For COMPUTER REPAIR call 1.877.GEEK.TEKS (433.5835)

[romeozee]

I have a wd portable hard drive , i accidentally knockd it down and it fell.. now its not working. where can i bring my portable 1.5tb hard drive? it still powering up , i think the problem is the usb. everytime i connect the usb to my laptop it doesnt read that I connected the usb of my portable hard drive.

[deiselaewireless]

that last guy was iranian, what a disgrace to my people...

[SoCalDude805]

Shout out to the computer repair store who fixed the problem for free. That's actually good advertising for them since they're really in it to help people.

[onlyadot]

That's TOTAL bullshit on the news peoples part, I have never tried to screw anyone over and if someone walked into my shop and said that the computer doesn't turn on I would automatically assume it was the power supply also. They are giving the techs misleading information and they are getting misleading answers in short. then again I would not say anything technical and troubleshoot it myself.

[VincentVolaju]

@onlyadot that's why it's "your" duty as a "computer technician" to check out the problem yourself, sometimes people tell you it's a certain problem from what it really is, can't really trust someone that doesn't know anything about it to tell you exactly whats wrong with it, that's why you test it/check it out

[FU407]

The fuck is wrong with the guy in the beginning of the vid?

[faithm]

Best Buy, the one close to me, is notorious for faking repairs, downgrading ram when you end it in, etc.

[histatimaniples]

beware of repair shops takeing high-end parts and replaceing them with low-end cpu's memory exe...

[muk546]

just by a mac far less problems and the genius bar fixes everything

[bigduey69]

I work as a CIA with Geek Squad and its not as bad as all of you are saying it is. A lady came in just earlier, said that her new CD-ROM drive wasn't working after a week, I simply opened the case, tried a different molex connector, walah, have a nice day! NO charge. Just because of a few shitty Agents you shouldn't judge a whole organization, just some thought.

[prrsnikety]

@bigduey69 And how much does "Geek Squad" charge to remove the spyware from a machine. I believe it's like 70 dollars? And what software do they use, oh Adaware and Search & Destroy. Two free to download programs that can be used by anyone. Pretty funny.

[bigduey69]

@prrsnikety , $199.99....try anywhere else, its actually pretty competitive price wise, the work is also guaranteed for 30 days, and you get to physically see what work was performed, not go by what some "computer guy" tells you was done. If you weren't such an idiot you would know that us Geeks have our own repair environment and we have 7 licensed malware removal tools which I cannot disclose that are used in a combination in the L.A.S.E.R removal engine in an environment outside of windows.

[bigduey69]

@prrsnikety, and as necessary, we go into the system registry, system files, and background services to manually remove any malware that has deeply infested itself. "Adware search & destroy" is not a tool in our arsenal, sorry dick wade.

[jazztrio2008]

for a simple problem like that I can fix it for $2.00..

now if you want to refurbish it I charge you 140.00

[fadyshan1]

i loved this video i wanna more

[GorathKaiga]

Not So Best Buy's Joke Squad is TERRIBLE. Most PCs worked on by the Geek Squad prior to the visit to our store are normally half-ass (half ass is being too kind, more like a quarter-ass) jobs that I end up having to fix.

At our shop we would have not only done it for free, but we would have also showed them what came unplugged.

Big Box corporations will charge you your soul, liver and first born child to fix your computer, mom & pops shops don't.

[angryjoy]

@3:08

They should have given that honest computer shop a little more promotional air time. Would have spiked their sales. Damn reporters always screwing the good guys...

[Rhinopotamuss]

That geek said it was the jumper? What a dickweed, I would have jumped him there and then with a metal baseball bat!

[RenegadeFury]

I think when they said the jumper set was wrong on the hard drive, they probably looked at the computer and thought they removed the cable themselves by acident or it happened during transit, and maybe they did change the jumpers on the hard drive, even though they didn't need too. Honestly this is redic easy, when you turn it on it will just say NTLDR is missing.

[ZEROEVILDARKCOOL]

TO PUSH IN A CABLE.

