Views : 1,918,550
Genre: Science & Technology
Date of upload: May 6, 2023 ^^
Rating : 4.931 (1,196/68,307 LTDR)
RYD date created : 2024-04-20T00:34:29.433915Z
See in json
Top Comments of this video!! :3
As a PSA: Geek Squads are extremely different, depending on where you go. I worked for one while obtaining computer sci degree and my boss was a tenured employee who had multiple network security certifications. We, naturally, were excited to see "weird" cases and dug into them. Some malware, we even (yes, illegally), took home and reverse-engineered. He got me into security, where I am today. We did everything we would do for our own computers, to the clients, and they loved us. We took more time with people than we were "supposed to" because we genuinely loved explaining computer stuff to laymens.
Fast forward a bit, my wife wanted to go from being a teacher to web development. I told her to build a base in computer support and she started in Geek Squad. That place was absolutely moronic. Their GSM was fired and a new one hired, twice. They had someone that they couldn't fire for "legal reasons" and he did nothing. I spoke with the agents, while dropping her off, and found that none of them knew anything about computers. It was a complete 180 from where I started.
So, yeah, Geek Squad is great... If you get the right one. Sometimes you can have far over-qualified agents like I had on my team; sometimes you can have random kids on the street that don't want to be there and do a very sub-par job.
1.2K |
I'm semi-retired now, but not too long ago I ran a corporate IT Help Desk and fixed PCs as a side gig. While watching the video, two things stood out (Actually I'd call them glaring omissions) from this Best Buy "tune up" report: First, I'm surprised neither BB nor Linus mentioned the low amount of free space available on the PC main drive: 60GB out of 953GB (Just over 6%)! That should have been one of the first things addressed, or at the very least mentioned to the user (If the PC wasn't exhibiting signs of low disk space now, it most certainly would be in the near future)! Diagnosis: General rule of thumb - Don't let your HD fill up to 90% capacity. Weird behavior will ensue. Offload programs and data now! Oh, you don't have an external drive? Let me show you what we have in stock. There are a few models I can recommend (See how this thorough attitude benefits Best Buy?)...
Secondly, there's no mention of a physical inspection of the PC's interior. Even a "basic" tune-up would include this. I can't recall how many times I've opened a PC case to find it suffocating from dust bunnies! Diagnosis: Clogged vents = overheating. Weird behavior will ensue. Blow it out with canned air. (And while you're there, inspect components and cable connections).
So yeah, these are just two (major issues) that stood out!
300 |
as someone who does not live in the States, i just spent a whole video realizing for the first time that The Nerd Herd and the store "Buy More" from the show Chuck was based on the geek squad from Best Buy Stores.. and even realized the whole premise of the show "Chuck" being about him being a secret agent was inspired by the fact that Geek Squad employees are called agents.
506 |
This made me happy to see a video about my previous experiences. I was a Advanced Repair Agent for 3 years and everything you said hit close to home. One thing about each location is I would say the quality of work you get is how knowledgable the invididual is. I worked at various locations and in most cases your GSM (Geek Squad Manager) is not very hands on and just really care about metrics rather than quality unfortunately. If your NPS is low than they start nit-picking your work. I am sorry that your Agent didn't perform the service correctly, I wish it could have been me working on your PC!! Most of the clientele at Geek Squad is older folks so there knowledge for computers is pretty non-existant which makes them a perfect client for Geek Squad.
80 |
I'm currently a repair agent at Geek Squad, and as you said in the video it's a coinflip based on the actual agents working there. Some stores are bogged down by the sheer volume of PCs and other things such as iPhone repairs(Which basically rips us away from PC/Mac repairs because they HAVE to be done IMMEDIATELY if they come in before a cutoff time near closing time), or management/corporate forcing a bunch of excess paperwork that literally means nothing or is repeats of things we already put in detail in the closing notes.
We usually use plenty of software that isn't actually "approved" because MRI is a fossil at this point and is only useful for a two or three applications in it that are still updated on it. We generally try our best to get what the client wants done with their PC but there's often a lot of red tape from management/corporate, or miscommunication(sometimes, NO communication) from the client or the agent who checked in the device being untrained(99/100 times, the guys and girls at the counter know barely ANYTHING about PC repair and they are ONLY supposed to get info from the client for checking in. They are not supposed to troubleshoot on the counter) or unwilling to do their job correctly because they're paid the same as a blueshirt cashier but given much much more responsibility/pressure.
Some of us just want to fix people's computers man, BestBuy just doesn't let us.
4 |
I'm a current employee of geeksquad working as an in home pc agent, i appreciate this video, most of us agree with everything stated in this video, corporate stops us from doing most things that dont follow SOP, but we always try to make the client our highest priority and do everything we can to ensure the service is done to their standards.
