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The Case Of The Disappearing Laptop: Hey Geek Squad, I Haven't Seen My Lapt

consumerist.com — Lorraine would like her laptop back. Geek Squad sent it to HP for repair then never contacted Lorraine again. Eventually she drove over to the Best Buy (she couldn't get anyone on the phone) where they told her that her laptop would be replaced, but only after HP sent it back. When would HP send it back? No one knows. It is a mystery

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  • HUGOjon, on 10/11/2007, -11/+2O crap whered my laptop go and my folder of those "pictures"
  • statix, on 10/11/2007, -12/+47GeekSquad Rule #1: Expect to get your pc in much more of a worse condition than you sent it, that is if your one of the lucky people to get it back.

    GeekSquad Rule #2: If you one of the lucky people to get your PC back, expect to have your whole system 'optimized' for AOL at no extra charge.
    • acu8509, on 10/11/2007, -6/+39GeekSquad Rule #3: Do Not talk about GeekSquad

      (sorry had to do it)
      • knightblade2oo4, on 10/11/2007, -9/+3GeekSquad Rule #4: Don't appologize for reciting GeekSquad Rule #3.
        • potp, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5GeekSquad Rule #5: point out that rule 3 is actually rule 1 and rule2.
    • gfnw, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4GeekSquad Rule #34: *shudder*
    • astrotrain, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1GeekSquad Rule #50 - Never EVER take your broken PC to GeekSquad to fix it, unless by chance Dogs and Cats are living together and a 50ft Marshmellow Man is attacking New York, then taking your PC to GeekSquad MAY be in favor.
  • Brian.Honaker, on 10/11/2007, -8/+16When Best Buy tells you that they are sending it off to HP, they are actually sending it off to a facility in Bullitt County Kentucky. Chances are that someone irreparably broke their laptop. Trust me, I am an ex-Geek Squad agent. They have people who can't even spell their name working on laptops these days. I still have contacts on the inside and it's not getting better any time soon. They are all about pushing numbers, and the loss of a single laptop is acceptable to them. Never mind the customer's data.
    • gmillerd, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2the customer lacks anything at all to get their product it seems tracking numbers, asset control numbers, etc. they are screwed. probably some common thing that people can use to steal from customers.
    • mythicflux, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6That's assuming that the notebook is actually going to Geek Squad for repair. As some notebooks are sent directly to a service center provided by the manufacturer, so its hard to say. As someone who worked as a Geek Squad agent for 2 years ( an finally have a real job) I can't tell you the number of times when a notebook was sent to an HP repair facility (via the service center) because the warranty was through HP directly. HP looses crap all the time but to the consumer it appears that Geek Squad lost it because they route everything through the Kentucky facility (now Geek Squad City).

      The point is that Geek Squad is a ***** service, but sometimes it's not their fault and they are simply acting as a 3rd party on behalf of the customer.
    • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Yet, these people are still called...or rather, call themselves..."agents."
    • JaYBrooks, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1You would think there would be a way to get hp to service a laptop.

      If an agent of bestbuy or whoever... broke it, they should tell the customer and reimburse the customer at that time. It should be the customers choice to get it sent to a HP qualified repair site. Its not like they are only in 1 state. (I remember a having a similar situation with a cannon product and they had service centers everywhere. ) I think there is a break down of communication that happens with every store these days that really needs to be corrected. Its like the employees hide from customers.
      • VSKBadCRC, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1It makes sense to say that Best Buy should just instantly replace a laptop in a case like this, but it won't happen, and basically here's why:

        Each Best Buy store is budgeted money for it's normal activities. While each store is capable of footing the bill on a replacement product if one is mishandled, mis-shipped, etc, they won't because the new laptop costs come out of P&L. Giving away $600 essentially comes out of the employee's pockets. While a store manager can choose to do this, most will not.

        The normal procedure for something like this is to submit an escalation and investigate to find out who was at fault, in this case perhaps HP, and they can choose to foot the bill. This, in turn, charges the service facility at fault, and the store gets monetary compensation for a replacement.

        If a store does an advanced replacement of product, and say HP decides to return the laptop, repaired or not, the store is now stuck with a laptop that they can do nothing with. They can't refurb it, they can't re-sell it, and they've lost hundreds of dollars which now comes out of the alloted labor budget for that particular store.

        The best thing a customer can do if such an event occurs is to speak with a manager directly, and be sure to stress their concerns. Not all of the store managers are that bad, and many understand the frustration that some of our clients go through. It helps to be calm and collective when dealing with them though, coming into a store yelling, screaming, threatening lawsuits, etc is a good way of having yourself being removed from the store, or otherwise hinder the progress of the investigation.

        Contacting Best Buy's corporate office can help too, but understand that contacting corporate doesn't guarantee a new laptop either. They will usually contact the store's GM and speak with them personally, but the store's GM still has the final say as to what the store does or does not do at their level. I've yet to see corporate strong arm our manager into doing an immediate replacement. This is because, again, the monetary loss is still held to the store's feet, even though you contacted corporate, they do not reimburse the store for the new laptop, hence why the manager will still probably say no, pending the investigation.
    • astrotrain, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1And how to tell if your PC was sent to the Kentucky facility?....

