Last week, HD Guru pointed out that Best Buy was advertising 3D glasses syncing as part of a $150 installation service for people buying 3D TVs. The problem with the offer is it’s not necessary (or even possible) to manually “sync” your 3D glasses with a 3D TV. Now Best Buy has responded to the post, partly by explaining that some customers might not know that the glasses sync up automatically and that they can depend on Geek Squad to educate them. [More]
geek squad
Geek Squad Member: Optimization Helps People
By 3.23.10
An anonymous Best Buy employee wrote in to clarify and dispute Monday’s post that accused the company of shifting to a de facto commission-based model by rewarding upsell-happy workers with more hours. [More]
Geek Squad To Provide Yet Another Useless Service For 3D Televisions
By 3.20.10
HDGuru reports that Best Buy is at it again, charging innocent customers for truly unnecessary services. This time, they’re offering to sync your 3D glasses as part of a Geek Squad package to hook up your new 3D TV and Blu-Ray player. Sure, the connection services are logical enough, but the glasses sync thing makes no sense. Why? Because 3D glasses don’t need to be synced. [More]
Hey, Best Buy, Way To Drive Another Customer Away With "Optimization" Nonsense
By 2.27.10
J. in California tells Consumerist that he liked Best Buy. He was a loyal customer until he attempted to buy a laptop there for a friend, and ran up against a brick wall of strangeness and dysfunction, all in the name of… Geek Squad optimization. [More]
Some Best Buys Still Forcing Computer Optimization, Being Jerks
By 2.14.10
Michael just fired this EECB off to Best Buy. Apparently, not all stores have received the metaphorical (and literal) memo that they shouldn’t (1) Geek Squad optimize every computer in the store, and (2) be total dicks about it. [More]
Best Buy Sent My Computer Away For Repair Without My Approval
By 2.10.10
Edward says Best Buy shipped off his busted work computer without letting him know, leaving him computerless for up to two weeks. While Edward admits he signed off on the possibility that his computer would be sent away, he wouldn’t have agreed to the service had he known parting with his machine was a likely prospect. [More]
Customer Escapes Best Buy Laptop Purchase Without Optimization Fees
By 1.31.10
During a recent trip to Best Buy to purchase a new laptop, Kristene was pleasantly surprised. She discovered that what our anonymous employee tipster told us in the post “Employee: Best Buy Scrambling To Clean Up Optimization Mess” is true, and customers at at least one Best Buy aren’t being forced to buy optimized computers. [More]
Don't Ask Geek Squad To Reset Your Password
By 1.25.10
Two not-very-sharp thieves walked into a Chattanooga Best Buy toting three PCs, and asked one of the resident Geeks to help override the passwords on the boxes. Instead, the Geek, who had heard that a local school had been robbed the previous night, tried logging in, and saw that the username on the PCs was the name of the school. The store confiscated the computers, and the the alleged perps were arrested. The lesson here: reset the password yourself at home, using open-source cracking tools, instead of paying Best Buy to do it for you. Just kidding! We salute this agent for his vigilance, and hope he gets snapped up for a career in forensic PC security. [More]
Geek Squad Finally Replaces My Linux-Infested Laptop
By 1.15.10
An anonymous Best Buy customer told us in December that the Geek Squad refused to honor his extended warranty on his laptop because he had installed (horrors!) Linux. [More]
Customer Waits Six Weeks For Best Buy To Not Fix His TV
By 1.12.10
A Best Buy customer has posted his ongoing TV repair saga over at Best Buy’s own forums, and it’s quite a read. Green blotches! Smoke! Parts were ordered! No parts were ordered! The wrong parts were ordered! Botched repairs! This all started back in November and his $3,000 TV still isn’t fixed–although the last time a Geek Squad tech came out, he handed the customer a sheet that said Best Buy had already spent $1,500 on repairs. [More]
Is Best Buy About To Ditch Optimization To Sell Crapware?
By 1.7.10
Best Buy is apparently dropping some of its “optimization” services, and will instead provide the “Best Buy Software Installer,” a new tool that the company says will “radically simplify how you set up and customize your new PC or upgrade an existing one.” Translation: Instead of you paying Best Buy to delete trialware from your new PC, Best Buy will get paid by software makers to try to get you to install it. [More]
Shocking: Best Buy's "Mac Optimization" Sucks Also
By 1.5.10
We didn’t include Best Buy’s Apple optimization services in our investigation, but Heidi N. Moore of Slate.com took a look at the service and as she tells Consumerist in an email, “unscientifically came to the same conclusion.” [More]
Best Buy: We Won't Replace Your Broken Netbook, But We Will 'Service' It
By 1.5.10
UPDATE: Best Buy has replaced the laptop. [More]
Best Buy Optimization Is A Big Stupid Annoying Waste Of Money
By 1.4.10
Over the past year, a number of you have been telling us that, due to “pre-optimization” of computers, it’s difficult — sometimes impossible — to walk into a Best Buy and leave with the advertised deal (in effect, you would be paying a $39.99 surcharge over the computer’s advertised price). We decided to look into your complaints. We sent the Consumer Reports secret shoppers to 18 different Best Buys in 11 states, and one of our shoppers was denied the price advertised for a specific model because only pre-optimized computers were available. When the Consumer Reports engineers compared three “optimized” computers to ones with default factory settings, there was no performance improvement. In one case, an optimized laptop actually performed 32% worse than the factory model. The results of our in-depth investigation, inside…
Geek Squad Founder Wishes He Would Have 'Put Foot Down More'
By 1.1.10
In a 2008 interview Geek Squad CEO Robert Stephens said he had some regrets about the customer-unfriendly behemoth he created, he told Fortune Small Business in a story posted on CNNMoney. [More]
Even Best Buy Staff Admit That Geek Squad Is Useless
By 12.27.09
Chris learned a very entertaining lesson this weekend. He tells Consumerist that he went out yesterday in search of a Mini SD card at his local Best Buy. A Mini SD card that the Geek Squad staffer who picked up the phone at Best Buy assured him the store carried. Guess where this is going? [More]
Best Buy 'Optimized,' Raised Prices On Laptop Model I Wanted
By 12.16.09
The Mexican Reader tells us a Best Buy tale we’ve heard all too many times — He goes into a Best Buy to buy a computer, only to find he can’t buy the one he wanted at the advertised price because everything in the inventory has been “optimized.” [More]
