[new tech guy]

I was atcually there setting up internet for the people, and i could not just let them on the net like that, the new pc i told them to have GS come fix it since i didnt want to void any gaurantee they have. But the other i took off the mcafee trial and loaded comodo firewall on the PC.

[JohnnyP]

I can tell you why people keep going to gs. Its the same reason they can sell $50 USB cable with printers... "uneducated consumer". Wow you guys charge $120 an hour!? The local mom and pop charges $30 and $80 flat for a complete wipe and reinstall with all updates and drivers plus any other software such as Office or the ISP software for the same flat rate. The only way it would cost more is if the drivers take more then an hour to find. Computers do not leave with out an AV if they do not have one AVG Free goes onto the computer (of course as long as it is a home user). How can they do this so cheap compared to gs you ask. Well the people that work there are not complete morons they can easily work on 4 or 5 at a time. I worked there between jobs and could have 5 things going on and when customers pickup the computer we would hook it up on the counter and try to recreate whatever problem it was to show that the issue was fixed before they pay for the work.
My advice to people about all the big box stores is to know what you are getting before you get there. Do not rely on the sales person or anybody else to tell you need or what features something has b/c odds are they are wrong. I get it all the time but I'm smart enough to know what the truth is I've already done my research and found out that they have the make model of what I want the cheapest in town. I had a guy tell me that I could only put music bought through iTunes on an iPod and the you couldn't put other mp3s on it...

[valis]

Originally Posted by JohnnyP

I can tell you why people keep going to gs. Its the same reason they can sell $50 USB cable with printers... "uneducated consumer". Wow you guys charge $120 an hour!? The local mom and pop charges $30 and $80 flat for a complete wipe and reinstall with all updates and drivers plus any other software such as Office or the ISP software for the same flat rate. The only way it would cost more is if the drivers take more then an hour to find. Computers do not leave with out an AV if they do not have one AVG Free goes onto the computer (of course as long as it is a home user). How can they do this so cheap compared to gs you ask. Well the people that work there are not complete morons they can easily work on 4 or 5 at a time. I worked there between jobs and could have 5 things going on and when customers pickup the computer we would hook it up on the counter and try to recreate whatever problem it was to show that the issue was fixed before they pay for the work.
My advice to people about all the big box stores is to know what you are getting before you get there. Do not rely on the sales person or anybody else to tell you need or what features something has b/c odds are they are wrong. I get it all the time but I'm smart enough to know what the truth is I've already done my research and found out that they have the make model of what I want the cheapest in town. I had a guy tell me that I could only put music bought through iTunes on an iPod and the you couldn't put other mp3s on it...

excellent post, except for the last three letters, which I pruned out for you.

but you hit every nail square on that. At BOTH geek squads by our house (through some cosmic burp in the universe, I'm equidistant from 2 of them and one circuit city, down to the 10th of a mile) I've been told not misleading infomation, but flat out wrong information wrt anything ranging from video cards and motherboards to software and a/v applications. I've been told to be sure not to plug the AIO device into a surge protector, as then the scanner won't work.

Obviously, with me working in IT, I actually get paid to do this stuff, and as a result, know more than the average layperson; this is key to your point about consumer ignorance/indifference. I also remember changing my own oil, but now it's such a damn hassle to get rid of the stuff I just go to jiffy lube. But at least I know how to change it.

I would state that at least 75% of the clientele that visit BB or GS have no clue what is happening inside their machines. I mean, it's common these days (almost required, thanks to vista) to have 2-4 gigs of ram in a glorified email machine. My wife has a vista laptop with 2 gigs of ram and a faster processor than my xp rig, and it still runs slower than mine does on every application. And it is used for the 'big brother' bulletin boards and webmail; that's it. It has office, but that's for when I'm working on someone's hjt log and need my canned speeches containing hyperlinks. If I didn't use that pc, it wouldn't even have office on it.

Yet it would still have a 3 ghz processor and 2 gigs of ram.

Whatever. It's like giving your grandmother a ferrari; yes, she will use it, but will she ever tach it out and make that sucker sing? Heck no. If it wasn't for our 3 year old, she'd still be using ME, which she was totally happy with. But ME apparently doesn't interface well with 32 ounces of apple slushy.

[Compiler]

No no... ME only works best with Grape Slushies. You should know that!

[valis]

well, duh, I do.....but monkeyboy is blissfully unaware of the fact.

As a complete aside, as the HD was relatively okay, just the keyboard was smoked, I tossed it into a sff case and booted it, and damn if it didn't work.

Now I've found the true target audience for ME; 3.5 year olds.

He can open his cd player, grab whatever game he wants to play, and be off and running. He can turn it on, turn it off, and navigate to his internet shortcuts (there's only 6 or 7 that are allowed through, so it's not like it's rocket science).

But he can make that ME scream. Gates finally missed on a marketing venture.

[new tech guy]

Ha, that was well me at 5 with our fam's first computer, a cannon invovva that was "internet ready" which meant it had a 28.6 dial up modem (broadband didnt exist till i was like around 10). Had windows 95 and i think later was upgraded to 98SE. I remember knowing 2 things on that thing, games, and on the internet, disney blast. I remember even having one that ran in DOS from a floppy disc .

