This doesn't look good for us *$20 Geeksquad services*

[C.Quill]

Check out this link http://techhelp.geeksquad.com/

$20 Geeksquad services.
I'd like to know what everyone thinks about this.
I don't see this as being a good think. Considering that a lot
of customers think that Geeksquad is really good and knowledgeable

The main point we can compete with is the high prices, even though they do these services online most customers are going to be amazed with the high prices and they are going to think they are getting Genius geeks working on their computers (lol).

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Its $20 a month. Also it looks like mainly remote or phone software support. I doubt they are going to roll a car/truck for most of these issues. Also GS is large enough they can do something like this and still profit. Kind of like a gym membership where 200 people may sign up but maybe 20 people will really use it much less get more than their moneys worth out of it. I'm sure wherever the fine print is there is a list a mile long full of limitations and disclaimers.

 

[aburwig]

I'd like to know where they are getting their "average" repair costs they quote in their ad. $150 for virus removal?!? $170 for network troubleshooting?!? And $150 for software install?!? I just finished a price list comparison to review my own pricing, and I haven't found anyone, large or small, charging those prices. I wish I could get that kind of money!

 

[mraikes]

Don't forget their $69.99 setup fee on top of the $19.99 per month. And yes, it's all phone/remote support.

$309.87 for the first year. I'm sure they'll sell a bunch of them.

 

[C.Quill]

Don't forget their $69.99 setup fee on top of the $19.99 per month. And yes, it's all phone/remote support.

$309.87 for the first year. I'm sure they'll sell a bunch of them.

Yes, I suppose you're right considering that most of my clients see me ONSITE once, some of them twice a year and it's not to frequently at that total cost a year.

 

[PaulRome]

Love this part of their disclaimer.

GEEK SQUAD MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT THE SERVICE WILL MEET CUSTOMER'S REQUIREMENTS, OR THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR FREE; NOR DOES GEEK SQUAD MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE OR AS TO THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICE. CUSTOMER UNDERSTANDS AND AGREES THAT ANY MATERIAL AND/OR DATA DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICE IS DONE AT CUSTOMER'S OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT CUSTOMER WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO CUSTOMER'S COMPUTER/SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF SUCH MATERIAL AND/OR DATA. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY CUSTOMER FROM GEEK SQUAD OR THROUGH THE SERVICE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY MADE HEREIN

Meaning. When we screw up there is nothing you can do about it.

 

[clevernerd]

Talk about the easy way out.

Wonder how many people that sign up for this actually read this part of the contract, or if GS explicitly tells them this when they are signing up, or do customers find out this when one of there online techs wipes all their data or some other idiot mistake destroys sensitive data.

Don't think if I was a consumer and saw this I would want anything to do with this, but then again I don't think any of us are the average consumer who would sign up for something like this at Best-Buy.

 

[Paul Rodgers]

Looks like I can make a nice them vs. us page on my site. Now I need to figure out if something like that could be a turn off for customers.

 

[mraikes]

Talk about the easy way out.

Wonder how many people that sign up for this actually read this part of the contract, or if GS explicitly tells them this when they are signing up, or do customers find out this when one of there online techs wipes all their data or some other idiot mistake destroys sensitive data.

Don't think if I was a consumer and saw this I would want anything to do with this, but then again I don't think any of us are the average consumer who would sign up for something like this at Best-Buy.

My work orders also disavow liability for loss of data. I specifically point out that paragraph to every new customer. I discuss with them the inherent risk of data loss that accompanies any computer repair. Never once has someone changed their mind about my working on their gear.

IMO anyone without some similar disclaimer is leaving themselves wide open to potential ruin.

 

[Cornerstone Technologies]

I went to the eye doctor this past week and noticed a framed sign that said the following:

"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweet taste of low price is forgotten."

They didn't attribute the quote, but it is Benjamin Franklin.

Basically, the point is that fretting over Best Buy offering sub-par at best remote services and Wal-Mart selling **** computers for $300 is pointless. By offering services that truly address your customers needs and expectations, you excel beyond the large corporations desire for revenue. We as business owners ultimately are responsible for exceeding the customers expectation. By doing so, there is no reason to even address the Best Buy or Wal-marts directly. You can take pleasure as I do in rectifying clients issues for much less and better than they had experienced elsewhere.

 

[activeits]

In the UK we have PC World Tech Guys and they charge £9.00 per month I think for so called unlimited remote/telephone service

I think it is great, because i get a lot of customers that have been their customers and given up with them, especially as they might spend hours trying resovle simple problems and then Tech Guys end up saying do a factory restore.

I do not offer any contracts like that and one of my customers tried to get me to offer him a contract "unlimited remote/telephone service " for £8 to undercut Tech Guys, it is a customer that really did not want, as he was always after free support for him and even if he was around at his friends, so I said he best try them out.

