Watch out for Computer Repair Fraud
Posted in: Computer Repair | November 4th, 2007
Lots of computer repair places will misdiagnose or just lie to you and overcharge.
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February 24th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
[..YouTube..] Best Buy Tech’s are hired off the street. They learn on the job. They have no previous exprience. All of them are stupid idiots.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:35 am
[..YouTube..] I used to work for the Geek Squad. You don’t know how many mornings we sat around in those hyped up gatherings while the supervisors tried to conjure up yet another way in which we could extract more money out of the customer.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:49 am
[..YouTube..] Don’t trust BestBuy
March 4th, 2008 at 9:10 am
[..YouTube..] lmfao…THIS IS FUNNY
March 5th, 2008 at 10:45 am
[..YouTube..] yeah i dont see a problem with a diagnosed problem price they quotes for a simple fix, after all, if you go to a mechinic and all you needed was a vaccum tube reconnected, he still chargers $80 to look at it
March 16th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
[..YouTube..] Does anyone know how much it costs to keep a computer shop open? They actually loose money on PC repairs because of wasted man-hours alone. If PPL are too dumb to fix a hard drive cable on their own why should the shop fix it for nothing? I agree that lying to customers seems bad but a mans gotta eat. Besides if you fix something for nothing once you’ll be expected to do it again.
March 16th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
[..YouTube..] Honesty is what counts in a work eviroment but you shouldnt charge an arm and a leg for something so small to fix.
March 22nd, 2008 at 6:46 am
[..YouTube..] Nice comment I trust Mexican techs…I had a computer repair when my computer was crashing and I couldn’t do anything about it…they charged me 100 bucks…but worth it ’cause they installed some kool programs that I knew it cost more than what I had paid…
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:55 am
[..YouTube..] Glad I know how to fix computers my self I knew some computer teks were bad but this is crazy. What a bunch of moochers truing to get charge 100’s of dollars for a loose cable the only good one there was the one that did it for free.
March 28th, 2008 at 5:53 am
[..YouTube..] Geek Squad does hire people without A+ Certification. I do have mine but I am not a CIA, I’m a COA so I don’t typically work on machines even though I am smarter than most of the agents there.For honest to God good help….it’s not easy to find now a days, because employers will not spend the money for good people. They expect to do the same job for $8 an hour. They are WRONG. No good tech will work for $8 an hour. **** Geek Squad and **** Best Buy!!
April 1st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
[..YouTube..] I agree, people who are certified did not study computer science to work for poverty rate saleries. Hire trained professionals and pay them properly, and you can then demand qualified professionals. Pay them an insulting wage for their knowledge and expect the guy from burger king working on your equipment, with maybe one person on the shift with decent knowledge to guide him along. I can answer phones and make more than that. Its ridiculous. Seriously what do ppl expect?
April 1st, 2008 at 8:42 pm
[..YouTube..] This is an interesting segment though, bus as big unit said, I too am glad I am able to put computers together and diagnose hardware/software problems. But you wont catch me working for eight dollars and hour fixing your stuff either. Sorry, but we dont get this training to give away underpaid labor. Do it yourself or go buy a whole new system if you expect that.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:38 am
[..YouTube..] Holy shit. I need to up my prices.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:43 pm
[..YouTube..] Fortunately, I’m not stupid enough to need to go to a comp repair shop EVER.If I did though, I’d rather go to Geeksquad and overpay $100 than hear one more thing about your “teks”. Seriously, you’re fixing computers, not watching children, illiteracy is not cute.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:31 pm
[..YouTube..] lol Why cant people just fix comps on their own
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:46 am
[..YouTube..] Most people are too stupid or busy to learn how electronics work and how to fix it.
May 30th, 2008 at 10:25 am
[..YouTube..] I love the fact I know how to fix any problem with a computer, hardware or software.$275 is too much to plug in loose IDE cables.
June 14th, 2008 at 4:10 am
[..YouTube..] somehow i doubt you can fix any problem… lol but i agree 275 is too much… hell 10 is to much for that
June 15th, 2008 at 8:06 am
[..YouTube..] This is quite sad of how untrustworthy they are. Several of my friends come asking me for help about there computers. Most of the time I fix their computer problems, and I don’t charge them anything!
