Free Geek Twin Cities — Attraction in Minneapolis

WARNING LONG REVIEW I've been going to free geeks for years now, and they've gone through a lot of changes. They recently dropped the ball really hard and we're very careless with a laptop that I purchased which led to me having to come back to the store more times. The first time, the laptop had a screen glitch that they couldn't fix so they replaced that laptop with the same model. The second time that laptops disc reader door didn't open, and they fixed it. By that point, I was already very frustrated with having to return to the shop over things that I feel like shouldn't have been hard to miss. I used to volunteer there, so I understand that human error happens, but for me missing hardware issues like that twice was lacking hard! None of these expenses came out of my pocket, as freaky has a 30-day hardware warranty. But what did come out of my pocket was the time, energy, and transportation of having to go back and forth to the shop multiple times. Even harder, because I don't have a personal vehicle. Based on my experiences as a previous volunteer, I feel like when I was there free geek had a higher standard of quality that would not have allowed such carelessness. There has to be respect for the time and resources of the clientele, knowing that a lot of us come to free geek because we can't afford new equipment. Other minor issues that I've come across is that one of the Lenovo ThinkPad that I purchased was marked as not having a disc reader. The laptop, in fact, does have a disc reader and it does work. I also bought a larger laptop, that is a touchscreen but it wasn't marked as a touchscreen. I'm very satisfied with the laptop and it doesn't have any issues. I'm bringing these up to point out the communication issues here. The main thing that I'm seeing fail here is communication. With or without human error, I know that refurbished text can be unpredictable, so whatever happened with the first screen glitch between the final checking process and the sales floor could be anything. But when I was given the second model and the disc reader door wasn't opening, because it was missing a table. When things like that happen, there is a clear lack of communication. Communication is something that I very much remember being an entirely underlined aspect of volunteering and working at free geek. A major lack of communication is what's hurting the...

Free Geek is an asset to our circuit board repair business. When i need something very specific, and i need it on the fly, I come here because i know that they will likely have what i need and its going to cost less than what i would pay anywhere else. I wish i could say that we save time by shopping here, but it is very difficult to leave this place without looking around. Even after coming multiple days in a row, there is always new stuff on the shelves. I have never made a trip here without seeing an item on the shelves that made me feel like i would be losing a once in a lifetime opportunity if i left without closely looking at it.

The thing that stands out about this store the most is the technical knowledge of the staff, which is a sharp contrast to most of the retail electronics industry. It makes sense if you think about it. The volunteers who work here could do volunteer work anywhere they choose, but they choose to do it here. Probably because they have some sort of background in electronics, and the cumulative knowledge is apparent, but its more than just that. Stores like axeman have staff who have the product knowledge, but what good is that to anyone if they are completely unwilling to assist their customers. At Free Geek, the staff have as much interest in electronics as you do, so they are usually looking for people who they can engage in converstion.

If there was a store like this in every densly populated citi throughout the US, we could make a considerable impact on the damage that is caused globally by the disposal of...

I had to dock two stars due to the girl in black gloves and a mask being very rude and making fun about me to other customers. I was not comfortable around her. She was even looking rudely at my son.

BUYER BEWARE!!!! Do NOT buy the power supplies here unless you can find one with proper specifications. You can use a power supply tester that can display all voltages properly to do this. You must know what you are buying beforehand as they are almost guaranteed to fry your motherboard due to overvoltaging certain parts of it due to this instability. Power supplies need to be close to their rated voltage. The employees say they are tested good when they are not and even wrote on the box that the power supplies are good when they are bad. The employees are not using the proper tester to see the actual votages so you are buying a risk and don't even know it. If you can buy them and know how to repair them then feel free but do not buy them expecting to use them right away. Free Geek will not replace your system if you try one and it fries your boards. In short, the power supplies are not guaranteed to work properly and should only be purchased as a repair project. Free geek needs to write on the box these are as-is tested to power on only and are not good working power supplies so people can be informed when buying.

Now this place isn't all bad as there are deals to be found and some of the staff are very friendly. Just be careful about the above and...