I Took My PC to Geek Squad for a “Tune-Up”

[JordB]

In many areas, Geek Squad is the only recognizable name in the PC Repair game. Is getting your computer tuned up at your local BestBuy actually worth the money?

 

[Gokul_P]

criticism about iCue still being there maybe is due to the person thinking you had some other corsair Thing Maybe a monitor or a mouse or a keyboard or a Rgb strip that works with iCue and if That person open it up that maybe against Privacy policy. And Windows update Temp file is Necessary if you want to roll back to a older version (version updates/Feature updates) and it get deleted after some days so leaving that there would save a lot of headache if windows decides to do windows things. And i think the Noctua cooler & Founders edition card might be a give away if the repair person has some idea about Pc's this customer is a person that know about pcs or somebody in their family or friends does 

[TetraSky]

I've worked within the computer repair area of Futureshop around 2011(BestBuy bought them in 2001 before killing the brand in 2015). We also used "MRI" back then as well.

It's all automated. No real work is actually done by the staff other than simply booting the MRI software. Press run on that machine and go "work" on other machines at the same time while it does its thing. That's why MRI is great. You don't need to run each of those programs individually. It scans, "optimize" and deletes the junk.

 

Plus, I don't know if it's still the same today or not, but back then you could scan a computer for viruses/malwares with a dozen scanners from various vendors one after the other with updated databases to ensure everything is caught and removed. The hardware diagnostics were also automated and would tell the "technician" if any components was defective.

An all in one fully automated system is a major time saver for PC repair shop.

 

2 minutes ago, Gokul_P said:

criticism about iCue still being there maybe is due to the person thinking you had some other corsair Thing Maybe a monitor or a mouse or a keyboard or a Rgb strip that works with iCue 

Yeah that's what I thought as well. iCue is used with corsair keyboards. Even if there's no corsair fans to use iCue, it wouldn't make sense to delete that software up like that.

[PakkoT]

I've got an older laptop that would benefit from running this automated tune up software. Do you have any suggestions for what to use?

[maksakal]

Is it me or is the color contrast in the beginning way off. Also the whole video looks washed out, as if there's something wrong with the bitrate during encoding or something.

[Senzelian]

1 hour ago, maksakal said:

Is it me or is the color contrast in the beginning way off. Also the whole video looks washed out, as if there's something wrong with the bitrate during encoding or something.

That's on purpose I would assume. It's just stretched out for far too long. As soon as the tense music stopped it should've gone back to normal too I think.

[TisyaCooke]

When I made my “going sleeper” post on R/GeekSquad I didn’t expect to see my badge make a cameo in the recent video. I was with the company for about eleven years, starting at lowly iPhone repair agent (circa 2012) to custom home theater installer towards the end. The company has made a broad array of changes over the years and some hurt personally (a couple of unexpected layoffs that were only thwarted by switching roles within the company, as well as many labor cuts over the years). But ultimately it was a necessary and positive change. Without my time with the company I would never have hoped for the career advancement I’ve seen, I currently do IT for a hospital via Oracle and would absolutely tell someone to at least get their foot in the door with the company if it’s an option for them. 

[maksakal]

2 hours ago, Senzelian said:

That's on purpose I would assume. It's just stretched out for far too long. As soon as the tense music stopped it should've gone back to normal too I think.

Well the wash didnt help promote the dark impression the editor was going for.

[BraxtonSchlenker]

As a current agent with Geek Squad. I can confirm that a lot of the work we do is subpar in my eyes. I'm not claiming that I am the best and know everything about computers. If I did I sure as hell wouldn't be working at a BestBuy. But as stated in Linus new video. As a repair agent they don't actually get their hands dirty. There is a simple 4 step process to their work. 

1. Backup the data

2.Reinstall OS

3. load the data back on the unit. 

4. Charge a arm and a leg for the work. 

 

There are a very few geek squad agents I meet have actually been pretty knowledgeable and passionate about the work that they do. Me included. Thats why I seek out more information about products and other fixes to hopefully not have to charge them a fuck ton of money. If you want my recommendation. Google the issue or visit forum site to see if other can couch you thorough the process.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Braxton.Schlenker
Grammer and spelling mistakes

[Neroon]

I think it would have been worth mentioning privacy concerns. I would absolutely not bring in my laptop, unless I did a thorough cleaning of my private files. And no I'm not talking about porn or anything like that.

[xAcid9]

$60? I used to get paid RM25(~$6) for a better "tune-up job + dust cleaning"

[ColossalCubes]

Secret. Secret secret

[TheProfosist]

13 hours ago, TetraSky said:

I've worked within the computer repair area of Futureshop around 2011(BestBuy bought them in 2001 before killing the brand in 2015). We also used "MRI" back then as well.

It's all automated. No real work is actually done by the staff other than simply booting the MRI software. Press run on that machine and go "work" on other machines at the same time while it does its thing. That's why MRI is great. You don't need to run each of those programs individually. It scans, "optimize" and deletes the junk.

