Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[User143529]

i heard it a standard price for geek squad to install anything at your home BUT they put it as big adverstisement.

look at this link:

http://kotaku.com/5363264/seriously-this-should-be-illegal

[hydrogenwv]

Yup, that's a lot to pay for something so simple... But, like everything else in life, some people may be daunted by it and would prefer someone else set it up. It's a little more than plugging it in, as the advertisement states... It looks like they'll set up a user account and likely get you set up online..

  If you don't need it or don't want it, don't buy it.. But if a rich, elderly grandma is buying a PS3 for her young grandson she is raising, she may prefer to pay $130 than have to "mess with the wires behind the TV".

[Mbrguy Emerging Expert]

$40 JUST TO CHANGE THE OIL IN MY CAR???  Seriously, this should be illegal!

$100 JUST FOR AT&T TO SEND SOMEONE OUT TO PLUG IN MY ROUTER???  Seriously, this should be illegal!

$80  JUST TO PLUG A DEVICE INTO MY CAR TO UNLOCK MY RADIO???  Seriously, this should be illegal!

$130  JUST TO HAVE THE GEEK SQUAD SEND SOMEONE TO MY HOUSE AND PLUG MY PS3 INTO MY TV ENSURE IT WORKS PROPERLY (BECAUSE IF I'M PAYING THEM TO DO THIS, THEN I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO DO IT MYSELF)???  Seriously, this should be illegal!

Yup, these all sound stupid, don't they?  

Some people don't know how (seriously) or aren't comfortable with setting up certain electronics and would rather pay someone to come and do this for them.  My father every once in a while would play video games with me when I was growing up.  If he wanted to continue today and bought a system, he would have no clue how to plug everything in and if I'm not close to where he is, how would he then get this set up?  Because the people at your link feel that it should be illegal for him to pay Geek Squad to do this for him.

Those services are NOT for everybody.  But for the few people who do need them, they are offered.  People may not like this, but they can just deal with it.  Geek Squad offers services for these peope who need them and they still have to charge for the services they provide.

When the Geek Squad sends an Agent to someone's house for something like this, they have to pay the Agent, the gas for the Geekmobile (along with the other expenses:  insurance, etc.), plus they are taking a block of time of the Agent's when they usually have other clients waiting on services for their computers, TVs, etc.  

If Geek Squad had a super cheap gaming system install fee, that's all they would be doing, and peope waiting on in home computer repairs along with everyone waiting on a gaming system install would have a MUCH longer wait time for the Geek Squad Agents to get to them.  The price is enough to pay for the expenses of the service and to make it economical to do that type of service along with other services like computer repairs.

[User143529]

yes, agreed but you can plug it in yourself like couple mins or you can wait 30-60 mins for geek squad and charged you $130. it seem common sense to me.

[User143529]

to what your saying is a bit different. if geek squad is doing the oil, they will charge $100+, not $40 like regular price. that should be illegal. basically, geek squad over charged than the average price.

[Mbrguy Emerging Expert]

Ok, what type of LAW would you write to govern how much a private company can charge for the time/labor/expense of sending a tech to a person's home to perform a service?

[hydrogenwv]

You can't wrap your head around the fact that some people don't have the technical abilities that you do?

[Mbrguy Emerging Expert]

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hydrogenwv wrote:

You can't wrap your head around the fact that some people don't have the technical abilities that you do?

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[hydrogenwv]

I get the impression we are speaking with a typical ~13-14 year old bridge-dweller... You know that they don't let logic get in the way of their arguments.

[Jimmienomam]

Common sense for 95%+ of the world, for the other 5% they couldn't do this if you talked them through it step by step. Trust me I worked Verizon FIOS tech call center and my #1 problem called in about was:

"My TV says press menu to watch FIOS. I just want to watch my tv, what do I have to do?"

100% Honesty, #1 complaint. I don't even think I need to explain that that's the phrase that comes up as a screen saver when the box is on for long periods of time without any input.