      When your start up sound has changed to the Dueling Banjos from Deliverance.
  • noPCtoday, on 10/11/2007, -7/+6ridiculous news + keyword Geek Squad = ordinary news
  • zenlunatic, on 10/11/2007, -3/+21Compusa is no better.
    • chrisOrbit, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6CompUSA is dead.
      • strictnein, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Just in some markets.
        • astrotrain, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Thats what they want you to think... but they went out with the 9600 bps modem they are still trying to charge $100 for.
      • bobbob1016, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I agree with strictnein, I have 2 CompUSA's within 10-20 minutes of me, although I have 3 best buys in the same distance, one of which is 5 minutes away.
      • zenlunatic, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2So I heard, but I swear my Compusa has actually updated much of their store, I mean nothing major but their TV section looks revamped, although I hadn't been there for months (thank god for newegg and the US postal system for teh cheap!)
        • astrotrain, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Thats the problem with CompUSA, they ventured from a 'all computer store' to tvs, cell phones, etc. And thus making the once semi PC knowledgeable staff member into a "whats ram... is that that animal that lives on the mountain?"
    • gmillerd, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7East India Trading Company is no better.
      • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3Wow. I don't even think I'd deal with that company...solely based on the name alone. I haven't had good dealings with India so far: Sprint, Dell, and HP customer support, for example.
        • acceptab1euname, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Try paying better attention in your history classes, *****.
  • SaumZ, on 10/11/2007, -2/+45I worked at GeekSquad for 3 months after college when I was trying to find a real job. With HP, this was actually common. In the 3 months I was there, this happened twice at our small Best Buy. I am by no means defending GeekSquad, but HP should be to blame. Also, people have the option to get the computer sent to their home, not back to the Best Buy.
    • Brian.Honaker, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1Geek Squad City is doing the warrantee work for HP these days.
      • SaumZ, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Not all work. If the parts are in the store, like ram, hd, psu, etc. they will do it and charge HP under their warrenty, but only on desktops. If it is something like a desktop mobo, etc that they do not carry, they will send it into HP. Also, all laptops are sent into their vendors. When I was there, it was the policy that we were not to work on any laptops that had warrenties on them
        • Brian.Honaker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Not anymore. Geek Squad City is doing HP, Emachine, Gateway, Toshiba, and Acer laptop warrantee repair. They were doing Sony's as well, but then Sony put a stop to it.
    • l0tharnt, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1From my experience in my time with GS, I'd say 4 out of 10 things that shipped from us came back with more problems with it thanks to crappy repair and service centers from the MFG. So anyone that ships anything out to the MFG, be it from Geek squad or anyone else, expect to have to put up a fight.
    • xelloss, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2HP has horrible repair work. First they have no clue what they are doing and ship PCs back without the ram chips securely in, my PC had ram chips bouncing around inside the case when I got it back. I don't think I will be buying another HP system.
    • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2So, you're saying that not only is it common for the entire "consumer" world to consider you people complete jokes...but major manufactureres consider you jokes, as well? Evidenced by not giving your corporation any kind of priority when sending in repairs.
  • RST1123, on 10/11/2007, -7/+3Oh no, Candle Jack has stolen your lapt
  • ZedX, on 10/11/2007, -10/+16This has nothing to do with Geek Squad - this is HP dropping the ball.
    • Markers, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17Regardless, she took the laptop to the Geek Squad, not HP. Since they took possession of the laptop, they're 100% responsible. People with your mentality are why this happens in the first place - too busy playing the blame game.
      • Ravatar, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6Actually, according to the documents she signed the moment they took the notebook into their possession, they're probably 0% responsible.
    • hexydes, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Perhaps Best Buy should stop pushing extended warranties and service warranties on their products if they can't properly fulfill their promises.

      The problem is, Best Buy is used to giving our warranties on items like television sets, sound systems, vaccuum cleaners, etc. None these devices have any sort of sensitive data on them, and if they swap your original item with a new one, you will never know the difference, and will be better off for it generally. Conversely, with a computer, you NEED your specific system, or at the very least, the hard drive from it with all of your data on it. Best Buy lives in a (outdated) world where they can just pressure the manufacturer to accept a trade of a new item for a broken one, or upgrade the consumer to a new one, whichever if more cost-effective.

      Best Buy's problem is that they NEVER should have gotten into the "computer repair" (hah) business, because they had no real intention of repairing computer systems, rather just swapping them out. I don't think they really thought that one fully-through. This is evidenced by the fact that they do not hire the most competent people for the job, and pay them a bit more, because they don't ever intend on having someone that knows what they are doing work on their computer. Instead, they hire for Geek Squad internally from their computer department, and put the people who are best at selling warranties behind the counter. They give them a little "fix-it" disk to try and play with, and if that doesn't work, they box it up, ship it off, and now it is HP's (and the consumer's) problem.

      Bottom line:

      1. Stop buying computers from Best Buy. You can get them for just as cheap, if not cheaper, from Dell. If you feel more "secure" buying from Best Buy (or Circuit City, or CompUSA, etc), you are just fooling yourself, because the people helping you have about 1% more knowledge about what they are selling than the average person off the street.

      2. If you don't know much about computers, and don't mind paying 10-20% more, buy from your local (reputable) computer shop. They generally know at least a bit more about what they are selling, and their repair people generally at least have a certification or two for fixing computers (generally an A+ Certification, which isn't much, but at least it is something).