 

Plus, I don't know if it's still the same today or not, but back then you could scan a computer for viruses/malwares with a dozen scanners from various vendors one after the other with updated databases to ensure everything is caught and removed. The hardware diagnostics were also automated and would tell the "technician" if any components was defective.

An all in one fully automated system is a major time saver for PC repair shop.

 

Yeah that's what I thought as well. iCue is used with corsair keyboards. Even if there's no corsair fans to use iCue, it wouldn't make sense to delete that software up like that.

It's still the same as it's always been just different pieces of software

[TheProfosist]

12 hours ago, maksakal said:

Is it me or is the color contrast in the beginning way off. Also the whole video looks washed out, as if there's something wrong with the bitrate during encoding or something.

If you read the comments they say the grading was done on purpose

[TheProfosist]

12 hours ago, PakkoT said:

I've got an older laptop that would benefit from running this automated tune up software. Do you have any suggestions for what to use?

Most of it is garbage and all stuff you can run manually automating it just turns it into one click

[TheProfosist]

9 hours ago, TisyaCooke said:

When I made my “going sleeper” post on R/GeekSquad I didn’t expect to see my badge make a cameo in the recent video. I was with the company for about eleven years, starting at lowly iPhone repair agent (circa 2012) to custom home theater installer towards the end. The company has made a broad array of changes over the years and some hurt personally (a couple of unexpected layoffs that were only thwarted by switching roles within the company, as well as many labor cuts over the years). But ultimately it was a necessary and positive change. Without my time with the company I would never have hoped for the career advancement I’ve seen, I currently do IT for a hospital via Oracle and would absolutely tell someone to at least get their foot in the door with the company if it’s an option for them. 

Congrats I'm going sleeper the best way to use Geek Squad employment wise is as a stepping stone

[TheProfosist]

@ColossalCubes if I were you I'd stay within SOP. Corporate doesn't want you doing that stuff because the risk isn't worth the reward to them. I've seen what happens to employees and precincts when they do get bitten. As for support the company offers what the average person needs and what they are willing to pay for when it comes to employees. This is why you don't need a certification anymore or even experience. You forgot to note that starting pay is the same as if you were in sales despite the increased amount and difficulty of work and related stress. Though a bunch of those sales consultant positions recently got cut due to the ever dwindling in store traffic.

 

[Webber_]

I'm Currently an employee of the British Equivalent of Best Buy (For Social Media Corporate Policy reasons i will not state exactly which Store, but its fairly obvious if you are from the UK).

 

I liked this video a lot as it shows the holes that p. much every corporation of this size has when it comes to PC repair. In my particular case, I love PCs and know a lot about them, studying for a Computing related degree, but we are really hamstrung with what we can do. I've worked In 2 different branches of this company and can confidently say, because of how low the qualification bar is for the entrance roles of being a Service advisor, it means that knowledge and skills are pretty lacking, and the training offered doesn't even begin to scratch the surface on how to actually troubleshoot and resolve PC issues.

 

we have it a bit different however as in most of our big box stores, the PC technicians are exactly the same as the customer service advisors, meaning we have to deal with things like Cooker, Fridges, Washing Machines, and Oven Installations, Repairs and deliveries, as well as any other kind of issue you'd have with literally any product we sell. This makes our time MASSIVELY limited in the quality of services we can provide, as there just isn't enough of us or enough time to work on PCs.

 

We have automated tools like the ones shown in this video, but, they suck for us. They often crash, or the machine powers off because the software doesn't stop Laptops from doing that, (especially on older models where sleep is controlled not by Windows or drivers, but at a hardware level). So often techs use custom tools, like myself, or risk not having the service done properly,

 

There's often one MAYBE two of us to staff the desk for the entire day, so you have to pause what you are doing to serve customers constantly. All this adds up to a really inefficient service for software issues and can really be tough to do anything in advance, quite often we recommend to people to send it to our Central Repair Centre, even for software issues, as I just do not have the time to diagnose and fix it instore if it's not immediately obvious what the issue is to me. I was labelled a Team Leader for this dept last year because we don't really have managers who understand what is going on so they rely on me to basically monitor, manage and fix issues with everything.

 

This includes: PC/Laptop Repairs Instore, Booking and Sending Repairs to the Central Repair Centre/3rd Party Repair Agents, Booking Home Visit Engineers, Managing Customer Complaints, Internal Store Administration and Stock checks, Customer First-time Setups (usually 3 a day totalling about an hour and a half) managing Distribution Investigations (incorrectly transacted Deliveries or Faulty Items) Profit & Loss Management, Training of Staff, Trade-ins Management, TV TEsting and Screening, the list goes on...

 

Realistically the volume we go through makes it so hard to do a high-quality job, yet we still do better than local techs quite often. The UK is in dire need of Enthusiast level Electronics Stores again, as we are just spread too thin as a retailer, and we can't even justify improving it as it really isn't that profitable for us at the moment, when it's 10x more profitable to sell someone a brand new laptop with software and accessories attached.

