A year ago, my daughter saved her own money to but a lap top computer.
We bought it, and an extended service contract from Best Buys.
It proved to be a lemon, and after several repairs (motherboard, hard drive, etc) they replaced it with another computer of a different make.
I paid for another extended contract…but when this machine had issues, they are trying to pawn it off on "software problems"—not covered and want to charge nearly 200 bucks to fix it.
Everyone who’s heard of the problem think the issue is power/ hardware related. While we were waiting to have the puter serviced, every customer was told the same thing "If the issue is spyware, it’s not covered…"
I think they are simply trying to weasel out of the contract, and "software" is just an excuse. Has anyone else had a similar experience with Geek Squad? It also took them 11 days to run a simple diagnostic. That’s absurd. So is paying 25 percent of the price of a product not even a year old.
My daughter says the screen goes black at random. She also said that re-booting doesn’t always bring it back.
She has a Toshiba laptop, and twice in the last year we had to replace the power cord. The first one used to get so hot it could almost burn your skin, but the latest doesn’t do that.
We use Avast and Ad Aware for anti-virus.
This doesn’t sound like any virus I have ever heard of. Opinions?
Even worse…when we retrieved the laptop, they tried to get me to sign a form that said it "had been repaired to my satisfaction.
THEN we found two new icons on the computer, one for a direct internet connection none of us had ever used, or heard, and the other for files equal odd.
Wonder what the boys do on their breaks?
Tagged with: anti virus • avast • computer one • direct internet connection • excuse • hard drive • lap top computer • money • pawn • power cord • puter • satisfaction • service contract • software problems • toshiba • toshiba laptop • weasel
Filed under: Computer Diagnostic Software
I used to work at a small computer repair store and we had numerous customers with the same exact complaints as you do. My personal dealings with the Geek Squad lead me to believe they are not too technically savvy and can only do "the basics".
In your particular case, the component that converts AC to DC for the LCD backlight, the inverter, sounds like it’s dying. If, when the screen goes black, the images are still faintly visible, you have a bad inverter and it can easily be replaced. I would strongly suggest you take your machine to a local repair shop for evaluation, however. The Geek Squad will ship your computer to a service center for repair…they do not perform "advanced" repairs at the store. Local shops will be in a better position to rectify your problems quickly.
Yes Geek Squad and service plans are both scams.
Think about it.
For the price of two service plans and the the cost of fixing the "software problems," you can buy another laptop! That’s ridiculous.
Cut your losses and run. Go to a legitimate computer repair place or just buy a new laptop from a real vendor like NewEgg.
Yes, extended service plans are generally a rip off, buy an extended warranty from the manufacture instead. I know the sales pitch is "you bring it to us we fix it no shipping". Guess what – they ship to them out instead. GS has a lot of bad press out here.
And we can’t help with the issue to tell you if it is hardware or software related since you never described it.
I work for geek squad and to tell you the truth…they are a rip off! They probably sold you a lemon unfortunately,do you know if people just want to throw their old computer away the geek squad takes them!!!!!!!!!!! hmmm….Wonder what they do with them????Right?The warranty doesn’t cover any software related issues,prices are extremely high,and we think the same thing we just aren’t allowed to say so since we work there,also….all The geek squad is worried about is money,sales pitching,and comp,sorry,but we are living in the last and evil days read Romans in the bible it will tell you,but I’m trying to quit soon as I get another job,just don’t go off on the counter person,they get paid the least,and get all the crap,its the big boys you go after,and its not the 1800 geek squad number either,they don’t get paid either….the Only thing I would say is not to ever buy anything ever again from there,and ask a lot of questions like: what if this or that happened? And see if they will ask them honestly….