Geek Squad

This review is for the system that makes the appointments for the geek squad. It took 25 minutes on hold to make the appointment, you can’t make a an appointment through your local store it has to be their 800 #. Then when I tried to cancel the appointment their voice mail system would not let me through without taking 3 question survey to win a Carribean Cruise!
I don’t want a cruise, I just wanted to cancel the appointment. So I went thru the local store and she transferred me and when I got thru after being on hold for another 10 minutes, the lady who came on had to put me on hold again to complete my cancellation. Really folks, you will not be the only game in town for long with that kind of service.

Standing here at the Geek Squad counter as I write this review. There is no one in line. But they will not take me because there was a 12pm appointment and another one at 12:15. Fine. I’ll stand here and wait. (I got here at 12pm, and the agent he said I could not stand here and wait because they had other customers coming.)
At 12:07, I asked if they would take me and they said no, the 12pm may show up. At 12:09, I said they could take me before the 12:15 showed up. They said no.
There is a customer service agent and a manager behind the counter, why can’t one of them service me instead of doing NOTHING and waiting there until the next appointment arrives? I don’t understand.
They said they would call the 12pm appointment to see if they were coming but they never gave me an update.
I’ll never buy another Geek Squad warranty again. To date, they have never been able to fix any problems with my computer. I just keep coming back because I paid several hundred dollars for the warranty so I am trying to get my money’s worth.
I highly recommend you use Unilocal to find a more reputable repair company.

Consumers can make their Geek Squad experience be an effective, successful one that is well worth the money paid for the Geek Squad coverage by following these tips :
1. MAKE AN APPOINTMENT & BE ON TIME
… these are now REQUIRED by the Geek Squad (probably based on consumer feedback) and be early if at all possible. Also try to have enough time so that when you leave your hardware/​item, you feel confident that you have made clear what services you want done & the Service Order you leave with accurately reflects that. If you’re in a rush, the issues that may arise from this are higher than if you are not in a rush.
2. CHANGE YOUR LOG ON PASSWORD TO SOMETHING EASY & THEN UPON RECEIVING YOUR COMPUTER/​LAPTOP BACK CHANGE IT BACK
3. BRING A CONCISE WRITTEN LIST OF ISSUES AND/​OR RECORD OF THE FOLLOWING
… if you experienced a sudden or even progressive computer problem, it is extremely important that you are able to give the Geek Squad accurate, detailed information — including the steps you made (if any) prior to noticing a degradation in the normal computer behavior, and the steps taken after noticing degradation (if any). Don’t worry — they have heard it all & withholding information from them will only bite you in the butt, so why do it?
… as in my case, immediately following the purchase of my Lenovo desktop & Geek Squad services, there were no problematic issues, as this was brand new. However, upon my first boot, I experienced the barrage of bloatware (these are ads & other unnecessary, non-​functional software installs all companies load their new hardware with) which I found extremely annoying. So # 1 on my list to them — remove bloatware. I have an HP printer & brought in the install disc for them to install, # 2. # 3, install my Kaspersky that came with the system (I had a choice between Kaspersky & Webroot & the Agent Mackenzie fully explained the subtle difference between the two equally effective software brands I had to choose from). # 4 — I had them change and disable all settings which might allow Remote access/​control over my computer/​desktop. # 5 — I wanted a free picture editing software program so I went over the choices with Agent Mackenzie & decided on one as well as having them install Spotify & a couple other Apps/​programs (all of which I could have done, but why not have them do it?).
******** All of the work they did was progressively updated to me via email, as well as an Agent calling me leaving update messages about the progress of the request. I was quoted as it being 3 days to complete, it took 36 hours. I subsequently brought in a laptop that sat dormant in my office to take advantage of the multi device coverage you get with the Geek Squad & guess what? Works like a dream!
I understand others have had issues with the set up & services the Geek Squad has given in the past. It is my strong belief that these complaints were heard and addressed & the Geek Squad is now a transformed, renewed, better service well worth paying for. They have standards they must follow, something one cannot say about all services they are offered in the computer repair world. Follow my tips and I am sure your experience will be a great one !

Biggest waste of money ever. I would rather just throw my computer away and buy a new one than have to work with Best Buy’s ²⁴⁄₇ «tech support» DON’T BUY IT! You get foreign, customer service reps who are difficult to understand, and just want to get you off the phone — they will transfer you to another department before you can finish telling your story. No joke, as i’m writing this, I’ve been on the phone with them (now on hold) for 48 minutes — waiting to speak with the 6^th person. And this was an easy question about my MSFT subscription failing after I bought it from these. .. oh, and cherry on the top. AS I WAS WRITING THIS, THEY HUNG UP ON ME AFTER 50 MINUTES WAITING FOR A FIX THAT NEVER CAME CLOSE TO GETTING HANDLED.
if YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT BUYING FROM BEST BUY, GO TO COSTCO. .. IF YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT SUBRSCRIBING TO GEEK SQUAD. .. RUN AWAY!!!