      3. If your computer has a problem, nine times out of ten you are better off getting your friend that knows about computers, or the nerdy kid down the road, or if you live by a college, some student from there, to take a look at your computer. Give them a flat $50 and chances are they'll get it working (of course, your mileage may vary on this one, but I will guarantee they will do no worse than the Geek Squad).

      4. Back your data up. External hard drives cost literally nothing now. You can buy a 500GB external drive for $100 or less. If you bought your computer from Best Buy, this will be the size, or larger, of your entire hard drive. Get some cheap backup software that will back your system up once a week (or more if you're paranoid), make sure it is working, and then no matter what happens to your computer, at least you have your data. On top of that, get one of those UPS (Un-interruptable Power Supply) systems (looks like a big power strip box). The advantage of that is that your computer is not only protected from a power surge, but also things like brown-outs, where your power fades up and down a few times. Between a UPS, and an external drive backing your data up once a week, it is almost a guarantee that you will never catastrophically lose your data again, and worst case scenario, you'll just be buying a new computer.

      Good luck. Like anything, just be a bit educated. You hear people complaining all the time about how they were taken for a ride by a mechanic, because they don't know anything about cars...well, the same applies to your computer.
      • clerk37, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1. Stop buying computers from Best Buy. You can get them for just as cheap, if not cheaper, from Dell. If you feel more "secure" buying from Best Buy (or Circuit City, or CompUSA, etc), you are just fooling yourself, because the people helping you have about 1% more knowledge about what they are selling than the average person off the street.

        Acutally you have to know quite a lot to work at circuit ciy. I would know since I work there and am currently working toward a computer science degree. In addition to me the technicians in our store all have A+ certs and one of them is a former IT officer for the us navy. So maybe you should stop running your mouth about things that you really know almost nothing about. If you do feel you have to insult people maybe you should ask someone, maybe someone like me about the issue personally before you do. After all I do have at least 1% more knowledge than you(the average person off the street) right?
    • LiterateWolf, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Actually, Geek Squad City does have data recovery services available. Whenever a computer has to be switched out, the data is recovered and sent back to the customer.
  • melondoc, on 10/11/2007, -4/+3This kind of thing makes me mad. Reminds me of a survey: customers of different industries were asked: "Why did you stop trading with a company?" The result: the vast majority (>60%) was because of customer service, not competing services or products with better features.

    http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2007/04/customers-of-di.html
  • bdlang, on 10/11/2007, -9/+15"Hey Geek Squad - I haven't seen my laptop in a month"
    "That's how I learned--after returning from a two-week out-of-town trip"

    So what you're saying is, you haven't seen it in two weeks. If you go out of town and are unreachable for two weeks, what do you expect? I'm the lead tech for a service department and if a customer goes on vacation and doesn't return my phone calls, who's liable?
    • withincontext, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6You.
    • devilsh, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Yes blame the customer for having a life... she contacted them numerous times and tried every reasonable means of solving the problem. In response, Best Buy/Geek Squad have made zero effort to solve her problem. They obviously were notified by HP that the unit was defective and should have given her a replacement right then and taken the issue with HP to their bean counters. Instead they decided to rip her off. Period.
    • caketank, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1No, she hasn't seen it in a month. A month ago, she gave Geek Squad her laptop. Two weeks passed, and then two more weeks passed while she was on a trip, and then she came back and Geek Squad did not produce her laptop.

      You'd have a point if Geek Squad had the laptop when she got back from her two-week trip, but they didn't, so you don't.
  • compgeek, on 10/11/2007, -3/+7I hope she sues them like she said she was going to do in the blog. they should be going to HP and saying ok it's been a month and you've already told us it's broke send it back already. if she has her 3 year warranty papers it should be an open and shut case
  • conspirito, on 10/11/2007, -3/+33As A former "Agent" I can tell you that Geek Squad hands down offers the worst service in the world. Also they encourage you to sell services for computers that are well beyond there prime. instead of suggesting that a computer needs to be replaced (Best Buy margin=not much) they have you push and advanced diag with repair and prevention $299, a physical cleaning $19, data backup min $99-$159, ram upgrade-ram+$39 install etc.

    I sold my soul for corporate profit and for that I am sorry =(

    As an act of contrition I will insert this carnivorous ear wig into my head
    • Drull, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4pics/video?
    • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2Way to have some balls there and stand up after the fact. Jackass.

      How many people did YOU rip off?
    • LiterateWolf, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2SO it's wrong for a business to make money in a capitalist society? You better move to Cuba and live the communist dream, comrade.
  • JustAn0th3rFace, on 10/11/2007, -15/+12Wow is this customer annoying.

    Indirect quote but: "I HAD TO DRIVE ALLLLLLLL THE WAY DOWN TO BEST BUY TO SEE THE STATUS OF MY COMPUTER"
    Oh wow you had to DRIVE all the way to best buy to see whats going on? Im sooo sorry for that.

    Going away for two weeks and THEN trying to figure out whats going on?

