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View Full Version : Geek Squad = Idiot Squad



KingHippo
08-29-2008, 01:15 AM
So I got a new HDTV from Best Buy and since the unit was rather large I had their elite Geek Squad come and set everything up.

Would you believe that they told me that they do not know how to setup Tivo HD and weren't planning on learning to do it? Oh and the thing is that Tivo HD acts as my cable box. So now I have an oversized old school antenna TV. I am going to party like its 1985! I wonder what wacky antics Alex P. Keaton has in store for us on Family Ties!

Combine this with the fact that the company that formed my LLC put the incorrect business address on a bunch of forms and with a bunch of "minor players" like ohhhh hmmm THE IRS AND THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY. Oh man and I just read on their website that they performed a "final quality check"! Does anybody do their job right anymore!!!???

orion_joel
08-29-2008, 02:09 AM
Wow, this shows pretty bad customer service on their part. If you go on the name of the service you would expect them to be able to solve and or install this sort of thing. It really could show huge potential for competition to this service in the area.

vangogh
08-29-2008, 02:13 AM
Sorry to hear about the problems today. I hear you about people not doing jobs right. I don't get it sometimes.

I never ask for help from people like Geek Squad. I'm pretty sure I know more than they do already about whatever technology they're selling me.

KristineS
08-29-2008, 08:15 AM
I had a similar experience with the cable company when I moved to the new place. No concern for making sure things worked properly, and no sense of urgency when I said they didn't work. It is really maddening.

cbscreative
08-29-2008, 01:11 PM
Geek Squad has great marketing IMO, but I've heard many stories about frustrated customers. And they are certainly not cheap either, I need to raise my rates. I hear you about bad customer service, I've even started threads about it myself because the problem seems to be very widespread.

I can't solve this problem, but I will offer a recommendation. Get a copy of a movie called Dilerious with John Candy. It's hilarious. The plot is about a guy (Candy) who writes for a soap opera and gets caught in his own soap opera. The reason I thought of this movie is that at the beginning, he is waiting for a very late cable repair guy to show up. They later work this experience into the happenings of the soap opera he gets caught into in a very funny way.

That's the best prescription I can offer at this point, other than the fact that we obviously want to do better with our own businesses.

billbenson
08-29-2008, 01:46 PM
I'm lucky to have a real good Cable Company and great support from them where I live. They have no long term contracts either. 24/7 support from the us or canada. Not India.

The local phone company is running fiber to the houses around here and trying to get you to cut over to them. They offer all the cable services plus phone. They are more expensive than the cable company and you have to sign a two year contract though. They had lousy service for telephone service and were expensive, so there is no way I'm going to cut over to them.

Incidentally, if anybody is building or remodeling a house, I would install tubing to run fiber in your walls in the near future. With fiber to the side of your house, the next step will be interior fiber instead of coax or cat 5. They are already running fiber in some of the very upscale new construction in Florida.

cbscreative
08-29-2008, 02:06 PM
I would add one caution to installing fiber, but professional installers ought to know this, or knowing it yourself can help you avoid the wrong installer. Unlike cable that can run around objects, baseboards, etc., fiber cannot turn a 90° angle. It must use a much kinder, gentler arch and not a bend (unless there are some new advances I've not yet heard about).

billbenson
08-29-2008, 02:29 PM
I used to sell fiber. The way telcos installed it in the street is they would put 6" id pvc in the ground. They would install 3 or 4 seamless tubes in the pvc called subduct. If you ever see trucks on the side of the road with large reels of orange or other color tubing on them, that is subduct. In my area they aren't putting it in pvc. When they want to install fiber in the subduct, they attach a gromet sort of device to the end of the fiber which seals to the side of the subduct. They hook up a machine that pressurizes the subduct and feeds the fiber. They can blow in a kilometer of fiber in about 20 minutes.

Not that any of that was relevant to homeowners. I've handled fiber jumper cables before and you could coil them up in about a 6" diameter coil as I recall. You certainly couldn't pinch them into a 90 degree bend without damaging them. Most cables have multiple fibers in them as well. It's probably something best left to professional installers, but a good idea to plan for in new construction.