular the stuff about the "shotgun" approach and the inability to fix sporadic or inconsistent problems seem to be exact descriptions of the issues I've run into.
Talk to a Geek Squad "agent" for 10 minutes and you'll know that the employee is closer to the truth than the CEO.
Reg
*hangs head in shame* we used Geek Squad once. when i made the appointment, i said we needed someone who knew both PC + MAC, since we use both in our office. we needed someone to set up a wireless network, and wireless internet connection.
i had installed a Verizon EVDO card, but that only gave internet access to the computer it was installed in. i did some research + found that a Kyocera router would solve the problem. sadly, the Geek Squad 'agent' who showed up didn't know anything about the router. he actually asked me to show him the article i had found on it.
he told me to go ahead + order it, then he would come back, at no additional charge, to set it up. after receiving the router, i made an appointment. but he never showed. when i called to find out what happened to him, i found out that the tech had gone into the system + cancelled the appointment himself! i made another appointment, same thing happened again: he never showed. called to find out where he was and found out that he'd cancelled a SECOND appointment!!
at this point, i was ready to blow a gasket, and insisted on talking to a supervisor. i requested that another tech come out. i reminded them that the tech would need to know both MAC + PC. they said they only had two 'agents' who knew both operating systems. one was the guy who kept cancelling appointments. so if their second tech failed, i would be SOL.
luckily, the second tech showed up. he was pretty knowledagble and was able to set up the router, put all our computers on the network, and set up wirelss internet.
i definitely won't use them again. i don't know who we'd call in the future. maybe find someone on Craig's List?
I call BS on the 1% turnover unless he is not talking about 1% per year. Seriously, if 99% of the people are still there after a year, they would have to be there for 100 years.
A 4% turnover rate would be incredible indicating people stay for 25 years. I just googled high tech turnover rate and Cisco (a pretty well paying respected company) is at almost 9%.
Maybe the turnover rate is 1% per week. I'd believe that!
As someone who currently works for a laptop repair company that operates in a similar fashion to Geek Squad City (on a smaller level) I can see where the employee is coming from but agree completely with the CEO.
Most of our employees came in the same way, with little or no experience (or certification) in laptop repair, but since were a smaller company (30 employees) we can weed out the applicants to attain competent trainable people.
I myself never opened up a laptop until I worked for the company, nor do I have any technical degree, but I can now properly diagnose/repair a laptop in 45 minutes at what I proudly feel is done at a professional level. Again I have no certification, but my friends, families, and neighbors would trust their laptops to me.
Seeing that they are working on such a massive scale their HR dosent have the opportunity to hire the applicants with the appropriate skill level. There is just no way they could staff a place like that with nothing but competent people and still afford to stay in business. What kind of trained technician wants to work in a big ass warehouse and make $10/hr?
I would imagine that Geek Squad probably started the "city" as a fully stock and great place to work, but its not tools that fix computers, its people. Wether or not the incompetent employees choose to use those tools and information access to the best of their abilities is their problem. Regardless, it really dosent take more than a small hand-full of tools to disassemble, reassemble and repair a computer.
In regards to used/refurbished parts, thats just the nature of the business, big and small. If you worked for a laptop repair company as a parts guy you would be pulling your hair out. We are limited, in majority to used equipment bought from... well... where ever we can find it first. Ebay? Sure. Small private computer recyclers. Yup. Our own stock of broken computers? Definitely. Sure people may have to wait weeks at a time to get a part in... and I really really hate to have to call a customer and explain to them that there are delays, but the fact of the matter is that if you send us a computer who hasnt had a motherboard made for it in 3 years, chances of finding a replacement motherboard the first week we go looking is extremely slim. It all depends on whats available on the used market at the time. Not to mention the incredible variety in part numbers (even for the same makes/models!). With several revisions for each computers run it makes the job even hard getting the exact part needed. Most all delayed orders are related to lack of part availability.
The other factor leading to delays in repair is that there are many times that a diagnosis is made for one problem, when a 2nd, intermittent problem slides under the radar only to creep up later. Do we feel awful for letting it buy us? Sure, and sometimes I think it can be entirely attributed to the techs failure to properly assess the computers problems, but often times its just unavoidable.
