Did you know that Geek Squad was started by someone just like you? You
shouldn't hate, just advise on improvements to their processes. Maybe you
can contribute to helping them to avoid wronging another senior citizen.

Good Luck!

-Rick

I decided to start my very first blog here in response to a comment I just
read about how all Computer Companies will wipe your drive in order to fix
a computer.

There are 2 issues here

1) what the local shop will do

vs.

2) what the big manufacturers techs will do

If a PC is brought into my shop, the first thing I do is sit down with the
customer and get a detailed idea of the problem. If its say randomly
shuting down, I ask what programs might be in use, where the computer is
stored (heat problem?), when did it start, etc.

Then it gets brought into the back and we put in a CD of diagnostic tools
and we "play" with the PC trying to recreate the problem. If the error
doesnt occur we leave it on overnight. If the error has yet to happen, we
do 1 of 2 things, we call the customer explain that we have failed to
recreate the problem and we can send the PC home with a diagnostic program
running in the background to catch it when it does happen, or we can take
an educated guess and replace what we think it might be and hope it fixes
the problem.

A big manufacturer will 90% of the time start by wiping your drive and
getting it back to factory state. Then they will try to find the problem.
IF they are like us and cant recreate the problem then they will ship it
back to you and exclaim they fixed it. All the while taking 2 weeks to get
it back to you.

I have had many customers come to me with an HP, Dell, Alienware, etc.
after sending it back to the company and want us to take over. We explain
to them that by us opening the case it will void the warranty, but most of
the time they tell me they dont care.

I have hired a couple of techs who were ex-company techs and they are very
underskilled when it comes to diagnosing an issue. In fact one was
completely lost because I dont have a computer program that tells him what
to look for depending on what he inputs.

Thats not saying they are all like that, but when you make it as easy as
possible and dont allow them to think for themselves they will lose that
ability to troubleshoot on the fly.

I will repeatably tell people to goto a local shop every time. If you dont
like their work try another. I wont lie some of the local shops are worse
than the big companies.