gcninja Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Has there been any talk of one? I'm watching one on walmart, and it made me think, "what about geek squad?". outrageous princes, low wages, demanding quotas, stupid idiots working behind the counter, and the people they hire at the main place in TN (i think). I have heard many stories, untrained people working int he main repair building, one was a manger whos workers were fresh from McDonalds and BK retails. Their parts are mostly used or refurbished. People who access files on computers and COPY them. One had a thumb drive collection or porn. So, why not? go to GS places and interview them, check out the main building. It cant be TOO hard.... Do you think this would be a good idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seshan Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 There stupid because they want to hire people that can sell stuff not people that know what there doing, they rather train some one to repair computers then to sell stuff. Most none hardware stuff I done by there Geek Squad MRI, google it, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3%5kr3w Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 That would be a hell of a documentary (though I would not want to watch it for another year and a half since I have a geek squad warranty [but trust me I just got it for the parts warranty...]) Actually you know what would probably be better? A documentary on American tech support personel. I used to be one for Gateway through an outsource co. so I know for a fact they hire people who don't know shit about computers. Everytime the network went down everyone was looking toward me, my friend and a few others in the call center for help because they had NO idea how to troubleshoot things without the help database. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I have to say, not all the geek squad people are idiots. There are quite a few who actually know what they are doing, and many of them are certified in something waiting to get a job elsewhere in the IT field. My cousin worked at Best Buy out of high school, and he is now in the military doing computer work and networking, but I would have to say, there is a pretty even blend of people who know stuff and those who don't. For the most part, the sales people are just that, but a lot of them know more than the guys in the back working on the machines. My cousin for one was a sales person and not a repair tech, but he is very knowledgable about pc's and macs, hardware and repairs, electronics, etc. He is a bit of a geek, so it kind of fits. He ended up quitting though, because the managers at these places know less than the guy and McDonalds and Burger King combined, and often don't even care what their employees know, as long as they think the customer is happy, they could care less what happens or what people are skilled in. When it comes down to it, its sales. Wether its sales of a device they sell, or sales of the service(repairs, installations, etc) they perform, its still sales. Thats why its one of the biggest retail chain stores. If it were more about geek technology and computer skill, these people would quit and go work IT some where else, which eventually is what happens with all the good people at Best Buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcninja Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 I have to say, not all the geek squad people are idiots. There are quite a few who actually know what they are doing, and many of them are certified in something waiting to get a job elsewhere in the IT field. My cousin worked at Best Buy out of high school, and he is now in the military doing computer work and networking, but I would have to say, there is a pretty even blend of people who know stuff and those who don't. For the most part, the sales people are just that, but a lot of them know more than the guys in the back working on the machines. My cousin for one was a sales person and not a repair tech, but he is very knowledgable about pc's and macs, hardware and repairs, electronics, etc. He is a bit of a geek, so it kind of fits. He ended up quitting though, because the managers at these places know less than the guy and McDonalds and Burger King combined, and often don't even care what their employees know, as long as they think the customer is happy, they could care less what happens or what people are skilled in. When it comes down to it, its sales. Wether its sales of a device they sell, or sales of the service(repairs, installations, etc) they perform, its still sales. Thats why its one of the biggest retail chain stores. If it were more about geek technology and computer skill, these people would quit and go work IT some where else, which eventually is what happens with all the good people at Best Buy. i know what your saying, i do agree, not ALL people are idiots, some just want to help and not over charge, and some just need an entry job. one thing that gets to me is their greediness. i.e.: i read a story about a person who had an elderly lady come in and her computer wouldnt start, well he just looked inside, found a loose cord, plugged it in and sent her on her way. what happened? he got in trouble for not charging her for it. that tics me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swathe Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 The Dell tech who replaced my wifes hard drive in her laptop told her her old drive could not be formatted because you cant format vista hard drives. (Before you ask, she wanted them to do it due to warranty integrity and i was at work.