As far as data recovery goes... CEO is highlighting the obvious. "We have a dedicated data recovery lab on site and we recover over 90% of all data we attempt to revive". Data lab is stretching the truth. It does not take much equipment to recover data, because you keep a bunch of that equipment in a room dosent make it a lab. Also... our company also recovers most of the data it attempts to recover as well, because its extremely easy to determine whether or not the data is recoverable before you even try.
Lastly, the majority of what I do is communicate with the customer about the repair process, the diagnosis, the quotes, progress abd payments. When people have problems with the process... I hear it. When techs have problems with the computers... I hear it. And I hear it ALOT. It's just the nature of the business, you will never a 100% satisfaction rating when the people you are dealing with are without a device that a large number of them so ridiculously invest a majority of their career and life into. People call me with such anger sometimes you would assume I have kidnapped their child. People have been without their computer for 2 days mind you!!! At times I have verbally belittled and abused over the phone because people are so attached and dependant on a device that is outdated and vulnerable to failure mere months after they buy it. I really dont think you can be critical about this service in the same manner as other services, its just not in the same ball park. I would challenge anyone else to start a computer repair business and hold it all together and make everyone happy when it starts to grow to a corporate level.
9 years ago, I ran a Computer Renaissance store. Geek Squad was just starting, and they were courting us to use them for our in-house repairs. We sucked, and they were worse. I was not impressed.
@Nero:
I dont think that's a lie at all. Quality before speed is a must in this business. People get crazy upset because its taking a few weeks to get a mother board in, but what the hell are you going to do when the laptop is 3 years old and you are at the mercy of the used parts market? You can just pluck and outdated working moterhboard out of the sky. Quality before speed. Do you want a working product you have to wait to get, or do you want a patch job thats back in a couple of days? People who are dissatisfied just dont get the process and rely so heavliy on their computers that they cannot live a few weeks without it and remain "stable".
I'd love to send a non-microsoft OS (read: VMS 7.3) into Geek Squad to see what the do. Oh man, I'd pay big bucks to see the hilarity in that.
Disclaimer: I work for a BIG tech company doing support. This is my opinion, and I've been in tech-related industries since 8 MHz was smokin' fast.
I've seen an endless amount of PR-speak and Stephens' response is a great example thereof. If I went into great detail about what myself and my peers have to do to get things done at my company, it would almost completely contradict our public position and most people would probably think I was lying. I even saw some things in "Chris"s post that struck me as familiar.
In addition, there is absolutely zero chance any manager at any level would ever come out and acknowledge most of Chris' accusations. That would be job suicide, PR suicide, or both.
In addition, if Chris' accusations hold water, it's quite disturbing to hear where they source their parts from. Using refurb stock (and I mean real refurbished, recertified stock, not just "working pulls") to replace faulty parts is a pretty standard practice inside the computer industry, but it's hard enough to explain to people why a genuine refurb part has a lower chance of being DOA than a new one does when companies are sourcing parts in this manner.
I'm going to have to agree with the bitter ex-agent. In my experience with companys most of the higher ups, especially CEOs have no idea how day to day operations go. He said he is in direct contact with the leaders at the actual facility, I'm sure those leaders dont sugar coat everything they tell him so they look better. When companys set strict numbers for employees to meet usually that comes at a cost and that cost ends up being reliability and good workmanship.
Any executive that says something like "No agent has lost their job due to productivity issues at the City." is a pathological liar. All businesses of this nature have quotas. Trying to get away a obviously false statement like this says loads about what Robert Stephens thinks of the readers of The Consumerist.
I stopped reading at less than 1% turnover rate - either their hiring technique is PERFECT or he is a big fat liar.
Accurate turnover comes from hire to retention rate which I would hope is higher than 1%.
Otherwise every person you are hiring is a perfect fit for your company, at the right time & place of his/her life, in addition to training perfectly along with never having a reason to leave for better opportunity, for personal reasons etc.
Yeah, right.
Hard one, if you got fired you might be tempted to falsify some info to make yourself feel better, but at the same time working in the IT industry in Aus, it wouldn't surprise me if the techs had no training. Hell we have people running their own businesses who buy non matching components from us.... derrr why wont this AGP card fit int my customers PCI-X pc?
As with 95% of the stories I read here, I think the truth is somewhere between the embittered rant and the PR blowjob. It is likely neither as horrible and broken as Chris said and it is likely no where near as rosie and beautiful as the executive level tool makes it out.
