My goodness, Geeksquad prices are insane...

[BriGy86]

long story short
one kid called up with a problem that seemed to be with his winsockLSP's, he said the geek squad said it needed to be reformated (the kid told me "i just have a feeling its gotta be simpler and easier than that") i told him about winsockLSP fix, warned him that it was freeware and it has the potential to mess things up further(covering my own ass there), he said he'd give us a call back if he had any more problems, and i haven't hear from him since.

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: tommywishbone
$100. $200. What's that? a pair of shoes... a big trip to Ralphs.... dinner & drinks? Those prices seem OK. Not high, not low, OK.

What's $200? Over half a week's pay for many of us.

 

[franksta]

I use their high prices to justify large purchases to my wife. "We saved thousands of dollars by not having the reamsquad install our computer stuff" Then I squander the money we saved on fine wines and cheeses.

 

[yhelothar]

So who here works for geeksquad? There must me one guy here that works for them...

 

[Philippine Mango]

Originally posted by: pontifex
omfg...$159 to set up a broadband account. $129 to set up a dial up account...
installing software, antivirus, anti-spyware - $129 - wow, just wow...
$159 to install an optical drive...

fvck...i am in the wrong end of the IT business...

Got to remember though guys, this is IN HOME service, their prices are albiet more reasonable if you take the computer to the store, I'm sure they're just trying to cover maintenence for their cars so they too can get ripped off when they repair it, it's the cycle of life...

 

[Scarpozzi]

When BB bought them, I knew they'd be jacking their rates...

 

[Nick5324]

Originally posted by: judasmachine
$129 for a memory upgrade?!?! Is that just labor? I charge $40 and I thought I was asking a lot.

You are

Years ago, before I stopped shopping at BB (about 3 years now), I found out they wanted $35 to install a SODIMM.

I had bought a laptop, and the HDD failed fairly quickly. They allowed me to do an exchange, however, the closest model they had available had half the RAM. They agreed to "sell" me an additional stick of RAM for nothing to make up for it. When I went to the CS counter, she rang up the RAM, gave me a credit for it's total cost, and then, without asking, rang up "Install, $35". Needless to say, I said no, took the RAM and installed it myself.

I guess compared to $129, $35 was a steal!!

 

[takeru]

the orientation instructor at my current workplace quit to join geeksquad. he said geeksquad is trying to expand past retail store chains, and start covering small and medium size businesses as well. so they are expanding quite well it seems.

 

[ryan256]

Wow! These are unreal. I helped out a Dean at a college I used work at with her laptop. Her son had downloaded all sorts of spyware, trojans, ect, and really screwed the thing up. I slaved the HD onto my machine, backed off her data, reinstalled the thing, and transfered all her data back. Then I also get her set up on the campus's wireless network. All this for $75.
Costs had she gone to bb:

TextWireless Network Setup: $159
Antivirus Install: $129
Operating System Install: $229
Software Install or Antispyware Install: $129
Data Migration (Transfer): $229
Total: $875

Hmm... doesn't Dell sell some rather nice new complete (monitor & box) computers for less than $800?

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: CoolTech
Prices

Im trying to gauge prices to charge people, but these prices seem unreal.

you should charge at least 20% MORE than them and bill yourself as the extreme/superior service to those chumps

 

[ScottFern]

They are opening a new Best Buy 0.5 miles from my house. I am considering applying when they open up? Good idea?

 

[PingSpike]

There was a big thread about this before. Given how big of a pain in the ass it is to go to some one's crap hole house with half your tools and (likely) no broadband internet connection I'd say those rates are definately a gouge job but not outrageous. And its such a pain in the ass dealing with the morons out there...I can't say I consider any rate a ripoff.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: ryan256
Wow! These are unreal. I helped out a Dean at a college I used work at with her laptop. Her son had downloaded all sorts of spyware, trojans, ect, and really screwed the thing up. I slaved the HD onto my machine, backed off her data, reinstalled the thing, and transfered all her data back. Then I also get her set up on the campus's wireless network. All this for $75.
Costs had she gone to bb:

TextWireless Network Setup: $159
Antivirus Install: $129
Operating System Install: $229
Software Install or Antispyware Install: $129
Data Migration (Transfer): $229
Total: $875

Hmm... doesn't Dell sell some rather nice new complete (monitor & box) computers for less than $800?

i am not sure who you are trying to make look bad, sounds to me like you have poor business sense and ripped yourself off of some decent $$$

if you are charging $75 for $875 worth of work, who is the silly person? you are some kind of charity? you are the son of a millionaire and just work for the fun of it?

 

[racolvin]

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango

Got to remember though guys, this is IN HOME service, their prices are albiet more reasonable if you take the computer to the store, I'm sure they're just trying to cover maintenence for their cars so they too can get ripped off when they repair it, it's the cycle of life...[/quote]

I was just about to point this out. These guys get paid by the hour and for in-home service (truck roll, travel time to/from, etc), the rate really isn't that bad. For example, the actual installation of a stick of memory might only take 10 minutes tops, but the time to go from the BB location to the home and back might easily be an hour or more, depending on distance and traffic.

