Unfortunately I don’t get many leather-clad long-haired bikers turning up at my place, but that’s exactly what happened today.
The Geek Squad (owned by the Carphone Warehouse) had arranged for a “geek” to visit me at home and sort out PC problems that, as a technophobe, had me baffled. Following a prompt arrival he got straight to work and sorted out numerous computer problems including software that insisted on springing into action at start up when I didn’t want it to, numerous error messages, incompatible drives and a generally slow-running PC.
Resisting the urge to baffle me with jargon I wouldn’t understand, Savaas (a Greek geek) explained just enough for me to understand what he was doing but not too much so that my eyes glazed over. He also showed me how I would log on to wi-fi should I ever get round to taking my laptop out and about, and got rid of software that I never use and slowed down the running of my desktop PC.
The Geek Squad now covers all of London for home visits and can do remote work for any PC in the UK. It’s not cheap though - home visits cost £99.99 and remote fixes £49.99. BT run a similar service with BT Home IT Visit which costs £75 for the first hour and £30 for each 1/2 hour after that. As well as sorting out PC problems, they can set up networks and broadband routers so you get the most out of your internet connection.
It would be good to hear other people’s views - any good / bad / indifferent experiences with travelling computer experts?
I just wanted to comment that there is one inaccuracy in your blog - The Geek Squad is not owned by The Carphone Warehouse, they have apparently entered into a 3-way partnership between Carphone Warehouse and their US based parent organization Best Buy.
The other thing to note is that their pricing is flat rate, meaning that regardless of whether the repair takes them 1 hour or 5 hours, the cost to repair the issue remains the same.
I have used their service in the US, and I must say that I was extremely impressed - it sounds as if their service in the UK is no different than the stellar service I receive here in the States.
You forgot to mention that Geek Squad do not charge per hour. They actually charge you a flat rate, which means the home visit of £99.99 for a computer repair would still be the same price whether it takes 1 hour or 2 hours – the latter being the more likely these days.
As we know, most computer problems such as cleaning out viruses, errors and spy ware will not get fixed in just an hour. It will take half an hour just to see everything that’s wrong with the computer in the first place.
With the Geek Squad, there is also a no fix, no fee policy too, which is great. If they can’t fix it, you don’t pay a penny. No callout charge like other companies.
The problem with being charged per hour is that if you get stuck with somebody who is incompetent at his/her job or just slooooow, why should you have to pay extra for the time spent doing a job when it could have been done faster? What’s stopping that person from taking his sweet time fixing your PC just because he’s getting paid per hour? Nothing!
A flat rate is better and you know what you’ll be paying without nasty surprises at the end.
Hi
I am the Marketing Manager from the Geek Squad UK and it is great to hear your thoughts as we always want to understand our customer’s feedback better.
I look forward to reading any other comments that people post on this website.
Thanks
Jess
I am always impressed to hear reviews and ideas that are voiced by real people. I am a Geek Squad Special Agent. (Which simply means that I do what the Geek Squad guy did for Rodney, but for business owners and operators.) The bloggers that followed up with the first comments that were made are completely correct about the rates we charge. This is true if you have a simple wireless network setup at home or a large scale business server implimented. We offer hourly rates only from a maitenance agreemtent level. That fits for a lot of small to medium sized company owners that want to save the extra head count on payroll.
There is a lot more to know about Geek Squad. As you can see we think outside of the box and provide outstanding customer service. Usually this converts to happy people. We have all seen different levels of service when we have visited a repair shop for out vehicles. I like to compare the car world to that. You can visit the car dealership where they wash, vacum, and place floor mats in the car for you when they are done. Some times the time it takes them to fix the problem is quicker and you are back on the road again. They have the parts in stock. They provide coffee and comfortable seating in the waiting area. The possibilities are endless. Then there is the next door neighbor or local single man shop. Both may be equally as qualified or on may have more credientials than the other. The small shop may take longer because there are less people working there. Nonetheless we are trying to give the advantages of both in our service. That is what I see from where I stand. Knowledgeable people that can get the job done quickly and that can become like a personal Geek friend if you would. With this also they have other team members around them to reach out to and gain support if they have a question while they are supporting you. You are the one that in daily life does amazing things we enable you to do them when you hit a road block.