One item of note: several folks have referred to having spoken to or known a GS tech at a store-- It is hardly the same thing at all as the central repair facility.
First off @ Little Joe
Fess up that you are either the CEO Robert Stephen person, a close friend or his hired gun, fiercely defending him against the wisdom of masses, mind you with the same powerpoint presentation-like bullet points. If you are going to do such PR, at least try to be less obvious.
Coming to the subject matter in general, even though one needs to take the words of a fired employee with a large grain of salt, anectodal evidence found anywhere in the cyberspace, somehow supports his observations about the Geek Squad.
Of course, anyone in their sane minds should not expect a high level executive of any company to admit to the mistakes made by his or her corporation, so what Mr. CEO is telling in his rebuttal, is not worth the time to read them, in my humble opinion.
I am also on the same boat with many of the geeks, commenting on this story. I fix my damn computer myself thank you. And with today's equipment prices, if I am mildly lucky with my hardware, by the time it blows up a gasket on me, it would be the time to ditch the unit, without even considering an attempt to repair, even if I am the one to do it myself, let alone pay "Clueless" Squad to spray canned air, inside my computer to the tune of $39.
Also, I need to point out the 90% data recovery claim put forward by Mr. CEO. Is this the figure from the computers that came in with a disk problem or is it a percentage of all problems, regardless if they are related to data recovery or not ? I have a sneaking suspicion that, a computer with a broken video card is also included in this data recovery percentage.
Mr. CEO's rebuttal is a prime example of "management speak". I can make it sound like, his company is the best in the world, if I want to but, if I am an industry analyst, I can read between his lines and figure out I have to dump BestBuy stock since they are the next company with store closing and spiraling down the drain, following Circuit City and Compusa.
Good luck to those who will drop their computers with the faintest of hope to get fixed to Geek Squad / Best Buy, but my advice : Brace yourselves for the worst, as it will be the case after all your wait and heartache.
"Each laptop is like an antique - almost every part is custom to that laptop. If they didn't make enough extra screens, I may have to make you wait another 1-2 weeks before getting your laptop back if I have to order one from Gateway."
This was a terrible example. Laptop screens are not custom made for each laptop. They're made by a third party and the same part is used by a number of different laptop manufacturers. For example, the Dell TrueLife screen is also the Sony XBRITE, Toshiba TruBright and HP Compaq BrightView. The same replacement part would work in any machine.
Memory and hard drives are also standard.
I would expect somebody who headed a large laptop repair facility to know this.
@Kornkob: Why not Kornkob? If they can't hire 10 competent people to work at the store, what makes you think that they can hire 100 competent people to work at the central facility?
I had a hard drive crap out on me and the geek squad agent told me there was nothing anyone could ever do to recover that drive. Ok, well, when I installed it in an outside housing and hooked it up to my new computer and searched the 'net, I was able to find and buy a program for like $75 that recovered my entire hard drive. So if someone who has sorta kinda half an idea how these things work, can find and recover the data, why couldn't the kid at GS do it?
Oh, thats right, they hire based on looks...if you look like a pimply faced geek who can fool joe six pack, you are hired.
OMG, the CEO says: "Tools - All benches are equipped with anywhere from $400 - $500 of equipment to repair units/according to the job each agent is assigned."
What an ass clown. Go ahead and price an oscilloscope. Price a decent multimeter, price a decent soldering iron.
$400 - $500 for a bench of equipment. You couldn't fix an easy bake oven with $400-$500 of equipment.
I call bull shit big time.
"We train all agents that do component level repair to use the following equipment: O'scopes, soldering techniques, meter reading. We even have a soldering training center and lab at the facility. There's a video on youtube showing Fabio using this soldering lab here"
1) I have the same iron that Fabio is using in the video. I can tell you it's a pretty cheap iron. It's also not appropriate for commercial surface mount work, which is 99.9% of what you'd be doing on computer PCBs.
2) Are you actually telling me people at your facility repair boards by replacing components with soldering irons? I ask because nobody does that except for people on the assembly line who do rework if a board fails a diagnostic at a particular stage of assembly. It's simply not cost effective to repair boards like this. I'm wondering how you make it work? Also, where do you get the many specialized parts that are on these boards, considering you can't get a hold of parts like laptop screens?