I lost that customer and just 6 weeks later he was try to come back to me, after they advised him to factory restore, because he could not connect to the internet and did not explain about backing up his data, but had the cheek to ask for a discount. I advise him to try somewhere else i was on holiday and also advised him that the reason he could not connect to the internet was because his ISP had been down that Sunday, he was not pleased when he realised Tech Guys got him to do a factory restore for no reason.


Thanks

 

[vdub12]

I'd like to know where they are getting their "average" repair costs they quote in their ad. $150 for virus removal?!? $170 for network troubleshooting?!? And $150 for software install?!? I just finished a price list comparison to review my own pricing, and I haven't found anyone, large or small, charging those prices. I wish I could get that kind of money!

Personally I charge $130 for virus removals if I have to do them at my shop. Otherwise its hourly on site. The other prices are kind of ridicules.

I would not worry about BB. They are nothing more then fancy dressed pizza techs. Yes they do get a lot of our buisness but there bad service and lack of knowledge makes it hard to hang on to those customers.

 

[phaZed]

Richmond area...

Here in the Richmond area I get quite a few customers FROM Best Buy. It's usually the same story..

# Service sucked.
# Wait time of WEEKS is too long
# Price is ridiculous
# Problem not able to be resolved, BB wants to re-format me.


Most of my customers get their computer back within 24 hours, and a N&P is absolute LAST resort, unless customer requests it, or doesn't have any data/programs to save.. and fixing the OS costs more time than a N&P.

I have serviced a BB Geek Squad "Agent"s computer (Power jack), and now he sends quite a bit of business FROM BB to me! It's great.

 

[chrisaroz]

I'm about to launch something similar in July. Once it's up and going I plan on sharing the details, but it's essentially managed services for home users. We're very excited about it, as are the home users we've told about it.

If you really look at it, the Geek Squad service is a terrible offering. For virus removal, tune-ups, cleanings, etc... the customer has to take the computer in. Everything else could be handled by YOU over the phone/email. Geeks Squad's success is SOLELY due to their location and marketing. Keep providing good products and services to your clients with responsive customer support and you'll do fine.

 

[joydivision]

Had one the other day, customer was/is paying £10 to some well known UK company for support. His network printer suddenly stopped working so they did remote work and spent 40 minutes on and said the printer is faulty. It is a £400 network laser out of warranty.

He called me in to have a look, took me about 2 minutes to release the IP address the router had given the printer (DHCP) was different to the one the driver was pointing at.

I changed the IP address the driver was using, and then made the printers IP address static, took me about 20 minutes in all. Why the tech people missed such a simple problem and advised a new printer is beyond me.

 

[maclaptech]

Here in the Richmond area I get quite a few customers FROM Best Buy. It's usually the same story..

# Service sucked.
# Wait time of WEEKS is too long
# Price is ridiculous
# Problem not able to be resolved, BB wants to re-format me.

I get those all the time too. I'm not worried about their $19.95/month service. Its just a ploy by them to fool people into something that is not true. Once a person get burned by GS, they will never go back.

 

[OldSchoolPC]

Personally I charge $130 for virus removals if I have to do them at my shop. Otherwise its hourly on site. The other prices are kind of ridicules.

I would not worry about BB. They are nothing more then fancy dressed pizza techs. Yes they do get a lot of our buisness but there bad service and lack of knowledge makes it hard to hang on to those customers.

Currently I have a $99 on site anti-virus special. I normally bill by the hour and it comes out to like $149 so I am really saving money. Anyway! Guess how much Geeksquad charged to come out and do an antivirus? $299! So it's funny how that want customers to spend $300 a year to essentially provide no service, and claim that it's cheaper then having somebody come out. Either way with Geeksquad you pay 300. So these "average" techs who charge $150 are a good deal. With my $99 pricing, I can proudly say that I am 1/3rd geeksquad price. Plus, I bill separately for things like data recovery, windows issues, and tune-ups. So I still generally bill about 150 on average. 1 in 3 clients of mine have been burnt by geek squad. Wonder what Geeksquads average invoice is for.

 

[RegEdit]

How does Geek Squad remove viruses over the phone when it becomes necessary to use a Bart PE boot CD or ERD Commander to edit the registry offline? My guess is that at that point they thrown in the towel and proceed to reinstall Windows.

 

[vdub12]

I get those all the time too. I'm not worried about their $19.95/month service. Its just a ploy by them to fool people into something that is not true. Once a person get burned by GS, they will never go back.

Actually many do keep going back. In fact most customers that have gotten burned by BB/GS don't even know they where burned.

How does Geek Squad remove viruses over the phone when it becomes necessary to use a Bart PE boot CD or ERD Commander to edit the registry offline? My guess is that at that point they thrown in the towel and proceed to reinstall Windows.

I am sure its nothing more then outsourced support that uses a teared system and tear one I am sure do nothing more then read off a checklist and then tell the customer to reload windows.

 

[PaulRome]

Staples right now is offering this for $99 a year.