Consumerist/CR rips Best Buy's computer "optimization" apart

[Zargon]

yeah the MRI is awesome I used it a few weeks ago

I can do it all myself, but I can do MRI and leave for work

 

[StageLeft]

I am sure I made a thread about this before but I cannot find it. When somebody tried to sell this to me a few years ago I read it over and I believe that it qualifies for illegal con activity. I really do. I think it's such a scam Best Buy should be hit by a class action lawsuit.

 

[Oceandevi]

I bought a desktop there for my wife. The guy informed me about the optimization. I asked him to remove it. He stared at me and asked really? Yes I said. I did not ask for it so take it off. I informed him that most people will not pay for that. He said they have not been having issues selling it.

Then when he started to remove it, he did not know how. A manager took forever to come over. I told him I was in a hurry and he got nervous and did not charge me for it. I left it on there and I dont use the PC so I dont really care.

 

[murphy55d]

I remember when we bought my wife's laptop there maybe a year and a half, two years ago, they would not let us leave without "optimizing" her laptop. I told them I didn't want any services, and they said they wouldn't charge us, but they still had to do it. I asked what exactly they were doing, and they said "setting up the sidebar, installing updates and optimizing performance". Had I known they would not let us leave before doing this, I never would have bought it there.

 

[MotionMan]

If there weren't so many goddamn idiots out there that accept BS like this it wouldn't even be offered. I blame the consumers.

I feel sorry for people who do not understand technology. That is the reason I offer my "services" for free to anyone who I know.

I am not in IT, but I know a million times more about computers than all but maybe 1% of the people I know (I have built many computers and use to write hardware reviews for Sudhian). I am like the man with one eye in the land of the blind.

My brother-in-law is an IT guy who knows a million times more than I do about computers. I am sure my questions to him sound as stupid and simplistic as the questions I field from my 79 year old uncle or my parents.

I think Geek Squad is a great idea in theory, but, BB uses it as a way to make money without actually providing useful services. That is unfortunate and simply another reason to hate BB.

MotionMan

 

[Raduque]

BBuy's "pre-optimization" services are such bullshit. They tried to serve that steaming platter to my mom when she went to buy a new laptop. We went in and looked around for a bit, and found one she like for $699(+taxes). They told her the only ones left were "pre-optimized" and had the restore disks premade (in most cases, you can only make these once - even after restoring). I argued with the guy who hemmed and hawed about it kept spouting the company line about how great the service was, and even said they couldn't un-do it. I made him get a manager and told the manager we weren't going to pay for this scamtacular service, full stop.

They waived the fee and we kept the restore DVDs and paid $699 + taxes, out the door.

If I had thought about it I would've taken the laptop out of the box and done a system restore to factory right there on the counter. NOW try to charge for that bullshit that just got removed.

 

[MotF Bane]

Let me guess, you watched your Dad optimize a computer at Lake Tahoe in the winter?

BAHAHHAHAA, win!

 

[JEDIYoda]

Let me guess, you watched your Dad optimize a computer at Lake Tahoe in the winter?

Now that is funny!!!! Gotta Love the enteretainment I get from a free site!! Keep up the funny stuff!!

 

[Oceandevi]

This justifies just wiping the whole thing and starting over with a wild caught OS.

 

[Fritzo]

Sample size: 1

Having worked at a Geek Squad for close to four years (Feb 06-Dec 09), the store didn't perform the service correctly.

Basics of an optimization (29.99 or 39.99, price has gone up and down, not sure where it is at currently):

Remove trial/adware.
Apply AgentTweaks (Registry edits to improve speed, functionality, appearance of speed in some situations, ie window fade time, etc)
Edit startup items.
Edit services as needed.
Apply all Windows Updates, including service packs if needed.
Minor other tweaks can be applied, setting home page, sidebar widgets, etc.

For someone computer savvy, the service is garbage. But, for the non computer user, it can be a great service. I'd recommend it to my grandma 10/10 computer purchases. Hell, I'd pay for it myself to save me the headache of dealing with her over the phone on a new computer. And forget trying to get her to install something like LogMeIn rescue properly.

The Geek Squad is an optional service. It is not aimed at the techies of the world. It is targetted towards the people who cannot or would rather not do the work themselves.

Where I lived and worked at the time, I compared prices for a diagnostic and virus removal to the mom and pops around the area and they had similar prices and I usually had a faster turn around time. My personal redo rate was extremely low. The Geek Squad toolset is a great piece of work. You can find MRI 5.1.1 on torrent sites, download it, infect a machine, and use the FACE scanner to clean the computer. It will quite readily clean 99% of the garbage out there. Some manual work in system32, the registry, and maybe HijackThis would typically take care of any stragglers remaining.

Full disclosure: the MRI phones home, I wouldn't recommend using it very often.

Have grandma run this: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/ Takes about 5 minutes and saves $100.

 

[Kalmah]

Guys, most computers are sold at cost. At the same price that the retailer originally bought for it. That's the only way to stay competitive.

So for these retailers to make money off of it they have to attach stuff to it. The idea of having a computer cleaned and 'optimized' is sound for most people. Have you ever gone to your great aunts house and noticed her 10 year old computer still had the pre-installed aol, and registration icons and everything else on the desktop?

