Obviously, I can't say much either, but I can say this has been a lot of fun!

that plastic badge they give you... it doesnt mean anything more than you are marginally more skilled than a clueless user who buys a computer at best buy...

Actually the badge is not plastic.
It is an actual metal badge. They, may not be police officers, but it is in fact a real badge.

I've seen all skill levels of techs. And personally, someone explain the correlation of shipping items and fixing PCs? Office supply stores would be more logical.

I agree.

I can walk into any geek squad office (or w/e they call themselves) and totaly demolish them intilectualy, in both hardware and software knowledge, as well as social life too.

A Geek Squad 'Agent' is an individual and, as such, skills and abilities vary from one person to another, from one location to another. This is true of every large business - it's a unified platform with unified goals and resources that has variances in effective delivery at local levels.

I think the concept is great, and technology support is a real necessity. There are always some disappointments when dealing in customer service, but I think they get it right much more often than vocal tech-elitists would admit. The truth of the matter is that said elitists often do not actually have the real skills that are necessary to function in this role: communication and patience (for ignorance).

They already are in office supply stores. Office Depot.

Kinkos is the go-to place for every small time self publisher, college student, and small business print need in the world. It's a good strategy, most of these people have no idea to fix their pcs (most of them barely know to use one) I have been in the publishing business nearly 20 years and have to deal with them daily. These people definetly need the help.

i just cant believe that people are willing to pay $200 for hard drive and os install. i mean geez go out and buy another pc. the prices for the services are ridiculous. some people have no clue. i do it on the side and would be ashamed to try to collect $60 or whatever they charge for a hard drive install and format. anti virus install is $20 or more. how hard can that be, lol. i guess if dummies are gonna pay it then they will charge whatever they want

I applied to both Best Buy and the Geek Squad in my home town. I was rejected by both, so instead I got an internship in IT. That was five years ago (when I was a JuniorSenior in high school), now I'm a JuniorSenior computer science major in college and have been an intern in Information Security for four years at the same place. Kind of funny how they never hire the people most qualified for the job. I back this up by having walked in to Best Buy multiple times, right after they rejected my application and recently, and there are people there who can't even explain iPods or wireless networking. Not getting that job was one of the best things that ever happened to me!

TomWaddle, For one its an entirely seperate market that is being totally untapped. Both for business clients and for people who never really shop at Best Buy.

Why would anyone take their computer to a store of any kind when 90% of what typically needs addressing can be done by certified techs remotely via the Internet? It's much cheaper and more convenient and there are some fantastic service providers in this space -- I use PlumChoice and am a total convert.

You are one big tough man Joz. Fantastic at spelling and typing also.

I disagree with you. You may be able to walk into some stores and demolish some of the employees, because some of them are young and just beginning their tech careers, but by no means can you do that to all of them.

I work as an in store agent part-time, with a full-time job doing IT work at a large corporation. I have a four year engineering degree and multiple computer certifications under my belt, with intentions on earning more. I have been working with computers for over ten years and I can hold my own when it comes to technical products and concepts. I know that there are others that work there that are more intelligent and knowledgable then I am.

If you are writing posts like the one that you wrote, I am sure that there are many Geek Squad Agents that would dominant you in all aspects of life.



On a lighter note, I hope everyone enjoys that holiday weekend

Have you been in a Kinko's lately? They've been a "mini" office supply store for some time.

I think it's the location factor. Smaller footprint means that a Kinko's is more likely to be in your neighborhood than a Staples or Office Depot.

There are no trade secrets with geek squad at all, i dont know why you are saying that there are. I use to work for them it was great. But we didnt do nothing special. I mean come on using spyware trails to remove spyware.....
But anyway the geek squad is trying to out source already with a program called johnny utah. So good luck.

Have to agree with BobP - why drag your PC into a store - regardless of the store? I tried www.support.com and glad I did - took less time and I got my PC fixed without having to get dressed :-)

'intilectualy'

LOL