McJohn

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.