[BraxtonSchlenker]

18 hours ago, ColossalCubes said:

active ARA here. i definitely agree the work is inconsistent and only really GOOD if you have good management that let you flex outside of SOP to learn new things and repair client devices more thoroughly and accurately. I am very lucky to have a great manager manager and team who trust and communicate with each other to do what is best for the client. as long as the client is made aware of the risks and signs off on it, and we take record of that agreement, we're allowed to do basically whatever is needed to repair the device. per company SOP no precinct is supposed to be cutting and splicing wires together, soldering, dissassembling and repasting GPUS, disassembling and repairing AIO coolers, flashing VBIOS, case modding, custom watercooling.......... but we might.  
i do feel like i have to counterpoint a previous agents statement... we should never wipe a clients pc unless absolutely necessary and it SHOULD NOT be a standard for all, or even most, repairs. Even if you do you should always backup data first, then use native troubleshooter restore with keeping data (to retain the original user profile and data) and reinstall the OS to repair corruption that is not repairable through the use of boot profiler (i'v actually never had BF work as the corruption has always been too intense by that point.. and probably too outdated for new systems).


to be candid bestbuy is doing themselves a huge disservice. in store GS has 2 positions for pc repair:
-consultation agents who are the customer contact. they are the smiling faces who need to have great patience and the ability to translate complex computer concepts into simple terms for older and/or less tech-savvy clients who have a difficult time understanding.
-Advanced repair agents who, while they may not need certifications, should have good working knowledge of computers and hardware and strong logic and analytical skills to repair client computers, iphones, and samsung phones. 

CA's start at the same pay rate as a sales associate($15/hr).....
ARAs make $1.00 or $1.50 more per hour for max and minimum amounts
BOTH of these jobs can make less than someone in fastfood. not to discount the work restaurant employees do, i did it for 10 years, but this is far more delicate. if you mess up its not a remake on a burger or wings, you could lose someone's entire photo library of their deceased relative, expose them to malware or their data to the internet, or destroy their multi-hundred dollar pc entirely only to name a few of the possible consequences. 

now, the company (in the US) has switched to a BestBuy TotalTech membership model in an attempt to challenge competitor features with subscription models. TTS is $200 per year and provides quite a few benefits:
-free in store services (geeksquad and autotech installs)

-free 2 year warranty on any new eligible product (small fee if used but less than OUT-OF-POCKET warranty purchase so still better, especially if you never needed it)

-free installation of an appliance or tv if scheduled at the time of purchase
-free 2 day delivery

-60 day return policy
-special discounts on select items (eg. webroot antivirus 1st year is half off)

for pretty much anyone on these forums $200 will seem outrageous, but for older or simply less tech savvy clients who have no other resource for tech related issues, it can easily be worth it. 

 

 

Where these two main statements are related is in employee turnover. the 2 main companies iv heard mentioned that we are attempting to challenge with this membership model is amazon and costco, and what does bestbuy have that amazon and costco don't??? personalized tech support; but when you have a high employee turnover and lose all your client focused and talented staff to other employers your really not playing to your companies strengths.

obviously im self aware of my personal stake in this, but its incredibly frustrating for me. i truly love my job. being able to help people, spend my days learning new things and expanding my knowledge, building custom PCs, practicing troubleshooting and repair skills.... But im slowly falling behind in my bills and just cant afford to stay much longer. the company is restructuring GS to a 'micro-market' model: one Geek Squad Manager to run multiple stores and a senior CIA(supervisor) at every location. i think it will create more consistency between stores which is good, but i worry that things get worse before they get better. I hope this change also brings positive benefit and pay restructuring, or i might not stay long enough to see the better.


Sorry for the huge rant, and thanks for coming to my GeekTalk lol

I could not have said it better myself. I always like to listen to viewpoints of other to better understand how I should do better. 

[Ibrizic]

Hi everyone, do we have a list of tools that are recommended for doing this kind of tasks by yourself? Are the ones mentioned in the video enough, like the registry cleaner that was shown. Should we use it or not since the before and after were so far appart. Or should we just ignore the registry with what was mentioned earlier in the video?

[Bacchus15]

Hiya!

 

I too actually work at BBY and Geek Squad and tho the video was not wrong as a whole some stuff needs correction.

 

Yes some tools out there can help us do more and somethings better, but the problems are licenses, we are a company so to use a software we require corporate license and sometime they are too expensive or the powers that be deems the expanse is not worth it or whatever.

 

And also Bestbuy in Canada and Bestbuy in the US are not the same, very similar but some businesses deals are different and the fact that we operates on 2 different countries that have different laws and regulation and all...

 

MRI is a great tool but only a dumb ass don't double, triple check is work after MRI is done and there is much to do even after your done with MRI you don't just give back the pc like that. I swear, if you do that you don't deserve to work a Geek Squad!!

 

EDIT: Oh and i too would NOT have remove ICUE, i use it on my own PC at home with no issue, i don't understand the hate for it, same for Synapse, all works well for me. The tech who worked on the pc saw that it was a Corsair machine, why remove the software that controls all corsair hardware in it?

Edited May 8, 2023 by Bacchus15
ADDENDUM