    Argh.. People make me sick
    • NiGHTSChao, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2Ugh dude, when I was working at GS, we had SOOOOO many ***** people tell us that, I was like "well its not our fault, you should have just called first?" Since no one ever calls to check in, they always ***** actually come into the store

      Glad I quit months ago, they totally rip off their customers
      • Tourney3p0, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Read the article. She did call and was unable to speak to a human due to the automated system.
  • conspirito, on 10/11/2007, -8/+3As a former Agent I know more horror stories than I can tell but as an act of contrition for my actions I will insert this carnivorous ear wig into my head...
    • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1A repeat, and still as ridiculous as the first. Way to go. Rip 'em off first, apologize later. You're a fake.
  • cricoste90, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5So what are the qualifications needed to be an "agent" at Geek Squad? I'm really curious with all this Geek Squad smearing going on here.
    • conspirito, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Absolutely nothing dude they will hire anyone who can pass a piss test and I think at my interview they asked me how many IDE devices can a system hold, to which I responded it depends on how many controllers there are...I got the job...
    • robellis, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2Here you need your A+ certification and then any CCNA or other computer degrees is a bonus also usually you have to be at least 18
      • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I totally just roffled at that. Thank you.
    • l0tharnt, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8It depends on when you were looking to work for them.

      Before BBY there was a vigirous interview strung with questions on how to repair common issues and how to assess problems with a computer.

      After BBY merged with them all you have to have is a great personallity in the interview and convince them you know how to sell crap and your in. No technical skills required...at all! They rely on the lame weekend trainings and the employees that have been there for a while to either pull the slack of others that don't know how to fix things, or train you.
      • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Welcome to the world of retail. It's all the same.
  • NiGHTSChao, on 10/11/2007, -3/+12I'm also a former Agent, I hated working there

    we had this one desktop computer sitting on the back wall for over 4 months, the stupid bitch never picked it up and we left well over 50 messages
    • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Maybe she was ashamed for purchasing a POS computer from your POS store.
  • syxle, on 10/11/2007, -4/+4It's obvious now that this is a big smear job...
    • gjscds, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3What other recourse does she have? If the company does not serve you and ignores your requests for reconciliation, then a "big smear job" is her only remaining recourse.

      May HP, BB and the GS all get smeared. In this case, they all seemingly deserve it.
      • Ravatar, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2She has recourse, she needs to call Best Buy customer care. The corporate office will get the store's side of the story and make SURE the issue is resolved. But isn't venting on the internet SO MUCH MORE FUN?!?
      • Mothrog, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Small claims court comes to mind.
    • gjscds, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3What other recourse does she have? If the company does not serve you and ignores your requests for reconciliation, then a "big smear job" is her only remaining recourse.

      May HP, BB and the GS all get smeared. In this case, they all seemingly deserve it.
  • ericdano, on 10/11/2007, -6/+4Another reason to get an Apple. If something like this happened, the Steve would replace it personally.
  • guigui42, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Looks like everyone here is, or has worked for geek squad... weird...
    • LiterateWolf, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1And they hate Geek Squad too. Maybe they're made that they couldn't get one of those badges? Or maybe some kid could out perform them despite their "degrees" many diggers claim to have. No pics, no degree.
  • eightyd, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11I worked for the Geek Squad for 3 years, and please, please please please do not blame the techs there for laptops going missing. There are some quality people there who would absolutely LOVE to fix a laptop in-store, but policy dictates that it gets sent out. At my store (where I still keep up with all the people there, I love them), we hated sending laptops out because it took so long, and the service center was often incompetent. Policy also dictates that if the unit is gone for 6 weeks, the unit will be replaced. Just as with any mass chain of stores, be they mechanics or computer techs, when you have thousands of employees working you can't prevent some being bad apples.
    • mythicflux, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3And when I was working at Geek Squad people got offended when I suggested they contact the manufacturer for repairs directly because if we where to send their notebook out we were the middle man and could do anything if something went wrong. People seem to think that just because Geek Squad sends an item out they are responsible. Nevermind the fine print they sign saying otherwise.

      (Full disclosure: Worked GS 2.5 years, now working elsewhere)
      • octophobic, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1They should be offended. Regardless of the weasel-worded "fine print" if a company says that they are going to do something then they should follow through.

        If the airport loses my bags should I get the home phone numbers of all the baggage handlers and start calling around? (The answer is no because that would be stupid.)
        • eightyd, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Your analogy is terrible. It is more like losing your luggage, and blaming the pilot who flew you to your destination for it. Did he personally lose your luggage? No, in the same manner that a geek squad agent who receives a laptop, puts it in a bin and a stack for it to be shipped out (not by the agent who received it) does not lose your computer. Try to understand the concept of middleman.
        • eightyd, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Your analogy is terrible. It is more like losing your luggage, and blaming the pilot who flew you to your destination for it. Did he personally lose your luggage? No, in the same manner that a geek squad agent who receives a laptop, puts it in a bin and a stack for it to be shipped out (not by the agent who received it) does not lose your computer. Try to understand the concept of middleman.
  • mikeyhell, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7I have a friend that works in computer repair/sales and I asked him about this. His comment was "computer repair techs are the new car mechanics. We charge 50 bucks just to leave your computer in the store, even if we don't do anything. You want an anti-virus, we'll install AVG for 79 bucks. We're not in this for charity, we're in it because their are people out there who honestly don't have a clue. If they take their computers to geeksquad, they'll learn just like taking your car to a bad mechanic and when you get your car back it's got more problems than it started with. It really sucks for guys like me being looked down on because I can't affiliate myself with a huge chain, but i'm not complaining, I've got more customers that turn to me because of them, difference is I won't loose them."
  • xafan, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4As someone who has had a similar job as a Geek Squad employee let me explain why this person a whiny *****.

