Geek Squad
Paid $79 for phone help, network fix failed twice

I use my laptop for work while traveling, and at those times my wife's desktop becomes the computer with the primary link to our local Verizon wireless module. A few weeks ago, after returning from a business trip, I re-established our home network but found that my own laptop would not connect to it, even after numerous reconnects and restarts.

I called Geek Squad at their general 1-800 number and signed up for phone assistance ($79). The phone connection dropped twice, and each time I had to go through complicated procedures to get reconnected for the over-the-phone help.

The second time, with a second technician, I found myself trying to understand a woman with a heavy accent directing me through various DOS commands (from the "Run" link on the Windows Start menu) over an unclear line. I asked her to use phonetic spelling for letters ("A as in Andrew" and so on), but she would not, even though I often had to ask her to repeat things more than once.

I am generally willing to let a tech support person lead me down a path for a while if it eventually gets us to a solution. This got us nowhere, and from long experience with my home network I had a hunch her approach was not leading to a fix. Eventually this connection also dropped with no explanation.

Both times the call dropped, Geek Squad had my phone number and email, and I never heard back from them. After the second experience I decided not to call again. I kept working on my network settings, and after about 15 more minutes I fixed the connectivity problem myself. My Geek Squad experience was a disaster.

Company: Geek Squad
Country: USA
Phone: 8004335778
Site: geeksquad.com

  <     >