[ZEROEVILDARKCOOL]

$59.99

 $119.99 $69.99

$275.99

[ZEROEVILDARKCOOL]

THEY CHARGE

[ZEROEVILDARKCOOL]

HONEST STORES>INFLATION AND SLAVERY

[ZEROEVILDARKCOOL]

WORST BUY

[itemno1]

ok.. even if jumper set is wrong on hard drive. would it be 59.99 just to put that jumper on right pins?

[necrophagia69]

oh wow

[cubencis]

i love this entrapment shit

[lavayn]

i love how the reporter in the background talks increadibly slow like he doesnt know what hes talking about

[argallaos]

lol yea!

[bizboy13]

Why in the world anyone still uses GeekSquad is beyond me. Dummies.

[pwnagizer1]

This isn't fraud- but it's a rip-off. I work as a computer technichian and fix alot of problem like this. I remember one time that a guy took his computer to a LAN party and when he brought it home it didn't work. Turns out that he had to plug it in. I fixed it for free and he felt so embarassed that he gave me $20 and said it was for gas- it still makes me laugh.

[hentaiseeker]

Places charge money because it wastes their time trying to diagnose the problem.

[mumsiea]

Geek squad told a friend of ours that he would have to get a new hard drive (130$) and it would take another 170$ to get the information from his old drive. My kid fixed it for him in 15 mins.! It was a simple software problem

[87655788]

nice job geek squad "no that's about it " what a loser that happ when you not study

so go bac to school loser try get A+

[Alphonsothe28th]

I wish you would go back to school so someone could understand you. Why not going back to your third grade english class to "try get A+" Moran (spelled wrong intentionally by the way)

[IAmNutsAboutPCs]

Hehe funny.

[RenegadeFury]

it said that because there was no keyboard plugged in, if it was it would say NTFS is missing which leads you to the harddrive

[FuckLiberals247]

keyboard failure from unplugging an IDE cable? That's a new one.

[tocrawfo]

Most places have a minimum charge for services though. As long as you are told upfront I wouldn't expect free work for even something as simple as a loose cable. Companies do have to make money.

[Rodawg84]

ROFL $60 for connecting back a IDE cable in HA I could be rich!! jks :P

:O - This is a joke right? these people are technicians.. Stuff paying anymore than $5 - $10 for a loose IDE cable anything over $10 is a joke for that it doesnt take 2 minutes to do... Case Off, Ide cable back in! = Done!

[isaniac]

tbh tho if you can make money out of people stupidity or ignorance you would tho. the worlds a harsh place.

[wimpyisdead]

I am a geek squad agent. We look at the connections first in our store, and we would have connected it for free. You cant blame all 3458023658932745 different computer stores for one guys mistake. You dont have any idea how many stores they actually took thier computer to and asked the same question. It very well could have been 20+ stores and they just broadcast the worst ones. News reporters are there to make sensational stories. And they are good at it.

[FreshDeadlyRoses]

I work at Best Buy...I totally agree! Like Geek.Teks doesn't make mistakes...yeah right!

[lhuser]

I'm a personal techie, and I also do other hardcore stuff to hardware sometimes. A mistake can happen, and no, just because one didn't get the fact that an IDE cable wasn't pushed in, doesn't mean the others will be the same as him.

[VeNeM999]

come on, you know all about having to make budget, youre trained not to open the case or do much to it, but to check the comp in and get that 75 before anything else is done. you may be the exception but best buys policy is check it in and get the service fee.

[ScarSymmetric]

smells like PCworld.

if it doesn't turn on, open it up, check everything connected in the right colour coded places, with the correct sockets, check nothing is loose (processor), then give it a quick blow clean.

if it doesn't work after that, THEN try checking the hardware like a power supply.

[koorblohg]

I work on computers for a living. I'm not suprised at what geek squad tells consumers. Primary hard disk not found etc hmmm. If it was a power supply IT WOULD NOT TURN ON! The main board is "half" bad i love that.

[richardmcginty]

lol I just turned 15 and I could've fixed that when i was 12. fucking morons

[unsunghero18]

i'll connect it for you lol.. for 2 bucks..

