Geek Squad Consumer Reviews - Page 5
MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA -- I live in Morgantown. Geek Squad was referred to me by a co-worker. I did not have the same experience with them that she did. I wanted to set up a wireless network. I also wanted the company to troubleshoot why one computer was running slowly and why another was getting an error screen. I went to the store (Best Buy) to schedule an appointment. Well you can't do that there. You have to call an 800 number.
I asked the guy behind the counter at Geek Squad in Best Buy what I needed. He said I needed a router so I bought one. Best Buy gives me a gift card when I buy the router. I ask why, the cash register person states, "I don't know." Geek Squad guy says they will look at my computer when the guy comes out. I TOLD him that we had Verizon as a DSL provider and is there anything else I need to do. The guy behind the counter said "no."
I call the 800 number and navigate the voice mail service prompting. Finally get to talk to a human being. States it will cost $199 to set up a wireless network. Tell them it will include setting up the DSL modem. Stated this will include troubleshooting computers that do not work well. "No problem" they say. Geek squad person state this will include setting up wireless printer. I did not ask for this but said "fine I will take that too." Again explained they will have to set up the modem. Again told, "no problem." I then asked is there anything else I need to do (see a pattern?)? "No" I was told.
Geek Squad guy gets out here. States hooking up modem costs extra, troubleshooting costs extra, states hooking up wireless printer costs extra. So warning--be aware of the Geek Squad bait and switch. Then tries to hook up the wireless network. Line is not connected. Geek Squad guy states, "Did you call Verizon to see if the line is activated?" I said "no," Verizon people stated it would be activated by such and such a date.
Geek Squad guy says, "Well Verizon says that but you have to check." I state to Geek Squad guy, "Well I asked people in your company several times is there anything I need to do and they said no. I also made it clear that you had to set up the modem." Geek Squad guy states no one told him this. Does not address troubleshooting other computers. Just leaves.
Geek Squad guy number two comes out a few days later. Charges us more to set up the wireless printer and modem. Then states we don't need router, "but it will not be a hassle to return it." Messes up my wife's computer while installing the wireless network. States that he cannot troubleshoot why my computer is slow and why another computer's software is not working correctly. That we need to bring it into the store. Well it would have been nice if you had told us that sooner.
Take the router back and get hassled by the Best Buy people. They cannot find the Ethernet wire. State that wife and I did not touch the box. I state that I am getting a little tired of the runaround. Of course, they find it necessary to give me a lot of attitude. Eventually, they find the wire in the box. Take the router back but minus $20. They state they gave me a gift card. I give them the gift card back. I didn't want the gift card, they just gave it to me. They finally take the gift card back and state they are doing me a favor.
Went around to drop off my computer at the Geek Squad desk. Stated that I wanted to talk to a manager, that I was tired of getting the runaround. Asks what the problem is, told him just part of the story. The Geek Squad guy states, "we assume that you would know about the DSL line, them modem, etc, etc." I ask this idiot, "If I knew what I was doing WHY WOULD I BE HIRING YOU?" The Geek Squad guys states again, "we assume you know a certain amount of technical stuff."
It is at this point I decide that I no longer want to do business with them. Ask to see the manager again. He states that he is not here. I ask to leave a number to have him call me. He states they don't do that, that I have to come in. So bottom line, if you want attitude, the runaround, the bait and switch, and know what you are doing with technology, feel free to call Geek Squad.
I am the type of person when treated poorly usually just never goes back. However, tomorrow I will be taking time out of my day to speak with both managers about poor service, attitude and the whole BAIT AND SWITCH thing. So get any prices from Geek Squad in writing.
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HYANNIS, MASSACHUSETTS -- We have a HP Pavilion computer that was purchased at Best Buy. We also purchased an extended service plan. Shortly after the computer was purchased, the hard drive failed. It was still under HP's warranty and the hard drive was replaced. When the computer started acting up a year and a half later, behaving in the same manor that it was when the hard drive failed the first time. I tried a few things from home. We were unable to do a system recovery, the computer crashed as soon as we started it and we got a grey screen. I tried to do a full restore, I wiped the drive and attempted to re-install the system software. The computer crashed.
I brought the PC to Geek Squad and told them what was happening. I was told I would get a call. I got a phone call a few days later, saying the issue was a software issue and that was not covered under the service plan. I would have to pay 129.00 for them to re-install the software. I asked the individual, **, what kind of software issue would exist on a hard drive that had been wiped? He told me I was attempting to obtain a free service. I told him that I was not, as we had paid for the extended contract. What this person does not know, is that I had already spoken to a tech about this problem and he said it was the hard drive.
Anyway, despite trying to get an answer from ** about what diagnostic was done on my computer, what did it say, in other words, information I had every right to have: What did you do to determine what was wrong with my computer? I used to work on Macs. I could be able to tell the customer exactly what kind of diagnostic software I used and what it said.
So, ** tells me I can pay the 129.00 to have them restore the system software. I say, no thank you. I am perfectly able to install software. Something was really bothering me about this, so I called the 1-800 number for Geek Squad. After having my phone calls routed here and there, I finally speak to **. I tell ** exactly what is going on and what we have attempted to do. He asks me, "You wiped the hard drive?" Yes. "The computer crashes the second you try to install the system software?" Yep. He said, "That is a hardware issue".
Unfortunately for me, ** did not make this note in his computer, only that he was going to refer me to Customer service to talk to someone there. I get a lady on the phone, before I could explain what was going on, she puts me on hold to call the store. I was not party to this conversation, but when she comes back on the line, she is rude. She said, that she spoke to ** and I was told what was wrong with my computer. I tell her what ** said to me, and she said that he didn't make a note of that. She would not call him to find out what he said either.