[Jimmymellville]

I work at a place that does follow up survey's after people have had service at Geek Squad 90% of the people we speak with are not happy and feel ripped off and mislead and usually the problem is still there. Of that 90% at least 75% have the same exact problem they bought a laptop from Best Buy the Monitor Screen cracked and Best Buy won't cover it via the Service Plan and the Manufactuer won't cover it either. I hear this 100 times a day. I mean its litterally everyone on any brand of PC but especially HP and ACER.

[gurutech]

Originally Posted by valis

well, duh, I do.....but monkeyboy is blissfully unaware of the fact.

As a complete aside, as the HD was relatively okay, just the keyboard was smoked, I tossed it into a sff case and booted it, and damn if it didn't work.

Now I've found the true target audience for ME; 3.5 year olds.

He can open his cd player, grab whatever game he wants to play, and be off and running. He can turn it on, turn it off, and navigate to his internet shortcuts (there's only 6 or 7 that are allowed through, so it's not like it's rocket science).

But he can make that ME scream. Gates finally missed on a marketing venture.

I thought Gates tried this with "Microsoft BOB"... LOL

[volatile]

Originally Posted by Jimmymellville

I work at a place that does follow up survey's after people have had service at Geek Squad 90% of the people we speak with are not happy and feel ripped off and mislead and usually the problem is still there. Of that 90% at least 75% have the same exact problem they bought a laptop from Best Buy the Monitor Screen cracked and Best Buy won't cover it via the Service Plan and the Manufactuer won't cover it either. I hear this 100 times a day. I mean its litterally everyone on any brand of PC but especially HP and ACER.

This is probably because, when the customer buys a service plan, they buy the cheap one that doesn't cover accidental damage. If they read the service plan agreements they will see that they usually don't cover things like cracked screens. Screens usually don't just crack because of normal wear and tear unless there is an issue with the hinge that places stress on the screen. They get the service plan they pay for.

[Ranger802008]

LOL you guys obviously think we're MRI Robots...I hate using that disc...I hardly ever load it unless I'm doing the diags we're "required" to do...I'm a hands on person...and as far as Trend and Spy Sweeper go...we do put both, Trend for AV and Spy Sweeper for Anti-Spyware...or you can get a suite...also...Trend not updating...that's easy to fix and you couldn't figure it out? LOL

[new tech guy]

Originally Posted by Ranger802008

LOL you guys obviously think we're MRI Robots...I hate using that disc...I hardly ever load it unless I'm doing the diags we're "required" to do...I'm a hands on person...and as far as Trend and Spy Sweeper go...we do put both, Trend for AV and Spy Sweeper for Anti-Spyware...or you can get a suite...also...Trend not updating...that's easy to fix and you couldn't figure it out? LOL

I could have probably figured it out but did not touch it because i did not want to put a client in a pickle with geeksquad because they may drop their support for it if i attempt repairs. Also if you look within both peices of software, both have an antivirus component. Therefore i figured one HAD to be interferring with the other, ontop of that it was geeksquad "optimized". Had some weird game option thing in the operating system from hp and grew especially concerned because when i click on any one of those buttons it gave an error and the application would basically crash. Not good for a brand new computer that just came out of the box. Be worried about that especially if it was my own. In short what im saying is, they failed their customer. You guys sell a service, products to provide those services yes, but still the main part is a service. If you cannot do somthing right the first time, dont do it at all for money.

[Ranger802008]

there's Spysweeper + Antivirus...yes but that must have been an accident...Spy Sweeper...I've never taken a look at it in depth because I hate it...but it may have an AV core but it obviously sucks..because it never finds anything...if it was up to me I'd have Kaspersky

[new tech guy]

Still any geek squad "agent" should no that 2 avs in one system are a big nono, regardless of what their there for and it is a component of the software so i doubt it was any "accident". I do not use it either and am not a guru in it but it took me 1 whopping minute of searching through options to find that peice of information.

[Ranger802008]

no what I'm saying is Webroot has a standalone Anti-Spyware program which is what we're suppose to be using for those security packages then they have a Spysweeper + Antivirus...maybe that Agent grabbed the wrong box without looking, they do look similar...I've done it myself once...but I go back when I notice and exchange it out for the right box...now I'm not saying GS is perfect...I know we're not...but like I said...it's really about who is running the precinct more than it is who's staffing it...because our precinct is really good...but we do have a couple who are not "techs" but they have limited knowledge and we help them out all the time...teaching them things...you gotta understand things from the inside-out...be an agent first and you'll see what I'm talking about personally I hate Spysweeper and Trend...Kaspersky is t3h pwnage

[Compiler]

Originally Posted by Jimmymellville

I work at a place that does follow up survey's after people have had service at Geek Squad 90% of the people we speak with are not happy and feel ripped off and mislead and usually the problem is still there. Of that 90% at least 75% have the same exact problem they bought a laptop from Best Buy the Monitor Screen cracked and Best Buy won't cover it via the Service Plan and the Manufactuer won't cover it either. I hear this 100 times a day. I mean its litterally everyone on any brand of PC but especially HP and ACER.

Broken LCD screens on notebooks are not the responsiblity of the manufacture if a customer broke it by dropping it, etc. Now - if the notebooks are cheap in general and break by normal usage - then that is grounds for a class-action lawsuit.

There is extended severice warranty and Damage Warranty services that people can buy. Breaking your property isn't covered by normal warranty nor should it be expected to.