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3%5kr3w Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 The Dell tech who replaced my wifes hard drive in her laptop told her her old drive could not be formatted because you cant format vista hard drives. (Before you ask, she wanted them to do it due to warranty integrity and i was at work.) wow.. thats the lamest thing I have ever heard out of tech support. btw, where can you buy one of these said 'vista hard drives' did'nt know microsoft was into hard storage these days :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swathe Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I was amazed. Is microsoft so nefarious they would make vista so it could never be deleted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro-Starr Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Vista can be deleted. Just the problem is you need Vista to use the hardware! I wiped Vista off my laptop and put Xubuntu on it then decided to dual boot XP and linux, problem is XP won't recognize the "Vista only" hardware so I blue screened every start up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Vista can be deleted. Just the problem is you need Vista to use the hardware! I wiped Vista off my laptop and put Xubuntu on it then decided to dual boot XP and linux, problem is XP won't recognize the "Vista only" hardware so I blue screened every start up! Your BSOD is probably becasue you just don't have the correct driver for something. My desktop came with vista but I wiped it and put XP on with no problem. Finding the right drivers was a pain, but unless some hardware has absolutely no driver for XP, there shouldn't be a problem. Laptops can be a bitch to find the right drivers for though, as the hardware driver does not always mirror the desktop version. I have a laptop and a desktop that have the same GPU, only the one is a mobile processor, so the drivers are not interchangeable. One trick was I had to go to several manufacturers sites though, like HP, Dell, and Gateway all had bits and pieces, but named differently depending on the brand. If you know the hardware specs and serial numbers, you can usually just google for correct drivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro-Starr Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 How would I install the drivers? I can't login because it blue screens during the startup. "start normally" 1...2...3...BSOD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomethingToChatWith Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 You slipstream into a new XP disc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swathe Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 You slipstream into a new XP disc. You got it in one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 How would I install the drivers? I can't login because it blue screens during the startup. "start normally" 1...2...3...BSOD What version of windows are you trying to install? Pre-SP1? Like SomethingToChatWith said you can try to slipstream the drivers into an install disc, or even slipstream SP3, but laptops require different drivers than their desktop counterparts. You might have to track down all the hardware and see what drivers are avilable to XP. The laptop might need a special driver for one of the devices, like a mouse/tracker pad or even the HDD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razor512 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 geek squad knows how to rip people off and exploit stupidity, their solutions are simple ones, (if they cant fix the problem within the first 5 minuted, they reinstall the OS, and if they cant do that, they will make the user buy another computer while charging them like $400 for the work the prices that geek squad charges, the user could easily use that same money to buy a cheap dell laptop or a eeepc or 2 or a gtx 280 videocard or a used car with 200,000 miles on the engine :) or adoption fees for 50 dogs and cats I remember a news report on digg a while back where they investigated these places Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro-Starr Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 It's SP2. Can't believe I forgot about the slipstream! I was going to make one that had the drivers install on it, just never got around to it. I know a good pack of drivers, http://driverpacks.net/. It installed some of the hardware on another computer I worked on. Combine the drivers with driver forge and you have an installer for your drivers. For the slipstream I'm using nLite, but don't you need to add the drivers in a ".cab" file? I don't know how to make that. I did use a tool to make it, but it didn't work for some reason. I don't remember what the command was to execute. Will nLite accept the 7z files that come from the driverpacks site? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sablefoxx Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 The only thing that pissed me off about the Geek Squad (and I think most people have the same problem) is that I didn't think of charging people $200 for virus removal\formatting systems first. Anywhere you go you're going to get bad tech support, be it Best Buy, HP, Dell, etc. Singling out Geek Squad for a documentary I think is a bit unfair, if you want to make a documentary about getting ripped off and idiots fixing your computer do it on the whole industry, I have had some pretty terrible experiences with Dell/HP, far worse then any of the Geek Squad horror stories I've heard. btw it would be a horribly boring film. one thing that gets to me is their greediness. I like how you think the part-time poor college student working at your local Best Buy sets the prices, and keeps the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireTime Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 Just thought you would like to know, FireDog (The late Circuit City equivalent), the super hard final question on there application technology test is.... How do you find the IP of the current computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3%5kr3w Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 wow... wonder how many people put "find it in control panel" lols~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcninja Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 up, you i think you have to H4X0R teh G1b50N to get it also, i just noticed in my first post "outrageous princes" lol i now imagine a prince at best buy "WHAT BE THOU MAGICAL DEVICES WRONG DOING PEASANT!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3%5kr3w Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I would have to agree with sablefoxx. This is not the only company to do shit like this by far. There are horror stories all the way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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