    If you bring your laptop in for hardware repairs within the first year of purchase we will do you the FAVOR (we are not required at all to do this for you, if you buy your laptop from NewEgg they'll tell you to ***** off and get an RMA from HP yourself) of packaging and shipping it to HP. That's all we do, we just package it and ship it off with a description of the problem. It *commonly* takes more then 4 weeks. Every time we'd take a laptop we let them know it can easily take up to 2 months for it to be returned. It's not our fault, we FedEx it over to HP. This entirely an issue with HP just being slow with their repair process.

    BestBuy is a rather evil company but more often then not these anti-geek squad stories are just some whiny bitchy customers who didn't bother listening to the employee when he said they're going to ship to HP and it can easily take X amount of time.
    • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Right. And you should explain to them that when they pay the retail markup at BB rather than NewEgg, they get absolutely dick in return...DICK!!

      You should advise your customers to purchase on NewEgg, and send the laptop into HP for repair themselves...seeing as how it all comes out the same in the end...but the customer doesnt get raped on your ridiculous markup, and you dont end up with ***** on your dick. No?
      • clerk37, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1As an employee at Circuit City I feel qualified to respond here. You are told to sell services and protection plans as a means to keep your job. Is the laptop cheaper on newegg? You bet your sweet ass. Am I gonna tell costumers that and risk losing my good paying job? Hell No. Most of the people who buy these things are stupid rednecks and rich jerkoffs anyway. I know that you would never buy one. So why do you care so much about mister joe blow consumer? Everything that xafan said is true of both BB and CC. Just accept that we are not all heros of humanity and quit trying to insult anyone who isn't. I'm sure that you have or will sell out for some amount of money. Because that's all that matters in this world, Money. How much you have, and how much you can screw everyone else out of.
    • octophobic, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Even if they buy a service plan through your company or Best Buy it's still a "FAVOR" to them to have it sent out for repair? *****.
      • clerk37, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Yes it is a favor. I don't know the specifics at BB. But at circuit city if you buy a 2 year plan that doesn't include accedental damage coverage all you are buying is an extra year of service, not day one service. The company plan only comes into effect the 1st day of the second year you own the product. The same is true if you have the accedental plan but didn't damage it accedentaly. The only repairs covered by the company from day one are non-defect issues.
  • JDoorjam, on 10/11/2007, -7/+2If Ron Paul were President, the laptop would have been replaced weeks ago.

    Or is that meme finally dead?
  • JrGhoull, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1i had gone to the geek squad with a problem and got a retard. that went horribly. luckily the laptop wound up getting shipped to one of its official home fixer upper places that was nearby, and wound up getting fixed. a couple of weeks ago however i had another issue (not related to the one i had a year before) and went to geek squad...and this time wound up getting pretty darn good service. i think if u really wanna use geek squad, and wind up getting an idiot to help you...come back later on (preferably when they're not busy) and try to get another guy.

    i actually had a similar problem to hers on the 2nd time around. they said they would call me but i dont think they ever did, even though they said they did (i have a bad answering machine though so i gave em the benefit of the doubt. luckily that was the only problem and i wound up getting it back, complete with the diagnostic i had paid for! :-D
    • Tourney3p0, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The guy you spoke to the second time was hired only to take your computer from you and give it to the retard in the back.
  • slantyeyed, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Mishaps at Geek Squad always gives me a chuckle. You'd think all this bad publicity recently would force some type of re-organization.
    • caketank, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2They're too busy sorting and stacking their cash to reorganize anything else.
  • vonskippy, on 10/11/2007, -3/+3Stupid is as stupid does (or so Forest Gump says).

    In other words - if you're dumb enough not to do your homework and read ANY of the bazillion articles about how much Geek Squad sucks and is a major rip off, then Caveat Emptor dumbass, you got what you deserved.
    • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2That would be what warrantee agreements are for...dumbass.
    • piper999, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1People deserve to be ripped off do they? People like you maybe but not normal people.

      Its like all those murder victims. If they are stupid enough to be murdered in the first place then obviously its their own fault.
      • LiterateWolf, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Correct. Only the wealthy have any right to complain since they pay more in taxes than we do. They need special protections. The rest of us don't deserve that prptection because we're not wealthy, honorable people. We should learn from our mistakes and move on with what is left with our lives.
  • aelias, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1I think this is simply bad customer service mixed with bad procedures and a sprig of unrealistic expectations on top. If it's so ***** vital that she have this laptop she or her company would buy another laptop and return it when the replacement showed up. Problem solved. No wait. Easy.
    Money solves a lot of problems.

    But, I shouldn't have to buy another laptop, you say? You're absolutely right. Doesn't change *****.
  • mentor972, on 10/11/2007, -7/+5Dear Geek Squad,

    Give Lorraine her laptop back. You guys suck.

    --Concerned Internet Reader
    • mythicflux, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Dear Concerned Internet Reader,

      Please confirm details before assuming Geek Squad was actually performing the repairs as was not simply the middle man. Flamebait sucks.

      -- mythicflux
      • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Dear mythicflux,

        Please confirm that Geek Squad didn't legally assume accountability when selling Lorraine her 3 year warranty on her laptop...then get on Digg and post your retarded comment.

