Grading the Geeks

Best Buy is a chain loved by many and probably loathed by even more. Its a typically American type of place, where the great masses can go to be wowed by shiny lights and their vast selection of crap and in turn shell out their hard earned cash for overpriced electronics and other temporary amusements. This is not to say that deals can't be found at BB, but for every bargain their are three Blue Ray DVDS of 27 Dresses marked at $35 a pop. Most techies or bargain shoppers I know avoid Best Buy if at all possible. But there's a lot more non-techies in the world, a fact Best Buy figured out long ago and has exploited ever since.

One of Best Buy's secrets is their advertising, which has somehow convinced millions of us that the average Best Buy employee is some kind of electronics savant who only works their as a hobby when not using old subwoofer parts to build high tech supercomputers or working for the Q branch of MI6 building gadgets for James Bond. Its kinda like if a high powered partner in a big city law firm did pro bono work for Legal Aid. In my experience, a handful of BB employees are truly knowledgeable about their work and the rest are merely adequately knowledgeable to do their job as salesman.

The pinnacle of this advertising effort is the Geek Squad. The name says it all: these guys are the smart, useful nerds which for too long have been trampled upon in our jock first society, and now their valuable knowledge has been harnessed for the good of us normal, computer loving folk. They even go so far as to not employee any women (that I know of) on the Geek Squad, lest the illusion of geekiness be ruined. Its this cache which allows them to take suckers for $49 "diagnostics" and $99 "computer check ups". Of course, the Geek Squad is not so invisible in their computer prowess. A friend of mine once fixed a computer problem in 3 minutes which had stumped an entire gaggle of geeks for 2 hours in the store. So it was with apprehension that I turned to the Geeks for help with a recent problem.

Recently my beloved laptop had its LCD screen damaged to the point of uselessness. The computer was a gift from a relative who had purchased the extended warranty, which is actually a pretty good idea for something like a laptop. In fact, this computer was a free replacement for an earlier model which had also been under warranty. Given the rough treatment we give laptops, its one item which warrants the extra protection. Had it not been under warranty I would have purchased the replacement part and affected the repair myself. However, since it was under warranty, I decided to save the $150-200 the part would have cost and put my trust in the Geeks.

I was disappointed at first when I realized the repair wasn't to be handled right there at Best Buy. I figured for such as simple repair it was just a matter of getting the part and swapping it out. I even went so far as to tell them which exact part they needed, but the store Geeks seemed uninterested in the diagnosis. Apparently the actual Geek Squad which does computer repairs is kept locked up in a secured location, lest the real geeks get out and steal our womenfolk with their nerdly charms. This being the case, my computer had to make an arduous journey via UPS ground to get to this secret Shrine of Geeks.

I was quoted a pick up date of 7/10, but this was delayed by the use of UPS ground. Two extra business days, and 4 extra days total, were added on without warning. However, I'm happy to say that my computer is back to full strength and appears none the worse for the trip.

All told, the Geek Squad came through as promised. Granted, they did come through 2 business days late, but results were delivered. Overall I'd give the Geeks an A- for this effort. No doubt that will bring down their collective GPA, but if you want full credit you gotta turn your work in on time.