[Pantheon8]

OMFG, I work for my own PC Repair shop. I don't want to toot our horn but we would NEVER do this. We do extensive diagnostics on everything to find out the problem. Then we fix it. As I said before we would only fix what the customer wants us to fix. If we were to find anything wrong, we would notify the customer, ask if they want it done, and if so we do it. But also, once we say a price, we can't change it.

So, WTF Major PC Repair Corps??

This is what every PC Reapir should do.

[3xplo1T]

The amount of people these days who are completely ignorant of their how their own computers work astounds me. I am still in college (not studing computer science) and every day I hear "my computer is broken" or "it just crashed" when all they had to do was A.Use Ctrl+Alt+Delete or B.Not just delete svchost.exe from their computer because they thought it was a virus (this has happened more often than you think)

[koorblohg]

My personal favorite is "the internet is broken"

I go to the user's pc and because the page isn't loading quick enough "its broken"

[zonic777]

Yeah, don't go to best buy for repairs...need to put that in my head...XD

[benthebug]

this is REALLY Sad

[davinp]

The Consumer Unit of NBC4 in Washington DC did a similar study and found different stores charnged different amounts to fix a minor problem or told them something need to be replaced, which was not needed.

[smeegma]

"To be fair, this isn't a normal problem either. No computer is gonna have the IDE cable just "fall out" unless you beat on it, therefore a tech that is busy with other repairs is going to think its a simple fried southbridge. To catch a cable sticking out a little is blind luck."

Not really. First thing to do is pop the case and eyeball everything for dirt, dust, and damage. This is so basic. If the hd doesn't show on post, that's another instant clue to check cabling/power/jumpers/etc.

[tem07]

NOOBS, JUST FUCKING FIX IT YOURSELF!

[angeredsmile2]

Yeah but what about people like my grandma or people who only use it for email. Or buy a used computer, I build my own computers and this has never happened to me. But it's possible.

[RenegadeFury]

You can read the error it would most likely say NTFS or something similari s missing which right away would point you to the harddrive. If it was a fried south bridge it wouldn't post.

[NetWhippy]

To be fair, this isn't a normal problem either. No computer is gonna have the IDE cable just "fall out" unless you beat on it, therefore a tech that is busy with other repairs is going to think its a simple fried southbridge. To catch a cable sticking out a little is blind luck.

[NetWhippy]

Most big box repair outlets (I.E. GeekSquad, whatever circuit city is peddling these days, etc) don't employee people that know how to fix a computer, theres ususally 1 or 2 guys that know how to fix the problem and the rest are glorified salesmen that know how to run ad-aware and install norton. I know this because I'm a former agent, and I quit because of shit like this.

[vikingscool]

Oh my gosh, I hate that. I wish I can fix my computer, I thought that I could fix on the computer is too hard?

[jeffpicks]

This ain't ANY different than ANY service industry. There are honest guys, and there are rip-offs. This ain't news to anyone. Go pull the hose off yer vacuum modulator on your auto transmission in your car and bring it in for repair. See if you get outta there for less than $1400 !

[flawns]

yeah Best Buy Geek Squad is a lOaD OF SHIT!!!!!!! my friend brought his alien ware comp. they so called "fix" it . and now it brigns up the blue screen of death. WAY TO GO geek fucking squad. DONT GO TO THEM

[LexManSubs]

If hes spending that much on a pc he should be able to have the know how to fix it. If he doesn't then he obviously doesn't deserve a pc like that.

[bodomreaper]

I am a PC tech, and this video is a load of one sided bullshit propaganda.

I do solid work.

[wynniejay]

you are a load of one sided bullshit propaganda.

[djnahu090]

jajajaj, computer repairers are sons of a bitch

[RGGerred]

lmao same here...and i do the correct work too

[pourman]

Stupid dude at the end of the video...it feels bad getting busted....hopefully learned his lesson...But I dout it.

[ravi2202]

I reinstalled windows xp on my computer and formatted the hard drive and everything but it still freezes. What is the problem?

