Complaint Review: The Geek Squad - Rochester New York

For years, I was buying my Dell computers online at Dell.com, but as the company grew, I felt somewhat disconnected from them, because when you called customer or tech support, you could be talking to someone anywhere in the world. So, wanting to deal with people in my own country and go to a computer store that was based in the area where I live, and talk to someone face to face in Sales or the Tech department, I went to Best Buy and bought 2 new computers.

Now, Best Buy stores have been around for a long time. And the Geek Squad hooked up with them around 2002. So being a well-established store, I felt pretty confident about dealing with this store and using the services that they provided. Just a few weeks ago, one of the Dell computers we had recently bought there started acting up, getting slow in performance. And a few times in the past, I had noticed subtle performance changes in both new computers and called the Geek Squad to have them check things out by Remote Access. And within 45 minutes after getting connected, they "Tuned Up" the computers, all good.

This latest issue we were experiencing was acting similar to the ones we previously had. So, on 8/31/18, I contacted the Geek Squad, established the Remote Access so they could analyze the computer. 7+ hours later, with the agent having run numerous diagnostic programs to fix issues with computers, our computer ran worse than it did before they started and the only recommendation that the Tech Agent had was to upgrade the RAM!

 I was very upset, to say the least. I ended that call, and went online again to Chat into another Geek Agent, in hopes to find one that knew what they were doing. The one I contacted attempted to establish a Remote Session. which took forever caused by something the other Tech Agent did or did not do.

 After about an hour, the 2nd agent recommended that I bring the computer to the store and have it looked at. So I drove 31 miles to the store, had the agent run a few checks on it, then told me to leave it so they could do a thorough check on it the next day. That next day, a Geek Squad Agent called me and said the Hard Drive was bad and would have to "SHIP IT OUT" to have it replaced! He told me that they don't do Hardware repairs in-store! REALLY? That is one of the most absurd things I have heard in a long time because I know that it only takes about 15-20 minutes to replace a hard drive!  

 So, now, after recovering all the files from the old hard drive, they said the computer would get shipped out and it would be back sometime midweek of this week. It is now Friday 9/7/18, almost one week since it was shipped out. I called today to ask them if the computer was done. The agent told me it was still at the Service Center and it hadn't been worked on. He also told me that it takes about 5 days to just ship it to the Service Center!

The computer finally came back TWO WEEKS LATER and guess what they told me when it arrived? Our computer was DAMAGED when it was shipped back to Best Buy. Now, THIS is the most absurd thing I have ever heard, and I know that these chain of events that is happening to me, a long time customer with Best Buy, isn't just a fluke. This Tech Service department needs to be completely restructured. From all the hundreds of negative reviews that I have read, and there are thousands, it is very apparent that they are not set up to proficiently serve the public, contrary to what they claim. And the fact that my computer was damaged during shipping going back to Best Buy, any reputable company would offer to replace it with a new one, no question, even though the agent said it was only "cosmetic" and tried to talk me into repairing the damaged one, saying he could "order" parts for it! So after some "persuasion" from me, I was able to get a new one.

    I researched several reputable Technical Support Service companies, one of which I will buy an annual Service Plan and cancel the one I have from the Geek Squad.  I am just dumbfounded by this whole thing. The fact that an established, well known Computer Servicing Company have agents working for them that aren't fully trained and then tell me they can't perform a simple repair of replacing a hard drive on site, that it has to be SHIPPED OUT ?!?!? No wonder there are thousands of complaints about the Geek Squad. I have lost all respect for this service. And I will admit, there are some decent, hardworking, knowledgeable agents working for the Geek Squad. I have met and talked to some, but a poorly run Servicing department is mostly the fault of Management.   

I will be contacting Customer Support or The Corporate Office of Best Buy and asking for some type of monetary reimbursement. This issue has cost me hours and hours of my own time sitting in front of my computer, watching someone "TRY" to fix it, and in the end, having to drive over 120 miles to take it to the store, drop off and then back again to pick up the computer when it's done. That is time I can never get back. Management dropped the ball on this one. Allowing an ill-prepared Service Department work for the public is a disgrace. And if this is a one time slip up, the Management should make good on it and compensate me for this mistake. Any good company would.

And as of today's date, 09/24/2018, after posting complaints to several websites, filling out a Geek Squad Survey and posting this story in the Comment Section, I have not yet heard from Best Buy or Geek Squad in a form of an apology, an type of offer to compensate me in any way, shape or form, nothing. I had high expectations from Best Buy in the beginning, but it turned out that this company is just mediocre at the core, just looks impressive.