June 15th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
[..YouTube..] I’m glad I know how to fix most common computer hardware problems myself. Saves money, time, I don’t have to drop it off somewhere, and I don’t have to worry about people being untrustworthy and trying to scam me.
June 17th, 2008 at 5:52 am
[..YouTube..] the dude at the begining is confusing
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:34 am
[..YouTube..] What bothers me is that Geek Teks is using this as an advertisement, when it doesn’t have anything at all to do with Geek Teks. Also, it seems that Geek Teks moderates comments away from this page that do not reflect favorably on them, such as this one you’re reading now!
June 26th, 2008 at 3:29 am
[..YouTube..] cryptikonline,I don’t think Geek Teks gives a crap what you say. And I don’t think their moderating comments. They seem fairly confident in their ability to meet customer satisfaction levels and if that is true, then they probably don’t bother with comment moderation.
June 26th, 2008 at 3:35 am
[..YouTube..] I wonder how much business Geek Teks really gets from these stupid youtube videos.
July 7th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
[..YouTube..] lol, most of those companies are a rip-offs. How hard is it just to plug in a damn IDE cable? xD
August 25th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
[..YouTube..] The miss diagnoses is bad for this problem. but charging people for wasting your time with simple problems isn’t wrong.
August 28th, 2008 at 4:27 am
[..YouTube..] if someone told me if would cost $2000 to fix my computer i would punch him in his face!
September 7th, 2008 at 12:43 am
[..YouTube..] they just want the money
September 14th, 2008 at 8:31 am
[..YouTube..] there are numerous videos like this on Youtube and they are all the same – they get some IT pro to do something like change the BIOS settings or unplug the hard drive. Easy fix if you know that’s the problem, but what tech would ever think that the customer had opened their case and unplugged the hard drive?? It’s not about being dishonest, these techs just never thought to check for a loose cable and if you’re really busy you have to check it in for a diagnostic so you can help the next in line
September 14th, 2008 at 8:41 am
[..YouTube..] I work part-time for them and I have 9 years experience in computer repair and have a college degree in computers (and I’m the least knowledgable agent) – most of the techs there are either college grads or currently in school for some sort of computer degree/certification. Even some of our salesmen have computer degrees – it’s a good second job when they pay you $12 part-time.
September 24th, 2008 at 2:39 am
[..YouTube..] hence why you open your case before you go to some company. it could be something as simple as plugging a loose cable like they show here. i mean, its not rocket science, 1+1=2. if you see an unplugged cable plug the fucker back in. people are just so scared of computers cause they “seem” so complex. they really arent.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:25 am
[..YouTube..] any fun men in here?
October 12th, 2008 at 5:18 am
[..YouTube..] What if it’s a laptop? Opening up a laptop would need to be done with more care. Although I once had a problem with my computer where it would turn on, but the screen remained black even if you waited for half an hour. When I took it in, they tested it without the batter in, and it still didn’t work. They ended up having to put a new power inverter into it, and some new chips around the power inverter.
October 12th, 2008 at 6:03 am
[..YouTube..] well yeah a laptop is a totally different story
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:40 am
[..YouTube..] ok so they took out the IDE cable. Its nearly impossible for an IDE cable at that length to become ‘loose’ or unattached. If I had someone come into my PC repair store with a simple problem like that I would probably guess it is a setup. plugging it back in would be the first thing to do…. I would be reluctant to make people pay for such a simple service.
November 16th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
[..YouTube..] Computreat is better. You should look it up if your computer is down. They could do anything
November 20th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
[..YouTube..] When turning on the computer, it outputted something like No Boot Device detected. So obviously you would just need to take a quick look at the hard drive. By seeing the IDE cable unplugged, all you’d need to do is plug it in and then see if the computer works again and obviously it did.So $59.99+ just to push in a cable? Fascinating.
