Be wary of these Big Box stores and their "computer repair" technicians. I’ve experiencing nothing short of anguish and egregious amount of errors and mistakes on their part. Most recently, I took a computer in to have it looked at for errors upon start up. It appeared that there might be a bug or something causing some startup problems.

My computer is used mostly for business, and has up-to-date virus protection installed. I have however, gotten infections in the past. My line of work requires a lot of internet research so I might be predisposed to certain types of infections.

The last time I had to take my computer to Geek Squad, the Agent, let me know that it would take about 3 days to clean up and return the computer to a usable state. Unfortunately, it took over 7 business days to get my computer back. The original quote of $149.99 turned into $349.99. In the end, I got my PC back, late and over estimate. They informed me that I needed a new hard drive.

Once I got the computer back, I still was having issues with the new operating system installation. Apparently, once they installed the operating system, they left a few issues unresolved. My computer was missing the data, the computer was starting in a weird mode that I could not get it out of and It was incredibly slow to start and restart.

I began to look at reviews of Geek Squad, and I came across this site. One of the users suggested SecureRemoteSupport, as a possible alternative to Geek Squad. After doing my research I contacted them to repair my still broken machine. After a brief diagnostic period, which I did not pay for, they informed me that there was nothing wrong with my old hard drive and that I had been scammed by Geek Squad. John was able to get my computer up and running using the old hard drive and after a few hours, got the infections removed from the PC. I didn’t lose any data and I didn’t have to reinstall any programs. Additionally, John offered me LIFETIME protection software for the computer. While expensive, it is guaranteed. Geek Squad won’t do that.

I was able to go back to the Best Buy Geek Squad and speak to the manager and explain the entire situation. I offered up the invoice and diagnostic paperwork from Secure Remote Support and they decided to give me a full refund. I did have to threaten a chargeback with my American Express. I also returned the hard drive that the Agent said was absolutely necessary for my machine.

Most interesting, while I was waiting in line to speak to a manager, there were approximately 6 other customers in front of me. Of all those people, most of them I heard complaining about issues and problems that weren’t related to the computer. It sounded as if they were experiencing similar issues to me. After reading some of the reviews related to them, I am not surprised there are this many problems with this service. I will not be using the Geek Squad in the future, and I suggest that you don’t either.