Help with fighting geeksquad

[majestic_failure]

Sorry if This should have been posted in another forum, but I am new to this community. So I was at best buy shopping with my dad, and he wanted to get a wall mounted tv. The guy seemed genuinely competent and helpful, so I listened. Aside from recommending those stupid hdmi cable, pretty good. But he went on all this stuff about wall mounting prices The labor of uninstalling the old tv, putting in the new one, $30 for carrying it from the truck to our front door (no, I'm not shitting you), mounting it, putting the wires behind the wall, special wall wires, etc. All together, I think it came to about $300 before you even got the tv. While I'm not stupid, I've never mounted something like that and I just wanted to know if paying them to do it is any good. I tried googling it, and just got ads from bestbuy for the service (yes, I know about the advanced exclusion search thing). So now I'm turning to a community that I hope can help. Should we actually pay geek squad to install a tv? And if so, do we pay all the fees? I can get a more accurate list of everything if it helps. Straw poll answers help.

[majestic_failure]

Sorry for the multiple choice thing. Oops.

[Energycore]

We wouldn't be the Linus Tech Tips community if we didn't tell you to do it yourself. I don't know exactly how to do it, but a couple common sense things are: weigh the TV, find a mounting that can handle its weight, and definitely route cables to it before you mount it so it's not impossible to do later.

 

You could also go to some store that sells stuff like drills and nuts and screws, and ask if they can help you mount it. They're likely to charge less.

[Energycore]

Also turnip.

[majestic_failure]

Thanks man, really appreciate the advice and I'll be sure to try it. Would never have thought to go to a standard hardware store.

[Energycore]

Just now, majestic_failure said:

hardware store.

Oh that's what they're called. Goddammit

[majestic_failure]

You've spent five minutes going insane because of that, haven't you? It's a torture that everyone knows.

[SCHISCHKA]

i wouldn't trust people who work in retail with tools. i certainly wouldn't trust them to give me a quote on something i have been trained in. in NZD which is similar to CAD, moving furniture is around $40. mounting a television is a 20min job, hooking up cables what 15min? would be a min 1 hour charge at whatever your local labour rates are, in NZ i would quote $60 to $100. Then theres the cost of the bracket, any more than $60 and i would just make one myself. Other companies would double or triple my price as they get enough business from the clueless, also they have to make up for customers who get in the way and slow jobs down

[kennethnakasone]

Yeah, $300 seems rather steep, though I guess you get the peace of mind knowing that if the TV gets dropped, Best Buy's going to be the one responsible. Mounting a TV is usually a 3 person job, so unless you have a sibling that's got the time, I'm going to agree with Energycore and suggest hiring someone.

 

There's usually a group of guys that wait outside the local Home Depot that take odd jobs, so maybe you could hire one or two of them?

[malon]

Unless you are physicly unable to mount it yourself you are better, or atleast cheaper off to do it yourself, also don't try it alone but thats rather abvious i would say

[Bsmith]

I say do it yourself, the hardest thing to do is getting the mount on the wall and hang the TV on it, but that combined is less then 30mins work without tutorial if you keep the manual next to it, just get a 2nd person to help where needed(unless you are with 2 already) and you should be fine.

[beavo451]

Are you or your dad the least bit handy? It's not rocket science to mount a TV.

 

A full motion mount from Monoprice is ~$50. Some lag screws and washers from your hardware store is ~$3. You need a drill, level, stud finder, and sockets/wrenches.

 

 

Depending on the size of the TV you may or may not need two people. One person can get everything installed. You only need a second person to help with hanging the TV up.

 

 

If you already have an old TV mounted, it's even easier. Dismount the TV, move the brackets to the new TV, and re-hang it. You would need a screw driver at most.

[michaelocarroll007]

6 hours ago, majestic_failure said:

Sorry if This should have been posted in another forum, but I am new to this community. So I was at best buy shopping with my dad, and he wanted to get a wall mounted tv. The guy seemed genuinely competent and helpful, so I listened. Aside from recommending those stupid hdmi cable, pretty good. But he went on all this stuff about wall mounting prices The labor of uninstalling the old tv, putting in the new one, $30 for carrying it from the truck to our front door (no, I'm not shitting you), mounting it, putting the wires behind the wall, special wall wires, etc. All together, I think it came to about $300 before you even got the tv. While I'm not stupid, I've never mounted something like that and I just wanted to know if paying them to do it is any good. I tried googling it, and just got ads from bestbuy for the service (yes, I know about the advanced exclusion search thing). So now I'm turning to a community that I hope can help. Should we actually pay geek squad to install a tv? And if so, do we pay all the fees? I can get a more accurate list of everything if it helps. Straw poll answers help.

 Mounting a Tv is very Simple

 

1. Buy a mount online that fits your requirements.

2. Find the location you want it

3. Find the Two wall studs you need to screw into

4 Have someone Hold the Mount while you put the lag Bolts into it Put one in 95% of the way then goto the opposite corner and Make sure its level with a actual LEVEL screw that in and continue with the last 2 making sure it stays level then put them all in tight.  I would use a small drill to drill the holes first that are smaller then the lag bolts you get so wood doesnt crack and its easy to put the bolt into the wall. 

5. the mounting brackets have 2 small screws you can mostly do by hand then finish with a regular hand screw driver.

6 now the bracket on the wall and the one on the tv can connect to each other. 

 

Now this can take someone who has done it before about 30 mins total but maybe 2 hours if you have no idea.

 

Best buys price is a little high but anything like this is overpriced if your able to do it yourself its just how it works and has to. i dont see any real company charging less then $200.  Two paid guys have to drive to your house work for say an hour and drive back.  They have many costs to get that done Vehicles, gas, labor, tools, insurance, workers comp, there are many liabilities employees hurting them selves breaking your tv or anything in your home car accidents ect.  then they take the cost of all this and have to make a profit. 

[Tieox]

I'd rather bulk buy dildos then hire Geeksquad to install a fresh roll of toilet paper.  

 

They're okay at selling computers to people who want email.

 

END.