3) Oscilloscopes? Really? Could you give me an example of how an oscilloscope is useful in the routine repair of laptops? I'm guessing not. I'm guessing you have them because they look pretty neat.
"All benches are equipped with anywhere from $400 - $500"
1) That's not a huge budget for an array of quality tools. I mean a good Fluke or Tektronix oscilloscope will set you back about $2,000.
It's interesting that he characterizes the email as anonymous. It is usually a term used to discredit someone as being a coward not willing to stand behind their accusations. The employee, however, gave enough information for Geek Squad to identify him, especially if they have
Aparrently nobody considered that a decent test PC (with some basic parts for testing faulty RAM/cards) would set you back $500 or so (unless you went deathly basic, then mabye only $100-200).
That's not exactly reassuring there, GS.
@VA_White: I'm with you and others that agree with the employee. The Geek Squad has never caught my interest, they overcharge for the basic of problems and the service is slow. Robert is spewing company rhetoric and marketing propaganda. I'm not buying it, he hasn't addressed the exact issues and curbed most of the elements of the original email from the employee.
The sad, sad thing is that Apple used to send a man to my dorm room after a short, concise phone call that accurately diagnosed a hardware problem at no extra charge. Meanwhile, as an AppleCare purchaser over a decade later, I ran into wall after wall of jackassery via people who know about as much as the GS types. I've been through any number of IT problems with Apple machines. When you're a person whose career is emphatically IT, even if you have a solid background in it, and you have people who obviously know less than you do wasting your time and money due to "company policy," it's frankly retarded.
For years, Apple geeks prided ourselves on the service we got from the company we chose to patronize. I still prefer X to XP, which is why I keep buying Macs, but you're fooling yourself if you think AppleCare's going to be any better than GS.
My religion now? Regular backups. I have the plug-this-into-that skills, and I know enough now to generally know what breaks.
As far as desktop machines go? Service plans beyond the warranty are a scam. Über-deluxe plans could be worth if if you've got the scratch. Otherwise, just invest in a solid backup system. If you rely on your laptop for day-to-day business, back up religiously and keep a second machine in reserve. Pricey insurance, but more reliable than corporate IT schmucks on either side of the Mac/Windows divide.
Frankly? I trust the man in the trenches, because his story sounds far more plausible.
Hmm Daytona would the reason you would agree with the CEO be because you own stock in his company? Or do you actually believe everything you see on Fox news.
Unless your in the antiques business, its always speed > quality. Everywhere I've EVER worked has always pushed for more speed. Do they want to be turning out crap, no, but 3 messups out of 10 products out the door is better than only getting out 5 products.
The tech may have lied a bit, but I believe his story over the CEO's PR crap any day.
And $20 says you'd be able to find superglue there... Does it really shock anyone?
Reality lies somewhere in the middle. The ex-Agent seems to indicate that Geek Squad doesn't hire any qualified technicians at any point in the process, but as much as I despise BBY, I'm not sure I can go for such a big statement. And honestly, you don't need certified diagnosticians to do parts replacement work. You get one guy to take a look at each machine, make a diagnosis and a suggestion for repair, and then you have a McD's line worker pull out the old board and put the new one in. So I dunno... I have no faith in BBY's ability to repair anything more complex than a metric ruler, but I think we're getting smoke from both sides blown up our asses.
All benches are equipped with anywhere from $400 - $500
That's a lot of super glue because you're not getting a lot of quality diagnostic tools at that price.
My dad brought his computer to Best Buy in Green Bay, WI, diagnosed with a motherboard issue. That's was GS said too. Two weeks and $100 later, he has a completely new computer with a completely new hard drive and a CD with 30% of his data (mostly from non-user directories) and was told the problem was the motherboard but they couldn't use his hard drive and this was all the data they could save (which was the extra charge).
Even if the the truth is in the middle of these two stories somewhere, I'm guessing it's a lot closer to the ex-agents.
I'm going to side with the tech's posting here, as a tech myself. While disgruntled, and probably stretching it a bit, I'd have to concur with Chris J mostly. There is serious pressure to churn out the broken machines, and do it fast and right. Ever broken machine you have is connected to a wallet, and you've got bills to pay.