[onymusha99]

prob video card but. or other thing is tought to tell whats wrong without seein it.

[1337h4xt0r]

Your HDD

[1337h4xt0r]

holy shit!!! this is why i have a gd comp for my entertainment and a shit one so if the gd one breaks i can go online with the shit one and go on a forum and see how to fix it myself. If any of my friends needed help with their comps, i would only chrage them for parts, not labour. it is possible to bulid a comp in under 10 minutes so there is hardly any labour to charge for!!!!!

[angeredsmile2]

very True

[dafunnylilaznguy]

yea...i knew something was wrong wid geek squad...basically, wut deze guys do is learn a BIT about the hard drive, den dey apply for jobs at such places, when it comes to test time, dey don't know shit...

[fookhar]

They learn a bit about the hard drive? You sure are a computer wiz yourself.

[Darkdawg18]

you use periods and apostrophe's like nuts. but you cant spell with or they?

Genius.

[kmartbum001]

most of them are honest, however, they usually have some minimum charge which is outrageous for something as simple as this. that's why it's good to build your own if you have the time to learn.

[ThePenguineKing]

yeah, the computer I'm currently on needs repairing, after 3 computers that have failed me to not have an definitely going to be self built!

[kmartbum001]

it really isn't hard to put one together. it's actually fairly easy. the hardest part, for me, was choosing what parts I wanted.

[Geolink2349]

that's why im building my PC... fuck repair men

[SuicideKing187]

Its better to learn the shit on your own but if you need help there not all assholes..I wouldnt fuck over a customer...And I had some troubles with the one I am on now and dude told me that there was nothing wrong I connected the power supply wrong..Dont know how that shit happend I had it the same way he did.

[jandychou]

this sucks.

[StrayWulf22]

lmao friggin bastards trying to rip people off, good thing i know how to fix my own computer problems. I've had my current computer for about 5 or 6 years now and it runs in perfect condition and ive made a few hardware changes that only cost me little money (such as the GPU and RAM) and of course the windows XP pack.

[Harv3y8irdman]

There's nothing wrong with Circuit City charging 60 clams for the repair. Most companies will charge per hour or part thereof - so 5 minutes or 1 hour is still the same cost. If you didn't do that, and all you did all day was piss ant little jobs you would never make any money.

[romanceandenigmas]

shut up bitch

[BlackCow99]

People comparing computer repair people with doctors are idiots, it doesn't take years of medical school to learn the ins and outs of computers. Ive been building computers since I was 13 and could easily fix pretty much all computer problems.

[johnaboc]

lol sure... i'm sure your "experience" is adequate ha what a joke

[EntranceDenied]

It cannot be helped that they charged for that much. After all, even doctors charges money for you to wait in line and takes bunch of sophisticated tests and it turns out to be a simple heart burn. I was retarded for not knowing what heart burn feels like(First time in my life), I thought I got a heart attack or something serious. Ignorant is bliss.

[MentorOfMinos]

Doctors don't charge you to wait in line. They charge you for performing a diagnostic test that requires years of training and skill to perform correctly. If you don't like how much it costs, you shouldn't go to the doctor for minor problems. Even if you have insurance, it is socially irresponsible to go when you aren't actually ill because it jacks up the cost of healthcare for everyone.

[EntranceDenied]

I said they charge for diagnosing my problems and *I DID NOT* mention that it was a rip off or not worth it. ALSO, I also mentioned that I THOUGHT IT WAS SERIOUS. If you discover there is a problem with your heart, you would go to see a doctor too. It is impossible to know what each sickness feels like with books; therefore, it is relevant to learning how to swim with books. You seems to be jumping conclusions about me. I do not like you.

[KivaWolf]

Best Buy, nor Geek Squad, know shit about computers.. If it was just a loose IDE cable.. come on!!!! A power Supply failure?! Best buy and Geek Squad should be shut down for crap work! Not to mention managers trying to void people's products as well.

