Geek Squad — Local services in Oakland

Out of fairness, most people are not dealing with service departments unless they're already having stress. But the best buy Geek Squad service compounds that stress.

If you have plenty of money and absolutely no information technology prowess, consider signing up for Geek Squad service.

I am not being sarcastic. This is not a support service, it is a shipping service. A task you could perform at home in around 50 minutes, it will take Geek Squad more than 3 days. These service plans are only useful when they replace your device outright.

After paying an annual fee for the total protection plan and over $3,500 for a laptop computer, a clerk wearing a Geek Squad Polo suggested I reload windows, or he suggested they could do it for me. There was no offer to run a diagnostic to see if I had a hardware problem, and he obviously had absolutely no technical knowledge of the product they sold me. He blamed the problem on Windows 11. That might be the problem, but there was no mention about defective operating systems when I paid $3,500 for the laptop.

As is the case with most amateurs, the first course of action is the nuclear option, wiping it all out and starting from scratch.

While I'm sure some absolutely technologically illiterate folks have some satisfaction knowing they can drop their computer off for weeks at a time, if you have enough knowledge to control all delete and stop a task, you already exceeded the competency of the Geek Squad. Do it yourself and save yourself the money.

And under no circumstances, sign up for the total protection. You can tell that the best buy Geek Squad folks even think...

The most TERRIBLE service ever. SO unprofessional and just full on terrible. Here is a list of reasons why they suck😊: 1- Made me purchase member ship to get serviced ($200) 2- Told me that the issue I have with my laptop is just a RAM issue, made me purchase more RAM and took them forever to put it in. (it literally take 2 mins to put in are you stupid or what?) ($100) 3- made me purchase extra storage to make my laptop less laggy (none of these things worked btw) ($120) 4- so now after I paid $420 they were like oops haha we still did not fix your issue! its a motherboard issue oopsie! ARE YOU KIDDING. I am a college student and I do not have this kind of money to be wasting around fixing non existent issues when my main problem (display not turning on) was STILL not fixed. 5-told them to fix my zero button and they did not. 6- the extra storage they added is NOT detected by my laptop. 7- told them to move my stuff from the C drive to the new storage- they did not. 8- they told me my laptop was ready for pick up, made me wait there for an hour, and then were like oops sorry it's not ready leave and come back later. 9-they would NOT answer the phone and then when they do they say they are going to "transfer me" just to hang up the phone on me MIND YOU I DONT DRIVE!!! i am a student at UC Berekely and had to take the bus MULTIPLE TIMES to have them answer me!!! they do not answer and i had to uber and take the bus MUTLIPLE TIMES. THEY SUCKKKK!!! would give 0 or even negtaive stars if i can! save your money and go somewhere...

A technician from the Geek Squad recently installed a WiFi Mesh network in my home. The installation was mostly a success. After the tech left, I found one other WiFi smart device that missed getting hooked up (it was previously with old system).

I after failing to hook up this device on my own, I called tech support associated with the device. That tech support then recommended that I call the installer (of the tankless water heater). The WiFi device allowed me to schedule the tankless water heater so hot water would instantly be available per the user's schedule. No one associated with this water heater could help me....it was a Humpty Dumpty story.

I then called back to the Geek Squad. I should have done this in the very beginning, but was afraid they would charge me for another visit. (see my comment at the end)

However, the Geek Squad came back my house, successfully reconnected the WiFi to the water heater, and did not charge me anything additional. They simply provided good service as part of a "redo" to the original installation.

I previously had a bad experience with "OnTech" where they charged me for reinstalling my working door bell camera when they were unable to connect a new door bell camera to my door chime.

For future WiFi equipment installations, I'll call...