This past spring, The Consumerist posted a tell-all confession from a former Geek Squad employee detailing corruption within the organization, making customers think twice about trusting the seemingly respectable tech service company. Just this past week, another ex-employee has come clean, and once again, The Consumerist is on top of keeping potential Geek Squad customers informed of what they might encounter. From the initial breaking of this story in the spring up until these most recent developments, here is what has been revealed. As college students likely to deal with beer spills and rambunctious uninvited partygoers, take solace in the fact that Boston College has a great tech services staff right on campus, where worries such as the following should certainly not be an issue.
The initial Geek Squad confession, posted back in May, described that while Best Buy originally intended the Geek Squad to replace their previous brand of tech services, which had fallen to pieces itself, Geek Squad would soon fall victim to the same pitfalls. The former employee describes the first act testing his integrity as wiping files from used computers in order for them to be sold as "new." This could even involve selling "new" computers that have already been exposed to viruses. Next, the employee describes a time when computers to be repaired were piling up faster than they could be fixed. In order to save face, managers implemented the policy that any computer with a software-based problem would be completely wiped, and the customer would be told that their data were lost due to an error. Since they had already signed a contract saying that Geek Squad would not be held responsible for incidental data loss, victims of this thoughtless procedure were out of luck. Goodbye music collection, goodbye family vacation photos.
On the issue of privacy, the ex-employee said, "If there were a competition between a Playboy editor, a photo lab technician, and a voyeur for the person who has seen the most random pictures of naked people ... the only way any of them would win is if the Geek Squad agent was late to the contest." If this wasn't enough, The Consumerist launched its own three-month sting investigation to try and catch a Geek Squad technician stealing pornography from a computer that was brought in to have iTunes installed on it. The computer was rigged to record the technician's actions, and after trying enough Best Buy locations, one took the bait. Consumerist sources reveal that some Geek Squad locations even have common computers where technicians can share their finds. If you think that deleting photos, passwords, credit card numbers, or other pieces of information means that computer technicians won't be able to find them, think again. The reports that came out this week detail Geek Squad's handling of the aforementioned accusations, with a second ex-employee stating that their tactics were closer to interrogations than interviews. These interrogations were said to include threats and accusations. Many unethical employees who lied kept their jobs while innocent parties who told the truth ended up being terminated. Employees were told that if they spoke about the interrogation process with anyone, they would be fired. The source also revealed that Geek Squad has quotas on how many computers a week are to be shipped to other countries in order to be fixed. These repairs are sometimes performed without being subject to the same privacy laws, and often do not even fix the problems at hand. Both former employees mention the fact that people are willing to pay twice as much for Geek Squad because, with the corporate image, comes the false assumption of dependability. Name recognition gives the belief that they can be trusted, while apparently this isn't always the case. Comments posted on The Consumerist Web site make it clear that dishonest computer technicians are everywhere, and while Geek Squad is being singled out in this instance, this is indeed a widespread issue. For instance, software that is free for personal use (often not for commercial licenses), meaning that large corporations may not always have the best tools at their disposals.
This article is not trying to persuade customers to stay away from well-known repair corporations, as I'm sure they are extremely professional and effective in most situations. These testimonies from former employees, however, are certainly something to keep in mind next time you find yourself in need of tech support.
2008 Woodie Awards