[karveira]

Listen to the expert at 1:33 - "keyboard failure"

LOL

Stupid journalists

[ib1yysguy]

Predatory capitalism at its finest.

[xboxfreak225]

thats why i fix my comp myself, and upgrade it myself. fucking basterds, (exept the dudes that did it free at least they're honest)

[ZeratulZ1]

If they did it for free then they are assholes, this is a capitalist world!

[fatdudewh33lchair]

shows how retarted some ppl r! and what they'll do for money...

[ArbiBarayev]

The last guy in this video should go to hell, illegal immigrant!

[PeRshGo]

So they found the one dumbass at one Geek Squad, out of 800 or so Geek Squad locations. Big deal. Hell I would have said it was probably a bad HD knowing that most customers don't even know how to open the case. No way in hell our location would have said it was a bad power supply.

[DigitalInternetTF]

I use to work at BBY051, and unfortunately, the other guys there made mistakes like that all the time. Alot of the time, they had no cert's either.

[singedrac]

Geek Squad has been shown to be incompetent across a wide variety and number of stores. This says nothing of your location of course and for all I know you're the most talented tech support computer repair guy in the state, but Geek Squad hasn't been coming across in media lately as a much of a reliable service.

[johnaboc]

because the media looks for the bad WAY before the good

[bearprovedyouwrong]

It was NOT out of 800, Don't sit there and tell a dumb lie, The News people never said " we went to 800 locations." Your lie is as stupid as the rest of your fellow employees at Best Lie. As much of an idiot as you are I Bet you do work there.

[PeRshGo]

I didn't say they went to 800 stores, I said they have 800 stores. Dumbass

[bearprovedyouwrong]

Your the dumbass so you think your a fucking mind reader now and know each and every employee at ALL 800 stores. You must have worked there you are a real fucktard.

[bearprovedyouwrong]

And you said " No way would a BestBuy worker would do that." Oh yeah right, Nobody can make a mistake all BestBuy employees are perfect and infallible NOT! I have been to many Best Buys and most are dumbshits like you. So now according to you the Video cam is lying to. Your Geek ass highschool idiots at BestBuy are mostly fuckups like you.

[CheekyWizard]

It's hard to believe that in this day & age, as soon as something goes wrong with a pc, people will unplug and take it to a store to ask someone what's wrong. The problem is, is that in these stores; they don't sell the 'how to fix your own pc' books. Wonder why that is?

[Superdude688]

PWND. FYI this is true as hell, i worked at a comp. store for two months, once someone said thier floppy wasnt working, and i put in a disk to test it, didnt work, popped it out, and a peice of metal shilding from another floppy came out. i said what should i tell them? and they were like 'yeah say you had to reconfigure it and a bunch of stuff dont tell them it was just a peice of metal stuck in there' and charged like $69 or something xD

[puckman]

Nothing new here, plumbers, gas engineers, car mechanics do exactly the same thing. Time is money so a company HAS to charge for their time in looking at the problem, problem with something simple like this is that the customer might get a tad upset if he pays a lot for plugging in a cable so many tech's lie.

[xRyZaNx]

Explain the guys that didn't charge for it then.

[bearprovedyouwrong]

That one idiot saying" Half the motherboard is burned out" If that was true you wouldn't have the bios display anything. The only way half the motherboard would burn out anyways is if the damn thing got struck by lightning.

[FGMLogic]

ooor the power supply over heated due to poor ventelation...happened to me when I made my first computer

[Webzk22]

Okay I work at Best Buy on the Geek Squad and they blew this way out of proportion. If anybody here saw that it said that the hard drive was not found, they would simply crack the case and check the cable first thing. It's another thing if it powers on and blue screens or locks up, because the computer will say if there is an essential hardware component missing.

[flipicaneze]

Wow glad I got out of Geek Squad before they turned themselves into the idiot squad.

[mayimbe181]

wow what assholes the news is best buy is the best around for repairs of course nobodys perfect what a shitty setup i bet that news anchor is a kid toucher!