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:53 pm
[..YouTube..] I love misinformation…$60 covers a full-spectrum diagnostic, alongside the customer’s particular issue; not an overcharge. Wasn’t a laptop, so it’s unlikely the tech could boot it for a quick consultation. More likely that they had to set it in queue to be worked on later, then following mandated steps by corporate. Also, the red-shirt prolly wasn’t even a tech (green polo), and could’ve misread the work order.But Geek Squad’s misdiagnosis…LAWL. Wish we made 200+ bucks off a diag, too.
December 6th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
[..YouTube..] Hard to believe anyone would misdiagnose that. I have fixed that a dozen times for free. Although in some of their defense some guys don’t open the case first thing like I do when I get a startup issue.
December 14th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
[..YouTube..] well especially the last jackass, do they even have any knowlage about PC’s?
December 14th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
[..YouTube..] It seems not… lawl. And to think I can’t open a store because I haven’t taken a certification test. lol
December 14th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
[..YouTube..] Oops… lol… was logged into the wife’s account… O.o sorry
December 16th, 2008 at 10:44 am
[..YouTube..] I’m also fond of misinformation.Geek Squad’s diagnostic costs $70. Not 200+. In fact, their Advanced Diag and Repair (their highest level of service for in-store repair), costs $199.99 with tax, regardless of repair.
December 20th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
[..YouTube..] aye…indeed the price of a diagnostic service is 70. and at my precinct the agent would probably plug the computer in and call the customer to pick up the computer. we even take computers in if a warranty is on the computer and do a quick diag. of it. i once reseated ram on a customer free of charge and her computer was working great. i charged her nothing. the whole thing took about 4 minutes.lets not judge everyone by just one store’s mistake kiddies.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:32 pm
[..YouTube..] Some computer repair shops do not have any integrity, or work ethics, that is the simple yet uncomfortable truth. I used to work for one of those companies, and all the owner saw in their clients was their wallets. We were told to bill every 15min of work.
December 29th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
[..YouTube..] Tritech Computer Solutions is waaay better than these guys.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:21 am
[..YouTube..] A Jumper set wrong on the HARD DRIVE?baaHAHAAHAHAHAHaI think next time I’m around Circut City, I’ll stop and make fun of them.Just learn basic PC repair knowlegs. Tom’s Hardware Online offers a good amount of information that you can use, or GeekTeks or other small shops that will actually help you.So sad that corporations have to run everything.
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:58 pm
[..YouTube..] phoo ide is old school
January 11th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
[..YouTube..] Yes it is.Something you can fix for about 5 minutes is NOT a waste of time.
January 11th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
[..YouTube..] GeekTeks charge you almost the same prices as Geek Squad.FUCK YOU HYPOCRITES!!
January 19th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
[..YouTube..] This particular example is really stupid, anyone who knows the basics of computing, just by opening up and looking should find this problem. That said, some problems are harder to diagnose, and it is not always the most precise process, but you would think that if you get PAID to do repairs, you should know what the fuck you are doing. But again, this is a realllly bad example… the guy who thought that it was the fucking power supply??? That I thought was fucking funny.
January 28th, 2009 at 7:47 am
[..YouTube..] The anchor obviously doesn’t know anything about computers. .
January 28th, 2009 at 7:51 am
[..YouTube..] also, wtf IDE cable for hard drives.. ahahah
February 15th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
[..YouTube..] A small peice of advice, go buy a external hard drive if you can afford it, and backup your files, music, etc… maybe once a month or so. You never know, your PC dies, and now you don’t have anyway of getting your important files back. Again, if you can afford it. I know times are rough for everyone out there. It’s also pretty easy to do. Try Google for a lot of pc issues before taking it in if you can.
February 15th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
[..YouTube..] I’ve had my share of computers from customers with lose IDE and memory resets. I charge nothing for that in the hopes I gained a new customer. I think SATA has eliminated this problem from happening.
