Questions for Geek Squad - Anyone?

[hoxlund]

Now that I get to do what I love all day long, which is work on computers and anything electrical

Does anyone have questions or comments for the Geek Squad that I can answer?

And this is a long shot, but does anyone else here in these forums work for a Geek Squad?

[MonteLDS]

the Geek Squad is an over priced branding crap shop. My friend works for them. He has become such a tool. I can't believe you have fallen into their hands.

[aviationwiz]

the Geek Squad is an over priced branding crap shop. My friend works for them. He has become such a tool. I can't believe you have fallen into their hands.

*ALL* major brand computer repair shops are overpriced, nothing new.

[aviationwiz]

Now that I get to do what I love all day long, which is work on computers and anything electrical

At first I read that as "Now that I get to do what I love all day long, which is work on computers and anything ethical"

LOL!

[hoxlund]

the Geek Squad is an over priced branding crap shop. My friend works for them. He has become such a tool. I can't believe you have fallen into their hands.

its a way for best buy to reach out and help customers and make some money doing it

[MonteLDS]

the Geek Squad is an over priced branding crap shop. My friend works for them. He has become such a tool. I can't believe you have fallen into their hands.

its a way for best buy to reach out and help customers and make some money doing it

No it isn't. it is just another way to get Best Buy into people mind. It is all about branding. It makes me sick.

[dolphinius_rex]

It makes me sick.

Big box stores in general make me sick. I'm tired of saving money at the expense of quality and service and getting to know the people who serve you.

Give me a small time operation with employees with passion and interest ANY DAY!!

[hoxlund]

Give me a small time operation with employees with passion and interest ANY DAY!!

thats what our precinct is all about, we all have fun doing what we love and every single person in there is very good at computers

not a bunch of high schoolers that are n00bs at computers

[Ian]

Some people feel more comfortable dealing with a large company like Best Buy. Small mom and pop places are great, but when you're investing in a computer, you want them to be around somewhere down the road when you need help.

Some of us at work were actually going to call the Geeks one day and see if they knew their shit.

[dolphinius_rex]

I remember back when the word "Geek" was supposed to be an insult

[burninfool]

I remember back when the word "Geek" was supposed to be an insult

LOL

Good luck hoxlund on your new job....maybe you can give me a deal on a new tv.

[hoxlund]

the geek squad isn't for your die hard computer user, otherwise he could fix his own stuff

and sometimes they still can't, ive seen pretty tricked out computers come through our precinct still needing help

geek squad is more for people that don't know or have the time to fix electronics

and besided we charge flat rate, not a hourly rate like smaller shops

[Boba_Fett]

I remember back when the word "Geek" was supposed to be an insult

Its pretty bad down here. Best Buy ads in the paper have quotes for the Geek Squad like "We involuntarily practice celibacy to help you out" and "Less time for dates equals more time for you". I laughed my ass off wondering why people would take getting degraded like that...

Don't get me wrong hox, I'm glad you enjoy your job, but I wouldn't want everyone referring to me as a freakin computer nerd all day long...

[hoxlund]

i am a computer nerd all the time, and trust me i get plenty of dates

[JamieW]

No it isn't. it is just another way to get Best Buy into people mind. It is all about branding. It makes me sick.

"Upgrade time: P5GDC Deluxe, PIV 3.2Ghz 800FSB, 2 Gig DDR2 (2x1G), Sony DW-D26A, 160 gig 8MB Segate IDE, 250gig WD 8MB IDE, 2x 300gig Seagate 8MB SATA 150MB/s & Samsung 213T LCD. NVIDIA GeForce 6200 w/ 256MB PCI express using DVI"

Good thing you're above that.

[jase]

Couldn't give a monkey's about branding myself. Whichever's cheapest, to hell with service. That's what the internet's for

Leads to some nasty looking hookers though. And I drive a Hyundai. Ho hum.

[hoxlund]

actually had a really fun day today, customer came in with a burnt out power supply and the usual 5 inches of dust and dirt in the computer

only case fan was 1 80mm in the front

so we got to talking and I got him into a nice new antec case with dual 120mm case fans, new 350 watt psu and a damn good looking cable job inside

of course it was me who did the labor and did the computer case swap of all parts

labor was $90, and I absolutely love doing hardware work, made the day go by so fast - especially after a 10 hour shift

[dolphinius_rex]

labor was $90, and I absolutely love doing hardware work, made the day go by so fast - especially after a 10 hour shift

I used to love doing labour work, but not I find it a pain in the ass. I'm still pretty capable of doing what I need to have done on my PC, but I'm lazy and leave the casing off of the sides now. Makes it easier to swap drives in and out until a get a massive tower or two to hold like 8 DVD Burners

[LoneWolf]

I remember back when the word "Geek" was supposed to be an insult

I always preferred "geek". It was a lot better than, say, "nerd".

At any rate, I'm my own one-man Geek Squad. I have a reasonable amount of freelance stuff over the years from people that knew me when I worked for a (now dead and gone) mom-n-pop computer store, and through my other computer jobs. A co-worker back in the day used to joke that I could tell who made a motherboard by smelling it (I absorbed WAY too many model-numbering schemes). I can tell I'm getting older as a geek --I was insanely excited to find out Zork I-III had been released into the public domain last week (I found out last week, not released last week) and downloaded all three for use on the main rig. I have half a dozen or more processors on my desk, three Mendocino-core Celerons, a Coppermine Celeron, an AMD K62-450(mobile) and a few Slot I P2/3 models, and that's not including the drawers and drawers of spare parts. I insist on IBM/Lexmark Model M (and derivatives) buckling-spring keyboards for my personal use, and think the one I'm typing on will probably outlive me. I'm hoping to get our first house (closed on it two weeks ago) wired for Ethernet with a patch panel in the basement for the routing/switching equipment so I don't need wireless except for when the wife or myself brings a laptop home.

I think the Geek Squad is useful for some people --but I cost less simply because I enjoy it and don't work for Best Buy (and most of the people I support at least know how to work their software 50% of the time or better, so when they call, they know how to phrase a question). I don't find the Squad evil in the way that I often do the rest of Best Buy, but they don't come cheap.