Most retailers do a shitty job with optimization though. They tend to hire the least knowledgeable so that they can pay the smallest wages possible. Bad idea to begin with and I never understand why they take up this model.. but they do.

 

[Kalmah]

Have grandma run this: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/ Takes about 5 minutes and saves $100.

And who's going to tell her what to do when the active x security pop-up occurs? she still needs help. It's easier for her to just have everything taken care of.

It may be worth $100 to her.. for somebody who has a car problem that is a mechanic it wouldn't be worth $100 for somebody else to fix it. For somebody who isn't a mechanic then it's worth the $100.

For somebody who knows how to hang drywall it's not worth the $100 to pay somebody else to do it for them. For somebody who doesn't...

for somebody who knows how to fill a dental carry with an amalgam or composite material...

You see what I'm getting it.

 

[mjrpes3]

Occasionally I will buy something at Best Buy because it's convenient, but this has convinced me to go elsewhere next time the chance arises. Not that I didn't already know Best Buy can be slimy, but this just shows that they are near the bottom of the barrel.

 

[Rubycon]

Troll HARDER...

But...but...but HARDER would mean exceeding sidewall pressure! You wouldn't want anyone to do that would you? That could create a critical mass. Imagine 365 rubbers (we'll keep it real calling it "The Good Year") going critical and exploding! That temblor would be felt in Miami! Last time I checked Miami was pretty far from Lake Tahoe!

 

[Ayah]

I'm sort of not surprised.

 

[insect9]

But...but...but HARDER would mean exceeding sidewall pressure! You wouldn't want anyone to do that would you? That could create a critical mass. Imagine 365 rubbers (we'll keep it real calling it "The Good Year") going critical and exploding! That temblor would be felt in Miami! Last time I checked Miami was pretty far from Lake Tahoe!

lol

 

[mb]

I think they scored worse because of the Microsoft patches which tend to increase reliability at the cost of performance. Just compare XP SP0 with SP2 for example..

Let me guess, you watched your Dad optimize a computer at Lake Tahoe in the winter?

But...but...but HARDER would mean exceeding sidewall pressure! You wouldn't want anyone to do that would you? That could create a critical mass. Imagine 365 rubbers (we'll keep it real calling it "The Good Year") going critical and exploding! That temblor would be felt in Miami! Last time I checked Miami was pretty far from Lake Tahoe!

I came here for the CPU forum, I stayed for ATOT. :awe:

 

[0roo0roo]

on the other hand the idiots that keep going back to do business with best buy really don't have much ground to stand on when complaining.

 

[Fritzo]

And who's going to tell her what to do when the active x security pop-up occurs? she still needs help. It's easier for her to just have everything taken care of.

It may be worth $100 to her.. for somebody who has a car problem that is a mechanic it wouldn't be worth $100 for somebody else to fix it. For somebody who isn't a mechanic then it's worth the $100.

For somebody who knows how to hang drywall it's not worth the $100 to pay somebody else to do it for them. For somebody who doesn't...

for somebody who knows how to fill a dental carry with an amalgam or composite material...

You see what I'm getting it.

My mom ran it with no problem, and she can't use the remote control on her TV.

I base all of my difficulty scales on "can my mom do it?"


(queue mom jokes.........)

 

[dabuddha]

Let me guess, you watched your Dad optimize a computer at Lake Tahoe in the winter?

bwahahahaahahah

 

[TruePaige]

Most retailers do a shitty job with optimization though. They tend to hire the least knowledgeable so that they can pay the smallest wages possible. Bad idea to begin with and I never understand why they take up this model.. but they do.

As someone who worked as a real IT person but did a short stint at the Geeksquad to pay the rent for a little white after moving once I have to say that the wages and the knowledge were not the biggest obstacles.

1) Managers making you spend more time selling and less time fixing computers by sitting high quotas on optimizations sold, black tie packages, and software attachments.

2) Generally bad working environment for the employees at least at the store I worked for...let me start it off by asking this:

How many of you that do IT work for 8 hours standing on your feet? At the Geek Squad that is what we did. Ever real IT department I've ever been in I had a desk and a chair. Standing up the whole shift was bullshit.

Then you have the fact that..

>50% of our hookups and workspace were out in the open, right next to customer service so customers are venting and disrupting people doing general repairs.

Lastly,

The push to use more Geek Squad agents to motivate sales rather than actually repair computers (while also keeping many under 32 hours a week for insurance purposes which required strict time clock enforcement) meant shoddy workmanship as you could be pulled off a row of 10 PC's that you are doing virus removals and optimizations on to go check out products at the counter and sell services on them, all the while your machines are either neglected or picked up on by someone who doesn't know what you were in the process of doing or ignores the checklist you put your notes on (being rushed around tends to damage the note taking process) and then before you can do anything else with them you are barked at to clock out before you have a time overage otherwise you get written up.

It's a service that could be staffed and run like the IT department for any decent corporation but managed like every other department at Best Buy. That is why we call it the IT Grinder, because it takes all these people and skillsets, shoves them in a single profit minded mold, and puts out a cheap feeling, crappy end product.