February 17th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
[..YouTube..] agreed, i bet he thought ‘this looks complicated to the adverage joe…. i’l flash it at ‘em and pretend to know what i’m doing ¬¬’XD
February 25th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
[..YouTube..] thats why i go to small electronicc storess
March 4th, 2009 at 10:37 am
[..YouTube..] I agree, not all computer techs are scandalous bastards. That being said, I think the focus of this video was to point out the extortion of the average non-techie computer owner by the big box stores. Actually this shit might not even be the fault of the people that work at the stores, they probably have a lot of gay procedures they are supposed to follow to speed things up, and i bet they are not discouraged from giving a diagnosis that will lead to a costlier repair.
March 9th, 2009 at 9:56 am
[..YouTube..] uhmmm yeah IDE.. you know what we used before SATA.. so HAHAHAHAHAA to your ignorance.
March 27th, 2009 at 11:08 am
[..YouTube..] THIS IS EXACTLY WHY THE IT FIELD SUCKS everybody thinks they can just go and hop into the IT field so companies like these and Contract Companies can pay us LIKE SHIT!!!
April 10th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
[..YouTube..] I like how he called the cable ‘a ribbon or IDE’. Just bad grammer but I chuckled
April 12th, 2009 at 10:39 am
[..YouTube..] Lol…I know I saw that too. The guy saying the power supply is bad is hilarious.
April 24th, 2009 at 2:46 am
[..YouTube..] geekteks: “You don’t pay unless we fix it” you are not so sure about your geeky skills. thats why creep squad is better.
May 19th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
[..YouTube..] check out the vids i recovered from a hd of geeks smashing a customers laptop right before they come in
May 19th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
[..YouTube..] haha geek squad is stupid! they opened the damn comp, took out the power supply and DIDNT NOTICE IT! how pathetic
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:20 pm
[..YouTube..] GG GEEKSQUAD! GG
May 24th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
[..YouTube..] the box is a failure! LOL epic fail on best buy xD
May 26th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
[..YouTube..] actually i would go to geekteks rather then geeksqud just because they say you dont pay unless e fix it.
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:35 am
[..YouTube..] i own a small one and you are so right. We are so honest sometimes we come a lil short on money but we tell it how it is.
June 16th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
[..YouTube..] Nice work. keep it up. mean time come for social media marketing for esteembpo**com #LINK#
June 18th, 2009 at 8:16 am
[..YouTube..] There’s nothing wrong with charging for such a simple problem. These things happen to a lot of people and they’re too scared to try and figure it out themselves. I learned hardware basics in a very very very short amount of time. However it sucks when people are taken advantage of.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
[..YouTube..] This is what happens when Government Schools dumb down education. Government schools are cutting vocational classes an/or using them as dumping grounds for students who are behavior problems. Some of the students come to vocational classes to goof off. This can be dangerous and/or fatal for the students who are there to learn. Example: I was in a woodworking class in high school and another student was amusing himself throwing things at me while I was cutting woo on the table saw (continued
June 26th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
[..YouTube..] Yup that’s Bestbuy….
July 3rd, 2009 at 12:33 pm
[..YouTube..] I wonder if this network is aware of geekteks putting their url over the top of their news story for commercial purposes. :/
July 13th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
[..YouTube..] The capitalistic democrazy seems to be promoting make as much money as possible by doing as little as possible. Scam everyone if you can and dont be friends with people cos you want their money and not their friends ship. Thats Capitalism at its prime which is being taught at school off course. So when will we become friends all of us? The Ego must be dealt with before there is nothing more left to scam.! Maybe a personal inner change for peace with one self and the world…
July 28th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
[..YouTube..] haha I love your wife’s accent.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
[..YouTube..] Hilarious but scary I once got kicked out of Best Buy cause I told a guy where he could buy a computer that he was looking at in Best Buy for about 300 dollars less & that was exactly the same, then one of the Best Buy sales guy came by and said I had to leave so I did and I bought my TV for 200 dollars less at a different store. When this happens just take your business somewhere else and tell them you are. It pisses them right off lets em know that they HAD a sale. That’s what I did.
August 6th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
[..YouTube..] what’s up with computer repair business using the word “geek”you don’t have to be a geek to fix a PC.