        --*****
  • yingjai, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2Better to just refer to online howtos to fix your comptuer if you're computer illiterate.
  • mgalovic, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4I used to work for GS about a year ago, If memory serves me correctly, repairs that actually went out to the mfgs usually took about 4 weeks, the computers rarely if ever came back earlier than that. "Star" the devils reject of all repair info management programs actually prints out a est. return time of a month on the service receipt when the customer drops the product off. The agents are all but disconnected from the service centers a services escalation form (the electronic request she talked about) is the only thing that we could really do to find out what the heck was happening at the sc's. Granted if the unit was junked'out the management in the store should be able to make a call on replacing the laptop at that point. It does however help not to act like a horses ass and scream at everybody, I made a point of not helping these kind of people. If your calm and courteous you will get helped out alot quicker
    • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2You, sir, are a dick. You choose not to help the people out that are acting like horses asses and screaming at everybody? Sounds bad. But what sounds worse is that you CHOOSE not to help them out.

      Hopefully, one of "those kinds of people" will wait for you after your shift and shank you by your car...*****.
      • mgalovic, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0thats right I chose not to. It's called respect. they don't have any for me so in return I don't have any for them. And if they choose to meet me in the parking and "shank" me thats fine, but they'll be bringing a knife to a gunfight.
  • bincoder, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Ah, the power of the chargeback.
    It worked for me in a matter of weeks when I got screwed by someone on ebay and ebay only wanted to give back Part of the money, while they conducted their 'investigation' erm.. delay.
    I know, different product, different company...
    Result would be the same on anything.
    A few of those and Best Buy will be a little more cautious about who or what they outsource to.
  • felixme86, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4This is a ridiculous post, for those of you who claim to have been agents and are speaking badly of geek squad there's probably a good reason your gone. All of the Geeks I have ever meet are there to help the customers in any way they can. This customer is well within the normal process of computer repair and replacement. Your all focusing on the wrong point, best buy IS GIVING her a new laptop. She just needs to play by the rules.
    • Brian.Honaker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1To your point, I actually quit. I was a top performer when I was there. I was simply made an offer that I couldn't refuse and I am now working as a network engineer for MaximumASP.com
      • LiterateWolf, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1Pics or it didn't happen. I work at Microsoft. as a programmer.
  • aznhomig, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2Perhaps if she put her porn somewhere more obvious, she'd get her laptop back already...
  • ingxia, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2You wonder what Best Buy uses for there own internal IT services, probably not Geek Squad. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if their internal IT department denies job applications from their Geek Squad division
  • LeeSoong, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1'Geek Squad' is offensive - the very derogatory name demonstrates a hostile workplace.

    'Tech Squad' 'Computer Crew', etc - any other name would have sounded better than the insult to the people who labor to fix other people's mistakes.

    Best Buy - I call on you to rename your service and put an end to bigotry and discrimination.
  • PureRED, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2Obviously if you have to go to Geek Squad, you don't deserve to have a computer. They did the world a favor.
    • JaYBrooks, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Not everyone wants to open a laptop. I know IBM was really good about giving step by step information (in video and print) on how to open the machine without breaking it. You got to admit some of the laptops these days are so small you can't tell where to go in to get the job done. I do agree with you on one point. If its a desktop or tower its a no brainer. That is a macintosh customer that can't do a simple modular upgrade.
      • LiterateWolf, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1It's called skill. I repair notebook PCs and never needed manuals.
  • ChayD, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3And this should concern me because...........?
  • dimplemonkey, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Thank you Geek Squad for making fools of yourselves. My business has been booming and it's making me look like a genius! Keep it up!
  • tito184, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I'm concerned now. I'm shopping around for a laptop and I had heard that HP was much better than Dell these days when it comes to customer service. Is this true or is HP the lesser of the two evils?
    • khyberkitsune, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1HP is better. The fault mainly lies with the geek squad, I've never seen one around here with proper ESD protection when working on a customer's machine. I'll bet they killed it and are argung with HP over the warranty when in fact the Geek Squad went directly against HP's SOP for repair, in which step #1 is PUT ON ESD PROTECTION.
      • Sertified, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2They SENT it to HP, why would they need ESD? They never tried to repair it instore you idiot.
    • ducs, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Note: The following comment does not include Apple because tito184 seems to be looking for a laptop that runs Windows.

      Right now, the #1 brand for customer service and reliability is Lenovo. I'd highly suggest getting a ThinkPad of some sort, even if you have to get a refurbished or off-lease model. The other brands are statistically identical according to Consumer Reports. If you must choose between HP and Dell, I'd go with Dell because they're proactively trying to improve their customer service.
  • khyberkitsune, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Irrepairable? *****. Beyond ecomonically feasible repair, maybe. If it's indeed a tier-x unit she should have received a phone call. if it's on parts hold (the more likely issue) she should call HP, get the job number of the repar and then find out which depot it got sent to. I worked the HP depot here in Memphis. The parts cage is so sloppy it could takes weeks to find even a ***** lcd bezel to fix your laptop.
  • invertedtangent, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1So i wonder what they did to someone at consumerist.com to piss them off so much
    they seem to have a new article about how bad they are each day
    It seems pretty petty
  • bitterbug, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0A couple of years ago I picked up an MP3 player at Best Buy and paid for the extended warranty. It fried within a month so I followed the directions and mailed it off. Best Buy claimed they never received it and that was end of that. I've talked to others with similar problems and I would never buy an extended warranty from them again, or a product from them if I couldn't get it somewhere else.
    • Brian.Honaker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Actually, the PSP (extended repair warrantee) is the best thing that they have going. If you are going to buy a retail computer, buy it from Best Buy and get the plan. That leaves them responsible for anything short of pissing on the running motherboard. (With laptops, they even have a plan that covers liquid damage and cracked LCD's, unheard of in the industry.)
  • Laughsatyou, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0dont you atleast have to have hardware certification to work there?
    • Brian.Honaker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2They give you a test (at least at Geek Squad City they do) and it is basically questions right off of the last generation A+ exam. They expect that you at least know the stuff. Certification isn't required, but it get's you first consideration over those who aren't certified.
      • trparky, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Yep, took the test, got on the squad. Been there for eight months, love it there. A lot better than my old job. I'm working there and putting myself through college. Next semester I'm taking classes to get Cisco certified.

