Geek Squad At Best Buy

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Category: Electronics

Contact Information
West Carmel Marketplace/U.S. 421 N., Carmel, Indiana, United States

Geek Squad At Best Buy Reviews

good_2cu July 4, 2009

recklessly incorrect diagnosis

On July 2, 2009 I went to Best Buy in Mission Valley in San Diego, CA. I approached the Geek Squad counter with my desktop computer in arm. I needed service on it because the machine didn't send a signal to the display. The computer worked, and I could hear the fan run when I turned it on, but the monitor for some reason didn't display anything.

When I got to the counter, a "technician" (if you can call him that) plugged a keyboard, mouse and monitor to my computer to diagnose it. He acknowledged that the computer did turn on but that the monitor wasn't receiving a signal. He turned the computer off and said "you have a bad motherboard, " to which I responded, "What can be done?" He replied, "Nothing, you have to buy a new computer." I asked him how he could tell, and he said he just knew it was a bad motherboard and that there was nothing that could be done. I argued that he didn't even go in to see if there were loose connectors or transistors, and he said that it was likely a bad transistor and said they couldn't fix it.

I was in shock! I wondered how in the world you could make a diagnosis like that without even taking the cover off. Needless to say, I took my machine and left. Instead, I drove straight to Notebooks Plus, which is a little mom-and-pop store within 5 miles. I left my computer there, where the REAL technicians diagnosed it and told me that the problem was excess dirt inside. They cleaned the machine and now it works fine!!! Thank goodness for REAL computer technicians!

Moral of the story: Now that Geek Squad resides in a retail store, understand that they are no longer their to repair electronics, rather to get you to buy!!

wtf February 5, 2009

Idn't fix problem; charged me anyway

I brought my Acer notebook computer to the Geek Squad at the Best Buy where I bought it, at U.S. 421 N. in Carmel, Indiana (West Carmel Marketplace). Whenever I went online and tried to load a page, any page, all I got was the hourglass and the page never loaded. I took it to the Geek Squad in the store and had to wait an hour there while they ran their free diagnostic. It was closing time when it finished, and they said it showed there was spyware on it. In a rush to get home and make dinner, I said they could keep it and fix it. No word, no word, and a week later I finally called. Guess what? It was "done" the next day. I paid the $125 or so and took it home. Guess what? No difference; I still couldn't load a page!

My son suggested it might be the wireless modem that was off, since the computers connected to the ethernet cable were OK. I called the cable provider, who came out and found that the wireless network name and password needed to be reset (long story why, don't ask) and fixed the problem. Anyway, I went back to the Geeks and asked for my money back since they failed to diagnose the problem correctly and fix it. The Geek refused and started arguing that they did perform a service (removing the "spyware" which I actually doubt was even on there; the one they were talking about, I had identified months ago and removed all associated files and it had caused me no problems since). Then he tried to say I should have called and given them a chance to fix the problem once I discovered they hadn't the first time around. I pointed out that I figured it out on my own and I was here now giving them the chance to make it right by refunding my money. He still refused. So much for customer service.

I will NEVER go back there for software issues (unfortunately I have a 3-year service plan for hardware issues so I have to use them for that if I need to). I would never advise anyone to use them for any reason after all the horror stories I have heard here and read in the news, like the way they rigged their instore website to list higher prices than their online website for the same items...until they were found out and outed in the press so they had to stop. Can you say "un-eth-i-cal?"