[drgoodtrips]

Originally Posted by Chad81

WOW. I'm glad I found this thread. So I just got a job at the Geek squad. I have a mortgage to pay, mine and my wife's mouth to feed, and I HAD to get a job.

Anyways, I'm extremely pissed now. These guys are total immoral douchebags. I am 26 and my bosses are both younger than me. All they talk about is rock climbing and they can't even fix computers well. They are dirty salesman so they have high store "numbers". I am in a tricky spot because I NEED a job. I spent 2 months looking for jobs and finally succombed. <b>Should I stay or just quit and try my hand somewhere else?</b>

What sort of jobs were you looking for? I'm a software engineer by trade, so I can't really speak about the IT/Service market, but the developer market seems to be pretty flush right now. I've been getting calls out of the blue from headhunters I used a few years back, asking if I'd be interested in interviewing for this or that developer/senior developer position.

If the IT/Service market is anything like that, I'd say keep looking. Of course, nothing says you can't collect paychecks while looking for something better. As a matter of fact, call headhunters - that's a good way to look for jobs when you're busy with something else, like a current job.

[valis]

Originally Posted by JStergis

Yup, the mobo was a weirdo dell one too, that's why I couldn't throw a standard 20-pin on it. It was an older Dell with no real room for expansion (maxxed out at 512 MB RAM, no AGP, one CD bay, a floppy bay and a HDD bay, that's all.) It was actually an extra unneeded box at that point anyway.

Out of curiosity, I plugged a standard PSU into it, and there was a spark and I'm pretty sure the mobo blew, considering the size of it. PSU still works though.

Actually, funny about the customizing.

My current rig is a circa 2000 Compaq chasis, compaq board, an AMD processor I found for it (1.2 GHz), a 120 gig WD HDD, yada yada
Basically random parts I threw together.

The front of the case has no cover, because I didn't like the looks of it, and I had destroyed the power button anyway. It's metal with the CD drive and other covers sticking out several inches, the power button requires really small fingers or a pencil or something, it's hillbillyish really, but what do I care, it runs at 80 F on the CPU, and it sits below the desk so I never look at it anyway.

figured something was goofy with that mobo setup.....it was bugging me for a bit, but I couldn't figure out WHY it was sticking in my mind.....

my very first build (was into computers in the late 70's, again in the mid 80's, then nothing until 98, and things had changed a touch in the 15 year interim) was in 98, and I had zero knowledge of modern pc's. So I went to the local Fry's, picked up a mobo, processor, some ram, a monitor and video card, all the peripherals, and a 5 gig hd that people came from far and wide to see, and had everything spread out on the card table I called a desk. Literally turned it on with a screwdriver. Paperclips also worked, but as they lacked insulation, it was a nasty surprise at best.

two weeks later I got a cat, and thence learned how to put it all in a case.

still have the rig and the cat, btw. Both still function fine.

[new tech guy]

My old computer is a custom build of my own. When i got it i went to town on it with upgrades as all it had was a linksys card, a 20 and 10 gig hd on it, win2k, and the 48x dvd rom drive which is atcually still a decent disk drive. I maxed its ram from 191 to 512, added usb 2.0, upgraded the drive to a 120 (have two old dumpster dived 10 gigs now) but those are on their last leg, just driving them to the ground at this point and i have the 120 freed up in an external case unit, havent decided if i wanna put it back i the old box, load xp and play with vmware or just try it on the 10 gig and keep the 120 as an external drive in case i need to work on someone else's computer, do emergency backup from bartpe to one of my own pcs.... But i understand there are legal issues with using certain software in a company but they could at least try to find good free commercial software that does the job efectively or talk to free software distributors to get a special licence where they could use the software they provide.

[Factor3]

I've got one here in Atlanta that is like nothing I've ever experienced. I bought an external hard drive from them, used it for back up.... then it failed and they charged me for data recovery after having it for 5 days!

They even set up a home networking system using a Buffalo Link external HD... Right after I went away for 2 1/2 weeks (without having the chance to try it out and make sure it worked properly). When I came back things weren't working at all. They wouldn't even own up to the work that they were doing to come and fix it and I had to pay someone else to go and fix the mess they had made.

