Last week, I received a virus in the middle of writing a final term paper. Earlier in the day I had let a friend of mine use the machine to watch the awards on tv. He was unable to find a good site to watch it on, but he did find a site that filled my computer with loads of crap. The resulting viruses and ‘malware’ as it was explained, was the reason why I lost my paper that evening.

Geek Squad was right down the street, and eager to get something done, I visited the store, talking with the tech, dropped my machine off, very eager and get my paper back and computer cleaned. I get my paperwork, and a promise it will be done in 24 hours! Long story short, and 4 days later, no PC, and im still on a time crunch. I started googling around for GEEK SQUAD REVIEWS, and found this website. Surprised…? You bet.

I ran some google searches and found secure remote support. They had a nifty lil box that I could talk to the technician through right on their website. The representative was able to give me an exact figure of what is was to cast to optimize my computer and said he could do it from their office and I wouldn’t need to take it anywhere. I was able to pay with my credit card on their site (which Geek Squad couldn’t do!) which made it easy for me. The technician then started his process and in less than an hour I was surprised at how fast and clean my computer was again. It was like it was new all over again. I had forgot how fast it was. The technician, then recovered my word document and was able to get all of it except that last page that I had written. The technician thanked me for my business upon completion. This was all at 2am! He sold me the service for about 80 bucks, and an external hard drive which arrived last week (to back up all my school work.)

The end result, was me filing a BBB complaint against Geek Squad, finally getting my money back, and giving my business to a company like secure remote support. They actually earn it, and do a good job. Do your research before you buy. No one wants to get stuck in my situation, not fun.

the biggest problem with this industry is exploitation of the customer….i run a business that is fully transparent and i build my clientle over the years ive been in the industry. yes i meet some shyster customers and they end up where they belong, at the end of a lawyer letter or debt collection agency where they belong, its a two way street in business. i know how good i am, i dont have to talk ro discuss it, i just do it and i deserve to be paid for it. i work at the high end, but as for the assumption all good techs work at the high end, you culdnt be more wrong. there are very few good techs in this game, most of the techs are all talkers and no substance… i come across them all the time, in fact i love these guys, cos when they cant do the job, which is most of the time, they call me and bingo. so rule number one, learn the trade and keep learning, believe ur worth what u get paid. if your crap, then thats why u think u shouldnt accept money for diagnostics and consultation, but keep dreaming… to all the good techs out there…keep doing what ur doing…

Doctors charge for visits even if you are well, mechanics charge you to determine what is wrong with your car. Almost every field is this way so why should computer science be different? I do feel 50 dollars an hour is far to much for just determining what is wrong but 10 dollars an hour is not, and that is in my opinion an acceptable diagnosis price.

People need to understand that places like geek squad and similar retail repair shops to those are huge. They have massive overhead just like a fast food restaurant chain. On the same token they are run very similar to a fast food joint. Would you take your date to a McDonald’s for a nice sit down meal on a special day? Would you go to Burger King for your anniversary dinner? I am thinking for the most part and most people that answer is NO. Why then would you take your computer to a “fast food” computer retail repair shop? Just something to think about when you are bitching about your computer not getting repaired correctly and for a reasonable amount of money.

And for those who want to poke holes in that analogy my price model is not based on the fast food theory just the service model so just save it.