 

[DBL]

Those prices seem reasonable for in-home service.
How much do you think a plumber charges for a 30 minute visit?

The biggest mistake people make in business is to sell themselves short. Don't do it.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: ryan256
Wow! These are unreal. I helped out a Dean at a college I used work at with her laptop. Her son had downloaded all sorts of spyware, trojans, ect, and really screwed the thing up. I slaved the HD onto my machine, backed off her data, reinstalled the thing, and transfered all her data back. Then I also get her set up on the campus's wireless network. All this for $75.
Costs had she gone to bb:

TextWireless Network Setup: $159
Antivirus Install: $129
Operating System Install: $229
Software Install or Antispyware Install: $129
Data Migration (Transfer): $229
Total: $875

Hmm... doesn't Dell sell some rather nice new complete (monitor & box) computers for less than $800?

i am not sure who you are trying to make look bad, sounds to me like you have poor business sense and ripped yourself off of some decent $$$

if you are charging $75 for $875 worth of work, who is the silly person? you are some kind of charity? you are the son of a millionaire and just work for the fun of it?

Seriously. Getting taken advantage of is something that a lot of people here seem to enjoy.

 

[AdamSnow]

Yikes...

 

[ryan256]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
i am not sure who you are trying to make look bad, sounds to me like you have poor business sense and ripped yourself off of some decent $$$

if you are charging $75 for $875 worth of work, who is the silly person? you are some kind of charity? you are the son of a millionaire and just work for the fun of it?

What I'm trying to show is how ridiculously BB overcharges. Pulling out her HD and backing off the data took all of 30 mins. I then reinstalled everything while waiting at the doctor's office. Total it took me maybe 2 hours of actual work. $37.50/hr is pretty good.

 

[FoBoT]

no BB does not overcharge, you undercharged

 

[archcommus]

Most of the people speaking in this thread are retards.

Those are ON SITE PRICES. In other words, they come to your fvcking house. Do you really expect them to take the TIME and spend the money on transportation to DRIVE to your house, whenver YOU'D like, and install a drive for you for a mere 50 bucks or something? Get real. At home service is always expensive and this is no different. You get a drive installed in store, $39. Reasonable, makes sense.

 

[GeneValgene]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
no BB does not overcharge, you undercharged

exactly...you undercharged

BB is pricing abotu right for an on-site, ad hoc request for a big outfit like themselves

 

[GeneValgene]

Originally posted by: archcommus
Most of the people speaking in this thread are retards.

Those are ON SITE PRICES. In other words, they come to your fvcking house. Do you really expect them to take the TIME and spend the money on transportation to DRIVE to your house, whenver YOU'D like, and install a drive for you for a mere 50 bucks or something? Get real. At home service is always expensive and this is no different. You get a drive installed in store, $39. Reasonable, makes sense.

QFT

 

[KentState]

Why would Best Buy start a new service like this if the margins where not at least 50% including all expenses? Seriously, if they are going to boost their profits, charging for labor has very few risks compared to stocking thousands of PCs which they might make 6% margin from. I would also point out that if Best Buy assumes risk each time they touch someone's property especially on sight. If something where to happen like destroying a thousand dollar pc while doing an upgrade, they would have the financial ability to cover the loss. An individual that does random upgrades for $50 probably doesn't have the money to replace a computer if something where to happen. I know that when I help out a friend, if I where to damage a motherboard, that $50 to help would suddenly turn into a $50 loss.

 

[Hummin]

Originally posted by: GeneValgene

Originally posted by: archcommus
Most of the people speaking in this thread are retards.

Those are ON SITE PRICES. In other words, they come to your fvcking house. Do you really expect them to take the TIME and spend the money on transportation to DRIVE to your house, whenver YOU'D like, and install a drive for you for a mere 50 bucks or something? Get real. At home service is always expensive and this is no different. You get a drive installed in store, $39. Reasonable, makes sense.

QFT

Yeah.......I guess most of the OMG kids weren't bight enough to click on the magical link that says "Precinct in Best Buy" for the in-store prices. $29 for memory install, $39 for hard drive, optical, or I/O card install, $29 for AV, spyware, software install, $59 for OS install.......all not too terrible considering convenience and overhead.

 

[BriGy86]

Originally posted by: ScottFern
They are opening a new Best Buy 0.5 miles from my house. I am considering applying when they open up? Good idea?

i applied, and the guy said they do not hire people out of store for the geeksquad, you get hired to sell computers, and then have a chance to move up to the geeksquad

i also asked if there were any special certifications needed, and the guy said no (not even A+?)

anyway as far as i know all the geek squad "techs" are just people that may have know a little more about computers than the next guy and/or were good at selling computers