Still think using Geek Squad to repair your computer isn’t such a bad idea? That’s what reader Nicole thought when she took her laptop in for a warranty covered repair. The laptop was sent off to a service center, “repaired”, then sent back. She immediately noticed it had the same exact problem and sent it back 48 hours later. This time, she was told the warranty wouldn’t cover it, as the Blue Screen of Death was now being caused by water damage. Nicole pointed out that there wasn’t water damage the first time it was repaired for the exact same problem two days ago. Geek Squad responded by quoting her $775 for the repair. The details, below.
UPDATE: Geek Squad Replaces Soaked Computer For Free
Best Buy ruined my computer.
Big surprise right?Over a month ago my computer suddenly started having blue screens and when I would try to start it up it would give me an lsass.exe error. Well I brought it in to geek squad because it was still under warranty and they shipped it out to their service center. It came back with a new keyboard and a repaired dc jack, and they said all the internal hardware was fine-it was just a corrupt user account. They made a new account. I brought it home and the exact same thing happened, same error at startup. So I brought it back after having it 48 hrs and they shipped it out again. This time I get a call saying its liquid damage and the motherboard was affected and it will be 1st call: $730; 2nd call:$740; 3rd call: $775 to repair. They had also made a note on the previous repair that there was NO liquid damage internally. So, after having it briefly and not spilling anything on it how did this happen? And why would the EXACT same problem happen when before it was just a corrupt user account and now it is a $700-something repair? This “liquid damage” had to have happened on their end whether in shipping or at the repair center. I’ve talked to the Geek Squad supervisor at the store I went to (who was very nice and thought the problem was ridiculous also), filed an escalation report, and talked to the customer service supervisor at 1-888-Best Buy. No one can do anything, no one can override the service center. I now have to get my broken computer shipped back to me with no repairs after being without it over a month.
Just thought I would add another story to the Geek Squad/Best Buy list, if there gets to be enough of them maybe they’ll decide to change their service.
Nicole
Nicole, don’t buy for a second that “no one can override the repair center”. Unless you’ve got one of those special repair centers staffed by the Board of Directors themselves, there’s always someone in a position of authority to countermand the grunts on the ground. They just don’t want to talk to you. Luckily, you have access to the internet, a phone, and this lovely article on How To Mind Control Customer Service Reps. Keep dialing until you get someone who will listen.
(photo:photoMarkR)
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Sorry, but if you read Consumerist and STILL go to Geek Squad, you pretty much get what you deserve.
@redhelix: As DCI, I can! But that also means that the store would have to eat $775 worth of charges to store warranty. I’ve done it before, doing it for this poor guy with an E-machine now, but it’s a judgment call, and here’s why: people lie. They freakin’ lie through their teeth.
True story, happened this week, and is extremely similar to the OP’s story. This girl comes to the counter, pissed, saying she just got her unit back two days ago, and now it keeps saying it can’t find her hard drive. I turn the unit over and our ID stickers are light brown and crinkled. I ask her if she spilled something on her computer. She says no. I unscrew the lid, and there’s thick, gooey, brown residue on top of her HDD. I ask her again. She says no. I stick my finger in the goo and lick it off, because I know what spilled Coke smells like, and sure enough, it’s COKE!!! I have to pry out the HDD because the gooey mess made everything stick. I tell her it’s ok because she has accidental damage protection, and she says “oh yeah, I think my brother spilled a Coke on it.” Boom.
I have heard every lie in the book. Our service center do mess stuff up, they’re people and they do make mistakes which we try and fix. But if you watch House, you know that people lie all the time…
@CitizenOutKast:
LOL that’s so true.
I used to work at Worst Buy by the way…shittiest job I ever had. The guy who was supposed to “train” me (train in quotes because he did not do that, he mostly complained about how much sucked and was just miserable about his life) was awful and my boss sucked even more. I quit after three weeks.
I wish that guy that ran http://www.bestbuysux.org hadn’t sold out to Worst Buy. That was the greatest site ever, and I can’t believe how many times I’ve said “that’s happened to me too!” when reading a post by an employee or customer (as I used to be both).
@backbroken:
i’d LOVE to see some pics of the laptop you built for $550. how did you make the case for it? woodshop?
oh? you didn’t build a laptop? because that is what we are talking about. laptops.
and they don’t have $100-$200 motherboards. willing to bet that is why “nobody has mentioned it yet”. just a hunch.
Ok I am a GeekSquad CIA agent currently so I know how everything goes.
1. Yes laptop motherboards are that much. Why? Because we can not put in refuberished parts. We must be new parts. Plus considering you have to get the SAME motherboard to put into laptops because unlike desktops, everything is configured to fit in a small tight space. Everything has to be lined up just right. Just any ol motherboard will not work in laptops. Even with desktops, we have to put motherboards certifed by the manufacture into the computer(such as HPs need certain motherboards as they need to be tattooed to allow restores to be done properly, dell and toshiba do simular things).
2. The lsass error could be caused by several things, but 80% of the time is software related. So seeing as the % of the errors is software related, you gotta try software fixxes first.
3. Looking for liquid damage is one of the last steps before replacing parts. Unless that part is being replaced, liquid damage might not be caught.
4. Customer LIE all the time. Just like the DCI(geeksquad supervisor) that posted above, customers lie all the time until we show them, then they are like ohh yea that might have happened.
5. We NEVER note no liquid damage in service orders. If there was no liquid damage, we would just fix the issues and continue on. Sayying there was a note sayying no liquid damage the first time it went out is a lie. We would not even make notes of that in the first place.
Yes Yes Yes….I read the original post, but after reading through the comments I forgot that the OP was talking about a laptop and not a desktop. Christ almighty. Fuck off.
@backbroken:
I have to agree with you. He didn’t need to bust your balls like that and is probably just some jerkoff.
i have heard so many horror stories about geek squad that i absolutely believe they would stoop so low as to pour water in a customers laptop to be able to shift the cost of the repair out of warranty work to customers fault. we all need to boycott best buy next time go anywhere but there to buy your next new computer. just another example of best buys ripoff policy
This is one more story that illustrates why no one should ever shop at Best Buy. They have the worst reputation of any service organization I know. Their “Geek squad” are incompetent liars and often thieves.
I have never had a good experience with best buy but I will never have another bad one.
This is why if you have to get software issues fixed, go to a local pc shop.
Sonuva… that’s an easy 5-minute fix, too…
Thats sounds like geek squat and this time it came back and bit them for not properly repairing computers. Geek squat has a habit of hiring people off the street to fix their computers for min wage, very often they do not even attempt to repair or even properly diagnose the actual issue. 90% of the time they will just reformat which makes it work most of the time but doesnt assure what caused the issue wont happen again. Analazing the stop error message would have clearly told them where the fault was. I highly doubt geek squat caused the damage since it was the same exact error, but their lack of attemping to fix the pc will cost them. Most of the time you pay them 90 bucks to run a cd for you, i highly doubt water the lLsass.exe Error was being caused by water damage ((idiot tech)oh i see water marks thats the prob)) water is not as bad as society has lead us to believe, or could be a more sinister attempt to hustle more money out of their clients.