I will follow up and read others feedback.
Yes, the flat rate pricing is definitely a good thing. The Geek was at my house for about 2 and a half hours - so would have been about £165 with BT. Since then he called me to say he’s still looking into one problem that couldn’t be fixed, so good follow up service too.
Hi guys,
Great article and great follow up comments. Actually, the comment from Agent Response piqued my interest. I’m in a relatively small business and we’re looking to outsource some of our IT functions. What I’m curious about is how GeekSquad functions.
I’ve visited the GeekSquad page and there isn’t really anything directly addressing the needs of the SMBs (small to medium sized businesses). Is it GS (GeekSquads) philosophy that business should simply pay the flat fee for any service they need? Or is there more long term agreements that business can sign that allow for more hands on maintenance and service? And how much does that run?
I’m also curious as to what kind of individuals GS sends out to the home. Are they certified? or simply guys that seem to know lots about computers? I suppose I’m being a little nosy, but I like to do my homework…
Thanks for any help out there.
cheers
Hi Curious Geek,
We are always delighted to hear of anyone’s interest in the Geek Squad.
Yes we are looking to support small businesses and would like to hear your exact requirements. Also by September we should have a wider range of services available that will be able to support this type of work.
It is always important to us to recruit the highest calibre of agents. Our agents undergo a thorough recruitment process which includes a specific technical test, amongst other measures before they are hired. Following this they attend regular training sessions and product updates. We also have a support network in place that allows agents to access specialist expertise should they require it.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thanks
Jess
The main Geek Squad agents are based in Preston (Telephone based) and are all employees of TalkTalk 1st and 2nd line technical support advisors. All the 1st line agents were what the company TalkTalk called were “upskilled” to do the 2nd line technical support role. They are still handling all TalkTalk technical support enquire. The agents did not undergo a thorough recruitment process which didn’t include a specific technical test, amongst other measures before they are hired. They were just given a new job title.
Just to warn you of the pit falls Geek Squad may have in the future if they still handle all TalkTalk technical enquires as they are still reliant on OPAL Telecom to make sure the customer can connect to Broadband
Your a sour ex-employee mate….former geek. I can only presume that you have some sort of axe to grind against CPW.
Dont know what your intentions were unless it was to try to rock a boat before putting it out to sea. I am glad your gone as it certainly looks like team work WASNT your FORTE.
Smarmy comments that try to downgrade a crisp, factual post don’t really do much for GeekSquad’s image though.
I tried phoning up Geek Squad for support and found that they did not seem to be able to solve my issue over the phone wanting to send out an engineer and charge me for it. I looked around and found a service offered at www.supportinabox.com who were able to fix my problem over the phone. I found their prices to be reasonable charging £99 for a full year of support and I know if I have a problem again I’ll be able to phone them up without incurring another charge.
I was also hired by the Geek Squad. They weren’t even interested in my CV or references at the interview, and soon put me on a superficical trainning programme that was more based on an American-cult (ooohhh awesome!!!) mindset than anything practical.
CPW is not the problem; GS may not be the solution.
I am a Present employee in the preston based call centre for geek squad on mission control. My induction process was very thorough and beneficial. Since working for geek squad the training has never stopped, I continue to learn new technical abilities every day. One thing I can say is that this is a first of its kind I have seen in the UK as we offer a subscription service at £10 per month for a minimum of 3 months where as other companies tend to do a minimum 12 month contract. We do have flat rates for all service calls and the price quoted only changes if the customer agrees to it. Using the subscription service there is a fair usage policy in place, but you also get discount on field agent visits.
Happy Geek