        Had a computer come in today, customer complained that she couldn't print. Print spooler kept crashing. Deleted a couple of bad installs of a printer driver but still didn't fix the problem. So, I went about working at another known problem. Bad print jobs. Restarted the spooler and found a stuck print job. I then acted quickly and deleted the print job before the spooler crashed again. Rebooted, no crashes. Told the customer that since I fixed it within five minutes that she didn't have to pay to have me fix it. Then she went on about how her company's IT guy couldn't even fix it and here I was, a Geek Squad Agent fixed it within five minutes. Yep, got that customer for life.
    • JaYBrooks, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I don't know if you have ever read some of the certifications out there... They are pretty much worthless. They don't mean anything. Anyone who knows what to do with a computer probably doesn't have a certification at all. I know when I had a chance to chose a team for a project I didn't call the people who had a A+ or anything that microsoft stamps out.
      • Brian.Honaker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Microsoft doesn't give the A+ certification. CompTIA does.
      • LiterateWolf, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2I seen people with computer science degrees that couldn't properly diagnose a bad inverter. I won't hire them again. No experience and all that fancy book learning got in the way of actual skill.
  • miniboss, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Ive had a laptop go "bad" on me and replaced twice already under the lemon-law (3 repairs and it's considered defective). It's a pain because it's about a 2week wait per repair. The first replacement was a compaq replaced after 2years with a much much better laptop. he 2nd time i convinced them to let me replace it with a Macbook. Surprisingly the Macbook has been in twice already (flaky USB, dead IR port, AC adapter burning twice). I already have something considered "defective" (cracking in shell) but I don't want it replaced with this gens macbook. I'll wait it out for a touch screen one.

    For me these warranties actually worked in my favor. So I fully expect them to blacklist me or have me arrested for not being a sucker.
    • JaYBrooks, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1In apples defense. It was a new product to apple. 1st runs are always a pain in the arse. I don't think we will see a really good macbook for at least another year. You gotta admit that magnetic power plug is pretty neat. That would of saved me a bunch of time re-soldiering my plug back in to my laptop.
  • joefriday, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0I worked at a company that had geek squad as their tech support. My computer there died, they had GS come in and and check it. he opened the case looked at it and said that it was burnt ram (but the ram didn't smell he said that). It will take a week to bring it out. The funny thing is it was giving off POST codes and it was a Compaq. It had 3 short beeps after POST = video card taking more than 32kb at start up. I found that out from Compaq.com and 30 seconds. I told the GS contact tell GS to get a video card. Guess who's fix was right.
  • brucer69, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I worked for geek squad for about a year and a half. while i was there we had a customer laptop that was sent off for a screen repair. When i came back we called the customer and told him that his laptop was in. Time when by and after two months the customer had not come into pick it up, although we had been in contact with him. One day i noticed the laptop was gone, i though "thank god he came to pick it up" but the next day the customer came into REALLY pick it up. Every one was scrambling because this guys computer was gone. Found out that one of the agents and "borrowed" it, reinstalled the os and started installing his own stuff on the computer. guess he figured no one would notice.

    And everyone is wondering, yes we had employees that "backed up" stuff from customers computers. Just in case.
  • VSKBadCRC, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Wow, there's a bit of information floating around here, so I'll post what I do know. I'm going on my 3rd year as an in-store CIA, and I really do like my job, but here's a few things I would like to point out:

    Regarding service plans and how they work...

    A service contract is designed to extend the existing warranty as well as offer some additional perks that might otherwise not be covered by the manufacturer. Power surges, issues of system stability from dust and heat (usually go hand in hand), humidity (Admittedly, they are vague on this one, it covers "humidity", but not actually fluid damage), normal wear (Which on laptops, is pretty big actually, issues with the power cable busting from being tugged on or the jack in the rear of the laptop breaking/bending out of place, plus keyboard keys on laptops - which on average run $75-$125 to repair as the manufacturer will not repair this issue). The accidental service plan goes without saying - spill something on it, no problem, drop it, no problem.

    The warranty also covers diagnostics fees, this can really help out a lot. You know that $199 and $299 thing everyone is talking about (Advanced Diag and Repair/Fix-it and Protect-it Special) is reduced by nearly $70 when you are under MFG warranty, or under PSP). It can also get an Agent to inspect or review a problem you're having at no cost to you, even if you choose not to have it repaired by them for any reason.


