Please don’t pull the cord on Howard’s laptop or it will die. Best Buy‘s Geek Squad has failed five times to coax his laptop’s ailing battery into holding a charge, replacing both the battery and the hard drive, and shipping Howard the same incorrect replacement battery three times. Howard now wants Best Buy to honor their lemon policy by giving him a new laptop, but it seems like every Geek Squad agent has a different copy of the replacement policy, and none of them apply to Howard. It’s almost like he’s asking for a price match! Let’s read his story, inside…
geek squad
Best Buy Sells You Backup Plan, Fails To Backup Your Data, Then Replaces Your Hard Drive
By 3.7.09
Best Buy charged Nicole $99 to backup her data but then replaced her hard drive without backing up a single byte. Nicole’s service contract clearly stated that Best Buy would perform the backup before any other service. Now Best Buy is claiming that her old hard drive is their property and that she has no right to the data that they failed to backup or restore.
Geek Squad Decides Your Clearly Broken iPod Is Fine, Dares You To Pay 3rd Party To Prove Them Wrong
By 2.7.09
Geek Squad told reader Dave that he didn’t have the “technical expertise” to diagnose his clearly-broken iPod. The 30 GB unit wouldn’t play when docked or connected by USB cord, something Dave though might be covered by Best Buy‘s Product Service Plan. Geek Squad first tried replacing the hard drive. This solved nothing. Dave brought the still-broken iPod back and asked the agent to write into the notes a request to call him if the problem was misunderstood. Without calling, Geek Squad again returned the iPod with a note saying that the agent “could not duplicate the problem.” With this firm diagnosis in hand, Geek Squad decided they were done and wouldn’t perform any additional work. When Dave objected, he was told that his ‘only option was to pay for a third-party to test the iPod and prove the Geek Squad technician wrong.’
Watch Out For Firmware Shenanigans At Best Buy
By 1.2.09
Reader Erin writes in to warn readers that Best Buy is offering a thirty-dollar firmware update to certain Blu-Ray players, and warning that without the update, some newer titles might not work. Erin checked the manufacturer’s website and found no announced firmware updates, and the newer titles play just fine.
Geek Squad Calls To Ask If The Appointment That Never Happened Was Satisfactory
By 11.19.08
Reader James is upset. His TV is broken and Geek Squad can’t fix it. He bought the TV and Best Buy’s performance service plan — which hypothetically should replace his TV in the event that it cannot be repaired. Now, after 2 months, 27 days, a botched repair job and 6 unreturned phone calls, James is annoyed. He’s launched an Executive Email Carpet Bomb on Best Buy and CC’d us. The best part comes near the end of the letter, when Best Buy calls James to ask if he was satisfied with a Geek Squad appointment that had never even happened…
Geek Squad's Unionizing Efforts Met By Best Buy's Concerned Bulk Email
By 10.31.08
Emails are shooting around to Geek Squad employees, encouraging them to join the Communications Workers of America union, so Best Buy retorts with emails of its own to voice its concerns. In an email sent by corporate management, Best Buy spoke of its concerns about unions, that unions would hinder its ability to speak with and negotiate with each Geek Squad employee individually. For, there’s nothing like the closeness created when one employee negotiates with a hydra. That’s just one fun piece of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) in the email, posted inside…
Best Buy Questions Your Ability To Plug In A Computer
By 8.30.08
Mike’s friend gave Best Buy $200 to install anti-virus software and an HDMI input, but Best Buy somehow sent him home with the wrong power adapter. Mike works in IT and knows how to feed and bathe himself, but Best Buy insisted that he had the right adapter and that Mike had to be “doing something wrong.” Guess how this ends…
Geek Squad Cuts The Cables Inside Your Computer Instead Of Backing Up Your Data?
By 7.31.08
Reader Kevin forwarded us this story from Dave, a I.T. consultant friend of his who helps people with their computer problems in exchange for hardware donations to the school he works at. Dave’s “propane guy” said he recently took a desktop computer to Geek Squad after it failed, and “great Geek Squad guys were AWESOME and had been able to retrieve all of his family pictures for him,” before selling him a new laptop. Dave offered to take a look at the desktop and try to retrieve the rest of the important files– the “7 years of QuickBooks 2005 data” that Best Buy wasn’t able to save, but when Dave opened up the computer he says he was surprised to see that someone had cut some important cables.