If anyone has any good recommendations for Computer Help people in the Atlanta area, I'd LOVE to use them instead of throwing my money down the Geek Squad hole of incompetence!

[pwong]

I'm a tech guy and I went to the Best Buy interview just to see what they say. One of the interviewers told me that I have no sales experience so I didn't get the job. "They would rather Train a salesman to be a tech than train a tech to be a salesman." Then I opened up my own company called computersquad.ca and most of the clients were GeekSquad's unhappy customers!

[geekxquad]

Originally Posted by Alex Ethridge

I am in the on-site service and support business and I have gone behind enough of the Geek Squad's work now that I feel I am qualified to make an assessment of their competence--or rather lack of.

Over the last three months, I've had opportunity to check out about ten or more wireless network setups done by the Geek Squad. I find that in all cases there was not one which had any form of security. All were open and unsecured. In all cases, the default name for the wireless device was left at the manufacturer's default and not one even had the default password changed.

The worst case I saw was today's late afternoon service call that ran on to about 8:30 PM. The Geek Squad had set up three wireless networks. One in the home I visited, one directly across the street and one just next door. All were done over a period of about six weeks. The customer complained that her wireless would just come and go at will. I discovered the Geek Squad had her connecting to the internet through the next door neighbor's computer and, in addition, all of the other conditions existed as stated in the above paragraph.

So much for the Geek Squad. I guess it just proves that even the near totally incompetent can get plenty of business if they have the advertising dollars behind them. I wonder how many identity thefts they are responsible for.

GS is a professional business, and certainly does not do petty things such as stealing identities or try to create more business for themselves. as an agent i know that not just any moron that can build a computer can get a job there, its training and certifications that make a difference, anyways if u have had a bad experience with GS a lot of the new agents are still a bit new, u wouldnt believe the problems ppl have, vomit on a laptop etc. lol
but ya, not all GS agents are trying to rob you of your files/documents, as for pricing and data, its totally flat fee based and confidential.

[new tech guy]

What he means by that is that he wonders how many identity thefts have occured because someone incomptent assumed they were in good shape after gs set up a pc when in fact nothing is secured and therefore personal data was stolen from a hacked machine due to the lack of security. I personally agree, that they should use a 128 bit WPA encryption on their installed networks as that type of encryption has not been hacked where WEP has been hacked and the tools needed to do it are readily available on the net. Also, they should focus more on being good pc servicemen rather than salespeople.

[~Candy~]

And he registered JUST to post that..............wow..........

[new tech guy]

Originally Posted by AcaCandy

And he registered JUST to post that..............wow..........

Probably just was SENT by geeksquad to post that and cover their name...

[paulr24]

This doesn't really have much to do with anything, but I was in Best Buy a few months ago and I saw Tiger Woods 08 for the ps2 with one of the Geek Squad stickers that says something like "Have us install it for you!" on it. No joke. I just started cracking up in the middle of the store by myself, people must have thought I was nuts. Looking back I wish I had taken a picture of it...

I'd be seriously pissed if I was some dumb old person who bought this for their grand kid and had it "installed" by Geek Squad for $30 or whatever it costs.

[rawrbble]

I work for Geek Squad and the hiring of the technicians is horrible. It's based on referals of friends. You could have never touched a computer in your life and be hired. Fun stuff.

[lexmarks567]

geek squad is so dumb take your computer to them tell them your moniter quit but don't tell them its because you didn't turn it on. i bet they will never figure it out charge $1000 and say you need a new computer

[new tech guy]

Hey lex! long time no see! how are you buddy? . Anyway yes and you would be surprised lex how many people at school think there computer in one of the labs is broke then i walk over and tell them to turn it on. They claim it is on and i press the switch and lo and behold! the computer is starting up and perfectly fine.

[lexmarks567]

Originally Posted by new tech guy

Hey lex! long time no see! how are you buddy? .

im fine had a headache for like a whole month and now it comes and goes.

Originally Posted by new tech guy

They claim it is on and i press the switch and lo and behold! the computer is starting up and perfectly fine.

future geek-squad employees

[new tech guy]

Isnt it the truth .