    Having gotten that out of the way, the other thing I wanted to bring up is what actually happens when you get your machine serviced - in this case let's say a laptop. The normal procedure is this - we examine the laptop in-store, sometimes limited to the check-in process (Which runs about 5-10 minutes, depending on the nature of the problem), or running an in-store diagnostic to determine the fault in-store. This shouldn't really take more than 24-48 hours, depending on the size of the store, and the current in-store backlog.

    Once we've narrowed down the problem we take the appropriate action. When it comes to sending anything to service, there's a few things that we have to abide by. Anything that goes to service that's still under it's initial 1 year manufacturer's warranty goes to the manufacturer, the exception to this rule, at present, are Acer - I don't know why - we either have no contract with them or ... I don't know. Acers go to Geeksquad City every time.

    Now contrary to popular belief, sending something to the manufacturer is hardly the end of the world, it's actually a good thing. Especially, usually, with HP/Compaq products. HP's turn time is typically 14 days. Their track record, from my own experiences, leaves something to be desired, but they get the job done quickly, which counts in most situations.

    The other thing I want to stress is that anything that goes to the manufacturer for repair - read: not a Best Buy owned repair facility, is difficult to track on progress. We use a system called STAR to monitor repairs and follow up on repair tickets, but HP doesn't use STAR. They do their repairs, and simply complete the ticket when the repairs are complete, we get no updates from HP on the actual status, so calling in on something that goes out under MFG warranty usually can't be followed on a day-by-day basis. At best we can submit a Vendor Escalation - it shoots an E-mail to someone in charge of the repair facility at HP, and hope to get a response in the next 24-48 hours on the status, or find out what the hold up is, etc. Again, we have no direct control over the repairs in this case.

    When it comes to in-store repairs, there's a few things we can't do:

    1. We can't replaced MFG Warranted PSU's (Even with a service plan) in-store anymore. The reason is because they get money back on the core, just like with your car battery. Without a service plan, it has to go out because of the same reason, plus the MFG will check to make sure it didn't fault because of a power surge/lightning strike - to verify that the repairs are in fact warranted.

    2. We can't replaced laptop memory in-store anymore (Specifically, warranted memory). This is dumb, I know. I don't know the politics behind this reason - but it basically is the way it is, because at least at the store level, we don't get compensation from the manufacturer on laptop memory, even under service plan. In short, the store eats that $75-$125 stick of RAM they just put into your machine, it's shrink, and comes out of our P&L, it's bad for the store, and the store loses money for it's labor budget, which isn't a good thing for anyone.


    Now when a unit is outside of it's normal MFG warranty the unit is shipped to Geeksquad City instead of the manufacturer. This isn't a bad thing, but it comes with a few problems. The first is turn-time, which at present, is upwards of 3-4 weeks out. And it is what it is. I can't tell you how many times people come to me with their laptops and tell me how critical it is that they get it back quicker than that, but there really is nothing I can do.

    It's not that I don't care, but you have to understand something about Geeksquad City - they repair about 3500-5000+ computers a day. That's huge, there is no other computer repair facility that I'm aware of that handles that kind of workload.

    Service plans are not the be-all end-all solution for every customer. That's why we ask them questions about their usage habits, what are they intending to buy, what they're looking to use it for, what kind of things do they want to do with it now, offer recommendations on how to get the most out of their purchase now, so that they don't have to stress out later about an upgrade or come back constantly for something they/we forgot.

    But when it comes to businesses or people who use their laptops for work, I always stress to them that they may want to buy a business-level solution from either our Best Buy for Biz or from the manufacturer directly because these have options that aren't available for consumer-level machines - specifically companies like HP and IBM have rapid repair options for their machines, HP has an option for something like a 2-3 day turn around time if your laptop goes to ***** on you. They cost an arm and a leg, but it might be a better solution than a consumer-level service plan.

    Best Buy used to offer a service plan for their laptops that had this feature. It had a 2-3 day turn time, it was overnighted to the repair facility, and got top priority, if the laptop was failed to be returned by the date set on the ticket, you got a new laptop. It was called a Platinum Service Plan, which we no longer offer, largely because no one wanted to pay the $350-$500 price tags on them. It also covered just about anything, liquid/drop damage, you name it.

    But this is something the consumer should strive to become aware of, walking into a retailer that specializes in consumer-level electronics won't always walk out with what they need if they're buying for a business.
    • brucer69, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Thats why i hated working for the geek squad. Everything was budget this and CCC that. I couldn't stand hearing "did you do a 360 today". NO! i got this job to fix computers! GOD geek squad sucks. We cant even replace laptop memory in store anymore that take less then 5 minutes. We have to send it to geek squad city for 2 weeks. no wonder customers were always pissed off.
  • astrotrain, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1All the big named store repair services always have a way out via contract signed by the user. Its the user's fault for not taking the 5 minutes to stop and read the contract before signing it. Before signing ANYTHING read the contract! You would not be surprised how many people just sign something when its thrown in front of them. In this case this gal lost her laptop, because she failed to read that GeekSquad was not going to be reliable for it (which they should be) because she waived all rights.

    Meantime, someone generate a "Last Rites" for computers, it should be read to them when their owners decide
    to take it to Best Buy, Circuit City, or CompUSA for repair.
  • arhans, on 05/08/2008, -0/+0umm, maybe you can buy from best seller site. I hope http://laptop.webs4.info can open your eye for best seller laptop. thx
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