We spent lots of money on geek squad, and they broke my computer!
In May I bought a MacBook Pro 13″, with word and it totaled to $ 1,870! After 3 months, I realized that the computer was taking forever to open apps. I decided to make use of our warranty that we bought, so I took it to geek squad. We got the laptop back, and when I turned it on, it took 6 minutes to boot up. I then shut it down and turned it back on, and this time it didn’t turn on at all. When I can get it to turn on, the apps won’t even open now. I am overall very disappointed with Geek squad, and hope that best buy will exchange my computer for a new one, as I can’t even trust them with it again.

This is for Geek Squad Billing Department /​Best Buy Card Services!
I had to deal with an unexpected death in my family when I received a notification that my hardware protection needed to be renewed ($ 269.00). Due to the circumstances, I was unable to call them until 3 days prior to the renewal deadline date. As it turned out, when I did call I was given incorrect information and information was left out that would have been helpful to know. Besides the sudden death of my relative, I had also been dealing with another relative who had been dealing with a number of serious medical issues in recent months and was not completely up on my payments… but not really that far behind. I made arrangements to make a payment on my Best Buy credit card because I was led to believe between Geek Squad and Best Buy card services that if I made an «honor» payment and set up the remaining minimum due prior to the August due date I could just charge the Geek Squad renewal amount on that card. Unfortunately, although I spent hours communicating between Geek Squad billing and Best Buy card services, no one had given me accurate information. I called to follow-​up a few days later after my initial «honor» payment was made and posted, the day before the renewal deadline and found out that nothing I did to help the situation (of which I was told I was doing at the time) changed the ultimate result (my Geek Squad Protection plan renewal would NOT be honored) at least not on my Best Buy credit card. So, even though I was aggravated and annoyed and calmly explained to every representative I spoke to at Geek Squad and Best Buy credit card services about the verbal discrepancies that I encountered, I was willing to continue to give them my business so long as they could work with me. I explained I needed some extra time to pay the renewal payment by another monetary source; but they said they wouldn’t allow that. I asked if they could give me a break and allow me to split my payments up over 2 or 3 months… they wouldn’t budge. They said that once my renewal deadline passed without payment… my protection contract would be terminated and there was no way to re-​instate it at a later date! Unbelievable!
I have had geek squad protection (hardware & tech support) of the computer that I purchased from Best Buy since August 2012. In those 3 years, I have only had to bring my computer in once to geek squad and I have never had to call technical support. They fixed it; but, I still had to pay an extra $ 200.00. They have made a load of money off of me in the last 3 years and they couldn’t work with me a little. It’s outrageous!

*** A mixed review for their flat screen TV mounting service. ***
Best Buy offers some attractive bundles online for TV mounting:
$ 200 for mounting plus connecting three devices. It all sounds
pretty straightforward but the devil is in the details, so note to …
1. Purchase the mounting brackets that you desire beforehand.
2. Buy HDMI, Optical, or whatever cables you need beforehand.
3. Make sure cables are extra long to accommodate TV location.
4. If you want to hide all wires in the wall (I’d assume most would)
Geek Squad will add $ 150 charge for special power attachment.
They say this is needed to meet fire code (not mentioned upfront).
None of this stuff above is explicitly explained when service is ordered.
Now if you do not buy all your needed brackets and cables upfront then
Geek Squad will have something on the truck to accommodate you, but
those brackets and wires will literally be priced 10x what you’d find online.
e.g. Basically you get gouged $ 50 for a HDMI cable if you are missing one.
All that said, their service technicians were professional and did a great job.
My only knock on Geek Squad is the opportunistic way that they’ll add add’l
costs to the job. This essentially becomes a bait&switch in the end because
you will pay twice the price that you had expected to pay from the beginning.
*** I’d only recommend Geek Squad if time is tight & quality job needed. ***

Terrible!
I had an appointment and apparently that doesn’t matter because I still had to wait in the regular line for 40 minutes past my appointment time.
Then I finally get helped, and because I’m not under warranty the geek tells me there isn’t anything he can do even if I paid for it.
When I asked for recommendations the geek says to check online reviews.
Ugh!