August 6th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
[..YouTube..] what’s up with computer repair business using the word “geek”
you don’t have to be a geek to fix a PC.
August 15th, 2009 at 7:50 am
[..YouTube..] Who the hell is paying 119 dollars minimum???screw that, do it yourself everyone.
August 15th, 2009 at 7:50 am
[..YouTube..] Who the hell is paying 119 dollars minimum???
screw that, do it yourself everyone.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:32 am
[..YouTube..] haha but they would do that, i got kicked out of a gamestore because i said to the customers the service was crap.
October 14th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
[..YouTube..] Before you get your computer fix, call Fertech Computer Repair, there number is 312-735-1788. My friend call them and got his computer Fix for $40.00 they give you what you want plus there extremely fast. everyone is saying that Fertech Computer Repair is 100 times better then Geek Squad.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
[..YouTube..] Thats what you get for taking your computer to a store. Learn to do it yourself its not too hard
November 16th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
[..YouTube..] These are not, ‘accidents’, they are blatant cases of fraud. It isstill a wilderness out there, and you can only count on yourself and those you trust. It seems those you pay will just feed off of you without shame or responsibility.
November 16th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
[..YouTube..] These are not, ‘accidents’, they are blatant cases of fraud. It isstill a wilderness out there, and you can only count on yourself and those you trust.
It seems those you pay will just feed off of you without shame or responsibility.
November 24th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
[..YouTube..] I would be ashamed to charge anyone for a repair like that.
December 1st, 2009 at 7:59 pm
[..YouTube..] Scam is the name of the game for america now. In order not to get scammed nowadays you have to do everytihng yourself.
December 9th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
[..YouTube..] Once again the NEWS is wrong on most of these cases !! Most PC repair businesses charge a diagnostic fee to look at the machine, and then to fix it, a fixing fee. Although in this case they should have probably just fixed the PC for free since any half brain dead PC tech could eye this in a second!! LOL here’s a computer related joke for you all ; there are only 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don’t!!lol get it?
December 17th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
[..YouTube..] … My 8 year old sister could figure that out… I understand that most companies charge a fee to look at it but for $100 to look at it? for a minor problem no way. I can understand if it were a virus but something like a loose cord. Nah free
January 7th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
[..YouTube..] First thing to check with all computer faults are cables.
January 12th, 2010 at 11:17 am
[..YouTube..] Any computer that is legitimately brought in for an issue is not going to have a computer cable randomly unplugged, unless someone has opened the case. In the future, try something like bridging some points on one of two ram sticks and seeing if they people can figure it out. Also: The computer played hot potato with different stores. It’s possible that during the hot potato things would go wrong. Did you check the computer out between each visit to make sure other stores didn’t damage it?
February 4th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
[..YouTube..] Yea, thats really some bull shit that they do that… espically the way the economy is… I would never do some shit like that… I don’t want to make a bad reputation for my self.
February 10th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
[..YouTube..] I know a friend that would probably charge $80 buks and tell the custumers the machine had a virus and lots off bull
February 15th, 2010 at 4:00 am
[..YouTube..] i would have put the cable in gratis, but found something else wrong with the computer to make money from. viruses, registry errors ect… that’s how you get more cash legitimately. almost every computer has SOMETHING wrong. if not they probably know enough to fix it themselves.
February 17th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
[..YouTube..] @Ozarkagain they had a huge stack of PCs, it wasnt the same computer each time.
February 25th, 2010 at 11:07 am
[..YouTube..] the anchor looks like he was stoned
March 13th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
[..YouTube..] the cost of living varies in different places. They gotta pay the rent!
If you call a plumber in LA he will charge at least $75 to just show up!
March 13th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
[..YouTube..] the cost of living varies in different places. They gotta pay the rent!If you call a plumber in LA he will charge at least $75 to just show up!
March 17th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
[..YouTube..] a lot of sneaky stuff goes on in this business, I used to manage a repair shop.
first rule of troubleshooting is to open and visually look at things.
In other words do all the easy things first, where did I learn that? well I worked for AT&T as a telecommunications tech for many years before becoming a computer repair person.