228 |
Current Geek Squad employee here. Some of the things in this video were very... Strange to me... For example, the approved tool list is updated fairly regularly, for example, Ubuntu was pulled from the approved list relatively recently. One thing I will absolutely agree with is that the quality of your interaction will depend heavily on the specific agent you interact with. A tiny precinct like mine (only 6-8 agents on payroll at any given time) has the consultation agents trying to legitimately understand the issue and asking other agents for advice and opinions, but you have to deal with making appointments in order to be seen between a handful of phishing victims, inexperienced gamers, and iPhone repairs (assuming the location is authorized), because there are only 2-3 agents available, 5-8 appointments over the next hour, a growing pile of returns that need to be checked if they can go back on the floor, and 20 minutes allotted to per appointment to evaluate the issue to provide proper context to the single (or two if you're there on a busy afternoon) repair agent in the back working on 5-25 computers at once while keeping track of each client's unique situation. The one you went to looks like it was one of the big ones where there are too many agents for them to know every other agents' name and jobs are performed with robotic efficiency. They probably have an entire team dedicated exclusively to checking the functionality of returns for potential open-box resale. The best service would probably come from a precinct of about 10-14 agents total, where they all know and work with eachother daily, but there are enough hands and unique perspectives to go around. Too many agents and you no longer have a tight knit team. Too few and you no longer have experiencial diversity. Field agents, the ones that go to your home, are going to have to have much more experience to be able to handle doing all they do either alone or in pairs. Geek Squad has to balance a fine line between organized chaos and impersonal efficiency. You get the same thing with any service job though. Car shops, medical clinics, even schools. You gotta find your Goldilocks zone.
12 |
As an ex Best Buy employee, I can say that Geek Squad does have passionate computer nerds, and they were the ones who always delivered the best experiences to customers. There were also the fair share of "normies" who didn't know anything about technology at all who were hired on as well, and although you go through multiple online trainings (that a lot of people just skipped through and texted on their phone for most of it) doesn't really teach them anything or give them the motivation/passion/knowledge to do a good job. Again, this was just at the store I worked at, and all the comments saying "It really depends on the store" is super true. I will also say, at my store there wasn't really much of "following the script" outside of trying to sell Total Techs, protection plans, etc. I mostly had free reign on what I was allowed to say, recommend, etc.
Also, the ICUE thing Linus mentioned is kinda unfair. If they were to delete it or disable it on startup, and the customer has a Corsair keyboard/mouse/headset/etc, then their settings are messed up and their hardware will be wacky. But also informing the customer that, "Hey, Corsair products use ICUE and ICUE slows down your PC." is a quick way to make a customer not want to buy Corsair products anymore which is not a great thing to do at a Tech store. Which is kind of unfair to Corsair since ICUE doesn't have a noticable impact unless you're on a lower end device.
The best thing to do, would be to ask if they have any Corsair peripherals and then if they don't tell them that, "I'd recommend deleting the ICUE software as it's unnecessary if you don't have any Corsair products."
Still something a little over the top to test Geek Squad for when there are so many factors and complexities, especially if it is a mother or grandmother bringing in a PC for their kids who don't really know much about their kid's setups.
240 |
As someone who's worked in the IT industry a fair bit of years. I can definitely say cleaning up a registry has its place in software repair. Also, on a system that has been running for many years, with many applications uninstalled, reinstalled, uninstalled, repeatedily over and over. There are often many bad or broken registry keys that can cause issue. Cleaning a registry does have it's place. But generally, the best way to do a registry clean is to do a manual cleanup for particular keys I know are causing problems. Sometimes, that's not an option because you don't know what particular software is at fault, that's where the registry cleaning tools have their place.
47 |
I used to work for Best Buy in 2001-2006 when Geek Squad was acquired. My Cosplay number was "2667" and I had the titles of CIA, Double Agent, Special Agent (both with Badges), and then finished my time there as a DFM "Deputy Field Marshall". It's a bit sad they haven't updated many of these tools and they are still doing registry cleanings. However, I'd mention they were sued by Winternals (Systernals of today) in 2006 and lost millions.
Once upon a time, the Geek Squad had independent stores that had wonderful training and service. Robert Stevens had a huge hand in this and I was flown to Minnesota several times to get training during the transition period. They even paid for the first 3 professional certifications I received in my career, with one being a MacOS certification at the BBY corporate campus when they partnered with Apple. Now adays, it is definitely luck of the draw with little to no training being done, but it wasn't always like that. As a special agent, I was able to get tons of experience with server 2000, 2003 and see tons of business from SMBs to medium sized businesses.
Glad to see they didn't completely drop the ball on this one. I did enjoy my time working for them at the start of my career.
112 |
@vogueisdeath2176
11 months ago
Is the color grading in this video on purpose?
7.5K |