The Geeks at Geek Squad have been trained well. They get you to buy additional unnessaary services through fear. They take complete advantage of regular people who don't know a great deal about computers. I took my laptop into a GS location after I had discovered it had been infected with the so called 2011 internet virus. I asked them if they could please remove the virus from my computer. They said they couldn't do that service alone, that they needed to do a complete "diagnostic" on the hard drive. "Why?" was unclear, but if I didn't do it, they couldn't remove the virus. So I reluctantly agreed to the almost $300 service and left my laptop. They then called me and told me - quot;Wow, looks like your hard drive is toast. We don't want to do anything else to it. We "strongly suggest" (nice CYA language I'm sure was suggested from legal) to get a new hard drive and bring in your OS, and by the way, looks like you don't want us to back up your data - (I had signed something that said not to) are you sure about that? Here's what can happen..." So I then reluctantly agreed to back up the data-another $99! I bought a hard drive, $79 brought in the OS $30 (I had to order it from the manufacturer. It had to be backordered and many, many problems with SONY getting those discs) and said - please get this done... Everyday I'm out my laptop, I can't do business! It had already been 3 WEEKS. They said it would be ready the afternoon of the following day. When I called in. They were still in process of doing the work but that it would be ready that evening. Well, waited till the next day and just went in... It still wasn't ready. Why?"We couldn't transfer the data. Your data is lost forever because your hard drive is so bad. (i'm thinking why didn't you guys call me) You can take it to another location where they have 'special equipment' (another person who complained about the same problem on this site, said something about how they said a "white room with white coats" and that's exactly what they made it sound like) and they can do it for you for about $1,500!!! How badly do you need your data?" I thanked them kindly and said no to the off site $1,500 suggestion. Took my computer which was essentially a new hard drive with nothing on it but a Windows 7 OS. So they essentially charged me $300 to install a hard drive, and do a download. So I still needed my docs so I took it to an IT friend. He looked at it for about 1/2 hour and said my hard drive was fine, and we can take the virus - and other spyware - off for you. Your hard drive will be fine. And so far-it has. So I have my old hard drive and all my docs, but still stuck with $300 charge from GS. I wanted my money back. They gave me the money back for the data transfer $99 that they could not do but would not return my $300. Said that their counter Geeks would NEVER have said that I needed to buy a new hard drive-that was MY decision. The diagnostic test was necessary. When they do the diagnostic they look for every little thing that MIGHT happen to your hard drive and "consult" you about it. That my hard drive failure was "imminent"-another nice word no doubt suggested by the legal dept. Well, isn't that so with just about any computer? It's going to go bad at some point...? This "diagnostic test" that they get you to sign up for is a tool for them to try to make money. To find out any little thing that MAY go wrong and get you to purchase unnecessary services and equipment. And if you don't take their scare tactic suggestions? Well, dont blame us if it blows up! Nice job trainers and lawyers. If someone would have said, "you know, your old drive isn't that bad... You can still use it." I would have done just that! Ask me to sign a hold harmless or something-Best Buy Geek Squad guys! I just needed the thing back to get back to business! My IT guy was able to take off the viruses and not screw it up. But they would not make a suggestion like that because, they are so afraid that someone is going to sue them for losing all the data, or messing up your computer in some way, which is ironic because that is exactly what they did. I remember picking it up and distinctly asking them if there was any way to retrieve any of the data. They said NO, that the drive was so bad it wasn't possible. This was in fact, a lie. They make you sign a number of different things when you bring it in and by then you are so confused and desperate, you'll say yes to just about anything... Let the buyer beware... And again, nice job training and legal departments! Hope you are saving money because with the number of people who've had bad experiences who will no doubt tell everyone they know to NOT TAKE YOUR COMPUTER TO GEEK SQUAD TO FIX ANY COMPUTER PROBLEMS-you can't be gaining any happy, new customers.
0 comments