One point of contention I will say is the 'spray and pray' method of troubleshooting that Chris J complains about. Sometimes your diagnostics are inconclusive, or worse, you can't duplicate the error that got that unit sent into repair to begin with. You can generally isolate it down to hardware or software - and that's when you start replacing hardware to see if it fixes the error, since some issues can be identical, but caused by different malfunctioning parts. For newer laptops, this is easier since most companies bundle onboard diagnostics built right into the (Dell comes to mind) laptop. It's not an exact science - but that's what separates good techs from bad ones I guess.
The Fabio video was great! No ESD protection, it didn't look like there was adequate ventilation, and he wasn't wearing goggles. 3 strikes, Geek Squad is out!
$400-$500 worth of equipment might cover the cost of a good variable DC power supply and a quality digital multimeter. That's about it. Then you still need an oscilloscope, quality soldering iron intended for SMT work, and access to all of the necessary technical documentation.
But let's face it, for most of the repairs they would do in this type of environment with untrained employees doesn't really require this. All they need is a set of screwdrivers, a soldering iron to fix loose jacks, and a troubleshooting guide from the manufacturer. Any boards that require real repairs would just be pulled and replaced. However, it doesn't even sound like they can do *that* properly.
Your best bet is to always have any warranty service done by the original manufacturer. Store-based warranties are absolute rubbish: if they don't manage to deny your claim somehow, you will either end up with a substandard repair job, or one that didn't fix the original problem.
this has pretty much been said, so ditto to others expressing similar sentiments... but if GS service is as rosy as the CEO says, why the huge, HUGE volume of complaints? I think that speaks more loudly than the ex-Agent's email.
If the CEO is really interested in making things better, he could probably start here at Consumerist and start picking out all the crappy BestBuy/GS repair job complaints.
I LIVE in MN, and am always so ashamed that an electronics company (BB) with such a horrible reputation is based in my home state... ugh.
On one side I see a jaded disgruntled employee whose intentions are quite clear. "I came across your web site after doing a web search for 'Geek Squad' and 'sucks'" To better state it, "I was searching for a way to lash out like a child at my former employer" and in this he found an avenue to do what he so deeply needed to do. Vent some frustration and absolve himself of any wrong doing or ownership.
On the other side I see a Founder who speaks of his vision for the greater good of the consumer and does not deviate from that point throughout his rebuttal. In fact he goes as far as to compliment this former employee, "You can tell this person seems passionate about quality - we attract the best we can." The bottom line is he has a clear vision and is not lashing out. Is this vision he has attainable? I think Steve Jobs said it best, "the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are often the ones who do"
Very few things in this world are certain; one of them for me is as follows: In today's politically correct "spin, spin, spin" environment there really is no such thing as the truth anymore. There are only perceptions of the truth and from that everyone draws their conclusions and takes their sides. The truth is somewhere in the middle and I doubt we'll ever see it again. I choose to not take a side and in doing so I have inadvertently taken one, ergo my hypocrisy knows no bounds.
@TheNomad:
I cant stop laughing after reading that. If only I was friends with the wealthy. Im just stating that working in the same environment as this employee ALOT of the things he stated are very familiar and true, but alot of what the CEO said are just the same. Alot of the situations are just unavoidable in this particular service.
I listen to people bitch and praise our service everyday. Satisfaction of the service has 1) alot to do with the availability for parts for that customers laptops and 2) the customers addiction and dependence level for their computer.
Anyway, to assume what you do is ridiculous and ignorant. I normally dont even post much on this blog, but since the post hit directly in my line of work and I can relate to alot of it I had alot to say.
i don't shop at Best Buy anymore. their return policies are predatory. their service is a joke. And I am really REALLY tired of being treated like a criminal when I walk in and out.
fortunately there are many many shops in my town, I have choice.
I reiterate what many have said, if you can't fix it yourself? Build a relationship with a locally owned, competent repair shop.
Purchased HP DV9008nr laptop 1-10-2007. Took it back to bestbuy 2-23-07 for keyboard problems. Instead of replacing it they sent it off and now claim it has water damage and is no longer under warranty and trying to charge $600 on service! We all know what the problem and the cause is in the electrical engineering department and it was not water damaged as claimed! We still have not received the computer back for us to reanalyze and further our documentation. 3-10-07
i don't shop at best buy, so i'm safe from this plague.....i hope..........