Shockingly I’ve always had very good experiences here! They are knowledgeable and can’t believe the positive attitude considering that everyone they come in contact with is disgruntled. Onto my 3^rd surface pro exchange.

Geek Squad in general is a lousy and horrible company!
They have a horrible structure to handle customers on line and in person… calls are sent to call centers who do not communicate with other departments.
They seem to not really care at all.
Never will I ever use this company and I hope they go out of business soon.

We were under warranty for a repair of our home entertainment system and scheduled an appointment with Geek Squad from 12pm to 4pm. I waited the 4 hour interval and they never showed up. I called and was placed on hold twice for over 20 minutes and finally hung up in frustration. They called the next day about the appointment. Completely unprofessional and unorganized.

Absolutely terrible.
I can’t tell if the person I visited was lazy or just incompetent.
A while back when a friend was building his PC, the issue was that the PC would turn on but no signal would show up on the screen.
One of our friends that smokes a lot took a look at it, so the computer smelled like smoke.
The Geek Squad worker smelled the smoke and without taking a look at anything, he assumed that the CPU was overheating. He then said «just buy every single part new again.»
The real issue was that the monitor was plugged into a dedicated GPU which was plugged into a broken motherboard PCI slot. When plugging the monitor straight into the motherboard, it was fine. When moving the GPU to the other PCI slot, it worked.
Either that worker was too lazy to look into it, or he’s only familiar with charging people to backup their hard drives and then to wipe the hard drives.
Terrible.

This is a review for Geek Squad’s billing department, not their local store.
So I got a Geek Squad renewal letter in the email to renew my MacBook Pro warranty protection. Price is slightly cheaper than Apple’s own. So I decided to give it a shot. Filled out their on-​line form and submitted my payment with credit card info. System error. Fine. I submitted again and it was successful.
A day later TWO charges for Geek Squad protection showed up in my account for the exact same amount.
Called their rep and they were like we are sorry we will process your refund now please wait 7 to 10 days. I waited 7 to 10 days and no refund. I called their rep again and they are like we are sorry the last rep didn’t send in your request?! I tried to be cool and said to them it’s okay I will call you back again in 7 to 10 days. Guess what ten days later still no refund. I called them again they said we are sorry the «back office» is processing it, we are expediting your request please check your refund in 7 to 10 days. Being a courteous customer I said okay. Fourth time’s the charm, right?
A month after THEIR billing error, I called the fourth time and was greeted by their «escalation officer». Boy I must have been such a massive headache they have a special command officer to deal with cases like me! Very honored. The nice gentlemen told me they are still processing the billing error somehow. They can’t check on its status, they can’t expedite it and they can’t make any guaranteed ETA of refund. There is nothing they can do about their incompetence and I should just sit tight while they hold the money hostage as long as they want.
It’s okay to make mistakes for a company but never have I seen a company that is so unanswerable to its own actions. Plus they obviously do not care what you think. So I did what a sensible person should do — I called my credit card company. Within 48 hours the money was back in my account and the bank even promised not charge me interest.
I love Best Buy stores but I would never, ever buy any types of repair and protection plan from Geek Squad. Seen the way they deal with me, I am frightened to put my computers into the care of these people. Sheesh, it gives me the jitters just to think about it.
Consider yourselves warned peeps.

These guys rock! We work in a 2 person office and have no IT go to. So when we got our new printer/​scanner/​fax and it wasn’t working we didn’t know what to do. So we called GS and got an appointment the next day. The «agent» showed up at the scheduled time and was fast and efficient. He didn’t bog us down with details just the basics so we knew how to use the printer. He set it all up quickly as well. He then helped my boss with her computer (apple) problems as well. He explained things simply and clearly… such a great experience!!! Thank you Agent Acevedo!!!

Got a virus on my desktop!!! Rats! Grabbed the computer and ran on down to the Geek Squad. My regular agent is No, but he was not available. No matter, all of the people there are super helpful.
They ran an initial check and confirmed that I had a virus. Then gave me a receipt and said it would be 5 days. They were finished on time in 5 days.
When I picked it up they told me that all the files had been restored, including emails and photos!!! How lucky am I. They said that sometimes a virus just hides everything on top and when they remove the virus everything pops back up. Whew.
Happily back online with my desktop, and now have a great Toshiba laptop I bought from Best Buy too.

Bought a laptop from this Best Buy. Hard drive failed in a month (not their fault). Brought it back to get serviced under warranty. They fixed it. Today my fan started making noise. Turned over the laptop and noticed 3 screws were stripped pretty bad. Might not be able to fix it again… not good.
I would not suggest going here for computer service.