UnsureSherlock

Ok, actual ARA (See "Repair Agent" by OP) here.

First off, this dude is what other agents would generally refer to as "useless" and probably doesn't have any actual background repairing machines, or even any sort of drive to do so. These tend to be the worst agents; the ones that come in not even having enough knowledge to pass an A+ test.

There are a lot of these ARAs, and they're generally regarded as the jokes, but we have to fill hours and since there's always at least one very knowledgeable ARA on staff at each store (generally speaking) we usually have these guys run automated backups, automated virus scans and general cleanups. Geek Squad Agents have in their disposal tools prebuilt for them that they can run from a bootable USB/DVD. Because these tools oftentimes work, they get a little too big in the head and think they're great.

But if you ask them to try and even partition and set up a disk using DISKPART, they're clueless. They're the same people that won't be able to understand why trying to install Windows 7 from a USB stick on a 3.0 port won't work unless you load the driver in as well (Win7 did not have standard drivers for 3.0. So the installer would load after POST into RAM, but then not be able to access the actual installer files on the USB stick) Please don't take this person as an end-all be-all for Geek Squad, they're the lowest common denominator and with his attitude, I would assume that he wouldn't be in a store doing too well in NPS (Net Promoter score. It's tied with our Turn Time for how we are scored). My store is in the top (at least last month). Turn time was consistently below 2 days, no matter the job, and 90% NPS (meaning 9/10 people were satisfied with the service)

EDIT: That's not how NPS is calculated. The store is currently 90%, I know that. But I'm totally off on how that number comes about. Scroll down in comments to see how it actually is.

If anyone is interested, I'd do an AMA as well from the perspective of one of the Geek Squad stores that actually try to help their customers, bend rules to make them happy, and perform up to snuff instead of being a bunch of pretenders. I'll answer any questions about procedures, policies, and anything else by how Geek Squad actually does it, and not how a lazy person who doesn't invest any effort into their job does it. Having knowledge is one thing, but actively giving a shit about what you do and putting your all into it is the difference between someone who thinks their company is shitty and writes AMAs bashing a company, and someone who tries to make things better by teaching others and having principles.

And I'm truly glad for you.

But at the same time - I'm a guy that doesn't give a shit about cars. I don't want to learn, because it doesn't interest me and my time is taken up doing other things. I wouldn't want a mechanic to bring me in and show me how to repair my car because he thinks his company is too expensive/a ripoff. I'm an informed consumer, which is everyone's own personal responsibility to be. I don't need someone taking time out of my day to try and tell me how to do it because I don't have the money at the moment. If I need to do it, I'll find a way to pay for it.

Charging people to do for them what they could learn by themselves is the foundation of commerce. I could learn to farm, I could learn to fix cars, I could learn any trade skill I wanted. Doesn't mean I'm going to want/care to do it.

A lot of people that come into Geek Squad do not give a shit about how computers work, and would rather pay the money to get it fixed than learn about it. It's what keep I.T. in business.

EDIT: I have no idea why people keep downvoting you. I disagree with your way of doing business, but the reason you disagree with the company is your own morals, and you're aren't being deconstructive with your posts (which is the reason you should actually downvote people :) )

Well first thing's first: I applaud you for trying to go for your other CompTIA certs. They're not much, but can get you into the private sector where the better money is faster than almost anything else. N+ is next. If you really want to make dough (and are patient and willing to read a fuckload) get your Cisco certs. It's hell, but will raise your salary around 10-20k a year.

To the other parts: There are always going to be shitty ARAs at every store. Not to be rude, but your attitude doesn't seem to say that you want to improve their knowledge, or find more willing participants to improve the company. It sounds like you've accepted the state of things and just want to bash the company vs. improve it.

When I first started working at Geek Squad, there were 3 other ARAs (my store is very high traffic).

One girl who didn't know what she was doing, so just did open certified box work (and was completely unwilling to learn the repair side of things)

One guy that just restored everything, and if presented with having to do something as simple as a data transfer, would just copy the entire directory of C: to a new HDD and wonder why the thing would either A: not boot or B: wouldn't load a user profile. No matter how many times I informed him that transferring the entirety of the AppData directory was a bad idea, he did it anyways.

And one other girl that was willing to learn whatever I threw at her since I came from the private sector. (Transferred to Geek Squad for part time hours since I went back to Uni)

I was the new guy, but still came in with a decent amount of knowledge. Instead of accepting the state of the precinct and their fucked up ways of doing things, I took responsibility and talked about the fucked up things I had seen with my Manager. She agreed with me on a lot of things, and wanted me to keep an eye on how things looked while actively coaching. Within 2 months, the girl who didn't want to learn, and just did certified didn't get hours anymore (since technically an OA can do that work anyways, and she got paid as an ARA, wasting money and MY hours). The guy who fucked up every machine got caught stealing shit after things got tight for him. The manager noticed how inept he was after we went over the day to days. He knew he wouldn't be around much longer, stole over a grand in merch, and eventually got arrested.

The other girl learned a lot, got her cert, and has since moved on.

I'm not saying all this to seem like I'm this bigshot, because I'm not in any way. Half my friends went to private I.T. companies and know WAY more than I do. But now I had a hand in hiring ARAs that are willing to try to do their best, and it shows with our numbers. We don't charge customers for things they don't need, because we don't need to with the traffic we pull. If I'm away for 3 days, I'm not worried that I'll be coming back in to a complete clusterfuck.

As for the ripping people off thing: I'm on the fence about that. Is it a little pricey? Yes. But go to any EasyTech at a Staples, and see the difference in knowledge. For 200$ at GeekSquad, you get 3 computers covered for a year, and no matter how many times you bring them in, you'll only pay to replace hardware if necessary or Data backups (we hold customers accountable to backing up their data)

To me, that's actually pretty fair. 3 computers for one year, 200 dollars, and we'll keep cleaning up your viruses, reconfigure anything how you want it, and fix the constant windows 8.1 update bootlooping issues or whatever the fuck else you throw at us.