[bearprovedyouwrong]

mayimbe, I have people come to me all the time telling me how the best buy techies or the geek squad fuck them on there computers. i.e installing new harddrives or DVD Roms without even checking out the PC and still having the problem after paying out there rediculas fees. You must be a salesman for BEST BUY.

[tanjentsdotcom]

OH I LOVE the GEEK SQUAD jab!

[emopope]

SCAM SQUAD! Everyone should learn the basics in fixing computer.. just like a car or else you better be rich.

[IamSandman]

At Best Buy you can have them look at your computer for free, and most Agents would be able to catch that one and a few would even do it for free, but whatever...

[bearprovedyouwrong]

Yeah Iam But they will lie and tell you to fix it they need to replace things that aren't broken, oftentimes when its a software or user error problem. Very Few Best Buy imployees know what there doing. Most just know enough to get them introuble.

[richard833]

Shouldn't allow stupid people to use computers. Simple as that.

[bigemmo]

i agree and disagree

[Five0Five0]

wow that's sad...

[livinfree123]

Way to go Torrance Computer Repair @3:07. BMI @3:17. Scum, con, or incompet? No matter what that shop souldnt be in biz! From a former SW Dev & NW Admin.

[gibsonguy001]

its a business...they're there to make money. thats it. there are many idiot customers who need to understand basic repairs(like changing oil in your car) or pay the price to have someone else do it. simple as that.

[sevenpointsixtwo]

im 16 years old i know quite a bit about comps, why the hell aren;t i in the geek squad and what prick would chrage for that they are taking adavtage of people who are not fimialr with computers, they are damn scamming dueshes and tahts what i have to say, as a matter of fact i built my own comp with the ehlp of my uncle i did almost all of it and learned lots in the process !!

[VaultX]

The black guy knows where the harddrive is..Therefore he is the expert..

GREAT!

Its cause they are using pcs that are 50 years old <_<

[BigBumZ]

LOL what an expert he is aye? :P

[blankandpissed]

this is just disgusting.

i've been a tech for years now, and i know as much as any other tech how annoying end users can be, but i'd never do that to someone. i'd give them the machine back for free and tell them i'd take a tip if they really wanted to.

[abuzant]

No comments. Majority is bad educated, some are using this to their benefit. This is how the whole world is going. :)

[lovesbigbreasts]

no surpises here...i live near geek squad headquarters and these guys are total idiots, usually not scammers...they aren't payed in a way where scamming would benefit them

[jivan252]

I agree with violentvinyl. I'm a technician for a private company, but we only do repairs for the employees here. It's not always that simple to diagnose something. At the same time though, something like a loose IDE cable should be one of the first things you check after you open the tower. People will always need computer support, just like there will always be mechanics. It's not like this report is going to put us out on the streets. :P

[violentvinyl]

I'm a little surprised by Geek Squad, I would have thought they were good, being co-opted by Best Buy and everything.

The rest of it isn't very surprising though. The "investigative journalist" doesn't seem to understand that your paying for troubleshooting, not for labor. It's just like taking your car to a mechanic, they charge you just to look at it, or a minimum hourly labor charge, the hard part is figuring out whats wrong, once you know, it's generally an easy fix.

[bearprovedyouwrong]

I'm not surprised, I have been to many Best Buys and they hire most of there employee's based on age and looks, they have a " Hire only the very young thin pretty people" hiring policy. All you have to do is look around, virtually everyone is hansome pretty young and full of dumb.

[violentvinyl]

For the most part that's true, although, I've seen quite a few "not so thin" people working at Best Buy too. You have to look presentable to work in retail, I wouldn't buy a computer from someone who couldn't dress themselves or had bad personal hygiene. I wouldn't necessarily call them "pretty", but that's subjective. Also, usually it's young people or people with VERY limited skill sets that take jobs that pay minimum wage.

[bearprovedyouwrong]

When your paying for troubleshooting the person doing it should KNOW what there doing and be professionally trained and certified. Would you ride on a Commercial Jet with pilots that only had a total of 4 hours training?

[froggy0025]

effarant, les vendeurs sont des arnaqueurs/n00bs de première aux USA >_>