Just recently we received enough money that we could upgrade our office equipment. After doing some research, we packed up into the truck and were on our merry way to Best Buy to purchase a new laptop, a new hard drive, a modem, and a router. The salesman was very helpful - up to a point. We explained that we wanted to network our three computers together and did they know the cost?

You see, they have an in-house computer technology company located at Best Buy called Geek Squad.  The salesman quickly explained that Geek Squad would be able to network us, hook up all our computers, install virus protection and other software that we got and do it in our home at our convenience. HOWEVER, when it came to getting costs on what the final charges would be for their services, the salesman suddenly became not so helpful. When we were asking questions, he was writing everything down and kept saying he didn’t want to forget anything as he would need to check on his computer for the costs. He did say that there was a package that would be perfect for our needs. But, guess what? He indicated that we could have protection for the laptop in case we spilled drinks on it or dropped it, or what have you. We could have another service for the hard drive, and something else for the networking.

Okay. Now, of course, we were excited about this as he also said there was a special price on the package. Folks, somehow we ended up at the cash register still without getting a straight answer on what it would cost for all the things we needed for the Geek Squad. We thought he was ringing our charges up. Boy, oh, boy, was he. I swear we stood around for at least an hour, if not more, waiting, waiting, and waiting. When we asked him what was taking so long, we were told that their network computers were in the process of being upgraded and were slow.  Hmmm, that didn’t give us a warm, fuzzy feeling. Why didn’t the Geek Squad fix them??? Several times we almost walked out of the store and almost told them to forget it. They are VERY Slow! If it were not that we needed this equipment for our business, we probably would have.

Anyway, when they finally got the sleeping giant computer to give up its wealth of information (and that was wealth for the store), we discovered that each and every part of the warranties and hooking up the modem/router, networking, was all billed separately - there was no package. We wanted to make sure that we got appropriate warranties on our brand new equipment so we would be protected. Readers - imagine our surprise when we discovered that 1/3 of the total cost was for Geek Squad! We are a small business; that hurt.

So, after grinding our teeth and buying extra band-aids to cover our wounds of hurt feelings, we went home and waited for the scheduled day for the technician to arrive. Finally it arrived. I want to tell you that we had the best technician we could ever hope for. He was helpful and went above and beyond the call of duty. He answered all of our questions and treated us with respect and dignity, customer service that is long-gone these days. He did not treat us like we were idiots or imbeciles and he did not act as though we were bothering him. We are 100% pleased with the work that was performed by this technician.

After the excellent service we received, we were quite surprised to hear a report from KPHO 5 TV on a study they did for technician companies in the Valley that were gouging customers and performing work on computers unnecessarily just so they could get more money for their service and seeing Best Buy’s Geek Squad as being a strong offender.

So what is the bottom line of our experience? Did we learn anything? You bet we did. First, when shopping at Best Buy, we will always ensure we get a definite price on service work before we get to checkout. Be prepared to wait  as the cashiers are not speedy. Secondly, there are good technician companies; and there are some that are not so good. We highly recommend that anyone who needs a technician to do work on their computers research the different companies that are in your area. Good places to check are the Better Business Bureau (if you are in the U.S.) and other respectable rating agencies. Also, as always, listen to your gut instinct. Don’t be swayed by “I want it now,” unless you are prepared to pay extra costs that more than likely will arise.