So, I asked to speak with her supervisor. I was put on hold again and then when the supervisor came on the first words out of her mouth was, "What was not clear about what the other rep had told me?" I was shocked. I told her what was happening and that all I wanted to do was get my computer fixed. She told me that I was told what was wrong with my computer. She told me I could take it somewhere else to get fixed and if it was a hardware issue, I could pay to have it repaired and send the invoice to them.
I could not believe that a customer had been talked to the way I was. I then got on chat with an HP tech. I wanted a printed record of every attempt to fix this computer. The techs at HP and I tried several steps to recover the computer, including a manual restore and restore via the manufacturer's menu. I printed out each chat conversation. The last tech I spoke to told me it was a hardware issue.
I called the store manager and told him everything I had been through and that HP is also saying it is a hardware issue. He was the first nice person I spoke to. He told me to bring it back and in have a new diagnostic done. I did. I get a phone call a few days later saying it is a software issue and they restored my software for 129.00. I told them I didn't want them to do that. He told me he assumed that is what I wanted since I brought the restore disks in. I told him the manager told me to. They would be needed if I needed a new hard drive. He said that it said on the paper that I wanted the software restored.
I told him we had just been through all of this and why on earth would I want to pay for them to re-install my software. He said the problem was disk 6 of the restore disks were dirty. I asked him how that could be the problem since the system crashed as soon as we started to restore the software. We never, ever got past disk one, let alone disk 6. The disks were only used once, when they replaced the hard drive before. I also asked him why it was still thought to be a software issue when HP had walked me through every step in restoring the drive, including re-formatting the drive and we still could not load the software.
There was no software left on the hard drive to be a problem. This guy told me that HP was wrong. The tech probably just wanted to get me off the phone he said. I reminded him that I chatted with the techs on a different computer, hence the print outs of the tech support conversations I left when I dropped off the computer. He still insisted that the HP techs were wrong.
At this point I was tired of arguing and went down to pick up the computer. When I got to the store, I went to the customer service desk and asked to speak to the store manager. I did not get the store manager that I asked for, but rather they sent me **, the same man who accused me of trying to get free services when all I asked was what kind of software issue exists on a hard drive that has been formatted.
Once again, I asked him this question and he said he was not going to tell me. I asked him to see print outs from the diagnostic report. He said there were not any. I asked him for some copy of the paperwork that indicated what they had done on my computer and ** told me they stayed in the store. I could not have a copy. Since they had my computer hostage at this point, I had no choice but to pay them. I was not going to be allowed to see the store manager. ** told me that that store manager was not going to be able to help me anyway, as ** in charge of that store.
Incidentally: My computer started doing the same thing. It would not restore and it kept crashing on restore. The difference is that I bought my computer at Staples and it has the Staples extended plan. I called the tech and after trying a few times to restore the computer via boot disks, formatting and the like, (the same thing I did with the HP). The tech tells me that it is the hard drive. He said that crashing as soon as you start a restore is a hard drive failure. He will have someone call me to arrange for a tech to come out to my home. Hmmm... It kind of makes a person wonder what really happened.
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By Greensleaves - MANCHESTER, CONNECTICUT -- I signed up for their service because it was cheap ($100 annual). Absolutely $ badly spent. Almost every time I'd contact them with problems, they would spend hours NOT fixing them. And then creating additional problems with my PC. Plus the wait time is ridiculous -- sometimes as long as five hours! Avoid like the plague. I'll be glad when Amazon gets its service up & running...
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By D - MICHIGAN -- This is the worst company to call. They are in Panama and don't speak very good English. They say they will help you but after 3 weeks the protection they said would be activated still wasn't. They send letters to tell you to contact them to activate your account and then you call them and they say they can't. I will never buy another product from Best Buy or Geek Squad ever again.
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After an error message appeared on my laptop saying my audio had stopped working and instructing me to go to my computer manufacturer's website to install the driver update, which I did, I completely lost sound. Considering I purchased the 3 year Advanced Black Tie protection, I figured GeekSquad would be able to help. However, when I called and explained what I had done, the rep--who sounded more like a receptionist than a computer geek--instructed me to reboot the computer.
When that didn't restore sound, she suggested I go to Best Buy to buy something to help get my sound back. I told her that didn't make sense considering the problem occurred after I installed a driver update from a trusted site, not some 3rd party bootleg site. She agreed, then suggested I take the computer into Best Buy for assistance. That was the first disappointment. I mean, surely a Geek would know a little more about this issue rather than to try the common "reboot your computer" fix. So, I went on to GeekSquad.com to chat with a real Geek.
The agent asked how he could help and after I've gone through my explanation, he immediately gives me the price for remote support. Shocked, I told him no thanks and asked what I got for the $300 I paid when I purchased the computer. He asked if I had a receipt handy and asked what the receipt said about the protection plan. I told him it said nothing. It was a Best Buy receipt that had merely been stapled to the Black Tie Protection brochure. I still don't get the relevance of that question, but whatever.
He basically said he couldn't help me and pretty much implied the only way I could get assistance at Best Buy was if it was determined that my issue was hardware related, which it obviously wasn't considering the problem occurred AFTER I downloaded a driver update! I let him know that I was very disappointed in the GeekSquad service, or lack thereof. He apologized that I was "misinformed" when he should have apologized that I was misled. Anyway, I searched the MicroSoft boards and downloaded the driver a 2nd time and what do you know, I now have sound. Thanks for nothing, GeekSquad. I will never purchase one of their warranties again.
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