I would like to start a Geeksquad Q&A for those out there who might have questions. Maybe about their experience with an Agent. How to know if you have the right Agent for your problem? Knowing little things like asking for the senior agent, or asking for the DCI (with is the supervisor). Usually the senior agent does the most tech work at the bench. Though a DCI will handle the most difficult problems at a Geeksquad Precinct. If you have any problems at a Geeksquad bench you should first ask for the "DCI". This should be the person whom with care the most about your problem and making you happy at the end of the day. If you have problems with the DCI you should ask for the services manager. Even if you have to wait or come back to talk to them directly. A services manager can authorize "free" work to make you happy if it applies in your particular case. If you continue to have a problem which you feel need resolution you can call 1800bestbuy and escalate your issue to a corporate level. If you have been wronged in any way, they can make an offer of resolution over the phone. Which basically gets everyone at the store in trouble, up to and including termination.

Hope I can be of help to anyone who takes time to read what I type.....000OOOO

AgentQuag

I know these guys intend to do a good job and for the most part Im sure they do. I am so glad that I am not at the mercy of depending on any service from any company for technical issues.

I was in line waiting to ask an agent a question (he couldnt get a date so I was wondering if that gave him super technology powers ) I was sent there by a best buy rep to see if they had a serial port adapter and I overheard the conversation between the agent and the young couple.

For the masses of customers, they have absolutely no clue. I didnt get the jest of the overall problem but towards the end of the conversation I heard them ask for a memory upgrade and they were charged 29.99 for the installation plus the cost of the ram.

Fair enough, geek squad is a business and I understand they are in it for the money, who isnt? But, this made me cringe to know it cost that much to open the pack of ram, undo 2 screws and snap in 1 or 2 sticks of ram and put the door back on. <5 minutes worth of work.

Ok, so theres my rant for the day.

Im sure most of the members here that need geek squads service will really appreciate your post and I can admire your time and effort in doing so...

I am an I.T. troop in the air force and work on the exchange and active directory team. Our local best buy's geek squad is made up mostly of air force I.T. troops working there part time. This is good and it's bad... This leads me to conclude that to work at geek squad you need absolutely no certification whatsoever and that they will higher anyone with random computer experience. I say this because the people that work in the geek squad of our local best buy don't touch the systems day to day like we do, they are the folks that do the paperwork and make the briefings for the boss and what not.

But it can be a good thing in that they are at least relatively level headed and can troubleshoot in a relavent order.

I refuse to use geek squad for 2 reasons. 1. I am generally more educated and more experienced than their technicians. 2. I refuse to pay the prices, which have no bearing on the technicians as they work for the big box giant.

On a side note though... this is a hardware enthusiast forum... you aren't going to find very many people that need help from the geek squad. For my grandma... they rule all because when I go to visit I dont' have to fix her silly computer issues.

If it's any consolation to those complaining about bestbuy not requiring IT certification in order to work at geek squad, I have applied for a position as a geek squad agent on several occasions and I can assure you that they will not hire me.
I've never thought that job would actually require certification though, I think most gurus on these forums could perform the duties of that job, certified or not.

It wouldn't be the best choice for a certified tech to get a job at bestbuy, demand for them is pretty high so there are much better jobs out there for them(at least in my area,US CA).

I was given the impression from fellow techies that Geek Squad are just a buch of posers who front and act like they know technical things, but when it really comes down to specifics they flaunter

The fact that to work for Geek Squad doesn't even require A+ certification, I would never recommend them to friends or family. Then again, as boonality pointed out, most of us forum members are our own "Geek Squad".

B****es don't know about mah G(eek)-Skillz~

I had a Geek Squad Agent argue with me that the ATI 3870,was faster than a 8800GTS G92 512mb card...and then he went on to brag about his Gateway with its Phenom,and 4 gigs of ram...what a loser!!!

Geek squad, ha ha ha.

That's almost as awesome as when I had a geek squad guy tell me a few years back, that his 6800 Ultras in SLI were far superior to my single 7900 GT. I really just had to walk away...

Anyway, bestbuy can sometimes have some good deals for the educated consumer, but geek squad isn't one of them.

my 7900gs pwnzors the 9800gtx triple sli'ed

My 386 will run circles around your QX9770. And I only have 1mb of ram beeyotch!!

Come on we aren't all that bad lol. I am one of the Geeks and I think some people have bad experiences just like any other company out there with bad apples. The group I work with all take their job serious and we work hard to get things done. Im pursuing a career in IT and I wanted this on my resume that I at least show some interest in Technology.

There is alot of paper work but that is not where our job stops. There is new work and old work. New work is new laptops or desktops that are being optimized and setup for the customer. Old work is the work that more experienced techs get involved in.

Anyone with a decent knowledge in computers will always think that paying for computer services is a rip. The one thing that we should all realize is that there are a lot of people who do not even know if a motherboard needs 4 or 8 wooden screws. Or what a motherboard is for that matter. Not saying that those people are exploited. Just think about mechanics, electronic repairmen, home theater installers, everyone charges a good penny. Because they do something you do not know how to do or would rather have some one else do.

Not ranting or trying to argue just my opinion. The one thing that does piss me off is the countless "do it yourself" projects we get in that have gone horribly wrong..whoever thought running spliced wires out of a power supply was smart isnt too bright lol.

Anyway just thought I drop by and add a few logs to the fire j/k lol.