By 7.28.08
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Best Buy will start selling musical equipment—guitars, drum kits, sheet music, groupies—in up to 85 stores across the U.S. this year. They’ll also offer group music lessons. Is there anything the Geek Squad can’t do? [Associated Press]
Walmart To Unleash Its Own "Geek Squad" In Dallas
By 7.18.08
What began as a troubling rumor has evolved into a troubling fact. Walmart will soon be launching its own version of the Geek Squad as pilot program in 15 stores in the Dallas area. The new “Solution Stations” will supposedly help customers with such tasks as flat panel TV installation and computer repair and will be managed with Dell Inc. Details, inside…
Texas Law Probably Does Not Require PI License To Fix Spyware-Infested Computers
By 7.9.08
Dries Janssens, a computer repair shop owner in Allen, Texas, is worried that a 2007 law passed by the state legislature requires computer repair technicians to have private investigator licenses to perform “simple computer repairs such as malware removal.” We’re not sure if the law was just badly written or written on purpose at the urging of the state’s private investigator lobby (which Janssens suggests), but it certainly seems like a bad idea. Update: according to this article sent by our weekend editor Carey, it’s just badly written (“It needs some tightening up,” says one lawmaker) and should only apply to the private security industry.
Geek Squad Backs Up Your Desktop Shortcut Instead Of Your Data
By 7.2.08
Reader Mike consulted Best Buy about removing a Trojan that was infecting his computer. They suggested that he buy an external hard drive, pay Best Buy to back up his data, and use his computer’s restore disc. Mike agreed. 5 days later he got his computer and his external hard drive back — mostly empty, except for the shortcut to the folder where the data was stored. None of the files within the folder had actually been transferred.
Wal-Mart Planning Its Own "Geek Squad"?
By 6.6.08
MarketWatch says that Wal-Mart is “very interested in expanding into installation and repair services in its fast-growing electronics segment.”
$50k Porn-Pilfering Lawsuits Opens With Geek Squad Employee Confession
By 5.5.08
The Star Tribune reports a woman is suing Best Buy for $50,000 after the Best Buy/Geek Squad repair service stole her naked photos from her computer, shared them with other Geek Squad agents, and even copied them onto the hard drives of other customers (this is hardly the first time Geek Squad has been caught stealing porn from customer’s computers). William E. Giffels admitted in a written statement that he copied Kaylee Hall’s nude photos from her computer onto his personal flash drive. On this drive, he also kept the most up-to-date version of the Geek Squad diagnostic tools and told other agents to copy from it. Then other Geek Squad made CD copies of the drive and installed the tools, along with Kaylee’s photos, onto other customers’ computers in the Traverse City, Michigan area. Inside, Giffels’s written confession…
Geek Squad Replaces Soaked Computer For Free
By 4.28.08 — Updated: 3.9.13
Nicole’s computer seemed to have developed water damage after she sent it in to Geek Squad, a favor for which they wanted to charge her $730. After her story posted to The Consumerist, some higher-ups cattle-prodded Sam, in charge of Geek Squad’s “Public Defender” team, and he jumped into action. Now Nicole has her computer back, completely repaired, free of charge. She says, “Sam at Geek Squad corporate was really helpful.” Woot, internet pillory wins again! [More]
Denver TV Station Tests Computer Repair Techs
By 4.28.08
A Denver TV crew unseated a RAM chip and then took it to seven different repair centers for a diagnosis. The resulting displays of incompetence were pretty evenly distributed, with two Best Buy Geek Squads, one Circuit City Firedog, and one locally owned repair center (CTI) all failing miserably (“It’s the motherboard!” they each said). Of the three locations that correctly diagnosed and fixed the problem, Action Computers charged $50, Geek Squad charged $30, and the Firedog tech who hands-down won the challenge “reinstalled the memory cards in less than two minutes, free of charge.”
Dear Dumb Ass At Best Buy: Fix These Problems Or I Want My $140 Back
By 4.14.08
This strange little item found its way into our inbox with no explanation or back-story.
Geek Squad Soaks Your Computer, Blames You
By 4.11.08 — Updated: 3.9.13
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.
